John Davies of Hereford

John Davies of Hereford (c. 1565 – July 1618) was an Anglo-Welsh writer and poet.

Quotes

• "Gods me! how now! what present have we here?”
    “A Book that stood in peril of the press;
  But now it’s past those pikes, and doth appear
    To keep the lookers on from heaviness.”
  “What stuff contains it?”—“Fustian, perfect spruce.
    Wit’s gallimalfry, or wit fried in steaks.”
  “From whom came it, a God’s name?”—“From his Muse,
    (Oh do not tell!) that still your favour seeks.”
  “And who is that?”—“Truth that is I.”—“What I?
    I per se I, great I, you would say.”—“No!
  Great I indeed you well may say; but I
    Am little i, the least of all the row.”
  • Quoted as one of the "Prelude of Mottoes" in Robert Southey's The Doctor, &c. (1835) vol. 3, p. vii. Different version quoted as epigraph in Frank E. Smedley's Frank Fairlegh (1850) title page:

    How now! good lack! what present have we here?
    A Book that goes in peril of the press;
    But now it’s past those pikes, and doth appear
    To keep the lookers-on from heaviness.
    What stuff contains it?

External links

• Encyclopedic article on John Davies of Hereford on Wikipedia