| Edward Farr, ed. Select Poetry of the Reign of King James the First. 1847. | | | | A Constant Minde | | XIII. Anonymous |
| | | A CONSTANT minde; an equall health, | |
| A friend that is a second self; | |
| A soul that doth all baseness fly, | |
| That wisheth not nor feares to dy: | |
| A state below pale envy’s pitch, | 5 |
| That rather is then seemeth rich, | |
| Adde but to this a good fit wife, | |
| And you summe up a happy life. | |
| A fickle minde, unconstant health, | |
| A friend that only seekes himself; | 10 |
| A soule so base that it dare lye, | |
| And nothing feares more then to dye: | |
| A state and mind rais’d to that pitch, | |
| You may call great, but never rich: | |
| These with a foule and foolish wife, | 15 |
| Conclude a most unhappy life. | | | | |
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