Ben Jonson. To John Donne

To John Donne by Ben Jonson
DONNE, the delight of Phoebus, and each Muse, Who, to thy one, all other braines refuse ; Whose every work, of thy most early wit, Came forth example, and remaines so, yet ; Longer a knowing, than most wits do live ; And which no affection praise enough can give ! To it, thy language, letters, arts, best life, Which might with halfe mankinde maintaine a strife ; All which I meant to praise, and, yet, I would ; But leave, because I cannot as I should !
Source: The Oxford Book of Seventeenth Century Verse. H. J. C. Grierson and G. Bullough, eds. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934. 150.

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