| Edward Farr, ed. Select Poetry of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. 1845. | | | | Virtue Immoveable | | XXXVIII. Anonymous |
| | | THE STURDY 1 rock, for all his strength, | |
| By raging seas is rent in twaine; | |
| The marble stone is pearst at length | |
| With littel drops of drizzling raine; | |
| The ox doth yield unto the yoke, | 5 |
| The Steele obeyeth the hammer-stroke. | |
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| The stately stagge, that seemes so stout, | |
| By yalping houndes at bay is set; | |
| The swiftest bird, that flies about, | |
| Is caught at length in fowler’s net: | 10 |
| The greatest fish, in deepest brooke, | |
| Is soon deceived by subtill hooke. | |
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| Yea, man himselfe, unto whose will | |
| All thinges are bounden to obey, | |
| For all his wit and worthie skill, | 15 |
| Doth fade at length and fall away: | |
| There nothing is, but Time doth waste; | |
| The heauens, the earthe, consume at last. | |
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| But Vertue sits triumphing still | |
| Upon the throne of glorious fame; | 20 |
| Though spiteful death man’s body kill, | |
| Yet hurts he not his vertuous name: | |
| By life or death what so betides, | |
| The state of vertue never slides. | |
| | | Note 1. XXXVIII. Anonymous.—The contribution of an unknown writer to “The Paradise of Dayntie Deuises.” [back] | | |
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