How wisely fate ordain’d for human kind Calamity! which is the perfet glass, Wherein we truly see and know ourselves.
The willow chich bends to the tempest often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits arecover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.
Calamity is man’s true touchstone.
Thus sometimes hath the brightes day a cload; and, after summer, ever more succeeds barren winter with his wrathful nipping cold. So cares and joys abound as seasons fleet.