SCENE III.

KING, _solus_.

_King._ Oh! stay, and leave me not uncertain thus! And, whilst thou tellest me what's like my fate, Oh! teach me how I may avert it too! Curs'd be the man who first a simile made! Curs'd ev'ry bard who writes--So have I seen! Those whose comparisons are just and true, And those who liken things not like at all. The devil is happy that the whole creation Can furnish out no simile to his fortune.