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Edward Farr, ed. Select Poetry of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. 1845.

Virtue Immoveable

XXXVIII. Anonymous

THE STURDY 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,

The Steele obeyeth the hammer-stroke.

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:

The greatest fish, in deepest brooke,

Is soon deceived by subtill hooke.

Yea, man himselfe, unto whose will

All thinges are bounden to obey,

For all his wit and worthie skill,

Doth fade at length and fall away:

There nothing is, but Time doth waste;

The heauens, the earthe, consume at last.

But Vertue sits triumphing still

Upon the throne of glorious fame;

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.