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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=419883" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>To My Dear Friend Mr. Congreve On His Commedy Call'd The Double Dealer</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Well then; the promis'd hour is come at last;<br>The present age of wit obscures the past:<br>Strong were our sires; and as they fought they writ,<br>Conqu'ring with force of arms, and dint of wit;<br>Theirs was the giant race, before the Flood;<br>And thus, when Charles return'd, our empire stood.<br>Like Janus he the stubborn soil manur'd,<br>With rules of husbandry the rankness cur'd:<br>Tam'd us to manners, when the stage was rude;<br>And boisterous English wit, with art endu'd.<br>Our age was cultivated thus at length;<br>But what we gained in skill we lost in strength.<br>Our builders were, with want of genius, curst;<br>The second temple was not like the first:<br>Till you, the best Vitruvius, come at length;<br>Our beauties equal; but excel our strength.<br>Firm Doric pillars found your solid base:<br>The fair Corinthian crowns the higher space;<br>Thus all below is strength, and all above is grace.<br>In easy dialogue is Fletcher's praise:<br>He mov'd the mind, but had not power to raise.<br>Great Jonson did by strength of judgment please:<br>Yet doubling Fletcher's force, he wants his ease.<br>In differing talents both adorn'd their age;<br>One for the study, t'other for the stage.<br>But both to Congreve justly shall submit,<br>One match'd in judgment, both o'er-match'd in wit.<br>In him all beauties of this age we see;<br>Etherege's courtship, Southern's purity;<br>The satire, wit, and strength of manly Wycherly.<br>All this in blooming youth you have achiev'd;<br>Nor are your foil'd contemporaries griev'd;<br>So much the sweetness of your manners move,<br>We cannot envy you because we love.<br>Fabius might joy in Scipio, when he saw<br>A beardless Consul made against the law,<br>And join his suffrage to the votes of Rome;<br>Though he with Hannibal was overcome.<br>Thus old Romano bow'd to Raphael's fame;<br>And scholar to the youth he taught, became.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oh that your brows my laurel had sustain'd,<br>Well had I been depos'd, if you had reign'd!<br>The father had descended for the son;<br>For only you are lineal to the throne.<br>Thus when the State one Edward did depose;<br>A greater Edward in his room arose.<br>But now, not I, but poetry is curs'd;<br>For Tom the second reigns like Tom the first.<br>But let 'em not mistake my patron's part;<br>Nor call his charity their own desert.<br>Yet this I prophesy; thou shalt be seen,<br>(Tho' with some short parenthesis between <br>High on the throne of wit; and seated there,<br>Not mine (that's little) but thy laurel wear.<br>Thy first attempt an early promise made;<br>That early promise this has more than paid.<br>So bold, yet so judiciously you dare,<br>That your least praise, is to be regular.<br>Time, place, and action, may with pains be wrought,<br>But genius must be born; and never can be taught.<br>This is your portion; this your native store;<br>Heav'n that but once was prodigal before,<br>To Shakespeare gave as much; she could not give him more.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Maintain your post: that's all the fame you need;<br>For 'tis impossible you should proceed.<br>Already I am worn with cares and age;<br>And just abandoning th' ungrateful stage:<br>Unprofitably kept at Heav'n's expense,<br>I live a rent-charge on his providence:<br>But you, whom ev'ry muse and grace adorn,<br>Whom I foresee to better fortune born,<br>Be kind to my remains; and oh defend,<br>Against your judgment your departed friend!<br>Let not the insulting foe my fame pursue;<br>But shade those laurels which descend to you:<br>And take for tribute what these lines express:<br>You merit more; nor could my love do less.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=John+Dryden">John Dryden</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=419883" data-title="To My Dear Friend Mr. Congreve On His Commedy Call'd The Double Dealer de John Dryden" data-description="Well then; the promis'd hour is come at last;
The present age of wit obscures the past:
Strong were our sires; and as they fought they writ,
Conqu'ring with force of arms, and dint of wit;
Theirs was the giant race, before the Flood;
And thus, whe..."></div>
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