Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A02166
|
The repentance of Robert Greene Maister of Artes. Wherein by himselfe is laid open his loose life, with the manner of his death
|
Greene, Robert, 1558?-1592.
|
1592
(1592)
|
STC 12306; ESTC S119749
|
13,805
|
32
|
The Repentance of Robert Greene Maister of Artes. Wherein by himselfe is laid open his loose life with the manner of his death AT LONDON Printed for Cutbert Burbie and are to be sold at the middle shop in the Poultry vnder Saint Mildreds Church 1592. The Printer to the Gentlemen Readers GEntlemen I know you ar not vnacquainted with the death of Robert Greene whose pen in his life time pleased you as well on the Stage as in the Stationers shops And to speake truth although his loose life was odious to God and offensiue to men yet forasmuch as at his last end he found it most grieuous to himselfe as appeareth by this his repentant discourse I doubt not but he shall for the same deserue fauour both of God and men And considering Gentlemen that Venus hath her charmes to inchaunt that Fancie is a Sorceresse bewitching the Senses and follie the onely enemie to all vertuous actions And forasmuch as the purest glasse is the most brickle the finest Lawne the soonest staind the highest Oake most subiect to the wind and the quickest wit the more easily woone to folly I doubt not but you will with regarde forget his follies and like to the Bee gather hony out of the good counsels of him who was wise learned and polliticke had not his lasciuious life withdrawen him from those studies which had been far more profitable to him For herein appeareth that he was a man giuen ouer to the lust of his owne heart forsaking all godlines one that daily delighted in all manner of wickednes Since other therefore haue forerun him in the like faults and haue been forgiuen both of God and men I trust hee shall bee the better accepted that by the working of Gods holy spirit returnes with such a resolued Repentance being a thing acceptable both to God and men To conclude forasmuch as I found this discourse very passionate and of woonderfull effect to withdraw the wicked from their vngodly waies I thoght good to publish the same and the rather for that by his repentance they may as in a glasse see their owne follie and thereby in time resolue that it is better to die repentant than to liue dishonest Yours C.B. To all the wanton youths of England Robert Greene wisheth reformation of wilfulnes WHen I consider kinde Cuntrimen that youth is like to the spring time of mans age readie in the bloome to be nipped with euerie misfortune and that a yong man is like to a tender plant apt to be wrested by nurture either to good or euill as his friendes like good Gardeners shall with care indeuour his education seeing in the prime of our yeares vice is most ready to creepe in and that want of experience committeth sundrie wanton desires I thoght good to lay before you a president of such preiudiciall inconueniences which at the first seeming sweete vnto youth at the last growe into fruits of bitter repentance For a yong man led on by selfe will hauing the raines of libertie in his owne hand foreseeth not the ruth of follie but aimeth at present pleasures for he giues himselfe vp to delight and thinketh euerie thing good honest lawfull and vertuous that fitteth for the content of his lasciuious humour hee foreseeth not that such as clime hastely fall sodainely that Bees haue stings as well as honie that vices haue ill endes as well as sweete beginnings and whereof growes this heedles life but of selfe conceit thinking the good counsell of age is dotage that the aduice of friends proceeds of enuie and not of loue that when their fathers correct them for their faults they hate them whereas when the blacke Oxe hath trod on their feete and the Crowes foote is seene in their eies then toucht with the feeling of their owne follie they sigh out had I wist when repentance commeth too late Or like as waxe is ready to receiue euerie newe fourme that is stamped into it so is youth apt to admit of euery vice that is obiected vnto it and in young yeares wanton desires is cheefely predominate especiallie the two Ringleaders of all other mischiefes namely pride and whoredome these are the Syrens that with their inchanting melodies drawe them on to vtter confusion for after a young man hath suckt in that sinne of pride hee groweth into contempt and as he increaseth prowde in his attyre so he is scornfull in his lookes and disdaines the wholsome admonition of his honest freends whose aduice he supposeth to be doone of malice and therefore esteemeth his owne waies best and had rather hazard his life than to loose an intch of his credit Pride is like to fier that will die and goe out if it bee not maintained with fewell and yet lay on neuer so bigge logges it consumes them all to ashes so pride craues maintenance or els it will fade and had a young man neuer so great reuenues pride at last will reduce it to begger you for it is such a sinne as once got into the boane it will step into the flesh he that once ietteth in his brauerie if he haue no meanes to maintaine it it will leaue no bad course of life vnattempted but hee will haue corners to vphold his follie Heereof growes coossenages thefts murthers and a thousand other pettie mischiefes and causes many proper persons to bee trust vp at the gallowes purchasing thereby infamy to themselues and hart breaking sorrow to their friends and parents for euer Companion to this vice is lust and lecherie which is the viper whose venome is incurable and the onely sinne that in this life leadeth vnto shame and after death vnto hell fire for he that giueth himselfe ouer to harlots selleth his soule to destruction and maketh his bodie subiect to all incurable diseases These two vices do not onlie waste a mans substance but also consumeth his bodie and soule and maketh him attempt to do any mischiefe for his maintenance therein If happely the young man hath any grace and is loth to take any vnlawfull wayes the ordinary course of his copesmates is straight to call him coward and cast him out of their fauour or els by svveete persvvasions and flattering vvordes make him forsake God and all good meanes of life vvhatsoeuer this is the manner life and course of such as vvill not listen to the graue aduice of their parents but seeke therby to bring their graie haires vvith greefe vnto theyr graues This ensuing discourse gentle Reader dooth lay open the graceles endeuours of my selfe vvho although I vvere for a long time giuen ouer to the lust of my ovvn hart yet in the end Gods grace did so fauourablie worke in me that I trust heerein thou shalt perceiue my true and vnfained repentance Accept it in good part and if it may profit anie I haue my desire Farewell R. G. The Repentance of Robert Greene Maister of Arts. AS there is no steele so stiffe but the stamp will pierce no flint
sure so to behaue my selfe towards him that he shoulde euer after professe to bee my vtter enemie or else vowe neuer after to come in my company Thus my misdemeanors too many to bee recited caused the most part of those so much to despise me that in the end I became friendles except it were in a fewe Alehouses who commonly for my inordinate expences would make much of me vntil I were on the score far more than euer I meant to pay by twenty nobles thick After I had wholy betaken me to the penning of plaies which was my continuall exercise I was so far from calling vpon God that I sildome thought on God but tooke such delight in swearing and blaspheming the name of God that none could thinke otherwise of mee than that I was the child of perdition These vanities and other trifling Pamphlets I penned of Loue and vaine fantasies was my chiefest stay of liuing and for those my vaine discourses I was beloued of the more vainer sort of people who beeing my continuall companions came still to my lodging and there would continue quaffing carowsing and surfeting with me all the day long But I thanke God that hee put it in my head to lay open the most horrible coosenages of the common Conny-catchers Cooseners and Crosse-biters which I haue indifferently handled in those my seuerall discourses already imprinted And my trust is that those discourses will doe great good and bee very beneficiall to the Common-wealth of England But oh my deare Wife whose company and sight I haue refrained these sixe yeares I aske God and thee forgiuenesse for so greatly wronging thee of whome I seldome or neuer thought vntill now Pardon mee I pray thee where soeuer thou art and God forgiue mee all my offences And now to you all that liue and reuell in such wickednesse as I haue done to you I write and in Gods name wish you to looke to your selues and to reforme your selues for the safegard of your owne soules dissemble not with God but seeke grace at his handes hee hath promist it and he will performe it God doth sundry times deferre his puishment vnto those that runne a wicked race but Quod defertur non aufertur that which is deferde is not quittanst a day of reckoning will come when the Lord will say Come giue account of thy Stewardship What God determineth man cannot preuent he that binds two sinnes together cannot go vnpunisht in the one so long the Pot goeth to the Pit that at last it comes broken home Therefore all my good friends hope not in money nor in friends in fauors in kindred they are all vncertaine and they are furthest off when men thinke them most nigh Oh were I now to begin the flower of my youth were I now in the prime of my yeares how far would I bee from my former follyes what a reformed course of life would I take but it is too late onely now the comfortable mercies of the Lord is left me to hope in It is bootlesse for me to make any long discourse to such as are gracelesse as I haue beene all wholesome warninges are odious vnto them for they with the spider sucke poison out of the most pretious flowers to such as God hath in his secrete councell elected fewe words will suffize But howsoeuer my life hath beene let my repentant ende be a generall example to all the youth in England to obey their parentes to flie whoredome drunkennes swearing blaspheming contempt of the word and such greéuous and grosse sinnes least they bring their parents heads with sorrow to their graues and least with mee they be a blemish to their kindred and to their posteritie for euer Thus may you see how God hath secrete to himselfe the times of calling and when hee will haue them into his vineyard some hee calles in the morning some at noone and some in the euening and yet hath the last his wages aswell as the first For as his iudgementes are inscrutable so are his mercies incomprehensible And therefore let all men learne these two lessons not to despaire because God may worke in them through his spirit at the last houre nor to presume least God giue them ouer for their presumption and deny them repentance and so they die impenitent which finalis impenitentia is a manifest sinne against the holy Ghost To this doth that golden sentence of S. Augustine allude which hee speaketh of the theefe hanging on the Crosse. There was saith hee one theefe saued and no more therefore presume not and there was one saued and therefore despaire not And to conclude take these caueats hereafter following Certaine Cauiats sent by Robert Greene to a frend of his as a farewell written with his owne hande 1 THe feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome therfore serue God least he suffer thee to be lead into temptation 2 Despise neither his worde nor his Minister for her that heareth not can haue no faith without faith no man can be saued 3 Obey thy Prince for he that lifteth his hande against the Lords anointed shall be like vnto a withered plant 4 Despise not the counsaile of thy Father nor the wholesome admonition of thy mother for he that listeneth not to their lessons shall be cut off in his youth 5 Spend the prime of thy yeares in vertue so dost thou lay an earnest pennie of honorable age 6 Flie the sweetnes of the grape for a man that is giuen to much wine shall neuer be rich 7 Take not the name of God in vaine for then thou shalt not bee guiltlesse nor shall the curse of God come neare thy house 8 A man that delights in harlots shall heape sinne vpon his soule he shall be an open shame in the streets and his place shall not be knowne 9 He that robbeth from his neighbour purchaseth discredit to himselfe and his kindred and he shall not go to his graue with honor 10 Who medleth with pitch shall be defiled and he that eateth the bread of Robbers fatneth himselfe against the day of vengeance 11 Giue not thy youth ouer to the Deuill neyther vow the dregs of thy olde age vnto God for a repentant mind commeth from God 12 Remember thy end and thou shalt neuer doe amisse and let the law of the Lord be a lanthorne to thy feete so shall thy pathes bee aright and thou die with honour Robert Greene. The manner of the death and last end of Robert Greene Maister of Artes. AFter that he had pend the former discourse then lying sore sicke of a surfet which hee had taken with drinking hee continued most patient and penitent yea he did with teares forsake the world renounced swearing and desired forgiuenes of God and the worlde for all his offences so that during all the time of his sicknesse which was about a moneths space hee was neuer heard to sweare raue or blaspheme the name of God as he was accustomed