 | The plays & poems of Robert Greene |  |
XIV
VERSES ON TWO TABLES HVNG BESIDE AN EFFIGY ON A TOMBE.
First Table.
The Graces in their glorie neuer gaueA rich or greater good to womankind:
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Of high renowne then matchlesse constancie.
Beauty is vaine, accounted but a flowre,
Whose painted hiew fades with the summer sunne:
With oft hath wracke by selfe-conceit of pride.
Riches is trash that fortune boasteth on.
Constant in loue who tries a womans minde,
Wealth, beautie, wit, and all in her doth find.
Second Table.
The fairest Iem oft blemisht with a cracke,Loseth his beauty and his vertue too;
The fairest flowre nipt with the winters frost,
In shew seemes worser then the basest weede.
Vertues are oft farre ouerstain'd with faults,
Were she as faire as Phoebe in her sphere,
Or brighter then the paramour of Mars,
Wiser then Pallas daughter vnto Ioue,
Of greater maiestie then Iuno was,
More chaste then Vesta goddesse of the Maides,
Of greater faith then faire Lucretia:
Be she a blab, and tattles what she heares,
Want to be secret giues farre greater staines,
Then vertues glorie which in her remaines.
| The plays & poems of Robert Greene | |