John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Sir Henry Wotton 1568-1639 John Bartlett
| 1 |
| How happy is he born or taught, That serveth not another’s will; Whose armour is his honest thought, And simple truth his utmost skill! |
| The Character of a Happy Life. |
| 2 |
| Who God doth late and early pray More of his grace than gifts to lend; And entertains the harmless day With a religious book or friend. |
| The Character of a Happy Life. |
| 3 |
| Lord of himself, though not of lands; And having nothing, yet hath all. 1 |
| The Character of a Happy Life. |
| 4 |
| You meaner beauties of the night, That poorly satisfy our eyes More by your number than your light; You common people of the skies,— What are you when the moon 2 shall rise? |
| On his Mistress, the Queen of Bohemia. 3 |
| 5 |
| He first deceased; she for a little tried To live without him, liked it not, and died. |
| Upon the Death of Sir Albert Morton’s Wife. |
| 6 |
| I am but a gatherer and disposer of other men’s stuff. |
| Preface to the Elements of Architecture. |
| 7 |
| Hanging was the worst use a man could be put to. |
| The Disparity between Buckingham and Essex. |
| 8 |
| An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the commonwealth. 4 |
| Reliquiæ Wottonianæ |
| 9 |
| The itch of disputing will prove the scab of churches. 5 |
| A Panegyric to King Charles. |
| Note 1. As having nothing, and yet possessing all things.—2 Corinth. vi. 10. [back] |
| Note 2. ”Sun” in Reliquiæ Wottonianæ (eds. 1651, 1654, 1672, 1685). [back] |
| Note 3. This was printed with music as early as 1624, in Est’s “Sixth Set of Books,” etc., and is found in many MSS.—Hannah: The Courtly Poets. [back] |
| Note 4. In a letter to Velserus, 1612, Wotton says, “This merry definition of an ambassador I had chanced to set down at my friend’s, Mr. Christopher Fleckamore, in his Album.” [back] |
| Note 5. He directed the stone over his grave to be inscribed:— DISPUTANDI PRURITUS ECCLESIARUM SCABIES. Nomen alias quære (Here lies the author of this phrase: “The itch for disputing is the sore of churches.” Seek his name elsewhere). Izaak Walton: Life of Wotton. [back] |