Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	nature_n	spirit_n	1,729	5	5.0066	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20028	The defence of contraries Paradoxes against common opinion, debated in forme of declamations in place of publike censure: only to exercise yong wittes in difficult matters. Wherein is no offence to Gods honour, the estate of princes, or priuate mens honest actions: but pleasant recreation to beguile the iniquity of time. Translated out of French by A.M. one of the messengers of her Maiesties Chamber.; Paradoxes, ce sont propos contre la commune opinion. English. Selections	Estienne, Charles, 1504-ca. 1564.; Munday, Anthony, 1553-1633.; Landi, Ortensio, ca. 1512-ca. 1553. Paradossi.; Duval, Jean-Baptiste, d. 1632, attributed name.	1593 (1593)	STC 6467; ESTC S105222	52,873	110

wherewith to oppugne and ouerthrowe the chastitie of innocent maidens Yet thinke not that gold serueth only as a custome to persecute the modesty of women withall but assure your selues beside that it is daily the cause of monstrous treasons slaughter and many other deedes of vile excesse which the breuity of time and feare of offending ye will not permit me to rehearse Wherefore I will conclude with the good Phylosopher Possidonius that riches is the cause of infinite euils which contrariwise cannot be so said or alleaged against our holy and well aduised pouertie of whom learned Seneca speaketh honourably sayeng That the naked by this speciall meane is out of danger of theeues and such as are free from money may in besieged places liue at ease not dreading the feare of enimies Much better then without comparison is franke pouertie then such slauish riches seeing from pouerty springeth infinite profits and commodities and from worldly goods proceedeth nothing but vnhappinesse For the hard-fauoured face or fowle Complexion Declamation 2. That it is better to be fowle than faire WHo knoweth not how much the deformitie of body and hard fauoured face is to bee esteemed principally in womē for in men it was neuer in so great request hath neuer considered how many amorous sparks is dayly to be seen vnder an il-fauoured countenance and badde composed body choicely hid and couered which in a faire face finely polished giues often occasion of ceaselesse flames and cruell passions But the strong and inuincible bulwarke which the fowle face not onely of olde but likewise in these times hath erected for it selfe will encounter the fires of loue that are so damageable Do ye beleeue Gentlemen if faire Helen the Greeke and the gentle Troian Sheepheard had beene hard fauored or counterfeit in personage that the Greekes would euer haue taken so much paine in pursuing them Nor had poore Troy endured such cruell ruine and destruction in longe description whereof so many skilfull wits were wearied and tyred And if we shall compare and vnite together the beawty of the mind with that of the body shall we not finde a greater number of deformed people to be more wise and ingenious then the faire and well fourmed Let Socrates be our witnesse whome the historians and auncient figures represent to be so ilfauoured as might be notwithstanding by the Oracle of Apollo he was acknowledged to be the wisest man of his time Phrigian Aesope the most excellent fabulist was in forme of bodie so strange and mishapen as the verie ougliest in his time in comparison of him might rightly bee resembled to Narcissus or Ganimede neuerthelesse as each one may read hee was most rich in vertues and in spirit beyond all other most excellent Of great deformitie were the Philosophers Zeno and Aristotle Empedocles fowlie composed and Galba a very ougly counterfeit neuerthelesse they al were of maruellous and sweet disposed spirit Could any impeach the deformity of Philopoemen who after hee was seene to be a good and hardie souldiour came he not to the dignity of a most valiant captaine and was hee not reuerenced among his people for his high excellent vertues Consider Gentlemen on such as are of faire and corpulent fashion and ye shall commonly finde them to be sicklie more weake and lesse able to trauaile more soft delicate and effeminate then the other kind of people Againe ye shall sildome times see it happen that in a beautifull body being of great excellence chastity agreeth in selfe-same likelihood because it is to bee kept with great difficultie being by so many sought after so earnestlie What shall we say of such whoe not contenting themselues with nature doe daily frame very great complaintes against her making no spare of their goods or labour to reforme with all endeuor what seemeth best to them for fashion of their bodies because they be not appropriate or agreeing with their curious appetites Of such fooles I demaund seeing nature the most carefull and discrete mother of all things hath giuen them what she thought meet and profitable in the form of their bodies for what cause they should be displeased with her or imagine her a bad bestower who would neuer giue them any part of that folly which is so vainely set by and esteemed of by euery one Nature giues not to her friendes the things that may quickly be wasted by sicknesse or ouerthrowne by the course of age therefore true liberalitie is knowne by the firme and long continuance of the gift bestowen vpon any one and what see ye of lesse permanence then beawty Consider how it hath headlong throwne downe yong people into secret greefes and perillous daungers and allured them to such hatefull sins as right happie might he count himselfe that coulde escape them with his honor vnstained Contrariwise note the good and profit ensuing by deformitie when all they in generall that of olde time haue beene yet at this day are studious in chastitie doe openly confesse as nothing hath like force in them to tame and check the pricks of the flesh neither long watchings greeuous disciplines or continuall fastinges as one only looke vpon an il-fauoured and counterfeit person Hence ensueth that which is vsed as a common prouerbe concerning a very fowle deformed woman that shee serueth as a good receipt and soueraigne remedy against fleshly tentations O sacred and pretious deformity deerly loued of chastitie free from all scandalous daungers a firme rampart against all amorous assaults I perceiue that by thy meanes company keeping is the easier to bee allowed for thou takest from them all greefes annoiances chasing from thy societie all wicked suspitions as a very speciall remedy against desperate iealousie O that I coulde finde wordes worthy thy praises and deserts whence proceedeth infinit good and treasure which with great shame hath beene by the ignorant despised and blamed O what affection I haue to perswade my friends how they shoulde know henceforth to adorne and embelish themselues with the beawtie that for euer endureth and not to depart therewith from among vs either drinking eating waking sleeping or breathing I meane that beawtie that keepes vs companye euen to our graue and leaues vs not till the latest gaspe that which we may truely call our owne no way due or attributable to our parents Gaine-say me who shal I will rest my selfe on this opinion that much better is it to be adorned with such a colour then to trust or repose only in borrowed corporall beauty which so easilie corrupteth euen by the least touch of any feuer that may come vpon vs. I remember a yong maiden of Perigourd who perceiuing her beauty to be a very great suspitious and capitall enimie to her good fame and that in regard thereof she was daily required and solicited by many yong yoonkers her owne selfe with a rasour or some piece of siluer made sharpe for the purpose so disfigured her faire face that her two

see vnder him quick-sandes quag-mires downe-fallings and most fearefull deepe places when he shall meete to beard him his most mortall enemie when he shall see himselfe mocked scorned and railed at with all vnseemely gestures both of mouth and hands Poor eies of howe many euils are ye the cause through your owne curiositie How many follies doe ye deliuer to the most milde and simple spirit only to troble the gratious rest thereof What letters written or what wordes engrauen are by yee represented to the poore hart to fill him full of all bitternesse Howe many gests and motions doe yee shew to the natural sense which soone after are the cause that man liueth in no quiet in his conscience How many dissimulations do ye note aswell in the Court as elsewhere vnder a counterfeit smile with a calfe-like made courtesie an Italian reuerence a Iudas-like kisse and embracing and a bare voice offering seruice Do ye not then account them happy that haue beleeued and neuer seene any of these things Vpon these speeches and reasons produced on my behalfe I leaue ye Gētlemen to set downe such iudgement as to you shall seeme best assuring my selfe very confidently that after all considerations ye will not diminish any part of my due right or equity For the Foole. Declamation 5. That it is better to be a foole than wise ALbeit the like matter which I am now to proue and defende hath beene already by two excellent men deliuered in this honourable assemblie and by them deliberated on to their aduantage It may please ye yet not to thinke it strange if in regarde of the occasion which this day offers it selfe I come as now to gleane and gather after them gone before if so be I can finde any thinge by them left or omitted either as vnaduisedlie or else if perhaps they had not prooues sufficient readie at hand to exchange in the cause For the firste aduertisement I will vse the aduise and opinion of the auncient Philosophers which was that to liue securely in this world they thought it best to vse the counterfeit shadowe of a foole and they saide that euen as he who hath some meane to counterfeit well a Prince Lorde or Gentleman can doe no lesse for the whyle but enter into the same trauaile solicitude cares paines and greefes as the person he imitates is subiect vnto so hee that in this world will sometimes cunningly disguise himselfe with the masque of folly as one may perceiue nothing else by him but euen natural foolery cannot in so dooing but participate with the happy partes and conditions of a foole which are of such sort as the very richest and best pleased in this worlde are not in any thing like or to be compared to them Witnesse a braue Gentleman a younger brother who by mishap that his elder brother woulde not impart liuings reasonably with him became a foole during which Fortune he had this imagination that all the ships which daily arriued in the Port of Diepe were his owne By meanes of which perswasion so soone as he vnderstoode of their comming thither he would walke before them a mile and more on the land vsing such kinde and cheerefull gestures to thē as by his words he seemed to thinke and assure himselfe that all the marchandize on boorde in the Hauen appertained to himselfe The like woulde hee doe when any ships departed thence to Sea eyther for Flaunders Spaine Portugall England or any other countrey he would vaile his bonnet to them a farre of recommending them to God wishing them faire winde a good voiage and speedy returne His euill hap at length was such that his brother in this time of folly returning from the warres at Bologna and seeing his brother come thus before him with such new manner of salutations greeuing as I thinke at this his happy state of life hee deliuered him into the handes of the most skilfull Physitians he coulde finde in the countrey by whose industrie the happy foole returned to his former disposition of good sense which made him afterward offended with his brother because he had depriued him of so great recreation of spirit which he confessed he receiued in his pleasing folly whereof he yet hauing some small remembrance affirmeth that neuer before or since that time he liued more ioyfully nor better agreeing with his owne mind In like manner is it not a thing highly to be commended to see a man of meane and base condition among the inferiour and abiect sorte of people by vertue of this braue kind of folly to enter into such an humour as to weene himselfe to be a Pope an Emperour a King a Duke or some great Prince or Lord And withal to feele in his heart the self-same affections and contentment of mind as accustomablie are felt by such as truely are constituted in those high dignities Hereof may beare record the Lackey of a Gentleman of Aniou who by the aide and comfort of his fortunate folly imprinted in his minde the pontifical dignitie for the administration wherof at a certain hower of the day which he had obtained by licence of his maister he would locke himselfe apart into a chamber with his confederates and instructed companions who notwithstanding they mocked him yet tooke great pleasure therein and there after his owne mind would he appoint a Consistorie lyke vnto little children that in their pastimes doe counterfeit the actions of the very greatest personages dispatch Bulles giue benefices create Cardinals send embassades in briefe he would doe al that he imagined beseemed a Pope and when the houre was expired he would returne to his wonted seruice Thinke ye that he which walked thorow Paris notwithstanding he was all dirtie bedagled yet supposing himselfe to be a Cardinall or Legate deserued no esteeme in his owne conceit Hee that named himselfe to be a Prophet He that preached wrote himselfe the father of Caine He that saide he was of the lynage of Zabulon And another who with his Scepter Crowne of gold glistering thought himselfe to be an Emperour Thinke ye not I say that such as these are highly contented in minde more perhaps then if they were such as they ween themselues to be What thinke ye of Villemanoche whoe expected the kings daughter in marriage and would complaine in all companies where hee came what wrong was doone him in that they delaied his marriage so long Deeme yee not such fooles haue as much or rather more pleasure in these imaginations then such as rightlye are placed in those dignities They haue as much by these meanes in that they partake not in the molestations which ofte are found in the high estates of great personages being not trobled with gouerning the traine belonging to theyr huge houses I cannot well conceiue the cause why some are so suddenly waspishe when they are called fooles it may be said that they forget the number hath beene alwaies infinite wherby some haue dared

to affirme that this worlde is a very Cage or mine of such people And if all they which holde of that race would suffer themselues to be written in the rowle or paper belonging to the Prince of fooles or bee registred in the Abbey of these happy people there should not neede so much strife and lawe for calling one another sot or foole For in sooth it is a name that may beseeme the very greatest and wisest in the worlde yea were it to the great king Salomon who albeit he only among the Hebrewes bare the title of wise yet beside that hee well deserued the name of a foole when he sacrifised to Idols and entertained so long such a great number of Concubines Also of this name were capable the seuen Sages whom ambitious and lying Greece vaunted to bring forth and nourish their actions and behauior Cicero affirmeth that whosoeuer will lightly runne ouer and cull them out shall finde them to be more full of follie then wit How many haue beene seene since the Creation of the worlde that haue escaped infinite daungers only by counterfeiting folly What might they more haue doone if they had beene fooles indeed when the onlye shaddowe was to them the cause of such good How many haue we knowne and heard of that haue beene absolued of theftes murders and other misdeeds by supposition that they indeed were fooles Thinke yee that heauen dooth customablye giue so faire and excellent priuiledges to others as to people diuine and celestiall The farther I wade in contemplation of follie the more pleasing I finde it and garnished with all faire commodities See howe a foole troubles him selfe with a kingdomes affaires or fortifiyng of a Cittye See what paine he puts himselfe to in gouerning an housholde or pertaking with one Prince or other yet notwithstanding we see such as are esteemed the wisest to iniury themselues heereby and wexe very olde with such molestations of the minde May it please ye to vnderstand the difference which I finde betweene the foole and wise man Regard the passions and affections in them both First of all the foole is not any thing curious in his meate or drinke neyther cares for fine decking and clothing himselfe they whom we call wise neuer haue enough and neuer are satisfied with the goods of this world neither can all humane industry or the very goddesse aboūdance with hir great Cornet suffice their insatiable desires Now iudge hereby which of these two come neerest the obseruation of Gods commandement who forbiddeth vs in his Gospell not to be carefull for our food or raiment Beside the foole makes no esteeme of honours and worldly dignities he contemns great preheminences refusing the places and seates honourable in magnificent companies Contrariwise they that holde themselues so wise seeke nothing at this day but worldly honour And to attaine superiour dignities they feare not to endure heat or cold they forget the discommoditie of great trauaile as also losse of rest by day and night to the hazard oftentimes of their liues so deerely beloued and by them held in such pretious account The foole feeles not himselfe prouoked with so many pricks of Fortune he meddles not with sights or combats he hath no Lawe-pleadings nor quarrels wherby to get or defend his goods he hath not such paine in attending on the Court as others haue to be entertained by one or other he yeelds not him self for the miserable requital of two or thre crowns a buckler to ten thousand bullets of shot musquets or harguebuzes he breaks not his neck in riding post after offices benefices or confiscations he languishes not in pursuing the loue or fauour of Ladies hee paies no taxe or tribute lastly he is not subiect to any one but liueth in perfect franchise and liberty He is permitted and licensed to speake what himselfe thinks good touching the dealings of Princes priuate persons without encurring thereby any danger of imprisonment or corporall punishment He hath no need of Rhethoricall cunning to make him selfe attentiuely listened vnto but bestowes on each one the ioyous pastimes of his meriments I stand in need of a whole sourse of eloquence wherewith I might thorowlie paint foorth and discipher the honest vertues of most pretious follie the contrary whereof hath beene cause of the punishing of an hundred thousand iniuries and of ouerthrowing the intelligence and actions of many great personages I find that Fortune hath euermore beene very carefull in bestowing perticular aide vpon fooles and defended them as her most deere children frō infinite perils and dangers Likewise wee see by experience that the greater part of fooles liue longer and more happily then the wise doe Wherefore should we thinke this to be so but because they giue not themselues to any melancholie neuer meddle with lawe-Lawe-causes debates or quarrels neither mollest themselues with matters publique or priuate which makes me say and affirm vnto ye that folly euen as Poesie is somewhat celestiall and filleth the hartes of her children with a certaine spirite of prophesie and diuine furie by meanes wherof they seeme agreeable to euery one and purchase very great esteeme and fauour in the eies of Princes You shall finde by experience that many great wealthy Lords turne their faces from company and conference with wise men yea such as are saide to haue the greatest learning that they may intertaine pleasure with a foole and commune familiarlie with him yea sometimes they will leaue their best and most auncient seruantes or fauorites to delight and bestow countenance on the first foole that comes before them Is it not maruellous that we shall neuer see a man of great knowledge indeede but hath some part of this pretious folly in him Though ye woulde produce neuer so many learned men or of what profession else so euerye please be they Philosophers Orators Painters Statuaries Musitians Builders yet they haue some tast heereof and generally all people of learning whatsoeuer Where shall yee finde one singular Poet at this day that doth not participate in this folly Euery one knoweth that the Poet deepest skild therein is accounted most excellent And if the greate Philosopher Plato had not had more then a reasonable portion of this diuine folly thinke yee that he had deliuered so many faire excellent matters which we haue at this day after his maner And yet you are ashamed to be accounted or called fools The inuenter of the Italian Cardes whereat they haue a play or pastime called Tarault did in my cōceit very ingeniouslie when he put the Deniers or monyes and Bastons or clubs in combate togither as the very encountring of force and iustice But yet he deserued more praise for giuing in this play the most honourable place to the foole as we do to the Ace which we should rather call Nars that in dutch signifieth a Foole. This deuiser well noted the great seruitude whereto they most commonly are subiect that couet a place

conclusion great folly in any Lord to be displeased or offended at the losse of his honors and liuings but rather with such fortunes he ought to reioice and be glad as being by so good occasion discharged of a burden so greeuous and heauy For this is my opinion that it were better for him to lose his worldly estate and dignitie then himselfe to be thereby lost and destroied for euer For Drinkers Declamation 7. That Drunkennesse is better than Sobrietie I Did heeretofore so breefely as I could deliuer vnto ye the great excellence and noble nature of wine that I might afterward inferre in what great honour reputation he ought to bee that especiallie loues it and longest continueth in delight thereof And albeit it seemeth to many a verie hard and laborious enterprise by reason of the abundance of good wordes and well conuaied language wherewith it is necessary they should bee thorowlie furnished in such a cause yet neuerthelesse will I boldly deliuer my opinion though I am vnfurnished of that diuine furie which ordinarilie worketh maruellous matters in our spirits whereof in this need might I receiue neuer so little fauour I should farre better satisfie your desires that are bent with attention to heare what I can say in this matter To proceed in our discourse I finde that the great vertue and excellence of wine hath beene of our elders so intirely known and approued that the highly esteemed Asclepiades did it so much honour as to couple the faculties and vertues thereof with them of the very cheefest Gods Which is agreeable with the consent of holy scripture whereby was autenticallie pronounced that wine was sent to men as by the especiall grace and immortall gift of God therewith oftentimes to refresh and recreate their spirites ouer much weakened and trauailed with long cares which they suffer continuallie in this worlde And heerewith altogither agreeth the opinion of good Homer in many places of his diuine Poesie And whosoeuer shal require of me greater proofe assurance I pray them to consider how that truth it selfe which is the thing that hath and yet at this day doth ouer-rule the greatest case in the world from all antiquitie holdeth principall consent with wine This is it which made place for the auncient prouerbe knowne sufficiently of euery one that in Wine is truth to be found wherein fooles children and drunken men are most accustomed to display it Wherefore I cannot sufficiently maruell at the great fault of learned Democritus who would sometimes maintaine that truth lodgeth her selfe in the bottome of a well this is greatly against the aduise and opinion of all the Greekes which euermore defended that her lodging continually was in VVine VVhereto very well consenteth Horace one of the most excellent Latine Poets who so soundly confirmed this matter in his learned verses made and composed by the helpe of this sweet liquor wherewith his stomach so plentifully abounded as hee coulde deliuer it backe againe forth at his eies To the same purpose the great Philosopher Plato would prooue and maintaine that wine was a very firme and sure foundation of mens spirites by the fauour and vertue whereof I may easilie coniecture that he founde the inuention of his goodly Ideas of his numbers and of his lawes so magnificent also that with the aide of this sweet drinke he spake so deepelie on the gratious argument of loue and likewise disposed his so well ordered Common-wealth VVithall he defended that the Muses flourished farre and neere in the very smell of Bacchus liquor and the Poet that drunke not profoundly therof could frame no verse excellent high-reaching or of good measure But leauing verse and Poesie let vs come to the kind drinkers of cleere water I would willingly demaund of them what good they can receiue in this world by vsing such an vnsauorie drinke In the first place how can a drinker of water well accomplishe housholde dutie when the naturall seede is more moist then any thing else and lesse strong for the procreation of children VVhich is the cause such people are alwaies weake feeble sicke and colour-lesse Likewise ye neuer sawe a drinker of water but was depriued of the true strength of all his members and hardie courage of hart He hath so little stomach so weake an appetite to digest his meates as commonly his life is short or else vnhealthfull For this cause it was that Saint Paule knowing Timothie albeit he was very yong in the strength of his age to take delight in drinking nothing but water admonished him to vse therewith a little wine if it were but for the onely health of his stomach and preuention of such diseases whereto by his complexion he was ouermuch subiect I await vpon this point the reply of some opiniatiue person who will tell me that such was not the aduise of Cistus Bullengerus nor yet of Nouellus Tricongius who dranke three measures of wine daily called Congii which contained three gallons and three pintes of our measure for which the Emperour Tiberius promoted him to honour and at the last made him Consull of Rome I againe replie on the contrarie that such was the opinion of the most wise and prudent king of all auncient memorie who saide in his Prouerbes that wine comforteth and refresheth the hartes of men likewise it is witnessed by the cōsent and testimonie of all Phisitians as the most singular remedy to chase greefe from the mind of man But if peraduenture some misbeleeuing humanist will not giue so much credit to the worde of so great a wise man as to the precepts of auncient Phisitians let him then consider and note well what at this day is to be found written by Hippocrates Galen Oribasus that wine serueth for a medicine to the cold and dulled sinewes giueth comfort to the weary and trauailed eies bestoweth an appetite on the tast-lesse stomach reioyceth the sad and afflicted spirites banisheth the imbecillity of the members giueth warmth to the body prouoketh vrine restraineth casting moueth sleepe taketh away ill digestion consumeth moist humors and maketh a kindly consent in the bodie Galen saith moreouer that wine greatly auaileth against wearisome complexion of age moueth the harts of men to force and prowesse recreateth naturall heate and giueth vigor to the spirits O how well did that good Lady Hecuba of whom Homer speaketh so honourablie knowe the pretious nature of wine when aboue all things she exhorted her valiant sonne Hector to cheere vp and reuiue his members wearied by continuall trauaile he endured in Armes with drinking of this diuine liquor The vertue whereof learned Pindarus knew well enough which made him a peerelesse heroycall Poet neuer could he haue accomplished his so highe and excellent Poeme by the vertue and goodnes of water but changing his stile into the great praise noble description of the vertue of wine the chiefest most notable men in the worlde made likewise such price and

minding such matters For the poore sicke man considering that he is weake and diseased will preserue himselfe very dilligentlie from al manner of excesse and liue more soberly then can the stiffest and strongest composed bodies These kind of men are such to whom oftentimes it happeneth thorow the ouer-much fiercenesse of their good disposition and strength that boldlie or carelesly they oppose themselues againste a thousand greefes perils and daungers vsing meates prohibited for the health of man taking the corrupted ayre in the euening or else without any need will wander into tempests raine snow winde stormes and thus aduenture themselues from morning to night And the worse is their successe thorowe the confidence which they repose in their bodies which they feeling to be strong and lustie feare not without any discretion to fight heere with one there to smite an other spoile outrage and commit a thousand euils Then what recompence haue they for al these They fall into the rightfull hande of Iustice who without any regard of valour strength dexteritie parents or riches makes them miserablie and shamefully to finish their daies before their expected time It is then great folly to desire strength and health of body so earnestlie seeing it is the cause of so many mishaps were it not onely but in regarde of the warres which we should neuer beholde so cruell or fierce but by the confidence that men suppose to be in their health and bodily strength wherewith great and wise Lordes vse to iest at each other and make as small account thereof as of balles running along the pent-house of a Tennis court For Teares Declamation 11. That it is better to weepe often then to laugh at any time NOt without great occasion is it that I must assuredlie by good right confesse the mourner to bee in better estate then the laugher seeing Salomon in his most holy Prouerbes hath lefte vs in writing that it is better to sleepe and repose in the house of sorrowe then in that of ioy and pleasure By laughter many soules haue beene seuered from their bodies to the infinite greefe of their good friends but by sadnesse not one only which I euer heard of at any time departed but well pleased Laughter hath euermore beene perticularlie proper to fooles mouthes or people without sence And it is not read in any one place of the holye Scripture that our blessed Sauiour euer laughed at any time but that he wept and sorrowed is to be found in sundry passages of the good and faithfull Euangelistes For this cause hath he promised eternall felicity to such as mourne and them that laugh he hath menaced with death To weepe is a signe of penitence and compunction whereto we are often inuited and exhorted by the voices of the holy Prophets but laughter hath beene the cause of mocking it selfe as the euident signe of ouermuch boldnes If we would make regard of the commodities ensuyng by teares howe many disdaines and howe many rages haue beene qualified by one little teare of the eie How manie poore louers haue they vnited and confirmed together that before liued not but in langour distresse How many storming hearts fierce and cruell one against another haue they brideled softened made gentle How many great and honest recompences haue beene obtained and measured by the waight of teares I am of this opinion that all the force and puissance of men assembled together cannot so soon winne or compasse what it would haue as one only teare can yea oftentimes it hath conqueringly obtained grace euen from obstinate and moste pittilesse persons For proofe heereof Heraclitus was alwaies more esteemed for his weeping then euer was Democritus for his laughing See how many thinges worthy of eternall memorie Crassus by this vertue accomplished purchasing the name of a scorner of vanities If we should need to produce the profit of teares often weeping Let vs consider that while our bodies are but young and tender they make them to grow and encrease Wherefore many Nursses in regard heereof are not very hastie to quiet their infantes when they lie criyng in the Cradle but by these meanes suffer them to dilate and stretch forth their members for so they come to the suddener growth And if proofes should faile me against laughter I would content my selfe with this only of good Hyppocrates who hath left written that the diseases which ensue by accident of laughter without any manifest cause are the most difficult to be healed Let vs then set laughing apart seeing it bringeth such offence to man and agreeth not with his honestie and grauitie beside we finde not at this daie among so many lamentable ruines where any place or oportunity for laughing indeed may be graunted or suffered And let vs conclude that laughter wrinkles and makes olde the face counterfeits the person makes the heart ake woundeth the lungs inwards of the bellie so that after long laughing many greefs doe follow whereof we neuer make doubt till wee feele them So that if laughter bee not refrained it makes the pallat of the mouth to fall the throte sore the voice hoarse and oft times shakes the body verie greeuously VVherfore very excellently said the wise man that the end of laughter was greefe and teares which ordinarilie endureth more space of time hath a longer taile behinde it than euer had mourning But the end of continuall teares after this mortall life is ioy and perpetual delectation which neuer hath ending and such as are promised by him who is onely truth it selfe For Dearth Declamation 12. That Scarsitie is better than aboundance ANy man of common sence and opinion will assure yee that for the ease and better estate of his person as also continuance of his pleasures aboundance or earthly goods ought well to be had in request But for one voluptuous man ye shall finde of this opinion I will furnish yee with an hundred of very singular spirit and perfect iudgement that liberally will maintaine the fertillitie and aboundance of goodes in this worlde is the mother and nursse of all euils enemie to all modesty and honestie and cheefe aduersarie to sobrietie The good Lady of Henault bemoned the great Dearth which the turbulence of the warres had caused and among other thinges she wept for the fertillitie of the former yeares past when as she called to minde what store of corne and wines she had and that before a weeke would be past both shee and all hir house shoulde scant tell where to gette foode or drinke once a day But the sober and frugal Solon-nist saith well to the contrarie that the lesse store of victuals are in a contrey the lesse is the insolence of the inhabitāts who in time of aboundance disdain the seruice of their superiors then hath a man greater paine to get a seruant how poore soeuer or bad disposed he be then a man of wisedome well skilde in good letters Moreouer what else