Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher

Yet what are they, the learned and the great?
Awhile of longer wonderment the theme!
Who shall read more

Yet what are they, the learned and the great?
Awhile of longer wonderment the theme!
Who shall presume to prophesy their date,
Where nought is certain save the uncertainty of fate?
- Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher,

Fortune, now see, now proudly
Pluck off thy veil, and view thy triumph; look,
Look what thou read more

Fortune, now see, now proudly
Pluck off thy veil, and view thy triumph; look,
Look what thou hast brought this land to!--

This is a pretty flimflam.

This is a pretty flimflam.

It is always good
When a man has two irons in the fire.

It is always good
When a man has two irons in the fire.

That place that does contain
My books, the best companions, is to me
A glorious court, where read more

That place that does contain
My books, the best companions, is to me
A glorious court, where hourly I converse
With the old sages and philosophers;
And sometimes, for variety, I confer
With kings and emperors, and weigh their counsels;
Calling their victories, if unjustly got,
Unto a strict account, and, in my fancy,
Deface their ill-placed statues.