Page 268

John Dryden. (1631–1700) (continued)

2930

The people’s prayer, the glad diviner’s theme,
The young men’s vision, and the old men’s dream!1

Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 238.

2931

Behold him setting in his western skies,
The shadows lengthening as the vapours rise.2

Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 268.

2932

Than a successive title long and dark,
Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah’s ark.

Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 301.

2933

Not only hating David, but the king.

Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 512.

2934

Who think too little, and who talk too much.3

Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 534.

2935

A man so various, that he seem’d to be
Not one, but all mankind’s epitome;
Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong,
Was everything by starts, and nothing long;
But in the course of one revolving moon
Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon.4

Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 545.

2936

So over violent, or over civil,
That every man with him was God or Devil.

Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 557.

2937

His tribe were God Almighty’s gentlemen.5

Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 645.

2938

Him of the western dome, whose weighty sense
Flows in fit words and heavenly eloquence.

Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 868.

Note 1.
Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.—Joel ii. 28. [back]

Note 2.
Like our shadows,
Our wishes lengthen as our sun declines.
Edward Young: Night Thoughts, night v. line 661. [back]

Note 3.
They always talk who never think.—Matthew Prior: Upon a Passage in the Scaligerana. [back]

Note 4.
Grammaticus, rhetor, geometres, pictor, aliptes,
Augur, schœnobates, medicus, magus, omnia novit
(Grammarian, orator, geometrician; painter, gymnastic teacher, physician; fortune-teller, rope-dancer, conjurer,—he knew everything).—Juvenal: Satire iii. line 76. [back]

Note 5.
A Christian is God Almighty’s gentleman.—Julius Hare: Guesses at Truth.

A Christian is the highest style of man.—Edward Young: Night Thoughts, night iv. line 788. [back]