money to faine theÌ„selues with child made of a cushion for coÌ„cealmeâ—t wherof the bawds must be wel bribed to caper in mens armes til they haue guld theÌ„ of their purses to counterfeit teares with an onioÌ„ yea to vse fine glozing speeches as Sir you mistake your marke I am none of your wanton Gilles you abuse my credit my mistris cals me And immediatly after perceiuing the lusty wooer to haue mony in his purse she begins by degrees to listen saying Many men will promise much but performe little they beare vs in haÌ„d vntil they haue got their pleasures of vs and then away they go but you loâ—ke like an honest man After this the bawdes seeing their wenches deformed they giue theÌ„ drugges to raise their colours and to seeme fairer This is the bawdes acquisitiue facultie whereby they liue Some bawds haue a dozen damsels some lesse yet of euerie man they take largely as 20. shillings a weeke or tenne pound a month It is said that loÌ„g Meg of Westminster kept alwaies 20. Courtizans in her house whoÌ„ by their pictures she sold to all commers But I returne to the extirpation thereof We reade that Theodosius the great in the yeere of our Lord 392. vtterly chased al stewes out of his Empire For which notable act his name eueÌ„ at this day is greatly honoured No lesse praise deserueth Henry the eight of famous memory for abolishing putting down of the stewes in London which then were innumerable Therin he imitated the good K. Iosias who brake down the houses of the Sodomites that were in the house of the Lord. Finally no man is ignorant that the pestilent disease of the French pockes was sent as a punishment to stewes Of Vsurers Chap. 21. HE that receiueth any thing ouer and aboue the capitall summe that was lent is an vsurer For which respect I compare him to an aspet for euen as he that is stuÌ„g with an Aspe falleth asleepe as it were with delight but dieth ere he awakes so an vsurer taketh great pleasure in his interest at the first but at length he is so ouercloyed with money that he can neuer enioy any rest the cause is his conscience which like a multitude of furies vexeth his heart and fortelles him of his euerlasting damnation Hence it is that the Romanes inflicted as great punishment on an vsurer as on a theefe and not without cause for hee that killeth a man riddeth him out of his torments at once whereas an vsurer is long in punishing and vndoing his creditour causing him by little and little to pine away Also an vsurer by vndoing of one vndoeth many namely the wife and whole houshold Moe Gentlemen heere in England haue Vsurers Banquers and Marchants driuen to despaire then either warres or sicknesse For when a yong Punie commeth vnto them desiring to be credited for money or apparrell then one of them counterfeiting themselues forsooth to be coy like women wil burst foorth into these termes The world is hard and wee are all mortall wee may not venture our goods God knowes howe wee earne our liuing wherefore make vs assurance and you shall haue tenne poundes worth in silkes and veluets Well this passeth on currant assurance is giuen with a witnesse A little after if the Gentleman hath not wherewithal to pay as wel the interest as the principall agreed vpon whensoeuer this reprobate cut-throate demaundeth it then presently as round as a ball hee commenceth his statute-marchant against him and for tenne poundes profite which was scarce woorth fiue pound in money hee recouereth by relapse ten pound a yeere O intolerable wickednesse O diuelish haberdashers and worse then those vngodly tenants who seeing their Landlords heyre comming sayde one to another This is the heire come let vs kill him and wee shall haue his Inheritance Darest thou O wretched cormorant hope to bee saued and expect to bee partaker of the heauenly blessings Art thou a Christian and wilt suffer thy brother in Christ thus to miscarie through thy entanglements exactioÌ„s No no thou art a member of Sathan thou art in the gall of bitternes and in the bond of iniquitie Obiection The lawes of England do permit vsurie to wit two shillings in the pound therefore an vsurer is not wicked Answere It is one thing to permit vsurie and another to allow thereof By our positiue lawes is meant that those men who cared not howe much they extorted out of poore mens handes for the loane of their money should bee empaled and limited within certaine meeres and bounds lest they ouerflowed reason So that the lawes do but mitigate the penalties and if it were possible they would restraine men from it Of the particulars wherein Vsurie is committed Chap. 22. A Man committeth vsurie sixe maner of wayes First whosoeuer lendeth corne vnto his neighbour with promise that at the redeliuery thereof he should giue him somewhat more is an vsurer As for example if he lend to a man fiue bushels of corne at May vnder condition that he giue him sixe bushels at Bartholmewtide Secondly hee that forestalleth and intercepteth corne in the market and that not for any want but to sell it againe dearer then hee bought it thereby to enrich himself with the impouerishing of many Thirdly he committeth vsury that for the loane of his mony receiueth a greater gage then the money valueth and claimeth the same as forfeit the money being not repayed him at the prefixed time Fourthly he is an vsurer that lendeth his money vpon coÌ„dition that the other buy his necessaries at his shop or grind at his mill Fiftly he is an vsurer that keepeth false ballances and that selleth bad musty things for good and new Finally hee that incloseth commons turneth tillage into pastures is an vsurer Whether it be lawfull for an householder to ingrate and ingrosse corne in the market to the intent he may sell the same another time at a dearer price Chap. 23. WHosoeuer hee be that forestalleth corne in the market and traÌ„sporteth it home into his garners there keeping it vntill a dearer time fall out without doubt committeth vsury For euery maÌ„ ought to sell as he bought and doing otherwise he is an vsurer and must make restitution of the ouerplus The which if he denie he is eftsoone depriued of all power to make his last will and testament Besides there be statute punishments ordained for the repressing of this filthy lucre as forfeits to the Clerkes of the market finesâ—to be paid to the Prince if the foresaid party be taken in the maner In summe his cankred gold and siluer which hee hath thus receiued of the poore buyers and the rust of them shall be a witnesse against him at the feareful day of iudgement and shall eat vp his flesh as it were fire The fift Plant. Of Hospitality Chap. 24. HOspitality is the chiefest point of humanity which an housholder caÌ„ shew not
comfort and cherish him as a part of her owne body The third she must esteeme the maners of her husband to be the legall rules of her life The fourth she must not be too sumptuous superfluous in her attire as decked with frizled haire embrodery pretious stones gaudy raiments and gold put about for they are the forerunners of adultery But let her haue the inward man in her heart which consisteth in the incorruption of a mecke and quiet spirit that is before God a thing much set by For euen after this maner in time past did the holy women which trusted in God attire themselues and were subiect to their husbands The fift shee must not bee iealous or mistrust her husbands absence The sixt duty of a wife is carefully to ouersee her household and to bring vp her children and seruaunts in the feare of God The seuenth she must not discouer her husbands imperfections and faultes to any for by disclosing them eyther she makes her self a iesting stock or els she ministreth occasion for knaues to tempt her to villany The eight duty of a wife is that she gibe not nor flout her husband but beare with him as long as she may Of Diuorcement Whether the innocent party after a diuorcement made can marie againe during the other parties life Chap. 9. MAny mē now a-daies forgetting the plighted troth of man and wife are so deuoid of iudgement and vnderstandding that they make no conscience to proue them separated whome God hath ioyned together Yea some proceed further saying that a man hauing taken his wife in adultery may not onely put her away but also marrie another notwithstanding the first being aliue Which last opinion of theirs because it seemes somewhat probable I will as well as I cā discusse S. Paul saith that the Lord commaundeth the wife not to depart from her husband but and if shee do then be willeth her to remaine vnmarried or bee reconciled vnto her husband In which words might be made a doubt whether the Apostle meant the guiltlesse or guilty party Howbeit I find a defensiue aunswere namely that hee meant the guiltlesse wife for this commaundement let not the wife depart from her husband implieth not this sence to wit let not the wife be constrained as guilty to depart from her husband but rather let not the wife beyng guiltlesse be authour of diuorcement and so by order of law depart from her guilty husband Further if it were lawful for the guiltles to marie againe during the other parties life there would be made a way for infinite diuorcements yea and the commonwealth would be endaungered by reason of often dissentions cauillations and innouations whereas otherwise mē knowing that either they must liue singly or be reconciled seldome or neuer should we see diuorcements To knit vp this doubtfull and litigious question I resolue on this namely that we being Christiās should consider that the spirituall marriage which is betwixt Christ and his Church is now and then polluted by vs with spirituall fornication and that notwithstanding all this it pleaseth his Diuine maiestie to be at a new atonement with vs to comfort vs after this maner Returne O yee disobedient children and I will heale your rebellions For euen as a woman hath rebelled against her husband so haue yee rebelled against me In like sort it behoueth vs to forgiue one another and to imitate our sauiour Christ who mercifully pardoned the woman whom the Scribes Pharisees tooke in adultery saying vnto her Goe and finne no more To be short wee ought to thinke how troublesome second marriages are like to be both for the childrens sake and also for the guilty party who being out of all hope of reconciliation will fall to despaire and to greater vices and perhaps neuer afterwards will become reformed Of Iealousie Chap. 10. IEalousie is a malady of the mind ingendred of loue which will not admit a corriuall or copartner in the thing beloued To this passion the wild asse is most subiect for in a whole herd of females there is but one male and he is so iealous that he will not permit any other to come amongst them and when the female hapneth to haue a male colt the sire with his teeth wil bite off his stones as fearing he would couer his damme Among men the Italians bee most iealous for they if their wiues do but once commune albeit openly with men do presently suspect them of adultery The Germanes of all nations are lesse iealous although their womē be very faire Pope Pius the second otherwise called Aeneas Siluius in the yeere of our Lord 1461. being at the bathes in Germany wondred much at the boldnesse of the dutch-Dutchwomen who would euē with men step naked into the bathes whereupon he was wont to say that the Germanes were farre wiser then the Italians Our women here in England although they be in the power of their husbands yet they bee not so straightly kept as in mew with a gard as they be in Italy Spaine but haue almost as much liberty as in Frāce or in Germany and they haue for the most part all the charge of the house and household which is the naturall occupation and part of a wife In summe there is no nation vnder the cope of heauen lesse iealous then ours who tender their wiues so kindly and charitably that at their deaths they make them eyther sole or chiefe executrices of their last willes and testimēts and haue for the most part the gouernment of the children and their portions The second Plant. The duty of Parents towards their children Chap. 11. PArents must haue a carefull eye to their childrē because thereupon principally dependeth the glory of their house And that their duties towardes them may the more manifestly appeare I will set downe what they ought to do First of all Parents must teach their children to pray vnto God to rehearse the Creed and the ten Commaūdements and to catechize them in the chiefest points of faith Secondly they must beware that they come not among such felowes as sweare curse and such like and to that end they must place discreet tutours ouer them Thirdly parēts must breake them from their willes correct them sharply when they offend yet not in their anger for in smitting with the rod they shall deliuer their soules from hell Fourthly parentes must not permit their children to weare gorgeous attires or newfangled dresses but rather declare vnto them the vanity thereof Fiftly parentes must procure them wise and learned teachers when they are fit to go to schole Sixtly parentes must not marre their children by marying them during their minorities neither cause them against their willes to bee assured Seuenthly parentes must see that their children liue in vnitie peace and concord for if debate and discord be pernicious among al men how much rather betweene brethren Lastly parents
make lawes The auncient Cities appoynted foure and each borough two whome we call Burgesses of the Parliament to haue voyces in it and to giue their consent and dissent in the name of the Citie or borough for which they be appoynted Whether out landish men ought to bee admitted into a Citie Chap. 19. IT is commonly seene that sedition often chanceth there where the inhabitants be not all natiue borne This Lycurgus the Lawgiuer of the Lacedemonians rightly noting instituted that no stranger should be admitted into his Common-wealth but at a prefixed time His reason was because seldome it is seene that the homeborne Citizens and the outlandish doe agree together In the yere of our Lord 1382. the Londiners made an insurrection and slew all the Iewes that inhabited amongst them The Neapolitanes and Sicilians in the yeere of our Lord 1168. rose against William their king because hee gaue certaine offices to Frenchmen and killed them all in one night The Citizens of Geneua repining at strangers which resorted and dwelled among them conspired together in the yeere 1556. to expell them and if Caluin had not thrust himselfe betweene the naked swords to appease the tumult doubtlesse there would haue beene a great slaughter There is at this present day a religious law in China and Cathaya forbidding on paine of death the accesse of strangers into the country What shall I say of the constitutions of Princes whereby strangers were vtterly extruded and excluded from bearing offices in the Common-wealth Arcadius and Honorus Empercurs of Rome decreed that no man out of the parish where a benefice fel voyde should be admitted minister Likewise Pope Innocent the third was woont to say that hee could not with a safe conscience preferre any strangers to bee officers in the kingdome of Hungarie King Charles the seuenth of France in the yeere of our Lord 1431. proclaimed that no alien or stranger should be presented to any ecclesiasticall liuing liuing in his realme For which respects Princes must haue great regard touching the admission of strangers and especially to their number For if they exceede the natiue inhabitanes in number and strength then through confidence in their own might they will presently inuade and ouerthrow their too too kind fosterers Of Marchants Chap. 20. FOrasmuch as there bee three sorts of Citizens the first of Gentlemen who are wont now and then for pleasure to dwell in Cities the second of Marchants and the third of manuaries and Artificers it is expedient that I hauing alreadie declared the properties of Gentlemen should now conse quently discourse some what of Marchants and then of Artificers By Marchants necessaries are transported frō strange countries and from hence other superfluous things are conueyed to other places where they traffick so commodiously that the whole Commonwealth is bettered by them Euerie countrie hath a seuerall grace naturally giuen vnto it as Moscouie is plentifull of hony waxe Martin-skinnes and good hides The country of Molucca yeeldes cloues sinnamon and pepper In the East Indiaes grow the best oliues Damascus aboundeth with prunes reysins pomegranates and quinces From Fraunce we fetch our wines From Francoford wee haue bookes brought vnto vs. So that whosoeuer considereth the generall cōmon-wealth of all the world hee shall perceiue that it cannot continue long in perfection without traffique and diuersities Of Artificers Chap. 21. AMongst occupations those are most artificiall where fortune is least esteemed those most vnseemely whereby men do pollute their bodies those most seruile wherin there is most vse of bodily strength and those most vile wherein vertue is least required And again the gaines of tole-gatherers and vsurers are odious and so are the trades of Butchers Cooks Fishmongers and Huxters Pedlers likewise Chaundlers are accounted base for that they buy of Marchants to the end they may presently vtter the same away In vttering of which they cog and cousen the simple buyers thē which nothing is more impious or more hurtful to the conscience These kind of men haue no voyee in the common-wealth and no account is made of them but onely to be ruled and not to rule others Of Yeomen and their oppression Chap. 22. A Yeoman is hee that tilleth the ground getteth his liuing by selling of corne in markets and can dispend yeerely fortie shillings sterling There is no life more pleasant then a yeomans life for where shall a man haue better prouision to keep his winter with fire enough then in the country and where is there a more delightful dwelling for goodly waters gentle windes and shadowes then in the coūtry This life was so highly regarded in ancient time that euen Emperors and generals of war haue not bin ashamed to exercise it Herehence descended Remus and Q. Cincinnatus who as he was earing his foure acres of land was by a purseuant called to the City of Rome created Dictator Dioclesiā left his Empire at Salona and became a yeoman Let a man repaire at any time to a yeomans house and there he shal find all manner of victuals meath and all of his owne without buying or laying money out of his purse But now a dayes yeomanrie is decayed hospitalitie gone to wracke and husbandrie almost quite fallen The reason is because Landlords not contented with such reuenewes as their predecessours receiued nor yet satisfied that they liue like swinish Epicures quietly at their ease doing no good to the Commonwealth doe leaue no ground for tillage but doe enclose for pasture many thousand acres of ground within one hedge the husbandmē are thrust out of their own or else by deceit constrained to sell all that they haue And so either by hook or by crook they must needes depart away poore seely soules men women children And not this extremity onely do our wicked Ahabs shew but also with the losse of Naboths life do they glut their ouergreedy minds This is the cause why corne in England is become dearer then it was woont to bee and yet notwithstanding all this sheep wool are nothing better cheap but rather their price are much enhaunsed Thus do our remorcelesse Puttocks lie lurking for the poore commons to spoile them of their tenemēts but they shall not long enioy them And why because they are oppressours of the poore and not helpers their bellies are neuer filled therefore shall they soone perish in their couetousnesse The third Plant. Of Counsell Chap. 23. COunsell is a sentence which particularly is giuen by euery man for that purpose assembled There be fiue rules to be noted in counsell The first to counsell wel wherein is implied that whatsoeuer is proposed should be honest lawful and profitable The second counsell must not be rash and headlong but mature deliberated and ripe like vnto the barke of an old tree Thirdly to proceed according to examples touching things past as what shal chaūce to the Israelites because
notwithstanding at last he loseth all so may put his winnings in his ere yea and which is worse hee hazardeth his soule which hee ought to hold more deare then all the world But because I haue largely confuted this vice in other places I will proceed to the other cause of the alteration of commonwealths Of superfluitie of apparell another cause Persi. of the alteration of Kingdomes Chap. 58. IN the beginning of the world men were clothed with pelts and skins of beasts wherby is to be noted that they were become as beasts by transgressing the cōmandement of God touching the fruit in Paradise Apparell was not giuen to delight mens wanton eies but to preserue their bodies from the cold and to couer their shame They had no Beuer hats sharpe on the top like vnto the spire of a steeple nor flatte crownde hats resembling rose-cakes They wore no embrodered shirtes nor garments of cloth of gold They knew not what meant our Italianated Frenchified nor Duch and Babilonian breeches They bought no silken stockins nor gaudie pantoffles Their women could not tel how to frizle and lay out their haire on borders They daubed not their faces with deceitfull drugs wherewith hiding the handi-work of God they might seeme to haue more beautie then hee hath vouchsafed to giue them They imitated not Hermaphrodites in wearing of mens doublets They wore no chaines of gold nor ouches iewels bracelets nor such like They went not clothed in veluet gownes nor in chamlet peticotes They smelt not vnto pomanders Ciuet Muske and such like trumperies And yet for all that they farre surpassed vs in humanitie in kindnesse in loue and in vertue Their onely cogitations were bent to decke the inward mind not the outward body which is nothing els sauing a liuing sepulcher They knew that if the mind were humble and lowly the raiment for the body must bee euen so Euerie seede bringeth forth herbes according to his kind as time seed bringeth foorth time and tare seede tare Such as the heart is such is the body if the heart bee proude the fruit thereof will be ill weedes and proud attires But why is the earth ashes proud to what end will our fine apparell serue when death knocketh at out doores and like a theefe in the night surprizeth vs vnawares Our yong gallants when they hire a chamber in London looking daily to bee sent for home by their parents will neuer trouble themselues with any charges or garnishing it as otherwise they would doe if they were assured longer to continue in it And what I pray you is the body but a chamber lent to the soule wherehence it expecteth continually to bee sent for by God our heauenly father and as Saint Paul speaketh to bee loosed and to be with Christ For what cause doe wee take such care to apparell the body seeing within a while after it must putrifie and returne to the dust of the earth from whence it came what reason haue wee to neglect the soule which neuer dieth why do we not follow King Henrie the sixt of this Realme who when the Earle of Warwicke asked him wherefore hee went so meanely apparelled answered It behooueth a Prince to excel his subiects in vertue and not in vesture Let vs call to remembrance the wife of Philo the Iewish Philosopher who wisely answered one of her gossips that demaunded of her why she went not as other matrons attired in pretious garmēts Because quoth shee I thinke the vertues of my learned husband sufficient ornaments for me Whereto consenteth that of the Comick z In vaine doth a woman goe well attired if shee be not also well manered But what neede I spend time in producing of examples when our Sauiour Christ scorned not to weare a coate without a seame Which kinde of apparell if a man now-a-dayes vsed heere in England presently one of our fine Caualeers would laugh at him and prize both him and his apparell scant worth a hundred farthings Oh what a shame is it that euerie seruing-man in England nay euerie common Iacke should flaunt in silkes and veluets and surpasse Gentlemen of worship I haue knowne diuers who would bestow all the money they had in the world on sumptuous garments and when I asked them howe they would liue heereafter they would answere A good marriage will one day make amends for all thereby implying that they hoped to inueigle and deceiue some widow or other Which pretence of theirs being frustrate they will bee driuen to commit burglaries and murthers In respect of which inconueniences I exhort euerie man to liue according to his vocation and to obserue her Maiesties decrees and proclamations whereby Caualeering groomes and dunghilled knaues are straightly prohibited to weare the same sutes and apparell as Gentlemen Obiection God hath created al things which are in this world for mans vse therefore any man may weare cloth of gold siluer or such like Answere True it is that God made all things in this world to be vsed of mā but herein I must distinguish men some men be noble some ignoble There is no reason why cloth of gold permitted onely to Noblemen should be equally permitted to earth-creeping groomes And again God hath appoynted men not sole cōmanders but bailies of his goods creatures with condition that they giue an account of the vtmost farthing of the same And in this regard Noblemē may gorgeously attire themselues so long as they clothe the needie and distressed members of Christ. But if Noblemen on the contrary clothe themselues sumptuously without reseruing meanes to furnish the poore members of Christ then will the Lord at the great day of iudgement pronounce this fearefull doome against them Depart frō me ye cursed into eternal fire for I was naked ye clothed me not To knit vp this briefely I say that God created al things for his owne glorie and to take occasion to extoll him but not for our pride to abuse them The seuenth Plant. Of the conseruation of a common-wealth Chap. 59. THere be many means to preserue a commonwealth but aboue the rest these ten are of most efficacy The first and chiefest is to liue vprightly in the feare of God The second to make no delay in executing of attainted and condemned persons The third to suffer euery man to enioy his owne and not lauishly to spend rake the priuat inhabitants goods The 4. to haue a great regard of mischiefs euils at the first budding how small soeuer it be for the corruptiō that creepeth in by little little is no more perceyued then small expenses be the often disbursing wherof vndoeth the substance of a house And as great rayne horrible stormes proceed from vapours and exhalations that are not seene so alteration changes breed in a commonwealth of light and trifling things which no man would iudge to haue such an issue The fift means is that Magistrates behaue themselues