Poem by Thomas Urquhart

Epigrams. The Third Booke. ¹ 19. The Parallel of Nature, and For∣tune

A Fly, which is a despicable creature
Obtaines, beside her wings, six feet from Nature:
Yet foure feet onely, she is pleas'd to grant
To the huge body of an Elephant:
So Fortune doth withdraw her gifts from some,
Whose real worth surpasseth theirs, on whom
She hath bestowed them, as forcibly,
As Elephants in strenth exceed a fly.

1. Epigrams. The Third Booke. ¹ 1. How to behave ones selfe in all occasions
2. Epigrams. The Third Booke. ¹ 21. To one, who did confide too much in the sound temperament, and goodly constitution of his bodily complexion
3. 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
4. Epigrams. The Second Booke. ¹ 18. That we ought not to be sorie at the losse of worldly goods
5. 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

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