His rule commaunded that if any knight of the band did vnderstande that within the compasse of thyrtie myles of the Courte there shoulde bée made any Iustes or Turneys he was bounde to go thither to iust and turneye vpon pain to goe one Moneth without his sworde and as much without his bande 34 His rule commaunded that if any knight of the bande shoulde be maried within thrée score miles compasse of the Court al the other Knights of the band should go with him to the King to craue for him some reward and that afterwards they should accompany him to the place of his mariage to the end that there they shoulde do some honorable exercise of chiualrie and knighthood to the end they should offer some iewell vnto his spouse 35 His rule commaunded that on the first sonday of euery moneth the knights of the band should go to Court together very well appointed armed and that there in the Court or in the great hall in the presence of the king and al his Court they should play at all weapons two and two in such wise that no hurt were done for the end that this order was made was bicause they shoulde rather boast themselues of déedes than of the names of knights and were of the kyng therefore much honored 36 His rule commaunded that they shoulde not torney more than thirtie with thirtie and with swordes rebated and at the sounde of a trumpet they shoulde assayle eche other and also at the sound of the Clarion they shoulde all retire vpon paine not to enter more in torney and in one moneth not to go to the Court. 37 His rule commaunded that at the iustes none shoulde run more than euery man his foure courses and should haue for Iudges foure Knights and he that in foure courses brake not a staffe should pay al the costes of the tilt 38 His rule commaunded that at the time that any Knight of the band did fayle or die they shoulde all go to helpe him to die well and after they should go to his buriall and for that he had bin brother and companion of the band they should for one moneth be cladde with blacke after for thrée moneths forbeare to Iust 39 His rule commaunded that two dayes after the knight of the band should be buried al the other knights of the order should assemble and go to the king on the one part to deliuer the king the band that the dead had left and on the other part to make supplication to haue remembrance to rayse in hys place some of his able sonnes if he left anye and to vse hys bountie towards his wife to sustaine and marrie hir children and daughters Behold here my Lord the rule and order of the knightes of the band that was made by the king Alfonso Ioyntly whervnto I will adde all the knights that did first enter into thys order the title of whome said thus These are the most Courteouse the most esteemed the moste renoumed the moste chosen Knights and Infants of the Knightlike order of the Band that our Lord and king Don Alphonso commaunded to be made whome God maintayne The King Don Alfonso that made this order The infant Don Pedro. Don Enrique Don Fernando Don Tello Don Iuan el bueno Don Iuan Nunez Enrique Enriquez Alfonso Fernandez Coronel Lope Diaz de Almacan Fernan perez puerco carrero Fernan Perez ponce Carlos de Gueuara Fernan Enriquez Aluer Garcia Dalbornoz Pero Fernandez Garci Ioffre tenorio Iuan Esteuanez Diego Garcia de Toledo Martin Alfonso de Cordoua Goncalo ruys dela Vega. Iuan Alfonso de Benauides Garci Laso dela Vega. Fernan Garcia Duque Garci Fernandez tello Pero Goncales de Aguero Iuan Alfonso de Carriello Ynigo Lopez de Horozco Garci Gutierez de Graialba Gutierre Fernandez de Toledo Diego Fernandez de Castriello Pero ruyz de Villegas Alfonso Fernandez Alcayde Ruy Goncales de Castaneda Ruy ramirez de Guzman Sancho Martiuez de Leyua Iuan Goncales de Bacan Pero Trillo Suero Perez de Quinones Goncalo Meria Fernan Carriello Iuan de Roias Ptralbarez Osorio Pero Lobez de Padilla Don Gil de Quintana Iuan Rodrigez de Villegas Diego Peres Sarmiento Mendorodrigues de Viezma Iuan Fernandez Coronel Iuan de Cereiuela Iuan Rodrigez de Cisneros Oreion de Liebana Iuan Fernandez del Gadillo Gomez Capiello Beltran de Gueuara vnico Iuan Tenorio Ombrete de Torrellas Iuan Fernandez de Bahamon Alfonso Tenorio THat which is to be noted in all this letter is how in order the Gentlemen and Knights went in those days and how they did exercise them selues in armes and auaunced themselues by deedes of prowes and that the children of good men were in the kings house very well brought vp and were not suffered to be vitious and go lost It is also to be noted in this letter in how little time the world hath made so many changes it is to wit vndoing some and aduauncing others out of the dust bicause fortune neuer dischargeth hir shot but against such as be set aloft My Lord I say this for that ther is to be founde in this order of the band some auncient linages which in those days were noble and famous all which be not only ended but also altogither forgotten What houses or Manors be there now in Spaine of the Albornozes of the Tenorios of the Villegas of the Trillos of the Quintanas of the Biesmas of the Cereiuelas of the Bahamondas of the Coronels of the Cisneros of the Graialbas and of the Horozcos of all these linages there were Gentlemen and Knights very honorable In those days as in the list it doth appeare amōgst those that first entred into the order of the band of al which at this present there is not found any notable Manor neither so much as the name There are nowe in Spaine other Linages the which be Velascos Manriques Enriques Pimenteles Mendozas Cordouas Pachecos Cunigas Faiardos Aguilares Manueles Arellanos Tendillas Cueuas Andradas Fonsecas Lunas Villandrandos Carauaiales Soto maiores and Benauides It is a thing surely to be noted and no lesse to be maruailed that none of the linage of all aboue said is named amōgst the Knights of the band All which in these our days be illustre generouse ritch and much renoumed It is well to bée beléeued that some of these glorious linages were risen in those dayes and if they were not put amongst the knightes of the band it was not bycause they wanted grauitie but for that they had not at that tyme suche authoritie and also bycause though they had sufficient noblenesse they wanted riches Also it is to be thought that of those aunciente and forgotten linages there are inough at thys instant descending and decayed that he noble and vertuous whiche for that we sée they haue little and may do little we hold it for better too kéepe silence than so name them The sonnes of Gentlemen and Knights be they neuer so glorious
for myne own sinnes but that I must burdē my selfe with you Much is God pleased with the prayer of the iust but much more he doth delight in the amendment of the sinner for it doth litle profit for the one to augment his prayers if the other do not diminishe his sinnes If you will gouerne this Earledome very well begin the gubernation in youre selfe for it is impossible for him to vnderstand to gouerne the common wealth that doth not know to rule his owne house or order his owne person when the Lorde is milde honest chast sober silent patient and deuout all his housholde and common wealth be likewise affected and if by chaunce there be any seruaunts absolute or dissolute they must be hidden and withdrawen which to the Lord is no small glory for hée doth not little that taketh holdnesse from any man in his house to be euill In the houses where Lordes are ambitious rashe quarelling lyars gluttons gamsters infamous and lecherous what steward may bring to passe that the seruants bée honest seeing they do not but what their maisters do allowe and likewise do The wordes of Lords be fearfull but theyr good works do animate and I say it to this end for their seruaunts and vassalles do rather imitate the works they sée thē do than the words they heare them speake The charge that a Bishop hath of his housholde and Diocesse the same hath a Gentleman of his seruants For it is not sufficient that a master or Lorde pay his seruants what is dew but that they make them also do their dutie it is a lamentable thing to sée that a mother shall send hir sonne to the house of Gentleman clad shod shamefast honest solitarie well mannered and deuoute and at the yeares end the poore yong man shall returne ragged bare legged dissolute a glutton a dice player a liar and a quarreller in such wise that it had bin lesse euill to haue had him dead than sent to such pallace or court Let the conclusion of this case be that in suche maner you order your life and gouerne your house that your owne may haue to follow and straungers to prayse That the Knight ought to be to God gratefull and to men pitifull ALso it is right necessary that alwayes you haue in remembrance the bounties and good things ye haue receyued of god In speciall to giue you this Earledome be depriued the Earle youre Brother of his life the Lady countesse died disherited your Cosin gaue a sentence against the Admirall in suche wise that you owe vnto God not only for the gift thereof but also for the deliuerance of the incumber thereof My Lorde be ye certaine that although before God all sinnes be gréeuous yet the sinne of ingratitude is holden for most intollerable for God will not any thing that we haue but only for that which he giueth vs we be thankfull Giue thanks vnto God for that he created redéemed and reléeued you and also prouided for you And surely with this estate Earledome if you kéepe rekoning with your rent and measure in expences you may serue God and liue honorably Although this Earledome hathe cost muche trauell perilles sutes anger and money contend not wyth God thinking that you haue obtained it by youre owne diligence but confesse his great mercie to haue giuen it for the victories and good gifts that God doth giue vs we may desire thē also craue thē but not deserue thē Remēber my Lord that god hath remoued you frō anger to ease frō poore to rich from asking to giuing from seruing to commaunding from misery to plentie and from sir Peter to be intitled the Earle of Buendia in such wise that you owe vnto God not only the state that he hath giuen you but also the miserie that he hath taken from you Oh how great mercie doth God vse with that man that giues him wherewith to giue and putteth him not in estate to craue of any man For to shamefast faces and to generous hearts there is no trauell that so doth perce their intralles as to enter to craue at other mens dores Plutarch reported of the great Pompeius that being sicke in Pusoll whē the Phisitions saide that to be hole and recouer strength it were conuenient hée shoulde eate of certain Zorzales that the Consull Luculus did bréede he aunswered I will rather die than sende to craue them for the Goddes haue not created Pompeius to aske but to giue My Lord I saye thus much to the ende ye consider since God hath giuen you liberally that you néede not craue of any man that you be not rechlesse to giue as they gaue you to succour as they succoured you and to part as they parted with you For of the temporall goods that God giues vs we be not lords but reparters Although the Earledom of Buendia be of no great rentes yet maye you do with it many good workes For as I haue said the gentleman that knoweth to rule his house and to order his goodes hée shall haue to spende to kepe and to giue For Princes and Lordes of power ought not to bée called great or mighty for the proude estates that they hold but for the great rewardes they giue The office and dewtie of the labouring man is to digge the religious to be contemplatiue the priest to pray the craftes man to worke the Marchaunt to be guilefull the vserer to keepe the poore to craue and of the gentleman to giue for vppon that day that the gentleman doth beginne to hourde vp money from thēce foorth he putteth his fame in proclamation In Lordly houses and of inheritours there ought to be the haunts of brothers cosines nephewes vncles and all others of his kinne bearing good will to their affaires and supporting their necessities In suche wise that to them there is no houre forbidden or any dore shut neuerthelesse there are some Brothers Cosins and Nephewes tedious in theyr spéech so importunate in visiting and so without measure in their crauing that they make a man angrie and also abhorre them and the remedy for suche is to succour their necessities and to appart their conuersations You shall now find in your Earledome retaynours of your Fathers Seruants of your Brothers allies of youre house and friends of all your dealings vnto whome you ought in generall to vse good countenance speake sweete words gyue good hope and deale some rewards for if you should be ingrate vnto them you should run into greate indignation of the people Also my Lord you shal find some old Seruants and some poore widowes vnto whome youre predecessours commaunded to be giuen some pension or some refreshing for trauelles past or for seruice they did them beware in no wise to take it away neither yet to diminish it For besides that vnto you it were a great wretchednesse and vnto them a great want In the place to pray vnto God for your life
is delicate and of smal strength so be is more offended by a little ayre that cōmes in at a chinke thā the cold of one whole winter night did gréeue him when he was yong The old men of your age ought very much to procure to eate good bread and to drinke good wine and the bread that is well baked and the wine that is a yeare old for as old age is compassed with infirmities and laden with sadnesse the good vituals shall hold them in health and the good wine shall leade them in mirth The old men of your age ought much to consider that theyr meales be small their meate yong and well seasoned and if they eate much and of many meates they euer goe sicke for notwithstanding they haue money to buy them they haue not heate to disgest them The old men of your age ought too procure their bed curteyned their Chamber hanged a meane fire the chimney without smoke for the life of olde men consisteth in going clenly warme cōtented and without anger The old men of your age ought vtterly to auoide to dwel vppon any riuer either to do their busines in moist groundes either to sléepe in ayry places for olde men being delicate as they are be like children and naturally accraised the ayre shall penetrate their powers and moystnesse shall enter their bones The old mē of your age vpon paine of their life ought to be temperate in their diet refusing to eate late for old mē as they haue their stomacks weake and growen colde they may not disgest two meales in a day for the olde man that is vnsatiable and a glutton vsing the contrary shall belke much and sléepe little The olde men of your age to the ende that they be not sicke or grow heauie neyther turne to be grosse ought a little to refreshe them selues walke into the fielde vse some exercise or be occupied in some facultie for otherwise it might happen them to get a tisick or a lamenesse in their limmes in such wise that it will be hard to fetch breath and by puffing and blowing giue warning where you walk The old men of your age ought to haue great care to auoyde all contentious brabbling amongst their seruants and sometime to beare with their negligences to pay their wages too the ende they go contented for otherwise they will be negligent in seruice and very suttle in stealing For conclusion the old men of your age ought much to procure to weare their apparell swéete and cleanly their shirts very well washed their house neat and wel swept and their chamber very close warme and well smelling For the olde man whiche presumeth to be wise if he will liue in health and goe contented ought to haue his body without life his hart without strife In the end of your letter you write that hauing left to loue sorow leaueth not to vere you which vseth to folow the enamored and instantly you desire me to giue you some remedy or to sende you some comfort for notwithstanding you haue throwen it out of the house it leaueth not nowe and then too knocke at the gate Sir in this case I remit you to Hermogenes to Tesiphontes to Doreatius to Plutarch and to Ouid which spent much time and wrote many bookes to giue order in what manner the enamored shoulde loue and the remedies that for their loue they should vse Let Ouid write what him pleaseth Dorcas say what he thinketh good but in fine there is no better remedie for loue than is neuer to begin to loue for loue is so euill a beast that with a thread he suffereth to be taken but hée will not depart with thrusts of a launce Let euery man consider what he attempteth marke what he doth beholde what he taketh in hand note whither he dothe enter and haue regarde where he may be taken for if it were in his handes to set the tables he is not certaine to win the game There is in loue after it is begon infinite shelues immesurable sloughes daungerous rockes and vnknowen whirelpooles in whych some remaine defaced others blinded some besoilde and also some others vtterly drowned in such wise that he that is best deliuered I accoumpt to be euill deliuered Oh how many times did Hercules desire to be deliuered from his loue Mithrida Menelaus from Dortha Pyrrhus from Helena Alcibiades from Dorobella Demophon from Phillis Hāniball from Sabina and Marcus Antonius from Cleopatra from whome they could neuer not only depart but also in the end for them and with them they were cast away In case of loue let no man trust any man and much lesse him selfe for loue is so naturall to man or woman and the desire to be beloued that where loue amongst them dothe once cleaue it is a sore that neuer openeth and a bond that neuer vnknitteth Loue is a metall so delicat a canker so secret that he planteth not in the face where he may be sene nor in the pulse where he may be felte but in the sorowfull hart where although he be sensible they dare not discouer it After all this I say that the remedie that I giue for loue is that they gyue him no place to enter amongst the entrayles nor giue theyr eyes libertie to behold windowes or giue eare to bawdes either suffer any trade of Dames to come or goe if any come to house to shut the dores and not to walke abroade after euening if with these conditions loue may not altogither bée remedied at the least it may be eased and amended Sir and my gossip if you will in all these things profite youre selfe and well consider thereof you shall be excused of many angers and also saue much money For to youre age and my grauitie it is more conuenient to vnderstande of the best wines than to view the windowes of the enamored Take for example chastisement the Licentiat Burgos your acquainted and my great friend which being old and enamored as you died this saterday a death so straunge and fuddayne as was fearefull to al men and sorowfull to his friēds No more but our Lord be youre guide and giue me grace too serue him From Burgos the .24 of Febr. 1523. A letter vnto Sir Iames of Gueuara vncle to the Author wherein he doth comfort him for that he hath bin sicke MAgnificent and right honorable Vncle it pleaseth your Honor to complaine of mée in youre letter that I neither serue you as my good Lorde either do sue as vnto a father or visite as an vncle neyther write as vntoo a friende I may not denie but as concerning kinred your are my Fathers brother in merit my good Lord my father in curtesie and my Progenitor in giuing of liberall rewards which I haue receiued at your hands not as a nephew but as a sonne much beloued Since I haue confessed the affinitie that I hold and affirme the dette
Emperour Traiane did vse to say men that possesse noble heartes and blushing vysages ought neuer to beginne that whiche lyeth not in their handes to performe for otherwyse they shall leaue with great shame that they beganne with great hope Sir you doe well knowe that all those that you leade in your campe against the king be théeues murtherers blasphemers and seditious Commoners all whiche as they are a base people and men of handicrafte you haue to intreate them but not to force them suffer but not to chastise to pray but not to commaunde to flatter but not to threaten for they followe you not to remedie things amisse but to rob the goods that others haue in possession That daye that the king shall enter into Castile that day that you shal lose any battell and also that daye that you haue not to paye the men of warre then shall you sée howe they will trudge from you without takyng any leaue and also make a secrete sale of you Sir haue compassion of your age so tender and of youre bloud so vndefiled of your parentage so honorable of youre house so auncient of your condition so good of your abilitie so â—ntier and of your youth so euill imployed all which things you haue vnfauourly infected and also in a maner mortifyed If you will beléeue me and giue credite vnto my wordes incommende your selfe vnto God leaue this enterprise turne vnto the king goe vnto the Gouernours and shake handes with these commoners Forasmuche as the king is pitifull and all men desire your remedie and welfare hée woulde much more accept your comming to serue with the rest than to haue raised this war against him Let not the deuil deceiue you either any vaine or fantasticall imagination hinder you to performe the same neither to conceiue that they haue to charge you with vnstablenesse in that you haue enterprised either as a traitor for that you haue taken in haÌ„d bicause in al the histories of this world they be acompted loyal that serue their king and such as rebell be called disloyall traitors Also if a GeÌ„tleman be reproued for slouthfulnesse he riseth more early and vseth more diligence if they call him babbler he kéepeth silence if they accuse him for a glutton he vseth temperance if they charge him as an adulterer he abstayneth if they burden him to be furious he suffereth if they impute him to be ambicious he abaseth if they name him a sinner he amendeth but if they call him by the name of a traytor there is no water that may wash or make it cleane either any excuse that may excuse it Neyther is the King so muche offended or the kingdome so much altered or affaires so aforehand nor the Gouernours of so hard disposition but that you maye be reduced and finde time very conuenient to serue the King. The which if you woulde performe I promise you by the faith of a Christian and do sweare vnto you by the lawe of an honest man that amending this wrong my penne shall change his stile Montauan maister of your house and I haue communed in secrete things of greate importaunce and since he did herein credit me it shal not be amisse that you beleue him there and if you will not I washe my handes of all your faulte and from hence forwarde doe take my leaue of your friendship No more but that with the faith and credit that I haue receiued your letter with the verie same it may please you to receyue this of myne From Medina del camop the eight day of Marche in the yeare of our Lorde .1521 A letter vnto a Gentleman and secrete friend to the Author wherin he doth aduise and reprehende him for his wretched couetousnesse MAgnificent and couetous GeÌ„leman the good Emperor Titus that was son to Vaspasian and brother to Domitian was of himself so vertuous of al the Romane Empire so welbeloued that at the tyme of his death they did engraue these words vpoÌ„ his sepulcher Delitiae moriuÌ„tur generis humani which is to say To daye is dead in Rome that did reioyce all mankynd Of this good Emperor Titus is read in Suetonius that being at supper on a time with many Princes of the empire other Embassadors of diuers kingdoms sodeinly gaue a great sigh sayd Diem amisimus amici as if he should say more cléere Let not this day be accompted amongst the days of my lyfe bicause this day I haue not performed any bountie neither giuen any reward Plutarke doth report of Alexander the great that when many Philosophers had disputed in his presence wherein consisteth the good happe of this lyfe hée made answere Beléeue me friends and be out of doubt that in all this worlde there is not equall delighte or lyke pleasure as to haue wherwith to be liberall and not wherefore to chastise Also it is said of Theopontus the Thebane who béeing a Captayne of men of warre a souldioure craued of him some péece of money to buye breade and hauing none to giue pulled of his shoes saying If I had better I would giue thée better but in the meane while take these shoes of myne for that I haue no money for it is more iust that I goe barefoot than thou an hungred Dionysius the tyrant entring vpon a certain day into his sonnes chamber and séeing there many iewels of siluer and gold sayde Sonne I did not giue these riches to the end thou shouldest kéepe them but bicause thou shouldst giue and imparte them For there is no man in this world of more power than the giuing and liberall man for with his giuing he conserueth his frends and maketh teÌ„der his enimies I haue made this discourse to vtter a certaine thyng vnto you which if you were in Castile as you are in Andolozia my penne should neuer haue written vnto you but my toung should haue spoken it into your eare for our assured friendes notwithstanding wée haue licence to blame them yet we may not vse our libertie to defame them Some of Andolozia hath told me here and some of your frendes haue written me from thence that your delite excéedeth to farre in hoording vp of money and no lesse enimie with the spendyng therof Of which déede and disposition I am not a little grieued also muche ashamed bicause honor auarice be so contrarie and in such contention and defiance that they neuer dwell in one person neither at any time had any affinitie All vicious men in this life haue some tast in their vices except it be the miserable and most vnfortunate couetous nigard which is tormeÌ„ted with that which others do possesse takes no tast in that whiche he hath The painfull trauell of the couetous nigarde is that always he walketh suspicious and in feare that the raging flouds carrie awaye his Milles that the hierd eate vp his meades that hunters steale his game and
wise that many Gentlewomē to mayntaine an estate make their house a stable For a woman to be good it is no small help to be alwayes in businesse and by the contrary we sée no other thing but that the idle woman goeth always pensitiue Let all maner of women beleue me that in any wyse they busie their daughters in some honest exercise for I giue them to vnderstand if they know not that of idle moments and wanton thoughtes they come to make euill conclusions No more but that our Lord be in your procéeding from Granada the .4 of maye .1524 yeares A letter vnto Mosen Rubin of Valentia wherein he answereth to certayne notable demaunds A letter very conuenient for the woman that marrieth an olde man. RIght worshipfull aunciente renued with youthely motion youre Letter read and considered that which I conceyue and comprehende thereof is that it contayneth much writing and commeth written in very grosse paper whereof it may very well be inferred that you haue wast time and want of money Small comforte shoulde he haue at youre handes that at thys instant should craue youre almes for a Cote that hathe not a Maruedye to buy a shéete of paper Althoughe I holde it for most certayne that if you haue not at this present a Mareuedy to buy paper at other times you vse to set an hundred Duckats at a rest The property and condition of Players is sometymes to haue greate abundaunce and at other times to suffer greate lacke in suche wise that to daye hauing too many Duckats to play on the morrowe they haue not to paye for their dinner I haue sayde it many times and also written in my doctrines that I enuy not these gamesters for the money that they win but at the sighes that they gyue bycause if they cast the dice with courage with great sighes they wish their chaunce But comming to the purpose of youre demaunde and answering to youre request I saye that if to all the demaundes of youre letter I shall not aunswer with grace and good eloquence impute the fault to my disgrace and also vnapte disposition And the cause of my disgrace endureth not to be written with inke in paper But it suffiseth a man to be at Court where be few things to be commended but many to the contrary Sir you write vnto me to aduertise you of my opiniō of the bailiwick of Orihnela which the Quéene hathe giuen you and the garde of the frontires of Caspe whither the Moores of Pampe do passe and they of Affrica do enter To this I aunswere that you haue to make small accounte that the Quéene hath giuen you the charge of Iustice if god deny you his grace bycause preheminent offices by vertues be conserued but heroicall vertues amongs offices do runne in perill In him that administreth Iustice it is necessary he haue good Iudgement to giue sentence temperance in his speche patience to suffer good counsell to discerne good disposition to Iustice and fortitude to execute If in the budget of your household stuffe you finde your selfe furnished with all these kind of goods you may safely be Iudge of Orihnela and also gouernour of Valentia And if your abilitie stretch not so farre it should be more sounde counsell for you to kepe your house than to bring your honour in question and disputation Also you wright vnto me to aduertise you what was contained in the countesse of Concentainas letter which the quéene shewed me That which passed in this case is that the Earle of Concentaina being dead my Lady the Countesse presently did wright vnto the vassalles of the Earldōr a certaine letter of the sorrow and griefe of hir husbands death and in the ende and conclusion of the letter they placed according to the manner of such Ladies and widowes which is to witte the sorowfull and most vnfortunat countesse and added ther vnto in the place of the firme therof two great blottes The letter being receyued and redde by hir vassals in their counsell before all men they aduised to aunswere my Lady the Countesse and also to giue hir to vnderstande of the sorowe they conceiued of the death of the Earle hir husband and their Lorde And it séemed good vnto them that since she hadde changed the stile of hir firme that also they were bounde too alter the stile of their letter In which the superscription therof saide thus Vnto our sorrowfull Ladye and moste vnfortunate countesse of Concentayna withinin the vpper face of the letter where they place the woordes of curtesy and congratulation was after this manner Righte magnificente and most sorowfull Lady at the end where was sayd by the ordinance of the coūsell iustice gouernours were made thrée dasshes much blotted in such wise that according to the tenor of hir writing she answered My Lady the Countesse receyued no small offence thereof and yet with good grace she sayd vnto me that she wished the error had passed by one mans faulte and not as it was by all their consents Also you write vnto me to aduertise you how it standeth with Mosen Burela since the time he receyued that so great distresse in Xatina Sir vnto this I answer that vnto me he giueth great sorow to beholde him and no lesse compassion to heare him bycause I sée hym wander laden with thoughts and no lesse forsaken of friends Beléeue me sir and be out of doubt that he falleth not in all this world that falleth not out of his princes fauour bycause the fashion or stile of Court is that the priuate and in fauoure knoweth not himselfe with the fall and out of fauoure no mā will grow aquainted The houses and Courts of Princes be very fortunate vnto some no lesse perillous vnto others bycause there either they preuayle and growe very greate or else vtterly lose themselues All Courtiers séeme to me to resemble the Bée or else the Spider wherin there be some persons in Court so fortunate that all thinges whereon they lay hands turneth to golde and others so vnlucky that all which they pretend cōuerts to smoke As concerning our Mosen Burela I can say vnto you that he is thoroughly smoked as touching his honor and no lesse stumbled and falne in respect of his goodes bycause he hath lost the office that he held and the credite wherwith he was sustayned Sir also you wrighte to me to aduertise you of the state of the Sonnes of Vasko Bello your friend and my neighbour to this I answer that their parents hauing past their liues in the trade of merchants they haue conuerted themselues to the state of Gentlemen and to the end you vnderstād me better I say they be not of the Gentlemen of auncient right but suche as haue obtayned by prise and purchase bycause their goodes being consumed I holde their gentry fully finished In the state that men do get theyr liuing in the same they ought to conserue themselues for otherwise
interpretation of bookes If ye will say that those whiche presently be called Moores or Turkes be the same people whereof the Prophet speaketh Scrutati sunt iniquitates herevnto I answer that as false is the one as the other for as muche as if we will haue regarde vnto the time of the raigne of King Dauid which did prophesie the same vntill the time of Mahomet the first inuentor and conductor of the sect of the Moores we shall find that there dyd passe lesse than 2000. and more than 1800. yeares If we would say and affirme that the Prophet did meane and direct his speech vnto the Christians I saye also it is most false and repugnant vnto all troth for being admitted that the Christian faith had beginning to raigne 600. yeares before the sect of the Moores and more than 3000. yeares after the beginning of the Gentilitie or the Heathen from the tyme that this prophecie was written at Ierusalem vnto the time they began to name themselues Christians at Antioch there passed more than a thousand yeares and also thrée hundred yeares more for aduantage Behold here truly verifyed that since the prophecie may not be aduouched vpon the Gentiles the Moores neyther yet the Christians that it is to be vnderstood spoken vnto you Iewes more expressely for that the Prophet saith not Scruteront but Scruterent giuing vs to vnderstande that many yeares before King Dauid did pronounce the same youre auncesters had then already begon to corrupt the sacred Scriptures and to adde vnto the same erroneous glosses I lie not neyther do I repent to haue sayd that your auncient fathers Scrutati sunt iniquitates since they haue no grace to vnderstand the Prophecie of Ieremie which sayth post dies multos dicit dominus dabo meam legem in visceribus illorum in corde eorū ad scribā legem meam As if he wold haue sayd After many dayes and after many yeares I will create a newe people and will giue them a new lawe whiche I my selfe will wright in theyr bowells and hide within their harts to the ende that no persone shall falsefy the same and muche lesse shall they be able to forget it Then as the Prophecie which sayth Scrutati sant iniquitates c. is spoken onely vnto you and not to all men in lyke manner this Prophecie of Ieremy whiche sayth dabo legem in visceribus illorum c. is spoken vnto vs Christians and not to you Iewes For as muche as our Catholike fayth consisteth more in that which is rooted within our hartes than in that whyche is written in bookes in such manner the weale of the Christian lieth not in that whiche hée readeth but in that which he beléeueth The maruels that Christe hathe done and the doctrines which he hath giuen vnto the world It is necessary and well done to knowe and also to reade them but it is muche more founde and sure to beléeue them for the number is infinite which be saued without reading but not one persone without well beléeuing The Edicts and Proclamations which they ordeyned and the lawes of Moses Promotheus Solon Licurgus and Numa Pompilius were all written with their handes and preserued and kept safe in their originals within their liberties but the law of Iesus Christ ought most certaynly to be writtē within our harts for that in as much that the Lord gaue vs no other law but the law of loue he did like and thought it better that we shoulde search and find the same within our hartes than within our bookes And not without great mistery God sayd by the mouth of your Prophet that the law which his sonne should giue vs that he shuld first write it within the harts before the Euangelist shuld reduce them by writing into bookes for after this manner it might not be forgotten neyther yet burned And so if youre auncient predecessors hadde obtayned the law of Moyses written in their harts as they had them writtē in old parchment they had not in times past worshipped the Idolls of Baal Bell Pegor Asterot Bahalim and Belzebub for whiche offence you were caried captiue into straunge countries and falne into your enimies hands How it came to passe that the Hebrew tong was lost IN like manner ye vsed me with no small despight for that in disputing against you I alleaged youre Esay where God the Father speaking vnto his owne proper sonne sayde these wordes parum est mihi vt suscites tribus Iacob feces Israell dedit te in lucem gentium vt sis salus mea vsque ad extremum terrae As if hée would haue sayd it is no great matter that thou serue me to suscitate and raise vp the lies of Iacob and to conuert the dregges of Israell for I haue giuen thee also for a light vnto the Gentiles to the ende that thou shalt be my sauing health vnto the ende of the worlde There is no man hauing read although but little in the holy Scripture that will not saye and affirme that the Prophet Esay was not an Hebrew borne a Prophet of a noble line and right eloquent in the scriptures for which cause you ought rather to blame and complayne of him which doth call and tearme you lies and dregges of Iacob than of me the which in all oure diputations haue not at any time alleaged any Christian doctor but only Hebrewish Prophets I saye agayne that you haue small reason to be offended with him or me for there is another Prophet which doth call you off scowring another venim another lies another dregs another ordure another slime another smoke another filthe in suche wise that as oft as ye did not ceasse to sin so did they not ceasse to blason and to expresse you with most perfect tearmes Are ye able to denie that of your priesthood of your Scepter of your Temple of your Realme of your lawe of youre tong either of your scripture is there any remayning but the lies which smelleth and the dregs which stinketh Surely that which was in youre lawe cleare nete precious and odoriferous long before the incarnation was consumed and that little which remayned in Iesus Christ did take an end And as cōcerning the priesthood of your law the great sacrificer or the high Priest ought he not to be extract out of the Trybe of Leuy whereof you haue nothing left but the lies for yet in the time of yonger and better dayes it was no more giuen vnto the Leuits that did best deserue it but vnto him that offred most siluer in such wise that to him that offred most and had greatest skill to flatter the priesthood was giuē as when a garment is sold by the drumme Likewise of your Scepter royal what haue you but the lyes for Herod Eskalonite a straunger did not onely vsurpe your Realme but by industry caused the Prince Antigonus sonne to Alexander your King
to be drowned the finall end of youre Realme of Iudea and of the Crowne of Israell What shall we say of your most auncient Temple so magnificent in buildings and so holy in the action of sacrifice surely ye haue no other thing but the lies For ye well know that forty yeares and no more After ye crucifyed the Lorde Iesus Christe the Emperours Titus and Vaspasian the father and sonne did sack destroy and burne the same Of the Monarchy of your kingdome muche lesse haue you not of any thing than the lies for that from the time the great Pompâ—y passed into Asia and subdued Palestine he neuer after committed fayth to any Iewe I say to giue him any speciall charge of gouernmeÌ„t in the Citie or defence of any fortresse but perpetually did shew your selues subiect to the Romaynes not as Vassals but rather as slaues If we should speake of your auncient language of the old carrecters of your wrightings we should likewise finde that you haue not any thing left but lies and for proofe thereof first I pray you tell me whiche is he amongst you that knoweth the language of your ancesters either can reade or else vnderstand any of the auncient Hebruish bookes But nowe to bring you to the knowledge thereof I shall deduce notwithstanding it doth not like you directly and successiuely the beginning of your Hebrewish tong and how by little and little it was lost agayne Wherein you haue to vnderstand that the Patriarke Noe with his children and Nephewes escaping the Floud went and did settle in the countrey of Caldea the situation whereof is vnder the fourth Climate the RegioÌ„ after the Floud first inhabited and populat from whence be issued the Aegiptians Sarmits Greekes Latines and all other Nations In the same Region I meane beyond the riuer Euphrates and neare vnto Mesopotamie the Patriark Abraham was borne and nourished the whiche being called of God came to dwell in the countrie of Canaan afterwardes named Siria the lesse the countrey where the good old Abraham and his generation did most inhabit In those days in that countrey of Canaan they had in vse to speake another language named Sirien very differeÌ„t from the Calde tong But as Abraham and hys posteritie dwelling in that countrey many yeares these two languages by processe of time grewe to be corrupted Abraham hys family and successors being not able to learne the Sirien spéeche neyther the Siriens the Calde tong of these two languages there remayned in vse one which was named the Hebrew Also you haue to vnderstand that this name Hebrew is as much to say as a man that is a straunger or come from beyond the Riuer and for that Abraham was come from the other side of the Riuer Euphrates he was generally called Hebrew in such wise that of this name Hebrew by the which Abraham was called the spéeche tong and language was also named Hebraique and not Caldean notwithstanding that hée was of Caldea Many Doctors Gréekes and Latins haue sayde that the Hebrew tong doth come from Heber the sonne of Sale and that it was the language which was in vse and spoken before the generall Floud notwithstanding Rabialhazer Mosanahadach Aphesrura Zimibi and Sadoc your most anciente and famous Hebrew doctors do sweare and affirme that the first spéeche and language in this world was lost in the construction or to say better the confusion of the towre of Babylon without perfection remayning in any one word of their language And then since the language of Noe was lost the Caldean conuerted into the Sirien and the Sirien into the Hebrew it came to passe that Iacob with his twelue sonnes went to dwel in Egipt where they did soiorne so long Captiues that very neare they forgate the Hebrue tong neyther aptly coulde learne the Egiptian language remayning in their spéech and pronounciation corrupted And as after the destruction of the second Temple as also the totall and finall losse and destruction of the holy lande That your brethren were dispersed throughout the worlde for the most part Captiues and that in you ther remayned nothing but the lies of Iacob the things desolate of Israell God did permitte that they shoulde ioyntly take ende both the forme of your life and the manner of your spéech Behold here honorable Iewes sufficiently proued by your owne doctors that of your countrey language renowne glory and the whole state of your Sinagoge ye haue nothing left but the lies as the Prophet sayth and the dregs and grounds of the tubbe In suche manner that ye haue neither Lawe to obserue King to obey Scepter to estéeme priesthood to aduaunce youre honor Temple to pray in Citie to inhabit neyther language to speake And for that the scope and proofe of your obstination and oure healthe and saluation doth lye and consist in the veritie of the Scripture whiche we haue receyued and the falshoode and corruption of theÌ„ which you confesse it shall be expedient to recite how where and when youre Scriptures were corrupted and lost euen as I haue produced and broughte foorth the losse of your language Ye haue therefore to vnderstande that the fyue bookes of the lawe the which your greate Duke Moyses did write after he came foorth of the Land of Egypt and before he entred the lande of promisse and those whiche were written by the Prophet Samuell and Esdras were all written in the Hebrew tong without any addition of the Egiptian language for youre Moyses being inspired by God in all the things hée did take in hand did wright these bookes in the most auncient Hebrew tong which is to vnderstande in the very same that Abraham did speake at his comming out of Calde God giuing you thereby to vnderstand that you should haue folowed your father Abraham not onely in the forme of your life but also in your spéech During the time that Moyses Aaron Iosue Ezechiell Caleph Gedeon and all the fourtéene Dukes did gouerne your Aliama vntill the decease of the excellent King Dauid the lawe of Moyses was alway well vnderstood and indifferently wel obserued But after the decease of these good personages and the kingdome and gouernment being come into the handes of the successors of Dauid the Sinagoge was neuer more well gouerned neyther the Scriptures well vnderstoode I woulde saye not well vnderstoode generally of the twelue Tribes There were notwithstanding alwayes some particular persones of the house of Israell the whiche were agreable and also acceptable vnto God and to the common wealth very profitable That your law was not from thencefoorth wel vnderstood is most euident for it was prohibited and defended in your Aliama that neyther the visions of Ezechiell the sixt Chapter of Esay the booke of the Canticles of Salomon the booke of Iob neyther the lamentations of Ieremy should be read or commented by any person whiche was done not bycause the bookes