No meane I kept but ruled all by rage, No boundes of measure could mee compasse in. No counsayle could my meekelesse minde asswage: When once to fume I fearcely did begin, And I excelde in nothing else but sinne; So that my subiects all did wish my end,[336] Saue such to whom for vice I was a friend. 5. In[337] pleasures plung’d I tooke my whole repast,[338] My youth mee led deuoyde of compasse quite: And vices were so rooted in at last, That to recure the euill it past my might. For who so doth with will and pleasure fight, (Though all his force doe striue them to withstand) Without good grace they haue the vpper hand. 6. What licoure first the earthen pot doth take, It keepeth still the sauour of that same. Full hard it is a Cramocke[339] strayght to make, Or crooked Logges with wainscot fine to frame. Tis hard to make the cruell Tiger tame. And so it fares with those haue vices caught: Naught once (they say) and euer after naught. 7. I speake not this as though it past all cure From vices vile to vertue to retire: But this I say, if vice be once in vre, The more you shall to quite your selfe require, The more you plunge your selfe in fulsome mire, As hee that striues in soakte quicke sirts[340] of sand, Still sinkes, scarce euer[341] comes agayne to land. 8. The giftes of grace may nature ouercome, And God may graunt the time when wee repent. But I did still in laps of lewdnes runne: At last my selfe to cruelty I bent. But who so doth with bloudy acts content His minde, shall sure at last finde like agayne, And feele for pleasures thousand panges of payne. 9. For in the mid’st of those vntrusty toyles, When as I nothing fearde, but all was sure, With all my trayne, I hunting rode for spoiles Of those, who after did my death procure. These lewde delightes did boldly mee allure To follow still and to pursue the chase: At last I came into a desert place. 10. Besette with hills, and monstrous rockes of stone, My company behinde mee lost, or stayed: The place was eke with hauty trees oregrowne, So wist[342] and wylde it made mee halfe afrayd. And strayght I was with rauening wolues betrayd, Came out of caues, and dennes, and rockes amayne. There was I rent in peeces, kild, and slayne. 11.