John Dryden (1631

Three poets, in three distant ages born,
Greece, Italy, and England did adorn.
The first in loftiness of thought surpassed,
The next in majesty, in both the last:
The force of Nature could no farther go;
To make a third she joined the former two.

 

ATTRIBUTION: John Dryden (1631-1700), British poet. Lines Printed under the Engraved Portrait of Milton (l. 1-6). . .