Absalom and Achitophel
John Dryden (1681)
In pious times, ere party-strife
With black and bloody arts was rife,
A poet could not fail to praise,
When all the world was in a blaze
Of love and loyalty. The times
Have changed, and I must change my rhymes.
In those good days, when all was well,
And every man had tales to tell,
The king upon his throne did sit,
And all was peace and love in it.
But now the scene is altered quite,
And faction reigns instead of right.
麦克·弗莱克诺
Mac Flecknoe
All human things are subject to decay,
And when Fate summons, monarchs must obey.
This Flecknoe found, who, like Augustus, young
Was called to empire, and had governed long;
In prose and verse was owned, without dispute,
Through all the realms of Nonsense, absolute.
This aged prince, now flourishing in peace,
And blest with issue of a large increase,
Worn out with business, did at length debate
To settle the succession of the state;
And, pondering which of all his sons was fit
To reign, and wage immortal war with wit,
Cried: "'Tis resolved, for Nature pleads that he
Should only rule who most resembles me.
Shadwell alone my perfect image bears,
Mature in dulness from his tender years;
Shadwell alone, of all my sons, is he
Who stands confirmed in full stupidity.
The rest to some faint meaning make pretence,
But Shadwell never deviates into sense."