The worthie Hystorie of the moste Noble and valiaunt Knight Plasidas otherwise called Eustas, who was martyred for the Profession of Iesus Christ. Gathered in English verse by Iohn Partridge |
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To the Reader.
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 | The worthie Hystorie of the moste Noble and valiaunt Knight Plasidas |  |
To the Reader.
Let pacience increase by kinde,within thy dolefull breast:
Let that swete dame within thy bowre,
haue hir abyding neast.
Consider, viewe and vnderstande,
what liquor doth descende:
Out of hir welles, from perils great,
the same will thee defende.
The stinking bande of fowle dispaire,
thy state shall not molest:
Ne slaughter in thy gates shall not,
to strike be ready prest.
For Socrates doth playne declare,
no other good to be:
Than wrapt in woes and pinching cares,
a pacient one to see.
The saincts haue shewed what pacience is,
howe precious in Gods sight:
In stories we may reade and finde,
how much they did delight,
For to be founde in miseries,
in pacience to dwell:
Whereof to vs this story doth
most playnely shewe and tell.
such pacience is rare:
A thousand Martirs I with him,
may very well compare.
What was the pacience of those,
whome flashing firy flames:
Bereft of life, yet coulde it not,
at all extinct their fames.
For fame for good desert doth rest,
behinde though they be gone:
Bicause we might pursue the like,
and oft thinke thervpon.
Therefore let vs pursue the same,
and then we shal be sure:
For to possesse that glorious crowne,
that lastes and shall endure,
After that earth, yea birdes and beastes,
shall be consumed to nought:
Which crowne to vs O Lord do graunt,
that with thy bloud vs bought.
| The worthie Hystorie of the moste Noble and valiaunt Knight Plasidas | |