Other Sonnets vpon other Subiects, 30

ALl Dignities that sodainly begin,
And gloriously increase, in hast, post hast,
So orerunne Enuie that shee cannot synne,
Nor synne before; for, straight hir pow'r they past.
If Flax on fire bee put, it makes no smoke,
Because it, in a Moment, falls to flame:
No more can Enuy, Pompe to fume prouoke,
That on the soddaine blazeth on the same.
But Greatnesse gotten slowlie by degrees
Lies most expos'd to Enuies crueltie;
Those Beames are faint, and, vs'd thereto, shee sees
Them at the brightest, with a banefull Eye:
Then, blessed They that are from State exempt
That lies expos'd to Enuy, and Contempt.