Upon The Sudden Restraint Of The Earl Of Somerset, Then Falling From Favour
Dazzled thus with height of place,
Whilst our Hopes our wits Beguile,
No man marks the narrow space
'Twixt a Prison and a Smile.
Then since Fortune’s favours fade,
You that in her arms do sleep,
Learn to swim and not to wade;
For the Hearts of Kings are deep.
But if Greatness be so blind,
As to trust in Towers of Air,
Let it be with Goodness lined,
That at least the Fall be fair.
Then though darkened you shall say,
When Friends fail and Princes frown,
Virtue is the roughest way,
But proves at night a Bed of Down.
Sir Henry Wotton
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Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset
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