father and of the rest of the family be it neuer so vertuous there must also concurre the goodnesse of his conuersation abroade to make his domesticall familiaritie worke due effect since many times I haue seene it fall out that the haunting of ill company from home hath done a young man much more hurt then all the good instructions or vertuous examples domesticall could do him good So soft and tender are the minds of yong men and apt as was formerly said to be wrought like waxe to vice And this cometh to passe by reasō that the sensitiue part calling youth to delight and diuerting it from the trauell and paine which learning and vertue require is hardly subdued and brought vnder the rule of reason by which it esteemeth it selfe forced when it is barred from that it desireth And if by any exteriour occasion it be pricked forward it fareth as we see it oftentimes do with young hard-headed colts who take the bit in the mouth and run away with the rider carrying him will he nill he whether they list It ought therefore to be none of the least cares of the father to prouide that the forraine conuersation of his son may be such as shall rather help then hinder his care and home-example To which effect it would be very good if it might be possible that the young man were neuer from his fathers side But forasmuch as many occasions draw men to attend other waightier affaires as well publike as priuat wherby they are driuen to haue their minds busied about exterior things and to neglect their childrē who are their owne bowels Therefore is it their parts in such cases to appoint for their children when they are past their childish yeares some learned and honest man of vertuous behauiour to gouerne them and take care of them whose precepts they may so obey as they shall feare to do any thing that may breede reproch or blame vnto them For such things are mortall poison to yong mens minds and not only put them astray from the path that should leade them to vertue but imprint in them also a vitious habit that maketh them vnruly and disobedient to all wholesome admonitions and vertuous actions This man so chosen to haue the charge of youth must be carefull among other things to foresee that his disciples may haue such companions as the Persian Princes had prouided for them to wit equall of age and like of conditions with whom they may be conuersant familiar For such similitude of age and conditions doth cause them to loue and like one another if some barre or impediment fall not betweene them The auncient wise men assigned to youth the Plannet of Mercury for no other cause as I suppose but for that Mercury being as Astronomers say either good or bad according as he is accompanied with another plannet good or euil euen so youth becommeth good or bad as the companies to which it draweth or giueth it selfe And therefore ought not yong men to haue libertie to haunt what companie they list but to be kept vnder the discipline of wise men and trained vp in the companie of others of their age well bred vntill it may be thought or rather found by experience that they be past danger and become fit to guide themselues hauing brought their mind obedient to reason so farre as it cannot any more draw him to any delights but such as are honest and vertuous This delight in vertue and honestie is best induced into a yong mans mind by that true companiō of vertue that breedeth feare to do or say any thing vnseemely or dishonest which companion Socrates sought to make familiar to his scholers when he would tell them how they should endeuour themselues to purchase in their minds prudence into their tongues truth with silence and in their faces bashfulnesse called by the Latins verecundia deriuing it from the reuerence which yong men vse to beare to their elders This we call shamefastnesse and is that honest red colour or blushing which dieth a yong mans cheekes when he supposeth he hath done or said any thing vnseemely or vnfit for a vertuous mind or that may offend his parents or betters a certaine token of a generous mind and well disciplined of which great hope may be conceiued that it will proue godly and vertuous For as a sure and firme friend to honestie and vertue like a watch or guard set for their securitie it is euer wakefull and carefull to keepe all disordinate concupiscences from the mind whereby though of it selfe it be rather an affect then a habit neuerthelesse she induceth such a habite into a yong mans mind that not onely in presence of others he blusheth if he chance to do any thing not commendable but euen of himselfe he is ashamed if being alone he fall into any errour For though some say that two things chiefly keepe youth from euill correction and shame and that chastisement rather then instruction draweth youth to do well yet I for my part neuer think that yong man well bred or trained vp who for feare of punishment abstaineth from doing things shamefull or dishonest punishment being appointed but for them that are euill which made the Poet say For vertues sake good men ill deeds refraine Ill men refraine them but for feare of paine For the wickednesse of men hath caused lawes to be deuised and established for the conseruation of honest and vertuous societie and ciuil life whereunto man is borne which lawes haue appointed penalties for the offenders to the end that for feare thereof as Xenocrates was wont to say men might flie from ill doing as dogs flie harme doing for feare of the whip And because Plato formed his Common-weale of perfect and vertuous men therfore set he downe no lawes in his bookes de Repub. because he supposed the goodnesse of the men to be sufficient for the gouernement thereof without a law either to commaund good order or to punish offenders Neuertheles the same diuine Philosopher considering how the imperfection of mans nature will not suffer any such Common-wealth to be found he wrote also his bookes of lawes to serue for the imperfection of other Common-weales which were composed of men of all sorts good and bad meane or indifferent in which both instruction and punishment were needfull as well to make the euill abstaine from vice as to confirme the good and to reduce those that were indifferent to greater perfection Lawes therefore haue appointed punishments that vertue might be defended and maintained ciuill societie and humane right preserued But young men bred as our author would haue them are by all meanes to be framed such as for vertues sake for feare of reproch for loue and reuerence to honestie and not for feare of punishment to be inflicted on them by the magistrates or their superiours for doing of euill they may accustome themselues neuer to do any thing for which they should neede to blush
represented I know right well that sometimes the contrary is seene through the inconstancy of humane things but if we consider what happeneth for the most part we shall find that good examples commonly are causes of good and bad examples causes of euill Since the child therfore is chiefly to learne of the father his forme of life it is the fathers part to be to him in his tender yeares a liuely patterne of vertue as we haue said wherby he may as it were ingraft into his childs mind that good and commendable kind of life which may bring him by vertuous actions to honour and estimation But because it cometh oftener to passe then were requisite that the father being busied about other matters concerning the order of his house and family or else in the managing of the affaires of the common-wealth he cannot attend the bringing vp of his child with that care that he ought therfore must he prouide for his education so as the same be not neglected For as the true images of vertue are easily imprinted in the minds of childrē whiles they be tender so do they quickly weare out and vanish if they be not refreshed and reuiued by the discretion and industry of some meet person appointed for that purpose and their contraries as soone ingraued in their places The father therefore ought in any wife to make choise of some such man to whom he may commit the charge and instruction of his child when he is past the age of three yeares as may be meet to giue him good example of life and season him with such doctrine as he may not degenerate or decline from that vertuous course of life which he hath endeuored to put into the babes mind euen whiles he was yet in his nurses armes and vnder the charge of women For if in those first dayes of infancy when yet he had almost no vnderstanding so great care was to be taken as we haue said to lay a good foundation how much more diligence is there now to be vsed when he beginneth to haue some knowledge and iudgement that the building may rise answerable to the same Wise men haue wisely said that nature is the best mistris we can haue and the custome of vertuous behauiour and wholsome doctrine being taken in tender yeares is conuerted not onely into an habite but euen into nature Wherefore let the father at those yeares giue his child in charge to some vertuous and godly man to be trained and instructed who must be neither too mild nor too seuere but such as may in some things agree with the manner of the nurses bringing vp to the end he may gently turne to other manners and behauiour then he had learned when he was most among women For to take a child from the brest and from his nurses bosome and to put him suddenly vnder the hard gouernment of a curst master would be too violent a change and force that tēder nature ouermuch But if he that shal then haue the ruling of him shall discreetly win him with mildnes from being fond after the nurse and by little and little draw him to a more firme kind of behauiour in such sort as he scarse perceiue that he hath forsaken his nurses lap the child wil quickly delight to be with him as much as with his nurse yea or with his father or mother and pratling or childishly crauing now one thing then another of him there wil soone spring in his mind a desire of knowledge which desire though indeed it be naturall borne with vs yet hath it need to be holpē and stirred vp to come forth and put it selfe in action for else will it lie hidden and couered with the vnworthiest part of the soule like to the fire which is couered with ashes which though it haue naturally vertue to giue light and heate yet vnlesse that impediment be taken away it wil do neither of both nor be apt to worke his naturall effect And therefore as before is said he which shall take the charge of the child after the nurse must be very discreet to win him to his discipline without bitternes or stripes which do rather dull and harden the childs mind then worke any good effect And the seruile feare which the ouer-sharpe and vnaduised vsage or beating of the child bringeth him vnto not fit for a generous mind maketh him to hate the thing he should learne before he can come to know it much lesse to loue it It is also a thing very profitable for his better instructing that there be others of like yeares in his company to learne with him for so will there arise a certaine emulation among them through which euery of them will striue to step before his fellow besides that the conuersation of such as are like in age and qualitie wel bred and brought vp is a very fit occasion to make them all wel mannered and of good behauiour those yong yeares being as before is sayd apt for the simplicitie thereof to take whatsoeuer forme is giuen vnto them And for this cause was Merides King of the Aegyptians greatly commended among the auncient wise men for that as soone as his sonne Sisostres was borne he caused all the children that were borne in the citie that same day to be gathered together and brought vp with his said son where they were instructed in all those disciplines and noble arts that in those dayes were in estimation and meet to direct to a commendable life And that the manner of good education is to proceed by degrees it appeared by the order which the Kings of Persia held in the bringing vp of those who were to succeed them in their Empire But because our discourse tendeth not to the instructing of Princes children but onely of such gentlemen of meaner qualitie as may be fit instruments for the seruice of their common-wealth or country it will be best to passe that ouer in silence Whiles in this place I was pawsing a while as to take some breath Captaine Carleil sayd in this sort I hope your author giueth not ouer so this matter For howsoeuer his purpose was to discourse of the ciuill life of priuate men yet the declaring of the order which was held in the instructing and training vp of the children of those Princes cannot but be as well profitable as delightfull Therefore let vs I pray you heare what is sayd by him touching the same That shal I willingly do said I for that the like request was made to him by one of that company and thus he proceedeth saying that though it might suffice to refer them to what Xenophon in his Ciropaedia hath left written of that subiect hauing learnedly and diligently vnder the person of Cirus framed an idaea or perfect patterne of an excellent Prince yet he meaning to follow Plato and Aristotle in his treatise will therefore report what he hath gathered out of Plato to that purpose and adde
Hydra had the same that gaue Hercules so much to do to ouercome her and it is to be maruelled that all yong men are not soone weary of that age which bringeth with it such varietie of imperfections and all contrary to reason and vertue You make vs almost to conceiue an opinion that there can be no Art nor prudence sufficient to deliuer vs from such a multitude of errors that enuiron vs on euery side If there were cause of complaint that youth should be thus described said I yet am not I the man you should complaine of but rather of mine author or of Aristotle who long before described the same euē as he hath done and of Horace in like sort who taking the matter out of Aristotle concluded it in substance much like though in fewer words saying The yong man on whose face no beard yet shewes When first he creepeth out of others charge Delights to haue both horse and hound at will With them to hunt and beate the woods and fields Like waxe to vice is easie to be wrought And sowre to them that tell him of his fault Too late he learnes his profit for to know And in expence aye too too lauish still His heart is high and full of hote desires And soone he loathes that earst he loued deare And truly the nature of a young man is very perillous and vnapt of it selfe to be ruled and directed to any good course partly because of the ignorance accompanying that age and partly for that following the vanities and delights which the worser part of the soule or mind doth set before him he respecteth not that which is honest and vertuous as a thing he neuer knew or tasted And therefore being intent onely to pleasures and delights he considereth not any thing but what is present before him For wanting as is said experience meete to foresee accidents to come he beleeueth much more them that intice him flatter him by praising all he doth then those men that reproue or check him for doing ill or shew him the way to vertue by telling him the truth Neither is there any thing that more setteth a yong man astray from the course of vertue then flattery and specially are yong Princes to take heede thereof about whom are continually flatterers to winne their fauor and by harming them with that subtil engin to purchase to themselues as much gaine profit as they can These who as Aristotle saith bend all their wits to euill with continuall lying and soothing make yong men beleeue that they are excellent in all things aboue course of nature whereunto they simple giuing a readier eare then they should become so blind and foolish that they discerne not their owne good but pricked forward with those false praises apply themselues to that onely which is pleasant and delightfull and become a prey vnto their flatterers who like Parasites affirme all that they heare their master say and denie whatsoeuer he denieth In which respect Diogenes did right well say that flatterers were worse then crowes who feed but on the carcasses of the dead but these iolly companions deuoure the mindes of men aliue making them become as Seneca saith foolish or mad Frō whose conceit Epicarmus varied not much who said that crows pick out the eyes but of dead carcasses but flatterers pick out the eyes of the mind whiles men are yet aliue And to say truly this cursed generation with their leasings and soothing induce such as harken to them and beleeue them to be their own foes and to barre themselues from the attaining of true glory whiles they make them glory in the false praises of wicked flatterers Who to the end they may be the better beleeued when they flatter vse all art possible to shew themselues affectioned though counterfetly to them in whose harts they seeke to poure their poison For they kill in them all seeds of vertue and they take from them the knowledge of themselues and of all truth to which flattery is a most pestilent and mortall enemie And happy might indeed Princes thinke themselues if they had about them men that would frankly and resolutely resist the attempts of flatterers such as was Anaxarcus Eudemonicus about Alexander the Great This Anaxarcus misliking that Alexāder throgh the flattery false praises of such as magnified his acts grew so prowd as he wold needs be esteemed a God seeing on a time his Physition to bring him a potion to ease the griefe of his disease when he was sicke said Is it not a wofull case that the health of our God should consist in a draught of licour and drugs composed by a man Words full wel beseeming the sincere mind of a free harted man As on the other side it was vile adulation which Demades the Athenian vsed who being at an assembly of Councell proposed a decree by which he would haue had Alexander to be reputed for the thirteenth of the great Gods But the people perceiuing his flattering purpose and small reuerence to diuine things condemned him in a fine of an hundred talents If Princes and such as manage States would follow this example and haue an eye to such fellowes there would not be such store of Sycophants as now a dayes there are and the vertues and merites of honest men worthy honour and fauour would be better knowne and regarded then they are and rewards and recompences would be giuen to such men and not to flatterers who seeke to put them besides themselues This I say of such as suffer themselues to be seduced by these charmers but not of wise Princes who giue no more eare to their inchantments then doth the serpent to the charmer because they know that their praises and soothings are but strāgling morsels smeared ouer with hony Philip of Macedon the father of Alexander had a flatterer in his Court called Cisofus or as some say Cleophus who did not onely affirme and deny all that Philip sayd or denied but also on a time when Philip had a sore eye and ware some band or scarfe before it he in like manner came before the King with the like and another time when Philip hauing hurt one of his legs limped vpon it and had clothes wrapped about it the flatterer came likewise with his leg so wrapped and halting into the Court seeking thus not only by his words as other Parasites do but also with his gestures and whole body to transforme the King and put him beside himselfe But although Philip tooke delight in this skim of men yet could they neuer draw him by their charming to incurre those vices which his sonne ranne into who albeit he was of a most noble nature and mind yet did he so much attribute to these bad companions and was so caried away with their flattering praises that he could not endure the truth that Calisthenes told him but miserably slue him spotting with so cruell and barbarous a fact all that
loue of vertue or feare of lawes they could possibly be reclaimed to vertuous life I pray you said Captain Norreis let me interrupt you a little so shall you the better take breath in the meane while I noted not long sithens a saying of your author which me seemed somewhat strange and that is that the substance of the soule should be made perfect by the accidents You say right quoth I but let not that seeme strange vnto you for it ought rather to seeme strange vnto you if it were otherwise because the substance of euery thing is so called by reason that it is subiect vnto accidents neither can there be any accident to which it is proper to be in some subiect but it must fall into some substance and hardly would the substance perhaps be discerned by sense but that the accidents do make it to be knowne Yet hath nature giuen to the substance all that she could giue to enable the same to wit that it might by nature be of it selfe alone hauing no need of any other thing in respect of being and that it should be so necessary to all things else that is not a substance as without it they should be nothing Therefore the nature of the soule is such as the parts thereof haue their vertues and faculties perfect but in that concerneth the directing of them to ciuill life man cannot by nature onely compasse it nor attaine to that end of which we treate Then said Captaine Norreis If it be so as by nature we cannot haue that wherewith we should compasse our felicitie it must belike be in vs contrary to nature And all things contrary to nature being violent and of no continuance I cannot perceiue how this felicitie of ours may stand Sir said I it followeth not that whatsoeuer is not by nature must needs be contrary to nature But most true it is that the meanes to guide vs to this felicitie or our felicity it selfe is in vs not by nature for if it were so all men should naturally be happy and by nature haue the means to purchase the same because all men should of necessitie worke after one sort For things naturall vnlesse they be forced or hindered do alwayes bring foorth the same effects wheresoeuer they be and the powers which nature bestoweth are indifferently dispensed to all alike Which thing is to be vnderstood by the vegetatiue part of the soule which in plants and in creatures sensible attendeth onely by nature without counsell or election to nourish to increase to procreate and to preserue ne ceaseth at any time frō those offices but alwaies produceth like effects in al things that haue life And the sēsible soule euermore giueth the power and vertue of feeling to creatures sensible and neuer altereth her operation nor ceaseth to yeeld the same whiles life endureth except by some strange accident she be forced Seeing therefore the diuersitie of mans will the varietie of his operations and how differently they vse the faculties of the soule we must needes conclude that in respect of ciuill life they work not according to nature But we must not therfore say that their working to purchase their felicitie and the end we speake of is contrary to nature For such things are properly said to be contrary to nature as are violently forced to that which is not naturall and whereunto they haue no aptnesse or disposition at all As for example if a stone which is naturally heauy and therfore coueteth to moue to the center of the earth be cast vpward into the aire by force it is to be said that the motion of that stone so forced vpward is contrary to nature because it hath no instinct or mouing from nature to go vpward and though it were throwne vp ten thousand times so often wold it fal downe again if it were not retained otherwise frō falling And if fire which is light couets to ascend should be forced downeward that force would be contrary to nature and the force ceasing it would by nature ascend again because it hath not any vertue or principle or motion to descend but onely to ascend by which it striueth to come to the place which is proper to it by nature as it is fire and by which it is fire naturally For the elements haue alwayes their essence most perfect when they are nearest to the place assigned them by nature But man being a creature capable of reason and thereby apt to receiue those vertues the seeds whereof nature hath sowne in his mind it cannot be said that the meanes by which he is to be led to so noble an end as his felicitie should be in him contrary to nature For neuer any thing worketh contrary to nature in which is the beginning of that operation that it is to do Why said Captaine Norreis againe since you say that the seeds of vertues are in our minds naturally it seemeth strange to me that they should not bring forth generally in all men their fruite as the seed which is cast into the earth springeth buddeth flowreth and lastly in due seasō yeeldeth fruite according to kind Marry said I and so they do For if mans care and industry be not applied to manure the earth diligently and to weed out the il weeds that spring among the good seed which is sowne they would so choke the same as it would be quite lost And euen so if the seeds of vertue be not holpen with continuall culture and care taken to pul vp the vices which spring therewith and whereof the seeds are naturally as well in our mind as those of vertue they wil ouer-grow and choke them as the weeds of the garden ouer-grow and choke the good herbes planted or sowne therein For so grow vp the disordinate appetites vnreasonable anger ambitions greedie desires of wealth of honour wanton lusts of the flesh and such other affections spoken of before which haue their naturall rootes in those two baser parts of the soule deuoyde of reason And as we see the earth without manuring to bring forth wyld herbs and weeds more plentifully then other good seed which by industry and labor is cast into the same so do those passions affects and appetites of those baser parts of the soule spring and grow vp thicker and faster then the vertues whereby for the more part the fruit of those good seeds of vertue is lost if the mind be not diligently cleaned frō them by the care of others And these ill qualities are in yong men the worse when they suffer themselues to be transported without regard of reason or honestie and their right iudgement to be corrupted and their crooked to preuaile Which crooked iudgement is in effect the cause of all vices and ill affections turnes the braine making them like drunken men much like as coccle doth to them that feed thereupon But this hapneth not vnto that youth which succeedeth a well fashioned childhood such as yesterday was
souldiers besides that their peaceable maner of coming freed me from doubt of cesse thanked be God the state of the realme was such as there was no occasion of burthening the subiect with them such had bin the wisedome valour and foresight of our late Lord Deputie not onely in subduing the rebellious subiects but also in ouercoming the forreine enemie whereby the garrison being reduced to a small number and they prouided for by her Maiestie of victual at reasonable rates the poore husbandman might now eate the labors of his owne hands in peace and quietnes without being disquieted or harried by the vnruly souldier We haue said sir Robert Dillon great cause indeed to thanke God of the present state of our country and that the course holden now by our present Lord Deputie doth promise vs a continuance if not a bettering of this our peace and quietnesse My Lord Grey hath plowed and harrowed the rough ground to his hand but you know that he that soweth the seede whereby we hope for haruest according to the goodnesse of that which is cast into the earth and the seasonablenesse of times deserueth no lesse praise then he that manureth the land God of his goodnesse graunt that when he also hath finished his worke he may be pleased to send vs such another Bayly to ouersee and preserue their labours that this poore countrey may by a wel-ordered and setled forme of gouernement and by due and equall administration of iustice beginne to flourish as other Common-weales do To which all saying Amen we directed our course to walke vp the hill where we had bene the day before and sitting downe vpon the little mount awhile to rest the companie that had come from Dublin we arose againe and walked in the greene way talking still of the great hope was conceiued of the quiet of the countrey since the forreine enemie had so bin vanquished and the domesticall conspiracies discouered met withall and the rebels cleane rooted out till one of the seruants came to call vs home to dinner Where finding the table furnished we sate downe and hauing seasoned our fare with pleasant and familiar discourses as soone as the boord was taken vp they sollicited me to fetch my papers that I might proceede to the finishing of my last discourse of the three by me proposed But they being ready at hand in the dining chamber I reached them and layd them before me and began as followeth Hitherto hath bin discoursed of those two ages which may for the causes before specified be wel said to be void of election and without iudgement because of their want of experience For which cause haue they had others assigned to them for guides to leade them to that end which of themselues they were not able to attaine that is their felicitie in this life And now being to speake of that age which succeeds the heate of youth we must a litle touch the varietie of opinions concerning the same Tully saith that a citizen of Rome might be created Consul which was the highest ordinary dignitie in that citie when he was come to the age of 23. yeares Plinie in his Panegyrike saith that it was decreed lege Pompeia that no man might haue any magistracie before he were thirtie yeeres old And Vlpian lege S. Digest treating of honours writeth that vnder the age of 25. yeares no man was capable of any magistracie Among these three opinions the last of the ciuill lawyer holdeth the medium and is therefore the fittest to be followed for then is a young mans mind setled and he is become fit being bred and instructed as hath bin before declared to be at his owne guiding and direction and then doth the ciuill law allow him libertie to make contracts and bargaines for himselfe which before he could not do being in pupillage and vnder a tutor Howbeit our common law cutteth off foure yeeres of those and enableth a yong man at 21. yeeres of age to enter into his land and to be as we terme it out of his wardship Which time being I know not for what respect assigned by our lawes may well be held not so well considered of as that which the ciuill law appointeth if we marke how many of our yong men ouerthrow their estates by reason of their want of experience and of the disordinate appetites which master them all which in those other foure yeares from 21. to 25. do alter to better iudgement and discretion Whereby they are the better able to order their affaires Why said Captain Dawtry I haue knowne and know at this day some young men who at 18. yeeres of age are of sounder iudgement and more setled behauiour then many not of 25. yeeres old onely but of many moe yea then some that are grey-headed with age Of such said I there are to be seene oftentimes as you say some that beyond all expectation and as it were forcing the rules of nature shew themselues stayed in behauiour and discreete in their actions when they are very yong to the shame of many elder men Of which companie I may well of mine owne knowledge and by the consent I thinke of all men name one as a rare example and a wonder of nature and that is sir Philip Sidney who being but seuenteene yeeres of age when he began to trauell and coming to Paris where he was ere long sworne Gentleman of the chamber to the French King was so admired among the grauer sort of Courtiers that when they could at any time haue him in their companie and conuersation they would be very ioyfull and no lesse delighted with his ready witty answers thē astonished to heare him speake the French language so wel and aptly hauing bin so short a while in the countrey So was he likewise esteemed in all places else where he came in his trauell as well in Germanie as in Italie And the iudgement of her Maiestie employing him when he was not yet full 22. yeeres old in Embassage to congratulate with the Emperour that now is his comming to the Empire may serue for a sufficient proofe what excellencie of vnderstanding and what stayednesse was in him at those yeeres Whereby may well be said of him the same that Cicero said of Scipio Africanus to wit that vertue was come faster vpon him then yeeres Which Africanus was chosen Consull being absent in the warres by an vniuersal consent of all the tribes of Rome before he was of age capable to receiue that dignitie by the law But these are rare examples vpon which rules are not to be grounded for Aristotle so long ago said as we do now in our common prouerbe that one swallow makes not summer Among young men there are some discreete sober quicke of wit and ready of discourse who shew themselues ripe of iudgment before their yeeres might seeme to yeeld it them so are there among aged men on the other side some of shallow wit and little