This _Tree_, which here doth largely seeme to grow, (And spreads _above_, though streightned in _below_) Through adverse _Winds_, and many a Winters blast, Hath gain’d a faire proportion at the last; And, from a lowly _shrub_, is growne to bee A well-esteemed, and a goodly _Tree_. Thus, hath it chanced unto many a man: And, he that first in misery began, (So poore and meane, that very few or none Have judg’d him to be worth the looking on) Ev’n he, through scornes, through wrongs, and povertie, Hath crept, and screw’d, and rais’d himselfe so high, That, he hath placed been among the prime, Of those, who seem’d the _Worthies_ of the time; Yea, overtopt and aw’d, the best of those, Who sought to curbe him, when he first arose. This, I have seene; And, as wee seldome find A _Tree_ grow faire, that cannot brooke the _Wind_, Or, must be hous’d at Winter; or, on whom The _Gardners_ pruning-knife, did never come: So, I have rarely knowne those men to rise To any good, or noble qualities, Who feele not, first some _hardship_, or some _storme_, To prune, to discipline, and to reforme Their wits and manners. For, prosperitie, Ease, plentie, and too large a libertie, Doth often blast them; and, somtime bereave them, Of what their _Predecessors_ worth’s, did leave them. Let, therefore, no man, feare when this he knowes, Although in _tempests_, and through _streights_ he goes. _=God=, ever will bee present, there, Where, of one =Faith=, and =Mind= they are._ [Illustration: FIDUCIA CONCORS. ILLVSTR. XXXVI. _Book. 4_]