Chapter 50
The force of nature could no further go; To make a third she joined the other two.
JOHN BUNYAN.
1628-1688.
_Apology for his Book_.
And so I penned It down, until at last it came to be, For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.
Some said, "John, print it," others said, "Not so."
Some said, "It might do good," others said, "No."
_Pilgrim's Progress_.
The Slough of Despond.
EARL OF ROSCOMMON.
1633-1684.
_Essay on Translated Verse_.
Immodest words admit of no defence, For want of decency is want of sense.
EARL OF ROCHESTER.
_Written on the Bedchamber Door of Charles II_.
Here lies our sovereign lord the king, Whose word no man relies on; He never says a foolish thing, Nor ever does a wise one.
KING CHARLES II.
_Written in Parliament attending the Discussion of Lord Boss' Divorce Bill_.
As good as a play.
SHEFFIELD, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAMs.h.i.+RE.
1649-1721.
_Essay on Poetry_.
Of all those arts in which the wise excel, Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.
There's no such thing in nature, and you'll draw A faultless monster, which the world ne'er saw.
Read Homer once, and you can read no more, For all books else appear so mean, so poor; Verse will seem prose; but still persist to read, And Homer will be all the books you need.
THOMAS OTWAY.
1651-1685.
_Venice Preserved_.
Act i. Sc. 1.
O woman! lovely woman! Nature made thee To temper man; we had been brutes without you.
Angels are painted fair to look like you.