seen answered An old Tyrant Princes most commonly are in nothing more deceiued then in bestowing their rewards but especially when they giue vpon other mens commendations Princes haue not so much scarcitie of any other thing as they haue of that whereof they should be most plentifully stored which is Of such as should tell them the truth The differences betweene the Prince that is vertuous and the other that is vicious consisteth in this The first striueth to enrich his subiects the other to sacke and spoile them the one spareth the honour of good women the other triumpheth in their shame the one taketh pleasure to be freely admonished the other dispiseth nothing so much as wise and vertuous counsaile the one maketh most account of the loue of his subiects the other is better pleased with their feare the one is neuer in doubt of his owne people the other standeth in awe of none more than of them the one burdeneth them as little as may be but vpon publique necessitie the other gnaweth the flesh from their bones but to satisfie his vaine pleasures the one in the time of warre hath no recourse but to his own Subiects the other keepeth warre but onely with his subiects the one is honoured in the time of his life and mourned for after his death the other is hated in the time of his life and registred with perpetuall infamie after his death A cruell Prince will make a slaughterhouse of his Common-wealth A vicious Prince will make it a stewes a prodigall wil sucke the marrow of his Subiects to glut some fiue or sixe Parasites that wil be about his owne person disguised in the habite of fidelitie A good Prince will not dedicate the Common wealth to himselfe but will addict himselfe to the Common-wealth And because no man asketh account of him in his life he will therefore bee so much the more stirred vp to aske the straighter reckoning of himselfe There be many other worthie prescriptions set downe by that worthie Emperour Aurelius that I may ouerpasse will giue a little touch of things necessarie and behouefull to be spoken of The expences of a King is great and therefore he must be well stored and stil prepared with treasure to beare out the charge It is he that must defend his Realmes and subiects from the spoyle and rapine of forreigne forces It is he that must be prouident in the time of peace to haue all things in a readinesse against the time of warre Can he then be vnprouided of treasure Or shall his subiects grudge and murmure against him if he supply his wants by Taxes or Subsidies which are warranted by the word of God and which the Prince may take with a verie good conscience for the bearing out of his expences which doe concerne the common good and safetie of the subiects the king must defend all and there is no reason but his wantes should be supplied by all There is yet a matter of great importance for a Prince to consider of that vnder this priuilege of taxing his subiects for his needfull and necessarie affaires hee doth not oppresse them for any vaine or idle expences for what is he that dare prescribe limits or bounds to a King what he should take or leaue of his subiects If he haue not a good conscience of himselfe if he haue not a charitable disposition towards his people of his owne princely nature who dare crosse him in his courses or tell him of those faults wherein he offendeth or what Subiect that knoweth his duetie dare speake against a princes prerogatiue It was not without cause therefore that Chrysostome with such admiration did say Miror si aliquis rectorum potest saluari And Apolonius saith that the treasure taken by a Prince from his subiects by tyrannie is more base then yron for being wette with the teares of the people it cankereth and becommeth accursed That Prince therefore that will exact more then inough between god his own conscience be it but the subiect is to make no resistance Our Sauiour Christ hath left vs example for hee himselfe paid that was imposed vpon him and when the Scribes and Pharisies demaunded of him whether it were lawfull to pay tribute to Caesar he did not impugne it Kings and Princes had neede of great priuileges their cares are many and farre exceeding the common capacitie of the simple multitude A Princes royall Robe doth couer many cares and their guardes are not able to defend the assaults of troubled thoughts Better for a Prince to bee Irus for contentment then to enioy the Empire of the whole world For whilest he seeth all pleasures he enioyeth none and in the middest of his sugred dainties he suppeth vp sorrowes euery day tyred with suters troubled with Damocles euerie night subiect to broken sleepes troublesome thoughts and vncouth dreames A Kings daintie dishes are alwayes sawced with suspition there is reason for although amongst the vulgar too much ielousie sauoureth of little wit yet more hurt commeth of the light beleefe of Princes then of mistrust amongst the rest Thales admonisheth Kings and Princes to suspect him most that is most busie still to be whispering in his eare Aristotle aduiseth that a Prince ought earnestly and aboue all things to haue care of things diuine he rendreth this reason For those subiects doe hope that they shall suffer lesse iustice from that Prince whom they deeme religious and who feareth God and lesse conspiracies are complotted against him as hauing God him selfe for his helpe and succour Let me now speake but a word of the time present and let me speake truly of our owne happinesse here within this Empire of great Britain with what zeale and feruencie hath our royall King re-established that Religion of the Gospel the which although hee found it here readie planted to his hand yet with how many ingins hath the Pope and the Diuell sought sithence to vndermine and ouerthrow it and are yet euerie day endeuoring if his Maiesty himselfe were not the more firme and constant He hath then blessed himselfe his Realmes and Dominions with the light of the Gospel and if the happinesse of peace be a blessing we likewise enioy it by his happie gouernement To prop vp all with great securitie he hath made choise of a most wise discreete and godly disposed Counsaile the Pillars indeede of a happie Common-wealth To conclude if there be felicitie in peace in prosperitie in pleasure in plentie we inioy all by his wisdome and prouidence if there be any thing wanting it is but thankefull hearts to God and to our King that hath blessed vs with those foysons that we are glutted and almost readie to burst but let vs take heede that with the churlish Nabal we harden not the heart of Dauid against vs. Let vs now looke into the particular dealing of one man towards another and we shall
payeth them in the end with more grieuous punishment than that which is obiected to our eyes or that which is inflicted vpon the body But would you see one example of the secret iudgements of God Titus the Emperour had intelligence what Christ had prophecied of Ierusalem that one stone should not be left standing vpon an other see nowe the secret iudgementes of God that the same man that persecuted the Christians at Rome goeth now to Ierusalem to reuenge the death of Christ vppon the Iewes that had crucified him drawne heereunto without doubt by his owne passion but ouer-ruled by God to be the executioner of his Iustice who many times looseth the reines of bloud to runne vpon bloud drawing one sinne to doe execution on an other one murtherer to kill another one wicked Cittie to afflict another and one prowd nation to chase and persecute another For the seauen liberall Sciences Grammar Logicke Arithmetike and the rest if I should take vppon mee to speake in their commendations I might happen to speed as he did that would needs take vpon him to speake in the praise of Hercules and to that purpose had whetted the strength of his wit to haue made a long Oration But a Philosopher hearing this needelesse commendation very prettily interrupted him and asked him Whie who discommends Hercules and I doe thinke there is not a greater argument of folly then for a man to vndertake the praise of that which is more excellent of it selfe than any other commendation a man can render vnto it For those that are professours of the Artes if there be any that are of a contentious wrangling spirit they are vnto such a one like a sword in a madde mans handes more apt to doe hurt than good The Grammarian his subiect is but wordes teaching vs to bring the diuers partes of speach in one congruitie and to this purpose they doe many times tire and martire themselues more than needes Logicke teacheth how to sift out the troth from a number of falshoodes howe to frame an argument it setteth downe rules and precepts how to define distinguish diuide conclude and how to iudge and argue But there be too many that with this little mist of knowledge will seeke to peruert and deface all knowledge and sometimes by wresting the weapons of reason will mannage them to the confusion of Reason it selfe Rhetorike by her rules doth beautifie the speach with pollished words fine phrases and gratious colours whereby to stirre affections which is fitter to adorne a leasing than to set forth a serious troth which the Apostle well proueth where he saieth Christ sent me not to Baptize but to Preach and that not in wisdome of words lest the crosse of Christ might proue in vaine Which woordes the Apostle vsed to the end the Gentiles should not thinke his exhortation to be but a well cowched leasing such as their Orators were accustomed to perswade by the force of their Arte for those haue most neede of artificiall speeches who with pleasing words doe go about to couer dishonest deedes The country-man is more afraid of the serpent that lieth hidden in the grasse than of the wilde beast that feedeth openly on the mountaine The mariner is more endaungered by hidden shelues than knowne rockes and more perrill in a secret ambush than in a ranged battell A naked tale doth most truly set foorth a naked trueth and veritie then shines most brightly when she is in least brauery A good cause bringeth credite it needeth not the help of Art and to vse superfluous eloquence in a matter of sufficient excellencie is a greater shew of a pregnant wit than of a perfect wisedom yet eloquence is one of the greatest graces whereby the popular sort are best perswaded and thinke that a man hath much wisedome and knowledge if he can speake with great eloquence and hath a sweete tongue with pleasing wordes Aristotle writte with such slender ornament of wordes with such simple manner of deliuerance and with such obscuritie of stile but yet his Axiomes Problemes and all his sentences being opened they held such lineaments and proportions of rare admiration that some ignorant expositours would needes conclude that Aristotle had deliuered his writings in this sort but of sette purpose rendring this reason because hee would that his workes should passe with the greater authoritie he writ vnder Riddles They might haue saide the like by Plato who with no lesse harsh breuitie obscureth his reasons and many times darkeneth his writings by the ill placing of the parts of his tale but yet Cicero praising his eloquence saide That if Iupiter should haue spoken Greeke hee would haue spoken as Plato did Musicke hath his proceeding from the concordance and agreement of soundes I would I could praise it but halfe so well as I loue it but yet for all that for him that hath his head troubled with too many crochets I would rather wish to haue his cunning than his wit Arithmeticke proceedeth but from a vnite yet by addition multiplication and the rest of her partes it comprehendeth things that be infinite Geometry hath likewise his proceeding but from a pricke but the knowledge of it is excellent and serueth for diuerse purposes both for peace or warre But wee haue Geometritians in these dayes some that if they can but drawe three lines with a Compasse will vaunt themselues to haue as much cunning as euer had Euclides Astrologie for the Science it selfe it is a high mysterie Mary amongst the Professors there is great variety I will not speake of incertainty because there is one thing certaine which I my selfe can assure and that is whilest the Astrologian is calculating for others hee knowes not what is hanging ouer his owne head The Letters are the first instruments of the arts and Grammar Logicke and Rhetoricke are onely entries into the rest of the Sciences and may be called the Artes of well speaking Learning is the Ladder whereby to climbe to heauen it raiseth men from earthly vanities to the contemplation of things celestiall and diuine A man that is enlightned with knowledge grasps after vniuersalities and Science it is that stretches it selfe to the heauens it meditates of eternity and makes steppes whereby to ascend to the throne of Glorie A man without Learning is but an immortall beast he hath being with blocks life with plants and sence with beasts but as Aristotle saieth that the reasonable soule partaking of the same generall nature with the Angells is ashamed to behold her selfe placed in a body which hath but fellowship with beasts And as Socrates hath defined a man that is destitute of knowledge if hee be amongest the best hee may be saide to bee a man amongest beasts but amongst the learned the best you can repute of him is to be but a beast amongest men There is nothing then so much to be sought for as
those Commonwealths euer prooued where those haue beene preferred that were better skilled in taking than in executing Alexander Seuerus both punished and deposed as many as had bought their offices saying they solde deerer by retale than they bought in the grosse I will not say that it is preiudiciall vnto the Common-wealth that Offices should be bought and solde for money But this is true that Princes ought to bee very circumspect by whom they are mannaged because being to continue in the same during their liues the holders are the lesse subiect to correction And being bought and sold for money they are the more subiect to corruption Offices that were wont to be painfull toiles for men of honestie and care to be heedefull of are now become gainfull spoiles executed by those that endeuour their owne commoditie exacting their owne gaine by the spoile both of Prince and Countrie But in that Common-wealth where Officers are made to do their dueties and no more than appertaineth to iustice and right they will giue as much to be rid of an Office as they will doe now to buy an Office Pollicie is a speciall parte of gouernement and the state and pollicie of the time is not for priuate men to deale withall and Pollicie that is legittimate first begotten by Wit and then fostered by Honestie is not to be neglected but that which more respecteth profit than it doth the soueraigne Pollicie prescribed by Gods lawe is it which the Apostle speaketh of The wisedome of the fiesh is enmitie to God He dooth not say an enemy for an enemy might be reconciled but enmity it selfe can neuer be reconciled and therefore he addeth further The wisedome of the flesh is death And although the name of Pollicie at the first sight doth carry a great and glorious shew yet being estranged from that Pollicie before spoken of commanded by God it doth not reach vnto that perfection of true christian gouernement that many haue seemed to perswade The drift of worldly Policie is to do litle good but to the end to doe a great deale of harme for Pollicie and Profite haue euer marched arme in arme in one ranke and how many Princes haue bin abused yea and sometimes dishonoured vnder those plausible pretences Profite being diuorced from Honestie begetteth but a bastardly progenie and it is a very dangerous doctrine to teach that Profite may be separated from honestie when there is nothing profitable vnlesse it be honest He therefore that maketh diuision betweene profite and honestie peruerteth Nature and hee seeketh but his owne shame that seeketh but his owne profite All Policie therefore is to be reiected that tendeth not to publique profite or that preferreth the vaine policies of men before the infallible policie reuealed in the worde of God for these Polititians for the most part doe neuer consider that the principal things that do bring miseries and disorders to whole Countries Kingdoms are such offences as are counted directly against the Maiestie of God Looke into histories and you shall find no states-men more pestilent to a Common-wealth then these Polititians that squared out their gouernment by the rules of their owne wits Looke into the two Catoes the one with his frantique accusations disturbing the whole Common-wealth of Rome and the other going about ouer-wisely to protect it did vtterly subuert it yea and Cicero with all his eloquence was as troublesome amongst the Romanes as Demosthenes was amongst the Athenians There be many other of these great polititians which might be named that with their peeuish disciplines haue disturbed the quiet of states so that in mine opinion there is not a more pestilent thing then this plague of policy which diuides it selfe from the policie prescribed by the rule of Gods word When the humour of preferring our countrie before any other thing was had in request there was no man so meane but if he could endeuour his Countries good his reputation was aduanced and his wisdom was not suffered to go away emptie-fisted then men might speake freely so they spake truly but after the Polititian he that hath but a Mammon for his God and Machiuell for his ghostly father had once gotten the mannaging of Common-wealth affaires they haue so prohibited this libertie of free speaking for their Country with their prescription of Quod supra nos nihil ad nos that the meanes whereby the Romanes the Grecians many other florishing estates wrought their greatest woonders in aduauncing their Common-wealths were long sithence taken away vnder the colour of Policie and pregnancie of wit We are priuileged by our Country and vnder the ensignes of her authoritie it is not onely lawfull for vs to spend our liues but it is like behoueful to vndertake any thing that may be for her safetie and the good of our Prince Curtius for the good of his common-wealth leaped into the Gulfe Sceuola burned his hand because he missed the killing of Porcenna Horatius fought against the whole armie of the Tuscans whilest the Bridge was broken behind his backe But these dayes are past for many that did then striue who should exceed in Vertue do now contend how the one might excell the other in Vice and that feruencie of zeale that we should beare to God to our Prince and to our Countrey it is growne cold and it is conuerted to this olde Adage Euerie man for himselfe and God for vs all as they would haue it but I say If euerie man be for himselfe the Diuell for vs all for so we shall find it I must here craue your gentle patience that you would please to giue me leaue to Lie a little and yet a little time would hardly serue my turne for if I should lie but according to the truth I meane if I should tell all that is reported a whole Resme of Paper would not suffice my little wit to set it downe at large but if they be lies they shall cost you no money you shall haue them cheape inough in conscience I will not aske with the Lawier for euerie lie a Fee no keepe your money till you haue need of Lawiers helpe For mine owne part I haue had little to doe amongst Lawiers but for those few that I do know and haue had to deale withall I dare protest them to be Gentlemen of that honest life and conuersation euerie way as there is no exceptions to bee taken against them The Text that I haue now taken in hand is to speake of Faults The innocencie then of those that be good must not be a shelter to those that be bad and all the ill that I haue to speake is but by report but Report is a lier and let him be so still A man for all that may tell a lie by report I wil proue it I hope the Lawiers themselues will vpholde the cause that are driuen in their proceedings at the Bar to vent a great number of lies but as