EPITAPH ON CHARLES II
THE CHARACTER OF SHAFTESBURY

(From Absalom and Achitophel)

OF these the false Achitophel was first,

A name to all succeeding ages curst :

For close designs and crooked counsels fit,

Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit,

Restless, unfixed in principles and place,

In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace :

A fiery soul, which working out its way,

Fretted the pigmy body to decay

And o'er-informed the tenement of clay.

A daring pilot in extremity, 10

Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high,

He sought the storms ; but, for a calm unfit,

Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit.

Great wits are sure to madness near allied

And thin partitions do their bounds divide ;

Else, why should he, with wealth and honour blest,

Refuse his age the needful hours of rest ?

Punish a body which he could not please,

Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease ?

And all to leave what with his toil he won 20

To that unfeathered two-legged thing, a son.

JOHN DRYDEN

EPITAPH ON CHARLES II
HERE lies our sovereign Lord the King,
Whose word no man relies on,
Who never said a foolish thing
Nor never did a wise one.
EARL OF ROCHESTER
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