THE TRIALL of true Friendship Or perfit mirror wherby to discerne a trustie friend from a flattering Parasite Otherwise A knacke to know a knaue from an honest man By a perfit mirrour of both Soothly to say Trie ere you trust Beleeue no man rashly No lesse profitable in obseruing then pleasant in reading By M. B. Imprinted at London by Valentine Simmes dwelling on Adling hill at the signe of the white Swanne 1596. 〈…〉 Walter Flude Gentleman V.S. wisheth all happinesse TO recognize sir in multitude of wordes how much charged I stand vnto your bountie were to your wisedome I knowe but friuolous who better respecteth the inward seruice intended of any one wherof I humbly beseech you on my part to stand assured than an outward behauior the validitie whereof manie wayes may be doubted Yet neuerthelesse in that the thoughts of men are onlie in word or action to be desciphered let it I beseech you stand with your good fauour that I may by this litle mite of my friendes labours confesse my self bound vnto you and for the residue when it shal seeme good vnto you to commaund mee I will not haue life or abilitie that shall not bee yours in all it may please you to vse me Thus much to haue deliuered may for the present satisfie my mind but thus much to haue perfourmed would content my soule for that in al actions of the body inwardly to be effected the minde is pleased with speach and the heart only is replenished by the dooing Much more to haue protested were no more than sufficient though more than wherewith your modestie will be pleased for which I remaine in heart more than in abilitie to answere the same humbly submitting my poor seruice to the censure thereof and recommending you vnto the protection of the Almightie and to the happy possessing of your hearts best content Yours euer affectionate Valentine Simmes The triall of true Friendship Or A Knacke to know a knaue from an honest man THe gods desirous as Poets faine to shew forth the omnipotencie of their deity their incomparable cunnings vnited in one to the intent they might purchase themselues some great commendations and honour vppon earth determined to carue a peece of some curious perfection wherein might be expressed the substance of the gods and beautie of the graces whereupon they framed a man so angelical in forme exquisit in feature that as for the lineaments of his face or the proportion of his body it was impossible to say the least thing imaginary to be any where wanting This demie-god being perfected and sent vpon the earth when as none could condemn either the creature of want or the creators for lacke of skil Momus at length found this fault that the gods had not made a window in his breast through which to perceiue the inward thoughts and secrets of his heart meaning as I coniecture that as the glitteringst Diamond being broken distilleth the deadliest poyson as the stone Ceuranon burneth without when it freezeth within and as the Nightingale hath a most sweete voice but vnfauourie flesh so there is none so comely in his body but may be corrupt in his mind none so fine in his feature but may be faultie in his faith nor any so louing in his looke but may be lowring in his heart Whereupon I thinke that Tully in his booke de Amicitia considering the double dealing of men how they carried most commonly two faces like Ianus vnder one hood hauing as wel wrinkles in the one to prognosticate mishap as dimples in the other to signifie prosperity and like the leaues of the Seaulpher to be greene and beutiful in loue and affection outwardly when their rootes or hearts were withered and dead in good wil inwardly counselleth Scaeuola and Fannius vnder the person of Laelius aboue al other things as the cheefest principal belonging to finde a friend that they should first multos modios salis simul edere c. meaning that they should be so farre from choosing a friend at the first sight that they should neither giue any their hearts nor hands vntil by reason of their long acquaintance and conuersation together they might haue had time to haue eaten many bushels of salt For seeing there is nothing more necessary vnto the life of man then to be enuironed with faithful and vnfained friends into whom he may transport his affections repose his secrets and commit his enterprises so he ought to bestow the greatest paines and careful industry in the finding of them especially in these our present times wherein flatterie is become such a common arte and so much practised of most men that almost euery rusticall companion illiterate pesant can represent like a looking-glasse what mans quallities and conditions he wil So that good cause hath euery one with Vlisses to feare the inchāting harmony of sweet singing Syrens seeing vnder the fairest flower often lurkes the foulest serpent and those that professe most liberal affection in words are oft proued the deadliest enemies in deede Wherfore not without good reason did Darius esteeme more of his faithful Zaphirus then of his conquest of an hundred chiefe-taines of his Babilonian enemies for kingdomes may be gotten by pollicie and enimies subdued by the sword but an vnfained friend by neither to be obtained wherefore Zeno the philosopher was of this opinion that the losse of a friend was only to be lamented which Agesilans the Greeke seemeth also to affirme who being demanded why he did more lament the heauines of his friends then the death of his children made answere I do not bewail the want of my wife the losse of my goods or the death of my children for al these are but parts of my selfe but I bewaile the death of my friend which is another my selfe whose like I am not likely euer to light vpon seeing true frendship is so seldome seene and being seene so greatly admired so that we reade of Alexander who for his noble conquests and spatious regiment was surnamed the great that in al the prouinces kingdomes and empires which most victoriously he passed through he found but one faithful and vnfained friend named Calistenes The like we reade of Xerxes Nero Dionisius many other renowmed peers and potentates in the world who are not reported to haue had any more then one friend And if we allow of the counsel of Seneca a wise and discreete man if he might haue many as he cannot yet wil not admitte any more then one for if there be danger saith he in enemies there can be no surety in the multitude of friends seeing in respect of their number they breede difference of consent and wil with variety of conditions and where is no conformitie of manners there can be no perfectiō in friendship Furthermore one friend ought not to say to another I wil not or I can not since it is a priuilege in friendship to find nothing impossible therefore who ioynes
friendship with another binds himselfe not to deny the thing that his friend requires him to do seeing in this consists the ful office of frendship to owe to our friends our selues and al that we haue But how can a man that is said to haue many friends execute this office of true friendship when in the same instance one friend inuites him to a banket and another sends for him being sicke one requests him to pleade his cause against his aduersarie at London and another to ride with him about other affaires to Douer where you see he can do his dutie to no more but one and consequently al the rest do seeme to be despised their friendship little or not at al regarded wherby it appeareth that true friendship can bee onely in the duall number namely an vnfained consent of two mens willes and affections a transportation of two hearts into one body and therefore a frend is called alter idem another moity or another selfe The riuer that is diuided into many brookes experience shewes vs the streame to be very slowe and shallow so loue which is deuided amongst many cannot bee so great as that which hath but one subiect to worke on and therefore Homer speaking of a child whom his father entirely loueth indeede calleth him Solum atque in senio natum that is his fathers only sonne and borne when his parents were past hope to haue any more Wherefore seeing thou canst haue but one true friend whose bosom must be a place of retract for al thy counsels opinions actions and interprises what care and circumspections oughtest thou to haue in choosing this one They that trie poyson by the taste destroy themselues therewith and he that wil admit a friend before he knoweth him most commonly hurts himselfe whilest he proueth him as the Satire thought the fire to bee some great goddesse by reason of the brightnesse and warmth that it gaue therefore would needs imbrace it and kisse it hauing burnt his venturous lips Prometheus tolde him the nature and force thereof so parasites or flatterers because their words are plesant to the eare many imbrace them commit themselues and al that they haue vnto them til hauing tried their more secret operation they beginne to crie Caue when their coyne is consumed and to be chary whē they haue nothing whereof to take charge then they can tell others that mens harts and tongues are no perfect relatiues and that it is not alwaies true that what the heart thinks the tongue clacketh can verifie it with a probatum of their owne It were better to be wise too soone then repent too late and to looke before we leape lest we fall into their ditch for if we are once downe there are few that wil lend vs their hands to help vs vp againe and carry vs through al the stormy waues of our distresse as the dolphin did Arion but euery one almost will answere as they did the young man in Plautus in his necessity with a Non est that is faith friend you come to a wrong box I stand in as much need as your selfe or as the crow did the kite when it happened the one to be bare of feathers the other answered that to him were no more then sufficed him to flie and yet they wil promise one in his prosperity neuer to forsake him as Peter promised Christ who in a while after did vtterly denie him and forsweare too therefore not vnfitly did Plinie compare men vnto the fifh Palerna which being passing white in the calme yet becommeth blacke at euery storme and like vnto the Heban blossomes which open with the dew and shut with the sunne so in prosperitie they fawne but in aduersitie they fade they honor the sunne at his vprising with the Egyptians but curse him at his going down yea those on whom we bestow the greatest benefits if opportunitie serue wil requite vs with the deadliest hate The Troians neuer shewed more fauour vnto any then vnto wretched Sinon who afterward betraied their citie vnto the Gaecians and none was more welcome vnto Carthage then straggling Aeneas and yet hee repaied them with most shameful abuses Seuerus the Emperor neuer bestowed more benefits vpon any then on his seruant Plautianus for he made him copartner with him in thempire who shamed not for all this to hire Saturninus trecherously to murther his frend so faithful and lord so louing Seuerus The Babilonians neuer trusted any more then the forenamed Zopirus who most villanously betraied them into the hand of Darius And Thraso in Terence neuer affected man more then his parasite Gnatho by whom he was deliuered vp as a prey to his enimies with an hunc ego comedendum bibendum vobis propino But if these and the rest whom we reade to haue tasted of the same sauce had prudently pondered the sugered subtilties of the world they needed not to haue locked the dore when the steede was stolen nor by their owne harmes to haue learned to beware Therefore seeing we perceiue the trap let vs not foolishly follow the traine nor swallow the bait wherin is shrowded the intent of our bane neither let vs thinke with the pike to cast vp the hooke which we haue swallowed when wee please without preiudice to our persons for if we haue once entertained a knaue we shal not easily be rid of him but presently hee becomes like fulsome meate which wee cannot keepe in our stomackes without hurting vs nor vomit it vp alone as it went in but mingled with other meate which would haue nourished and cherished vs So when we haue receiued a counterfait and harbored him with our hindrances we can neither continue with him but he wil hurt vs neither shake him off so clearely but heiwil go better away then he came therefore Principijs obsta take heede at the first and thou shalt do wel inough beleue not at the first that it is gold because it glistreth neither sweare that the Polipus is white because he seemed so once vnto thee nor that such a one is an honest man because thou neuer foundest him otherwise for Proteus can turne himselfe into more shapes then one and Iupiter if he would compasse the loue of a faire ladie can turne himselfe from a bull into a showre of gould to deceiue simple Danae so a parasite hath more cranckes in his budget to deceiue then one he hath one for the scholler another for the courtier one for the marchant another for the yeoman one for this good fellow another for that If he chaunce to meete with a scholler in the Vniuersity troubled with an heauie purse presently he calles to mind the saying of S. Paul that willes vs to beare one anothers burden and therefore without delay whilest the spirit knocks he wil open lest be find not so much grace at another time and therefore because birds of a feather wil flie together and the scholler wil trust or
repented their iudgement when their valiant captaine was turned into a flower so vnles thou art more considerate then the Troians and lesse rash then the Graetians thou maist haue iust cause one day to rue thy leaping when thou liest in the ditch Miserrimum est saith one fuisse bearum it is the greeuousest thing in the world for a man in his misery to remember his former felicitie labour therefore to auoide this hellish dolour which vnlesse thou takest heede thou art like to fal into The deere knowing Tamariske is deadly to his nature wil not come neere the tree The Vnicorne wil not brooke to rest vnder the Citron tree for that it is hurtful vnto him neither wil any beast come neare the Panther for al his faire skin since they know by experience that he is a murtherer these beasts auoid what nature tells them is perilous be not therfore lesse senceles then the beasts of the field but let experience be thy guide when affections perswade the contrarie remember what credulous Phillis wanne by beleeuing demure Demophoon but onely her death what got Crassus by trusting his parasite Andromachus but to be betraied to the Parthians and what wanne Catiline by opening his conspiracie but the losse of his life and honor and what are thou like to get by trusting of flatterers but the losse of thy goods the extinguishment of thy armes the derision of thy enimies and the curse of thy posteritie therefore cast them off from thee as infectious vipers and salute them a farre off as Hippolitus did Venus because he would not be intangled if thou must needs company with them if their words be like Adamant whose nature is to draw then sprinkle thee with goats bloud which resisteth his operation and if their faces haue power to incense thy mind then take the hearbe Lupinar to coole thy desire if the Syrens allure thee let the maste withhold thee if Circes perswade thee let reason disswade thee if thou wouldest kisse the Bee because shee hath honny in her mouth yet let her alone because she hath a sting in her taile if thou wouldest embrace Pallas because she shewes thee her librarie yet be not too bold because shee weares a sword and if thou louest a man for his affection towards thee now yet trust him not ouer boldely lest he hate thee to morrow and make open thy secrets what is more common then dessentiō amongst friends and variance betweene brethren so that they that loue to day as truely as Turtles to morrow vpon the least occasion as if they had drunke of the fountaine of Ardenia their hot loue wil be turned to as cold a liking We neede not borrow examples from former ages or antiquity for alas euery citty towne and village can lend vs whole legions of them how one friend hath slaine another how the father the children and children haue slaine their fathers yea they do not onely not abstaine from murthering their dearest friends and nearest in bloud but also if they be defeated of their wil or iniured of one of whom they know not how to be reuenged they wil not feare to kill themselues as Aiax did being defeated by Vlisses of Achilles armour Therefore how should we thinke that they wil alwaies loue vs when they wil hate themselues seeing euery one loueth himselfe better then another according to the old prouerb Neere is my petticoate but nearer is my smocke I loue thee wel but I loue my selfe better thinke not then that there is any such a Gordian knot of vnfained friendshippe knit so fast to day but there may be an Alexander to cut it in peeces at one time or other nor any such a solemne league made betweene Priamus and Menelaus but there is a Pandorus somewheare or other that wil breake and dissolue it nor any such a Simpathy of affections to day but there may be an Antipathy by some chance or other ere the yeare is gone about The sea sometimes is so calme and quiet that the fearefullest that is will seeme to despise and contemne the force thereof but therefore haue the sailers lesse neede to carrie with them their ankors and cabelles and other things needefull when windes should arise no surely for although Aeolus sleepe for a while and wil disquiet no man els and suffers Phoebus to domineere as sole Regent yet if he perceiued him waxe too hote in his pride he beginnes to moderate his affections commonly with a cooling card or twaine by his tempestuous embassadours to put him in mind that he is a king as wel as himselfe and although sometimes in his anger he roareth and is testie yet he wil not altogether be shut out for a wrangler In like manner they that follow thy humors for a while in flattering thee with the Panther in smiling on thee with the Hiena and weeping with the Crocodile at thy mishaps and that are ready to make themselues thy footestoole in lowly obedience as the Ciprian women were to the Syrian dames which would cower downe and become footestooles for the Ladies to ascend into their choches for which cause they were called Climacidae of Climacha which the Assirians name a ladder but when they see their time they wil of steps become steppers til they are got so high that they are become as good men as their masters and then for one taunt wil not sticke to giue them twaine I cannot resemble them better then vnto the lake in the farthest part of Affrica amongst the people Troglotidae which in the forenoone is so sweet and pleasant to the taste that the gods themselues might seem to loath the celestial Nectar in respect therof but when the sunne is gone past the meridian climate it wil be as bitter and vnsauourie as our welles are in Nantewich which are good for nought but to make salt So whilest the glorious sunne of thy prosperitie continues his ascension whilst riches increase and fortune looketh fauourably they wil kisse thee with Iudas and stoope to thee with dissembling Adrastus but when the golden beames of thy beutiful Sunne begin to decrease and thou art not able any longer to make thē stoope vnto thee with the golden scepter with Assuerus they wil begin to despise thee and forsake thee or else lay hands on thee for a vagabond as they did on Christ when he walked alone in the darke Then mought he haue saide with the Poet Qui color albus erat nunc est contrarius albo Now I perceiue when the angels crowned me with glory and honour in the mount they were desirous to make their tabernacles there to dwel with me and when I rode triumphantly toward Ierusalem these pluckt off their garments to spread them in my way and to runne before like heraulds crying Hosanna Hosanna blessed be he that commeth in the name of the Lord. But going on foote my disciples to whom I reuealed al my secrets which I kept from the wise and prudent men