liberally extende As longe as thou with mâ—ncy storde or qualities art freight most â—ayâ—e thy maister speekes to thee most ioyfull is his plight 〈◊〉 chearefull peares his pleasant face all times continually And still he saith he full is bent to help and chearish thee â—ayr words they say make fooles to faine trust not swet promise kind before the deedes agree to wordes which thou by proofe shalt finde For though thou be in fauour greatst yet coms a sudden blast that Maisters loue may turne to hate as one dispisde at last â—till shalt thou plie both carks and cares for maysters worthy state to ride to râ—â— in heate and colde at times both er and late In perels plungr and dangers greate thou fealst continuallie thy life thou dost aduenture oft for Maisters cause to dye When others â—â—â—ape in quiet bedde thou ridst in nightes that be in shewres and 〈◊〉 to do the thyng that Lorde commits to thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swordes in groues and bushie place 〈…〉 for Masters cause thou runst in painfull race 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in presence be to shewe thy diligence 〈…〉 is but all thine owne expense 〈…〉 addresse both here and theare to goe 〈…〉 and 〈◊〉 to talke and â—â—yle this is thy endles woe 〈…〉 now mistris speakes now vp and downe goe now 〈…〉 thou theare at all commaundes be thou Yet when thy Maister likes thee well thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thus betwene Caribdis rockes thou â—ailst in doubtfull state â–ª Yf both thee loue t is but for times they stande 〈◊〉 for maister geues his eare perhaps to fauâ—inge 〈◊〉 And then a preuie fooâ— maye worke a treuthles â—ale to â—ell that fauour fleeth and maister 〈◊〉 whom late he loued full well â–ª O cruell tonge O masters fonde that so will bende 〈◊〉 eares to cause a faithfull seruantes â—arâ— to mâ—ne in 〈◊〉 câ—eâ—reâ— But thousande wayes besides may â—rowe displeasurs great in place that shall thee bring from ioyfull hart into a dolefull case This is the surest certaintie of seruice that maie fall this is the wofull haps of men in place illiberall At beck thou art to come and goe a bondage t is yee see whâ— wilde liâ—â—â—t 〈◊〉 seruitude if well he may go free The crouked clowne with all his â—oyle fealth not one halfe thy paine to whom the tylled soyle restores for laboures gratefull gayne But thou for fruites so 〈◊〉 deserued by longe applied care perchaunce may get but only hate not one good worde to spare O Barraine lande O frutelesse feilde to bringe a fort to woes for when they hopde to haue rewarde nought els but hatred groes What man can iudge of such a soyle that hath both eyes to see but that he will accompt the ende a mortall misere If once thou hapst away to be when maister cals thee well what checks thou hast at thy retorne I neede not here to tell Yea oft we see for absence small though cause full great appeare thy maister taunth and maistris frownes as Heg of Hell she weare And once if thou from fauour fall then laboureth flatteryng spies to hoyse thee out of fauour cleane by lewde and knauish lies And commonly this thing doth hap when youth and goods are spent for then to driue thee of in deede his minde is fully bent And soone will he geue credit then to those that thee depraue alas for all our carkes and cares this is rewarde wee haue When faithfull man hath thus long serued in truth of tried hart in th end shall vice ingratytude retracte his iust desarte O youth beware O men be wyse what foole so blinde is hee that will spende out his youthfull yeres such seruingman to be A seruyngman what mome will loue their names are adsous their life abhorde as wicked waies and trade most impious This will the hellish sclaunderous lipps of honest man report and though the seruinge man be good yet rayles the enwous sort When thus is spent thy golden youth and many goodly yeres and left the waies of surer life where greater fruites appeares When spent be goods both stock and store and all in seruice eare and liued longe at charge of freinds whose bagges for thee go bare Then comth on thee displeasures great at one vnhappy howre that maister hates whom well he loued turnes thee out his dowre Then age with charge and toyling paines so many yeres of trust are now at once on sudden lost and all is layde in dust Thus thou for toyle and great expense hast smaller rewarde to take now age draweth on and all is spent and all men thee forsake And thou art left in beggers state that were in youth so fine what miserie is like to this what woes then like to thine In hope some liue to be preferde for worke to haue his gaine but hope may misse though wide he gap he gapeth perchauÌ„ce in vaine Where one wee see to be preferde three liue for lacke as staruid and other eke shall haue the fruites that they haue well deseruide And this is cause that I olâ—e man am poore whom none regarde for I haue felt for seruice longe the maisters short rewarde What greater plagues or woes can be then lost deserued meede and Lorde to turue his seruant of in time of greatest neede Of seruice longe this is the ende as still by proofe ye see for faithfull harts of seruants true these are rewardes that bee For longe expense and charge of freinâ—s this is rewarde againe for lost of time in golden youth this is the tried gaine For toyling paines and labours longe this fruitelesse endes that bee alas this is the death of some when Lordes ingrate they see But cheefe when age doth once appeare that labour none they haue the mistres cries what makst thou heare be packing doting knaue So are they like vnto the Dog in Hunt that runs his race who hath in youth been well esteemde and liuide in careles case But when in age he weried is that hunting all is past go hange they crie the cursed our this is roward at last This is the ende this is rewarde for paines and lost of age O learne yonge man that seruice then in none inheritage A signe of this of youth ill spent an aged man am I alas no refuge is for me O death nowe let me die O wretched state O cruell course O port of penurie O pitte of pagnes O pesilent race O sincke of miserie O witles wates O frutles factts O badge of beggers state O plumpe of paines O endles woes O man infortunate Retire my sonne this race to run that life vnsertaine is who liues in state of Seruitours liues still in doubtfulnes What is the cause ingratitude withdrawes the helpyng hande since seruing weights by dayly toyle are praise of noble band What is the state of noble troope if saruants haue no powres alone is knowen a princely porte by traine of seruitoures By seruice dew is well distinct of state the right degrees as seruants serue in hoping harts and crouch with humble knees Where are the men more courteous then men of seruice free what men are more of comely corps then Courtly seruants be Who knowes the course and trade of men but seruants daily care who are more feate or trim traind vp then manerd seruants are Who stronge or tall of personage but men of seruants route who beares the cares bront of wars but seruants arms so stoute What then of more necessitie then seruitours full trewe why then shall they haue ill rewards in th end their states to rewe Lo here good sonne I haue declarde some part of thy degre be ware be times hereafter say that I haue tolde it thee Then came this courtly Courtier wherin his prayse redownes and gaue vnto this aged man for helpe full twentie Crownes And saide till death in mindefull brest this counsall will I graue and eke in time I hope by wit thereof the fruites to haue I thanckes restord withe hartye loue which tongue dooth faint to tell god thee preserue in happie dayes O â—ather deare farewell Fare well quoth he with thousande thankes God thy iorney speede which thus hast helpe my aged yeres in times of greatest neede Thus sayd that aged man full glad with lingring steps on went. and laith his corps in plesant shade of Oken tree to bent For tonge with talke now werie was and hart for gift was glad wherefore he went to recreat his limmes that weaknesse had And laying downe his bodie weake he layde his Staffe him bye and leande his head on Elbow bare and closde his sleeping eye Finis Howell to his freinde keper THe seruynge state which you reiect By open cause that you detect Deserues so great a prayse in deede As great contempts cannot exceede Who serues not God is voyde of blisse In noble seruice freedom is And he that hath cleare eyes to see Perceaues that all men seruants bee For Princes greatst serue God aboue And men them serue in God by loue As God geueth gifts who him regards So Lord his seruant true rewards What greate rewards of Maisters be By seruice got wee dayly see Some Knights be dubde for their awards To greater state thence forth prefarde And eke wee see in meaner sort The Lords that keepe the stately port Theire seruants keepe in ioylitie And them prefar to dignitie If seruants then receaue their meede And eche man seruant is in deede In this disprayse of them so prest Include your selfe emongst the rest They are preferd why say ye noe Their Maisters gifts do dayly growe Exalt therfore good Courteours And eke the courte ef Seruitours Finis keeper his answer to H. FReind Howe I hope thou quietly To serue thy Lord most faithfully No man to much can prayse such men No Maister good depraues my pen. I speake of Maister Couetous Unkinde vniust vncourteous Unsweet vnmeet to serue at all Not good not iust not liberall Therfore ye take my worde amisse All saruants are most true it is Yet I do gesse by inwarde moode All seruants serue not Maisters good Finis ¶ Imprinted at London in fleetstreet beneath the Conduyt at the signe of S. Iohn Euangelist by Thomas Colwell
trew Care not for them that mend Appelles shew FINIS He declareth his greate mishappes and lamentable sorovves of harte WHen eache wight wonted is to take by nature rest I lie alas through gréeping griefe and thought so sore oprest That from my goyng to bead vntill the time I rise Sleape once hath skarse the powre to close my wéeping wakefull eyes In whiche longe lothsome nightes my Pen full oft I blame For that the wofull state of me t' indite he doth not frame Whose youthfull yeares and daies by nature were not ripe When cruell fate them cleane cut of at one most soden wipe Though life do yet remaine to length my time in teares Whiche fliyng fame seemes not to cease to blow in each wightes eares For singe me oft God knowes a heauie harte to beare When outwardly I séeme to shew a glad and mery chere And eke a carefull minde more troublously itost Then is the shipman on the Sea in daunger nie the lost Whose care no greater is then life and goods to saue When I of God continually with humble voyce do craue That he by death will quite my grief away expell And geue to me a place amonge the saued soules to dwell Which now longe times haue béen so tossed with vnrest That scarse I may the woes sustaine that lie in wofull brest To thinke on my mishaps whiche do me still betide When happie hap to finde redresse full fast away doth glide What greater greife may growe in any honest minde Then is to wante such wonted wealth as it some time did finde Such prouidence for man doth Fortune oft procure When smilingly she séemes to trayne with bayte of golden leure By meane wherof she will a canckred poyson lay Full closely coucht in pleasant bayte with that poore soule to tray As I but lately tried who doth her bayts so taste That secretly I sup the smarts whiche caufe me pine and waste Would God when I began to enter first to life That present death had pearst my hart and rid me cleane this strife So should my Parents not haue béen at such great cost To bringe me vp on whom by fate their great good gifts are lost Ne yet haue left to me no whit such wealth at all Whereby from wealth to miserie might chaunce a soden fall But should the same els where haue well bestowed I say Which they in leauing vnto me did naught but cast away Whose heauie helplesse haps increasing euery hower Doth force me wéepe when others sleape where fortune doth not lowe ▪ Thus passe I forth the nighte when wishe doth wante his will Whom fortune seekes by great despight most cruellie to spill And when the dawninge day I do perceaue and see And eke how Titan lifteth vp him selfe in first degree Whose glorious glyttering beames doth mooue eache thing to ioy Saue only I whose haplesse hap hath wrought all mine anoy Then from my coutche I creepe all clad with woe and care And for to walke in Desart place my selfe I do prepare Where none but wofull wights do wandring wayle their gréefe Where violence doth vengance take where neuer coms releefe Where pleasure plaies no parte nor wanton life is lead Where daintinesse no daunger makes ne finesse once is fead Where deepe dispayre doth dwell in owgle lothsome lake Where feurious feendes do fersly fight an sorowes neuer slake Euen there in dolefull Den I do driue forth the day Where as my pitious plainte and wo no time hath once to stay And then a new I wish that I had neuer been To voyde the painefull piteous plight that now I wretch amin Within whose troubled head such thronge of thoughts doth rise That now on this and then on that I cease not oft to vise Amonge whiche thoughts I note this one that doth ensew Which as the younge Byrde brought from neast put in cage or mew Doth ioye in that her life as much as though she might From wood to wood or feilde to feilde at pleasure take hir flight whiche plainly doth declare a man from byrth brought vp In meane estate that neuer knew the taste of wanton cup Doth holde himselfe so well contente with his degree That he in life doth seldome seeke to craue more greater sée But I as byrde vnlike that flew hir timely flight Throughout the groues and fertill fielde in ioyes and great delight Which shall no sooner feele hir selfe to be restrainde From her such wonted libertie as some time she retainde But forth withall she doth such inwarde thought conceaue That yelding vp hir pleasures past hir life therewith doth leaue when as the byrde in Cage with chirpyng cheare doth singe That neuer knew the place wherein she had more better b'inge So I do playnly see eche wight that wealth hath taste And afterwardes doth wante the same with sorow is imbraste Wherefore sith life apointed was in me this longe to last In simplest sorte woulde God I had the same to this time past Then should I sure haue liude contente with this my pay Which now because of carefull change in wo do wast away Finis Keper to his frende Hovvell WHen surging Seas with raginge blastes be blowen In whiche is man with ship of troublous saile He must beware least Hulcke be ouerthrowen When deathly seas compels weake hart to quaile So though thou be returnd from Port of blisse With hoysing waues and windes so hardly tost Thou maist thy selfe full well assure of this Thou art not he that first hath had the lost It is a healpe sometimes in miserie To haue a sort as felows eke of thrall Ah many man hath felt the chaunce of thee When witlesse youth doth range so prodigall Then hoyse thy sayle and be not ouerblowen The feare of harmes may not thy stomacke slake And rise from couche when chearefull light is showen And draw thee backe from paines of Plutoes lake Haue stronger hart then simple Birdes on trée Let manly corps a manly minde embrace No woes can helpe then frende be rulde by mée Let pacience in quiet breast haue place For all disease for cares and woes each one A quiet minde is only salue alone Finis The restlesse paynes of the Louer forsaken IN springe time when fresh flowers in Feilde do florish fayre When Trees do bud and blosoms beare when temperate is th' ayre When Byrdes with chirping cheare when Beastes that be but brute As course of kinde doth force them forth through loue begins great sute Then I whose fansie fed my sprites to sporte and play To Forrist fayre of pleasant ayre began to take the way As I did passe throughout a valey fayre and gréene Where Birds did singe and Beastes to runne oft pleasant I had séen All husht I founde it tho such silence was there kept As midnight then if it had béen and all thinges sounde had slept Where at amasde I stoode and listning longe might heare At last a hollow sounding voice with lowde lamenting cheare
to late repent Finis The Louer deceaued writes to his Ladie To the tune of in â—reâ—â— when dedalus WHo wold haue thought that face of thine had ben so ful of doblenes Or eles within those Cristall eyne had rest so much vnstablenes Thi face so fair thi look so strauÌ„g who wold haue thought so ful of chauÌ„g But truth it is as most men saye in Cutlers blade is had much craft Who chepneth thine make no saye maie buy on broken in the hast And then repent and saye as I lo what it is to truste the eye In sleper hold who can put trust or iudge a glas of sure meâ—tall Thou art to blame to seme so iuste and prooue so false in the triall But sith thou arte so false in deede best plucke the vp fyyll the seede So yonge in yeares so old in crafte some petie it is that thou so arte More petie it is that nature grafte so good a face with a false harte But since thou art in such a case to sell thy selfe and hide thy face The Ducke vntaught of verie kind doth swime diue after y Dame And thou like wise of sâ—iper mynde dost show of whom thy nature came Thou fouÌ„dest in thy mothers papes to bait with craft thy pleasant trapes So as the new false doth please the changing mind within her graft So doth the old and true dissease her subtill wittes and preiuie crafts And say true man trust not to much y â— â—alfe reward y cometh of such Farewell for euer and this my last Finis In vttringe his plaint he declareth the vncertainty of fained frendship To the tune of winters 〈◊〉 returne IF teares maie trie my troth that trickle downe my cheekes or if my good will may be knowen by profe of daies or weekes Then doe I wronge receaue where frendship craue I moste and where in deed in euery storme my vessell hath ben toste And through the tempestes all my Shippe hath safly sayld and yet no Seas could shake my Barke my hope hath so preuaild Oh helpe ye Courtiers now and Soldiers euery ech one to wayle my present heuy fate my Fortune fled and gone And curse this wicked world wherin most frindes do fainte and namely such as tracte of time hath taught their toungs to painte Which promyse more by wordes then will or workes performes such haue the curnels eaten all and I coumpte them the wormes That guawes the hartes of men in peeces euery daye and such alas haue led my Shippe a wery wilksome waie From whence if I retorne I shall but wander still and fynd noe path to tread vpon that can content my will Heare haue I hoyst my sayle as hye as wind can blowe here had I trendes whose nod or becke a world might ouer throwe And still my staienge staffe did stand by one alone whose gentle hart is now become as hard as Marble stone To me the case is such that mishap thus is myne when I am worne vnto the bones he letts me starue and pyne He lettes me sinke or swyme and shifte by slight of brayne as though my head so gamesome were to set on euery maine Since frendshipe feble growes and men can causles chaunge and wil this daie familliar be and tourne to morrow straunge I will goe seke my happes through fludes and salt Sea fome and rather perishe on the Rockes then thus to starue at home Amongst my cheefest frendes a mid my natuie soyle wher neuer yet in anye poynt I suffered blot or foyle Where all the world might saie I sucte vp many a wroâ—nge where well a way some other thinke I poore man liue to longe Where let my trueth be tried I craue but small reward and where when fortune doth me right the prince maie me regarde Finis The 〈…〉 Keeper to his friend Howell OF late wheÌ„ Primrose gan to peare on Medows bancke so green When Daises whit Rose full red most chearful al were seene A lustie wight of sturdye blood in chiefest times of might I sawe to ride with corage hie on Palfray trimly dight A Courtier right in brauest weede of purest silks so gay with curious Chayne of goodly golde â–ª so clad in courtlike ray Of liuely yeres as fresh as Flower a fine yonge man he was of manly minde not caring ought how daies or yeres dyd passe Not ought did want that might prefer the greatest ioylitie for hart and hands both legges limmes were then in soueraigntie As thus he rode incoradge bolde as well him semde full braue he met in Feild an aged man well ny his ghastly graue Of coulor pale with writhed browes and wrinckled face to note who leande vnto his feble staffe with slender leggs god wot Most homlie was his ragged ray as man that carde for none of lims so leane in hungrye corpes a simple soule alone This lustie youth when once he sawe where such poore man abode he plies his spurs to horses sides and fast he thither rode And askde from whence what he was and what was Fortunes rage why toyle of youth could not prouide for this gray hored age This aged man when he behelde that lustie lad so nie he lifted vp his croked corps and gasde with white of eye And pointed vp his shaking hands that nought were els but bones with feble voice and sobbing sighes thus poures he out his mones Welcom good sonne I wish thee well in these thy timely yeres and God encrease by hys decre thy life in happie cheares But 〈◊〉 haue seen and tride to true that those that run thy race though youth be braue yet age shall wayle in most vnhappy case For I in times haue serude in Courte as braue as brauest of all but witlesse yoath could not for see ill haps that might befall I wayle my case and rue the men â–ª that run the selfe same way whose endes will chaunce a like to mine lest forwit will do stay Wherfore yonge man take heede betime least folly worke thy paine youth stands not still for times do fleete as fluds do flow amaine And since thou art a seruitour this learne of aged man a miserable life thou ledst if toyles with fruites thou scan Of seruing men therfore will I declare the state to thee that thou forewarnde by me mayst learue to flee that misere When first thou comst to seruice trade it sâ—mth full sweet a far but warie be most sweet to men all unexpert is war. And eke this talke that I declare by preofe I know it true would God I had not seene it tride my haplesse hap to rue Beware by me in present youth who was in ioylitee he happy is whom others harms do warie cause to bee Thy mayster first will thee accept and loue thee passyng well when lustâ—â— Age and limmes of youth and riches doo excell As longe as thou canst beare thy charge thy proper costs to spe nde which thou to honour well thy Lorde dost