Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Andrew Marvell. 16211678361. An Epitaph
ENOUGH; and leave the rest to Fame! | |
‘Tis to commend her, but to name. | |
Courtship which, living, she declined, | |
When dead, to offer were unkind: | |
Nor can the truest wit, or friend, | 5 |
Without detracting, her commend. | |
To say—she lived a virgin chaste | |
In this age loose and all unlaced; | |
Nor was, when vice is so allowed, | |
Of virtue or ashamed or proud; | 10 |
That her soul was on Heaven so bent, | |
No minute but it came and went; | |
That, ready her last debt to pay, | |
She summ’d her life up every day; | |
Modest as morn, as mid-day bright, | 15 |
Gentle as evening, cool as night: | |
—’Tis true; but all too weakly said. | |
‘Twas more significant, she’s dead. |