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 24. No man should glory too much in the flourishing verdure of his Youth
2. Epigrams. The Third Booke. ¹ 8. The resolution of a proficient in vertue
3. Epigrams. The Third Booke. ¹ 17. VVhy we must all dye
4. Epigrams. The First Booke. ¹ 26. How to support the contumelie of defamatorie speeches
5. Epigrams. The Third Booke. ¹ 12. An vprightly zealous, and truly devout man is strong enough against all temptations

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