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 3. We ought always to thinke upon what we are to say, before we utter any thing; the speeches and talk of solid wits, being still pre∣meditated, and never using to forerunne the mind
2. Epigrams. The First Booke. ¹ 19. Ingratitude is such a common vice, that even those who exclame most against it, are not freest of it
3. Epigrams. The Second Booke. ¹ 22. A very ready way to goodnesse, and true VVisedome
4. Epigrams. The Third Booke. ¹ 29. How magnanimous a thing it is, in adversity, patiently to endure, what cannot bee evited
5. Epigrams. The Second Booke. ¹ 29. A truely liberall man never bestoweth his gifts, in hope of recompence

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