19.
And who know¦eth whether he shall be wise or foolish, yet shal he haue rule euer all my la∣bour, wherein I haue trauel∣led, & wherein I haue shewed my selfe wise vnder the sun. This is also va∣nitie.
For what knew I, who should to me succeed,
In vse of all the wealth and pompe I left,
An infant of mine owne, and proper breed,
Or else a stranger creeping in by theft;
I knew how easly crownes might be bereft,
If kings were Orphanes lacking yeares or wit,
Ne knew I if my child for rule were fit.
The proofe he yeelds, and sentence God did giue,
Prognosticateth little good at all:
Yet (as vnto mine heire in whom I liue)
I giue what wast he may, and feare he shall;
The fruit euen of my wisest trauels all,
So that the world which witnessed my paine,
May hap record my trauels meerely vaine.