John Dryden
John Dryden
John Drydenwas an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made England's first Poet Laureate in 1668...
fond harmless household meant nature silly
Nature meant me a wife, a silly harmless household Dove, fond without art; and kind without deceit.
good-life mean use
Affability, mildness, tenderness, and a word which I would fain bring back to its original signification of virtue,--I mean good-nature,--are of daily use; they are the bread of mankind and staff of life.
mean ignorant world
Good sense and good-nature are never separated, though the ignorant world has thought otherwise. Good-nature, by which I mean beneficence and candor, is the product of right reason.
truth mean common
We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what they help distribute to the public; by which means a falsehood once received from a famed writer becomes traditional to posterity.
mean hands pimp
But when to sin our biased nature leans, The careful Devil is still at hand with means; And providently pimps for ill desires.
chose discourse nearest rugged verse
And this unpolished rugged verse I chose / As fittest for discourse and nearest prose.
though warm
And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm
poor ten thousand torture word
And torture one poor word ten thousand ways.
child thus
And thus the child imposes on the man.
image scattered wide
And, wide as his command, / Scattered his Maker's image through the land.
age genius includes particular studies universal
Every age has a kind of universal genius, which includes those that live in it to some particular studies
glorious sons treason
During his office, treason was no crime. / The sons of Belial had a glorious time.
bless dying gave hand
Dying bless the hand that gave the blow.
below dive errors pearls search surface
Errors like straws upon the surface flow: Who would search for pearls must dive below