Restoration Era Quotes

“And then for English verses, he said, they could not be certain of lasting applause, the changes of our language being so great and sudden, that the rarest poems within few years will pass for obsolete; and therefore he used to liken the writers in English verse to ladies, that have their pictures drawn with the clothes now worn, which, though at present never so rich, and never so much in fashion, within a few years hence will make them look like anticks.”
― Robert Boyle, Robert Boyle: By Himself and His Friends: With a Fragment of William Wotton's 'Lost Life of Boyle'

“Our brave good Master, wha right wisely fled,
And left a fair Estate to save his Head,
Because ye ken fou well he bravely chose
To stand his Liege's Friend with great MONTROSE.
Now Cromwell's gone to Nick; and ane called Monk
Has played the Rumple a richt slee Begunk,
Restor'd King CHARLES and ilka Thing's in tune;
And Habby says we'll see Sir WILLIAM soon.”
― Allan Ramsay, The Gentle Shepherd