If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguiled,
Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss
The second burden of a former child!
O, that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique¹ book,
Since mind at first in character was done!
That I might see what the old world could say
To this composed wonder of your frame;
Whether we are mended, or whether better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.
  O, sure I am, the wits² of former days
  To subjects worse have given admiring praise.

如果天下无新事，现在的种种
从前都有过，我们的头脑多上当，
当它苦心要创造，却怀孕成功
一个前代有过的婴孩的重担！
哦，但愿历史能用回溯的眼光
（纵使太阳已经运行了五百周），
在古书里对我显示你的肖像，
自从心灵第一次写成了句读！--
让我晓得古人曾经怎样说法，
关于你那雍容的体态的神奇；
是我们高明，还是他们优越，
或者所谓演变其实并无二致。
　　哦，我敢肯定，不少才子在前代
　　曾经赞扬过远不如你的题材。