Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset (1536–1608)

From ‘The Induction’

O SORROW, alas, sith Sorrow is thy name,

And that to thee this drear doth well pertain,

In vain it were to seek to cease the same:

But, as a man himself with sorrow slain,

So I, alas, do comfort thee in pain,

That here in sorrow art foresunk so deep

That, at thy sight, I can but sigh and weep.

‘Lo here,’ quoth Sorrow; ‘Princes of renown,

That whilom sat on top of fortune’s wheel,

Now laid full low, like wretches whirlèd down,

Ev’n with one frown, that stay’d but with a smile:

And now behold the thing that thou erewhile

Saw only in thought; and what thou now shalt hear,

Recount the same to kesar, king, and peer.’