Poeta nascitur non fit,1 is a sentence of as great truth as antiquity; it being most certain, that all the acquired learning imaginable is insufficient to complete a poet, without a natural genius and...

Samuel Butler, the Author of this excellent Poem, was born in the Parish of Strensham, in the county of Worcester, and baptized there the 13th of Feb. 1612. His father, who was of the same name, was a...

When civil dudgeon5 first grew high, And men fell out they knew not why; When hard words, jealousies, and fears, Set folks together by the ears, And made them fight, like mad or drunk, For dame Religi...

When civil dudgeon5 first grew high, And men fell out they knew not why; When hard words, jealousies, and fears, Set folks together by the ears, And made them fight, like mad or drunk, For dame Religi...

There was an ancient sage philosopher, That had read Alexander Ross over, And swore the world, as he could prove, Was made of fighting and of love: Just so Romances are, for what else Is in them all, ...

Ah me! what perils do environ The man that meddles with cold iron; What plaguy mischiefs and mishaps Do dog him still with after-claps! For though dame Fortune seem to smile And leer upon him for a wh...

But now, t’ observe a romantic method,83 Let bloody steel awhile be sheathed; And all those harsh and rugged sounds Of bastinadoes, cuts, and wounds, Exchang’d to Love’s more gentle style, To let our ...

But now, t’ observe a romantic method,83 Let bloody steel awhile be sheathed; And all those harsh and rugged sounds Of bastinadoes, cuts, and wounds, Exchang’d to Love’s more gentle style, To let our ...

’Tis strange how some men’s tempers suit (Like bawd and brandy) with dispute, That for their own opinions stand last Only to have them claw’d and canvast; That keep their consciences in cases, As fidd...

Doubtless the pleasure is as great Of being cheated, as to cheat; As lookers-on feel most delight, That least perceive a juggler’s sleight; And still the less they understand, The more th’ admire his ...

Well! Sidrophel, though ’tis in vain To tamper with your crazy brain, Without trepanning of your skull As often as the moon’s at full, ’Tis not amiss, ere y’ are giv’n o’er, To try one desp’rate med’c...

’Tis true, no lover has that pow’r T’ enforce a desperate amour, As he that has two strings t’ his bow, And burns for love and money too; For then he’s brave and resolute, Disdains to render in his su...

’Tis true, no lover has that pow’r T’ enforce a desperate amour, As he that has two strings t’ his bow, And burns for love and money too; For then he’s brave and resolute, Disdains to render in his su...

The learned write, an insect breeze166 Is but a mongrel prince of bees, That falls before a storm on cows, And stings the founders of his house; From whose corrupted flesh that breed Of vermin did at ...

Who would believe what strange bugbears Mankind creates itself, of fears That spring like fern, that insect weed, Equivocally, without seed; And have no possible foundation, But merely in th’ imaginat...

I who was once as great as Caesar, Am now reduc’d to Nebuchadnezzar; And from as fam’d a conqueror As ever took degree in war, Or did his exercise in battle, By you turn’d out to grass with cattle: Fo...

That you’re a beast, and turn’d to grass, Is no strange news, nor ever was; At least to me, who once, you know, Did from the pound replevin you, When both your sword and spurs were won In combat by an...

Adultery. Animals. Upside-down. Prophesying, fortune-telling. Wine from Bacharach, in Germany. A bundle of firewood. Arsonist or (literal or metaphorical) firebrand. An evil Spirit. Cheated. The 1st o...

Poets are born, not made. ↩ I have raised a memorial more lasting than bronze. ↩ For I have raised a work which neither the rage of Jupiter, Nor fire, nor iron, nor consuming age can destroy. ↩ They d...