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Home  »  Familiar Quotations  »  John Wilmot

John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

John Wilmot

 
1
    Angels listen when she speaks:
  She ’s my delight, all mankind’s wonder;
But my jealous heart would break
  Should we live one day asunder.
          Song.
2
    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.
          Written on the Bedchamber Door of Charles II.
3
    And ever since the Conquest have been fools.
          Artemisia in the Town to Chloe in the Country.
4
    For pointed satire I would Buckhurst choose,
The best good man with the worst-natured muse. 1
          An allusion to Horace, Satire x. Book i.
5
    A merry monarch, scandalous and poor.
          On the King.
6
    It is a very good world to live in,
To lend, or to spend, or to give in;
But to beg or to borrow, or to get a man’s own,
It is the very worst world that ever was known. 2
 
Note 1.
Thou best-humour’d man with the worst-humour’d muse!—Oliver Goldsmith: Retaliation. Postscript. [back]
Note 2.
These last four lines are attributed to Rochester. [back]