Woes cluster. Rare are solitary woes;

They love a train, they tread each other's heel.

Edward Young (1684-1765): Night Thoughts. Night iii. Line 63.

And what is so rare as a day in June?

Then, if ever, come perfect days;

Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,

And over it softly her warm ear lays.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891): The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Part First.

Exceeding fair she was not; and yet fair

In that she never studied to be fairer

Than Nature made her; beauty cost her nothing,

Her virtues were so rare.

George Chapman (1557-1634): All Fools. Act i. Sc. 1.

Pretty! in amber to observe the forms

Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms!

The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare,

But wonder how the devil they got there.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 169.

And new-laid eggs, which Baucis' busy care

Turn'd by a gentle fire and roasted rare.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book viii. Baucis and Philemon, Line 97.

Rich and rare were the gems she wore,

And a bright gold ring on her wand she bore.

Thomas Moore (1779-1852): Rich and rare were the Gems she wore.