The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 2 - With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by John Dryden
page 84 of 458 (18%)
page 84 of 458 (18%)
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For all thy blest fraternity of love
Solemnized there thy birth, and kept thy holiday above. IV. O gracious God! how far have we Profaned thy heavenly gift of Poesy! Made prostitute and profligate the Muse, Debased to each obscene and impious use, Whose harmony was first ordain'd above For tongues of angels, and for hymns of love! O wretched we! why were we hurried down This lubrique and adulterate age, (Nay added fat pollutions of our own,) To increase the streaming ordures of the stage? What can we say to excuse our second fall? Let this thy vestal, Heaven, atone for all: Her Arethusian stream remains unsoil'd, Unmix'd with foreign filth, and undefiled: Her wit was more than man, her innocence a child. V. Art she had none, yet wanted none; For nature did that want supply: So rich in treasures of her own, She might our boasted stores defy: Such noble vigour did her verse adorn, That it seem'd borrow'd where 'twas only born. Her morals too were in her bosom bred. |
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