of the downefall both of men and Angels let vs bée forward in curing our corrupt natures let vs not resemble the foolish bussard in Horace who because hée could not sée as cleare as Linx would not annoint his eies with Collirium but let vs séeke out of celestiall heritages not negligently as those of the tribe of Dâ—…n sent out to search the promise land but diligentlie like those that brought backe the fat thereof that wée may bée worthy the heritage Fiâ—… how farre haue I wandred when Sleepinesse the last Deuill of this bréed hath ouertooke me to interat of his nature Sit downe drowsie fiend I will dispatch thée presently Somnolence and Sleepinesse lurketh continually with vnfortunate persons and the excesse thereof sheweth the spirit hath small working he is a fiend that wheresoeuer hée inhabiteth dulleth the sences maketh the head heauie the eies swolne the bloud hote corrupt and excessiue the face pufft the members vnlustie the stomacke irkesome the féet féeble Looke in a morning when you sée a fellow stretching himselfe at his window yawing and starting there bée assured this Diuell hath some working This is a shrowd spirit wheresoeuer hée gets seasure for hée liueth by the expence of life and hée that entertaines him hath rhewms cathars defluxions repletions and opilations as ordinarilie about him as euerie substance hath his shadow This fiend and his brother Negligence are of one nature and where Duloesle of spirit and these méet God nature law counsell profit soule bodie and all are neglected This considered let this Deuill incarnate too ordinarie a guest in this countrie bée banished from our societie least being corrupted by his example wée fall into the same sinne wherewith hée is intangled for as Plato sayth Dormieus est nullius praetis A sleepie man is of no worth and in the seuenth of his lawes hée thus writeth Somnus multus nec animis nec corporibus nec rebus preclare gerendis aptus est à natura Excessiue sleepe is neither good for the soule or bodie or auailable in any vertuous or laudable action For hée that sléepeth is no more accounted of then hée that is dead and truly I am of this opinion that hée tooke this custome and law from Homer and no other who sayth That sléepe is the brother of death The same allusion also vsed Diogenes who when he had slept said Frater fratem inuisit The brother hath visited his brother that is sléepe hath visited death the same likewise intimateth Ouid in this verse Stulte quid est somnus gelidaenisi mortis imago Foole what is sleepe but image of chil death The like consideration likewise had the Doctors of Israel so that one amongst them called Rabi-Dosa the son of Harkinas writeth The mornings sléepe and the euenings dronkennesse shorten a mans life corporal sléepe likewise oftentimes ingendreth the sléepe of the soule which spirituall sléepe is farre more dangerous then the other and therefore Cato dissuadeth youth from it Somno ne deditus esto Nam diuturna quies vitijs alimenta ministrat Be not addict to sleepe for daily rest Yeelds food to vice and nurseth sinne in feast And that diuine Petrarch most wittily singeth La gola il somno Potiose piume Hanno dol mundo â—…gni virtusbandita Incontinence dull sleepe and idle bed All vertue from the world haue banished So that humane nature is wandred from his scope and ouercome by euill custome Thexe is another Poet as I remember it is Ouid that saith it is sufficient for children to sléepe seuen houres and another contemplatiue father saith that to repose fiue houres is the life of saints to sléepe sixe is the life of men but to slug seuen is the life of beasts Saist thou thus O father Oh that thou couldest haue liued to haue séene this age wherein if thy wordes sound truth thou shouldest find whatsoeuer way thou séekest as manie reasonable beasts as there bée motes in the Sunne thinking eight tenne twelue houres but a Method of Moderation These are they that sléepe in their beds of Iuorie and play the the wantons on their soft couches Pauca verba this is a subiect for a Preacher Let me therefore draw to my conclusion and finish both my booke and the discouery of further wretchednes in she wing the detestable effects of Astaroth adding certaine disswasions to the same Damascene defining this sinne saith That it is a spirituall heauinesse which depresseth and weigheth downe the soule so much that it taketh no delight or tast in executing goodnesse Tully he defines it to be a wearines and tediousnes of the spirit by which a man groweth in lothing of that good he hath begun So that by them it is to be gathered that Sloth is a languishing infirmity of the spirit a dulnes of the mind a diffidence of Gods helpe a distrust of our owne strength The sinnes it maketh those subiect too that are intangled therewith are forgetfulnes of God carelesnes of our estates obscurity of our soules loathsomnesse of our bodies and irrecuperable losse of time This sin by the Fathers is compared to the disease called by the Phisitians Paralisis with which whosoeuer is seased his members are dissolued his vitall powers and naturall faculties are weakened and he himselfe is wholly not himselfe neither being able to mooue nor master his owne lims So fareth it by a slothfull man who looseth by this sicknes the light of his mind the vse of his vnderstanding y â— good affections that are the props and pillars of the same and becommeth but the image of that which in effect he is not and as this infirmity is healed by verâ—… hot Pultesies and inward potions so except the heat of charity and the remembrance of hell fire be applied to the wounds and dulnes hereof it remaineth wholly incurable Besides this sinne is against nature for as the bird to flie the fish to swim the floure to grow the beast to féed so man was ordained to labour which if he do not he wrongs nature wrongs his bodie and which worse is dams his-soule Nâ—…li esse piger saith Augustine Be not slow labour earnestly and God will giue thee eternal life Helinandus in his Chronicies reporteth that when a certaine Bishop called Philippus Beluacensis was for a night lodged in their Monastery hée slept so long that hée was neither present at Gods seruice neither ashamed to let the sunne it being then Winter time to behold him sléeping which when Helinandus perceaued and saw no man readie or bold enough to tell him of his fault hée confidentlie stept neare vnto his bed and in briefe spake thus vnto him Sir the Sparrows haue long since forsaken their nests to salute God and wil a Bishop yâ—…t lie sléeping in his chamber Consider father what the Psalmist saith Mine eies haue preuented the day and that of Ambrose It is vncomely for a Christian that the beame of the Sunne should behold him idle and
beastlinesse no man will waxe more deformed then he especially let him flie dishonest and filthy women that are able to infect nature by their societie otherwise I may say as Martial said to Oppian Illotus meriâ—…ris Oppiane Sir you shall die a filthy slouen It resteth now according to course that I speake somewhat of the deformity of Beelphogor the father since I haue in part scored out the vncleannesse of his children Gluttony as the Schoolemen write is both according to the habitude and act a disordinate delight in eating and drinking a mortall enemy of the vertue of temperance offending both in quantity quality time and manner It was first introduced from Asia into Rome where corruptions commonly being the swiftest in springing it became from a seruile thing the delight of the soueraignes so that Apicius an abiect cooke that profest the art of cookery in the kitchin was not ashamed afterward to step into the schoole and declaime in praise of it whome for his insatiable abuses and inuentions Pliny and that rightly called the Gulfe of prodigality To this sinne Milo Crotoniates and Tagon the belly-ged were so addicted that the one bare an Oxe on his shoulders and after denoured it and the other at the table of Autelian the Emperor eat a Goat a Hog and drunke a Tierse of wine and far more in boast of his intemperance Aâ—…boinus and Maximinus Emperours yéelding nothing in sensuality to this for y e one deuoured at a supper an hundred Peaches ten Pepins fiue hundred figs beside diuers other things the other in one day eat forty pound of flesh and dronke a whole vessell of nine gallons of wine to digest it And now a daies our world rather superior then inferiour to other ages in these kind of infirmities neglecteth nothing in sensuality our bankets are sauced with surfets so that Beelphogor may I feare me claime as many followers and fautors in our age as either he had in Persia Rome or Media for our bankets excéed nature and where our fathers were content with bread and water which at first nourished mans life after the creation of the world now neither the fruit of trées nor the variety of corne nor the roots of hearbs nor the fishes of the sea nor the beaste of the earth nor the foules of the aire can satisfie our intemperance but as Innocentius saith paintings are sought for spices are bought foules are nourished cookes hired to please appetite one stampes and straines another infuseth and maketh confections turning the substance into the accident and nature into art For which cause Seneca deriding the variety of banquets saith Vna sâ—…lua pluribus Elephantibus sufficit homo vero pascitur terra mari One wood sussiseth to nourish diuers Elephants but man feedeth both on sea and earth And in his tenth booke of his Declamations he saith Whatsoeuer bird flieth whatsoeuer fish swimmeth whatsoeuer beast runneth is buried in our bodies all which in the truth of things is both against nature and Art for both Art and nature forbiddeth that contraries should be mixt togither which not withstanding in our festiuals are often done But if we consider how hurtfull it is to our bodies and damnable for our soules doubtlesse except wée be blinded in heart wée shall quickely detest it In many meates saith Ecclesiastes there is much infirmitie and according to Seneca wée therefore die suddenly because we liue vpon dead things Why then should we delight in that which causeth our detriment Policrates saith that the intemperancy of meate subuerteth manners and preiudizeth mans health and Hippocrates maintaineth this that grosse and fat bodies growen beyond measure except by letting blood they be somewhat abated become numme and insensible and fall into most dangerous diseases Chrysostome saith that excesse of meat consumeth and rotteth mans body by continuall sicknes and at last bringeth cruell death Galen the interpreter of Hypocrates saith That they that are grossesed can not be long time healthfull concluding that those soules can not meditate or conceiue celestiall things whose bodies are ouergrowen with blood flesh and fat It is reported of Dionysius the tirant that being too much swallowed vp by surfet and drunkennesse he lost his eie sight for there is nothing sooner dulleth the eie then excesse because as Portuminus saith Edacitas cibos terit sed oculos vâ—…rat Gluttony spendeth meat but deuoureth the eies Macrobius in his Saturnals proposeth a very prety and disputable question namely whether vniforme and simple meat be better and easier of digestion then diuers and different and to this a certaine Philosopher answereth that diuers and different meat is the hardest of digestion for these causes first it appeareth in beasts which because they féed on a simple and pure nutriment are most helthfull and if any of them be diseased it is when by variety of medicine and mans folly they are nourished against the course of their nature secondly because all simple meat is more easily digested in signe whereof euery Phisitian recouereth and ministreth to his patient in one kind of food that nature may more easily conuert the simple meat into her selfe thirdly because as the variety of wine hurteth more then one sort of wine in the same quantity in like sort doth the variety of meat fourthly because he that obserueth one kind of simple diet may more easily iudge and gesse at the cause of his infirmitie if at any time he féele himselfe distempered and consequently can more easily auoid such kind of food whereas if hée should haue vsed diuers he should vtterly be ignorant to which of many he should impute the cause of his sicknesse fistly because in the stomacke the nature of diuers meats is very different therefore nature working vniformitie for her owne part certaine are sooner digested then other the rest remaining in the stomacke being crude and consequently that râ—…ts which is afterwards to be digested by which reasons it followeth that these rich men vsing diuers kind of dishes do by that means shorten their owne liues But perhaps to particularize diseases will be held more forcible argumenes I will therefore tell you what infirmities surfet bréedeth First as Auicen saith it hindreth the braine the liuer and the nerues it causeth conuulsions sowndings Epilepsies the falling sicknesse and the palsey it ingenders the lamenesse in the legges the gout the Sciatica the Apoplexie and a thousand defluxions cathars and crudities of the stomacke which procéed from nought els but from the insatiable desire of drinking and eating All philosophie will confesse vnto me that the more a man stuffes and chargeth his stomacke the more he gréeueth it for first of all it is necessary that he surmount and excéed the nutriment and meat and digest it also and in the surmounting he must striue and in striuing he wearieth himselfe and in wearying himselfe he waxeth féeble and in waxing féeble he finally consumeth and then his cooke I meane his
poore groome nay if he beg he scornes to reléeue him his benefactors might haue kept their money with a vengeance and for his Lord if he serue at any time none but Ingratitude if hée decay will soonest sell him to a sergeant he is the fittest instrument to hang his Maister so that of Plautus is verie aptly applied vnto them Si quid benefacias lenior pluma gratias Si quid peccatum est plumbe as iras gerunt Lighter then feather thanks if thou befriendest But leaden wrath they beare if thou offendest To be short with Ieuenal in his Satires Ingratis ante omnia pone sodales Of all men flie vngratefull friends Nihil augetur ingrato saith Barnard sed quod accipit vertitur â—…i in perniciem To an vngratefull man nothing is encreased and that which he receiueth turneth to his destruction Pliny in the Prologue of his naturall Historie calleth them fures infelices Theeues and vnhappie that acknowledge no benefites and Seneca the Philosopher counteth them worser then Serpents for Serpents saith he cast out their poison to other mens destruction but vngratefull men without their owne disgrace cannot be vnthankfull Hermes Trimegestus counteth the best sacrifice to God to be Thankfulnesse it followeth then à contrarijs that the worst thing in his sight is Ingratitude The commenter vpon Aristotles Book De animalibus telleth a storie to this purpose A certaine husbandman nourished an Aspis in his house féeding him daily at his own table and chearing him with his owne meat it fortuned a little while after that hée brought forth two yong ones the one of which poisoned the husbandmans sonne and brought sorrow to his houshold The old bréeder considering this in the sight of the father murthered the offender and as if ashamed of his ingratitude departed the house with the other Behold sence of benefite in a Serpent and will man be vnthankfull The Lion that was healed by Andronicus in the wood did he not saue his life in the Theator Man consider this and to bring thée the more in hatred with this fiend weigh this one example of Seneca written in his fourth Booke De beneficijs A certaine sould for indangered by shipwracke and floating for the space of twentie daies on a broken mast in a sore tempest was at last cast a shoare in a Noblemans Lordship by whom he was reléeued with meat clothes and monie This Nobleman comming to Philip of Macedon his King and encountring a little after with this vnthankfull souldier was by him accused of false Treason and so much for the time did iniquitie preuaile that not only he indangered the Noblemans life but possest his goods likewise by the beneuolence of the King notwithstanding truth which according to Seneca in Oedipus adit moras hateth delay being at last discouered and the king assertained of the wretched souldiors ingratitude he branded him in the face with a burning yron and dispoiling him of his ill gotten goods restored the other so deale you by this Diuell of our age and beware of his subtilties for if once he proue an intelligencer he will helpe to hang you The next Harpie of this bréed is Scandale and Detraction This is a right malecontent Deuill You shall alwaies find him his hat without a band his hose vngartered his Rapier punto r'enuerso his lookes suspitious and heauie his left hand continually on his dagger if he walke Poules he sculks in the backe Isles and of all things loueth no societies if at any time he put on the habit of grauitie it is either to backbite his neighbor or to worke mischiefe well spoken he is and hath some languages and hath red ouer the coniuration of Machiauel In beleife he is an Atheist or a counterfait Catholicke hating his countrie wherein hée was bred his gratious Prince vnder whom he liueth those graue counsailors vnder whom the state is directed not for default either in gouernement or pollicy but of méere innated and corrupt villanie and vaine desire of Innouation He hath béene a long Traueller and séene manie countries but as it is said of the toad that he sucketh vp the corrupt humors of the garden where hée kéepeth so this wretch from al those Prouinces he hath visited bringeth home nothing but the corruptions to disturbe the peace of his countrie and destroy his owne bodie and soule If he studie it is how to dispence and frustrate statutes and being grounded by ill counsel and prepared for mischiefe he laboureth as the Legist saith not to auoid the sinne but the penaltie This fellow spares neither Nobilitie Clergie nor Laietie but like that Roman Emperor vnworthie the naming desireth that the whole people and comminaltie had but one head that he might cut it off at one stroake Let him haue no cause he wisheth Vitellius miserie to maiestie and swears by no small bugs that all the world is imprudent that imploies him not This is hée that in priute Conuenticles draws discontented Gentlemen to conspiracies and hauing brought theÌ„ past the â—…ercie of the law he bewraâ—…es them first bringing them to a violent end and binding himselfe to perpetuall prison But woe be vnto him saith Christ by whom the scandale and offence commeth it were better for him that a milstone hung about his necke and that he were cast into the bottome of the sea It is a position in the Apophthegmes of the Rabms that he that draweth many men to sin can hardly settle himselfe to repentance then in what miserable estate is this wretch that delighteth in nought els but traiterous and deuillish stratagems his daily companion in walke bed and bord is rebellion and disobedience and of the séed of this Serpent are raised so many monsters that no cittie in Italie hath béene vnstained with them and no Kingdome in Europe vnmolested by them Ill would they obserue that golden sentence of Cornelius Tacitus registred by Machiauel who saith That men ought to honour things past and obey the present desiring and wishing for good Princes and howsoeuer they proue to endure theÌ„ I but answeres Scandale I neuer respect how things bée but how I wish them to be notwithstanding sir Deuil let this be your looking glasse That neuer scandale or conspiracie hath ben raised â—…ut the practiser hath at last rewd it The little Spaniard that assailed Ferdinando the wise king with a knife Deruis the Turkish Priest that assaulted Baiazeth what end came they to Either their enuie to their shame was discouered by their feare or drowned in their blouds The schoolemaister that betraied the Pâ—…alerians children was hée not whipt home by Camillus Antigonius Caesar and all these Monarchs haue they not loued the Treason but hated the Traitor Read all the annals and obseruations of antiquitie and there hath nothing begun in corruption but hath ended in mischiefe But for your detraction Scandale blush you not to vse it No say you the Diuell delighteth in mischiefâ—… yet will I giue
By reason it was somewhat towards night now a bit then a cup more I was quickly heard so that at the last the Tauerne was full of all sorts of people some bringing water as the contrary to fire others oile good to quench lightning some ladders to clime the house top some vineger to lay on scalding The people entring into the chamber where I was and seeing neither fird nor sinoake fearefully aske mée where the fire was I also hoarse with crying at last answered them that it was in the seller and I was sure of it and for proofe therof quoth I I saw the host very now carrie down store of water They hearing this sodainly ran downe into the seller where they found the Tauerner with his prentice mingling wine and water together all the companie detesting his knauerie one cast his paile of water at his head another his oile another his vineger another broke a sticke out of his lather and all to bebeat him the host souced in souce like a pickled herring ran away to saue himselfe the people fell a drinking til they left him neuer a drop in his seller and I a pottle more of Charnico Edward without paying pennie for my Wine went away with the goblet and I drinke to you good man Pouling this last period is a pottle at least and how say you by my taleteller Wil you haue yet more Take him froÌ„ this his dailie exercise he is as dead as a doore naile hee hath no more sence then a shoat in pickle Get him to church hée sléepes out the sermon persuade him to abstinence tut saith hée it ingenders Cathars nourisheth the Megrim examine him in his worldly affairs talke of that to morrow the onely meanes to wake him is to tell him the Uintage is come home for against that time hée makes him a doublet a quarter wider in the wast then the first because hée will walke and drinke easelie It would make a good wit druncke to dreamâ—… of his qualities I will therefore here leaue him and as I haue painted him out to the eie so will I conuict his detestable course by reason First maketh hée that which was ordained to bée the temple of the Holy-ghost a den of Deuils next drowneth hée that spirit which was created for heauenly contemplations in earthly and transitorie pleasures then by his Gast imargia and Epicurisme he dulleth his conscience with an apoplery nombnes so that it hath no power to distinguish mortall sinnes from heauenly intelectuall delights lastly by detesting continency he suffereth the plagues of excesse and looseth the benefites of abstinence which maintaine the soule in his harmonie and the bodie in health and temperature and as Horace saith Quin corpus â—…nustum Hesternis vitijs animum quoque pergrauat vna Atque adfigit humi diuinae particulam aurae A bodie loaden with the nights excesse At once the mind with dulnesse doth oppresse Affixing to the earth by dull desire The heauenbread soule that should to heauen aspire Of all detestable sinnes dronkennesse is most vildest for it bréedeth lothsomenesse in those that most delight in it It is a a luxurious thing as the wise man saith and the immoderate vse of wine hurteth a man foure kind of waies first it is the cause of thraldome secondly the confusion of honestie thirdlie the complement of vice and volâ—…ptuòusnesse fourthly the signe of follie The first is manifest in this because the originall root and occasion of disgrace was in wine whereby Noe became the slaue of dronkennesse and the scorne of his sonne Cam That it is the confusion of honestie it appeareth because whosoeuer is accustomed therein hée is banished the societie of good men and subiect to mightie discredits What is more filthie then a droncken man saith Innocentius who hath stench in his mouth trembling in his bodie follie in his tongue and want of secresie in his heart his mind is alienated his face is deformed and no secret can bée had where â—…brietie is soueraigne And Seneca saith That the mind intangled by dronckennesse hath no power of it selfe and if it bée rightlie considered of it is but a voluntarie madnesse Alexander transported with this sinne slew Chtus his faithfull friend at a banquet and after hée had recouered himselfe hée would haue murthered and stabd himselfe for sorrow The Romans figuring out the image of Ebrietie painted it in this sort First they set downe the image of a boy and next they painted a horne in his hand and on his head they set a crowne of glasse A child they painted him in signe that it maketh a man childish and past his sence or gouernement They gaâ—… him a horne in his hand in token that hée alwairs soundeth and publisheth secrets whatsoeuer and they crowned him with glasse because the dronckard reporteth himselfe a glorious and rich man where hée is as poore as Irus Paupâ—…rior Iro as the Poet saith Valerius in his â—…ixt Booke and second Chapter reporteth this Hystorie A certaine innocent and guiltlesse woman was condemned by Philip King of Macedon in his drunkennesse who confident and affuted of her owne Innocencie cried out I appeale from Philip drunken to Philip sober The King ashamed at this reprehension shakt of sléepe recouered his sences and gaue more diligent regard to the cause and at last finding right on her side reuersed the Iudgement and acquited the woman By which it appeareth that the shaking off of dronkennesse is the establishing of reason and the custome thereof the destruction of honestie That it is the complement of voluptuousnesse and pleasure it appeareth likewise for modestie restraineth manie men from sinne and where it is taken away and subdued by wine the pleasure that lies hidden in the heart is discouered without shame Wherevpon Seneca saith Plures pudere peccanaâ—… quâ—…m bouâ—… voluntate prohibiti sunt à peccato scelere More men are prohibited from offence and wickednesse by the shame of sinne then by good intention and will but where the mind is possessed with too much force of wine whatsoeuer euill lurked in the heart is discouered by the tongue That Wine likewise is the experiment and signe of follie it is manifest because if a man bée inclined to any euill whatsoeuer a triall and experience of the same must bée made in his drunkennesse and therefore the Germanes neuer consult before they drinke perhaps alluding and relying on that of Ecclesiastes Vinum corda superbâ—…rum arguit Wine openeth and argueth the secrets of prowd men vpon all which premises I inferre that drunkennesse and all disordinate riot is hurtfull to all estates for if it seize the poore man hée shall not bée rich if it depriue the rich man his substance shal be consumed if it distraught the yong man hée will not bée instructed if it take hold on the old man it makes him a foole For this cause Origen vpon Genesis speaking of Lot
stomacke vnable to worke or boile it followeth of necessity that he must die But leaue we this to Phisitians to decide and like Christians let vs learne to say with Seneca though a Pagan Maius sum ad maiora natus sum quam vt fiam mancipium corporis mei I am greater and borne to greater things then to become the bondslaue of mine owne body Briefly since according to Augustine Gluttony marcheth neuer but accompanied with other vices and in his fourth booke ad Sacras virgines since Ebrietie is the mother of all vice the trouble of the head the subuersion of the sense the tempest of the tongue the storme of the body the shipwracke of sanctity and the soule let vs conquer this monster by our abstinence liuing according to the examples of Paul the first Hermite Hilarius Macharius and others that that saying may be truly verified in vs that In carne esse c. To be in the flesh and not to liue after the flesh is rather the life of Angels then men And thus far for Gluttony and Beelphogor whome I hope I haue so coniured as he shall haue little welcome to those that haue any sparke of piety the vantgard and battell are already discoinsited now Astaroth looke to your rereward for I assure my selfe to discomfit you The lumpish and heauie fiends begotten by the Arch-Deuill Astaroth INdustrious Labour that hast thus long kept me from Idlenesse guiding the sailes of my conceit through the Seas of reason now helpe to arange my squadrons to describe confound him lead me a path vntracted by courser spirits that I may beare downe enuy by desert puzle detraction in his deprauing knowledge It is not vnknowen to men of reading how Astaroth after hée had receiued many sacrifices by the Israelites as appeareth in the booke of Iudges and perswaded Salomon the wisest of Kings in his old and retired yéeres to build him an Altar was by the praiers and perswasions of many Prophets at last banished from the chosen nations so that enforced to liue in exile he ranged vp and downe Media Persia and Arinenia and at last spred his renowme in Rome whence banished by the busie affaires of Princes from their Courts and from other places of Spaine France and Italy he at last retired himselfe to the Northren parts Amongst whom finding contentions in the Clergie and affectation of glory and armes in Prince and subiect he tooke his Idle wings and flew to the Southerne and lately discouered land where honoured by the Brasilians that greatly delighted in Idlenes he hath yet a sufficient segniory and dominion to maintaine himselfe Yet willing that the Ciuill world which hée deadly hateth should be infected with his humor he hath lately vpon an Indian Negro be gotten fiue sonnes at one clap and the sooner to practise his mallice hath procured their abortion and vntimely birth to the end they might with the more spéed be sent into Europe The first is Desperation the second Pusillanimity the third Dulnesse of the spirit the fourth Negligence the â—…sto Sleepinesse These fiue well instructed and better prouided for he shipt in a Brasile man for Ciuill but the ship being vnfortunately taken by an English man they were brought into England and no sooner set foot on land but ran away from their Captaine Now sir hauing all languages perfectly they follow strange directions not tying their spirits to one determinate body but flying here and there and infecting all places and exempting themselues from no persons yet as subtill as they are I haue sounded them out and that I know them I will resolue you if you please to read their descriptions The eldest of them Desperation a peculiar vice procéeding froÌ„ Idlenes but not y â— which is the sin against the Holy-ghost is such a sin that if he méet w t a rich man he makes him distrust himselfe for getting vp on his horse without helpe he causeth him forbeare the reading of bookes in suspect of his vnderstanding he driues him to be dainty of his meats telling him his stomack is squeasie he féedeth him in his dreams with terrible visions he driues him to mistrust himselfe in whatsoeuer he pretendeth inforcing such a diffidence in himselfe that both he maketh him an enemy to his body and the ruine of his owne soule He perswades the Merchant not to traffique because it is giuen him in his natiuity to haue losse by sea and not to lend least he neuer receiue againe He makes the Scholler loath to read bookes if they be long carelesse to heare lectures because he vnderstands not at the first He causeth a louer to lie sighing in his bed and rather die sicke of the sullens then tell his griefe The poore man he teacheth to curse his birth and desperately to giue ouer labour where otherwise if he would shew diligence he might be relieued He tels a Lady it is best kéeping her bed when the Phisitians assure her the disease is cured with exercise and let him but light on a séeble heart he will die first before he take a medicine If a friend intreateth his friend to speake in his behalfe out steps he and counsels him to forbeare the demand for feare he be denied and if a husband man haue a good crop in the midst of his haruest hée teacheth him this tetch of vnthankefulnesse I would I were a beast so I were rid of this trouble How say you by this spirit of darkenesse Is hee not cunning and subtill Are not his treasons coloured and plausible Is not his perswasion conformable to weake nature If you say nay you erre if you confesse it then learne thus to preuent him First remember that Volenti nihil difficile A good will winneth all things and to condemne our owne abilitie in good things is to suspect Gods mercifull prouidence in furtherance of iustice and vertue obserue that lesson in Seneca Qui nihil potest sperare desperet nihil Who nothing hopes let him despaire in nought Let the rich know this that he that feareth a litle frost of infirmity shall haue a great snow fall vpon him let him consider that to helpe nature winneth ease and that to endeauour willingly is halfe the meane to attaine happily let him remember this that God openeth the vnderstanding if we offer the endeauour and commanding vs temperance killeth the feare of ercesse and being all in all things is defectiue in nothing that is vertuous Let the superstitious Merchant trust the creator and he shall not superstitiously be tied to creatures and succour his neighbours necessities with good intent and God shall â—…eward him Let the scholler know that the harder he is to conceiue the surer he is to retaine and as no way is too long to him that séeketh a place desired so no booke can be too tedious that leâ—…s any path to knowledge Let the poore labour to preuent néed and he may be assured to find no cause to
being asked by his master sitting at dinner what hée had brought from the Sermon In faith Sir said he your hat and cloake and nothing els The second examined in the like manner answered thus Faith I markt not the beginning I was asléepe in the midst and came away before the end This is a daungerous fiend wheresoeuer he gets footing causing men to make shipwracke of their time which being short and swift once past is irrecouerable which lost saith Bias and Theophrastus a great treasure is lost This made certaine discontented as Timon and Apermantus waxe careles of bodie and soule fretting themselues at the worlds ingratitude and giuing ouer all diligent indeuor to serue the fury of their vnbridled minds The stories registred by learned men are full of men thus affected and who so considereth the most pollices and Common weals of Christians shall I fear me and let me write it with griefe find more oportunitie lost by coldnesse slacknes and delay then consideration can remedy with many yeares heart break and studie By delay and protraction enemies wax strong and lingering hate giueth preuention a diligenter eie and though Affricanus admitteth not officious diligence yet am I so contrarie to him that I dare boldly auow that the most stratagems that are done happily are done suddainly yet desire I not to bée misconstrued in this for before action I admit counsel and secresie But matters once intended I hold all time lost till they be executed for delay giueth the enemie oportunitie of intelligence weakeneth the heart of the souldior generally more feruent in the first exploits and afflicteth the heart of the gouernor till the issue be discouered To conclude as waters without stirring mouing wax corrupt so without diligence all affaires are either lost or weakened But leaue we this yet not as impertinent to this place but as such a thing if well lookt into deserues a whole volume and let vs now haue an eie to the next ftend of this bréed which SathaÌ„ first named Negligence Negligence incarnate in our world hath generally a running head he is full of rancor and replenished with idlenesse Instability and Mutabilitie continually attend vpon him so that he beginneth many things but endeth nothing he will execute no office by reason of trouble kéepe no house least he take too much care for his family put him in trust with a message hée forgets it and commit your affaires to his handling all comes to nought reading good bookes troubles his wits but for Palmerine thats a pretrie storie and why because it teacheth him no wit This fiend lets his books bée couered with dust for want of looking too his garments fall in pieces for want of amending his haire ouergrow his shoulders for want of barbing his face couered with durt for want of washing and he walks generally vntrust not for exercise sake but for idlenes he is still thinking and deuising on things but he executeth nothing and like a lunaticke person runs into strange imaginations and only speaks them without effecting them he defers in al that he doth and thereby loseth the most of his thrift and in neglecting to sollicite his friends hée loseth smothereth his fortunes so that Occasion may rightly say and crie to him out of Ausonius Tu quoque dum recitas dum percâ—…ntando moraris Elap sam dices me quoque de manibus And whilest thou askest and asking doest delay Thou wilt confesle that I am slipt away Isodore in his booke of Etimologies writing of this sin saith that the negligent man is called negligens quasi nec eligens that is negligence because he hath no choice in any thing for who so is subiect to this infirmitie is void of all election by reason that he wanteth consideration for a considerate man in foreséeing preuenteth which preuention is the death of negligence This fiend my friends must be earnestly auoided for by him Anthony dallying in delights with Cleopatra gaue Caesar oportunitie in many victories And Hannibal lying idle at Cannas corrupted both his souldiors and strengthned his enemies It is a Cinicks life not a Christians which is ouerpast in negligence and nothing worse becommeth a man then to be carelesse and improuident For as fruits vnlookt vnto are for want of turning soone rotten so minds for lacke of vertuous meditation become corrupt and polluted memorie without vse decaiâ—…th and the bodie without exercise becommeth lothsome negligence therefore is fitly compared to a sléepe for as in it man resteth and is depriued of al that he hath so in the sléepe of negligence and sinne al vertues are dispoiled which is very prettily figured in the sléepe of Ionas of whom it is said That he fled from the face of our Lord in Tharsis and entring into a ship fell into a profound sléep and there arose a great wind and the tempest increased and the ship was in danger Finally Ionas was cast into the sea where falling into the belly of a Whale hée lost his haires of his head â—…ud became bald On which place the glosse saith That the great and heauie sléepe of the Prophet signifieth a man loaden and drowsied in the sléepe of error for whom it sufficeth not to flie from our Lord but furthermore ouerwhelmed with a certaine carelesnesse hée is ignorant of Gods wrath and securelie sléepeth and at last is cast into the Whales bellie which is the bosome of hell For as the Whale dwelleth in the déepest flouds and profoundest seas so Hell is said to bée in great obscuritie and in the depth of the earth Wherevpon in the Gospell it is said To be in the heart of the earth For as the heart is in the middest of a creature so is Hell in the middest of the earth At the last hée is made bald and spoild of his haire that is depriued of his vertues and graces And where it is said Ionas sléeping the winds arose it implieth thus much that a man sléeping in idlenesse negligence and carelesnesse the winds and stormes of temptations suddainlie and vehementlie arise For then are wée most suddainlie surprised with error when wée are most intangled with improuidence and negligence And as Caesar in his Senate house was assailed when hée least suspected by his conspirators so men in their securities are soonest subdued by the assaults of wickednesse which conspireth the death of the soule The Poets faine thus of the Syrenes which haunt about Sicily and of late daies haue appeared in the Sea in India That with their swéet tunes they draw the Marriners asléepe that whilest they sléepe soundly they may sincke their ship The like may bée said of the Deuill who lulleth vs in the lap of inconsiderate securitie and singeth vs asléepe with the notes of Negligence till he sincke the ship of our soule which is our bodie in the bottomlesse seas of confusion which is Hell Let vs flie from Negligence therefore as being the first cause