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TO the right Honourable Thomas Bruce, Lord BRUCE.
Anag.
Com, be as tru'.
Vers.
Come, be as true, unto your State as I.
Who shall assist with all fidelity,
Epigr.
I Stand obliged, by a strong relation,
To pay thee tribute; one is from the Nation,
Whereof thou art, an ancient Earl true born,
And I a Native of the same am sworn.
The second cause, by which I finde me bound,
Is this; thy actions have been alwayes found
So faithfull here; in what thou dost afford
For Englands good wherein thou art a Lord,
And hast remained certain, by-past yeers,
In Parliament; in number of the Peers.
The last is this, which makes a threefold tie,
I stand ingaged, by affinitie;
These three may challenge, since they all are true,
A dutifull remembrance of thy due.
And were it not I partiall should be held,
I would expresse thee searcely Paralleld.
But I forbear, because thy fame doth flie,
Beyond the reach of my arrested eye:
Continue still in favour, wealth, and fame,
And honours, encrease on thy Noble name.
And if curst envie, doth affirm I flatter,
Yet can my lines, not make thee worse, nor better.
W. M.