John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Page 179
| Ben Jonson. (1572–1637) (continued) |
| 2054 |
| Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And I ’ll not look for wine. 1 |
| The Forest. To Celia. |
| 2055 |
| Soul of the age, The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage, My Shakespeare, rise! I will not lodge thee by Chaucer or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie A little further, to make thee a room. 2 |
| To the Memory of Shakespeare. |
| 2056 |
| Marlowe’s mighty line. |
| To the Memory of Shakespeare. |
| 2057 |
| Small Latin, and less Greek. |
| To the Memory of Shakespeare. |
| 2058 |
| He was not of an age, but for all time. |
| To the Memory of Shakespeare. |
| 2059 |
| For a good poet ’s made as well as born. |
| To the Memory of Shakespeare. |
| 2060 |
| Sweet swan of Avon! |
| To the Memory of Shakespeare. |
| 2061 |
| Underneath this sable hearse Lies the subject of all verse,— Sidney’s sister, Pembroke’s mother. Death, ere thou hast slain another, Learn’d and fair and good as she, Time shall throw a dart at thee. |
| Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke. 3 |
| Note 1. [greek] (Drink to me with your eyes alone…. And if you will, take the cup to your lips and fill it with kisses, and give it so to me). Philostratus: Letter xxiv. [back] |
| Note 2. Renowned Spenser, lie a thought more nigh To learned Chaucer, and rare Beaumont lie A little nearer Spenser, to make room For Shakespeare in your threefold, fourfold tomb. Basse: On Shakespeare. [back] |
| Note 3. This epitaph is generally ascribed to Ben Jonson. It appears in the editions of his Works; but in a manuscript collection of Browne’s poems preserved amongst the Lansdowne MS. No. 777, in the British Museum, it is ascribed to Browne, and awarded to him by Sir Egerton Brydges in his edition of Browne’s poems. [back] |