Ben Jonson(1572–1637)
To Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland
T h a t p o e t s are far rarer b i r t h s t h a n k i n g s
Your noblest father proved; like whom before,
Or then, or since, about our Muses' springs,
Came not that soul exhausted so their store. 5
Hence was it that the destinies decreed
(Save that most masculine issue of his brain) 6
N o m a l e u n t o h i m ; w h o c o u l d s o e x c e e d
Nature, they thought, in all that he would fain.make
At which she, happily 7 displeased, made you,
On whom, if he were living now to look,
He should those rare and absolute numbers 8 view,
As he would burn or better far his book.