may beare Vsury at a good Rate Other Contracts not so To serue both Intentions the way would be briefly thus That there be Two Rates of Vsury The one Free and Generall for All The other vnder Licence only to Certaine Persons and in Certaine Places of Merchandizing First therefore let Vsury in generall be reduced to Fiue in the Hundred And let that Rate be proclaimed to be Free and Current And let the State shut it selfe out to take any Penalty for the same This will preserue Borrowing from any generall Stop or Drinesse This will ease infinite Borrowers in the Countrie This will in good Part raise the Price of Land because Land purchased at Sixteene yeares Purchase wil yeeld Six in the Hundred and somewhat more whereas this Rate of Interest Yeelds but Fiue This by like reason will Encourage and edge Industrious and Profitable Improuements Because Many will rather venture in that kinde then take Fiue in the Hundred especially hauing beene vsed to greater Profit Secondly let there be Certaine Persons licensed to Lend to knowne Merchants vpon Vsury at a Higher-Rate and let it be with the Cautions following Let the Rate be euen with the Merchant himselfe somewhat more easie then that he vsed formerly to pay For by that Meanes all Borrowers shall haue some ease by this Reformation be he Merchant or whosoeuer Let it be no Banke or Common Stocke but euery Man be Master of his owne Money Not that I altogether Mislike Banks but they will hardly be brooked in regard of certain suspicions Let the State be answered some small Matter for the Licence and the rest left to the Lender For if the Abatement be but small it will no whit discourage the Lender For he for Example that tooke before Ten or Nine in the Hundred wil sooner descend to Eight in the Hundred then giue ouer his Trade of Vsury And goe from Certaine Gaines to Gaines of Hazard Let these Licenced Lenders be in Number Indefinite but restrained to Certaine Principall Cities and Townes of Merchandizing For then they will be hardly able to Colour other Mens Moneyes in the Country So as the Licence of Nine will not sucke away the current Rate of Fiue For no Man will send his Moneyes farre off nor put them into Vnknown Hands If it be Obiected that this doth in a Sort Authorize Vsury which before was in some places but Permissiue The Answer is That it is better to Mitigate Vsury by Declaration then to suffer it to Rage by Conniuence Of Youth and Age. XLII A Man that is Young in yeares may be Old in Houres if he haue lost no Time But that happeneth rarely Generally youth is like the first Cogitations not so Wise as the Second For there is a youth in thoughts as well as in Ages And yet the Inuention of Young Men is more liuely then that of Old And Imaginations streame into their Mindes better and as it were more Diuinely Natures that haue much Heat and great and violent desires and Perturbations are not ripe for Action till they haue passed the Meridian of their yeares As it was with Iulius Caesar Septimiê° Seuerê° Of the latter of whom it is said IuueÌ„tutem egit Erroribus imò Furoribus plenaÌ„ And yet he was the Ablest Emperour almost of all the List But Reposed Natures may doe well in Youth As it is seene in Augustus Caesar Cosmus Duke of Florence Gaston de Fois and others On the other side Heate and Viuacity in Age is an Excellent Composition for Businesse Young Men are Fitter to Inuent then to Iudge Fitter for Execution then for Counsell And Fitter for New Proiects then for Setled Businesse For the Experience of Age in Things that fall within the compasse of it directeth them But in New Things abuseth them The Errours of Young Men are the Ruine of Businesse But the Errours of Aged Men amount but to this That more might haue beene done or sooner Young Men in the Conduct and Mannage of Actions Embrace more then they can Hold Stirre more then they can Quiet Fly to the End without Consideration of the Meanes and Degrees Pursue some few Principles which they haue chanced vpon absurdly Care not to Innouate which draws vnknowne Inconueniences Vse extreme Remedies at first And that which doubleth all Errours will not acknowledge or retract them Like an vnready Horse that will neither Stop nor Turne Men of Age Obiect too much Consult too long Aduenture too little Repent too soone and seldome driue Businesse home to the full Period But content themselues with a Mediocrity of Successe Certainly it is good to compound Employments of both For that will be Good for the Present because the Vertues of either Age may correct the defects of both And good for Succession that Young Men may be Learners while Men in Age are Actours And lastly Good for Externe Accidents because Authority followeth Old Men And Fauour and Popularity Youth But for the Morall Part perhaps Youth will haue the preheminence as Age hath for the Politique A certaine Rabbine vpon the Text Your Young Men shall see visions and your Old Menshall dreame dreames Inferreth that Young Men are admitted nearer to God then Old Because Vision is a clearer Reuelation then a Dreame And certainly the more a Man drinketh of the World the more it intoxicateth And Age doth profit rather in the Powers of Vnderstanding then in the Vertues of the Will and Affections There be some haue an Ouer-early Ripenesse in their yeares which fadeth betimes These are first Such as haue Brittle Wits the Edge whereof is soone turned Such as was Hermogenes the Rhetorician whose Books are exceeding Subtill Who afterwards waxed Stupid A Second Sort is of those that haue some naturall dispositions which haue better Grace in Youth then in Age Such as is a fluent and Luxuriant Speech which becomes Youth well but not Age So Tully saith of Hortentius Idemmanebat neque idem decebat The third is of such as take too high a Straine at the First And are Magnanimous more then Tract of yeares can vphold As was Scipio Affricanus of whom Liuy saith in effect Vltima primis cedebant Of Beauty XLIII VErtue is like a Rich Stone best plaine set And surely Vertue is best in a Body that is comely though not of Delicate Features And that hath rather dignity of Presence then Beauty of Aspect Neither is it almost seene that very Beautifull Persons are otherwise of great Vertue As if Nature were rather Busie not to erre then in labour to produce Excellency And therefore they proue Accomplished but not of great Spirit And Study rather Behauiour then Vertue But this holds not alwaies For Augustus Caesar Titus Vespasianus Philip le Belle of France Edward the Fourth of England Alcibiades of Athens Ismael the Sophy of Persia were all High and Great Spirits And yet the most Beautifull Men of their Times In Beauty that of Fauour is more then that of Colour And
secret Contempt By how much the more Men ought to beware of this Passion which loseth not only other things but it selfe As for the other losses the Poets Relation doth well figure them That he that preferred Helena quitted the Gifts of Iuno and Pallas For whosoeuer esteemeth too much of Amorous Affection quitteth both Riches and Wisedome This Passion hath his Flouds in the very times of Weaknesse which are great Prosperitie and great Aduersitie though this latter hath beene lesse obserued Both which times kindle Loue and make it more feruent and therefore shew it to be the Childe of Folly They doe best who if they cannot but admit Loue yet make it keepe Quarter And seuer it wholly from their serious Affaires and Actions of life For if it checke once with Businesse it troubleth Mens Fortunes and maketh Men that they can no wayes be true to their owne Ends. I know not how but Martiall Men are giuen to Loue I thinke it is but as they are giuen to Wine For Perils commonly aske to be paid in Pleasures There is in Mans Nature a secret Inclination and Motion towards loue of others which if it be not spent vpon some one or a few doth naturally spread it selfe towards many and maketh men become Humane and Charitable As it is seene sometime in Friars Nuptiall loue maketh Mankinde Friendly loue perfecteth it but Wanton loue Corrupteth and Imbaseth it Of Great Place XI MEn in Great Place are thrice Seruants Seruants of the Soueraigne or State Seruants of Fame and Seruants of Businesse So as they haue no Freedome neither in their Persons nor in their Actions nor in their Times It is a strange desire to seeke Power and to lose Libertie Or to seeke Power ouer others and to loose Power ouer a Mans Selfe The Rising vnto Place is Laborious And by Paines Men come to greater Paines And it is sometimes base And by Indignities Men come to Dignities The standing is slippery and the Regresse is either a downefall or at least an Eclipse which is a Melancholy Thing Cùm non sis qui fueris non esse cur velis viuere Nay retire Men cannot when they would neither will they when it were Reason But are impatient of priuatenesse euen in Age and Sicknesse which require the Shadow Like old Townesmen that will be still sitting at their Street doore though thereby they offer Age to Scorne Certainly Great Persons had need to borrow other Mens Opinions to thinke themselues happy For if they iudge by their owne Feeling they cannot finde it But if they thinke with themselues what other men thinke of them and that other men would faine be as they are then they are happy as it were by report When perhaps they finde the Contrary within For they are the first that finde their owne Griefs though they be the last that finde their owne Faults Certainly Men in Great Fortunes are strangers to themselues and while they are in the pusle of businesse they haue no time to tend their Health either of Body or Minde Illi Mors grauis incubat qui notus nimis omnibus ignotus moritur sibi In Place There is License to doe Good and Euill wherof the latter is a Curse For in Euill the best condition is not to will The Second not to Can. But Power to doe good is the true and lawfull End of Aspiring For good Thoughts though God accept them yet towards men are little better then good Dreames Except they be put in Act And that cannot be without Power and Place As the Vantage and Commanding Ground Merit and good Works is the End of Mans Motion And Conscience of the same is the Accomplishment of Mans Rest For if a Man can be Partaker of Gods Theater he shall likewise be Partaker of Gods Rest Et conuersus Deus vt aspiceret Opera quae fecerunt manus suae vidit quod omnia essent bona nimis And then the Sabbath In the Discharge of thy Place set before thee the best Examples For Imitation is a Globe of Precepts And after a time set before thee thine owne Example And examine thy selfe strictly whether thou didst not best at first Neglect not also the Examples of those that haue carried themselues ill in the same Place Not to set off thy selfe by taxing their Memory but to direct thy selfe what to auoid Reforme therfore without Brauerie or Scandall of former Times and Persons but yet set it downe to thy selfe as well to create good Presidents as to follow them Reduce things to the first Institution and obserue wherin and how they haue degenerate but yet aske Counsell of both Times Of the Ancient Time what is best and of the Latter Time what is fittest Seeke to make thy Course Regular that Men may know before hand what they may expect But be not too positiue and peremptorie And expresse thy selfe well when thou digressest from thy Rule Preserue the Right of thy Place but stirre not questions of Iurisdiction And rather assume thy Right in Silence and de facto then voice it with Claimes and Challenges Preserue likewise the Rights of Inferiour Places And thinke it more Honour to direct in chiefe then to be busie in all Embrace and inuite Helps and Aduices touching the Execution of thy Place And doe not driue away such as bring thee Information as Medlers but accept of them in good part The vices of Authoritie are chiefly foure Delaies Corruption Roughnesse and Facilitie For Delaies Giue easie Accesse Keepe times appointed Goe through with that which is in hand And interlace not businesse but of necessitie For Corruption Doe not onely binde thine owne Hands or thy Seruants hands from taking but binde the hands of Sutours also from offring For Integritie vsed doth the one but Integritie professed and with a manifest detestation of Bribery doth the other And auoid not onely the Fault but the Suspicion Whosoeuer is found variable and changeth manifestly without manifest Cause giueth Suspicion of Corruption Therefore alwayes when thou changest thine Opinion or Course professe it plainly and declare it together with the Reasons that moue thee to change And doe not thinke to steale it A Seruant or a Fauorite if hee be inward and no other apparant Cause of Esteeme is commonly thought but a By-way to close Corruption For Roughnesse It is a needlesse cause of Discontent Seueritie breedeth Feare but Roughnesse breedeth Hate Euen Reproofes from Authoritie ought to be Graue and not Taunting As for Facilitie It is worse then Bribery For Bribes come but now and then But if Importunitie or Idle Respects lead a Man he shall neuer be without As Salomon saith To respect Persons is not good For such a man will transgresse for a peece of Bread It is most true that was anciently spoken A place sheweth the Man And it sheweth some to the better and some to the worse Omnium consensu capax Imperij nisi imperasset saith Tacitus of Galba but of Vespasian he
put Life into Businesse And those that are of Solide and Sober Natures haue more of the Ballast then of the Saile In Fame of Learning the Flight will be slow without some Feathers of Ostentation Qui de contemnenda Gloria Libros scribunt Nomen suum inscribunt Socrates Aristotle Galen were Men full of Ostentation Certainly Vaine-Glory helpeth to Perpetuate a Mans Memory And Vertue was neuer so Beholding to Humane Nature as it receiued his due at the Second Hand Neither had the Fame of Cicero Seneca Plinius Secundus borne her Age so well if it had not been ioyned with some Vanity in themselues Like vnto Varnish that makes Seelings not onely Shine but Last But all this while when I speake of Vaine-Glory I meane not of that Property that Tacitus doth attribute to Mucianus Omnium quae dixerat feceratque Arte quadam Ostentator For that proceeds not of Vanity but of Naturall Magnanimity and discretion And in some Persons is not onely Comely but Gracious For Excusations Cessions Modesty it selfe well Gouerned are but Arts of Ostentation And amongst those Arts there is none better then that which Plinius Secundus speaketh of which is to be Liberall of Praise and Commendation to others in that wherein a Mans Selfe hath any Perfection For saith Pliny very Wittily In commending Another you doe your selfe right For he that you Commend is either Superiour to you in that you Commend or Inferiour If he be Inferiour if he be to be Commended you much more If he be Superiour if he be not to be commended you much lesse Glorious Men are the Scorne of Wise Men the Admiration of Fooles the Idols of Parasites And the Slaues of their own Vaunts Of Honour and Reputation LV. THe Winning of Honour is but the Reuealing of a Mans Vertue and Worth without Disaduantage For some in their Actions doe Wooe and affect Honour and Reputation Which Sort of Men are commonly much Talked of but inwardly little Admired And some contrariwise darken their Vertue in the Shew of it So as they be vnder-valued in opinion If a Man performe that which hath not beene attempted before Or attempted giuen ouer Or hath beene atchieued but not with so good Circumstance he shall purchase more Honour then by Effecting a Matter of greater Difficulty or Vertue wherein he is but a Follower If a Man so temper his Actions as in some one of them hee doth content euerie Faction or Combination of People the Musicke will bee the fuller A man is an ill Husband of his Honour that entreth into any Action the Failing wherein may disgrace him more then the Carying of it through can Honor him Honour that is gained and broken vpon Another hath the quickest Reflection Like Diamonds cut with Fascets And therefore let a Man contend to excell any Competitors of his in Honour in Out-shooting them if he can in their owne Bowe Discreet Followers and Seruants helpe much to Reputation Omnis Fama à Domesticis emanat Enuy which is the Canker of Honour is best extinguished by declaring a Mans Selfe in his Ends rather to seeke Merit then Fame And by Attributing a Mans Successes rather to diuine Prouidence and Felicity then to his owne Vertue or Policy The true Marshalling of the Degrees of Soueraigne Honour are these In the First Place are Conditores Imperiorum Founders of States and Common-Wealths Such as were Romulus Cyrus Caesar Ottoman Ismael In the Second Place are Legis-latores Law-giuers which are also called Second Founders or Perpetui Principes because they Gouerne by their Ordinances after they are gone Such were Lycurgus Solon Iustinian Eadgar Alphonsus of Castile the Wise that made the Siete Partidas In the Third Place are Liberatores or Saluatores Such as compound the long Miseries of Ciuill Warres or deliuer their Countries from Seruitude of Strangers or Tyrants As Augustus Caesar Vespasianus Aurelianus Theodoricus K. Henry the 7. of England K. Henry the 4. of France In the Fourth Place are Propagatores or Propugnatores Imperij Such as in Honourable Warres enlarge their Territories or make Noble defence against Inuaders And in the Last Place are Patres Patriae which reigne iustly make the Times good wherein they liue Both which last Kindes need no Examples they are in such Number Degrees of Honour in Subiects are First Participes Curarum Those vpon whom Princes doe discharge the greatest Weight of their Affaires Their Right Hands as we call them The Next are Duces Belli Great Leaders Such as are Princes Lieutenants and doe them Notable Seruices in the Warres The Third are Gratiosi Fauourites Such as exceed not this Scantling To be Solace to the Soueraigne and Harmelesse to the People And the Fourth Negotijs pares Such as haue great Places vnder Princes and execute their Places with Sufficiency There is an Honour likewise which may be ranked amongst the Greatest which happeneth rarely That is of such as Sacrifice themselues to Death or Danger for the Good of their Countrey As was M. Regulus and the Two Decij Of Iudicature LVI IVdges ought to remember that their Office is Ius dicere and not Ius dare To Interpret Law and not to Make Law or Giue Law Else will it be like the Authority claimed by the Church of Rome which vnder pretext of Exposition of Scripture doth not sticke to Adde and Alter And to Pronounce that which they doe not Finde And by Shew of Antiquitie to introduce Noueltie Iudges ought to be more Learned then Wittie More Reuerend then Plausible And more Aduised then Confident Aboue all Things Integritie is their Portion and Proper Vertue Cursed saith the Law is hee that remoueth the Land marke The Mislaier of a Meere Stone is to blame But it is the Vniust Iudge that is the Capitall Remouer of Land-markes when he Defineth amisse of Lands and Propertie One Foule Sentence doth more Hurt then many Foule Examples For these doe but Corrupt the Streame The other Corrupteth the Fountaine So saith Salomon Fons turbatus Vena corrupta est Iustus cadens in causâ suâ coram Aduersario The Office of Iudges may haue Reference Vnto the Parties that sue Vnto the Aduocates that Plead Vnto the Clerkes and Ministers of Iustice vnderneath them And to the Soueraigne or State aboue them First for the Causes or Parties that Sue There be saith the Scripture that turne Iudgement into Worme-wood And surely there be also that turne it into Vinegar For Iniustice maketh it Bitter and Delaies make it Soure The Principall Dutie of a Iudge is to suppresse Force and Fraud whereof Force is the more Pernicious when it is Open And Fraud when it is Close and Disguised Adde thereto Contentious Suits which ought to be spewed out as the Surfet of Courts A Iudge ought to prepare his Way to a Iust Sentence as God vseth to prepare his Way by Raising Valleys and Taking downe Hills So when there appeareth on either side an High Hand Violent Prosecution Cunning Aduantages taken