Edward Farr, ed. Select Poetry of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. 1845.
Youth Addressed by Vice and VirtueLXXXVIII. Walter Quin
Thou care doe give, and wilt her footsteps tread,
In a most irksome way she will thee lead,
With great turmoile and dangers manifold,
In summer’s parching heat and winter’s cold,
Through many a thorny steepe and craggy ground,
Wherein no pleasing mates are to be found,
But savage beasts and monsters fell, to whom,
In end, a wofull prey thou shalt become.
But if thou wilt resolve to goe with mee,
In this my way, thou shalt be wholly free
From all such toile and danger: passing still
Through flowrie fields and medowes, where at will
Thou maist most pleasant company enjoy,
And all delightful sports without annoy.
I use no curious art, without disguise
True and unstain’d to be; which to thy view
Her inward falsehood and my truth may shew,
As painfull, dreadfull, dangerous, my path—
Yea, and pernicious, she traduced hath;—
Her’s vaunting to be pleasant and secure,
And such as might all joy to thee procure.
In both she a most shamelesse liar is;
For that my path, though painfull, leads to blisse
And glory: yea, the pains thereof are sweet,
For that with solid inward joyes they meet:
Whereas her way, though pleasant she it name,
Leads to destruction, infamy, and shame.