Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
Samuel Butler (1612–1680)Extracts from Miscellanies: Upon the Weakness and Misery of Man
O
Our pleasures but fantastical.
Diseases of their own accord,
But cures come difficult and hard.
Our noblest piles and stateliest rooms
Are but outhouses to our tombs;
Cities though ne’er so great and brave
But mere warehouses to the grave.
Our bravery ’s but a vain disguise
To hide us from the world’s dull eyes,
The remedy of a defect
With which our nakedness is decked,
Yet makes us smile with pride and boast
As if we had gained by being lost.