And seems designed for thoughtless majesty—
Thoughtless as monarch oaks that shade the plain,
And, spread in solemn state, supinely reign.
Heywood and Shirley were but types of thee,
Thou last great prophet of tautology!
Even I, a dunce of more renown than they,
Was sent before but to prepare thy way.”
John Dryden.
SATIRE ON EDWARD HOWARD
THEY lie, dear Ned, who say thy brain is barren,