The Highest Panegyric, Therefore, That Private Virtue

The Present Is Never A Happy State To Any Human Being.

When I First Collected These Authorities, I Was Desirous That Every Quotation Should Be Useful To Some Other End Than The Illustration Of A Word; I Therefore Extracted From Philosophers Principles Of Science; From Historians Remarkable Facts; From Chymists Complete Processes; From Divines Striking Exhortations; And From Poets Beautiful Descriptions.

It Is Dangerous For Mortal Beauty, Or Terrestrial Virtue, To Be Examined By Too Strong A Light. The Torch Of Truth Shows Much That We Cannot, And All That We Would Not, See.

Fine Clothes Are Good Only As They Supply The Want Of Other Means Of Procuring Respect.

But Grant, The Virtues Of A Temp'rate Prime Bless With An Age Exempt From Scorn Or Crime; An Age That Melts With Unperceived Decay, And Glides In Modest Innocence Away