Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649)

Extracts from The Flowers of Sion: Madrigal: ‘This world a hunting is’

THIS world a hunting is,

The prey poor man, the Nimrod fierce is Death;

His speedy greyhounds are

Lust, sickness, envy, care,

Strife that ne’er falls amiss,

With all those ills which haunt us while we breathe.

Now, if by chance we fly

Of these the eager chase,

Old age with stealing pace

Casts up his nets, and there we panting die.