bootie that went thus ransacking vp and downe So this poore man sayde vnto himselfe Thou hadst néede looke narrowlye if thou wéene to haue that thou séekest for Surely I will sée yet what feates these théeues doe worke when they come into such places where they finde naught The Théefe roming here and there busily searching and groping in euery corner founde nothing but a little pot with Meale and bicause he would not lose hys labour hée determined to drawe his string to ketch that little morsell and began to poure it out into the lappe of his cloke hauing in the cape therof great store of Iewelles and ready money which hée had stolen in an other house where he had béene The good poore man which till nowe was whisht and quiet to sée the ende of the Théefe perceyuing hys little discretion his hart rose against him considering the villanye of thys wretch that woulde not leaue him that sielye quantitie of Meale to sustaine him alyue withall and thought with himselfe it were better defend it in time to kéepe him from famine than to tarye looking for the late reliefe of his harde friends So in a great fury he leapt out of his bed and tooke him to his sword and hauing the same drawne in hys hande with a terrible noyse hée runneth to the Théefe Which bicause hée would not both lose his honesty and life togither at one instant leauing for hast to saue himselfe hys cloke in pawne with the Meale hauing no leysure to cast it on his backe he was forced to flye for life and let all alone This honest poore man then at his pleasure poured out the Meale out of his cloke and put it againe into hys earthen potte where it was before and thus sayd to himselfe a ha by Sainct Marie this geare goeth well I haue gotten a cloke to boote by the meanes to defende mée from the colde at least and putting his hande into the cape hée met with great riches and Iewels and happily lighted on those goods which he neuer hoped of winning that frō his enimie by force which his friends would neuer haue giuen him for loue I Doe not like in such a case to say as the common people doe that God prouideth liuing for euery bodie and that he will not see me lacke that that shall be necessarie for me so as I neede not to labor for my liuing for sure it is but a foolish phrase and vaine speach But rather I will conclude that euery man is bound to labor to procure his liuing he may not make any such cases presidents in which it pleased GOD to sende great riches without labor as in this For these are only the secrets of God we ought not to aske the cause of his diuine goodnesse The wise man therefore must endeuour himselfe to gaine that he may honestly and vprightly trusting always in almightie God that he will prosper his doings and giue him encrease seeking euer to keepe him selfe out of trouble and sorowe and not to do as the Doue which breeding hir Pigions about the house making them familiar with the same albeit they are monthly taken from hir and killed yet she leaueth not for that to returne to hir olde nest and breede yong againe though she know they shal be taken from hir We finde it written that God hath ordeined the end and terme of all things and that they can not passe Therefore say these wise men that he that worketh respecting the worlde to come lightneth the burthens and troubles of this frayle life But he that reposeth his trust in these worldlye thinges and is wrapped in the same doth waste and consume his yeares A man ought to labour in these three things bicause he hath neede of them to wit. To knowe to keepe the lawe and the good statutes thereof The seconde to procure things necessarie for mans life And the thirde that his woorkes be pure and cleane with himselfe and among others Then he must beware and withdrawe himselfe from foure other mortall and damnable The first is to be negligent in his art or science The seconde to contemne that the law commaundeth The third to credit all things lightly The fourth to denie knowledge For he that will be reputed wise in his doings must first consider well what he taketh vpon him and if he neede counsell let him aske it of a faithfull friende When he happeneth to haue great matters in hande let him not goe about them rashly but first way the importance thereof That he be not likened to one which being out of his waye and going on still is the farther of the place he would go to And also compared to another which hath but a little hurt in his eye and by continuall rubbing of it he maketh it incurable A man must feare the diuine iustice inclining him selfe to that that is good and doing that to his neighbour he woulde haue done to himselfe helping him in all daungers as he woulde be holpen him selfe And to conclude this our worke he that meaneth to vnderstande it must order his life according to the lawes and institutions of vertue as showeth these wonderfull and learned examples and sententious authorities The Argument of the Booke WHat tyme there reigned in Edon so manye Royall crowned kings amongst the rest there was a King called Anastres Castri who chose for chiefe of all his Courte one Berozias whome hee made high treasorer of all his Realme a man right noble in his deedes and rich of possessions him he loued and trusted so much that hee put his princelye person and whole affaires of his Realme into his handes It happened one daye there was presented to the king a Booke in which was written many goodly dedes and secrets and amongst the heape this was one Howe that in India were marueylous hie mountaines in which there grewe certaine sortes of herhes and trees which if they were knowen and confected afterwards in a certaine kinde they should drawe out of that precious composition such a remedie as therewith they might raise to life again the dead The king no sooner read this wonder but he burned straight to knowe the troth thereof wherefore in haste as soone as might bee he dispatched Berozias and bade him hie him thither commaunding him to see if he coulde finde it true And bicause it was a hard and painefull enterprise he furnished him with golde and siluer not onely sufficient but more than needed that he shoulde not lacke Then he deliuered him his letters of recommendation to all those kings of India praying them to further this worthie man in his noble attempt purposed to good ende Berozias licensed nowe of the King to depart furnished with money and letters went into that countrie and arriued in India presented straight the king his maisters letters by meanes wherof he was receyued of the Magistrates as was pertinent to the Imbasie of so highe a Prince And his message deliuered
they vnderstanding the cause of his comming offered themselues with all the wise men they had to fauour his enterprise and to further it all they could And thus honorably accompanied of al the sage and wise men conducting him through all the Mountaynes and Countries there abouts they had and gathered all they found written for the conditing of so precious an electuarie And all they ioyning togithers to make this confection proouing it a great while could neuer finde it worke such effect as to raise any one from death to life againe So that they saw by proofe that all that was written in the booke concerning the electuarie was meere false and vntrue This thing grieued much Berozias that he should retourne to the king Anastres his maister and bring no better newes with him howbeit consulting with these graue and wise men before his departure how he might doe not to retourne home in vaine there was giuen him by a famous Philosopher of that Region a goodly treatise who serched himself also to finde that secrete and in the ende he vnderstoode that it was the Booke which was so called And so O graue Berozias thou shalt say vnto the king and returne to him with ioye The hilles which we ought to seeke are the wise and learned men The trees and herbes growing vpon those hilles doe betoken wisedome and learning which springs of the vnderstanding and iudgementes of the learned The medicine or electuarie condited of those herbes are the bookes full of most learned writings composed by the high and deepe wittes and with this oyle or Baulme they reuiue the deade For with such knowledge the ignorant and vnlearned are instructed whom wee maye iustly recken deade and buried Therefore tasting the sweetenesse continually reading of the doctrine of the sages they receiue health and resurrection This interpretation greatly reioyced Berozias in so much as hee besought the Princes and sage men that they would giue him but the copie of that booke to carie to the King his Maister which although the booke were alwayes in the handes of those Kings for that it was ful of Morall Philosophy was graunted him licensing him to translate it out of the Indian into the Persian tongue with the helpe and knowledge of all those learned Philosophers which was so singularlye done that it bare the vaunt of all Morall Philosophie The Booke receiued with due and infinite thankes rendered to those noble Kings and Sages for the great honor and curtesie they had done him Berozias departeth home and being come to his Maister presented him the booke with relation of his whole entertainment The King hearing so noble an exposition so wise and discreete an interpretation thankefully receyued the Booke esteming it aboue any other present And thencefoorth he procured with great diligence to haue alwayes bookes and those he studied desirous of knowledge seeking to entertaine in his Court wise and learned men iudging as is true that bookes and wisedome are the greatest treasure and delight to man Appointing in his Palaice a great librarie wherein aboue the rest he placed this booke for chiefe being full of examples and instructions for mans life and also of Iustice and the feare of God in praise and honour of whom we begin this worke shewing therein the continuall daungers and deceits of this miserable worlde The first part of the Morall Philosophie of the auncient Sages compiled by the great and learned Philosopher Sendebar In the Indian tongue who by sundrie and wonderfull examples bewrayeth the deceyts and daungers of this present worlde WHen I was come to yeares of discretion borne of a noble house and of my Genitours put to the studie of Philosophye to learne Phisycke wherof I proceded Doctor I knewe that thys worlde was a course of a most vehement running streame but yet appearing no perill of drowning to him that passed it bicause that harde by the banckes sydes it was verie shalow and aboue it ranne quietly carying aboue water riches and wares of great value to the iudgement of those that beheld them by meanes whereof men drawne with great couetousnesse to haue abundance they ranne towardes them and entred into the riuer partly wetting themselues but onely their foote they tooke a fewe of them And he that would haue mo going further in must of necessitie wet his legge and knee bicause it increased And he that with furie passing the rest with an insatiable desire would needes go further plunged his whole bodie in the water And the others trusting in their force of swimming stucke in the middest and founde the streame exceeding bigge for in the bottome it was most swift and raging and they coulde not get out of the middest but euen as much as they coulde doe in swimming to kepe them selues aboue water And brought to this passe not finding any waye to get out they cast of these rich merchandises to this man and to that man which hauinge no skill to swimme followed them alongest the banckes sides of the riuer In the ende weried with swimming not able to labor any more for life forsaking this merchandise floting aboue the water downe they sinke and carying nothing with them remayne drowned WHo coulde in better maner describe our worldly labour truly our insatiable desire is so gréedie to haue that it liketh and séeth that to be owner of that we would we put our selues to all maner of daungers and intollerable paynes of this world To be briefe Euery man little or much wetteth himselfe in this raging riuer of mans life He that wetting his foote runneth alongest the hancks side of this terrible Brooke is a man that is oppressed with bondage that enioyeth naught else in this world but miserable lyfe The other that washeth his legge liueth by his labor and commeth to take more of the world and to taste the delights thereof bearing many afflictions He that thrustes in his whole bodie in this water hath possessed the seignorie gouernment of the most wicked and haplesse state of this world O vnspeakable cruelty that once passed forwards he entreth perforce into the middest and reacheth to this man and to that man that he hath kéeping himself alwaies in this daungerous state But in the ende ouertaken by some accident as warre treason poyson or mans force he falleth into deathes lappe and he that hath followed his troublesome life remayneth depriued of all his goodes bicause wanting the heade the rest of the members remaine vile filthie and stincking Sure this worldly life representeth no more but the little worlde of our bodie which carieth a wonderfull presence and that little breath of ours once spent it is then but a shadowe dust and smoke These worldly fauours and temporall goodes in the iudgement of the wise seeme but as snowe which with the first beames of the Sunne dissolueth and commeth to nothing Lord what cost do we bestow vpon our heares and face which when the Barber clippeth of are despised and
luj ne che in talschiere Venissero le Nimfe a mezzo Aprile In freddo Clima a fiori e frutti hauere Il NORTHO è che col suo sublime Ingegno Fà questo et alla bella ITALIA dona Nel suo paese con sua lingua stanza E Perciò il DONI Dona a luj per pegno Se istesso et dice. Se gia mai persona M'Interpretò NORTHO è quelche hor m'auanza T. N. To the Reader OF wordes and of examples is a sundrie sort of speache One selfe same thing to mindes of men in sundrie wise they teache Wordes teache but those that vnderstande the language that they heare But things to men of sundrie speache examples make appeare So larger is the speache of beasts though mens more certaine bee But yet so larger as conceyte is able them to see Such largenesse yet at length to bring to certaine vse and plaine God gaue such grace to beasts that they should Indian speach attaine And then they learnde Italian tongue and now at length they can By helpe of NORTH speake English well to euery English man. In English now they teache vs wit. In English now they saye Ye men come learne of beasts to liue to rule and to obaye To guide you wisely in the worlde to know to shunne deceite To flie the crooked pathes of guile to keepe your doings streight As â—arst therefore you vsed beasts but for your bodies neede Sometime to clothe sometime to beare sometime your selues to feede Now vse them for behoofe of minde and for your soules delite And wish him well that taught them so to speake and so to write E. C. To the Reader IF care to showe good will to natiue soyle In setting forth a worke of great auayle If how to shunne the vaine and restlesse toyle Wherein we wade for things that soone doe fayle If graue aduice bewrayde in simple showe Forewarning still the trayne of guilefull waye If Wisedomes lore the good from yll to knowe And by the same our brittle liues to staye If this and more yea more an hundred folde Lies open nowe vnto thy happie gaine If these I saye more worth than masse of Golde Doe well deserue by him that tooke this paine Good Reader than graunt this my iust desire In thankefull sort receyue this learned Booke For his rewarde he seekes no further hire But good report when thou herein shalt looke His paines were great thy gift thus waye but small Yet he content and thinkes he reapeth all The Philosophie of the wise auncient Fathers A worke first compiled in the Indian tongue and aftervvardes transferred into diuers and sundrie other languages as the Persian Arabian Hebrue Latine Spanishe and Italian and now reduced into our vulgar speeche The Prologue THis precious Iewell beloued Reader was first founde written in the Indian tongue entituled Morall vvisedome and thence conueyed into Persia and was coated wyth their language naming it with them The example of good lyfe and from the Persian spéech a long time after by the auncient Fathers they knowing the woonderfull doctrine therof brought into the natyue Arabian from that translated into Hebrue by Ioel gran Rabi a Iewe at length reduced into Latine and passing through many languages became a Spaniarde with the tytle of Exemplario and so in time brought to Venice and there put into Italian by a company of Gentlemen associated togithers entituling their Felowship Academia Peregrina and nowe lastly out of Italian made vulgar to vs What high doctrine is conteyned in thys Booke the diligent and curious searche for the same of so many wise and famous men and of so sundrye nations doth witnesse If therefore you desire the vnderstanding of Morall wisedome spirituall doctrine and infinite instructions and examples for man to liue well reade I say this golden Volume Surely reader this booke shall be a looking glasse for thée wherin thou shalt most liuely beholde the daylie and present daungers and deceytes of mans most miserable lyfe and the eyes of thy vnderstanding shall be made open to discerne the flatteries of disceytfull men and the wisedome of this moste guilefull worlde by meanes whereof yée may easilye blotte out many malignant effects of this alas our crooked age The style is familier and pleasaunt and wyll much delight thée For the first and olde Authors hereof wrote it doubtlesse wyth great iudgement trayned thereto with a feruent desire that their doctrine shoulde not onely remayne in perpetuitie for euer but that it shoulde also be imprinted in the Readers minde assuring them selues it shoulde profite all and dislyke none For it maye in maner be called an artificiall memorie to benifite themselues at all times and seasons and in all argumentes with euerye perticuler thing that these wise and graue men haue inuented shadowed with tales and parables and wyth the examples of brute and dumme beastes THE Sages of auncient nations expert in all the Sciences desirous to publishe to those that came after them their great knowledge and wisedome euen with a determinate minde and counsell premeditate decreed to set foorth a peece of woorke adapted with diuers similitudes and sundrie comparisons of vnreasonable beasts birds by which they might greatly beautifie their doctrine and this they did for diuers respectes First to giue occasion that their wisedome and learning should be knowne to the worlde Secondly that men of iudgement and discretion reading the same might reape the benifite of their rules to direct this fraile lyfe Thirdlye that hee that vnderstandeth these examples knowing little shoulde by them knowe much And fourthly and last of all if he were yong and had small delight to reade much yet he may with a short and pleasant waye be instructed with these delighting fayninges and with those similitudes and examples taste the sweetenesse of the woordes the pleasure of the sentences accompanied with proper tales and so Gentle Reader profite himselfe and teache others In this their treatise such wise Fathers haue hidden from vs woonderfull significations For a treasure vndoubtedly of so high a misterye and doctrine as this is to be more estemed than all the Iewelles of the worlde This precious Iemme of knowledge who so shall lodge it in the secresie of his memorie shall neuer lose it but shall rather augment and increase it with age in such sort that he shall winne a marueylous commoditie to him and of that plant shall taste the sauorie pleasant and profitable fruites no lesse wonderfull then delectable To reade such a Booke worthy Reader thou must call thy wittes togither vniting them and thy vnderstanding with the due order of the woorke to knowe why and to what purpose the olde prudent Fathers framed it least thou be lyke to the blinde man that wanting his sight taketh vpon him to go ouer Mountaines Hilles and Dales through most daungerous and perillous wayes He therefore that doth reade must vnderstand what he readeth and why he readeth it and not to be so
desirous to come to the ende that he marke not the beginning and forget the sense full of knowledge lincked with the middest and end For he that readeth so readeth without fruite and rather troubleth the minde and wearieth his body than otherwise not forcing the benifite and knowledge of the truth Folow therefore these graue preceps and ruled order and let no vaine thoughts possesse your mindes to withdraw you from reading it For to finde so riche a treasure and not to know how to take and laye it vp is rightly to folow him that finding a Masse of Golde and Siluer had not the wyt to take it and cary it away Of a Husbande man and of the treasure he founde A Husbandman of Persia going one daye to plough his lande by chaunce stumbled of a marueylous treasure fyndinge store of pottes of coyne of Golde and Siluer and woondring at hys great fortune began to think to lode him selfe and to beare it home But séeing the summes so great that scant twentie men coulde carie it awaye it gréeued him much that hée alone coulde not conuey it and thus hée sayde to himselfe If I leaue it here it is in daunger to be taken from mée and to watch it daylie it woulde to much trouble mée besides that that I coulde take with me would doe mée but small pleasure Well hap what hap will I will go fetch company to helpe me home withall and they shall beare the burden I will onely pay them and take mine ease tush I haue at will to content them and thus in one day I shal come home and finde my Cofers filled With this minde resolued forth he goeth calleth men togithers bringing them with him to this Golden masse of coyne where he giueth eche man his burden and byddeth them hye them to his house These bearers now departing with their burdens ouercome with desire of the money and gréedy of this praie in steade of going to the house of this foolishe and vnluckie man they went euery one to his owne house The husbandman after their departure commeth leysurely home wythout any burden lyke a man of welth as one that thought himselfe a Lorde at home wéening to haue founde his richesse there But when he was entered his house and hearde nothing of the goodes nor bearers then all to late hée knew his lack and folly commending their iudgements that with the burden of theire shoulders had made themselues riche So that for treasure he enioyed sorowe For hée that might haue béene Lorde of all discréetely gouerning that which good hap had layde on him deseruedly bought the price of hys folly abyding the bitter smart of pouertie and myserie THE discreete Reader that shall looke in this Booke must giue attentiue eare and note eche thing perticulerly he readeth diligently marking the secret lessons For alwayes the worke of these sage Fathers carieth two senses withall The first knowne and manifest The second hidden and secret Of the first we sweetely enioy the taste but of the second we receyue small knowledge if we deepely ponder not the wordes And hereof we may take ensample of the Nut which giueth no maner of taste to man if he doe not first breake and open the shell and then comen to the wyshed kernell he beginneth to taste the sauour therof and to reape the fruit of so excellent a doctrine Let vs not doe therefore as the vndiscreete and simple man that had a desire to seeme learned and to bee counted eloquent in speach as you shall heare Of the simple ignorant man desirous to seeme learned ON a time one earnestly besought a Poet an excellent Rhetorician his very friende to giue him some thing written that might be learned and eloquent which konning without booke he might recite at pleasure in the companye of wise men that he might at least séeme no lesse learned than they His friende consented and performed his desire and gaue him in a written booke faire bounde and lymned with golden letters many goodly sentences so that he began to learn by rote his written authorities and laboring night and daye to commit them to memorie he determined to show that he was also learned And being one daye in argument not vnderstanding the signification of the words he had learned for that they were not in his owne tongue hée began to alleadge them quite from the purpose being taken with the maner they lawghed him to scorne Hée being angrye at the matter lyke an obstinate and ignorant foole aunswered What thinke you I am deceyued that haue learned that I alleage out of the booke of a woorthie learned man yea and the letters lymned with golde to at which woordes they laughed him more to scorne then before to sée his ignorance EVery man therfore must indeuor himselfe to vnderstand that he readeth and vnderstanding it well he must diligently obserue that doctrine marking to what end and purpose that was written that he hath red to profit therby at any time I knowe there will be wise men that will beleue they can saye and doe more wonders than this commeth to yet for all that the more we reade the more we knowe and the quicker is our vnderstanding besides there is obteined euen profounde knowledge Learning bringeth with it a great priuiledge for by that men are exalted and to a man of knowledge and vnderstanding it giueth life But to him that hath iudgement and vnderstanding and that gouerneth not himselfe and his actions according to the prescribed rule of reason His knowledge I say dyeth in him without fruit As by reading this example folowing you may easilye perceiue A comparison of the slouthfull man for the Reader AN honest man lying in his bedde hearde a Théefe going vp and downe in his house and thinking to paye him home to take the more aduantage of him suffered him to take his pleasure and loding that hauing in déede his packe at his backe he might euen then as he thought take him with the maner and iustly reward him with the swordes point as he listed Thus debating with him selfe imagining to execute his purpose the Théefe occupying all this while himselfe taking what he woulde this stelye good man fell a sléepe againe and the Théefe with his fardell of the best things without any let at all quietly departeth his waye This man when he awaked and sawe his house naked hys chestes emptye and broken open bitterly sighed and lamented cursing himselfe and blaming his folly considering hée might easily haue saued all that he was robbed of since hée knew it and heard the noyse and for very sloth woulde not once rise and defend it hauing as it were the théefe in his handes Knowledge therefore is aptly compared to a trée whose fruite are the works and this knowledge is that we al ought to desire and to exercise our selues in Were it not a mad part to leaue the brode beaten hie way and to take the vnknowne and
same night howe the Asse reprooued the Moyle his brother The Lyon sent to the Libbard and commaunded his officers they shoulde vnderstand particularly the Moyles case and to dispatch him roundlye AL the beasts got them into the Parliament house and euery one tooke his place according to his degrée and sate them downe and the house being set there was brought before them in chaines this solemne traytor the Moyle And when he was come before the presence of such a sight of Asses and fooles the Libbard standeth vp speaketh Right honorable it is yet fresh in memorie that the King killed the poore innocent Chiarino so that from that time hitherto his Maiestie hath not bene quieted in his minde that hée put him to death by the false accusation and enuie of my Lorde the Moyle His Maiestie therefore hath liked to call vs to Parliament that euery one of vs should witnesse the troth if we knowe or haue heard any thing of his doings in what maner he did it what Arte he vsed with whom he practised and by whom he was assisted in this great treason to bring his wicked minde to purpose Euery one of vs is bound that knoweth ought to vtter it for the preseruation of the Realme and his Maiesties most royall person And then by iustice it is méete such traytors shoulde be punished and the good rewarded by meanes wherof the good may liue vnder his Maiesties reigne and gouernement with safetie and the yll be rooted out and cut off from the common weale Euery one looked other in the face and helde their peace The vnhappie Moyle perceyuing that euerie bodie was ashamed to take vppon them to tell so yll a tale cut off Fortune by the waste euen at that pinche and stepped to the matter himselfe rising vp vpon his féete being set before and boldly sayd these words Therefore my Lordes take no fantasie in your heades that is not honest for so yll woulde come of it and take not vpon you any thing that you are not well informed off least yours bee the shame and losse Let euery man remember his soule and let him not say that he knoweth not but to affirme that he hath seene I am very well contented with that Sure it were yll done my Lordes for anye man to speake that he knoweth not certainely and assuredly and the wrath of the Gods with such lyke yll lucke as mine would be poured vpon them and their lyfe and this none but I knoweth it better The maister Cooke of the Kinges Kitchin as fatte as a Hogge hearing this brauery of his to enforce his credite he tooke hart vpon him and emboldened himselfe notwithstanding his nobilitie and beganne to speake in presence of them all and thus he sayde RIght Reuerent and Honorable audience ye are very well met in this place Our olde auncient fathers that wrote many bookes of Phisiognomie of the which I thanke the King I haue greased a good number bicause I studied oftentimes in the Kitchin do tell vs many things and gaue vs diuers tokens to knowe beastes and men whereby we knowing them to be good or bad they should accordingly be rewarded or punished Id est I meane so to practise with the good and to flie the companie of the euill So it is yea marrie is it in faith I am sure of it I. Nowe for that I haue studied and according to my skyll I tell yée my Lordes I can not dissemble I finde our solemne Moyle here to haue manye yll partes in this matter which showe him in all and for all to be enuious false and a traytor leauing out that he is verye cruell and wickedly bent besides And ye marke him he euer looketh hier with his left eye than his right and his nostrels he turneth still to the right side with his eiebrowes verye thicke and long of heares and continually he looketh on the grounde which are manifest tokens he is a traitor and all these signes looke ye on him that list ye shall sée him haue them rightly I warrant ye The Moyle séeing the Swyne groyne with so yll a grace although he was euen almost grauelled and out of countenance yet he turned to him and replied MY Lords if it were true that this malicious Swyne and greasie verlet here before yee all doth tell yee that the heauens shoulde place signes in vs as a necessarie cause of wickednesse then streight assoone as we sawe any beastes brought forth with those peruerse lines and marks eyther they were forthwith to be punished or put to death that they should not worke such wicked treasons and effectes and fewe besides that should bee borne that the most part of them at the least were not marked with these signes that he his goodly bookes doe imagine I knowe not if his doctrine shall be of such authoritie receyued amongst you that it shall condemne my goodnesse and pure workes Sure this worshipfull beast is deceyued and doth as they that see an olde woman present a yong woman with any thing or deliuereth hir some letter with anye pittifull showes streight without touch of brest not knowing no further they take hir for a Bawde My worshipfull Hogge shoulde knowe thyngs better before hee be thus bolde and saucie to speake in this presence But none is so bolde as blinde Bayarde I see Thou weenest to poynt at me but thy selfe it is that is poynted at and thou marke it well Thou supposest to detect me and to open my defectes and doest not looke vpon thy selfe what thine owne doe showe thee But harken to this tale then tell me how thou likest it OVr forefathers and elders sacked a great Citie had the spoyle of all that was in it and put all to the sworde saue olde men and women and little children of all sortes In tyme these little ones grew and bicause they left them nothing men and women went naked hyding only their secrets and priuities with some thing One day there came to the towne an olde countrie Cloyne to sell woode and hee brought with him his two daughters wherof the one went plainely to worke without any ceremonie showing such marke as God had sent hir and the other comely couered it wyth leaues as well beseemed hir The people began to say to the vnmoseled Mayde oh shame of the world fie for shame hyde hyde hyde The olde Cloyne bicause he woulde not haue that Maygame behinde him turning him reuiled euery body that spake and was as madde as a March Hare and leauing him selfe bare gaue hir his furniture to hyde hir shame Then they were all on the iacke of him and reuyled him to badde His first daughter that was couered seeing hir father bare sayde vnto him Lo sayth she ye haue made a good hande nowe had not you vene better haue holden your peace and to haue kept your owne priuities close as they were at the first This tale I haue told for thee maister Cooke of the