Emblems of Mortality; representing, in upwards of fifty cuts, death seizing all ranks and degrees of people

The KING.

Reading edition

He that is To-Day a King To-Morrow shall die.

Ecclesiasticus x. 10.

Illustration from Emblems of Mortality; representing, in upwards of fifty cuts, death seizing all ranks and degrees of people

To him who this Day Sceptres sways, In costly Pride a King, To-Morrow’s Light, with baleful Speed, A direful Fate will bring: For, him who rules o’er Nations rich, And pow’rful Kingdoms guides, When Death his Office bids him quit, No better Fate betides.