our selues haue fashioned and made here beneath in this world Thorough thee I haue bene hindered of the augement and increase of grace which was promised me yea thorough thee I haue lost humilitie and continency the gard that should haue defended me Had I ouercome in this world we had worne an immortall crowne but now thou hast preuailed I haue lost the sincerity of an angelicall spirit and am become abhominable in the sight of God before whom we shall haue no kindred to speake for vs nor any other that we haue bound by benefits and rewards nor yet such as will be afraid of our threats and commands But as we could haue none to speake against vs in this life no not in the behalfe of truth and innocencie so now we shall finde none so corrupt to speake for vs before him who will suffer no bolstered causes nor depending delaies to ease vs one whit But there we shall be sure to finde the whole quire of heauen equiuolent to iudge betweene good and euill pronouncing this definitiue sentence Go yee cursed and possesse vtter darknesse prepared for the deuill and his Angels where it is not knowne nor remembred what the treasure of immortalitie is Fortunes wanton how much better for vs had it bin by tribulations to haue bin weaned and separated from the voluptuous delights of the world then to haue enioyed this liberty thus to fulfil our appetites desires without controlemēt But in comparison of our selues we haue set at naught al creatures especially the poore defying at the heart their necessities whose accusations no question are gone vp into heauen in the bitternesse of their soule accusing vs to the maiesty of him before whom their praiers cannot but be heard Thus confounded with cruell immoderate excesse how could we propound vnto our selues long life whē we neglect the means to preserue health Nay what could we looke for but soddaine miserable confusion who preferred excesse before mediocrity Thou wert in the right she poisoned thee thy tender and louing darling that imbraced euery vaine ioint of thee holding thee so fast that thou hadst no feeling of thy selfe It was a right shee s part after she had inflamed thee within made thee cold bare naked without to leaue thee also like a block emptie hallow within fit for nothing but wormes to creepe into For all thy high climing she hath laid thee low enough Farewell the worst veslell that euer good licour was put into Corruption I say farewell till we meet in hell Whether I go vpward or downward torment is euer before me and the sound of this trumpet come ye that are dead in sinne to iudgement I am but a borrowed spirit thou canst not call me back againe wherfore without hearing thy reply farewell Dun. Ah desperate mans death in whom was all pronenesse to euill and no disposition to do good It should seeme he was haled out of this world contrarie to nature and without the consent of sicknesse Your report of these newes haue put me in minde of a speach I once receiued from the wisest mans mouth that I thinke was in our age if I may speake it as I hope I may without offence This worthy Gentleman was called in other countries as I haue heard the English Salomon the honorable dignitie and place he bare here were sufficient approuements of his wise vertues Sir Nicholas Bacon once a famous Lord keeper of the broad seale whose words agree rightly to prooue one part of your speach that the woman had done the hurt which the deuill gaue ouer and could not preuaile in His experience was on this sort In his yong daies a frend of his that was like to suffer death for consenting to murther a child he had vnlawfully begotten on a most wicked woman sent for him to the prison where he then was to whom this worthy Gentleman hoping to do good was easily intreated to come At his first entrance into speech with him he straightly charged him with the hainousnesse of the crime saying he thought all the deuils in hell could not haue inticed him to haue done the like To whom he answered his conciept of him was good and no other then the truth for it was not the deuil that had the vpper hand of him who receaued alwaies a discouraging answer so that shewing his complaint of not preuailing to her she gaue a harder onset that would take no nay as by the sequell appeared To demonstrate the matter more euidently he drew out to this honourable Gentleman her diuers charming letters written vnto him with such termes of confident boldnesse as were hardly to be resisted in an affectionate body Which when this modest Gentleman had read so soone as cōueniently he might betooke himselfe to humble prayers that it might please Almightie God all the dayes of his life to deliuer him from the high and inightie preuailing temptations of wicked women Hud Surely a deed beseeming a most aduised wise man whom no doubt all his doings declared to be the best obseruer of godly mediocrity that I haue knowne a rare matter in a man of his greatnesse Dunst But I shall neuer forget the horrible death and end of a most vnrighteous wretch I thinke not my selfe a little beholding vnto you for these good teachings though by the example of the most absolute ill man that euer liued Hud To giue me thankes is but to purchase you your due from me who haue not my ceremonies in so good a readinesse I am more like to profit selfe by your reports especially deriuing them from so well a chosen worthy whose approoued example herein I will bind my selfe to obserue taking it for a generall rule that the deuill when he goeth about to beguile man thinketh it more meete to procure women to solicite for him then to go himselfe on the errand as witnesseth also more specially the example of Euah Dunst Now I beseech you to your other London newes Hud With a good will another newes is this There was of late an old man in the Cittie who decaied as it should seeme in memorie mistooke the season of the yeare perswading himselfe he felt Aprill flowers springing fresh in his withered body thought it had bene May in Ianuary Whervpon he ventured like a fresh gallant to marry a yong damosell to whom he might well haue bene grandfather Dunst Poore wench she was like to haue a great haruest a little corne But I pray you sir did she not hood the old foole Hud You make such hast to your new found phrases that they aske leasure for me to vnderstand them Dunst The old word is so odious that for my part I could be content the deed and all were out of fashion but doubtlesse I can thinke no lesse but this marriage must needs iumpe with my meaning for hoate and cold cannot agree together Huddle You meane she made him Cuckold Dunstable I had almost said so Huddle
the matter brake off you shall fauour me in that I haue a speciall desire to heare at the full you hauing so notablie entred into the declaration thereof You left at absolute vertues which are the gifts of nature and accompany Gentlemen from their birth Huddle Sithence by your desire I am put in minde of complete vertues which are said to be in Princely descents of bloud from the beginning and at their entrance into the world I am contented there to beginne againe All creatures in manner that beare life haue also at the first an inclination towards a very neare similitude of the nature from whence they came by which I prooue the perfections that are in parents descend wholy and without change steps or goings on in like manner and sort to their children as they were indued therewith themselues but if the parent want the perfection thereof himselfe his childe may attaine vnto it but not by natures benefit for that the foregoing one had not the entire possion thereof in the time of his life It is euident to euery vnderstanding that absolute vertues neither decrease nor increase for looke what is perfect in it owne fulnesse the same is able to enriche and fortifie what it affecteth and naturally inclineth it selfe wholy vnto it neuer decreasing as I said because of it perfection it can be no lesse in the succeeding childe then it was in the proceeding father so that the vertue most excellent in the one shall be the same without exceeding or diminishing in the other admitting no mediocritie reacheth at the first the vttermost point of the vertue which was of that integritie in the former Worthie That vertue which wanted perfection in the progenitour his ofspring may attaine vnto but it is not his proper and peculiar blessing as it should haue bene had it not wanted perfection in the other Because the one wanted the full and entire possession thereof he cannot deliuer it ouer by descent in bloud Dunsta Belike then if the worthie progenitour had attained to the tipe of all perfections his worthie of-spring had at the first immediately bene seasoned with that most precious liquor according to the influence into the former vessell Hud Yea vndoubtedly but the mysterie of the perfection celestiall which you rightly termed a most precious influence it is too deuine to dwell vpon earth or to be discust by mortall sence and vnderstanding but the next vnto that omnipotencie are Kings and Princes because they receiue theyr blessings from God directly without other benefit or additament whatsoeuer Dunst Then I pray you Sir how do diuerse without the benefit of this generous bloud attaine to such ripenesse as may make them worthie high place and dignitie in the word Huddle Through forward inclination and disposition taken with the loue and desire to immitate such seruiceable vertues as they haue seene approoued and rewarded in others whose more properly at the first they were and so vpon iust cause are both receiued and held worthie men In the first vertuous man I shewed you euen now after his good speed was seene and the way knowne how he did great things others were stirred vp to haue pleasure and delight in the like yet such also as were better endued and of a more ready motion then the rest For all could neither be incited by example nor forced by compulsion to needfull and concerning duties to the pleasuring of themselues Dunst By this reckening wisdome to forethinke is not the least helpe both to seeke and also to become great places attained vnto Hud All my speeches haue tended to that end and purpose Yet first I shewed you how bold courage did rouse and waken men from out the cradle of securitie before they were assisted by consultation euen then also had they failed of resolution to enterprise and breake through disficulties such also as perhaps were repugnant vnto reason and aboue that wit could perswade to be possible then all had fainted and nothing had bene atcheiued Now wit arte and counsell which you spake of right now might haue serued them to prolong their plenty and to haue held them still in ease to haue leslened and made away by deuise some of their superfluous and rising numbers but the strong vertue was first and it preuailed to best purposes and blessings Dunst Now sir I beseech you speake somewhat of the defects that were found in them that neuer came forward Hud I haue promised so to do You may imagine that while the sunne is oppressed and surcharged with cloudes her vertue of comforting is for the while hindered but when she hath out wrought them and broken thorough the black prison her light is then cleare and her operations effectuall Likewise whilest wantonnesse belly cheare and other entangling delights held men back from the vse and knowledge of themselues till I say the maisterfull spirit had by maine force spoiled and driuen away all impediments they could purchase no freedome nor rest contented vnlesse they were able also to make a through conquest of themselues then which there could not be a greater victorie Dunst A faire and a vertuous generation of worthy men fit to take example at Hud The princely worthy that had bene the cause of the beginning and discouerie of all these things through his search and aduenturous inquirie after I say he had laid these fast knowledges sufficient both for their owne foundation and also for continuing their succeeding posterities making alwaies the end of one discouerie the beginning of another and after himselfe for all these benefits had bene deseruedly crowned and holden in due honor and regard of the rest at once he amended all their estates bringing the number of such as were out of order into order by prouision as aforefaid of such necessaries acquired as nothing but the iustice and displeasure of almightie God could bereaue them Now to iumpe with your desire I will directly shew you who were the pecora campt to whome for their vnwillingnesse little or nothing was possible You must also remember how at the first I tolde you few by nature and their owne ready inclination were warlike yet by instruction and imitation shaking off and expulsing the first disease called slouth many were fashioned and instituted by the desire they had to folow the discipline of the first worthies Notwithstanding all this there remained a sculke of such as neither care nor castigation could amend or make able to entertaine other purpose or desire then at the first Besides to increase their number sort there were diuerse whose courages abated degenerating and declining by immoderate and intemperate contrarieties thorough which they corrupted and lost their first bloud and estimation differing in a manner altogether from the good resolutions to vertues which at the first either themselues or their auncestors had bene raised vnto who rather then faile by erudition and tradition for the honour of their owne first vertues were desirous to haue had
in arts or vnderstandings aboue the rest they straight thought it a point of their deepest skill to hold others back from the reache thereof purposely to haue the more ignorant to dote vpon them else could not the maisters of balductum ceremonies haue climed vp by craftie conueiance to sit in thrones aboue Emperours and Kings I suppose by your ancient patterns and fashions you meane apparell and hospitalitie wherein to my small power I will do my good will to take away the error of your mislike beginning first at apparell Amongst sundry sorts of men there haue alwaies bene diuers kinds of attires according to the humors degrees abilities of the wearers the shape fashiō being euer in the or dainers choises to please themselues according to the deuice and conceit of best becomming Therin this present age hath rather surpassed to their commendation fitting nearer by Tailers shapes and garnishings with better proportioning and setting out garments to their bodies then the Rutterking Tailors of the old stampe wherevnto you would haue fashions brought back againe You might as well appoint men to go naked or loosely attired which they haue done as not to allow them that must were clothes to fit their bodies according to their owne minde and fantasie Had you found fault with too costly apparrell where neither the degree nor place requireth it or with too fantasticall or superfluous wearing where halfe the stuffe would suffice to make a farre more seemly garment or had you spoken against their follies who fet enuious patterns to outvie and vndoe one the other by trying maisteries in fashions who should bcare the prodigall bell away which time and cost had bin better spent in the emulation of vertues acts who should haue deserued best in deeds of marshall prowesse beseeming fortitude therein had I agreed with you but through the hast you made to finde out these not so worthie your displeasure such haue also escaped you I rather thinke you wanted words to expresse your good conceit not accustomed to speake in such things then any wayes come short of iudgement to discerne aright in greater difficulties Dunst Surely you fauour me rightly for it was my meaning to shew the dislike I had of such as weare more on their backs in one day then their fathers did in their whole life time Hud Now I dare vndertake by your waightie words you meane such as weare more armour on their backs in one day or are girte with more wounds and stripes then their Fathers were Dunst Nay rather I speake against that excesse where commendable Farmes which were wont to maintain bring vp honest tennants and their children ouer and aboue the rent are dasht vpon one sute of apparrell together with one daies vnmeasurable expences Hud I perceiue you could be content to dwell rent-free vpō the grudge you beare hereat all the daies of your life But now to your patterns of housekeeping I will see to fit you better therein for I know that troubles you most and giueth you least cause of offence Know you how all fathers that leaue their heires lands charge the said liuings First the mother her carrying away a iointer moueables and furniture of the house that must needs be one hinderance why the sonne should not begin where the father left then paying out of brothers and sisters portions is also a hinderance to make him lesse able to keepe house and porte equall with your ancient patterne Now againe besides lands and goods perhaps he wants the offices and entertainmets from his prince which his father was assisted by in that ample manner to do that you so hastely require But put the case all Noblemen and Gentlemen were in better sort able to maintaine housekeeping after this fashion then any ancestour they had I will shew you sufficient reasons and those profitable also to the common wealth to haue such lauish housekeeping forborne When you had these prodigall spendings for custome sake they neither knew why nor wherfore a progenie of voluntarie or rather wilfull beggers were thence outrraised the swarme and rable whereof by continuance haue defamed and slandered the whole nation besides the generall and particular hurts they do in the places where they are yet in that sort maintained Is one Gentleman be able to shew you halfe a thousand thus bred and continued from one descent to another for many hundreds of yeares it is like England hath some greater store of these straw companions It were much for me to say that the first brawle of them came from this occasion because of the likelyhood I will venture to thinke they did and shew you my reasons First their breeding and customarie aboade in one place excercising one selfe kind of life then the commodiousnesse of a wastefull house to fcster them vp in that free and liberall sort without exception to any that would helpe away with beefe and mutton as much at their commaundement that would in this sort come to take it as at theirs whose breeding and growing it was of For it is more likely they tooke their beginning from houses thus wantonly kept then from a farther fetcht deuise of Abbeys and Priories whose benefacting that way extended chieflie to their supposed children and Paramoures inhabiting Milles and out-granges within their belles ringing whither by out-leaps they made their Sabaoth dayes iourneys their cherishing was onely of such to do to haue as the Scot saith an ease for a pleasure Againe such as were fallen by casualties or burthensome occasions of many children into pouertie former times I must confesse had greater respect in time to see to them then we haue who lightly alwaies by charitable contributions restored thē back againe in time to an estate ere they could catch a habit or delight therein a matter better pleasing no doubt to the parties relieued then the other contemptuous custome of wilsull begging Now whether it be likely that vnmeasurale house keepings were the occasions to draw loytering disposed persons from labour to ease and from one entising degree to another till it had fully possest them to erect a habit or facultie of slouthfull beggers the first degreebeing in themselues through this prouision other members of their like sort and qualitie as the rogue and vagrant begger indeed haue proceeded from the number and superfluitie of the first kinde now I say the better consideration hereof to iudge I referre to your selfe Dun. Through your gentle teachings I begin to perceaue an approoued error in ouerdoing as well in things that haue good purposes and intents as also in matters grounded vppon mischiefs carrying an outward shew of holy and religious deeds I confesse Monasteries and Priories were not so likely to haue bin causes hereof as the other dissolute houses where refreshings were without respect or partiality The Moncks and Abbots of my knowledge cut large shiuers of the loafe for which they neuer sweate to make themselues strong in the peoples fauour
and opinion or else spent their whole gettings vpon vnlawfull children Yet notwithstanding by your fauour you haue not attained vnto the full of my meaning and desire herein Hud I confesse I haue not for the fight of beefed beggers that thronged so thick in my way but now I haue got past them I will go neare to meet you on your owne bawlke Your desire is to haue houses kept to beare the Lord of misrule company at Christmas spending then vpon Hick and Stephan who haue no need of it what would maintaine a seemly family more then halfe a yeare Such may well be called the Lord of misrule his guests who besides excessiue ouer-eating drinking thēselues spoiling by misuse that they cannot deuour leaue behind them also such vnmannerly annoyances called beastialities that the Nobleman and Gentleman that hath thus crammed his quoistrels must of necessitie forsake their house and housekeeping till a good winde blow away the vnpleasant sauours their Christmasse Poulcats leaue behind them Thus besides excessiue cost and trouble by the fruits of this carelesse hospitalitie their houses are lest in worse case then common Innes or ostelries If it be a sheep-shearing feast maister Baily can entertaine you with his bill of reckonings to his Maister or three sheapheards wages spent on fresh cates besides spices and Saffron pottage So that the Nobleman Gentleman should haue nothing come in clearly to them at any season if your ancient patterns might be rightly obserued I know your meaning is not to haue the Hockedame waited on by them who for the most part let their lands to halfes or else conuert all into rent The entertainment one of them giues vnto another cannot be that you call so hotly vpon for those fashions you haue a homely terme I list not to remember you of Dun. The money your maistership hath spent in learning and trauell is euery penny better bestowed then other Now I plainly see let an ignorant man be neuer so wise or of neuer so great experience but if he meete with a man of gifts and bringing vp his presuming to know all things prooueth plaine ignorance and meere mistaking Once to day I tooke my selfe to know as many wayes to the Church as maister Vicar himselfe but now I see Plowmen are no preachers I haue a Sonne that hath cost me many a quarter of corne on whome for this dayes worke I will bestowe one Peck of pure graine which toucht no chaffe this many a day to buie him more learning and though I am not able to breed a Gentleman I may perhaps as well as some of my neighbors bring vp one Hud I meruaile how you stumble on the Church and the Minister this hote weather and our long talke should rather haue put you in minde of the Butler and the Butterie Besides I cannot bethinke me what vertue should be in your peck of pelfe especially to alter nature my selfe withall the proofe I could make could neuer finde the skill to cause a barking mongrell to become a true questing Spaniel To be plaine with you I neuer thinke an Ape more diformed then when he striueth by borrowed skill to put on that which nature cannot grace nay rather those things are most vgly which are forced and done in spight of nature Euery one to whome Mastership belongethis not a Gentleman what purchase soeuer his father maketh vnlesse he can procure bloud to alter kinde that you cannot giue your sonne because you haue not attained vnto it your selfe The notabilitie hereof proceeds from chiualrie and marshall prowesse where for princes right and common-weales saftie through worthy aduentures of bloud and life purchase is made at the dearest price and rate Therefore as there cannot be a greater cause amongst men then the Prince and commonwealths businesse nor a greater matter then bloud and life to be powred out and parted withall of necessitie the greatest and principallest respect and regard hath euer bene had therevnto Dunst By your fauour sir there are no such lawes yet made to prooue Souldiers Gentlemen or if there be it is left out of their stile in all that I can reade or vnderstand of their profession Hud If you speake ignorantly I am contented to helpe you ouer the stile you seeme not able to clime but if you play the Foxe with me grapes are no meate for you especially of my reaching vnto you Because I haue some doubt of your words and no cause to mistrust your selfe I will declare my minde herein more sully You know how all that are put to learning prooue not learned neither all degrees of learning of like estimation no more are any to be counted Gentlemen vnlesse they were so before their degrees taken in Artes. Likewise all that follow the warres proue not Souldiers nor all that proue Souldiers take not their degrees at armes neither those that take degrees all of one account or worth For as there are diuerse kinds of vertues to make vertuous so are there diuerse degrees of the vertuous according to the sorts of the vertues they haue attained The most rich and excellent vertues were principally acquired and gotten by princely deseruing men the renowne of whose glorious deeds hath rightly gotten vnto themselues iust preheminence to guide and go before the rest as hereafter I will plainly shew you In their power and Maiestie onely therefore it is to nobilitate commend vnto honor and to make Gentlemen and not in your peck of drossie ointment though made of the Quintessence of old Angels Gentlemen bred in the warres and those that come of them you see are not made for it is no proper speech to say that is made which is bred neither can art or reason helpe to make it good Dunst Without offending you with my rude answers let me aske you this mannerly question Do you meane those that are begotten and borne in a Campe to be onely Gentlemen of bloud or how otherwise I beseech you to shew me I haue heard this matter often debated but neuer fully agreed vpon Hud Because you haue alreadie heard it doubtfully handled and at no time discust it may in like sort become me to giue place to some doctor of the Ciuill law to whose profession it especially appertaineth to know the certaintie of all worthie antiquities Dun. It fits me not to importune you otherwise I should receiue a great good turne at your masterships hands thereby for my sonne takes great delight in petegrees of Gentlemen and hath some skill in quartering their coates God willing he shall one day waight vpon you to better his knowledges if it may please you to accept of his vnworthinesse Hud Bring him with you on Sonday next to dinner where you shall be sure of a Pigge for your sonne his welcome therein I meane to proue his skill how he can head and shoulder the same the iawes and eares he shall bestow vpon you after he hath quartered them The head so spoiled he
is in a lethargie draw the Curtaines and let in the aire Thom. No rather he is in a frensie shut the windows keep out the light Iam. Sir for the passion of God let nothing trouble you she loueth you too well to play such a part by you who are her chiefe friend and all her maintainer if she were here this would prooue a heauy sight vnto her Good sir hurt not your selfe by misdeeming her whose thoughts I dare sweare are harmelesse towards you It is but a qualme you shall ouercome it well enough Thomas go fetch bay Frisland hither my maister will ride abroad and take the ayre bid the Faulconer bring hither the Barbarie Tassell my maister will see her flie I beseech you sir shew vs some comfort of your well doing Here is your chaine of Pearle pleaseth it you to put that on Here is your hat with the bruche of Diamonds will you haue it Here is your Popenioy take her on your fist prattle birde prattle to maister Here are your Monckies play with them Shall I fetch you your cloake with riche buttons and if you will sit vp in your bed I will reach you the looking-glasse if you saw your selfe there were no cause why you should dispaire But behold in good time sir here is Maister Doctor your Phisition come speake vnto him and he will helpe you Doctor Iames let him alone trouble him not he is entring the gates of death her shadow hath ouer-spred him Thrise before this time I haue bene with him to forwarne him that misrule and disordered diet would shorten his dayes He hath a dead Palsey all ouer his bodie I must needs be gone Iames farewell there is scant one houres life left in him Iames. See Thomas the course of this world spight of Arts maintenance and Phisicks diligence to day an Emperour to morrow dead Hud You must imagine the man already dead whome the Phisitions giue ouer Vpon this it is to be supposed his seruants they voided the chamber and prepare their lots ready to draw cuts how to deceiue most and who to begin first Like good fellowes they must agree within themselues to part stakes euenly least by their falling out the true owners come by their right Dun. Had he made no will in his life time to direct his goods his lands I know can want no heires Hud Thinke you a man thus dissolute could set any thing in order himselfe so farre out of frame Now followeth the difference between the soule the body at the time of their separation Soule Proud voluptuouse caitife woe worth the time I was destined to dwell in thee Foule lumpe of lead haue I bin thy hand-maid attending on thee night and day alwaies quickning to my power thy slow and dull capacitie setting before thee to exercise thy heauy and downward disposition beautifull heauens the rich substance of thy omnipotent maker and why wouldest thou not there behold signes and wonders sufficient causes to haue made thee know and delight in the power and Maiestie of our Almightie workemaister exceeding all Arts and vnderstandings How often would I haue had thee occupied in beholding the sunne that admired glory of the heauens Commended not I also vnto thy brutishnesse the innumerable number of starres rare ornaments of the same In like manner opened not I vnto thee the Moone her reuolutions and changes and by her the whole yeares seasons Dull-eard as thou art did not I besides prompt into thee wit and knowledge how to guide thy selfe vnder them How often did I flatter thee to haue inticed thy grosse sences to adore that wonderfull greatnesse Sturdie block thou wouldest neither bowe nor incline to him Tolde I not thee also in time and at the beginning what thy foolish coueting liberty and contempt of his power would bring vs vnto By thy earthly and carelesse rest thou hast purchased to thy selfe mortall death and to me immortall vnrest and torment Haue I this for my reward to be killed for quickning and comforting thee Did I sue to get thine eyes placed in thy forehead to see before and in time to the behoofe of vs both that we might not repent vs after and too late Hast thou also cast them behind thee and made them looke downeward to delight in the old rotten and corrupt grandame earth I was fashioned according to the circumspect vndefiled mirror of the maiestie of God and after the Image of his goodnesse I was conueighed into thee a heauenly and a beautifull soule but thy wickednesse hath giuen me my deformities made me also foolish I found but a little sparke of fire in thee not sufficient to minister or to conuay needfull things to nature to keepe her warme withall but now I haue increased and kindled that little all is on fire so haue committed that I repent me of Being sufficient from my maker in my selfe at the first extending now that power too farre am become so weake that I am able neither to helpe my selfe nor thee letting my wilfull boldnesse worke my distruction When I entred into thee I laboured with diligence to haue married thee vnto me but thou wouldest not suffer me to commune louingly with thee about matters of euerlasting memoriall and saluation of vs both Thou hast bene a heauy lumpe vnto me keeping downe my cogitations which were alwaies musing vpon the holy Ghost his descending downe into our heart to haue warmed our frozen zeale that was setled there Hadst thou obserued the charge I brought with me which was for all thy makers benefits to loue and feare him Had we entertained that we had bin safe that louing feare would haue kept vs so in our makers fauour that we should haue bene preserued there still vnder the suerty thereof till we had bene brought back againe whence I came to euerlasting life Woe worth such a mansion and habitation as I haue indured with thee the bitter and tedious fellowip I haue had with thee hath bene voide of all ioy and consolation Ah foolish Adam that thou wert no better setled but shrankest away at the first temtation suffering the Serpent to take from the image of God obedience and loue which thou wert commaunded to exercise thy selfe in Thou wert too fond to beleeue one witnesse against thy selfe and that one a weake and an vnsufficient woman against whom by law thou mightest haue excepted Nay then too wicked Eua that thou wouldest so hastily credit one he a serpent thus to be taken with delight delicious shew esteeming apparance neglecting substance When thou wert deceiued hadst thou none to perswade but thy master Adam whō thy selfe shouldst haue feared and obeied and not tempted and beguiled Were there not works of Gods hands enough also besides and those aboue thy capacitie but thou must meddle intangle thy wit with that secret and forbidden vnderstanding euen wittingly therby to perish in perill No Adam it was not thou nor the Serpent that hurt
Hu. Herein let your conceit helpe you especially in a matter that declareth it selfe Du. Then I pray you sir how ended the matter Hu. Surely the yong womā made her husband a peece of amends in wishing him so yong a man as the mallard was For the rest that remaineth he must haue patience with her till time and place may assoord her the like means to make him a further amends Dunst What became of the Mallard went he home to his mother Hu. He was pursued thither but not foūd there You may imagine by his hast he had a further flight to make yet in her houle were found by the old senior seathers of another couler then he was wont to weare whē he came abroad to sel his foule Now he comparing the similitude of the man and the ritchnesse of the attire together it seemed better vnto him to let fall his reuenge and to whist the matter then to let the world make a tale of this transmutation Dunst How then I beseech you came you to heare of this businesse Hud By the common post that keepeth no mans counsell Dunst Belike he is some monster you name him not Hud If you haue a desire to know him it is long winged fame who sitteth on euery man his house top bringing with him newes of all sorts Dun. Now I pray you sir shew the Gentleman his name that was thus likely to be wronged Huddle I haue not heard his name but they say he hath maskt open faced with her since Dun. It was after the banquet then else had it not bene Italiano More But I wonder how the matter should be giuen out and not the parties names with it Hud There are many daintie things in the world and those wholsome to which haue no names neither are to be found in my Lexicon Dunst If they be not already in your Lexicon they will neuer come into my Dixionarie Hud I am sure I haue not lied vnto you in saying there was such a matter euen since the conquest also yet I must confesse a long while agoe and still newes to you because you haue not heard them before Dunst I beseech you sir haue you not taken this report out of Chaucer his Ianuarie and his May. Hud Indeed yes though not in euery halfe agreeing with the same the rather because I knew nothing but maruailes would delight you Dunst I pray you then sir what became of mother Duck had she not a husband to helpe her now in her extremitie Hud Like enough she had a Nicolaitane who in his dayes had slept many an acceptable sleepe to others and profitable ones to himselfe Such mechanicall lewdsbies are said to get more sleeping then others can do waking Dunst Had she no punishment for these her foule solicitations Hud Perhaps ere this time she is both catcht and skinned also but for ought that I can heare her constancie is such that neither for whip nor coard she will confesse who the Mallard her sonne was Iustifying her self besides that she hath done nothing contrarie to her profession saying euery one in their trade may exercise the vocatiō they were bred brought vp in without offence to law Dunst But by your fauour sir such foule cancellers breakers of the seales and obligations of marriage cannot be too seuearly punished I perceiue they that make their recourse to such folkes must not haue their benignities shut vp in their coffers at home Hud No doubtlesse with such so soone as the dore is once shut and your selfe gone out you are forgotten for the gift-already bestowed Dunst Me thinkes they should be afeard to make any their enemies who haue in that sort commanded them doubting least in their anger they should conferre their benefit some other where Hud Nay such is their sinceritie that they dare giue venture to endure all hazards Dunst I pray ye sir satisfie me in this one thing more what do you take to be the cause why some that vse this vawting exercise grow leane and other some fat Hud I thinke you know or else can imagine the cause without my telling you Dunst No verely Hud Then I will not be dainty with you in my reason They that grow fat put their whole felicitie in it and so battle themselues withall Others that goe not so hartely to it pine themselues away because their bodies are in one place and their minds in another Dunst I neuer had thought that in those coniunctions it had bene necessary to haue had two soules in one body Hud Looke euer what the louer looseth is to be found in his beloued Dunst Now your other newes I beseech you sir Hud There is also a pleasant report made of another Gentleman who had an elder brother his part of such vices as were noted vnto you in the Gentleman deceased who is like enough to fit your desire in making away his liuing which the other kept Besides other his faults he was noted with these two especiall ones both enemies vnto grace viz. Pride and Ingratitude Of such notable pride he was that the day he had not bin noted and obserued with caps and knees as he had gone in the streetes that day he would returne back againe to his chamber taking it for ominous to haue bene so dispised and neglected of the base and ignoble world falling at defiance with his wholesute of apparrell the workman and the obscure and vnworthy people that through through slendernesse of their iudgements could not value his excellencie at whose begetting for ought he could coniecture without doing himselfe wrong there could not be any of the gods lesse then Iupiter himself Working out the day vpon this conceipt striued with his little wit how to amend this fault which he knew was not in the boyes of the street whom often before he had seene to point at his proper person Neither in himselfe for he rather mended his conceipt thinking euery day better then other of himselfe till in the end he concluded it must needs rest in the workman and in his attire Wherevpon his euery daies exercise was to cast and deuise strange inuentions how to double and trebble cost vpon all manner of apparell till it came to such expence and height that himselfe with his lewd deuisors could bring it to no greater towards the furnishing and maintenance of which disguised outrages great summes of money were wasted to the hazard and ouerthrow of his whole estate of liuelihood The good Gentlewoman his mother hearing tell of the lewd waste her sonne made of his lands in this prodigall and vnworthy sort came home to his lodging hoping through the interest she had in him together with the counsaile experience which by report of the world she might allow to be in her selfe and afterwards fell out to be foōd in hir she might be bold to perswade him that those were not the ornaments that best beautified a Gentlemā neither that his father and ancientors