| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | The Black Doublet | | By Paul Scarron (1610–1660) |
| | Translated by R. H.
(London Magazine, 1820)
YE monuments of human power and pride! | |
| Ye pyramids and tombs of structure vain! | |
| In you Art triumphs, human toils and pain | |
| Have vanquished Nature and her power defied— | |
| Ye temples vast that ruins still abide, | 5 |
| And thou, last pledge of Rome’s imperial reign, | |
| Bold Coliseum! red with many a stain, | |
| Where Romans shouted while their victims died— | |
| Time’s hand shall drag you from your high estate, | |
| Nor of your boasted pride a vestige leave;— | 10 |
| If marble then must yield its strength to fate, | |
| Oh, let me not with thankless bosom grieve, | |
| If my black doublet, now of three years date, | |
| Shows my bare elbow through the ragged sleeve. | | | | |
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