Poem by Thomas Urquhart

Epigrams. The Second Booke. ¹ 5. That a vertuous mind in a deformed body maketh one more beautifull, then a handsome body can doe, endowed with a vicious mind

EXternal comelinesse few have obtain'd
Without their hurt; it never made one chast▪
But many'adulterers: and is sustain'd
By qualities, which age, and sicknesse waste▪
But that, whose lustre doth the mind adorne,
Surpasseth farre the beauty of the bodie;
For that, we make our selves: to this, we're borne▪
This, onely comes by chance: but that by study;
Jt is by vertue then, that wee enjoy
Deservedly the stile of beautifull,
Which neither time, nor Fortune can destroy;
And the deformed body, a faire soule
From dust to glory everlasting caries:
While vicious soules in handsome bodies perish.

1. Epigrams. The Second Booke. ¹ 22. A very ready way to goodnesse, and true VVisedome
2. Epigrams. The Second Booke. ¹ 24. No man should glory too much in the flourishing verdure of his Youth
3. Epigrams. The Second Booke. ¹ 43. That inconveniences ought to be regarded to before hand
4. Epigrams. The First Booke. ¹ 22. Why covetous, and too ambitious men prove not so thankfull, as others for received favours
5. Epigrams. The First Booke. ¹ 39. When a true friend may be best knowne

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