This gift alone I shall her give:
When death doth what he can,
Her honest fame shall ever live
Within the mouth of man.
John Heywood [1497?-1580?]
ON A CERTAIN LADY AT COURT
I know a thing that's most uncommon;
(Envy, be silent and attend!)
I know a reasonable woman,
Handsome and witty, yet a friend.
Not warped by passion, awed by rumor;
Not grave through pride, nor gay through folly;
An equal mixture of good-humor
And sensible soft melancholy.
"Has she no faults then, (Envy says), Sir?"
Yes, she has one, I must aver:
When all the world conspires to praise her,
The woman's deaf, and does not hear.
Alexander Pope [1688-1744]