University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Emblems Divine, Moral, Natural and Historical

Expressed in Sculpture, and Applied to the several Ages, Occasions, and Conditions of the Life of Man. By a person of Quality

collapse section 
 I. 
 II. 
 III. 
 IV. 
 V. 
 VI. 
 VII. 
 VIII. 
 IX. 
 X. 
 XI. 
 XII. 
 XIII. 
 XIV. 
 XV. 
 XVI. 
 XVII. 
 XVIII. 
 XIX. 
 XX. 
 XXI. 
 XXII. 
 XXIII. 
 XXIV. 
 XXV. 
 XXVI. 
 XXVII. 
 XXVIII. 
 XXIX. 
 XXX. 
 XXXI. 
 XXXII. 
 XXXIII. 
 XXXIV. 
 XXXV. 
 XXXVI. 
EMBLEM XXXVI. Nothing will last always.
 XXXVII. 
  


71

EMBLEM XXXVI. Nothing will last always.

To the Aged.
So teach us to number our days. psal: 90. 12.
The longest day, when Sun doth longest shine,
Must unto night at last its light resigne.
The sturdiest Oak that in the Forest grows,
Must shiver'd be by time, or storm that blows.
The long-liv'd Raven at the last must die:
The soaring Eagle will not always flie.
The Phœnix rare, which long endures the fire,
In her own ashes doth at length expire.
The nimble Stag, that lives so great an age,
Comes at the length to run out his last stage.
The Patriarchs liv'd so long as none beside,
Yet at the last it's said of them, They dy'd.
The stateliest Fabrick, built with cost and art,
Of best materials brought from every part,
At last will moulder, crumble, and decay:
For length of time will it in rubbish lay.
Whatever had beginning, shall have end;
All things below do to corruption tend:
And nothing in this world doth last so sure,
As without end for ever to endure.
The greatest Volume that was ere in Print,
Whose tediousness would fright one to look in't,
Seeing so thick and close each page and line-is,
At last thereto y'are sure to meet with
FINIS.