And eke that old and ancient chair,
Which is my only usual seat;
All these do tell me I must die,
And yet my life amend not I.
My ancestors are turn'd to clay,

And many of my mates are gone;
My youngers daily drop away,

And can I think to 'scape alone?
No, no; I know that I must die,
And yet my life amend not I.

If none can 'scape Death's dreadful dart,
If rich and poor his beck obey;
If strong, if wise, if all do smart,

Then I to 'scape shall have no way:
Then grant me grace, O God! that I
My life may mend, since I must die."

The stanzas headed Loss in Delays are also worth quoting.

"Shun delays, they breed remorse;

Take thy time, while time is lent thee;
Creeping snails have weakest force,

Fly their fault, lest thou repent thee.
Good is best, when soonest wrought,
Ling'ring labours come to nought.

Hoist up sail while gale doth last,

Tide and wind stay no man's pleasure:
Seek not time, when time is past,

Sober speed is wisdom's leisure.
After-wits are dearly bought,
Let thy fore-wit guide thy thought.

Time wears all his locks before,
Take thou hold upon his forehead;
When he flies, he turns no more,

And behind his scalp is naked.
Works adjourn'd have many stays;
Long demurs breed new delays.

Seek thy salve while sore is green,
Fester'd wounds ask deeper lancing:
After-cures are seldom seen,

Often sought, scarce ever chancing,

Time and place give best advice,
Out of season, out of price."

The following verses are in a more vivacious strain, and are aptly and beautifully written. The title of them is Love's Servile Lot.

Like winter-rose and summer-ice,
Her joys are still untimely ;
Before her hope, behind remorse,
Fair first-in fine unkindly.

Plough not the seas-sow not the sands—
Leave off your idle pain;

Seek other mistress for your minds-
Love's service is in vain."

These lines are characteristic of the author's turn of mind.

66

My conscience is my crown,
Contented thoughts, my rest;
My heart is happy in itself,
My bliss is in my breast.

Enough, I reckon wealth;
That mean, the surest lot,
That lies too high for base contempt,

Too low for envy's shot.

My wishes are but few,
All easy to fulfill:

I make the limits of my power
The bounds unto my will.

I fear no care for gold,
Well-doing is my wealth;
My mind to me an empire is,
While grace affordeth health.

I clip high-climbing thoughts,
The wings of swelling pride;
Their fall is worst, that from the height
Of greatest honour slide.

Since sails of largest size

The storm doth soonest tear;

I bear so low and small a sail
As freeth me from fear.

I wrestle not with rage,
While fury's flame doth burn;
It is vain to stop the stream
Until the tide doth turn.

But when the flame is out,
And ebbing wrath doth end,
I turn a late enraged foe
Into a quiet friend.

And taught with often proof,
A temper'd calm I find

To be most solace to itself,
Best cure for angry mind.

Spare diet is my fare,

My cloaths more fit than fine;
I know I feed and cloath a foe,
That pamper'd would repine.

I envy not their hap,

Whom favour doth advance;
I take no pleasure in their pain,
That have less happy chance.

To rise by others' fall

I deem a losing gain;

All states with others' ruin built,
To ruin run amain.

No change of Fortune's calm
Can cast my comforts down :
When Fortune smiles, I smile to think
How quickly she will frown.

And when, in froward mood,
She prov'd an angry foe,
Small gain I found, to let her come-
Less loss, to let her go."

The Epistle called The Triumphs over Death was composed on the death of Lady Margaret, the daughter of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and wife of the Honourable Robert Sackville, afterwards Earl of Dorset. Of this Lady, Southwell gives the following character, the excellence of which we hope will be an ample apology for its length.

"She was by birth second to none, but unto the first in the realm; yet she measured only greatness by goodness, making nobility but the mirror of virtue, as able to shew things worthy to be seen, as apt to draw many eyes to behold it; she suited her behaviour to her birth, and ennobled her birth with her piety, leaving her house more beholden to her for having honoured it with the glory of her virtues, than she was to it, for the titles of her degree; she was high-minded in nothing but in aspiring to perfection and in the disdain of vice; in other things covering her greatness with humility among her inferiors, and shewing it with courtesy amongst her peers.

Of the carriage of herself, and her sober government it may be sufficient testimony, that envy herself was dumb in her dispraise, finding in her much to repine at, but nought to reprove the clearness of her honour I need not to mention, she having always armed it with such modesty as taught the most untemperate tongues to be silent in her presence, and answered their eyes with scorn and contempt that did but seem to make her an aim to passion; yea, and in this behalf, as almost in all others, she hath the most honourable and known ladies of the land, so common and known witnesses, that those that least loved her religion, were in love with her demeanour, delivering their opinions in open praises. How mildly she accepted the check of fortune, fallen upon her without desert, experience has been a most manifest proof; the temper of her mind being so easy that she found little difficulty in taking down her thoughts to a mean degree, which true honour, not pride, has raised to a former height. Her faithfulness and love, where she found true friendship, is written with tears in many eyes, and will be longer registered in grateful memories of divers that have tried her in that kind, avowing her for secrecy, wisdom, and constancy, to be a miracle in that sex: yea, when she found least kindness in others, she never lost it in herself, more willingly suffering, than offering wrong, and often weeping for their mishaps, whom though less loving her, she could not but affect.

Of the innocency of her life, in general, all can aver, that as she was grateful many ways, and memorable for virtues, so was she free from all blemish of any vice, using, to her power, the best means to keep continually an undefiled conscience. Her attire was ever such as might both satisfy a curious eye, and yet bear witness of a sober mind; neither singular nor vain, but such as her peers of least report used.

*

If our souls be possessed in our patience, surely her soul was truly her own, whose rock, though often stricken with the rod of adversity, never yielded any more than to give issue of eye-streams; and though these, through the tenderness of her nature and aptness of her sex, were the customary tributes that her love paid more to her friends than her own misfortunes, yet were they not accompanied with distempered words or ill seeming actions; reason never forgetting decency, though remembering pity.

Her devotions she daily observed, offering the daily sacrifice of an innocent heart, and stinting herself to her times of prayer, which she performed with so religious a care as well shewed that she knew