Great conquests trouble, where contempt may please -- the one yields glory, and the other ease.
William Alexander, 1st Earl of StirlingThe deepest rivers make least din, The silent soule doth most abound in care.
William Alexander, 1st Earl of StirlingNot beauty, no, but virtue rais'd my fires, whose sacred flame did cherish chaste desires.
William Alexander, 1st Earl of StirlingHow some dare scorn (as if a fabulous lie) that they should rise whom death to dust doth bind -- and like to beasts, a beastly life they lead, who naught attend save death when they are dead.
William Alexander, 1st Earl of StirlingThere whil'st the world prov'd prodigal of breath, the headless trunks lay prostrated in heaps; this field of funerals sacred unto death, did paint out horror in most hideous shapes: whil'st men unhors'd, horses unmast'red, stray'd, some call'd on those whom they most dearly lov'd, some rag'd, some groan'd, some sigh'd, roar'd, promis'd, pray'd, as blows, falls, faintness, pain, hope, anguish mov'd.
William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling