Chapter 354

Happy the man, and happy he alone, He, who can call to-day his own: He who, secure within, can say, To-morrow do thy worst, for I have lived to-day.

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_On Milton_.

Three Poets, in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn; The first in loftiness of thought surpassed, The next in majesty, in both the last. The force of nature could no further go; To make a third she joined the other two.

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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.

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Some said, "John, print it," others said, "Not so." Some said, "It might do good," others said, "No."

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_Pilgrim's Progress_.

The Slough of Despond.

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EARL OF ROSCOMMON. 1633-1684.

_Essay on Translated Verse_.

Immodest words admit of no defence, For want of decency is want of sense.

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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.

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KING CHARLES II.

_Written in Parliament attending the Discussion of Lord Boss' Divorce Bill_.

As good as a play.

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SHEFFIELD, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. 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.

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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.

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THOMAS OTWAY. 1651-1685.

_Venice Preserved_.