Sone old, and noght wilful, stable and stedefast of mode.
And so on with the other elements. This doctrine of the composition of man from the four elements became a very popular one in the sixteenth century, when the poets frequently allude to it, as may be seen in the examples given by Nares (v. Elements). In the Mirror for Magistrates (King Forrex, page 76), it is said:—
If we behold the substance of a man,
How he is made of elements by kind,
Of earth, of water, aire, and fire, than
We would full often call unto our mind,
That all our earthly joys we leave behind.
Massinger (Renegado iii, 2) says:—
——I've heard
Schoolmen affirm, man's body is compos'd