it fréely without doyng any homage or seruice to any man This I dare say the courtier hath not nor is not in such frée libertie in respecte of such as be of the village forasmuch as of very necessitie my maister the courtier must win the Marshall or Harbengar of the lodging and must receiue at his handes the billet to come to his lodging and that late ynough and wery to his host breake open dores beat downe walles Shamefull shiftes of courtiers disorder houses burne implemeÌ„ts and sometyme beat the good man defyle the wife O how happy is he that hath wherwithal to liue in the village with out troubling both of himself and many sondry places without séeking of so many lodginges without assayes of so many straunge occasions of straunge men without wéeping of any person but is content with a meane estate and is deliuered of all such breakebraines Another benefite of the couÌ„trey is this that the gentleman or burges that there doth inhabite may be one of the chief or chiefest either in bouÌ„tie honor or auctoritie Little worship in the court is great honor in the towne the which happeneth seldome in the court in great cities and townes for there he shall sée other goe before him more trim and more braue and gorgious then he as well in credite as in riches as well in the house as without the house And Iulius Caesar sayd to this purpose that he had rather bée the first in a village then the second in honor in Rome For such men as haue high hartes and mindes and base fortune it should be to them much better to liue in the village with honor then in the court ouerthrowen and abated and out of fauor The difference betwéene the tariyng or abidyng in a litle place and a great place is that in the litle places are founde much people poore and néedy of whom men may take compassion and in the great place many riche men whereby enuy is norished The commodities that come by dwelling in the village Another commoditie in the village is that euery man enioyeth in quiet and peace such as God hath geuen him without to haue such to come to their houses that shall constrayne them to make extraordinary expeÌ„ses or to haue his wife seduced or his daughters defiled The occasions to doo euil be put away by reason that he is occupied in the mainteining of his housholde in trayning of his sonnes chastening of hys seruauntes He liueth confirmed to reason and not to his opinion and liues hopyng to dye not as he that loueth to liue euer In the village We ought to liue as dying thou shalt not care for good lodging nor for looking to thy Horses and Mules nor for the lading of such thinges as they shall cary Thou shalt not heare the crying of pages the plaintes of the stuardes of the house the babling of the Cookes nor thou shalt feare Iudges nor Iustices least they shuld be to sore against thée And that which is much better thou shalt haue no craftie knaues to béeguyle thée nor women to betraye thée Another benefite of the village is this that he shall haue time enough to al thinges that he will do so that the time be well spent time enough to studie time to visite his frendes time to go a hunting and layser when he list to eate his meat the which layser courtiers commonly haue not Courtiers â—â—â—dom leysure to eate their meate for asmuche as they employe the moste part of their time in making of shiftes to playe the courtier or to speake more plainely to wepe and lament in such sorte that one may say of them the which the Emperour Augustus said of a Roman a great busie broker the same day that hée dyed I wonder said he séeyng the tyme failed him to chop and to chaunge how hée could now finde layser to dye Another commoditie of the village is this those that be dwellers there maye goe alone from place to place without to be noted to fall from grauitie they néede no Mule nor Horse with a foote clothe The countrey lyfe requireth â—o great train nor page to wayte of my lorde or damosell to waite vpon my lady And that were scornefull to do in the court alone And without daunger one may walke from neighbor to neighbor and from land to land and not thereby minish any part of his honor Another benefite is The rustique life requireth no suÌ„ptuous aparrell that men may go whether they will clothed simply with a staffe in his hande a swearde by his side or hacbut in his necke and if he be weary of pounsed hosen let h m weare stoppes if he be a colde let him take his furred gowne for all is one there A good gentleman dwelling in the village and hauing a good coate of cloath an honest Spanish cloke on his back a paire of lether shooes goeth as well trimmed to the church as doth my Lord the courtier to the court with his gowne furde with Marters or Sables A man of the village of what sorte soeuer he be is in as good case that rydeth to market or to the faier to make prouisioÌ„ for his householde vpon a mare or a nagge A poore plowman is far better than a rich and honorable extorcioner though he be in the court as a lord of the courte is at Iustes vpon a great courser trapped with golde And when all is sayd better is the poore ploughman on a poore asse liuing as he should then the rich man well horsed pilling and doyng extorcioÌ„ to pore honest men The .vj Chapiter ¶ That in the village the dayes seeme more long and the ayer more clere and better And the houses more easy and restful than in the court ENsuing still the commodities of the village wée ought not to forget that he which dwelles there among other thinges hath commoditie of good corne and consequently good bread contrary to this in the court specially in great townes they haue breade for the most part euil baked or euil leauened or not leauened at all the cause is forasmuch as in the townes ofteÌ„ there lacketh good corne or good corne milles to grinde the corne holsome water whereby often hath come among them great death Another commoditie in the village is this the which I prayse much hée that dwelles there may practise and labour in mo thinges and better imploy the tyme then in the court or in the great townes in which places it behoueth a maÌ„ to disseÌ„ble to say litle to be ful of reuenging enuyous a treader of stones and pauemontes must vse grauitie and seldome to come out of his house and incessantly be graue O half a God that dwelles in the village where liberally one may speake what he wil and iest with his neighbours before his gates and his window And this may hée doe without euer to chaunge or to
Puzol ther he passed the residue of his years in quiet and rest accompanied onely with his bookes and taking for a singuler recreacion for to go twise or thrise a day to walke in the fayr feilds and the vines and him selfe oft to labor in them And it fortuned on a day whē he was absēt from his house that one wrote with a cole vpō his dore O felix Cato tu solus scis viuere which is to say O happy Cato thou only knowest how to liue Lucullus Consull and capitayn a Romayn right valiaunt brought to an end the warre agaynst the Parthes which had continued by the space of .16 yeres whereby he gat great honour of the citezens of Rome and immortall renoune for him selfe and great riches for his family And it is sayd of him that he only of al the Romaines did enioye peaceablye in his age the ryches that he had wonne in his youth in the warres And after when he came from Asia and sawe that the common welth was in deuision betwixte Marius and Silla he determined to leaue Rome make a house in the countrey nighe to Naples vpon the Sea side now at this present time called the Castle of Lobo which he edified and liued there .xviii. yeres in great tranquilitie His house was haunted with many people specially with greate Capitaynes that wēt into Asia and with Ambassadours that came from Rome which hée receyued very gently benignly One night when his seruauntes had made readye his supper with a lesse dyet thē he was accustomed to haue they excusing them selues that they ordayned the lesse because he had no straungers He said vnto them although sayd hée that there be no straungers with me know not you that Lucullus must suppe with Lucullus Plutarch speaking of this valiaunt mans exercise that he did after he was retired to the place aforesayd sayth that he delited much in hunting hawking but aboue all pleasures he most delited in his Library Reading of good thinges is a vertuous exercise there readyng and disputing incessantly Helius Spertianus sayth that Dioclesian after that hée had gouerned the Empyre xviij yeares forsooke it and went to take his pleasure in the fieldes there in quiet to ende the residue of his lyfe saying that it was tyme for him to leaue the daungerous estates of the court and get hym to a peaceable life in the village Two yeres after he was thēce retyred the Romaines sent vnto him a solemne Ambassade to inuite and desire him effectuously that he would take pitie of the cōmō welth and return promising him that so long as they liued there should none haue the name of Emperour but hée Now whē the Ambassadours ariued at hys house they found him in a litle garden where he was setting of Lettys and Onions And hearing what they sayd vnto him he answered in this wyse Doe you not thinke my frendes that it is much better for him that can sowe his Lettys and afterwarde pleasantly and merely to eate the same so still to exercise him selfe then to returne and enter into the goulfe of troubles in a common welth I haue assayed both I know what it is to commaund in the court and what it is to liue labor in the village wherefore I pray you suffer me here to abide in pacience for I desire rather here to liue with the labor of my handes then in the sorow and cares of an Empyre The laborers lyfe is more to be desired then the lyfe of a prince Note by this example that the life of the laborer is more to be desired then the life of a prince Cleo and Pericles succeded in the ruling of the common welth after Solon a man excelently lerned and wel estéemed and taken among the Grecians for halfe a God by the reason of the wyse lawes he made among the Atheniens These two noble gouernoures were much beloued because that as Plutarch telleth Pericles which xxx yeres had the administracion of the busines and affaires of the cittie was neuer sene to come into any mans house but his own nor yet to sit in anye open place among the common people suche a grauity was in him About the yeres of his age which was lx he went from Athens to a litle village where hee ended the reste of his dayes studying and passing the time in husbandry he had a litle smal gate or wicket in the entring of his house ouer which was written Inueni portū spes fortuna valete That is to saye forasmuch as now and before I haue knowledge of vanity I haue found the port of rest fye of hope and fortune fare well By this example no courtier can say that he leadeth a sure life but onlye that courtier which doth as this wyse captayn did withdraw him selfe Lucius Seneca was as who should saye a right leder to good maners and a instructer to good letters to Nero the sixt Emperour of Rome with whom he taried xxiiii yeres and had great doings of thinges pertayning to the common wealth as wel of priuate causes as otherwise because hee was sage and of great experience And at the last comming to greate age and weryed with the continuall conflictes and busines of the court left the court and went and dwelt in a litle mansion he had nigh to Nolè Cāpana where hee liued after a longe time as witnesseth his bokes De offiicis de Ira de bono viro de aduersa fortuna and other bokes which were to long to reherse At last fortune mans malice did their office Nero commaunded him to be slayne not for that he had committed any cryme worthy to dye or done any thing otherwise then an honest man ought to doe but onely because the lecherous Domicia hated him Note well reader thys example that sometime fortune pursueth him that forsaketh the court aswell as the courtier Scipio the Affrican was so estéemed among the Romaines that in .xxii. yeares whiles that he was in the warres hée neuer lost battail And yet made hée warre in Asia Europ and Affrica and to this neuer committed acte worthy of reproch And yet he wan Affrica put to sacke Carthage brought in bondage Numance ouercame Hanniball and restored Rome weakened and nere destroied by the losse they had at the battail of Cannes And yet for all this beyng of the yeres of .lii. he withdrew him from the courte of Rome to a litle village betwixt Puzoll and Capua where he liued a solitary life and so contēt withal that whiles he taried there a xi yeres space he neuer entred into Rome nor Capua The diuine Plato was borne in Liconia and was norished in Egipt learned in Athens It is read of him that he answered the Ambassadours of Cirene that required of him lawes to gouerne themselues in sure peace in this wise Difficilimum est homines amplissima fortuna ditatos legibus cōtinere Which is to vnderstand that it is
or to take vpō him any other thing then that he is called to because in this case none is so apte to receiue man likes best of that to the which he is inclined that which to him is said as he is to receiue that which he is naturally inclyned to Plutarch greatly praiseth in his booke of common welth the good Philosopher Plato and not without cause for hee vsed a greate policy which was that there was no yoūg man entred into his schoole Plato proued the inclinatiō of his scollers before he entertayned thē but first hée would proue him whether he was enclined to lernyng or no so that those that he thought not apte to study he sent them backe causyng them to vse their liues in the common welth Alcibiades the Greeke may be a sufficient witnesse vnto you which although hée was young brought to the schoole and taught of a discrete maister yet notwithstanding his inclinacion was such that he professed himself wholy to the warres The courtier is vnfit to be a shepherde the sheperd as vnmeete for a courtier To him that is borne to weare a swerde by his side it semeth him ill to wear a tippet about his necke and hée that loueth to kepe sheepe the court is nothing fitte for him To her that desireth mariage it is hard to kepe her chast He that loueth to be a barber why should he be made a Paynter To counsell our frend to leaue a crafte for to liue by is but well done but especially to appoint him what crafte he ought to lerne that me thynketh worthy to be reproued The Lacedemonians cōmaūded to all fathers vpon great paines to putte none of their children to any craft till they were .xiiij. yeres of age to sée that in the age of discretion what their nature was enclined to Let vs leaue this long communication and speake of that we ought to aduertise the redar of to counsell any to leaue the court suche counsel I thinke not best to geue nor yet wisedome for other to take seyng that there is doubte to counsell any in that they ought to do Howbeit myne aduice is Sage persons should liue in a quiet state that the sage persons chose to liue in a quiet state and to dwell in suche a place that they may leade a life without reproche and christianly to dye Oftentimes men do remoue from one countrey to another from one toune to another from one strete from one house from one companye to another but to conclud if that he had peine in the one hée doeth complaine himself vtterly of the wronges of the others And this is the reason because he layeth the faulte to the nature of the countrey whiche nothing els is but his owne euil nature What more shal we say but in Courtes In Courtes in most places vertu is blamed and vice vncorrected in cyties in villages and in other places is séene the vertuous and the discrete corrected and the vicious not blamed The wicked with their wickednes serche by all meanes to make thēselues worse And likewise doo the vertuous with their vertues make themselues better in what state soeuer they be called As for the prelates there is no charge in the Church so daungerous but that a good conscience can auoyd it but a weake or corrupt conscience may soone be cast away Good and euil may be taken from one and the selfe same thing Like as the wilde rose from whence the Bee fetcheth her hony likewise the Spider her poyson The prince may do his deuor doing iustice not vsing tyranny The mā of armes going to the war not hurting the poore people The religious may be cōtemplatiue in their cloister wtout grudging The maried mā may liue well in his house wtout aduoutry The rich mā geueth his goodes for Gods sake without vsury The laborer in working the shepeherd in keping his sheepe without hurting his neighbours in like case of others And to proue that it is true by the Scripture in the state of Kynges Dauid was good and Saull euyll to the estate of Priestes Mathias good and Obnias naught Of Prophetes Daniel good Of all estates some good some euell Balam euill Of Shepeherdes Abell good Abimilech euill Of wydowes Iudith good Iezabell euill Of rich Iob good Naball naught Lykewyse of the Apostles Saint Peter good Iudas was reproued Then perceiue to what estate soeuer a man commeth vnto be it good or euill the estate sheweth not the man Inclination 〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 and not the state but the inclination of the parson If we should counsell any man to liue in the village he would say hée cannot agrée with them of the village if yée will counsell him to leaue the Court he will say that he hath a thousand businesses to doe there If hée bée counsailed to serue any great Lord he will say that he hath nothyng wherewith to finde him If we aduise him to be a religious he will say that he cannot ryse early If to marry he will say it wil gréeue him to heare his litle children crye and wéepe To goe to studye it would trouble his braine If he were counsayled to withdrawe hym to his house he would say hée could not lyue without company Then presuppose that which is sayd that none ought to counsail any to chose the lyfe he will take concerning his honor the wealth of his lyfe bicause afterwarde he will more complayne him of the counsell that he hath taken then of the euil that he hath suffered The .iij. Chapiter ¶ How that a Courtier ought to leaue the Court for not beyng in fauor but beyng out of the Court already that he ought not to seeke entertainment there againe that he may be more vertuous PVblius Minus sayth in his Annotacions that we ought to thinke many dayes on that which we entend to doe in one day The kyng Demetrius sonne of Antigonus was asked by one of his Capitaynes named Patroclus wherefore he gaue not battail to hys enemy Ptolome séeyng hys strength his witte and his number of men He answered Aduice counsail ought to be had before we take any thing in hand that a déed once don is hard to call backe againe and before a man begin a harde enterprise he had néed◠of long counsaile Agiselaus a wise Capitain of the Lycaoniens beyng forced to answere the Ambassadors of the Thebeans said Know not you O Thebeans that to determine a thing of importaunce nothing is mater then long study Plutarch doth greatly prayse the life of Sertoreius in that he was not rashe in determinyng but graue in enterprising Suetone sayeth that Themperour August was neuer hasty to get frends but very diligent to kéepe them when he had them Of these ensamples note what daunger he falleth in that is hasty in businesses and quicke in counsels None will wear a garment if it be not sowed nor
yet neuer do There be some old doting fooles which shal bragge of the kinges princes which they haue serued of the chaūging of offices that they haue séene and of the warres passed and of the great mutabilitie chaunge of fortune And yet notwithstanding all that they haue séene and endured Doting courtiers they be as gréedy of gayne and delight in young and foolysh pastymes as though they were newe to begyn to lyue Alas miserable men that in perpetuall trauail and continuall sorow infinite trouble haue passed theyr lyues euen from their first time of knowledge which is xv yeares to the tyme of manhood and thē from that tyme to their doting age and all to haue gayned riches and increase in renoune not in all this tyme once remēber that in steade of a true and perfite rest they prepare for themselues a hell both for bodye and soule The courtier also ought not lightly to complayne of aduersities which many tymes come to hym thinking that oftentymes though it bee our owne faulte wee doe complayne of thynges whyche shoulde complayne of vs if they had a toungue What time a man séeth him self base and is litle estéemed or poore and forgotten of the rich and deceiued of that he looked surely to haue Fortune is not the cause of pouertie incontinent he curses his fortune and lamentes his euil In the meane whyle it is not fortune that hath thus serued him but him selfe that hath serched it and founde it Such a man thinkes to bee quickelye rich honored and estéemed that shortly after seeth himself poore ouerthrowen dispised and blamed of all men cannot reuenge himselfe but onely say he is vnfortunate vnhappy to the worlde and that it is mishap which is not so but his owne folly that makes hym to leaue the suretie of his house and prepareth himself to the hazard of fortune and therfore hath no cause to complain but of himselfe which choose the way to it The best is after that a man purposeth himself to continue in the court Pacient dissemblers come to preferment in the court that then paciently he awaite and fary the tyme of auauncement or auaūtage that he looketh for or els if he cannot paciently dissemble with the tyme let him not remayne there Contentacion wherein it consisteth for contentacion consisteth not in the place but in the ambicious heart and troubled mynde And take this for a trueth ye that be courtiers that if .ij. or .iij. thinges succéed to your purpose prosperously there shall come a hundreth ouerthwart the shins either to you or to your frendes For notwithstanding that the courtiers doinges and desires come to good passe there shal be thinges for his frend or felow that goeth all awrye wherby often tymes he laments the hurt of his frend and that which is denied him more thē the pleasure he hath of his owne happe wherefore there is alwayes lacke or faute of cōtentacion Wil ye any more the being in court or out of the court ye shall beare no other matter Newes is all that is sought for in the court then what newes at the court what doth the king where is he where is the counsail and where lieth the officers of the houshold and this is most true that they which desire to heare such newes are as desirous to sée newes And by this meanes the poore wene to make themselues riche the rich the more to commaund and the lords the more to rule O what a pleasure is it for thē to be in the court hoping that the king may know them that those that be in fauor may dye or that fortune may chaunge that they come forward And it foloweth that in tarying the tyme the tyme deceiueth them and then death taketh them vnware The .xiij. Chapiter ¶ That there is a smal nomber of them that be good in the court and a great nomber of good in the common wealth PLutarch in the booke intitled De exilio telleth of the great King Ptolome that hauing on a daye at supper with hym seuen Ambassadours of diuers prouinces moued a question to thē which of al their common wealthes gouerned themselues with best lawes customes The sayde Ambassadours were Romayns Carthaginiens Ciciliens Rhodiens Atheniens Lacedemoniens Cicioniens among whom the question was effectually debated afore the kyng forasmuch as euery one of them beyng affectionate to his coūtrey aleaged the wisest reason that he could The good king desirous to know the truth and the resolucion of the question commaūded that euery one of the Ambassadours shuld tell of the best lawes or customes that were in their common welth thrée poyntes and that thereby it might easilye bee séene which was better ruled and deserued more praise Thē the Ambassadour of the Romaynes began sayd In Rome the temples be honored The gouernmēt of Rome The gouernement of Carthage the gouernours obeied the euil chastised The Ambassadour of Carthage said in Carthage the noble men neuer cease to prepare to the warre the poore people to trauail and the Philosophers to teach The gouernemēt of Cicill The Ambassadours of the Ciciliens sayd In Cicill is true iustice executed trouth is beloued and equalitie praised The Ambassadour of the Rhodiens said The gouernement of the Rhodiens In Rhodes the olde men are honest the young men shamefaste and the women méeke and gentle The Ambassadour of the Atheniens sayd The gouernement of the Atheniens the Atheniens doe not consent that the riche should bee parciall nor the meane people idle nor the gouernours without learnyng The Ambassadour of the Lacedemoniens sayde The gouernement of the Lacedemoniens in Lacedemony enuye raynes not because all are equal nor couetousnes because all is common nor idlenes because all men trauayl The Ambassadour of Cicioniens sayd The gouernement of the Cicioniens in Cicion they receiue no straungers inuētors of newes nor Phisicions that kyll the whole nor aduocates that makes the processes immortall When kyng Ptolome and his company had heard these so good and holy obseruaunces he praysed greatly the institucion of euery of them saying that he could not iudge which was the best This history is well woorthy to be noted and better to be folowed And I beleue if in our dayes so many Ambassadours should meete disputing as these did of their common wealthes they should finde mo thinges to blame and speake euill of and that without comparison then to praise commend In tymes passed the kings houses were so well reformed Vice was seuerely punished in olde tyme. the kinges thēselues so wyse and the gouernours so moderate that litle offences were chastized and once to think of great offences forbidden to the entent that the chasticement should be terrour to the euil and the prohibicion a plain aduice vnto the good It is not so in our cōmon welthes where is done so much euil and committed so many
bitter offences and vnhappines Sinne is lesse accounted of in our dayes than in olde tyme. that those which the auncients did chastice for deadly sinnes by death wee dissemble to bee but veniall the truans and wantons be so entertained as though we lacked them and not as méete to be chased and driuen away My Lady the widow or my maistres that is maried if they fall to leude and wanton liuyng ye shall not finde one that wil say madam or maisters ye doo naught Sinne is committed without reproofe but rather sixe hundreth that shall procure her dishonor This is in our time such is our fashion and maners which causeth euill so that he is more to be praised which may be called good in our common wealth theÌ„ any of the Consuls of Rome because that in the olde tyme it was almost a monstrous thing to finde one euil among a hundreth and now it is a great chaunce to finde one good amongst a hundreth The holy scripture prayseth Abraham that was iust in Calde Loth that was iust in Sodom Daniel in Babilon Toby in Niniuie and Neemyas in Damasco And lykewyse may we among this Cathalog of holy men nomber the good courtiers if there be any A good courtier is a blacke swanne but it cannot be forasmuche as none goeth about to moue the courtiers to vertue but that counsail them to perdicion There is in the court so many vacabondes so many players blasphemers and deceiuers that we may be abashed to sée such a multitude but it were a noueltie to heare of the contrarye for why the world hath nothing in his rosiers but thornes and for frutes of trées The world is replenished with counterfeite treasure but leaues for vines but bryers and in their garnerdes but strawe and in their treasures but Alcumin O golden worlde O worlde desired O worlde passed the difference betwixt you and vs is that afore you litle and litle the worlde passeth but afore vs it is quite passed In thée O world euery man vndertaketh to inuent to doe to begyn and to make an end of that he will and that which is worst of all liueth as he will but the ende is right doubtfull There is litle to bée trusted in thée O worlde The world is not to be trusted And contrariwyse litle to defende litle to enioy and very little to kéepe There are many thinges to bée desired many thinges to be amended and many thinges to be lamented Our aunceters had the Iron world but our world may well bee called the dirtie world The world is replenished with filthines because it kepeth vs continually in a filthy myer and alwayes we be there in defiled and rayed The .xiiij. Chapiter ¶ Of many affaires in the court and that there be better husbandmen then commonly is of courtiers THe Poet Homer hath written of the trauels of Vlixes one of the princes of the Greekes Quintus Curtius of Alexander Darius Moyses of Ioseph And of them of Egipt Samuel of Dauid and of Saul Titus Liuius of the Romains Thucidides of Iason with the Minotaure and Salust of â—ugurth and Cathelyne I theÌ„ willing to folow these good auctors haue vndertaken to wryte the vnkynd trauayles of the court that the courtiers of our tyme haue which haue pacience enough for to suffer them and no wysedome to auoyde them then it is not wythout a cause if I doe call the trauayles of the courte vnkynde Vnkinde traueils of the court for they bée accustomed vnto it as the olde horses are to the packesadle and to the plough sith that the courtiers themselues do suffer them so much and haue no profite thereof Some men wil say that I am euill aduised because I write the courtiers haue not their ease seeing that he that may attaine to be in the court is accompted to be fortunate But he abuseth him selfe if he thynke that all such as are out of the court bée beastes and ignorant persons and hée only wyse they rude and he delicate he honored and they vile they stammering and he eloquent If it were so that God would that the most perfite men should be in the court it should be to vs more then a fault not incontinently to be a courtier knowing that ther can be no better time employed then that which is bestowed in hearing the wyse and sage men but when all is sayd the places doe not better the men The place bettereth not the man but the man the place but the men the places God knowes for example how many gentle and good honest myndes labor in the villages and how many fooles and lubbers brag it in palaices God knoweth how many wel ordered wittes and iudgementes is hid in the villages Fooles in the court haue countenance when as wise men in villages ar obscure and how many rude wits weake braines face and brace in the court How many be ther in the court the which although they haue offices dignities estates and préeminences yet in the village after a maner of speakyng with great payne they are not able to rule .x. men How many come out of the court correcters of other that themselues in the villages shuld be corrected O how many things is sayd amonges the poore laborers worthy to be noted And contrary spoken afore princes worthy to be mocked O howe many is in the court that make themselues highly to be estéemed not for to be honest diligent but to come in auctoritie And how many is there in the village forgotten and not set by more for lacke of fauor then for either lacke of witte or diligence The princes geue the offices Those that be in fauor haue the entry nature the good bloud The parentes the patrimony and the deseruing honor but to wyse and sage commeth onely of God Wisedom and vertue coÌ„meth of God men haue not the power to take it away And if it were so the princes might geue good witte to whoÌ„ they would they shoulde kéepe it for themselues Princes neuer loose but for lack of knowledge seyng they neuer léese but for lacke of knowlege I take it for an euil point of such as newly come from the court to the village being there rather vse mockyng then tast the benefite thereof But in the meane tyme thou séest their maner of life that is to go to bed at midnight and rise at .x. of the clocke in making readye till noone A Courtiers lyfe trimmyng their bushe or beard and settyng the cap awry And all the day after to talke of his darling that he hath in the court or of the battel of Granado wher he did meruails â—ragginge â—ourtiers And some there be of them that will lye and bragge that they were at the iorney of Pauay with the capitaine Antony Deleua at Tunes with the Emperour or at Turron with Andrew Doria And for all his brabling he was no
out vpon mée and myne enemyes sought my death Ouermuche bablyng of the courtiers brake my braynes and much silence made me to slepe and the solicitude caused me to be be sad And ouermuch company oppressed me much exercise weryed me and idlenes confounded me To conclude I so burdened and vexed my self in the court with so much trauail in naughtines that I durst not desire death although I had no desire to liue The xix Chapiter ¶ The aucthor maketh accoumpt of the vertues that he lost in the court and of the eull customes that he learned there BVt now to procéede my fortune passed my frends died my force decaied and my first fashions failed O if al my paynes had bene ended at the firste tyme when I came to the court howe happy had that been for me but now al consumed I complaine singulerly of my traitorous hearte which would neuer cease to desire vaine thinges and the cursed tong to speake sclaunderous things O gentle reader be not weary if I tell thee in fewe wordes the difference betwixt him that I was when I went first to the courte and that I am nowe since I haue been in the courte First and before that I did cast my self into this perillous labyrinth which is to say a prison ful of snares I was a good deuout person gentle and feareful and since I haue learned to be a mischiuous felowe slowe in doing good and litle or nothing regarding the welth of my soule I went thether being very yong and of good disposicion and came from thence deffe and more then spur-blind and no more able to goe then hee that is ful of the goute And briefely an olde grisarde full of ambition in suche wise that I am so variable that skante I know on what ground to set my fete My hart was of so depraued a sort that it desired to be discharged of all acciōs and yet for all that founde no nother but perill and torment Sondry tymes I purposed to leue the court and sodenly I repented Sometime I purposed not to come out of my lodging strait wayes I was enforced to trot a trot to the court Sometime I purposed not to come to the palayce and or I were ware I was compelled to go thither sometime or it were day I purposed to be no more vexed and sodenly my passions augmented And it followed that my good purposes ceased and went from me and I did that was leude and naughty Behold how I lyued of wynd and of fooles imaginacions as many a foolish courtier doth I haue phantasied with my selfe in the court sometime that I gouerned the King and the Princes and that I came of a noble house and aunciente stock excelent in science great in fauor and beloued of al men sage in counsail moderate in speaking eloquent in writing prudent in seruice and comfortable to all But when I waked out of my folly as from a dreame and looked to my féete I knew easly that I had borne false witnesse to my selfe of this golden and pleasaunt immaginacion and saw of truth in other the whiche I dreamingly imagyned of my selfe I serched the waye how to be estéemed of euery man holy wyse gentle content and of a good zeale and a sea of sadnes Lo this fault happyned to courtiers as it did vnto me that is to ioyne folish liberty with vertuous honoure Disordred wil is an enemy to vertue and honor which be two thinges that cannot agrée because that disordinate wyl is enemy to vertu honor But for my part good reder I geue thāks vnto god my affections be sōwhat wasted mortified for I was wont being in seruice to desire dayly that the court might remoue And now I care not though seldome or neuer I come frō my house I had a special lust to harken for newes And now I care not for them at all I sawe the time whē I loued not to be out of company And now I desire nothing more then to be solitary I was wonte to delyte to heare to sée iuglers daunsers lyars and dalyars And now so to do wer to me more then death In like maner I was wont to solace my self in Fishing Hunting shooting in the hackbut And now I mind no nother but to bewayle and lament the tyme I haue loste and cal to mind the first time that the Emperour tooke me into his seruice from thence where I was norished from my tender yeares in greate fere and not knowing what the world was but occupied only in my deuociōs and learnings I often rose at midnight I comforted the sick I red the Gospell and other good bookes of good doctrin Breifly euery man did helpe me to bée good and chastised me from euell If I did well I was praysed if I did euell I was corrected if I were heuye I was comforted if I were angry I-was appesed if in any agony my frendes prayed to God for me O what cause haue I to repent out of mesure thus to haue forsaken rest and Godly lyuyng and to haue enioyed episcopall dignity in which the Emperor set me forasmuch as a vertuous life is the hauen of all good and the Episcopall dignity the sea of all dangier Loe howe I haue passed my good yeres without employing my tyme well and withoute knowledge what my fortune should be I do therefore admonish the reader to do better then I haue done in the court if thou be there or else to forsake it in a better houre then I haue done for so doing thou shalt declare thy selfe that thou hast determined to liue sagelye well aduised The .xx. Chapiter The Auctour taketh his leaue of the world with great eloquence FArewell world forasmuche as one can nor may trust of thee nor in thée For in thy house O world the passage is past The world is not to be trusted and that which is presente goeth soone away and that which is to begin commeth wonderous late forasmuch as he that thinketh himself most firm sonest doth fall the most strongest soonest doeth breake and perpetuities soonest decay in suche sorte that those which be destinate to liue an hundred yeres thou sufferest him not of all that time to liue one yere in quiet The world is vnthankfull Farewel world for as much as thou takest and renderest not agayne thou weriest but comfortest not thou robbest but makest no restitucion thou quarellest but doest not pacifie and accusest before thou haue cause to complayn geuest sentence before thou herest the parties euen till thou kill vs then buriest vs before we dy Farwell world forasmuch as in thée The pleasures of the world are mixt with paines nor by thée ther is no ioy without trouble no pece without discord loue without suspitiō rest without feare abundaunce without fault honor without spot ryches without hurte of conscience nor highe estate but he hath somewhat that hée complaineth of Farewel world forasmuch as
when they preach and so take agaynst reason the good that poore men shuld haue There is another sorte of haunters in the court Table hauÌ„ters that goe from one house to another of the great estates and Lords counterfaiting to bée diligent seruauÌ„ts flatteryng the steward the butler and the cooke and liue of that which is left of the dinners and goe their wayes with theyr pockettes and their sléeues full of meate for to suppe withall And there is another maner of sorte that go two and two and thrée and three together in a morning to spy and see if there be any thing euil kepte Picking pilseterâ— and with that to looke and to prye if a sword or a Spanish cloke or a purse be fallen aside if there bée they sing in a mery note this is pro nobis Other there be that for to conduict and defende a whore when the court remoues as one may saye more theÌ„ ruffians they liue of the gaine of the miserable woman Apple squeeres Another hath false dise false marked cardes for to deceiue the innocentes winne their money Cogging gamesters and léese their owne soules And there lackes not in the court old womeÌ„ and wrinckled trottes that after their haruest is past Bawdes cloake the sinnes of other and beguile those that be chast and vndermine suche as be married hurte their neighbours sell maydeÌ„s to whoredome for luker and doe norishe them therefore whereof folowes that these olde whores sometime sel wenches better cheape then fishers doe lamperyes O beholde the company of the court the holines the religioÌ„ the brotherhed and finally the foule disorder of the same And I say for my parte goe to the court who will and there abyde and triumph who will as for my selfe I do remember I am a christen man that I must accompt for the tyme I haue lost and therfore I had much rather to labor and dygge and delue out of the court and be saued then to be nigh the kyng my coÌ„science not cleane nor pure The xii Chapiter ¶ That in the court of princes all say wee will doe it but none doe it BYas the great Philosopher of great renoume amonges the Grecians sayde vpon a tyme to the great Alexander Quilibet in suo negotio hebetior est quaÌ„ in alieno meaning that commonly euerye man is more blinded in his owne affayres then in another mannes And he so sayd by very good reason Most men are wisest in other mens matters for that there bee men which for to geue a wise deliberate and sage couÌ„sail for to remedy a sodain mischiefe haue excellent wittes so that it be in another mannes matter But in their owne affayres they haue neyther witte to gouerne their own houses nor stable minde to couer their owne misery Cayus Iulius Caesar Octauus Augustus Marcus Antonius Septimius Seuerus Marcus Aurelius other in great nomber that were estéemed in theyr priuy busines Some can go nerue the common wealth which cannot gouerne their owne houses that is to say in the rulyng of the common wealth were wonders wittie but we read that they wer so negligent in gouerning theyr owne housholdes their wiues their family the it is much to their shame reproche therfore such be séene often to be good to rule the coÌ„moÌ„ welth the be nothing worth to gouerne their owne had need if it might be honestly sayd to haue a ruler to rule theÌ„ Plutarch reporteth that the noble valiaÌ„t capitain Niseas neuer lost battail â—â—â—lfe likyng hâ—â—â—â—eth but onely in trusting to much to his own wit iudgemeÌ„t And if we beleue Hiarcus the Philosopher it is more hurtful to a man to staÌ„d in his own coÌ„ceipt theÌ„ to phaÌ„sy a womaÌ„ for in louing a woman a man hurteth but himselfe but in sticking to much to his own phaÌ„tasy it may redouÌ„d to the hurt of a whole coÌ„mon weale Al this the is said shal be to admonish them the tary in the court to be coÌ„uersant which the graue sage persons and with such as be learned such as haue good experience For the graue learnes vertue Scilence and experience Scilence is a certayne guide to a man experieÌ„ce is the consuÌ„macion of all For although the courtier being yong be neuer so sage graue rich or in fauor The guides of a young courtier he shall néed a father to couÌ„sail hym a brother to persuade hym a guide to teache him the way a maister to instruct him a corrector to punysh him because the mischifes craftes wickednes doth so abouÌ„d in the court the it is impossible that a maÌ„ alone may defeÌ„d him froÌ„ al vtterly resist theÌ„ For in the court there is none so high away to destruction as for a man to be gouerned onely by himselfe and haue his owne swing A definition of the court The court is a perpetuall dreame a botomelesse whorlepole an inchaunted phantasy and a mase when he is in he cannot get out till be bee mor founded One of the best remedies that the courtier may get against so many euils A faithfull frende is a great helpe to a Courtier is to haue a faythfull frende that flatters him nothing but that rather will correct and rebuke him if he go home late if he walk by night if he be a false player or whorehunter But where shall we fynde such a frende For we see the frendship in the court is commonly vsed among young courtiers in this sort that so soone as two or thrée are met together Faithfull frendes are seldom found in the court straite fall they to quarellyng fighting ryoting so that there is rather occasion geuen to do euil then good couÌ„sail to refraine Therfore he that haunteth the court it were meete that he had some frende to whom without feare he might common of his busines and that the multitude be also to hym common frendes but aboue all one perfit frend I would also he should keepe himself from the conuersacion of sedicious persons Sedicious persons are to be auoyded from collericke persons and vacabondes for the rascall sorte will slaunder say the kyng payeth naught that those which be in fauour haue all the swing that the officers are proude that mens seruice is euil recompenced the good vnknowen With these wordes and such other lyke the poore courtiers forgettes to serue and begin to murmure Also the good christian man ought not to ceasse to amend his life Amendment or lyfe seldom practised in the court for that hée hopeth to liue long although those that be olde there occupy themselues rather in new pastance then to correct theyr old sinnes Ye shal finde them that promyse euery day for to amend theÌ„selues in their age and yet neuertheles dye there worse then deuils Amendment promised but not performed the cause is that they all say we wil doe and