Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A64606
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Epigrams, divine and moral by Sir Thomas Vrchard, Knight.
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Urquhart, Thomas, Sir, 1611-1660.
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1641
(1641)
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Wing U135; ESTC R7441
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21,116
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70
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calamities inflicted by sinister fate SEeing crosses cannot be evited I 'l Expose my selfe to Fortune as a Rock Within the midst of a tempestuous Ocean So to gainstand the batt'ry of her spight That though jaile sicknesse poverty exile Assault me all with each a grievous stroak Of sev'rall misery at the devotion Of misadventure ev'ry day and night Yet with a mind undanted all the while I will resist her blows till they be broke Jn the rebounding and without commotion Till all her rage be spent sustaine the fight So that she shall not b'able to subdue One thought of mine with all that she can doe For when sh' hath try'd her worst I will not yeeld Nor let her thinke that she hath gain'd the field 30. That wise men to speak properly are the most powerfull men in the world THe greatest power is to wise men due The pow'r of all men else to theirs being nought For wise men onely what they will can doe Because they will not doe but what they ought Such being their cariage that their reason still Directs their power and informes their will 31. To a rich man become poore YOur poverty should be the more esteemed That by the meanes thereof you are exeemed From stubborne servants lying Sycophants And faigned friends in lieu whereof it grants These three of a more vertuous company Ease humble cariage and sobriety 32. That if we strove not more for superfluities then for what is needfull we would not be so much troubled is wee are IF by the necessary use of things The ornaments wee measure of our honour And not by that which fancy doth suggest us Wee will not need those wares the Marchant brings From forraine Countries and withall exoner Our minds of what might otherwise molest us 33. The onely true progresse to a blessed life VVHo hath of conscience a profound remorse For sins committed and to keepe his senses From all sinister practice doth divorce His thoughts from their accustomed offences Is in the way of vertue which will tend Jt being continu'd to a happy end 34. That wee ought not to be excessively grieved at the losse of any thing that is in the power of Fortune ALL those externall ornaments of health Strength honour children beauty friends wealth Are for a while concredited to men To decke the Theater whereon the scene Of their fraile life is to be acted some Of which must without further be brought home To day and some to morrow th' use of them Being onely theirs till new occasions claime A restitution of them all againe As time thinkes fit to whom they appertaine Though such like things therefore be taken from us Wee should not suffer griefe to overcome us But rather render thankes they have beene lent us So long a space and never discontent us 35. Wherein true Wealth consists VVHo 's truly rich we ought not to esteeme By Lands nor goods but by the mind the title Of a poore man being farre more due to him That covets much then that possesseth little For he is richer doth the world neglect Then who possessing all complaines for lack 36. How difficult a thing it is to tread in the pathes of vertue THe way to vertue 's hard uneasie bends Aloft being full of steep and rugged Alleys For never one to a high place ascends That alwayes keepes the plaine and pleasant Valleyes And reason in each humane breast ordaines That precious things be purchased with paines 37. A counsell to one oppressed with bondage and cruell disasters VVHats'ever be your fortune let your deeds With your affection alwayes jump for by Desiring to doe that which you must needs You 'l blunt the sharpnesse of necessity And making of constraint a willingnesse Be glad in spight of crosses and distresse 38. How Fortune oftentimes most praeposterously pond'ring the aections of men with a great deale of injustice bestoweth her favours FOrtune with wealth and honour at her feet And holding in her hand a ballance sits Weighing human desert as she thinks fit One of the scales whereof the learn'dest wits Most vertuous and of choisest parts containes The other being appointed for such as Are vicious light and destitute of Braines The light are mounted up into the place Where riches and preferment lye exposed To those can reach them while the other scale By th' only weight of worth therein inclosed Is more submissively deprest then all That hangs on Fortunes ballance and the higher That hair-brain'd heads b'advanc'd above the states Of others in this world so much the higher To want and bondage are the wiser pates Of such things then as to the disposition Of Fortune doe pertaine let no man wonder While the most wicked gaine the acquisition That by their meanes the good be brought at under For wheresoever vice is most respected The greatest vertues are the more rejected 39. When a true friend may be best knowne AS the glow-worme shines brightest in the darke And frankincense smells sweetest in the fire So crosse adventures make us best remarke A sincere friend from a dissembled Lyer For some being friends to our prosperity And not to us when it failes they decay 40. The duty of a husband to his wife THough he be head he must not tyrannize Over his mate in sacred bonds of Mariage For in the head the wit and judgement is And therefore he with a judicious cariage Should towards her behave himselfe respect her Instruct her love her and from harme protect her 41. Concerning those who marry for beauty and wealth without regard of vertue HOw can such wedded people lead their lives With a respect unfainedly entire Where husbands are not married to their wives But money to the covetous desire Where men in little estimation hold Womens discretion wit and chastitie But meerely aime at handsomnesse and gold To serve their avarice and Leacherie Which fashion lately is become so common That first w'espouse the money then the woman 42. The speech of a noble spirit to his adversary whom after he had defeated he acknowledgeth to be nothing inferiour to himselfe in worth wit or valour thereby insinuating that a wise man cannot properly bee subdued though he be orthrown in body and worldly commodities I Will not of this victory be glorious Nor ought you for being vanquish'd to repine You not being overcome nor J victorious Your fortune onely is o'rcome by mine For by the force of judgment grace and will You have a mind that is invincible 43. In how farre men are inferiour to many other living creatures in the faculties of the exteriour senses IN touching Spiders are the subtillest The Bores in hearing vulturs in the smell In seeing Eagles and the Apes in taste Thus beasts in all the senses men excell So that if men were not judicious creatures Some brutes would be of more accōplish'd natures 44. To one who was heavily cast downe in Spirit by reason of some scandalous speeches blased forth to