A Rude Work and of the first hand hath benefitted no Workman; All the labour is lost, if the last File comes not to it. The Bee frames the Wax, that she may hide up her Honey: Every one builds a House that he may live pleasingly therein. Not the Work begun, [...] ended, becomes profitable. Who doth not admire the Aeneads of Virgil? but because they were imperfect, by the Au­thor they were destined to the fire: Who doth not think the Venus of Apelles to be celebrated? but because the last hand was wanting, it was hated by him. Every Comedy, that it may succeed prosperously, depends upon the last Act; and that any one may consecrate his Name to Eter­nity, the last Scene of his Life is to be expected: In vain hath the Integrity of Youth shined forth, when the Impie­ty of Old Age betrays it self; It is to be accounted in the place of a Monster; when as the Poet,

HE that sees a fading Rose, hath the flux condition of Beauty set before him; The North Wind blowing, the Rose withers, and a Disease coming, Beauty vanishes: Hence it is compared to a Solstitial Herb, which both sud­denly rises, and suddenly falls. That it is good, that doth plead, because it consists of Symmetry, because it draws the eyes of all to it; that it is frail, that doth evince, be­cause it suffers such sudden decays. Helena overcame all in Beauty, and was accepted of by Paris, but suddenly that [Page 12]comeliness of her Countenance did languish, and she did complain that her beauty failed. The comliness of Beauty how much doth it please, but how unstable is it? The Sun, when it is highest, how soon doth it hasten to the fall? And those Graces which sport in the Face, how suddenly are they brought to their end? Well saith the Poet, Fulgor te­neris radians genis Momento rapitur, nallaque non dies Formosi spolium corporis abstulit. Res est forma fugax.