DESCENT, You'll grant, is not alone nobility, Will you not? Never yet was line so long, But it beginning had: and that was found In rarity of nature, giving one Advantage over many; aptitude For arms, for counsel, so superlative As baffled all competitors, and made The many glad to follow him as guide Or safeguard; and with title to endow him, For his high honour, or to gain some end Supposed propitious to the general weal, On those who should descend from him entail'd. Not in descent alone, then, lies degree, Which from descent to nature may be traced, Its proper fount! And that, which nature did, You'll grant she may be like to do again; And in a very peasant, yea, a slave, Enlodge the worth that roots the noble tree. I trust I seem not bold, to argue so. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MAIDEN QUEEN: SONG by JOHN DRYDEN THE ARAB TO HIS FAVORITE STEED by CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH SHERIDAN NORTON A ROW IN AN OMNIBUS BOX; A LEGEND OF THE HAYMARKET by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM CANTO 27; WA-BE-NO-KA by LEVI BISHOP BUILDING THE LIBRARY, TOKYO UNIVERSITY; NIGHT SCENE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |