the stomacke by the sower belchings by the watrish spettle after eating for whom it will be good to begin their sleepe vpon their bellie because this sleepe causes a fresh colour in the face and strengthens the breast and the digestion so they feele thereby no running of the eyes and for such like cushions of soft downe or of the shearings of scarlet would be very good or a good fat dog hath singular prerogatiue in this case if they doe embrace and hold them straight to their breasts A. But what if hee were old P. Why hee cannot haue lesse then eight or nine houres for long sleepe will helpe and superfluous watchings will hurt him by which the braine is weakened and then vpon that occasion many flegmaticke superfluities doe multiply A. And I iudge the leuitie of the head and of all the body euacuation by stoole and making of vrine to be manifest signes of sufficient sleepe as I haue said and certainely I beleeue to gouerne a mans selfe is the signe of wisedome and vertue P. Therefore not onely those that were acceptable to God but also to the world as valiant Captaines iudicious Princes powerfull and magnanimious Kings fortunate and warlike Emperours and all others that by their vertue valour or Arte haue laid the foundations or sowed the seedes of Nobilitie or any other greatnes in their race though some haue planted in sweate and others enioy the fruits of their labors in idlenesse you shall finde that they were giuen to vigilancie and not to sleepe A. Also others that in kingdoms prouinces common-wealths Cities or Vniuersities haue any good successe or that from a base are exalted to high estate you shall finde that they haue beene all most vigilant P. Doe you not remember that common Prouerbe Hee that sleepes takes no fish A. Yes but it is also said that to one ouer whose head euill fortune hangs it is but in vaine to rise earely P. Because peraduenture bad hap does rather lay hold on him A. Impute nothing to hard hap for hee that hath no wit nothing can euer sort with him P. And yet they will say such a one hath more fortune then wit A. This is verified in the fauours that are bestowed on the vnworthy and knowing how to endeauour himselfe in this point he shall shew much wit P. But there is more wit required to keepe and preserue then to acquire and get A. By the same meanes that we get by the same may we preserue and keepe P. It is no time now to talke of state we will satisfie you in another place let vs prosecute our course begun for the aboue-named and many other such like courses Seneca with great iudgement in the person of a Prince aduiseth vs all to auoid much sleepe A. Iustinian the Emperour doth also say that a crowne is not giuen to them that sleepe but to those that are watchfull whereupon they paint Aurora with a garland in her hand P. But besides the authoritie and reasons of that aboue produced I find in my self by long morning sleep an other inconuenience which is that in the morning I dreame of a number of idle toyes which disquiet my mind all the day after A. Where there are many dreames there are many vanities but endeauour thou to feare God saith the holy Writ P. I desire another reason A. Platoes Schoole determined on this point that dreames were certaine kindes of cogitations engendred in the soule P. And Auerroe the head of the Atheists that they proceeded from the imagination A. The Philosophers from common but fantasticall sense P. Homer in his Iliades deriues them from Iupiter that is from God A. Albertus Magnus from the Influence of superiour things by the meanes of certain species which daily come from heauen P. The bearded or graue Physitians hold that they are procured from vaporous humours in the head A. Cicero and Macrobius from the effects and thoughts of our will P. The Arabians from effects intellectuall A. The Astrologians from our Constellations P. These are all but words and opinions I will seeke no further but what say you that many obserue how dreames oftentimes proue true A. I take this to sauor a little of superstition as the Southsayers did who obserued the notes and which way the birds tooke their flight as if there had beene some diuine spirit in their flight or prophecie in their bils and beakes Your Southsaiers likewise with no lesse folly obserued the houres P. I doubt you are in an errour because the influence of your Planet may fauour your affaires more at one time then at another A. All be vaine things and fall out by chance P. Chance proceedes from the first cause on which the second depends as I will copiously shew vnto you when we shall discourse of Lot Chance and Fortune A. I suppose Caesar was of such a spirit for going against Iuba in disimbarking of himselfe he fell to the ground from whence collecting a good presagement he said now Africa I haue possession of thee with my hands P. Such change and others as prodigious which are generated beyond the order and course of Nature sometimes they are taken in good sometimes in euill part A. All is at Gods pleasure and all these things are vncertaine P. Vncertaine likewise as I told you is dreaming and so much the more because it occurreth by chance A. I remember to this end that when Cyrus in the affayres of Persia dreaming that he saw a Sunne at his feete the which he striuing to catch three times with his hands it fled away It was foretold him thereupon that that desire of taking the Sun three times did demonstrate vnto him how hee should raigne for thirtie yeeâ—e which succeeded P. We read likewise in Heraclides Ponticus the dreame of the Mother of Falarides to whom there appeared amongst the consecrated Idols of her house Mercury with a cup in his hand who sprinckled bloud ouer all the house the which did confirme the barbarous crueltie which was vsed toward the children A. In the history of Agathocles it is also recounted that Amiclar the Carthagenian being one day at the expugnation of Siracusa he heard a voyce which said to him in a dreame to morrow thou shalt sup in Siracusa which came to passe For there growing a great tumult amongst his owne souldiers the enemy within tooke occasion to assaile him whereupon he remained vanquished and Amiclar was ledde prisoner by his enemie into the Citie P. Authours write many things without any proofe A. What say you to Plato who reports that Socrates being in prison foretold vnto Crito his owne death which should be three dayes after because a faire young woman had appearred to him in his dreame who called him by his name repeating vnto him that verse of the Greeke Poet Tertia te Pithei tempestas laeta locabit which punctually
fell out P. Aristotle also leaueth written vnto vs of Eudimus his great friend who going into Macedonia he arriued in that goodly Citie called Pheu of Thessalonia which was at that instant cruelly oppressed by Alexander the Tyrant where Eudimus fell sicke to death one night he thought that he saw a yong man of most faire aspect who comforting him said that shortly he should be cured and the Tyrant should be slaine which succeeded A. Tullius in like manner writes how Sophocles a famous Poet dreamed of the theefe that had stolne a cup of gold out of Hercules temple which he hauing related to the Magistrate the malefactor was put into prison and so the dreame was verified P. But what say you to my selfe that for two or three dayes before any vnhappy successe or some misfortune shall see it in my dreame and it will infallibly follow A. Sicâ—rat in Fatis Your stable Destinie commeth from the starres And your swift vnderstanding is more then the bow P. To this I cannot tell what to say This I onely finde that though I vse all the caution or circumspection possible yet my dreame will proue true onely the fore-seeing of it produceth this good effect that the occasion occurring so that I can inforce my selfe bending my selfe like a reede I suffer the dint of my Starre to passe ouer A. Call you this a dreame or but rather a vision P. I know not what it is neither for my further health doe I desire to know A. But if melancholick humour be predominant in you which according to the opinion of many learned men hath a kind of prerogatiue to make one foresee truth in dreames I durst be bold to affirme that it would bring forth such an effect P. Certainely I thinke this proceeds not from nature but rather by change by mutation of country of aire of customs of life of stare and of other such like circumstances the which I take not onely to be sufficient to change the complexion of an humane body but to transforme and sublimate any hard mettall whatsoeuer A. I enuy those of Africke who according to Herodotus dreame not at all P. Rather man being for his similitude to God almost diuine and by the vnderstanding different from other creatures whereupon the diuine Poet saith That which our nature hath most worthy in it in this world is from God by the which the nature of man is in part distinguished from other creatures that is to say the intellectuall vnderstanding Therefore the same in another place My minde which doth presage of thy harmes Moreouer Guirinus The soule is not alwayes with senses darkened but rather is most wakefull when it is least troubled with the false forme of the sense now that it sleepeth That novv the minde is not distracted and in it selfe vvholy retyred alone to open vvith darknesse the eyes of Linceus I beleeue that many see in their dreames things to come or by too much dating they doe darken them or through carelesnesse doe not attend them and no lesse through ignorance they know them not therefore I could wish that I did know them and could expound them A. You would expound them according to your owne inclination as that silly or loathsome woman did who hauing a furious longing to be married and a match being offered to her of a man scarse worth the taking vp she went to take aduise of a certaine friend of hers a Monke P. Surely she happened well A. This religious man who was young and a good Philosopher and of no lesse a subtill wit P. Au you said well in saying subtill or warie for to a man little circumspect all the learning in the world little helpes A. After he had penetrated into this her hungry feminine enclination hauing heard all to set her from the dores hee said My spirituall Mistresse goe your wayes home and the next night attentiuely hearken after our Mattins bell which will vndoubtedly instruct you in whatsoeuer you are to performe P. Oh good oh good A. Hauing heard this the poore soule reuerently thanking the Frier tooke her leaue and wholly attentiue those few houres which were to runne before the morning seemed to her a thousand yeares finally behold in an happie houre she heard the Bell. P. And what good newes then A. This young woman whose heart was set vpon nothing else but to iocund with loose raines and open mouth was perswaded that euerie little perswaded her thereunto P. And not without some reason neither A. The Mattins bell sounding she sodainely thought that like the Angell Gabriel it clearely said vnto her marrie marrie marrie and thus as it perseuered sounding that it continued likewise in exhorting her P. Is it possible A. Without either oyle or salt in the morning following she concluded the businesse of consolemini P. Oh then she would be a little quieter I thinke A. Quiet quoth you the Cow that hunteth after the Bull must haue other besides fresh grasse driuing away from a little braine a thousand toyes the Crickets from the head the heart-beatings from the breast interposing the new Ghost with a most large pattent omnibus singulis et quibus cunque did giue him the vsuall fruit and put him in free possession of the pompe of the Ship P. Yet ought she afterwards to be happie A. Say vnhappie P. O hope O desire alwayes deceitfull certainly we are dust and a shadow certainely our will is blinde and greedie certainlie hope is deceitfull A. The world a deceauer of his followers after the sweetnesse filles them with bitternesse for a little honey with much aloes and gall P. The hope of Louers is doubtfull and their ioy is short repentance and griefe follow after But how after the marriage was she vnhappie A. Her husband being a fleshly fellow after a few dayes he began inwardly to loathe her after to hate her then not to esteeme her and then to iniurie her and long time went not ouer her head but that her beating was so ordinarie that blowes were to her in stead of bread and meate P. Obserue my English Gentleman that blowes haue a wonderfull prerogatiue in the feminine sex for if shee be a bad woman there is no more proper plaister to mend her then this but if which is a rare chance she be good to dust her often hath in it a singular vnknowne and as it were an inscrutable vertue to make her much better and to reduce her if possible to perfection A. Why take you her to be of the nature or complexion of the Cat of Mountaine from whom you can haue no ciuer except she be first well bound and often whipt and euen so from some women there is no fruit of honestie fidelity or goodnesse to be hoped for if they be not guarded and kept with walles gates and windowes and as occasion serues beaten and well beaten againe being held in with a
but a prepared soule A. I would willingly be of that nation of which the said Petrarch spake There 's borne a people whom death not grieues E. As for my selfe according as I can iudge of my selfe I see that So weake's the thread That holdes my painefull life As without others helpe Before due time his end it doth obtaine Therefore This gift of God I onely doe demand That when out of his sacred will The houre of my death shall draw neere hand He will renowne me with a worthy end A. Soft and faire this wood of the world spoileth it selfe and reuesting it selfe with new leaues all things by little and little change their countenance E. God receiue the dead into his glory and giue true contrition to the liuing and to me a fresh memory of dying A. Seeing all our hope In death we put So that both when and where We meet with it we may be ready found And they which hitherto haue blindly slept Now let them ope their eyes and stand for feare Each day and houre prepared for the same Let none in force trust or in younger yeares Or in high dignities Seeing nothing is more certaine Then our mortall death And yet vncertain nothing more then th' houre therof E. To doe well is the onely meanes to prepare a mans selfe to die well A. O time O turning heauen thou doest in flying Deceiue the blinde and miserable mortall man Oh euery one admires the sodaine night of life Which in the Sunnes-continuall declining The ruine of the world doth manifest to all E. This is the onely ioy of euery faithfull liuing since that Life gaue death to vs and death onely can giue life A. This is not life but a long death But against death no hope saue death But I pray you sir tell mee so it be lawfull to know what make you in these parts E. Why surely I came with all obseruance to visite you not to stirre vp loue but to awake the louer A. Although fire not reuiued will goe out vnder the ashes of a long silence yet so doth not loue in the forge of a louers breast E. By loue we onely vnderstand the language of loue but for you sir who I know loues me better then I deserue you cannot but euery day haue heard with the eares of your thoughts newes of me who with the wings of my minde flie continually vnto you A. The principall vertue of him that answeres is to know the meaning of him that propounds for with the eyes of my vnderstanding I haue alwaies seene you you were euer really in my presence and in my heart I continually einoyed you and knew your desires E. He that should haue forgot you must needes haue forgotten vertue her selfe I was onely absent from you in body but not in minde A. Neither did I euer conferre with mine owne memorie but I discoursed with your selfe as also I neuer conuersed vvith bookes but I entreated of your vertues as also you can procure me no more inestimable ioy then the liuely memoriall you seemed to retaine of me E. Sir your departure which like lightning Prius tenuit quam tonuit and your absence made me offer vnto you that obseruance which so often I performe with my heart but now your presence spurres me forward to as much as my entire affection demands A. As I discerne the integritie of your minde in the sinceritie of your words so haue I proued and found no lesse in your actions E. Sir you left your selfe behinde with so fresh a memoriall of your loue and courtesie as I may confidently affirme that you neuer departed from me or rather that I neuer left you but that together with you I my selfe departed likewise A. When you seperate me from your sweet selfe you leaue me without departure E. When I leaue you sir I know not whether I am possest with a greater griefe for your departure or a greater desire after your returne or if you loose me with your eyes yet loose I not you with my heart A. Many times I haue receiued you with my minde and oftentimes you haue beene resident in the aboade of my hart but now visibly entertaining you I behold honor admire you E. Now I see sir that you are arriued in good health who was inwardly before vnited to my selfe I thanke God with my whole heart and tongue together and am come both to reioyce and thanke you that you haue thus vouchsafed to mitigate the griefe of your absence A. Through my departure there was no absence of ioy nor by my returne they haue no renouation for they neuer yet came nor which is more I looke not for them in this life E. He hath true ioy that possesses vertue which is better knowne by the want then the enioyance thereof A. Friendly visitations afford no small recreation but yours sir serue me for an excellent remedy they prouoking and stirring me vp to vertue E. It is my proper inclination to visite the vertuous as it is your property to deserue it A. Oh good sir this is rather a confounding then honouring of me E. No in troth Sir I thinke it to be the least part of my dutie and your vertue I was absent from you with obligation but am present both with obligation and affection and so together with them both and my presence I come to visit you A. Now I perceiue that my continuall desire was no little hope of obtayning and inioying your presence E. The courtesie of friends and discourtesie of time haue hitherto delayed my comming to visite you A. Your courtesie is an authentike Patent and perpetual Record of the fauour wherein you please to retaine me E. The same carefull desire which liues in me to serue you the same I say will not permit that I should deferre the doing of you all reuerence A. And the liuing without your presence hath beene as vnacceptable to me as now your presence is gratefull E. There can be nothing more deare vnto me then your comming euen as nothing more dâ—spleasing then your departure A. As likewise your viâ—itation is to me which confirmes the ancient worthinesse of your minde and fastneth a knot vpon another E. What is but deferd is not quite laide aside my intent was to come sooner A. And I O bad fortune when you came to salute mee prepared to visite you and therefore Sir you are the more welcome the slacker my visitation fell out E. And yet in common opinion he that failes in diligence failes in loue A. Excuse me sir delay doth not alwayes pretend negligence E. Loue and affection like flame operates without all delay A. I beseech you sir doe me the fauour as in stead of seruice to accept of my intentiue desire to serue you E. Your requesting of my fauour is the doing of me many A. And affection supplies defect for though you preuent mee in courtesie yet can you not doe it in
issue forth and because the separation of the soule from sensible things to be totally vnited to those intelligible may be deciphered in a kisse hereupon Salomon said Kisse mee with the kisse of thy mouth to note the intensiue desire of the soule vvhich is rauished out of diuine Loue to contemplation of celestiall beautie so as it being in this sort inwardly vnited thereunto it doth in a manner abandon the bodie E. If either the one or the other were endued with grace and replenished with such a spirit a kisse could be no lesse then commended the which notwithstanding as I am perswaded should not onely not be beloued but further vtterly abhorred for where the spirit raignes it vnites not it selfe but rather flies from sence as from his proper enemie A. Why a kisse is naturall and therefore if it be not to be commended neither deserues it blame E. Naturall things are as it were infinite which not being well gouerned turne to expresse vice and especially those which immediatly are vnited vnto sence which being more fraile then any other thing it the more easely remaines corrupted and vanquished and therefore the further off it is kept the more neare and pure it is perserued and giues greater notice of secret vertue and triall of commendable honestie A. Why our Sauior Christ conuersed amongst women E. True it is but hee kissed not women and his conuersation was onely necessarie and therefore he being seene to talke with the Samaritane the Text sayes Discipuli admirabantur quod cum muliere loqueretur they wondred that hee would talke with a woman A. Christ rising first appeared to a woman E. Woman first knew sinne and so first also the Iustifier and Redeemer of sinne and yet Christ said vnto her touch me not A. And yet we may obserue that feminine sex is very courteous and humane and therefore in all reason vvomen must be courteously and kindly vsed E. Nay but rather they being a very corrupt matter wee must flie farre from them for feare of being likewise corrupted our selues wherefore S. Augustine saith Breuis et rigidus sermo cum mulieribus habendus est nec minus sunt cauendae quia magis sunt diuotae we should vse briefe and austere conference with women and no whit the lesse auoid them when they seeme or appeare most deuout and yet I no vvayes meane this of the honourable sort who through their libertie and vrbanitie shine the more brightly A. But a man being as much oblieged to law deuine as a vvoman in this respect mee thinkes Italians keeping their wiues with so great care circumspection and iealousie and themselues hauing their neckes altogether free from this yoake it is a thing altogether repugnant to reason especially when euery one knowes as in the transgression from iustice and equitie so in Adulterie man likewise incurres infamie A. No doubt but a man being bound he breakes the oath of Matrimonie as often as he companieth with a free woman but though he deserue blame for the same yet looseth hee no honour herein in that hee iniuries none but his owne wife but if being free or married he knowes in this sence a married woman he remaines dishonoured in that he sinnes extreamely against the vertue of temperance failing also wonderfully in Iustice in that he iniuries anothers honour a thing more precious then any other outward good and hereupon by ciuill and municipall lawes of wel-gouerned Cities there is a greater punishment imposed on Adultery then on theft because the one doth but preiudice in inferiour goods the other impaires honor which is a greater good E. And yet now me thinks ouer all Europe this adultery tearmed by you so infamous by common vse hath purchased an honorable title men are not only not ashamed of it but often the greater men will boast thereof and I cannot remember that euer I saw it punished but theeues in whole multitudes A. Though men blush not at that which should and ought to make them truely blush a manifest presumption of the banishment of all honestie vertue and honour though an euill custome yet notwithstanding both the men and this offence cannot auoid the being most infamous E. But because you told me that a man onely lost his honour when he accompanied with a marryed woman may wee also say that a marryed woman is onely infamous when shee offends with a marryed man and not when with one free A. Vnderstand sir that as a man ordinarily exceedes in capacitie and vertue a woman so in this case a man is of a better condition then a woman and a woman in worse state then a man for she being marryed and accompanying with others together with her owne she staines her husbands honour also secondly she being according to the Philosophers saying and that of S. Paul in all reason where reason beareth sway subiect to man shee performes the greater iniurie herein because the iniurie of the Inferiour towards the Superiour is greater thirdly because shee may bring into her Husbands house strange children to wipe her husbands owne childrens nose of their share in his goods and falsifie all whatsoeuer so as not being honest it will be hard to know which was Georges and which was Martinoes sonne and therefore we read that a very poore woman being almost at the point of death and her husband lamenting for the great burthen of children which was like to lye vpon him his sicke wife replied good husband doe not feare nor take thought for such a sonne of mine vvas such a Gentlemans the other of such a Lord the other of such a Merchant the fourth was one of my seruants when the youngest of all who though he were very young yet he could vnderstand and speake well falling vpon his knees said Oh louing Mother appoint mee a very good Father E. Questionlesse not without great reason Plato and Aristotle with all the other in setting downe the meanes for well ordaining of a Common-wealth and to educate honest and vertuous men their principall care studie was about good and lawfull procreation the which basiâ— being ouerthrowne there ensues a beastly and brutish confusion A. Miserable blind world that doth not discerne that wheresoeuer the flesh seeketh refection it findeth defection and of a strong body is become weak of a nimble heauy of a faire deformed of an healthfull sick of a young old of a liuing dead E. But you must consider sir that all men doe not follow Bacchus nor are disciples of Sardanapalus nor any such like neither are all the women brought vp in the I le of Cyprus nor yet the schollers of vnchast Venus A. Who knowes not that as in Noahs Arke there was both the Doue the Crow so in euery place are good bad therfore by reprouing the bad I intend not to disgrace the honest and the vertuous but rather by dispraising vice exalt vertue E. Let it be how it will Because both you