Matthew Prior (1664 – 1721)
English poet and diplomat.
He ranged his tropes, and preached up patience;
Backed his opinion with quotations.
Abra was ready ere I called her name;
And though I called another, Abra came.
Soft peace she brings; wherever she arrives
She builds our quiet as she forms our lives;
Lays the rough paths of peevish Nature even,
And opens in each heart a little heaven.
His noble negligences teach
What others' toils despair to reach.
A Rechabite poor Will must live,
And drink of Adam's ale.
They never taste who always drink;
They always talk who never think.
Odds life! must one swear to the truth of a song?
Venus, take my votive glass;
Since I am not what I was,
What from this day I shall be,
Venus, let me never see.
That air and harmony of shape express,
Fine by degrees, and beautifully less.
Cured yesterday of my disease,
I died last night of my physician.
Now fitted the halter, now traversed the cart,
And often took leave, but was loth to depart.
Who breathes must suffer, and who thinks must mourn;
And he alone is bless'd who ne'er was born.
All jargon of the schools.
Our hopes, like towering falcons, aim
At objects in an airy height;
The little pleasure of the game
Is from afar to view the flight.
Till their own dreams at length decive 'em,
And oft repeating, they believe 'em.
To John I owed great obligation;
But John, unhappily, thought fit
To publish it to all the nation:
Sure John and I are more than quit.
Forbear to mention what thou canst not praise.
The end must justify the means.
That if weak women went astray,
Their stars were more in fault than they.
Be to her virtues very kind;
Be to her faults a little blind.