ought amisse to dimme his glorie For it is impossile quoth hee in so many yeares and so much opportunitie that I should neuer offend and blemish my vertue with some dishonourable action deseruing either prewarning in the beginning or reproofe in the ende and so expelled him his seruice Here is a mirrour of true honour this noble Prince cast off his Steward because he concealde his faultes amongst Christians that should be inspired with higher wisedome the contrary is daily practised the â—eruant shall be dismist for telling truth and honest minds purchase shrewde rebukes this head-strong opinion is the downe-fall of all good order for when men-pleasers and claw-backes doo leade captiuitie capâ—iue in the fetters of vanitie a multitude of honest mindes are in daunger to be seduced to imitate their course of life For as the Marriners in a shippe haue theyr eyes earnestly bent vpon the Maister that sitteth at the helme and readie at his becke to doo his will so such men as stand vp in the Common-wealth and holde the Rudder of direction in theyr handes are duly watcht and attentiuely ouerseene and according to their aime the common sort bend their course O howe riches mocke men with certaintie when nothing is more mutable and slippery with perfect happineâ—â—e when nothing is more wretched the nursâ— of pride the schoole of abuse and the guide that leades into many temptations it is much better rather to shine in Vertue then in riches And therefore our Sauiour Christ in the Gospell compâ—reth the felicitie of a rich man to an impossibilitie â—aying that it is as hard for him to climbe to heauâ—n being loaden with drosse as for a Cammell to creepe through the eye of a Needlâ— and this made the Philosophers in their humane wisedome so much despise worldly honour and vndergoe pouertie with so great patience Aâ—nacreon hauing a huge masse of money sent him by Policrates could neuer rest till he was rid of it againe his minde troubled his sleepe broken returned it againe to him that sent it saying he neuer liued in so great feare and dread all his life long as hee had done those two dayes while the mony was in his house Phoâ—â—â—n in like manner when the king had sent him a great beneuolence hee asked him that brought it what mooued his maister to send him so much mony seeing the king did not know him answered it was in respect of the great fame he heard of his vertues If that be the cause quoth he carry it backe to him againe and let him leaue me as I am and â—ot by increase of wealth to diminish my vertues Diogines refused all and craued nothing but the common benefâ—â— of the Sunne which Alexander had taken from him by standing betweene him and it Plutarch reporteth that when Alexander vpon a time came into a poore barren Countrey thinking to haue made some great conquest found the inhabitants gathering rootes grasse to â—ate neither vsing force to repell and keep him backe nor any meanes to disswade him from his warlike attempt but as poore snakes were altogether busied for their bellâ—es The King considering their pouertie and vnfruitfulnesse of their countrey had pittie and compassion on their miserie and bad them aske what they would and it should incontinently be graunted Quoth they with one consent giue vs euerlasting life Why how can I giue that quoth he that am but a mortall man Then why seeke you to win the whole world as though you were immortall and should neuer dye Zenon Crates infinite were the examples of those that were rauished with the formossitie and excellent hue of Vertue that they contemned money riches pompe choosing pouertie for the pure life of perfection bearing the bitternesse of fortune with an vnconquerable courage The auntient victorious Romaines â—ought after Vertue and by their noble deedes and heroicall spirits got the palme of true honour not sparing body or goods to aduance the CoÌ„mon-wealth in so much as many of them had not wherewith to endowe theyr daughters nor which was lesse to defraye Funerall charges but what they had out of the commoÌ„ store which by their conquests they had so greatly enriched as Sâ—ipio Sylla and the great Pompâ—y for then Vertue was their chiefest riches An example we finde of a noble captaine who beeing offered a great reward by his Generall for his knighthood and valour done in seruice with this gratulation thou shalt bee paide in riches for thy valour and not in honour for Vertue hee refused the one and tooke the other counting riches not worthy to bee matched wiâ—h the dignitie of Vâ—rtue The Martyrs in all ages are much to bee admired that being indued with true fortitude did most willingly embrace their deathes and suffer their bodies to bee rent torne and cruelly burned by the persecutors for the profession of a good conscience and by theyr meeke sufferings gained perpetuall honour And although it falleth out as for the most part it doth that men indued with rare and singular vertues are vtterly forgotten and scarce noted while they liue yet beeing dead theyr fame mounts vp to heauen and is divulged and spread in the earth for the want of a good thing is then most precious when it is remooued farthest off Cato was scarce knowne while he liued but after his death was of great price and all those famous Philosophers Orators schoole-men that liued in darknesse and were so basely esteemed yet wee see by the memorie of their goodly vertues they now liue againe by being recommended from one age to an other And herehence sprung the multiplicitie of Heathen goddes I meane from the notable vertues of singular men for the foolish antiquitie honoured men as gods after their deathes which eyther were of high dignitie while they liued of great birth or had done some notable benefite for their Countrie for honour and reuerence is rehibited for some certaine cause rising of externall things framed by Vertue for honour is compounded of honestie Hâ—rmes or Mercurius was of such fame among the Aegiptians as hee was deified and made a god calling him the Messenger of Iupiter Mars a great warriour Bacchâ—â— the inuenter of wine Esculapius a Phisition Pythâ— was so reuerently thought of amongst the Barbarians for that by his singular wisedome hee had withdrawne the inhabitants from their vices that they made of his Cottage a Temple giuing him diuine honour What contumelies and strife was about the bodie of Homer when seuen Cities were at variance to possesse his corpes when he was dead Septem vrbes certant de stirpe insignis Homeri Smyrna Rhodes Colophon Salamiâ— Ios Argos Athenae Diogenes liued beggerly in contempt but after his death was honorably interred in a monument of fame so that the memorie of these sprung from the roote of Vertue and from some notable exployt which got the peoples loue who thought the applause of this worlde was no sufficient
when the spirituall faculties are defiled with much conuersatioÌ„ in so much that many that hold places in sacred assemblies become affected to their phrases Metaphors Allegories and such figuratiue and suparlatiue termes and so much vaine eloquence as they yeeld no fruite at all to their auditors but driue them into amazement with a multitude of Inkehorne-termes scummed from the Latin and defused phrases as they flye aboue the commoÌ„ reach when the most profitable and best affected speech is that that is most congruable and fitly applied to the intendment vnderstanding of the hearers by familiar and ordinarie termes not sophisticall darke and obscure nor too base and barbarous but such as are animated by their present abillitie to speake more then other men and be addicted to affectation haue commonly a dearth of iudgement sildome edifie but gallop ouer prophane writers to shewe theyr vaine reading Demosthenes beeing called to declaime against the rude multitude that had assembled themselues in the Forum of Athens answered he was not yet readie if he that had Facacia ingenij the very soule of wit durst not speak in a serious matter without preparing himselfe before how caÌ„ such that come far short of him in promptnes of naturall wisdome presume to handle holy things so rashly with humane learning for it is an impudent boldnesse for a man to take vpon him to teach others that which he before hath not bene taught but I may speake as Tully spake of the Orators of Rome Sed tamen videmus quibus extinctus Oratoribus quam in paucis spes quanto in paâ—cioribus facult as quam in multis sit audacia We see saith he what noble Orators are put out of the way and how in fewe a hope remaineth in fewer a skill but in many a boldnesse that dare set vpon any thing To returne doo not these idle pernicious bookes poyson the well disposed manners of youth and macerate and kill the seedes of Vertue that begin to bloome for doo they not vse more vaine eloquence then confidence in matters of wisedome So that all that which they do is but to make a mutinie Men need not sowe for weedes for they growe fast inough so we are polluted inough by kinde though we be not more defiled by custome thus do they proceed like cankers to eate off the tender buddes Neither do they want some Mecenas to Patronize their witlesse workes and to haue some applause bend the scope of theyr argument to fit their dispositions yea and many times thrust their dedications vpon men of graue and sober carriage who will not sticke to recompence their idle labours Now if the principall scope of all our actions and counsels ought to be to some good ende and that it must needs passe as a Maxime that nothing can be good but that which moueth to Vertue theÌ„ it must coÌ„sequeÌ„tly follow that all prophane and lasciuious Poems are as an infectious aire that brings a generall plague because they striue against honestie And if Plato sawe so great cause to shut them out of his common-wealth as noysome to the peace and tranquillitie thereof what ought our Platonists to do sith they more abound heere then euer they did there or if we had but the zealous affections of the Ephesians we would loathe the price of so great iniquitie and sacrifice them at a stake though they were of neuer so great value But happily it will be demaunded how Ladies Gentlewomen c. should spend the time and busie their heads as though idlenesse were not a vice badde inough of it self without fire to be added and as though there were not a Bible and many good bookes wherein they might be vertuously exercised Of good wits well imployed what good would ensue by setting out the praises of the immortall maiestie that giueth hands to write and wittes to inuent what matter might they not finde both honest and necessary in which they might first want words to vtter then matter worthie to be vttered especially those that are not only by their outward felicitie freed from troubles and perturbation of minde imbracing content in the bosome of peace the nurse of Sciences but are also inabled and sufficiently gifted to publish any thing of worth ô how willing is Vertue to crowne them with honour But this contagion ought seriously to be considered by men of riper iudgement and by such as haue authoritie to suppresse the abuses for is it not lamentable that a Pamphlet discoursing nought but Paganisme should be so vendible and vertuous bookes want sale the one bought vp thicke and three fold the other lye dead for there commeth forth no sooner a foolish toye a leaud and bawdy ballad but if sung in the market by the diuels quirristers they flocke to it as crowes to a dead carkasse buying them vp as Iewels of price be they neuer so ribauld filthie or dorbellicall but bookes of Christianitie of modest argument that tenâ— to rectifie the iudgment lieth still in the Stationers hand as waste paper not so much as looked after so that by this we may plainly see what a froward generation we are fallen into where in such bookes as are most hurtfull and daungerous are most deuoutly coueted But if they would obserue the Philosophers rule to abstain from speaking fiue yeare I doubt not but in that time they would be fitted and fully established to write with sober iudgement as men of vnderstanding reason or if the Apostles rule were followed Be swift to heare and slowe to speake they would be more considerate and not runne out the course of their liues in such vnprofitable studie But touching the defence some make to approue this vaine writing it is too ridiculous and not worth an answere that they doo by this meanes polish refine our English tongue and drawe it from barbarisme into a more finer Cadence of words but those bookes that polish the toong depraue the life are dangerous and in the sentence of wise men in no case to be allowed for it were better for a man to be dumbe then by speaking to approue a wrong and accuse the innocent and better it were indeed that they had not only no learning at all but also that they had no eyes to see nor eares to heare for as it is in the Gospell it were much better for a man to goe blinde into heauen then with two eyes to be cast into hell Neither can I see but that they drawe our language from the auncient tenor by mixing it with so many straunge countries that it seemeth rather more artificiall then naturall and more baser then the common lawe which is compounded of French English and Latin c. The harsh tooting of Pans pipe was more pleasing to Mydas care then the sweet harmony of Apolloes harp but this fault was in the Iudge whose simplicitie could not distinguish them aright in like manner many are better content with vicious bookes
worser then Pagans Let this great dutie therefore be considered seeing thou hast store with-hold nothing that is due is not hee a caytiffe that will see his mother dye for hunger and he hath bread to relieue her if he would why the Common-wealth is thy mother euery poore Christian is thy brother wilt thou see them famisht before thy face and not succour them hauing inough Thou hast thy wealth to that end if thou couldest see it and vse it aright Neuerthelesse we see how men of good place and reckening will hide themselues in corners liue priuately onely to keepe their purses that they may be lyable to no imposition and crowde into Cities Boroughs and priuiledge places or like nonresidents rowle vp and downe from one lodging to an other to the intent that being vncertaine where to be had their states may be vnknowne and by this meanes both ouerthrowe hospitalitie defraude the Queene and Common-wealth of necessarie duties and depopulate the countrey Is it not a token of a couctous minde that men of good possessions and faire liuings should breake vp house and soiourne onely with one or two seruants that they may hoorde vp theyr rents when they are sufficientlye able to keepe a good house themselues surely it is a signe of a base condition Furthermore many wealthy Yeomen rich Farmers that are risen vp to goods inough doo tread the same path For wheras erst when they dwelt vpon their owne they kept good houses and were no small stay to the places where they liued are eyther couetous of some vaine-glorious title of gentilitie or otherwise so miserly greedie of wealth for one of the two I know not which thrust themselues in like maner into Cities Corporations and Liberties and yet holde theyr Farmes still in their owne occupying for they haue such long armes that they claspe many great liuings And also lying vpon the aduantage take Farmes ouer their neighbours heads ten yeares before their Leases be expired And what do they with these plurified liuings but place shepheards heards vnderlings and such thred bare tenants in their stockes and that at such vnreasonable rents too that the poore snakes that dwell vnder them are driuen to weake shifts to fare hardly liue barely moyle and toyle the whole yeare to scrape vp theyr rent not sauing at the yeares ende for all theyr paines scarce the price of an old Frise Ierkin for theyr Lorde knowes better then they what profit will arise and how euery thing will fall out and if hee thriue vnder him then doth hee stretch and racke it to the vttermost till at last hee bring the whole gaine into his owne bagge and so by this means can hardly beare ordinarie charges much lesse doo workes of superrerogation being kept downe so cruelly by their greedie Land lords Now these haue not onely theyr meanes brought in vnto them by the sweat of poore mens browes and sleepe in peace and securitie when others watch and labour a great blessing if rightly weighed but will closely and cunningly seeke to shift off all duties by withdrawing them into odde corners Oh that men of such abilitie should haue such Iron rustie hearts to hide their heads shut their hands and whip deuotion from their doores doo they not seeke to subuert and weaken the state as much as they can by with-holding that part of dutie required by the lawe of nature but the greedinesse of gaine causeth vnrelenting hearts for one would possesse all alone O how are men deceiued in their owne estate that being rich are yet euer poore because opinion is neuer satisfied whereas if we onely respect nature no man can be poore Natà r a enim vt ait Philoso paucis minimisque contenta nature is content with necessitie But to bring all this to a head though some bee carried with the streame of pride some with the flouds of desire some prodigall some pinching and though the couetous man gape for more more and like hell mouth neuer satisfied yet will they hide theyr plough-sores vnder the carpet of liberalitie as now and then to giue an almes against a good time as they call it to beate downe a hard opinion intimating thereby to bee good free-hearted men when all the yeare beside they scrape and clawe it from other by the excessiue prices of theyr badde commodities and by pinching them with many vncharitable gripes and yet will they hide theyr want of loue vnder Vertue and Religion and why so because it carrieth a generall good liking of all men for although many haue no religion at all nor one sparke of a vertuous man yet for all this wil they seeme to loue and embrace it intirely because of the vnspotted simplicitie they see in the true professors thereof and that chiesly because this outward shewe is some meanes to asswage the heate of sharp reprehensions and that vnder colour of this they may liue in some good report of the common sort for if they should not hide the malice within with a shewe of holinesse without but permit the rebellion to rush forth they would be hatefull to others and disquiet theyr owne peace to hold friendship therfore with the world it is expedient for them to be hypocrites and deceiuers and therefore will they performe many Christian duties and communicate with the Saints yea and crowde to the Church doore of true deuotion and both pray and vse good exercises in their families frequent Sermons yea and ride and goe six or seuen miles to heare a good Preacher are not these good things and the very properties of a true Christian yes verily but all this is but done in pollicie to mocke the world how know you that why looke into their course of life if any vaine opportunitie be offred wil theynot follow it if the wicked call to goe will they not run will they not dice carde sweare swagger and be drunke are they not vsurers extortioners proud persons and so cold in charitie that no Christian dutie can heat their loue so it is an casie thing to see their hypocrisie if a man but cast his sight vpon their conuersation And in like manner many at the end of the yeare as a charitable worke will keepe open house and set opē their gates for al the rake-hels loose vagabounds in a countrey and fill idle bellies with their flesh-pots when the poore blind lame and sicke are faine to lye in the depth of miserie without comfort helpe or succour and to what ende is this great superfluitie forsoothe to reioyce for the blessed feast of Christmas Indeede this feaste dooth bring great cause of ioy for that beeing all lost in Adam and heires of damnation are neuerthelesse by the comming of the Messias the sonne of God who tooke on him our flesh at this time of the yeare to vndergoe the wrath of his father due to vs redeemed vs from hell and made vs inheritors of heauen here is cause of ioy what a happie memorie is this how ought this feast to be celebrated in magnifying the Almightie and lauding his name for so great a
ones assoone as they are hatcht because seeing them of an other hew thinkes them of an other kind so in like maner some rich men looke aloft snuffe fume at their poore brethren and cast off all deuosion brotherly loue because seeing them humbled and brought lowe in the world iudge them vtterly vnhappie when verily they are not only of one selfe-same issue parent but also more acceptable to God in their base estate theÌ„ they in all their royaltie Is it not lamentable to see a number of poore winterstarued people lye pining in miserie which might bee relieued if it were but with the surplusage of their vaine expences and comforted with that which they wastfully consume For do but view these kinde of men and you shall see they will spare for no cost to build faire houses as I said before though they impouerish themselues for euer galleries bowling-allies walkes and whatsoeuer may bring delight to ride with great retinew to shew their pompe and maintaine their quarrels to feede idle bellies with their flesh pots that are no sooner vp but run to vaine sports but if a poore man be fallen into want or an honest cause craue some reliefe a penny is as hardly gotten from them as fire out of a flint stone or if it doth at last come it is many times more for fashion to shunne reproach then for charitie to the cause But some perhaps will say it is my owne and may I not do with mine owne what I will but t is neither so nor so for it is not thine thou art put in trust to laie it out to helpe and succour thy poore needy brother Perhaps thou wilt say againe I brought him not to beggery did I lame him did I vnparell him or did I vnhouse him wherfore then should I recompence him whom I neuer wronged Are Bees bounde to gather honey for droanes and must I keepe life in rattes and myce and such vermine as are bred by the infection of a plentious yeare Indeed they are made poore but t is because thou art rich that thereby thou mightest exercise thy loue for there shall be poore alwayes to set charitie a worke yet some are so farre from loue as they fall into barbarous cruelty that they had rather cut their throats then cherish them with beneuolence as it is recorded of a B. B. of Constance that vnder colour of giuing almes assembled all the poore in the countrey together shut them vp in a barne set fire to it and burnt them vp together counting it a worke meritorious and no doubt for so doing he was cannonized a saint by the impietie of Antichrist If one of these Bacchanalls deliuer to his steward a great summe of mony to lay out in domesticke affaires and he lauish it out in ryoting drunkennesse and leaud company will not his maister pull his coate ouer his eares brand him for a knaue and turne him out at his gates no doubt he would be as rigorous as so leaude a prancke should deserue why then how do they thinke to escape being bailiffes and stewards to the Lorde of Lordes who hath committed his treasure to them with a charge to laie it out in such mercifull workes as he hath appointed and they runne with it to the market of vanities and expend it in prodigall vses Surely it will bee a mad reckening when they shall come in with Item in Pheasants Patriges Woodcockes sawses sops delicates for the body so much Item in strange fashions and new fangles for my backe so much vpon dogges so much in vaine building so much and such like I suppose this bill of Items will bee scarce pleasing to theyr maister that hath put them in so great trust Then seeing God hath made thee rich and thy brother poore be neuer the more pust vp with pride and disdaine but studiâ— how thou mayest discharge so great a reckning as thou hast to make think this with thy self he that made me rich could haue made me poore it is in his bountie not my deseruing I do but possesse that of which an other is owner who can disinherit me when he will why then should I bragge as if it were mine owne and though my brother be poore yet peraduenture he is richer to God then I I see no difference betweene vs we are both of one moulde â—aue that I haue more chaffe and rubbish then hee which is scattered with euery gust of winde so that if hee well consider his state and expostulate with himselfe in this manner that loade of riches that is now so heauie will be more easily borne The Poets faine that Plutus the god of money is lame when he commeth but hath wings swiftly to depart signifying that as riches are long in getting so they are suddealy lost and therefore a man should be rich in charitie and poore in desire and impart the benefite to the needments and necessitie of other For as there is a diuine coherence between the members of the bodie though they haue all a distinct and peculiar office yet they all minister to the common societie so in like manner we being members of that bodie whereof Christ is the head ought to bend our actiuitie for the health welfare of the same and to beare such a mutuall coniunction and simpathie as feeling members to open the bowels of compassion on such as are in want and this onely is Vertues Common wealth Neuerthelesse there be some well disposed and very forward to all good duties in saying till it come to doing but then they winch like a gald horse ô they cannot away with charge If my abilitie saith one would answere my willingnesse I would do this and that or if I had so much wealth I would relieue the poore better they should not goe emptie handed or if I had so much wit and such means I would countenance good causes with the beautie of honor and so do they vaunt of that they would do and yet do not that they should do I demaund what good doest thou with that little thou hast thou art wise and politique or at least thou thinkest so how doest thou vse it if thou art vnfaithfull in a litle no doubt thou wouldest be so in a great deale for as he is inconfident to whom mony is deliuered vpoÌ„ trust to pale to an other doth either keep it back all or deliuer but halfe so hee that hath much or litle doth not dispose it as he oght is not worthy to be trusted with more Perhaps thou wilt say such a maÌ„ is of great wealth and he doth litle good or none at all why then should I that am of lesser value do any thing this is no excuse for thee nor cause of suspence for thou art to looke to thy owne dutie and not weaken thy owne charitie by the negligence of other men An other wil boast of that litle he doth and be the trumpe of his
of his minde is no whit distracted but resting in securitie smileth at the worlds turbulent state Finally it is a bloud in the vain giuing life to the whole body the head of all vertues for of her selfe she may do many things but without her the rest can doo nothing rightly Fortitude is a greatnesse of mind which without furious or rash resolution feareth not to hazard it selfe in the greatest perils and with eager pursuite to hunt after honourable actions thirsting after glory not respecting the tedious difficultie of the passages therevnto to encounter wiih dangers wade through the mystic clouds of darknes willingly endure all bitternes of fortune for the safegard of the country such were Scipiones Fabij Alcibiades Hannibal c. who by their valour great prowes reached to the top of honour Neither is true Fortitude measured by the compasse of a great body nor by dooing great enterprises in respect of the huge stature but by a fierce and couragious spirit striâ—ing in a good cause the cause is all it is not the torment that maketh a Martyr but the cause for which he suffereth So that to speake properly Fortitude is that which is granted vpon good cause possible to be atchieued such true valour was in Dauid who could not abide to heare the name of God blasphemed by such a monster as Goliah therefore knowing God would aide his enterprise he relyed not vpon his owne strength but cast off all vaine glory for when matters are rightly attempted many straunge aduentures proceed euen as it were by myracle a iust honest cause maketh a man bolde hardie and venterous to striue against one of greater force as King Alexander being of small body sought hand to hand with Porrus which was a more mightie man it is not then any great person or huge Collosse that can triumph ouer a good cause The Romaine Scipio was woâ—t to say no man ought to leuie war or fight with his enemie without iust cause offred but if hee were prouoked by an iniust intrusion it booteth not to tarry til they come but intercept theÌ„ in comming for such cause giueth encouragement to set vpon them freely As when our common enemies in 88. with their Spanish braues meant to haue inuaded our Territories and came armed with instruments of tirannie to insult ouer our natioÌ„ and to bring our necks into a Spanish yoake it pleased God to abate their pride and turne their cruelties into their owne bosomes Heere was cause to make a coward valiant and the fearefull forward to fight because he was compelled to take vp weapons for his owne safetie and he that will not defend himselfe is not worthy to liue in peace especially when his wife children father mother brothers sisters yea the whole Countrey is in daunger â—o be torne and rent in peeces by sauage and mercilesse tyrants When it is for a common defence is not he a wretch that will sit still and see his mothers throate cut What if he dye in the conflict were he not better to dye honourably like a Martyr and souldier of Christ then liue to see the ruine and desolation of his whole Countrey wherefore no man ought to stagger or saint at a good cause but bee the more imboldened because it giueth good encouragement We may call to mind and we cannot remember it too often the ouerthrowe they then had not simply in respect of our owne prowesse but by the assistance of a higher power we being but a poore handfull to their great multitude they came like Briarius threatning the heauens and casting mountaines at Iupiter yet theyr glorious tytle of inuincible was confounded to theyr shame and our glory this we may thinke vpon with reuerence but ascribe the honour of the victorie to him by whose meanes it was wrought If warre be leuied without cause or if one man shall be so foole-hardie to attempt things impossible and presume on his strength to assaile a greatmany beyond hope to vanquish it is no maruaile if the successe fall out against his desire for Ne Herculus contra duos For Hercules himselfe held it oddes to deale with two but when for the common good of the Countrey as I said before any man shall vndertake some hard aduenture to free it of some imminent perill if sent by imperiall commaund though he loose his life in the action yet for that hee is indued with true Fortitude doth winne immortalitie as the three Romans called Decij who for the safegard of their Countrey auowed to dye and with resolute and vndaunted courages pierced the host of their enemies and though they lost their liues yet by their stout example gaue such audacitie and courage to the rest of the Romaines by prouoking them forward as they easily obtained the victorie which was thought to be vnconquerable I might speake the like of Codrus Marcarius Curtius Marcus and Regulus which dyed most willingly for their Countrey I might recite here also a Catalogue of those valorous English Knights that haue honourably yeelded vp their liues in the field of Mars for their Prince and Countrey but that I intend not now to make an Apologie of this Vertue but referre it to a Treatise of Iustice which I suppose shall succeed this worke especially vpon the improuement of this God giuing mee time and quietnesse of minde to performe that This manlinesse is a Vertue that fighteth in defence of equitie and iust dealing but we neuer finde that any man got true praise and honour by rash furie for nothing is honest that is voyd of Iustice He that is hastie to surprise a man soone moued to impatiencie without iust cause cause doth rather merit the name of leaud boldnesse then manly courage because this Vertue standeth in honest deeds and not in vaine glory and being truly carried serueth as a hammer to beate downe those Vices that oppose themselues to the beautie of Vertue which chiefly doth appeare when preferment doth lift a man aloâ—t by imbracing humilitie and ouercomming pride which soone creepes vpon the aduanced or if tossed in aduersitie he be vigorous and beare an inuincible courage to combat against the passion of the minde which is ready basely to decline for whatsoeuer falleth out crookedly is turned to the better part she inableth to vndergoe damage to beare iniurie to be patient and not to stâ—rre but for a common good or his priuate defence when a violent intrusion is made vnto his person Many hide themselues vnder the wings of this Vertue that neuer seeke to apprehend her aright and would seeme valorous and magnanimous when they are but white liuerd cowards and miscreants as many of these brawlers and swashbucklers whose hot bloud once stirred cannot be cooled without reuenge and field-meetings which for euery light cause they vndertake and so violently swaid with fury that they rush forward into all desperation without reuerence of the lawes of