John Dryden

When he spoke, what tender words he used! So softly, that like flakes of feathered snow, They melted as they read more

When he spoke, what tender words he used! So softly, that like flakes of feathered snow, They melted as they fell.

To take up half on trust, and half to try,
Name it not faith but bungling bigotry.

To take up half on trust, and half to try,
Name it not faith but bungling bigotry.

I am as free as nature first made man,
Ere the base laws of servitude began,
When read more

I am as free as nature first made man,
Ere the base laws of servitude began,
When wild in woods the noble savage ran.

Stiff in opinion, always in the wrong.

Stiff in opinion, always in the wrong.

Old as I am, for ladies' love unfit,
The power of beauty I remember yet,
Which once read more

Old as I am, for ladies' love unfit,
The power of beauty I remember yet,
Which once inflam'd my soul, and still inspires my wit.