Since honour from the honourer proceeds,
How well do they deserve, that memorise
And leave in books for all posterities
The names of worthies, and their virtuous deeds;
When all their glory else, like water-weeds
Without their element, presently dies,
And all their greatness quite forgotten lies,
And when and how they flourisht no man heeds;
How poor remembrances are statues, tombs,
And other monuments that men erect
To Princes, which remain in closed rooms,
Where but a few behold them, in respect
Of books, that to the universal eye
Show how they lived; the other where they lie!