The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 1

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J. W. Parker and Son, 1854 - English poetry

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Page 238 - He sought the storms ; but for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit. Great wits are sure to madness near allied And thin partitions do their bounds divide...
Page 238 - A daring pilot in extremity; Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high He sought the storms; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit.
Page 238 - Of these the false Achitophel was first, A name to all succeeding ages curst : For close designs and crooked counsels fit, Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit, Restless, unfixed in principles and place, In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace ; A fiery soul, which working out its way, Fretted the pigmy body to decay And o'er-informed the tenement of clay.
Page 250 - He laughed himself from court; then sought relief By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief: For, spite of him, the weight of business fell On Absalom and wise Achitophel: Thus, wicked but in will, of means bereft, He left not faction, but of that was left.
Page 232 - IN pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, Before polygamy was made a sin; When man on many multiplied his kind, Ere one to one was cursedly confin'd; When nature prompted, and no law denied...
Page 243 - Or change his right, for arbitrary sway? Let haughty Pharaoh curse with such a reign, His fruitful Nile, and yoke a servile train. If David's rule Jerusalem displease, The Dog-star heats their brains to this disease.
Page 249 - Some of their chiefs were princes of the land ; In the first rank of these did Zimri ' stand, A man so various that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome : Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, Was everything by starts and nothing long ; But in the course of one revolving moon Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon ; Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking, Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking.
Page 233 - Michal, of royal blood, the crown did wear, A soil ungrateful to the tiller's care: Not so the rest; for several mothers bore To god-like David several sons before. But since like slaves his bed they did ascend, No true succession could their seed attend.
Page 193 - The diligence of trades and noiseful gain, And luxury more late, asleep were laid : All was the Night's ; and in her silent reign No sound the rest of Nature did invade.
Page 62 - If they will consider me as a man who has done my best to improve the language, and especially the poetry, and will be content with my acquiescence under the present government, and forbearing satire on it, that I can promise, because I can perform it : but I can neither take the oaths, nor forsake my religion; because I know not what church to go to, if...

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