ON THE EARL OF DORSETS DEATH.

Let no prophane, ignoble foot tread here,

This hallowed piece of earth, Dorset lyes there:

A small poor relique of a noble spirit,

Free as the air, and ample as his merit:

A soul refin’d, no proud forgetting lord,

But mindful of mean names, and of his word:

Who lov’d men for his honour, not his ends,

And had the noblest way of getting friends

By loving first, and yet who knew the court,

But understood it better by report

Than practice: he nothing took from thence

But the kings favour for his recompence.

Who, for religion or his countreys good,

Neither his honour valued, nor his blood.

Rich in the worlds opinion, and mens praise,

And full in all we could desire, but days.

He that is warn’d of this, and shall forbear

To vent a sigh for him, or shed a tear,

May he live long scorn’d, and unpitied fall,

And want a mourner at his funeral!

The Poems of Richard Corbet, late bishop of Oxford and of Norwich 4th edition · 第 85 / 117 题