Poem by Thomas Urquhart

Epigrams. The First Booke. ¹ 39. When a true friend may be best knowne

AS the glow-worme shines brightest in the darke,
And frankincense smells sweetest in the fire:
So crosse adventures make us best remarke
A sincere friend from a dissembled Lyer;
For some being friends to our prosperity,
And not to us: when it failes, they decay.

1. Epigrams. The Third Booke. ¹ 1. How to behave ones selfe in all occasions
2. Epigrams. The Second Booke. ¹ 31. As it was a precept of antiquity, to leane more to vertue, then parentage: so is it a tenet of christianity, to repose more trust on the blood of christ, then our owne merits
3. Epigrams. The Second Booke. ¹ 18. That we ought not to be sorie at the losse of worldly goods
4. Epigrams. The First Booke. ¹ 25. Vertue, and goodnesse are very much opposed by the selfe-conceit, that many men have of their owne sufficiencie
5. Epigrams. The First Booke. ¹ 38. How Fortune oftentimes most praeposterously pond'ring the aections of men, with a great deale of injustice bestoweth her favours

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