The Satires of Dryden |
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Common terms and phrases
Absalom and Achitophel afterwards allusion appears Aurengzebe betray called character Charles Charles II charms Christie Church Cockwood comedy common Corah Court crimes crowd crown curse David's died Dramatic Dryden Duchess Duchess of Portsmouth Duke of Guise Duke of York dulness Earl England English Exclusion Bill faction fame fate father fear foes fool French friends grace H. B. Cotterill Heaven Heroic Hist honour humour Israel's Jebusites Jews justice King King's land laws London Lord Lord Chancellor Mac Flecknoe Medal Michael Macmillan monarch Monmouth murder Muse ne'er never note on line Oates Papists Parliament party people's plays poem poet Popish Plot praise pretence priests Prince prose rage rebel reference reign religion rhyme Roman Catholics royal Sanhedrin sense sewed Shadwell Shadwell's Shaftesbury Shimei sway thee thou thought throne Tory treason verse W. T. Webb Whigs write youth zeal Ziph
Popular passages
Page 4 - He sought the storms ; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit. Great wits are sure to madness near allied And thin partitions do their bounds divide...
Page 4 - A fiery soul which, working out its way, Fretted the pigmy body to decay And o'er-informed the tenement of clay. A daring pilot in extremity, Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high, He sought the storms; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit.
Page 78 - ALL human things are subject to decay And, when Fate summons, monarchs must obey. This Flecknoe found, who, like Augustus, young Was called to empire and had governed long, In prose and verse was owned without dispute Through all the realms of Nonsense absolute.
Page 15 - Was everything by starts and nothing long ; But in the course of one revolving moon Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon ; Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking, Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking. Blest madman, who could every hour employ With something new to wish or to enjoy ! Railing and praising were his usual themes, And both, to show his judgment, in extremes : So over violent or over civil That every man with him was God or Devil.
Page 16 - He laughed himself from Court; then sought relief By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief: For spite of him, the weight of business fell On Absalom and wise Achitophel; Thus wicked but in will, of means bereft, He left not faction, but of that was left.
Page 5 - With public zeal to cancel private crimes. How safe is treason and how sacred ill, Where none can sin against the people's will, "Where crowds can wink and no offence be known, Since in another's guilt they find their own ! Yet fame deserved no enemy can grudge ; The statesman we abhor, but praise the judge.
Page 26 - Heaven preserve my years, But save me most from my petitioners. Unsatiate as the barren womb or grave, God cannot grant so much as they can crave.
Page 20 - Tis all the aid my present power supplies : " No court-informer can these arms accuse ; " These arms may sons against their fathers use. " And 'tis my wish, the next successor's reign " May make no other Israelite complain.
Page 81 - And in his father's right and realm's defence, Ne'er to have peace with wit nor truce with sense. The king himself the sacred unction made, As king by office and as priest by trade. In his sinister hand, instead of ball, He placed a mighty mug of potent ale;
Page 6 - And lent the crowd his arm to shake the tree. Now, manifest of crimes contrived long since, He stood at bold defiance with his Prince, Held up the buckler of the people's cause Against the crown, and skulked behind the laws.