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Above the ill fortune of them, or the need.
I therefore will begin. Soul of the age,
The applause, delight, the wonder of our
stage,

My Shakespeare, rise! I will not lodge thee by

Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie 20
A little further, to make thee a room:
Thou art a monument without a tomb,
And art alive still while thy book doth
live,

And we have wits to read and praise to give.

That I not mix thee so my brain excusesI mean with great, but disproportioned Muses;

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For if I thought my judgment were of

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To draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy For names, but call forth thundering

name,

Am I thus ample to thy book and fame;
While I confess thy writings to be such
As neither man nor muse can praise too
much.

'Tis true, and all men's suffrage. But

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Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to

show

To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not of an age, but for all time!
And all the Muses still were in their prime,
When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm
Our ears, or like a Mercury to charm. 46
Nature herself was proud of his designs
And joyed to wear the dressing of his lines,
Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit,
As, since, she will vouchsafe no other wit:
The merry Greek, tart Aristophanes,
Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not
please,

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65

And did act, what now we moan,

Of Shakespeare's mind and manners brightly shines

In his well turnèd and true filèd3 lines,

Old men so duly,

ΙΟ

As, sooth, the Parcae thought him

one,

He played so truly.

In each of which he seems to shake a lance, So, by error, to his fate

As brandished at the eyes of ignorance. 70
Sweet Swan of Avon! what a sight it were
To see thee in our waters yet appear,
And make those flights upon the banks of
Thames,

75

That so did take1 Eliza and our James! But stay, I see thee in the hemisphere Advanced, and made a constellation there! Shine forth, thou Star of poets, and with

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They all consented,

But viewing him since, alas, too late!
They have repented;

And have sought, to give new birth,
In baths to steep him;
But being so much too good for earth,
Heaven vows to keep him.

JOHN DONNE (1573-1631)

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GO AND CATCH A FALLING STAR

Go and catch a falling star,

Get with child a mandrake root, Tell me where all past years are, Or who cleft the Devil's foot;

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Yesternight the sun went hence,

And yet is here today;

He hath no desire nor sense,
Nor half so short a way;

Then fear not me,
But believe that I shall make
Speedier journeys, since I take

More wings and spurs than he.

O how feeble is man's power,
That, if good fortune fall,
Cannot add another hour,
Nor a lost hour recall;

But come bad chance, And we join to it our strength, And we teach it art and length, Itself o'er us to advance.

5

IO

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When thou sigh'st, thou sigh'st not wind,
But sigh'st my soul away;
When thou weep'st, unkindly kind,
My life's blood doth decay:

It cannot be

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From THE LIFE OF JULIUS CÆSAR

The Romans inclining to Cæsar's prosperity, and taking the bit in the mouth, supposing that to be ruled by one man alone, it would be a good mean for them to take breath a little, after so many troubles and miseries as they had abidden in these civil wars, they chose him perpetual Dictator. This was a plain tyranny: for to this absolute power of Dictator they added this, never to be [10 afraid to be deposed. Cicero propounded before the Senate that they should give

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