Maitland Club > Works of Sir Thomas Urquhart

OF EPIGRAMS. 37
WE OUGHT ALWAYS TO THINKE UPON WHAT WE ARE TO SAY
BEFORE WE UTTER ANY THING; THE SPEECHES AND TALK
OF SOLID WITS BEING STILL PREMEDITATED, AND NEVER
USING TO FORERUNNE THE MIND.
Our tongu's the heart's interpreter, and ftill
In wife difcourfe hath but the fecond place :
The heart fhould end ere th' tongue begin ; for while
The legate fpeakes, the truch-man holdes his peace :
Which order being inverted, we abufe
The hearer's patience, and our felves confute.
THAT LUST AND DRUNKENNESSE ARE ODIOUS VICES.
Wrath makes a man to fin couragioufly,
And pride doth fwell with faire appearances ;
But drunkeneffe, and too much leacherie
Are lloven, filthie, villanous, and bafe ;
For by the one God's image being exil'd,
His temple by the other is defil'd.
A CERTAINE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER DID HEREBY INSINUATE
HOW NECESSARY A THING THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
WAS, AND TO BE ALWAIES VIGILANT IN THE JUDICIOUS
DISTRIBUTION OF PUNISHMENT AND RECOMPENCE.
Seeing by the multitude of thofe offend,
The ihame of fin's diminifh'd now in fuch
A meafure, that a common crime in end
Will ceafe to be accounted a reproach ;
I am affray'd that, if iniquitie
Be fuffer'd thus to propagate, it will,
With bad example, fafer be to ftray,
Then to prove Angular in doing well :
Nor is this grievous inconvenience, though
Pernicious to the ftate, to be withflood,