Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	see_v	time_n	year_n	3,136	5	4.6262	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68769	The guide of honour, or the ballance wherin she may weigh her actions A discourse written (by way of humble advise) by the author then residing in forreigne parts, to a truely noble lord of England his most honour'd friend. Worthy the perusall of all who are gently or nobly borne, whom it instructeth how to carry themselves in both fortunes with applause and security. / By Antony Stafford, Gent.	Stafford, Anthony.	1634 (1634)	STC 23124.5; ESTC S117800	23,790	166

once in Gods favour you can not except you will fall from it he being yesterday today and the same for ever You know how to please him hee having revealed his will in his Word The dispositions of Princes as it is fit remaine undiscovered and their intentions incommunicable Of all Kingdomes I esteeme this Iland wherein wee live most happy which since shee endured the file never bad above two or three Princes justly liable to the detested brand of Tyrannie But if you needes will follow the Court square your selfe by this Rule What ever you do well and laudably ascribe some way to the wisdome of your Soveraigne for they are gods on Earth and in Emulation of the Heavenlie God will have us acknowledge the best of our actions to have their ground from them leaving the worser to our owne Patronage Our imperfections are bastards which they will force us to father but what ever is in us legitimate and good they themselves owne as derived from their transcendent Vertue Tacitus saith of Antony that he was Nimius commemorandis quae meruisset Vaine in repeating his owne Deeds Germanicus did not so who being Lord of a great Victory in Germany erected in the fortunate place of his so good successe a Mountaine composed of Armes in manner of a Tropheie which hee Dedicated to Mars Iove and Augustus in the inscription attributing the Conquest to the Care and Armie of Tiberius not making the least mention of himselfe Metu invidiae an ratus conscientiam facti satis esse Whether he did this as fearingenvy or that hee esteemed the testimony of his owne conscience glorie enough I know not saith the same Author On the contrary Silius having for seven yeeres together governed a mighty Army in Germany vanted that hee alone had so many yeeres maintained and kept his Army in obedience and order whereas if Tiberius had himselfe come to his Legions hee would by seeking to introduce innovation of Discipline have destroyed and disbanded the whole Armie Destrui Fortunam suam Caesar imparemque tanto merito rebatur By this Caesar thought saith Tacitus his Fortune to receave an Eclipse and that his vallue was not deemed answerable to so great a merit Forthwith therefore he suborned false witnesses against Silius and welcommed all such as would accuse him which Silius perceiving layed violēt hands on himself choosing rather to fall under his owne Cruelty then stand to the Mercy of a Tyrant Out of these examples you may gather this instruction That it is as safe to transferre your own deserts upon your Prince as it is hazardous to detract from him or vain-gloriously to assume the praise of things well done to your selfe This I warne you in case your Destinie not your Reason hurries you to the Court But according to my former humble solicitatiō I would wish you to settle your selfe to a coūtry life Being there looke aswell to the husbanding of your Time as your Living Recreate but weary not yourselfe with Games and Sports making of Pastime a Labour Above all beware Hunting bewitch you not The Medes the Persians the Macedonians the Parthians and other Barbarous Nations were besotted with it but wee never read the renowned Romans of all Civill vertues the true patternes ever had it in esteeme Salust debaseth it so farre as to number it amongst the servile occupations and Tiberius noted with infamy the commander of a Legion for that he had sent forth a few Souldiers to the chase Pompey I can not denie when he was in Affrica followed this sport for some few daies and therfore Plutarch pleasantly saith that the very beasts of Affrica felt the felicity and power of the Romans But I wil make it good that neither any of the Nobility before that people became subject to one head nor after the losse of the Roman Liberty any of the Emperours delighted in it Onely we finde that the wisest of them Augustus used now and then to fish with an Angle a sport which no way hindereth the operations of mans Nobler part And like a Foole quickly to shoote my owne bolt I doe not conceive how Wisedome can descend so low as to prate all day to a Dog Yet wee will allowe you this pleasure if you will followe it as Pliny the second did who in one of his Epistles affirmes that he never went to the Chase Sine pugillaribus without his Table-Bookes But my scope is not utterly to avert your minde from Hunting I onely perswading a moderation not a relinquishment Your double Study of Men and Bookes will take up some time Your Application and Discourse THe Former is most requisite and yet most difficult as being not every mans study Spare no travaile to search throughly the Dispositions of those to whom your businesse Commands your often repaire else you will bee a yeere in effecting that which two daies this way bestowed might have finish'd What will not the Application of a man and the participation of his purse bring to passe The most Politick and reserved of all your Nightcaps hath commonly some one humour remarqueable above the rest by which you may take him at your pleasure One is deaffe to all motions that his wife makes not Another maketh a Factor of his Secretary a third of his Dore-keeper c. I have knowne a great and competently wiseman who would much respect any man that was good to his Foole. The most curious pates of us all have imperfections which lay us open to bee practiz'd on by farre weaker wits Insinuate your selfe with a winning carriage into the good affections of all men Humillity in your gesture and speach will gaine you friends which confirme yours with such curtesies as occasion permitteth you to performe In the choise of your friends bee not onely curious but painfull for deserving Spirits are not obvious but retired and therefore require your diligent search of which they are most worthy There are some Conversations good for nothing but Recreation others are decent as to visit our acquaintance others profitable as that of Merchants others truly happy and delightfull as to frequent the company of Schollers and vertuous men This is the Vine planted amongst the Olives Abhorre Pride other wise all men will loathe you Out upon those Imperia Manliana odious alike to God and M●n That of Zeno to his proud Disciple is most true and appositive Not saith he if you bee great therefore you shall bee good but if you bee good great If your neglect or indiscretion procure you an Enemy and that he bee in himselfe worthy seeke by all honorable meanes to recōcile him but if he be without Lure having one foe foresee diligently that you have not two Your Discourse YOur Discourse saith one should rather delight to judge it selfe then shew it selfe In matters of Dispute apparel your Arguments in modesty for so finding your selfe in an errour you may make an honorable retreate Bold and peremptory positions being true offend

the opposer and being false shame the propunder Wrangle not Sic prob● is a troublesome importunate fellowe spued out of all societies that understand the World When you cite an Author be not too precise in quoting the Chapter or Page neither importunatly urge another to it for in so doing you shall robbe others of their owne it being Proprium quarto modo to the Canvasers in Schooles who will take it very hainously that you should usurpe their Profession There was not long since a disputation betweene a meare Scholler and a knowing Gentleman who strengthened his Argument with the authority of Plato The Scholler demanded in what Booke of Plato hee had read it and in what page to which the other replyed that hee could not well call to mind either the one or the other alledging the length of time for an excuse Whereupon the Scholler with a gaping laugh and a great Oath concluded it was not at al in the Philosopher daring the other to produce Plato and to shew him the passage To this the Gentleman thus answered Verilie I have left both that and all my other Bookes at home for want of such an Asse as you to carry them after me In jesting and witty talke beare a part but remember that the Lattines cal them Sales quasi Condimenta implying that wee should use them as Salt and Spices to season our discourse not to make them the subject of it The Moralists affirme wee may bee Facetosi non acetosi witty but not biting or injurious to the Company However if you mixe not your mirth with theirs yet marre not the Harmony with your severe censuring of it in word or looke Bethincke your selfe that the latter dayes are come upon us which should they not bee shortned would damne all flesh In the Prophets time the most righteous sinned seven times a day and it is well if many of us can escape with fourteene Man as saith Scaliger was created Animal sociale A sociable creature and therfore ought to conforme himselfe to the Perfections of his Neighbour and yeeld to his infirmities Fooles and Flat-witted fellowes you have reason to beare with because their Companie is profitable and will save you the entertainment of a Iester Bee not too Austere there being a Christian liberty which you may safely share in Marry as all rules suffer an exception so doth this If any mans speach shall at the remotest distance point at Blasphemy let your face presently put on a dislike and if a second time hee burnes your eares with that unholy fire avoide his Company Now a dayes our wits thinke themselves streightned and cooped up if their Talke bee barred Blasphemy and Bawdery A Gentleman of this Land in all other things not onely deserserving applause but admiration escaped not altogether this Pestilent contagion Being earnestly rebuked by an intimate friend for his slighting and vaine exposition of the Scriptures hee acknowledged the fault promising to leave it by degrees and therefore vow'd hee would henceforth onely make bold with the Apocrypha and the singing Psalmes Laertius sayes that Pythagoras descended to Hell and saw there the soule of Homer hanging on a tree Vipers and Snakes twinning about it as a due chastizement for his blasphemy against the Gods How carefull therefore should wee Christians bee least wee trespasse this way who have to doe with a Serpent that stings the Conscience and spits a fire everlasting Next to this crime in detestation is obscene language so hot and fowle that I wonder it furres or fires not the mouthes that utter it And the Audience trebles the offence when it is spoken before younglings for of all Creatures Man is most prone to imitation and amongst all mans Ages Childhood Never so good a witt unhallowed hath a double sting it offends God and scandalizeth Man At your meate never so much as name Death Coffins or other such mortifying stuffe for you may chance to have such mortall Guests that the feare you strike into their soules may quite take away their stomakes In truth sad Stories are neither for the bed nor the bord Of all things bee wary that publikely you busy not your selfe with Mysteries of State for though Guicciardine justly maintaineth that the actions of Princes are subject to the opinions of men their state and majesty not impaired yet it is a dangerous Theame for such men to handle whose Fortunes are examined more then their faultes Your Studies TOuching your Studies allot them three or foure houres in a daie and not more and content your selfe to read multum non multa A few excelling Authors well digested are able to compose an able judgement and a vertuous mind Reguard not the number of Bookes but their estimation Give your selfe chiefly to History in which you shall finde Morality here and there inserted and interlaced like a curious worke of Ennamell in Gold In the commendations of this Study I will onely cite the words of incomparable Livy to whom Rome owes more for her Fame then to Aeneas or Romulus for her Originall For this is that so good and profitable in History saith he when a man may see and behold as in a Conspicuous Monument and light some memoriall the lively examples of all sorts set up in open view for his instruction whereout he may choose for himselfe and his Country what to follow as also learne how to eschewe a fowle enterprise and avoid a shamefull end Begin with the Story of your owne Country before you goe to forreine that in case you travaile you may make a happy exchange of Historicall observations But dwell not there that being too confined a knowledge The Romane will deservedly claime your next view wherein you shall meete with deedes father'd upon men which the Gods they worship'd might without disparagement have owned The order you must observe in reading it I will as briefly as I can set downe The Order to bee observed in reading the Roman Story TItus Livius the greatest of all Roman Historians begins at the foundation of Rome and continues it to Augustus Caesar but halfe Livy is lost and therefore where he is wanting others may bee read Where he is full hee is enough unlesse you would see Dyonisius Halycarnassaeus in the first times of Rome to compare him with Livy His Historie ends about the dissension betweene the Senat and the People in Appius Claudius his time There are also the five Bookes of Polybius from the first Punick warre to the descent of Hannibal into Italy But that also is in Livy and a great part of it transcribed out of the excellent Polybius But there where Livy is wanting as namly in those times which are most necessary to knowe as the actions of Silla Lucullus Pompey in the Mithridaticke war thogether with the Civill warre of Marius and Sylla read Appianus who is in Greeke and Latine in a thin folio Hee excepted I could never reade any History that did fully relate the bloody