Hence, all ye vain delights by John Fletcher.

From “The Nice

Valour,” Act III. Sc. 3.

HENCE, all ye vain delights,
As short as are the nights
Wherein you spend your folly!
There ’s naught in this life sweet,
If man were wise to see’t
But only melancholy,
O, sweetest melancholy!

Welcome, folded arms, and fixèd eyes,
A sigh that piercing mortifies,
A look that’s fastened to the ground,
A tongue chained up without a sound!

Fountain-heads and pathless groves,
Places which pale passion loves!
Moonlight walks, when all the fowls
Are warmly housed save bats and owls!
A midnight bell, a parting groan!
These are the sounds we feed upon;
Then stretch our bones in a still gloomy valley:
Nothing’s so dainty sweet as lovely melancholy.