Page 94
[verse 5] This euill on earth I oft haue seene, great rulers greatly fall,
[verse 6] The foole aduanst, the rich and wise reiected most of all.
5.
There is an euil that I haue seene vnder the sunne, as an error that pro∣ceedeth from the face of him that ruleth.
But yet this rule I find not alwayes true,
Nay rather often times it fayleth quight,
(A thing I cannot mend, though it I rue,
And is the thing I hold the greatest spight,
That euer may to common wealth alight.)
To see that those to whom all rule is due,
And should be guides to other men in good,
Should all the vices of the world insue,
And may not be by any meanes withstood;
By whose examples, many others fall
To ruine; as do shrubs with Cedar tall.
6.
Folly is set in great excellen∣cie, and the rich set in the low place.
How can it be in any other wise,
If folly sit in seat of excellence,
Like will to like, and as the bad arise,
Downe goes the good, and vertue'is banisht thence,
(For wicked ones in wicked seeke defence.)
Pure vertue naked in a beggers guise,
May wander for protection and for ayde,
For euery one her merits will despise,
Because like gifts, their natures haue denayd,
Thus topsie turuie euery thing will grow,
As cart, the horse: the sterne, ships way should show.