a play,
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul, that presently
They have proclaimed their malefactions.

* * * * *

The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.
_Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

Lo, where the stage, the poor, degraded stage,
Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age.
_Curiosity_. C. SPRAGUE.

A veteran see! whose last act on the stage
Entreats your smiles for sickness and for age;
Their cause I plead,--plead it in heart and mind;
A fellow-feeling makes one wondrous kind.
_Prologue on Quitting the Stage in 1776_. D. GARRICK.

Who teach the mind its proper face to scan,
And hold the faithful mirror up to man.
_The Actor_. R. LLOYD.

STAR.

That full star that ushers in the even.
_Sonnet CXXXII_. SHAKESPEARE.

Her blue eyes sought the west afar,
For lovers love the western star.
_Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto III_. SIR W. SCOTT.

And fast by, hanging in a golden chain
This pendent world, in bigness as a star
Of smallest magnitude close by the moon.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. II_. MILTON.

Devotion! daughter of astronomy!
An undevout astronomer is mad.
_Night Thoughts, Night IX_. DR. E. YOUNG.

There does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And cast a gleam over this tufted grove.
_Comus_. MILTON.

Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.
_Evangeline, Pt. I_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.

'Tis the witching hour of night,
Orbed is the moon and bright,
And the stars they glisten, glisten,
Seeming with bright eyes to listen--
For what listen they?
_A Prophecy_. J. KEATS.

There is no light in earth or heaven
But the cold light of stars;
And the first watch of night is given
To the red planet Mars.
_The Light of Stars_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.

Sweet Phosphor, bring the day;
Light will repay
The wrongs of night;
Sweet Phosphor, bring the day!
_Emblems, Bk. I_. F. QUARLES.

At whose sight all the stars
Hide their diminished heads.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. IV_. MILTON.

Nor sink those stars in empty night,--
They hide themselves in heaven's own light.
_Issues of Life and Death_. J. MONTGOMERY.

STATECRAFT.

A thousand years scarce serve to form a state;
An hour may lay it in the dust.
_Childe Harold, Canto II_. LORD BYRON.

Who's in or out, who m