¶ Dotage.
FAlse glozing1 pleasures, casks of happinesse, Foolish night-fires, womens and childrens wishes, Chases in Arras, guilded emptinesse, Shadows well mounted, dreams in a career, Embroiderd lyes, nothing between two dishes; These are the pleasures here. True earnest sorrows, rooted miseries, Anguish in grain, vexations ripe and blown, Sure-footed griefs, solid calamities, Plain demonstrations, evident and cleare, Fetching their proofs evn from the very bone; These are the sorrows here. But oh the folly of distracted men, Who griefs in earnest, joyes in jest pursue; Preferring, like brute beasts, a lothsome den Before a court, evn that above so cleare, Where are no sorrows, but delights more true Then2 miseries are here! |
1 glozing. Flattering, coaxing, cajoling. (Oxford English Dictionary) [Return] 2 then can mean "than" or "then." [Return] Dotage. The state of one who has his/her intellect impaired, as through age or defect. Foolish affection. (Oxford English Dictionary) |
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