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AS when it hapneth that some lovely Town
Unto a barbarous Besieger falls,
Who both by Sword and Flame himselfe enstalls,
And (shamelesse) it in Teares and Bloud doth drown;
Her Beauty spoyl'd, her Citizens made Thralls,
His spight yet cannot so her all throw down,
But that some Statue, Pillar of renown,
Yet lurkes unmaim'd within her weeping walls:
So after all the Spoile, Disgrace and Wrack,
That Time, the World, and Death could bring combin'd,
Amidst that Masse of Ruines they did make,
Safe and all scarlesse yet remaines my Mind:
From this so high transcendent Rapture springs,
That I, all else defac'd, not envy Kings.