An Epitaph upon the death of the honourable, sir Edward Saunders Knight, Lord chief Baron of the Exchequer, who died the .19. of November. 1576.  
YOU Muses wear your mourning weeds, strike on the fatal Drum,  
Sound Triton out the Trump of Fame, in spite of Parca's doom:  
distill Parnassus pleasant drops, possess Pierides please,  
Apollo help with doleful tune, to wail this woeful case.  
Wring hard your hands, wail on your loss, lament the fate that fell,  
With sobs and sighs to Saunders say, o Saunders now farewell.  
Whom Pbaebus fed with Pallas pap, as one of Sibyls seed,  
Lo here where Death did rest his corpses, the vermins foul to feed:  
Whom Imps of jove with Nectar sweet, long in Libetbres noursht,  
Behold how dreadful Death him brought, to that whence he came first.  
Lycurgus he for learned laws, Rhadamanthus race that ran,  
Another Nestor for advise, Zaleucus fame that wan.  
A Damon dear unto his friend, in faith like Photion found,  
A Cato that could counsel give, to prince a subject sound:  
Not Athens for their Solon sage, not Rome for Numa wail,  
As we for Saunders death have cause, in floods of tears to sail.  
Not Sparta carded for Chilos death, ne proud Prienna priest,  
To weep for Bias as we wail, our Saunders late possessed.  
His learned paths his talents rare, so now by Death appears,  
As he that Solomon sought to serve, in prime and youthful years,  
His counsel sad, his rules, his laws, in country soil so wrought,  
As though in Cuma he had been, of sage Sibilla taught:  
His virtuous life was such I say, as Virtue did embrace,  
By Virtue taught in virtuous school, to grow in virtuous race:  
Might tender babes, might orphans weak, might widows rear the cry,  
The sound thereof should pierce the clouds, to scale the empire sky:  
To bid the gods to battle bend, and to dissend in sight,  
Though far unfit, and mates unmeet, with mortal men to fight.  
Too late (alas) we wish his life, to soon deceived us Death,  
Too little wit we have to seek, the dead again to breath.  
What helpless is, must careless be, as Nature's course doth show,  
For Death shall reap what life hath sown, by Nature this we know:  
Where is that erce Achilles fled, where is king Turnus shroud,  
What is become of Priamus state, where is Periander proud:  
Hector, Hanno, Hannibal, dead, Pompey, Pyrrhus spilled,  
Scipio, Cirus, Caesar slain, and Alexander killed.  
So long there Fortune fast did flow, and charged Fame to sound,  
Till frowning Fortune foiled by fate, which fawning Fortune found:  
Eat Fortune's fears, shake Fortune of, to none is Fortune sound,  
Sigh none may say of Fortune so, I Fortune faithful found.  
Behold where Fortune flowed so fast, and favoured Saunders lure,  
Till fickle Fortune false again, did Saunders death procure.  
Lo clothed could in clods of clay, in drossy dust remain,  
By fate returned from whence he came, to his mother's womb again.  
Who well-nigh thirty years was judge, before a judge did fast,  
And judged by that mighty judge, which judge shall judge us all.  
The heavens may of right rejoice, and earth may it bewail,  
Sigh heaven wan, and earth hath lost, the guide and ark of veil.  
There gain is much, our loss is great, there mirth our moan is such,  
That they may laugh as cause do yield, and we may weep as much:  
O happy he, unhappy we, his hap doth ay increase,  
Happy he, and hapless we, his hap shall never cease.  
We live to die, he died to live, we want, and he possessed,  
We bide in bands, he baths in bliss, the gods above him blest.  
Being borne to live, he lived to die, and died to God so plain,  
That birth, that life, that death, do show, that he shall live again:  
His youth to age, his age to death, his death to fame applied,  
His fame to time, his time to God, thus Saunders lived and died.  
O happy life, O happier Death, O ten times happy he,  
Whose hap it was such hap to have, a judge this age to be.  
O joyful time, o blessed soil, where Pallas rules with wit,  
O noble state, O sacred seat, where Saba sage doth sit.  
Like Susan sound, like Sara sad, with Hesters mace in hand,  
With judith's sword Bellona like, to rule this noble land.  
I had my will, you have your wish, I laugh, reioy●● you may,  
I won now much, you gain no less, to see this happy d●●  
Wherein I died, wherein you live, O triple happy cost,  
Wherein I joyed in glory great, wherein you triumph most.  
Kneel on your knees knock hard your breasts, sound forth the joyful Drum,  
Clap loud your hands, sound Echo say, the golden world is come.  
Rejoice you judges may of right, your mirth may now be such,  
As never erst you judges had, in England mirth so much.  
Here Cuma is, here Sibyl reigns, on Delphos seat to sit,  
Here she like Phoebus' rules, that can Gordius knot unknit.  
I lived to nature long enough, I lived to honour much,  
I lived at wish, I died at will, to see my country such.  
As neither needs it Numas laws nor yet Apollo's sword,  
For maugre Mars, yet Mars shallbe of this our Queen afeard.  
O peerless pearl, O Diamond deer, O Queen of Queen's farewell,  
Your royal Majesty god preserve, in England long to devil.  
Farewell the Phoenix of the world, farewell my sovereign Queen,  
Farewell most noble virtuous prince, Minerva's mate I ween.  
No jewel, Gem, no Gold to give, no pearls from Pactolus lo,  
No Persian Gaze, no Indian stones, no Tagus sands to show.  
But faith and will to native soil alive and dead I find,  
My heart my mind my love I leave, unto my prince behind.  
Farewell you nobles of this land, farewell you judges grave,  
Farewell my fellows friends and mates, your Queen I say God save.  
What rise in time in time doth fall, what floweth in time doth ebb,  
What lives in time▪ in time shall die, and yield to Parca's web▪  
The sun to darkness shallbe turned, the stars from skies shall fall,  
The Moon to blood, the world with fire shallbe consumed all.  
As smoke or vapour vanish straight, as bubbles rise and fall,  
As clouds do pass, or shadow shifts we live, we die so all.  
Our pomp our pride, our triumph most, our glory great herein,  
Like shattering shadow pass away, as though none such had been.  
Earth, water, air, and fire, as they were erst before,  
A lump confused, and Chaos called, so shall they once be more.  
And all to earth, that came from earth, and to the grave descend,  
For earth on earth, to earth shall go, and earth shallbe the end:  
As Christ descended up in clouds, so Christ in clouds shall come,  
To judge both good and bad on earth, at dreadful day of doom.  
From whence our flesh shall rise again, even from the drossy dust,  
And so shall pass, I hope unto, the mansion of the just.  Lodowick LLoyd.  


EGO SUM VIA ET VERITAS  DVM TEMPUS ABEMUS OPEREMUR BONUM   

¶ Imprinted at London by H. S. for Henry Disle, dwelling at the south-west door of Saint Paul's Church, and are there to be sold  
December. 3