Works of Sir Thomas More

Lady Fortune and her Wheel.
British Library Harley MS 4431, f. 129.


Two Poems by Sir Thomas More

Two short Ballads, which Sir Thomas made for his pastime, while he was prisoner in the Tower, preserved in Rastell's edition of his works. First Ballad to the tune of "Lewis the lost lover." Eye-flattering Fortune! look thou ne'er so fair,      Or ne'er so pleasantly begin to smile, As though thou wouldst my ruin all repair,      During my life thou shalt not me beguile;      Trust shall I God to enter in erewhile, His haven of havens sure and uniform:— After a calm I still expect the storm.* Second Ballad to the tune of "Davy the Dicer." Long was I, Lady Luck, your serving-man,      And now have lost again all that I gat; When, therefore, I think of you now and then,      And in my mind remember this and that,      Ye may not blame me, though I shrew your cat; In faith I bless you, and a thousand times, For lending me some leisure to make rhymes.

* Roper tells us that this was written down with More's usual pencil of coal, on Cromwell's quitting the Tower, after his unsuccessful endeavour to talk him into a subscription to the oath.

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Source:

Walter, W. Joseph. Sir Thomas More: His Life and Times. 2nd Ed.
       London: Charles Dolman, 1840.  316-7.

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