EPIGRAMS SELECTED BY обм R. M. LEONARD Um Others... in short poemes vttered pretie merry conceits, and these HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK 1915 PREFACE THE Oxford Dictionary defines an epigram as (i) an inscription, especially one placed upon a building, tomb, statue, &c., to indicate its name or dedication; (ii) a short poem ending in a witty or ingenious turn of thought, to which the rest of the composition is intended to lead up; (iii) a pointed or antithetical saying. It is with the second definition, first employed, apparently, in English literature by Leland in 1538, that this collection chiefly complies. Mr. A. S. West, in his recently published Wit and Wisdom from Martial, declares that 'Martial's claim to literary greatness and originality rests on the fact that it was he who fixed the type of what was henceforth to be regarded as true epigram'. But such an opinion has not always found acceptance. Ben Jonson was accused, by Dekker it seems, of wanting the tongue of epigram', but he was an unrepentant rebel when he wrote: It will be looked for, Book, when some but see Thou should'st be bold, licentious, full of gall, As madmen stones; not caring whom they hit. A much more modern authority has complained of the unwarrantable' restriction of the word to satirical verse, roundly declaring that an epigram 289979 may be elegy, satire, love-poem, proverbial philosophy, or bon mot. All classes of epigrams, which are not profane or obscene or outrageously vulgar, will be found in this book, but the great majority conform to the Martial standard: they are brief and witty, and many have honey and sting-or in Blake's words a hang-noose at the end'. Many epigrams have been made on the epigram, and a few of these will be found under the heading of literature. I have excluded anonymous work, except in the case of a few English translations of classical and other foreign epigrams. The field is an immense one, for epigrammatic literature would fill a considerable library. There have been, too, many collections of epigrams, though not of late, for the art has fallen on evil days. No late gleaner should refrain from expressing his admiration of the collection made by the Rev. H. P. Dodd, of Pembroke College, Oxford, of which a second edition was published in Bohn's Library forty years ago. I have found this book especially useful in affording clues to unsuspected sources, and in helping to trace offspring to their true authors. A rough classification has been attempted, but there is necessarily some overlapping. My obligations to the owners of copyright epigrams are acknowledged in the notes, and I have to thank Mr. Charles Llewelyn Davies, who generously placed at my disposal at the eleventh hour a manuscript collection of his own compilation. R. M. L. EPIGRAMS POLITICAL AND PERSONAL Of Treason TREASON doth never prosper : what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason. SIR J. HARINGTON. On Charles II HERE lies our sovereign Lord the King, Who never said a foolish thing Nor ever did a wise one. EARL OF ROCHESTER. To an Officer in the Army (Intended to allay the violence of Party Spirit) God bless the King !-I mean the Faith's Defender; God bless us all!-that's quite another thing. J. BYROM. |