Horace, with sly insinuating grace,
Laugh’d at his friend, and look’d him in the face;
Would raise a blush where secret vice he found,
And tickle while he gently probed the wound;
With seeming innocence the crowd beguiled,
But made the desperate passes when he smiled.

— John Dryden Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

More quotes by John Dryden

Aureng-Zebe (1676)

Absalom and Achitophel (1681)

The Works of Virgil (1697)

A Song for St. Cecilia's Day (1687)

Œdipus (1679)

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Dryden (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.