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I care not, Fortune, what you me deny: You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace, You cannot shut the windows of the sky Through which Aurora shows her brightening face; You cannot bar my constant feet to trace The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve: Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace, And I their toys to the great children leave: Of fancy, reason, virtue, naught can me bereave.

I care not, Fortune, what you me deny: You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace, You cannot shut the windows of the sky Through which Aurora shows her brightening face; You cannot bar my constant feet to trace The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve: Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace, And I their toys to the great children leave: Of fancy, reason, virtue, naught can me bereave.

Approximate author period: c. 1724 AD · early modern

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
James Thomson
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1724 AD · early modern
author lifetime midpoint
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Familiar Quotations, ninth edition (1905 printing) (1905 AD)

The Castle of Indolence. Canto ii. Stanza 3.

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.