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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

4661 John Edwin 1749-1790 John Bartlett

 
NUMBER:4661
AUTHOR:John Edwin (1749–1790)
QUOTATION:A man’s ingress into the world is naked and bare,
His progress through the world is trouble and care;
And lastly, his egress out of the world, is nobody knows where.
If we do well here, we shall do well there:
I can tell you no more if I preach a whole year. 1
ATTRIBUTION:The Eccentricities of John Edwin (second edition), vol. i. p. 74. London, 1791.
 
Note 1.
These lines Edwin offers as heads of a “sermon.” Longfellow places them in the mouth of “The Cobbler of Hagenau,” as a “familiar tune.” See “The Wayside Inn, part ii. The Student’s Tale.” [back]