“THE shippe, that longe vppon the sea dothe saile, And here, and there, with varrijng windes is toste: On rockes, and sandes, in daunger ofte to quaile. Yet at the lengthe, obtaines the wished coaste: Which beinge wonne, the trompetts ratlinge blaste, Dothe teare the skie, for ioye of perills paste. Thoughe master reste, thoughe Pilotte take his ease, Yet nighte, and day, the ship her course dothe keepe: So, whilst that man dothe saile theise worldlie seas, His voyage shortes: althoughe he wake, or sleepe. And if he keepe his course directe, he winnes That wished porte, where lastinge ioye beginnes.” To a similar purport is the “FINIS CORONAT OPVS,” _The end crowns the work_,—of Otho Vænius (p. 108), if perchance Shakespeare may have seen it. Cupid is watching a sea-tossed ship, and appears to say,— “_Ni ratis optatum varijs iactata procellis Obtineat portum, tum perijsse puta. Futilis est diuturnus amor, ni in fine triumphet, Nam benè cœpit opus, qui benè finit opus._” [Sidenote: _i.e._] “Unless the raft though tossed by various storms The port desired obtains, think that it perishes; Vain is the daily love if it no triumph forms, For well he work begins, who well work finishes.” Thus, however, rendered at the time into English and Italian,— “_Where the end is good all is good._” “The ship toste by the waues doth to no purpose saile, Vnlesse the porte shee gayn whereto her cours doth tend. Right so th’ euent of loue appeereth in the end, For losse it is to loue and neuer to preuaile.” “Il fine corona l’opere.” “_Inutile è la naue, che in mar vaga Senza prender giamai l’amato porto: Impiagato d’Amor quel cor’ è à torto, Che con vano sperar mai non s’appaga._” Messin in his translation of Boissard’s _Emblems_ (edition 1588, p. 24), takes the motto, “AV NAVIRE AGITÉ _semble le jour de l’homme_,” and dilates into four stanzas the neatly expressed single stanza of the original. “_Vita hæc est tanquam pelago commissa carina, Instanti semper proxima naufragio. Optima res homini est non nasci: proxima, si te Nasci fata velent, quàm citò posse mori._” [Sidenote: _i.e._] “This life is as a keel entrusted to the sea, Ever to threatening shipwreck nearest. Not to be born for man is best; next, if to thee The fates give birth, quick death is dearest.” Shakespeare takes up these various ideas of which the ship in storm and in calm is typical, and to some of them undoubtedly gives utterance from the lips of the dauntless Margaret of Anjou (_3 Henry VI._, act v. sc. 4, l. 1, vol. v. p. 325),—