debate Such is the slender thréed of mortall fate To his Friende BEware my friende Liue warylie At back behinde Pale death doth prie Eche howre and space Account the last Let Lampe of grace With Oyle be fast Then shalt thou stande In ioyes to raigne When Uirgins fonde Shall knock in vaine God graunt vs all To liue so right That when he call Our Lamps giue light Describing his lost of libertie and crauing returne of loue ONce frée I was at libertie My merrie minde was voyde of woe My hart had great felicitie I passed not for Cupids bowe Thus frée most frée in ioyfull prime I passe the sportes of youthfull time Untill thy vewe as Goddesse grace In heauenly shape that did appéere Had hent my hart in captiue case Such was thy voyce such was thy chéere That thy fine forme of natures frame The Gods aboue might well inflame It Venus past in forme and face Thy corps thy lims eche part so fine Thy chéerefull chéekes thy gentle race Thy curteous hart thy wit deuine That hart did smart in heauie part My fréedome fled bounde was my hart When first I cast my carelesse eye Upon thy hue that drue the dart I little thought thou shouldest lye So déepe sunck downe in my poore hart I would full faine forgo my holde My frée estate by wit to folde As birde alurde in winters sore On limed twigges that often bée Thinkes he is frée as late before Untill he sayes his flight to flée He cries he flies in vaine he tries On twigge in bondage there he lies So I by lure of thy good grace That thought my hart at libertie Was wrapt vnwares by featurde face With most extreme captiuitie A Beautie hath me bondman made By loue sincere that shall not vade Alas my panting hart so sore That doth lament in sobbing teares Most greedie gripes doe prick and gore To groning graue my corps that weares My cares and griefes doe rack my vaines Consider thou my restlesse paines Alas most faire and péerelesse gem Haue mercy now draw pittie néere And count me not the least of them That loue thée best in hart sincéere So thou that madste my wound so wyde Shalt for the same a salue prouyde My Ladie faire ah Ladie dere Perpend in hart my dolors great And looke vpon thy prisonere Whose chaines hath through his hart yfreat And let not want of welth in place Retract thy loue to runne his race He accuseth his tongue WHy fearefull tong what menst thou thus To fayle thy maisters paines to paint In matters vaine and friuolous Thou runst at rainge néedes restraint But fewer wordes my greater paine The greater paine the sooner ende The sooner ende the better gaine For lesse offence shortst life doth lende When he thought himselfe contemned O Hart why dost thou sigh and wilt not breake O dolefull chaunce thou hast a cause thereto For thy rewarde in loue and kindnesse eake Is recompenst by hate and deadly wo. Haue I so plight my heart and minde to thée Haue I béene bent so whole vnto thy hande And others now obtaine the fruit from me Thou art vnkinde forsooth such foe to stande O dolefull hart thus plungde in pinching paine Lament no more but breake thy truth to trie For where thy comfort was and ioy did raigne Now hate returnes no newes O hart now die Lo thus the bréeding birdes their nests do builde But others take the gaines and fruites of them The crooked clowne so earth the toyling fielde But oft the crop remaines to other men Well time may come wherein my fruitlesse part So ill bestowde some others may bewaile And wish they had receiude my yeelding hart Whose louing roote tooke grounde to small auaile To his friende JN hart and minde Your owne am I Till death by kinde Shall force to die Good vertues plant Let truth take place Where that doth want There is no grace Being sore sicke aunswereth his felowe enquiring whether he were willing to die WEe flourish now but flower shall fall and withered fade as frayle As yeres returnes so length of time causeth man and beast to quaile Now Lady Ver in liuely gréene doth showe hir grace in fielde Now Estas spreads the parching heate That Titans beames do yelde Now Autumne shewes the haruest sheaues that growe on fertill place Now Hiemps heapes the dyke with snow and shewes hir frostie face So first we spring in lustie youth at state of childish yéeres Now déeper wit as Estas ripes in grauer acts appéeres Then manhood makth a stabled minde none youthly prancks we haue Now hored age with stealing steps créepes in prepare thy graue And thus we fleete and fall away aswell the yong as olde Then youthfull impe trust not on yeres short life may make thée colde And thus by course and chaunge of time things mortall chaunge their way One age doth passe an other comes loe Time will all decay For thin is twist or fatall threed on mortall whéele so spoon Deathes howre may chaunce vnhoped for to lose that life hath woon Then why shoulde I once feare to die our byding is not héere But earth shall rot in earth againe till righteous iudge appéere When worlde and worldly things shall passe but God shall dure for aye Whose grace I craue with hart and soule on whome I stande and staye Now stretch my steps O Lord to run by length of time to bee That I may liue to die a right and die to liue with thée An admonition to his friende IF thou wilt be rightfull Alwayes stande thou faithfull To doe well be carefull Note friends and be thankfull Uaine talke flee and learne wit Marke wise wordes and loue it Alwayes pray and boast not Eschue pride and vaunt not Hate no man disdaine not Take time and sleepe not Each vertue traine iustlie Regarde betters wiselie Offende no Wight wronglie And declare alwaies truelie So God then will loue thee And good men will prayse thée When vertue shall clad thée All fame shall embrace thée Vse Vertue DOe well abstaine from vice obey thy parents will Remember God and learne be wise imbrace swéete vertue still Marke God before thy face vprise and pray betime No ydle howre let passe séeke grace detest all heauie crime Trie ere thou trust take héede haue God thy chiefest gaine Estéeme the time before all méede and godly lyfe retaine Alwayes let vertues rule to thy good rest If grace shall growe within thy youthfull brest At his Friends departure MY Muse which once with ioyfull voice to thee should welcome tell Alas to late as now she comes more fit to bid farewell But since my dolefull farewell must approch in welcomes stéede And eke at parture hence from me welcome should yll procéede High Ioue I praye thou mayst farewell alwayes in prosperous rase And eke in ioyes to make returne that welcome may haue place Of Knowledge WHen death is bent Yet stands thy praise For life once spent Wit fame doth raise
When Golde doth faile Is learning tride When riches quaile Good letters bide The more tis prest The more it springs It is the best Of mundane things It bydth with thee Doe what thou wilt Till dead thou be And breath be spilt No burthen tis To charge thy back Most wretch he is That this doth lack Eche thing that groes Doth likewise die Still learning floes Aboue the skie Than knowlege craue Let riches go If this thou haue welth néedes must gro Of Auarice THe childishe yeres in youth doth take the parents trade And are full oft against their wils compelde by Fathers harde To Auarice so vilde in Lucres gaine to game And Father is a happie man when sonne such lyfe doth frame So secrete vice doth lurck with cloke of vertues face And gréedie gaine the shadowe shapes of thrift in godly race And so from Sire to sonne from sonne to thousands mo By fonde conceyte continually this cloked vice doth gro Thus eche man for himselfe And poore laments in thrall For rauening wolfes by gréedie gaine hath beggard deuill and all Thus one doth care for one and one doth learne by one Till lust be puft and chokte with gaine and eche man turne to none But poore and worldly wights shall neuer fréedome finde As long as men take goodes for Gods by gréedie hart so blinde Of blinde Cupide LYbido lewde hath fainde a God of loue Whose pestlent powre to blase which can anoy A title fierce is added through behoue A furious God an Archer blincking boy Whome Venus fonde doth make to range amisse Hir pretie boy hir proper sonne he is He rashly flies in vnaduised way Which heauens doe pierce by his so little hande Though least he bée he beares the greatest sway Of doubtie knights he hath a witlesse bande Alack good childe of wanton foolish crew Thou makst them fooles w t thy fond badge of blew O little boy thou shootes thy raging dartes Full well he paints that makes the bussard blind For right nor rule nor reason hath there partes Where fansies fond doth fire an yéelding minde What euer thou art all furies fierce that bée I rather wishe than meddle or make with thée To his Friend whose friendly loue he craueth O Doubtfull hap O paines and pangues y t moue Thou yet wāts yeres to féele my smarts of loue Mee rue take age alas to thinke on mée My earnest life and death is set on thée Hart true I giue though most y u wouldst me hate Untill hart breake in woes and staruing state I erst doe craue regarde me once or neuer Die though I must yet loue I thée for euer Time trieth all that flieth without retorne Nought swifter is then yeres y t kils things borne Whose stealing steps I wishe more fast to flo To make thée apt thy timely fayth to sho Time absent still we wishe to come and stay And thus vnwares we craue our dying day None is content his present state to sée Yet thou my friend content mayst onely mée And eke in time I hope thou wilt regarde For seruice true the seruant takes rewarde As time shall giue the tried trust of mee Accepted so let me thy seruant bee To D. M. I Craue who will not loue Who loues I cannot craue The thing that doth me moue I séeke and cannot haue Amids the flouds I stande And yet shall die for drinke Of foode great store at hande Yet hunger makes me shrinke To his Friend being absent shewing his good will THe hart that lyues in pensiue doubt His wished ioyes shut farre him fro He drawes his dolefull tunes full out In griefe in paines in cares and wo. And eke in thende it may befall So my vnluckie choyse to spie That guiltlesse hart thou make full thrall By thy decrée to liue or die Then flinted stones and barked trée The sauage beasts on mountaine bred Shall waile my wofull hap by thée As simple lambe to slaughter led My hart hath woonted ioyes resignde Reiecting all for cause of thée A grounded loue in yéelding minde Flées wit and shoonns vtilitée To one who after death woulde leaue his liuelie picture TO leaue behinde a picture fine to sée It may small time well stande in stéede for thée But picture faire of noble actes of minde That farre excelles to learne to leaue behinde Which will maintaine a noble name for aye As Tullis tongue and Caesars acts can saye As Chauser shewes and eke our morall Gowre With thousands more whose fame shal stil endure The destruction of many NIce handes poore stock hart stout for to sée No friends no skill bagges pennylesse bee And pride doth presse to passe the degrée These brings lewde heads to great miserie Being destitute of money the complaint to his Friend OF all the haplesse hap That chaunce to mortall fone Goldes want to stop a gap By proofe I finde is one No paine so sore doth freat No pinsons so can rent No smoking smart so great That makes the hart lament For emptie purse no game No foode no friende no cote For monie all doth frame Whose slaue we are by lote Where money friend doth faile There fawning friends be gone Farewell poore wretch all haile Light purse makes heauie mone These paynes by proofe be gest What neede examples cost Where purse is so deprest As clapt in Sampson post Stormes past yet soone retires And drowsie dumpes decay So God graunt iust desires To driue these plagues away The Louer describeth his trustie loue THough horse so wylde in thousand partes Should teare my corps most dolorous Though fryde I were w t piersing smarts And boylde in lead most piteous Though sworde should pierse my hart so colde In bloudy woundes my death to frame Though paine of hell to me were folde Most retchlesse wretch and yll by name Though thousand miles on foote I fare With naked legge in frozen stormes Though bloud of hart I spend in care Through countries farre in thousand harmes Though dread in feares doth worke dispaire And hope alone doth cherishe mée Yet rack that rendes eche lim so faire Shall not by smart take heart from thee An admonition to his Friend LEarne honest mirth in humble curtesie Let person time and place regarded be Serue God in hart and loue his statutes true Then thée with goods and heauen he will indue Flee ydlenesse alwaies to labors frame Of thone comes good of thother sinne and shame He craueth regarde of the cares he taketh THe crooked clowne that drawth the plowe with all his yerely toyle Receiues at last rewarde of worke bestowed on fertile soyle And shall my paines and restlesse woes thus vnrewarded bée Shall I be prest in simpler sort and vylder case then hée The fethred foule that flées aloft obtaines the things he seekes And sundrie where his fostring foode with chirping bill he péekes Estéeme me so Desirous to requite for manie giftes one to his deare beloue NO man of sturdie thornes doth séeke the swelling
grapes to haue No man of flouds that vacant are can waters iustly craue No man of candle cleane put out can liuely light obtaine No man of Codrus simple soule a princely gift may claime Such let right iudgement stand for me of thée my parent made For I to writhing thornes am lyke in course of present trade Therefore receyue this simple signe my springs yet dried are But yet of thorns account this one which nowe my briars are My budding trée cannot as now some other fruits disclose My Garden gréene for thée alone preparde this onely Rose But I a Briar well doe séeme restore which nothing can And I a Briar now perceyue that I a Briar am For still the busie Briar pricks but doth no gaines pretende So I with charges presse thee still but no rewarde I sende But if in time from thornes I may of Uine trée take the shapes Thou shalt in stéede of Briars sharpe receyue my springing Grapes Time alwayes causeth some noueltie and furthereth knowledge NO man so old but vse or tyme or place Shal teach him newes though he passe Nestors race And learne him skill vnknown to him before To shoon the things by which he set great store That he shall iudge he knewe not that at all Which as he thought he knew as principall Being in extremitie the Louer bewayleth his restlesse lyfe MOst gréedy gripes with plunging paines doe pierce my ruthfull hart I passe the noysome night in grones through rent with dreadfull dart When all reioyce in wished sport my moning minde doth crie The harmes so huge in dolefull dumpes compels me wretch to die My languisht limmes in lothsome lyfe are rent from bone to bone The reins the vaines are clene consumde with hart so colde as stone I cursse eche lingring howre of day my bloudie woundes to stratch Once comes I know the yrksome ende that shall my cares dispatch The furies fierce and fierie flakes that burne in hatefull hell Cannot surmount my passing plunge my carelesse corps to quell O heauie hart when wilt thou breake when wilt thou rent in twaine For that alone my happie helpe is ende of all my paine More is my griefe for priuie paines I onely wretch doe know Nor durst my flashing flame to friend vnfaythfull men to show I rage and rewe I frie and fréese vp whelmde in woes full sore My smarting eies haue spent their teares farewell for euermore Of Miserie COrps clad with carefulnesse Hart heapt with heauinesse Purse poore and pennilesse Backe bare in bitternesse Lips laide with lothsomnesse O get my graue in readinesse Faine would I die to ende this stresse Remedilesse To his Friend H. HOpe hart well dispaire not The truth tell and spare not Ere God say thou shalt not Hart holde aye and halt not Yet better tis thou spakst not When wisedome prouokes not Then wiseman thou séemste not When silence thou kéepste not To be learned OF learned oft aske good aduise aduised counsell kéepe Things kept bestow on others wise flée vice of slothfull sléepe Flatterers THey fawne in words and eke with tuiring eie They will deceyue trust thou no flattring spie For vnder view of Honnie lies deceyt And eke there lurcks of tongue the poysonde beyt The praise of vertue NOt worldly welth nor rich aray nor Pearles of costly rate Nor goodes nor Golde that shynes so gay can make the gentle state But vertue linckt in learned lyfe that springs by noble paine In them thy famous factes so ryfe foreuer still shall raigne Besides the same all turnes to dust throughout the worlde so wyde To ashes good and Gold shalt rust and thou to earth shalt slyde Of Counsaile THou must doe well Faith true obtaine Wit none repell Friend déere entraine Séeke rage to presse First trie hart true Thy sinnes excesse Lament and rue Of Offence HOw much a man the greater is By his offence that wries amisse So much the more the common crew That stately crime will note and vew To one that matcht with a frowarde woman TO get good wife tis harde sayth Cheremon Tis better burie two then marrie one Who marrie will his hart will sone be spent And after that he will also repent A necessarie yll the wyfe they call But this is worst it is perpetuall Wherefore my Friende thou dost me warie make Whome I to wife and daylie mate shall take Of Ladie Fortune O Fortune frayle why dost thou take of me so mightie powre To wicked men thou pleasant art to good men doest thou lowre To those that nought by déede deserue thou honours dost restore And those that nought offende at all thou plagst in rage full sore The men that iust and godly are thou bringst to great decay But those that most vnworthy bée thou richely doest aray Thou driust to death the youthfull imps and men of age doe bide O fortune fonde vnequally such times doste thou deuide That which thou takst from worthy men thou giuste to persons yll Thou no respect of vertue hast but fondly workst thy wyll Unconstant fraile sharp false vntrue is Ladie Fortunes grace To brickle glasse most like she is with that hir flattring face Nor doste thou kéepe in honours still those men of riche estate Nor alwayes dost thou frowne on men which first thou dame didst hate But truth it is Iehouah hie in throne imperiall He Fortune guides and giues rewardes he is the Lorde of all To his faythfull Friend CLéere Phoebus runnes in circle rounde in course both day and night And eke a heate dame nature giues to firie flames so bright And fleeting fishe the surging seas to haunt doe neuer cease And still hir fruites the worthy soile gyuth forth as due increase I pray therefore as long in course as Phoebus bright shall dure As long as flame shall giue a heate and fishe the seas procure And earth doth giue increase so long that thou thy yeres mayst tell And leade a happie ioyfull lyfe in blisfull state farewell To a Friend requesting his opinion in mariage he aunswereth thus WHen ryped yeres in wisedomes schoole in maridge faine would match By daylie doome these precepts vewe to scape the bayted snatch Perpend the grace the trust and trade of foreobteyned wyfe Hir manners marke with warie minde respect hir wanton lyfe Hir mothers minde and nature scan with fathers factes also As is the Uine such is the sappe that on the grape doth gro Beware the route of rowling eyes which secretly doth prie When shamefastnesse is put to flight then grace beginnes to flie The virgin chaste of stowing time no howre will ydle spende Lucretia applyde hir paines hir corps from vice to fende Penelope at distaffe spoon hir vndefiled thred Untill hir long desired mate approchde to spousall bed For ydlenesse consumes the lims and bréedeth vices vaine No Matrone chaste no grace there is where sleing sloth doth raigne Thy soule it spoyles thy life it spilles it weakeneth stayed strength The mighty holds and trimmest