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John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. (1647–1680)

3036

    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.

3037

    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.

3038

And ever since the Conquest have been fools.

Artemisia in the Town to Chloe in the Country.

3039

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.

3040

A merry monarch, scandalous and poor.

On the King.

3041

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

Duke of Buckinghamshire Sheffield. (1649–1720)

3042

Of all those arts in which the wise excel,
Nature’s chief masterpiece is writing well.

Essay on Poetry.

3043

There ’s no such thing in Nature; and you ’ll draw
A faultless monster which the world ne’er saw. 3

Essay on Poetry.

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]

Note 3.
See Suckling, Quotation 10. [back]

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