Quote#Wisdom
What gentle ghost, besprent with April dew
Quote byBen Jonson · 1572–1637
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Elegy on the Lady Jane Pawlet, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919); comparable to "What beckoning ghost along the moonlight shade / Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade?", Alexander Pope, in To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady..
English (original)
What gentle ghost, besprent with April dew, Hails me so solemnly to yonder yew?
— Ben Jonson
More from Ben Jonson
Queen and huntress, chaste and fair, Now the sun is laid to sleep, Seated in thy silver chair, State in wonted manner keep: Hesperus entreats thy light, Goddess, excellently bright.
That old bald cheater, Time.
Slow, slow, fresh fount, keep time with my salt tears: Yet, slower, yet; O faintly, gentle springs: List to the heavy part the music bears, Woe weeps out her division, when she sings. Droop herbs, and flowers, Fall grief in showers,
True happiness Consists not in the multitude of friends, But in the worth and choice.
There shall be no love lost.
Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant; and of all tame, a flatterer.