John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
2958 John Dryden 1631-1700 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 2958 |
| AUTHOR: | John Dryden (1631–1700) |
| QUOTATION: | Three poets, in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. The first in loftiness of thought surpass’d; The next, in majesty; in both the last. The force of Nature could no further go; To make a third, she join’d the former two. 1 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Under Mr. Milton’s Picture. |
| Note 1. Græcia Mæonidam, jactet sibi Roma Maronem, Anglia Miltonum jactat utrique parem (Greece boasts her Homer, Rome can Virgil claim; England can either match in Milton’s fame). Selvaggi: Ad Joannem Miltonum. [back] |