THE REVIVAL OF SCIENCE 141 



The barren Wilderness he past, 



Did on the very Border stand 



Of the blest promis'd Land, 

 And from the Mountains Top of his Exalted Wit, 



Saw it himself, and shewed us it. 

 But Life did never to one Man allow 

 Time to Discover Worlds, and Conquer too ; 

 Nor can so short a Line sufficient be 

 To f adome the vast depths of Natures Sea : 



The work he did we ought t' admire 

 And were unjust if we should more require 

 From his few years, divided 'twixt th' Excess 

 Of low Affliction, and high Happiness. 

 For who on things remote can fix his sight, 

 That's alwayes in a Triumph, or a Fight? 



Donne, who, like Cowley, indulged in 

 quaint poetical conceits and who founded a 

 new school of poetry, abjuring classical con- 

 ventions and classical characters, and treating 

 of topics and objects of everyday life, was not 

 afraid of realism. "Upon common objects," 

 Dr. Johnson tells us, he was "unnecessarily 

 and unpoetically subtle." Time limits us to 

 one quotation: 



Marke but this flea, and marke in this, 

 How little that which thou deny'st me is ; 

 It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee, 

 And in this flea, our two bloods mingled bee. 



