(To be concluded in our next.)

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OLD POETS

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WILL.

  Will puts in practice what the will deviseth,
    Will ever acts, and Wit contemplates still,
  And as from Wit the power of Wisdom riseth,
    All other virtues daughters are of Will.

LODGE.

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LOVE.

  Where heat of Love doth once possess the heart,
    There cares oppress the mind with wondrous ill,
  Wit runs awry, not fearing subtil smart,
    And fond desire doth ever master will. 
  The belly neither cares for meat nor drink,
  Nor o’erwatched eyes desire to wink.

  Footsteps are false and wavering to and fro,
    The brightsome flower of beauty fades away,
  Reason retires, and Pleasure brings in Woe,
    And Wisdom yieldeth place to black decay. 
  Counsel, and fame, and friendship are condemned,
  And bashful shame, and gods themselves contemned.

  Watchful suspect is kindled with despair,
    Inconstant hope is often drown’d in fears;
  What folly hurts not, fortune can repair,
    And misery doth swim in seas of tears. 
  Long use of life is but a living foe,
  As gentle death is only end of woe.

WATSON.

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PRINCES.

  A prince’s safety lies in loving people,
    His fort is Justice (free from stratagem),
  Without the which strong citadels are feeble,
    The subjects’ love is won by loving them: 
  Of loving them no oppression is the trial,
  And no oppression makes them ever loyal.

SYLVESTER.

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GRIEF.

  True grief is fond and testy as a child,
  Who wayward once, his mood with naught agrees. 
  Old woes, not infant sorrows, bear them mild,
  Continuance tames the one, the other wild. 
  Like an unpractis’d swimmer, plunging still
  With too much labour drowns for want of skill.

SHAKSPEARE.

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FAME.

  A lofty subject of itself doth bring
  Grave words and weighty, of itself divine;
  And makes the author’s holy honour shine. 
  If ye would after ashes live, beware
  To do like Erostrate, who burnt the fair
  Ephesian Temple, or to win a name
  To make of brass a cruel calf untame.

KING OF SCOTS.

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SPRING.