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Edward Farr, ed. Select Poetry of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. 1845.

A Constant Minde

XIII. Anonymous

A CONSTANT minde; an equall health,

A friend that is a second self;

A soul that doth all baseness fly,

That wisheth not nor feares to dy:

A state below pale envy’s pitch,

That rather is then seemeth rich,

Adde but to this a good fit wife,

And you summe up a happy life.

A fickle minde, unconstant health,

A friend that only seekes himself;

A soule so base that it dare lye,

And nothing feares more then to dye:

A state and mind rais’d to that pitch,

You may call great, but never rich:

These with a foule and foolish wife,

Conclude a most unhappy life.