A sad and deplorable loving Elegy consecrated to the living memory of his best assured friend, the generally beloved, M. Richard Wyan deceased, late his Majesty's Proctor for the high Court of the Admiralty. Who departed this life at his house at Bryl in Buckinhamshire, on thursday the 16. of August last. 1638.  

IT may be good to live, but well to live  
Is such a Good, as few men can Achieve:  
The more we live, the more we do offend,  
The way to heavens a good and speedy end:  
Th' Almighty Landlord (who doth all things sway,  
Doth let man's Soul a Tenement of clay,  
And Man is no Freeholder, but is still  
A Tenant only at the Landlords will.  
They are but Leases, till our Lives expire,  
And thanks is all the Rent God doth require.  
And such a one was He, of whom I write,  
Who lived as ever in His maker's sight:  
Who day and night did humbly pay his rent  
Of thanks and praise for his frail Tenement.  
Not only words, but real deeds declared  
His love, His zeal, obedience and regard  
He owed to God and Man, to each degree  
His Heart, his Hand, his pen and purse were free.  
The poor man's Patron in distressed state,  
The rich man's pattern, how to imitate.  
Religion was His Pilot, and did steer  
His course of life, and all his actions here.  
With courage daily he did Death defy,  
His heart was fixed on immortality;  
And one good precept, never he forgot,  
To use the World, as if he used it not.  
Wherefore th' Almighty (in His gracious Doom,)  
Hath plucked him hence, from ills that are to come.  
The poor have greatest loss, they weeping know,  
He would not say God help, but helped their woe.  
The State hath lost a Servant of great Trust,  
His friends have lost a friend assured, just.  
His virtuous wife and children, great and small,  
Brother and sisters, Kin, in general  
Have all received a loss, so great that we  
Can never hope that it repaired shallbe.  
But I have lost a friend, beyond a brother,  
For I ne'er had, nor shall have such another.  
But here's our comfort, though grim Death assailed him,  
His Faith, his trust, and confidence ne'er failed him:  
And though we all have lost him, God hath found him,  
And with eternal happiness hath crowned him.   
john Taylor.