40. Cf. Ode on Eton College, 55-70 and 81-90

45-48. Cf. Shakespeare, As You Like It, ii. 1:

"these are counsellors That feelingly persuade me what I am. Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;"

and Mallet:

"Who hath not known ill-fortune, never knew Himself, or his own virtue."