supprest them but then being young and foolish am now olde and beggerly to whom shall I communicate my griefe that will yeeld succour all my laments are bootlesse relentlesse and pittilesse what a heauie reckening haue I to make wasting so many idle houres in eating drinking ryoting in sports games and pastimes and all my flourishing youth in idlenesse not spending one houre in his seruice to whom all is due now I should finde most comfort in that I haue got so neare my end a hell of vnquiet torments lye on my conscience readie to sinke me downe to hell Let youth therefore be warned and laie holde on the winges of Time while it is to day least by slipping the tyde of opportunitie they fall into a sorrowfull lamentation when it is too late And therfore such old men as are sorrie their youth is gone it is a sure token they were neuer wise nor gratious for hee is no wise man that repineth at the most profitable things for age taketh away the delight of the flesh the roote of all euill for there can be no greater plague to mans happinesse then the will of the bodie which by the priuiledge of youth is subiect to so many indirect courses destroying the iudgement and putting out the eye of reason no communitie with Vertue but a liuely brotherhood with vice and vanitie yet some take great glorie to crake of their youthfull acts and tell many stories of their prankes in former time I did this and this saith one I thus and thus saith an other I holpe the Priest to say Masse saith a third and by bragging of their stinking rottennes and reuiuing their own shame Suppose they gaine credite for such infamous practises and commend themselues to posteritie as men endued with notable exploits but howsoeuer they boast they glorie but in theyr owne shame and by sporting at theyr wantonnesse bewray theyr owne guiltinesse for if thou hast committed any horrible offence in the time of ignorance and not repented thy selfe of it in time of knowledge thou hast giuen consent to thy leaudnesse and so standest guiltie before God and therfore the Prophet Dauid praieth God to forgiue the sinnes of his youth Licurgus by his lawes forbad young men to play or goe idlely vp and downe in the Marte or common places or to be nursed vp in delights and pleasures but in husbandry and tillage that in their first yeares they might not taste of idlenesse And Zenocrates did vse to diuide the day into parts reseruing one part for silence that hee might meditate how to speake not onely therefore the Realme is prosperously held vp by businesse and labour but a mans priuate wants supplied and his domesticke needements maintained whereas idlenesse ouerthroweth all and therefore warres in a kingdome are more profitable saith one then peace for warres stirreth the minde to Vertue when peace breedeth idlenesse And as the Poet saith Nam qui desidiam luxâ—mque sequetur inertem Dum fugit oppositos incauta mente labores Turpis inopsque simul miserabile transiget eâ—â—m At quisquiâ— duros causus virtutis amore Vicerit ille sibi landemque decusque parabit For he that giues his minde to sloth to riotize and ease And honest labours intermit his idle limbs to please Both naked poore and miserable old age on him will cease But if that he for Vertues sake with labour hard exceed Mortall fame he purchaseth for this his manfull deed How lamentable is it therfore for youth to be ignorant and defeat theyr mind of the store house of knowledge so iniuriously wrong themselues in the way to blisse for ignorance is fearfull an inconstant passioÌ„ base and contemptible and is soone seduced because it knowes not how to vse that well it possesseth but is rash and headie taking falsehood for truth Vice for Vertue not being able to distinguish one from the other and by this deceit is carried into errours omitting all good examples and honest actions for if the carriage of wise and graue men be not obserued the minde is clogged with ignorance not onely not able to direct others in any matter of doubt but is forced to aske counsell for himselfe in euery trifle But a foole saith Salomon is wiser in his owne conceit then seuen wise men that can render a reason and drinking so much the water of selfe-loue doth get such a buzzing in his braines that managing his businesse by his owne wit draweth vpon himselfe speedie repentance O how soone Vice creepes vpon the affections of youth in the spring of their yeares if idlenesse slip in for being intangled in the net of libertie doth chauke out to himselfe the way to trace in affecting that which the multitude seeme to allow be it neuer so contrarie to sound iudgement and therfore the best inheritance that fathers can leaue to their children is good bringing vp as a sure stocke to liue on in oldeage for to put wealth into the hands of youth before hee haue wisedome to guide it is as if hee should set him on a young coults backe that was neuer sadled needs must he dangerously fall hauing neither wit nor strength to rule him as he ought or as if hee should put his patrimonic into a ship and make his sonne Pilot who for want of skill needs must suffer shipwracke And youth is no sooner capable of reasoÌ„ but by idlenesse the mind is carried into a multitude of vices like a standing pond that gathereth nothing but scum and filth Those parents therefore that put their children to be seruing-men haue small care of their education for that they doo not onely mispend the time but learne such vices as cleaue fast to nature not easily to be shaken off that many times they are forced to vnlawfull shifts in youth or begge their bread in age And Gentlemen incumber their houses with many vnqualified seruants which deuour and eate much but get little and vnder pretence of seruice do nothing lesse then serue without all contradiction it is no charitie to foster such an idle superfluitie of seruants with that which might better be spent on the blinde lame and poore people then on such which serue for nothing but to beautifie a house and picture and shewe forth their persons Honor and worship resteth not in keeping many seruants or riding with a great troup but in his owne vertue For though wise men for curtesie and fooles for simplicitie do reuerence and salute them yet are they no whit the more honourable vnlesse they be iust temperate affable modest and haue such vertuous properties morrall conditions as that they may be vsed in the Common-wealth for the seruice of their Prince countrey Many idle persons drop out of Gentlemens houses who with a frowne of their maister are turned out of all preferment not able to get their owne liuely-hood but constrained through want to follow bad courses being out of seruice fall into offence of
meates when one doth gurmandize and feede vpon diuersitie and disguised dishes of manifolde operations Many accidences arise and diseases growe and this is by reason of the contrarietie and different natures of those meates and in the superfluitie and aboundance as the prouerbe saith much meate much maladie whereas in simple and vniforme kindes delight neuer exceedes the appetite and he that feedeth but of one dish liueth longer and is more healthfull then those accidentall dieters queasie stomackes that glutte themselues with eueric kinde artificially compounded sometime of easie digestion then of harde digestion that many times before one can be concocted the other putrifieth in the stomacke and this is verie familiar in common knowledge that the ploughman that liues by curdes bread and cheese and such homely fare workes harde all the day and lyeth vneasie at night is more sounder healthfuller and more free of malladies then those fine nice and curious dyeters Now when the bodie is thus misdieted by surfetting and drunkennesse it is not only subiect to diseases and afflicted with torments and incurable laments whereby it becommeth vnweildie vnfit for any vertuous exercise but also draweth the horror and iudgements of God vppon both bodie and soule How ought men therefore to liue soberly and chastely and stoppe the abuse of such abhominable Epicurisme and as wise Cato saieth Eate to liue and not liue to eate like the Epicure that putteth all his felicitie in Bacchus his belly-cheare By this the quicke conceit of the spirit is dulled and made impregnable the glorious sun-shine of Vertue eclipsed and all good motions quite extinguished that a man cannot be saide to be a man but the trunke or caâ—kasse of a man wherein an infernall spirit in stead of a soule doth inhabite Heereby hee becommeth rash-headed and vnaduised dooing that in haste whereof he repenteth at leisure As Alexander who in his drunken nesse would sley his dearest friends and being sober w ould be readie to kill himselfe for anger and all those noble vertues and princely qualities wherewith he was endued were all defaced by the intollerable delight he had in drinking The famous Citie Persepolis in a drunken humour was burned to ashes which was no sooner deuised by Thayis the harlot but was executed with great celeritie but recouering his wits repented his folly for with this spirit is a drunken man alwaies possest to attempt things rashly to despise good counsel to vndertake great exployts but neuer with mature deliberatioÌ„ vnruly disobedient and violating the lawes both of God and man and lastly with the foolish Troians sero sapiunt phriges be wise when it is too late If this Hidra infuse her venome into the tendernes of youth and not crushed downe when it begins to peepe by killing the serpent in the egge but suffered to growe ripe ô how it distilleth into the soule and pulles downe the whole frame of Vertue whereby he is cast downe headlong from a high promentarie into a deepe vgly dungeon it weakeneth the nature and maketh them fooles and meacockes not fit for any imployment And therefore the Spartans and Lacedemonians at their great festiuals would shewe vnto their children drunkeÌ„ men that by seeing their beastlines they might shun the like practise It was a great shame among the Athenians for a young man to haunt tauernes or common tap-houses in so much as on a time when a youth beeing in a tauerne and seeing Diogenes come towards him shifted into an other roome for feare he should see him Nay quoth he stay young man the more you goe in that way the further you goe into the Tauerne If Diogenes or Polemon liued in these daies they should haue woâ—ke inough to sweepe youth out of Tauernes and Ale-houses being now traded vp in it as in an occupation If we see a man often frequent the Phisitions house we by and by suspect his health and suppose he is not well his body out of temper and some infirmitie breeding so when wee behold one often to repaire to such places of ill note we may censure him and safely conclude his wits are distracted and daungerously infected with Opprobrium medicorum Neuerthelesse leaud company is the ouerthrow of many good wits which otherwise be ingenious and of a liuely promptitude to Vertue getting such vices in an houre as tarrieth with theÌ„ many dayes for bad company is as a stench about a man that annoyeth the sence And as cleare christall water is corrupted if it fall into a a stinking puddle so a vertuous minde is stained with the leaud vices of loose liuers and therfore no man can be freed of the effect till he shun the cause for conuersing with naughtie people the good disposition is soonet infected with their euill maners then the bad reformed with their good conditions For as by a contagious ayre the soundest bodies are soonest infected so the tender and greene capacitie is soone violently carried away into all voluptuousnesse For as it is impossible to holde the hand in the fire and not be burnt so can hee not hold fellowship with bad companie but hee must needs be the worse Euery creature keepeth a due course and order the Sunne like a ramping Lyon runneth about the world with a swift reuolution the Moone knoweth her sitting downe and rising vp the Pleiades keepe their stations the Starres goe their circuit the earth the sea and euerie creature keepe theyr time onely man is out of frame and temper too and euerie part disioynted the naturall impediment is the verie bane and putrifaction of the soule O how hard is it then to pull out those weedes within which like rebels hold a continuall warre against all good motions a greater victorie is it therefore to ouercome a mans owne selfe then to conquere a citie for he that vanquisheth an enemie mastereth but flesh and bloud but hee that can humble his pride and rule his passions ouercommeth the diuell the one is but the sonne of man the the other the sonne of God Dauid could cut off the head of Goliah yet was not able to tame his owne affections Sampson could slaie the Philistines with a iaw-bone and yet was made a slaue to Dalilath In like manner the Poets ascribe to Hercules many incredulous labors as in killing the snake of Learna maistering the wilde bull of Aramanthus clensing Domedes stables killing the Centaures and such toilsome works that his taske-mistresse Iuno was faine to crie out Defessa sum iubendo and yet for all this was conquered by lust and made spinne on a rocke by Omphila with womens garments So that by this we may see that it is more difficill to quench the raging lust of concupiscence and chase away the corruption of nature then to do these wonderfull labours Which thing Cicero in his Oration Pro Marcello dooth well remember speaking to the Emperour O Caesar saith hee thou hast subdued kingdomes subiected nations tamed the Barbarians
seller Neuerthelesse many shop-keepers keep small conscience in vttering their ware their shops shops of deceit for now almost all men crye out that there is nothing but cosonage in buying and selling and not without cause for let a simple man come to buye a peece of cloath or what other thing he needeth in some of their shops I will not say all for no doubt some deale honestly if hee be ignorant and vnskilfull in that hee buyeth is sure to pay double the value or at leastwise much more then it is worth and yet wil they sweare and protest and heape vp a many oathes that were it not to him he could not haue it so and that it is farre better then the mony he paieth the buyer thus deceiued yet thinks himselfe greatly friended but if he bookes that he sells and that the buyer comes vpon trust then shall he pay well for Inke and paper that in the ende he must buye his commoditie twise Yea craft is crept into the bosome of some with such Foxe-like subtiltie that they laie open their ware as nettes to catch young Gentlemen who hauing good friends and assured possibilitie shall haue what he will vpon trust prouided his lands be bound for paiment and so long feede his humour with coyne and commodities that they creep at last into his whole possessions A man must not onely vse a lawfull trade but also vse it lawfully without deceit and though it be neuer so base yet if followed with diligence will maintaine his estate honestly so be it that he alwaies keepe within the essenciall properties thereof yet there be some that haue such wandring wittes and shittle heads that neuer rest til they haue assaied all meanes leaue the limits of their calling and runne into by courses and either fall into a loytering life or attempt that wherein they haue no skill whereby their follies many times are made manifest to the world for none can iudge of an Art but he that is an Artizan hereby hindring his neighbour who hath fitted himselfe to it by experience deluding the common-wealth and offending the lawe Appelles rule is quite forgot Ne sutor vltra crepidam The shomaker must not goe beyond his latchet the plowman meddle in matters of Art nor schollers teach Coridon to holde the plough but euery man to keepe within the compasse of his owne skill and not like wilde coultes to breake into other mens â—astures But many busie fellowes that haue short armes yet will claspe many things supposing that to enterprise is sufficient to execute and that to beginne is onely inough though they neuer make an end and thrust into many trades and heape one thing vpon an other in so much that it often falleth out that being Solicitus circa multa busied in many things proue vnfit for any thing let the vnum then be preferred that tyeth a man in compasse of good abilitie For as a swift currant running in one kill is very forcible but if deuided into small angles is lesse powerfull so in like case so long as a man holdeth out in that hee was brought vp in it is effectuall but if hee once straggle and scatter into other Arts doth vtterly weaken and disable himsâ—lfe and is vnfit for any notable enterprise and by leauing his peculiar trade is possest with such a greedie discontent as hee repineth at the prosperitie of his neighbour which is the fruite of enuy Others there be so luskish and idle that though they haue both meanes strength and abilitie yet will follow none at all but be better content with hunger and ease then labour and profite or else by vnlawfull shifts come to a shamefull ende but as the gripplenesse of the one is to be auoyded so the securitie of the other is to be hated It is meete that euery man follow his owne vocation and being ordained for one thing not to fall into an other If fit for one to holde that and seeke no other if apt for polliciâ— to leaue the Ministrie if fit for the plough to leaue the Pulpit and vse that for which hee is most pregnant for one of these require a whole man and not the least part of a man Three things vphold a Moâ—â—â—chie in peace tranquillitie Scil tu supplex ora tu protege tuque labora Pray thou defend thou and labor thou these 3. imploy the happinesse of euery state the first the Ecclesiasticall discipline the second the politique state and the third the state subiugate so that by these in these a peaceable gouernment is maintained and these are the imployments of the particulars members of a politique bodie within the limits of which euery one must keepe and containe himselfe But if any man fall into extrauagant courses hee slippeth into those euils that flowe from the complexion of nature Wee see howe many are rapt vp with greedie desire of getting and neuer satisfied with that they haue or can come too eyther by violent extortioÌ„ brabling suites and vniust vexations that they had rather spend ten pound in lawe to feed the malice of the mind abroad then by loosing ten pence to haue it quietly ended at home I and now a dayes some are so madde brain-sicke that they fall together by the eares for the value of a strawe and make hard shift though they be neuer so poore but they will be Termers and trot to Westminster three or foure times a yeare though their wiues and children begge in the meane while and what get they in the end after their long suites saue a flap with a Foxe-taile as the saying is and come home by Need ham crosse and fooles acre then crye they out might ouercomes right would I had knowne thus much before a vengeance take the lawiers I am vndone they weepe the lawiers laugh and the diuels sings The common-wealth is as a den of controuersies a man cannot brooke a pettie wrong but by by he runs to some make-bate some petty fogger who no doubt is forward enough to put fier to towe and the bellowes to blow the coales of contentions filling the head with quirkes quiddits who being hote before is now of a light fier till he be in law the world shall not disswade him Lawiers swarme as thick in England as frogs in Egipt they norish strifes beate downe charitie and purchase to themselues great inheritance by the discords of brabling clyents Againe some for a priuate gaine will murmur at a common good and rather wish a dearth to benefite some fewe then a plentie that may bring profit all if they haue store of corne they had rather keepe it still in their barnes till it be mustie and naught or suffer vermine to spoile it in hope of an excessiue price then by bringing it out in due time to haue a reasonable gaine and this is a true experiment that such moathes are so auaricious and couetous that they had