John Wilmot

“Dead, we become the lumber of the world.”

“Thus, Statesman-like, I'll saucily impose, And, safe from Danger, valiantly advise; Sheltered in Impotence, urge you to Blows, And, being good for nothing else, be Wise.”

“So, when my Days of Impotence approach, And I'm by Pox and Wine's unlucky chance Driv'n from the pleasing Billows of debauch On the dull Shore of lazy Temperance;My Pains at least some Respite shall afford While I behold the Battles you maintain When Fleets of Glasses sail about the Board, From whose Broad-sides Volleys of Wit shall rain.”

“Thou treacherous, base deserter of my flame, False to my passion, fatal to my fame, Through what mistaken magic dost thou prove So true to lewdness, so untrue to love?”

“Naked she lay, clasped in my longing arms, I filled with love, and she all over charms; Both equally inspired with eager fire, Melting through kindness, flaming in desire. With arms, legs, lips close clinging to embrace.”

“But cowards shall forget to rant,Schoolboys to frig, old whores to paint;The Jesuits’ fraternityShall leave the use of buggery;Crab-louse, inspired with grace divine,From earthly cod to heaven shall climb;Physicians shall believe in Jesus,And disobedience cease to please us,Ere I desist with all my powerTo plague this woman and undo her.”

“Such nat’ral freedoms are but just:There’s something gen’rous in mere lust.But to turn a damn’d abandon’d jadeWhen neither head nor tail persuade;To be a whore in understanding,A passive pot for fools to spend in!”

“So a proud bitch does lead aboutOf humble curs the amorous rout,Who most obsequiously do hunt The sav’ry scent of salt-swol'n cunt.”

“But mark what creatures women are:How infinitely vile, when fair!”

“Much wine had past, with grave discourse,Of who fucks who, and who does worse.”

“The world appears like a great family, Whose lord, oppressed with pride and poverty, (That to the few great bounty he may show) Is fain to starve the numerous train below.”

“But a meek humble Man of modest Sense, Who, Preaching Peace, does practice Continence; Whose pious life's a proof he does believe, Mysterious Truths, which no Man can conceive. If upon Earth there dwell such God-like Men, I'll here Recant my Paradox to them; Adore those Shrines of Virtue, homage pay, And, with the rabble world, their Laws obey. If such there are, yet grant me This at least, Man differs more from Man, than Man from Beast.”

“Most Men are Cowards, all Men should be Knaves. The Difference lies, as far as I can see, Not in the thing it self, but the Degree.”

“For all Men would be Cowards if they durst: And Honesty's against all common Sense.”

“For Wits are treated just like Common Whores; First they're enjoy'd, and then kickt out of Doors.”

“Then Old Age, and Experience, hand in hand, Lead him to death, and make him understand, After a Search so painful, and so long, That all his Life he has been in the wrong.”

“Whilst the misguided Follower climbs with Pain, Mountains of Whimsies, heapt in his own Brain, Stumbling from Thought to Thought, falls headlong down Into Doubt's boundless Sea, where like to drown, Books bear him up a-while, and make him try To swim with Bladders of Philosophy.”

“Reason, an Ignis fatuus of the Mind, Which leaves the light of Nature, Sense, behind.”

“Were I, who to my Cost already am One of those strange, prodigious Creatures Man, A Spirit free, to choose for my own Share, What sort of Flesh and Blood I pleas'd to wear, I'd be a Dog, a Monkey, or a Bear, Or any thing, but that vain Animal, Who is so proud of being Rational.”

“He saw her lovely bosom bare,Her strawberry nipples made him stare.”