Poem by Thomas Urquhart

Epigrams. The Third Booke. ¹ 33. Why our thoughts, all the while we are in this tran∣sitory world, from the houre of our nativity, to the laying downe of our bodies in the grave, should not at any time exspaciat themselves in the broad way of destruction

SEeing the strait lodging of your mothers wombe,
Brought you to life, from whence you must depart
To the darke entry of a little tombe:
Betwixt your birth, and Buriall let your heart
Tread vertues narrow path: till you contract
To so strict bounds the pleasures of this wide,
Page  54 And spacious world, as that you may draw backe
The reines of covetous desire, hate, lust, and pride;
For by so doing, you will make your death
A blessed passage to eternall breath.

1. Epigrams. The First Booke. ¹ 30. That wise men, to speak properly, are the most powerfull men in the world
2. Epigrams. The Third Booke. ¹ 27. We should not be sorry, to be destitute of any thing: so long as we have judgments to perswade vs, that we may minister to our selves, what we have not, by not longing for it
3. Epigrams. The First Booke. ¹ 17. The expression of a contented mind in povertie
4. Epigrams. The Second Booke. ¹ 25. That vertue is of greater worth, then knowledge. to a speculative Philosopher
5. Epigrams. The First Booke. ¹ 36. How difficult a thing it is, to tread in the pathes of vertue

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