What would it pleasure me to have my throat cut With diamonds? or to be smothered With cassia? or to be shot to death with pearls? I know death hath ten thousand several doors For men to take their exits; and 'tis found They go on such strange geometrical hinges, You may open them both ways; any way, for Heaven sake, So I were out of your whispering. Tell my brothers That I perceive death, now I am well awake, Best gift is they can give or I can take.... --Pull, and pull strongly, for your able strength Must pull down Heaven upon me:-- Yet stay; Heaven-gates are not so highly arched As princes' palaces; they that enter there Must go upon their knees.--Come, violent death, Serve for mandragora to make me sleep!-- Go tell my brothers, when I am laid out, They then may feed in quiet. (JOHN WEBSTER: _The Duchess of Malfi_, IV. ii. 1623.) "Webster," says Mr. Symonds, "used his metre as the most delicate and responsive instrument for all varieties of dramatic expression.... Scansion in the verse of Webster is subordinate to the purpose of the speaker." (_Blank Verse_, pp. 45-47.) He also calls attention to such remarkable lines as-- "Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle; she died young." "Other sins only speak; murder shrieks out." Are you not frightened with the imprecations And curses of whole families, made wretched By your sinister practices?-- --Yes, as rocks are, When foamy billows split themselves against Their flinty ribs; or as the moon is moved, When wolves, with hunger pined, howl at her brightness. I am of a solid temper, and, like these, Steer on, a constant course: with mine own sword, If called into the field, I can make that right Which fearful enemies murmured at as wrong. Now, for these other piddling complaints Breathed out in bitterness; as when they call me Extortioner, tyrant, cormorant, or intruder On my poor neighbor's right, or grand incloser Of what was common, to my private use; Nay, when my ears are pierced with widows' cries, And undone orphans wash with tears my threshold, I only think what 'tis to have my daughter Right honorable; and 'tis a powerful charm Makes me insensible of remorse, or pity, Or the least sting of conscience. (PHILIP MASSINGER: _A New Way to Pay Old Debts_, IV. i. 1633.)