to bridle the folly of selfe will But for the great wisdome of Councellors of State Iudges of Lawes Gouernours of Citties Generals of Armies or such great People in such great places they go so farre beyond our wits that wee had rather be obedient to their wills then enter into the depth of their discretions and content our selues with that wisdome which is most necessary for vs to loue God aboue all our neighbours as our selues to rise with the day raies and goe to bed with a candle to eate when we are hungry drinke when wee are thirsty trauell when we are lusty and rest when we are weary feare God be true to the Crowne keepe the lawes pay scot and lot bréed no quarrels doe no wrongs and labour all we may to haue peace both with God and man speake truth and shame the Diuell pitch and pay say and hold trye and trust belieue no lies tell no newes deceiue not an enemy nor abuse a friend make much of a little and more as it may increase These are the points of wisdome that we runne the course of our Card by Now for valour it is seene best in the best quarrells and Saint Paul said that hee had fought the good fight to fight for the preseruation of a state the person of a King or Prince to keepe my house from thieues my children from dogs and my family from famine and my faith from fainting in the word of God this hold we the good fight and the true valour not to stand vpon puntos not to endure a lye without death challenge for a frowne and kill for a fowle word aduenture all for nothing or perhaps worse then nothing loose lands goods life and soule and all in a murther or a bloody bargaine to please a Punke and to be counted a Captain of the Diuels army or a Gallant of the damned crew except some few howers before his end while the worme of Conscience bites him at the heart a sparke of grace enter into his soule and make him at the Gallowes make a repentant rehearsall of a lewd life and leaue a fayre example at his death to all behoulders perhaps with these good words at his departing All yee that heere bee take example to be hang'd by me Oh braue valour that makes many a weeping eye when my mother for my sonne and my sister for my brother or my wife for my husband or my father for my daughter or mine vncle for mine aunt sit and howle like dogs to see the workes of the Diuel in the wicked of the world Such kinde of valour I haue heard my father say that he hath mark't in some places where he hath trauel'd I know not where a great way hence when he was young where he found among a hellish company of accursed spirits they were called valliant fellowes that durst say any thing doe any thing or be any thing till they were worse then nothing durst quarrell with any man abuse any man strike any man kill any man and care for no man durst prate lye sweare and forsweare scoffe and swagger drinke and dice drab and stab durst be hang'd and damn'd for a horrible fit of a franticke humour and this was their valour I pray God there be none such among yee where you keepe I am sure there keepe none such among vs. Now for truth I hope there are more true hearts in the Country then there are tongues in the City in many places yea and in greater places then I will speake of but where they be God blesse them and where they are not God send them and that is all that I say to them But for ought I sée there is so much falshood in the world that I feare there is littletruth on the earth and in great places where protestations are without performances and excuses are better then lies Where is either truth of loue or loue of truth but a little I thinke I would there were more But with vs truth is so beloued that a Lyer is held little better then a theefe and it is a lesson we learne our little Children speake truth tell truth take heed you lie not the Diuell is the father of lies and little better be his Children deale truly with all men let your tongues and your hearts goe together Christ is truth in his holy name be true euer tell truth and shame the Diuell be true to God in your beliefe and obedience to his word bee true to your King in the loyalty of your hearts bee true to your wiues in the honesty of your bodies and bee true to your friends in performing your promises this is the loue we haue to truth if you haue it so it is a good blessing of God and makes a happy people And for loue if it bee in the world I thinke it is in the Country for where enuy pride and malice and Iealousie makes buzzes in mens braines what loue can bee in their hearts howsoeuer it slip from their tongues No no our Turtles euer flie together our Swannes euer swimme together and our louers liue and die together Now if such loue be among you it is worthy to be much made of but if you like to day and loath to morrow if you fawne to day and frowne to morrow if all your loue bee to laugh and lye downe or to hope of gaine or reward that is none of our loue wee loue all goodnes and onely for goodnes first God then our selues then our wiues and children then our family and then our friends and so hath loue his course in our liues and therefore if there be any obseruation in affection I pray you let it bee rather in the Country then in any place where faith is not so fast but fancy can alter loue vpon a little humour of dislike Now for your fauour when one Begger growes rich by it how many rich grow beggers through the hope of fortune and therefore in my minde better be Lord ouer a little of a mans owne then to follow a Lord for the bare name of a Gentleman and better with a little to bee counted a good man then with gaping after Gudgions to be thought I know not what Truly Cousin I thinke euery thing is best in his owne nature as one is bred so let him bée for as a Courtier cannot hold the plough but he wil be soone séene to be no work-man so a Country-man cannot court it but hee will shewe in somewhat from whence he comes And for a Ladies looke I thinke wee haue wenches in the Country that haue as faire eyes as finer creatures who when they list to looke kindly will make many glad though few gay fellowes And for apparell plaine russet is our wearing while pied coats among vs we account players or fooles except they be better men then the best of our parish except our Landlord Now for preferment and aduancement they be encouragements to some Spirits that are
no such diuelish deuises when womens eyes will bewitch mens hearts and the breath of Tongues will poison a mans wits And for your rauishing delights it is a word that I well vnderstand not or at least as I haue heard this rauishing is a word that signifieth robbing of wenches of the inner lining of their linnen against their wills and if it be so it is a perilous delight that brings a man to the Gallowes if not to the Diuell for a little fit of pleasure but if there be any better sence in it I would be glad to vnderstand it though at this time I care not to be troubled with it Now for Princes Pallaces they are too high buildings for our Brickes plaine people are content with Cottages and had rather pay tributes to their maintenance then haue them too much in our view for blinding of our eies with their golden brightnes Now for life and death hee that liues at quiet and will not be contented may change for the worse and repent it when he cannot helpe it Oh Cousin I haue heard my father say that it is better to sit fast then to rise and fall and a great wise man that know the world to a hayre would say that the meane was sure better be in the middle roome then either in the Garret or the Sellor and an other of an excellent worlds wit that ranne the ring with him in the walke of the world would say that honour was but ancient riches and in high places where frownes are deadly and fauours are vncertaine there was more feare of the one then hope of the other and a laborious weekes wages well payde was better then a yeares hope in paper and therefore hee that would leaue possessions for promises and assurances for hope were more full of wit then vnderstanding and of conceipt then iudgement for though there is no seruice to the King nor no fishing to the Sea yet there are so many suitors for rewards and so many beaters of the water that delayes may be cold comforts of long hopes to the one and the other angle all day and catch a Gudgion at night and therefore though the world be like a Well with two Buckets that when one falleth another riseth yet the fall is much swifter then the rysing and good reason because the one goes downe empty and the other comes vp laden But to be plaine I haue so long beene vsed to a quiet life that I would not leaue it for a world Now for your notes of worth that you haue set downe in your Court commendations I allow that all may bee true and they that thriue in it may thinke well of it and hold it a kind of heauen vpon earth but for my selfe I remember certaine notes that I read in a Booke of my Fathers owne writing that shall goe with me to my graue there were not many but in my mind to good purpose as first for greatnes My minde to me a Kingdome is so that the quiet of the minde is a greater matter then perhaps many great men possesse Then for wealth Godlines is great riches to him that is contēt with that hee hath which many great men somtime perhaps haue lesse then meaner people Then for a good rule of life Feare God and obay the King which perhaps some doe not so well in the Court as the Country Then for the course of the Law Loue God aboue all and thy neighbour as thy selfe which if you doe in the Court as wee doe in the Country Enuy would worke no hatred nor malice mischiefe but loue in all persons would make a pallace a Paradise which in the best is more euident then in the meanest apprehended but God whose loue is the life of all bréed such loue in the liues of all that peace may euer liue among all Now for learning what your néede is thereof I know not but with vs this is all we goe to schoole for to read common Prayers at Church and set downe common prises at Markets write a Letter and make a Bond set downe the day of our Births our Marriage day and make our Wills when we are sicke for the disposing of our goods when we are dead these are the chiefe matters that we meddle with and we find enough to trouble our heads withall for if the fathers knowe their owne children wiues their owne husbands from other men maydens keepe their by your leaues from subtle batchelors Farmers know their cattle by the heads and Sheepheards know their sheepe by the brand What more learning haue we need of but that experienee will teach vs without booke We can learne to plough and harrow sow and reape plant and prune thrash and fanne winnow and grinde brue and bake and all without booke and these are our chiefe businesse in the Country except we be Iury-men to hang a théefe or speake truth in a mans right which conscience experience wil teach vs with a little learning then what should we study for except it were to talke with the man in the Moone about the course of the Starres No Astronomy is too high a reach for our reason we will rather sit vnder a shady tree in the Sunne to take the benefit of the cold ayre then lye and stare vpon the Starres to mark their walke in the Heauens while wee loose our wits in the Cloudes and yet we reuerence learning as well in the Parson of our parish as our Schoolemaster but chiefely in our Iustices of peace for vnder God and the King they beare great sway in the Country But for great learning in great matters and in great places wee leaue it to great men If wee liue within the compasse of the Law serue God and obey our King and as good Subiects ought to doe in our duties and our prayers dayly remember him What néede we more learning Now for wisdome I heard our Parson in our Church read it in the holy Booke of God That the wisdome of the world is but foolishnes before God And why then should a man séeke to befoole himselfe before God with more wit then is necessary for the knowledge of the world the wise man must dye as well as the foole and when all are the Sonnes of Adam wee haue a faire warning to bee too busie with tasting of the Tree of too much knowledge I haue read in the Booke of the best wisdome that the feare of God is the beginning of wisdome and surely he that begins his lesson there may continue his learneng the better and come to bee a good Scholler at last Salomon the wisest man that euer was said that all was vanity and vexation of the Spirit and why then should a man vex his spirit with séeking to be as wise as a Woodcocke in beating his braines to get the possession of vanity And yet I must confesse that least vanity turne to villanie it is good that the authority of wisdome haue power
borne vnder the climing climate but for mine owne part I loue not to play the flye with a Candle for feare of burning my wings but will leaue the ladder of honour to him that best knowes how to clim be and to sit fast when he is vp Now for your Occurrents what are they but newes sometime true and sometime false which when they come to vs they are commonly more costly then comfortable and therefore wee desire not to trouble our selues Now for disciphering of Characters I haue heard my father say in the old time that they were accounted little better then coniurations in which were written the names of Diuels that the Colledge of Hel vsed to coniure vp in the world and belong'd onely to the study of Sorcerers Witches Wisards and such wicked wretches as not caring for the plaine word of God goe with scratehes of the Diuels clawes into hell but how true it is God knoweth but that this is true euery man knoweth that it was a deuise of the Diuell at the first to put into the head of a deceiuing heart that hauing no true nor plaine meaning in conscience would write so that no man should vnderstand him but himselfe or like himselfe and onely to hoodwinke the world for looking into his wickednesse But what is the end of all wily beguily seeking to deceiue other deceiu'd himselfe most of all Now letters of darkenes deuised by the Diuell for the followers of his designes in the courses of his deceipt honest men in the Country loue to meddle with no such matters but so far as may be to Gods glory and the good of a State to find out the plots and to preuent the mischiefe of a villanie being done in Gods holy name and by his grace I hold it a fine quality to discipher a Character and lay open a knaue But for vs in the Country wee loue no such braine-labours as may bring our wits into such a wood that we know not how to get out of it Now for enditing of Letters Alas what neede wee much adoe about a little matter If we can write wee commonly begin and end much after one manner Trusting in God you are in good health with all our friends and so to the matter either to borrow or to pay or to know the prise of your Cattell or for a merry meeting or I thanke you for my good cheere And so with my hearty commendations I commit you to God From my house such a day Your louing friend to his power And then seale vp the paper and write on the outside To my louing Cousin Neighbour or Friend at his house in such a place with speed if the time require and so no more adoe Except it bee a Loue Letter and then a fewe idle words of Sweete heart I commend me vnto you and haue beene as good as my promise and haue sent you a paire of gloues by Meg your Brothers best beloued and vpon Friday God willing I will meete you at the Market and wee will be merry and talke further of the matter and if you be as I am say and hold I know my portion and when yours is put to it wee shall liue the better And so keeping your Handkerchiffe neere my heart till I see you I rest Yours during life in true loue W. T. Now for your Stiles of honour and worship to this Lord and that Lady on the outside and a deale of humility and ceremony on the inside me thinkes it is a wearying of the minde before you come to the matter And as I remember a great wise man that would dispatch many matters in little time would thus euer read Letters in the beginning two words for the Stile and other two at the end for the conclusion so noting the treble aboue and the base beneath he would soone in the middest find the substance of the Musique and to tell truth few words and plaine and to the purpose is better for our vnderstanding then to goe about with words to tell a long tale to little end Now if wo cannot write we haue the Clerke of the church or the Schoolemaster of the towne to helpe vs who for our plaine matters will serue our turnes wel enough and therefore what neede wee trouble our heads with enditing of Letters Now for Orations they are fittest for Schollers to allure an audience to attendance but for vs wée haue more vse of our hands to worke for our liuings then of our eares to heare the sound of a little breath yet I allow it among you in such places as you liue in but where truth is the best eloquence we make but two words to a bargaine and therefore for your long discourses we desire not to be wearied with them but will leaue them to you that haue more vse of them and haue time to hearken to them Now for your Messages alas cannot we giue a Cap and make a Legge to our betters and deliuer our minds in few words without we learne to looke downe as though we were seeking of a Rabbets nest or that we had committed some such fault that we were ashamed to shew our faces or make a long congie as though we were making preparation to a Galliard when if a foote slip we may haue a disgrace in the fall and if a word be misplaced it is halfe a marring to all the matter and therefore for messages our matters being not great small instructiōs wil serue our turnes for the deliuery of our minds Now for congratulating of Princes God blesse them they are too great men for vs more then to pray for them and their matters too high for our reason to reach after it is enough for vs to giue a Cake for a Pudding and a pint of Wine for a pottle of Beere and when wee kill Hogs to send our Children to our neighbours with these messages My Father and my Mother haue sent you a Pudding and a Chine and desires you when you kill your hogges you will send him as good againe Now for great folkes they haue such great choyce of presents and of such great charge and such great care in the deliuery of them that Lord haue mercy vpon vs wee in the country cannot tell what to say vnto them but God blesse them that haue them and much good may they doe them Now for Ambassages and Ambassadors wee know not what the word meanes and therefore little care to be troubled with the men for when we heare of any man that comes from a strange Country wee say I pray God he comes for good and then hee is the better welcome Tush talke to vs of a Basket or a Basket-maker and not of an Ambassador nor Ambassages but make your selues that best know the meaning of them the best vse you can of them for vs wee care not to looke after them more then to pray for them that as they doe or as they meane so God blesse them Now
for your Officers their charge is so great that wee desire not their places for we hold a priuate quiet better then a publike trouble and a cleane conscience worth a world of wealth Now for your Orders perhaps your need of them is great where disorders may be grieuous for vs in the Country we haue few but in the Churches for our Seates and at our méetings for our places where when Maister Iustice and the high Constables are set honest men like good fellows will sit togeither except at a Sessions or an Assise wee bée called vpon a Iury then as it pleaseth the Clerk of the Peace set one afore another and therefore for orders what néede we trouble our selues with other then we are vsd vnto I remember I haue heard my father tell of a world of orders hee had seene in diuers places where he had traueld where right good Gentlemen that had followed great Lords and Ladies had enough to doe to study orders in their Seruice a Trencher must not be laid nor a Napkin folded out of order a dish set downe out of order A Capon carued nor a Rabbet vnlaced out of order a Goose broken vp nor a Pasty cut vp out of order a Glasse filled nor a Cup vncouered nor deliuered out of order you must not stand speake nor looke out of order which were such a busines for vs to goe about that we should be all out of time ere we should get into any good order but in that there is difference of places and euery one must haue their due it is méets for good manners to kéepe the rules of good orders But how much more at rest are we in the Country that are not troubled with these duties Now for your eyes of brightnesse I feare you are not troubled with too many of them late sitting vp long watching and night busines as writings readings casting vp of accounts long watchings and such like other busines besides gaming playing at Cards Tables and Dice or such sports as spend time are all dangerous for weake sights and make a world of sore eies But as you said some of the best sort are wiser in their actions and more temperate in their motions and therefore keep their sights in more perfection which may be examples to others if they haue the grace to follow them But for our eies if we do not hurt them with a stripe of a twig in the wood a flyo in the ayre or a mote in the Sunne our eyes are as bright as christall so that we can se the least thing that may doe vs good and if we can sée the Sunne in the morning and the Moone an night see our Cattell in our pastures our sheepe in the Common our Corne in the fields our houses in repaire and our money in our purses our meate on our tables and our wines with our Children and looke vp to heauen and giue God thankes for all wee seeke no better sight Now for the cleannes of your hands I feare that now and then some of ye haue your hands so troubled with an itch that you must haue them nointed with the oyle of gold before you can fall to any good worke and some of yes that though your wits haue good inuentions yet you cannot write without a golden pen which indéede best fits a sine hand But for vs in the Country when we haue washed our hands after no foule worke nor handling any vnwholesome thing wee néede no little Forks to make hay with our mouths to throw our meat into them Now for the purenes of your hearts except Kings Quéenes and Princes and such great persons make no comparison with Country people where yea and nay are our words of truth faith and troth are our bonds of loue plaine dealing passages of honesty and kinde thankes continues good neighbour-hood A lyer is hated a scoffer scorned a spend-thrift derided and a miser not beloued a Swaggerer imprisoned a Drunkard punished and a Iugler whipped and a Théefe hanged for our hearts will harbour no such Guests And for loue two eyes and one heart two hands and one body two louers and one loue ties a knot of such truth as nought but death can vndoe Now for braines of Wisdome I thinke hee is wiser that keepes his owne and spends no more then néeds then hee that spends much in hope of a little and yet may hay loose that too at last Now for tongues of truth let me tell you fayre words make fooles faine and Court holy-water will scarce wash a foule shirt cleane except it come from such a Fountaine as euery man must not dip his finger in But Cousin when hearts and hands goe together words and déeds goe together these are the tongues that will not faulter in their tales but tell truth in the face of the wide world and therefore excepting the best that may bee examples to the rest I thinke if truth be any where she is in the Country Now for the noblenesse of minds it fitteth the persons in their places but for vs in the Country wee had rather haue old Nobles in our purses then a bare name of noble without Nobles the reason may be that we doe not know the nature of noblenes so well as wee doe of Nobles and therefore wee heare onely so much of the cost of it that we haue no heart to looke after it but where it is truly we honour it and say God blesse them that haue it and if they be worthy of it well may they keepe it and that is all that I say to it Now to spirits of goodnes alas there is not one in the world Christ Iesus our Sauiour said so There is none good but God and if there be any on the earth I thinke a good beliefe and a good life doth best expresse the nature of it To conclude with Vertue in which you lay vp all the treasures of life I doubt not it is in the best I would it were so in all with you but bee it where it pleaseth God to send it once I verily belieue it to bee as truly in the Country as in places of higher compasse and by your leaue let me tell you of a Riddle of my fathers one writing touching that rare and pretious Iewell There is a secret few doe knowe And doth in speciall places grow A rich mans praise a poore mans wealth A weake mans strength a sicke mans health A Ladyes beauty a Lords blisse A matchlesse Iewell where it is And makes where it is truely seene A gracious King and glorious Queene And this said he is vertue which though he vnderstood in the Court yet he made vse of it in the Country Now therefore good Cousin be content with your humour and let me alone with mine I thinke I haue answered all your positions and let me tell you whatsoeuer you say I verily belieue that ere you die I shall finde you rather in the roole of peace