Thomas Warton

All human race, from China to Peru, Pleasure, howe’er disguis’d by art, pursue.

Nor rough, nor barren, are the winding ways Of hoar antiquity, but strown with flowers.

We are apt to form romantic and exaggerated notions about the moral innocence of our ancestors. Ages of ignorance and simplicity are thought to be ages of purity. The direct contrary, I believe, is the case...In the middle ages, not only …

O! what's a table richly spread Without a woman at its head!

Ye fetted pinnacles, ye fanes sublime, Ye towers that wear the mossy vest of time; Ye massy piles of old munificence, At once the pride of learning and defence; Ye cloisters pale, that, lengthening to the sight, To contemplation, step by …