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Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon Quotes

d. 1685 Ireland

Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon (c. 1633 – 18 January 1685), English poet, was born in Ireland about 1630. He was a nephew of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, and was educated partly under a tutor at his uncle's seat in Yorkshire, partly at Caen in Normandy and partly at Rome.

Ireland
Poets

Also known as: Wentworth Dillon, Wentworth Dillon, Earl of Roscommon

Random Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon quote

15 quotes

Immodest words admit of no defence,
For want of decency is want of sense.

Essay on Translated Verse (1684)

Abstruse and mystic thoughts you must express
With painful care, but seeming easiness;
For truth shines brightest thro' the plainest dress.

The first great work (a task performed by few)
Is that yourself may to yourself be true.

'Tis I that call, remember Milo's end,
Wedged in that timber which he strove to rend.

The press, the pulpit, and the stage,
Conspire to censure and expose our age.

But words once spoke can never be recall'd.

Men still had faults, and men will have them still;
He that hath none, and lives as angels do,
Must be an angel.

The multitude is always in the wrong.

Essay on Translated Verse (1684)

Thou whom avenging pow'rs obey,
Cancel my debt (too great to pay)
Before the sad accounting day.

Pride (of all others the most dang'rous fault)
Proceeds from want of sense, or want of thought.

Remember Milo's end,
Wedged in that timber which he strove to rend.

Essay on Translated Verse (1684)

Take pains the genuine meaning to explore,
There sweat, there strain, tug the laborious oar;
Search every comment that your care can find,
Some here, some there, may hit the poet's mind.

Essay on Translated Verse (1684)

Hail mighty Maro! may that sacred name
Kindle my breast with thy celestial flame;
Sublime ideas and apt words infuse,
The Muse instruct my voice, and thou inspire the Muse!

Essay on Translated Verse (1684)

Then, seek a poet who your way does bend,
And choose an author as you choose a friend;
United by this sympathetic bond,
You grow familiar, intimate and fond;
Your thoughts, your words, your styles, your souls agree,
No longer his interpreter, but he.

Essay on Translated Verse (1684)

My God, my Father, and my Friend,
Do not forsake me at my end.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.