 I'll try to make their several beauties known, And show their verses worth tho' not my own. .Long had our dull forefathers slept supine, Nor felt the raptures of the tuneful Nine, Till Chaucer first, a merry bard, arose, And many a story told in rhyme...  The Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Addison - Page 37by Joseph Addison - 1840Full view - About this book
 | Cambridge (England) - 1874 - 826 pages
...II. xxm. 59. ' 'Till Chaucer first a merry bard arose, And many a story told in rhyme and prose: Rut age has rusted what the poet writ. Worn out his language and obscur'd his wit. from the imitative character of the composition of the Flavian period : and such studies were fostered... | |
 | Joseph Addison - 1875 - 760 pages
...strength, I '11 try to make their several beauties known, And show their verses' worth, though not my own. Long had our dull forefathers slept -supine, Nor felt the raptures of the tuneful Nine; 10 Till Chaucer first, the merry bard, arose, ll And many a story told in rhyme and prose. But age... | |
 | Walter Hamilton - Poets laureate - 1879 - 344 pages
...Notwithstanding all the keys and glossaries which have been written, Addison justly remarks : — " Long had our dull forefathers slept supine, Nor felt...rusted what the poet writ, Worn out his language and obscured his wit : In vain he jests in his unpolish'd strain, And tries to make his readers laugh in... | |
 | Henry Morley - English literature - 1879 - 708 pages
...school, anil followed the polite taste of the day. Of Chaucer he said that he was " a merry bard : " " But age has rusted what the poet writ, Worn out his...his wit: In vain he jests in his unpolish'd strain, Ami tries to make his readers laugh in vain. Old Spenser next, warm'd with poetic rage, In ancient... | |
 | Henry Morley - English literature - 1879 - 706 pages
...taste of the day. Of Chaucer he said that he was ' ' a merry ban! : ' ' " But age has rusted what tho poet writ, Worn out his language, and obscur'd his wit; In vain he jests in his unpolish'd strain, A ml tries to make his readers laugh in vain. Old Spenser next, warm'd with poetic rage, In ancient... | |
 | Henry Morley - English literature - 1879 - 712 pages
...school, and followed the polite taste of the day. Of Chaucer he said that he was " a merry bard : " " But age has rusted what the poet writ. Worn out his language, and obscurM his wit: In vain he jests in his unpolish'd strain, And tries to make his readers laugh in... | |
 | Joseph Addison - 1880 - 596 pages
...voice. , I'll try to make their several beauties known, And show their verses worth, tho' not my own. Long had our dull forefathers slept supine, Nor felt the raptures of the tuneful Nine ; JTill Chaucer first, a merry bard, arose, And many a story told in rhyme and prose. But age has rusted... | |
 | 1881 - 704 pages
...the perseverance sufficient to decipher his pages. He may still be a " well of English undefiled "; ' But age has rusted what the poet writ, Worn out his language, and obscured his wit ; In vain he jests In his unpolished strain, And tries to make his readers laugh in... | |
 | Richard Chenevix Trench - English language - 1881 - 408 pages
...the language — as one the whole significance of whose antiquated verse has for ever passed away : ' But age has rusted what the poet writ, Worn out his language, and obscured his wit. In vain he jests in his unpolished strain, And tries to make his readers laugh in... | |
 | 1881 - 700 pages
...perseverance sufficient to decipher his pages. He may still be a " well of English undefiled "; ' Bat age has rusted what the poet writ, Worn out his language, and obscured 'his wit; In vain he jests In his unpolished strain, And tries to make his readers laugh in... | |
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