John Dryden

On Mrs. Margaret Paston, of Barningham, in Norfolk

SO fair, so young, so innocent, so sweet,
So ripe a Judgment, and so rare a Wit,
Require at least an Age in one to meet.
In her they met; but long they could not stay,
’T was Gold too fine to fix without Allay.
Heav’n’s Image was in her so well exprest,
Her very sight upbraided all the rest;
Too justly ravish’d from an Age like this,
Now she is gone, the World is of a Piece.