One of you beleeue me I could both loue and honour him did he not saue me that labour in doing the Office to himselfe No matter for his Name You may think he is a noted Man The Man hath good Parts and Gifts in him you need not tell him so he knowes it well enough you should take him for a Beast should you thinke him ignorant of his owne Strength He can doe well yea and he thinks as well of what he can doe As it was not ill for MOSES that his Face shone and the People saw it though himselfe knew it not So were it well for vs did our light so shine before Men that they might see our good workes and we our selues ignorant to boast it The Harpe sounds no lesse sweetly though it hear not it selfe Our good Parts would bee no lesse laudable though our selues tooke no notice of them It is both safe and profitable vnto vs that our selues haue beene ignorant of our Gifts How vsuall is it to forestall our best Parts with a fore Conceit Many men might in time haue beene both Good and Wise had they not as yet thought them so This hinders the Perfection of Good Parts when we thinke we haue attained them so soone God and Nature haue done faire for him and hee s now not a little proud of himselfe This hath God done for him he hath wrought Good out of Euill this hath he done vnto himselfe he hath wrought Euill out of Good T is strange how Vice here buds from Vertue Whereas other Vices are in the Euill our Pride only is in the Good we haue Other Euils openly shew the Worst this Euill trecherously spoyles the Best we doe This is the craft and subtilty of the Deuill that when be cannot at first preuent our Good Deeds and Duties hee seekes to preuent them afterwards by making vs Proud of what we haue done The Vertues that destroy their seuerall Vices he makes in generall to nourish this Vice Prudence Iustice Fortitude Temperance which banish and abandon Folly Wrong Faintnesse Riot These neuerthelesse and such others occasion Pride and cherish it Of all our Vertues this is the chiefest not to be Proud of our Vertues Hee built a Schoole Colledge Hospitall and I read his name in euery Window Tush he hath erected him an euerlasting Monument of Letters in whose very Frontispeece you may read at once both his Name and Works And you must conceiue these were not set so neere together for nothing his Name does authorize his Workes and his Workes immortalize his Name Hee smiles to thinke how his Name is published in the inquiry of his Works and how his Workes are graced in the mention of his Name He hath long learn't to exhaust others like a Bee and now at length hath got the Are to euiscerate himselfe like a Spider Others Brood he commonly wraps in his owne Clouts with here and there a new-fangled Brat much what like himselfe and yet he hugges them aboue therest and sayes of his owne inuentions O deepe Notions and mysterious Orare and pious Thoughts Oh how it tickles him to re-repeat the Line and Saying hee hath couched so Emphatically when as perhaps you can scarce conceiue it to be so much as sensibly digested Iust like a fantasticke Musician he chiefly pleases himselfe while hee leaues the Grounds to run vpon his Voluntaries How readily and rashly doe we broach our owne Opinions how largely paraphrase vpon our owne Fancies yea wee make them ours also which be no other than haue beene said or thought saue somewhat otherwise That we haue made a bare shift to clad or cloake another this is enough to owne it to our selues The Authour boasts what curious Threed he hath so cunningly wouen from out himselfe nor for his Matter or Method hath he the least hint from another The Translatour tels you t is farre more tedious to confine his wits to construction than to enlarge them to Inuention He bragges of the Forrainers Learning and Deuotion together with his narrow inquiry of his Words and minde and now hee compares his Turn'd Coat though in many places thred-bare moth-eaten fusty to any fresh and faire spotlesse yea seamelesse Garment Briefly bee it in things of our owne or others If our knowledge be a little beside others euen they must know it whose knowledge is farre beyond our owne Nay but he is now of another Minde he is not so Prodigall as Niggardly of what hee knowes Away sayes he with these shallow Cestornes with these empty Channels that hold so little and powre out so fast Giue me only the Gulfe of Learning and a Deuourer of Bookes I cannot tell what you would say he may be but he will not he sayes bee a Foole in Print He vpbraids him with Folly that thinkes himselfe knowes nothing vnlesse others know what he knowes and thinks it his owne Discretion not to communicate his knowledge vnto Fooles No As Learning he thinkes began ganue so hee 'le haue it end in himselfe For so he perswades him he knowes so much that in him knowledge both liues and dies The knowledge that this man hath he will not vent it out no maruell then it be found in this man as is said Knowledge puffeth vp But of all your lofty Crue haue you heard of him that is proud of this That he is not proud One that glories vainly euen in the Contempt of Vaine-glory You haue many of his Sect and Sort He seemes lowly but he grudges to be despised He cares not to bepoore but he is loth to want He goes barely fares hardly lies coldly an holy Man I wis and mortifi'd but that he boasts as much of this as you could of the Contrary A fained Humility puffes vp more then a noted Pride and is so much the more euill and edious as it seemes to bee otherwise Tush man be he as thou wouldst thinke another to thy selfe I can as well see his Proud Heart through his torne Coat as thine through thy slasht Doublet Thou proudly abhorrest his sordid ragges he also spurnes and tramples thy gay Garments and with another kinde of Pride Thy Ambition vrges thee to giue and he refuses thy Gift for he also hath his Ambition Boast thou before him Thou art Alexander the King and hee 'le bragge with thee Hee 's Diogenes the Dogge Pride is not alwayes from endowments within nor yet from outward Accruments A proud Heart oft goes together with a Beggers Purse and Coat I le now tell thee of One thou knowest not Heed him well thou yet knowest not him whom thou seest I tell thee chuse thee whether thou thinke me so my ayme is that thou be so thy selfe I am not Proud And good reason why I haue nothing I know nothing to be Proud of Riches what are they but a spreading a mouing a glittering Earth Hardly and euilly gotten doubtfull to keepe and dangerous soone and sorrowfully lost Honour what is it but an imposed
Their Pride they call Gracefulnesse their Flattering Courtesie their Tyranny Iustice their Auarice Thrift their Lewdnesse Pleasantnesse their Profusenesse Bounty and their Craft and Subtilty call they Policy and Discretion It was neuer good World since Vice went in Vertues Name and Habit. The Manners of Men haue now brought Lawes themselues into their Subiection Neuer more Lawes none more Lawlesse than now adaies What Offences are done daily before the Barre of Iustice Right is but little Defended euen where Right seemes to bee most Reserued Lawes are bought and sold And he commonly hath the best Penny-worth of Law that hath the worst Cause Lawes are so many and so abused that they are made to discourse and dispute Truth and Right Whereas were they fewer and well executed they would easily and readily determine and command them both Nor doth a Common wealth labour so in the multitude of Lawes as of Lawyers I speake not of iust Iudges and equall Officers of the Law But of cunning Catchpoles and hungry Pettifoggers that like swarmes of Flies pester and infest a land These if you knew all haue robbed many a Church wronged many a Widow starued many an Orphan and vndone many an honest Man In foule stirres and Contentions of Men these thrust in for more filthy Aduocates Of these I say Many Lawyers many Wranglers Else how should these men liue that are raised by others ruines did they not make worke for themselues These Seminaries of Dissention haue a Cauill or a Quirke to make the Law it selfe which indeed is a Rule of Peace set Men at oddes and keep them so As when you send your Water to a needy Empiricke you must resolue to take Physicke so declare your case to one of these greedie Catchpoles and you must needs goe to Law Nay hee tells you what wrong you haue done your selfe hitherto and all to bring you by his meanes to doe your selfe and others Wrong You like silly sheepe take this Bryar-Bush to shelter you and hee all to tatters your Fleece you two must tugge together ere you part His is the Gaine only in the end yours perhaps both the Losse and Shame This is also a sore euill vnder the Sunne Vertue is set after Wealth Wealth gets vp a Cocke-horse while Vertue but holds the Stirrop Learning is made but a Page to Riches The Golden Asse is worshipped the Ragged Philosopher is contemned Let a man be Religious Vertuous Learned Wise yet this thing is thought to preiudice his best Parts that hee is Poore But let him bee Impious Vicious Clownish Foolish yet that he is Rich makes amends for all the Rest A Man without Money is abhorred like a Monster but adored as a Goddesse is Money without a Man This same Goddesse Wealth bewitches vs all to her Worship For her wee plot and pray and ride and run and digge and begge For base Lucres sake wee are ready to embrace an Enemy and fall at ods with a Friend So ours be the Gaine wee respect not whose is the Losse yea though the Losse proue our Soules at last The World turns round in a Topsie-Turuy and euery Thing goes the wrong way to worke The Asse is got to a Harpe Phaeton will be climbing and Icarus must goe flie Euery man irkes his owne Lot is weary of his present Condition Nothing is more tedious to him than himselfe Nor can he containe him within the pale of his proper Calling Art hath got a tricke to force Nature Euery Man considers what he Aimes at not what he is Apt for Mercury is made out of euery Logge Dunses goe for Scholars Wretches are prest for Souldiers Idiots vsurpe Authoritie and Knaues creepe into Offices Taylors take Orders and Weauers will bee Priests Frogs professe Physicke Wherein is a Mans least Skill that is his whole Profession Men trauell in vntimely Births labour in vnapt Actions Like Channels without a Conduit turne Teachers when they yet both might and ought to Learne They vsually come armed to the Church goe naked to the Campe sing at a Funerall mourne at a Wedding study hard in a Play-house sit fidling in a Senate-house earnest in a May-Game and slacke vpon their Seruice One takes vpon him to swim ouer Hellespont on a Horse Another aymes to ascend Athos in a Ship One lies him downe to sleepe in a Waggon Another will goe a iourney on his Bed One takes butterd Pease on his Knife point Another eats Eggs with Spoones Bid him speake he is mute say Whisht and he babbles He writes Politicks ere he yet come into a Common-wealth Commands peremptorily where he hath small Authoritie flatly Determines what he least conceiues Who knoweth himselfe who hath himselfe who enters into himselfe who keepes within himselfe who seekes not himselfe without No man measures himselfe by his owne Feet by his owne Parts is no man measured Asses preferre Straw to Gold and Dunghill Birds a Barly Corne to a pretious Pearle Baser things are esteemed and frequented Better things they neither know how to prize nor vse Fooles and Idiots let fall Substances to catch at Shadowes let the Bird goe out of hand and keepe a beating about the Bush Vncertainties are the most certaine Purchase All turne Merchant Aduenturers for Places Offices Dignities Temporall Ecclesiasticall and buy long Hopes with a large Price How many fondly both aduenture and vndoe themselues to be well spoken of Speake him but faire to his Face and you may haue his Heart out His Table furnishes him with Friends and they likewise his Table And now the Cloth scarce taken vp but they are ready to rise Men are all for the Present And for that so as it be commodious What hath formerly beene is now forgotten There is indeed a quicke Apprehension but no good Memory of one anothers Acts and Offices If he cannot so doe as he hath done he shall not be so thought as he was Former things are Frosted An old Dogge shall bee hanged an old Seruing-Man discarded and an old Friend neglected notwithstanding they haue beene formerly so Vsefull Painfull Beneficiall A man cannot tell whom to trust to nor how to beleeue him Beside what his Heart imagines and Tongue vtters his very Face betokens Falshood Hee 'll blow hot and cold both with a wind Say and vnsay nay gainsay with a Breath Will promise Mountaines and performe Mole-hills and tell you of more in a Minute than you shall finde in a Yeare Nay which is worst will both Say well and Doe well in Deceit As many a man hath had a Good Turne done him not altogether to benefit but to blinde and bewitch him rather A Man speakes a good word for his Friend and two for himselfe And commonly so aduises him as to bring his owne ends about Two men contend together and a Third arbitrates to eithers losse Like Dogges they snarle at one another till the Bone bee snatcht away from both Great men easily take occasion to wrong Inferiours with authority
A Beast oft shewes the violence a Man only hath the vice thereof Such perhaps seize wound kill roare and bray bellow and bleat yet forthwith for all the Anger or Sorrow fall to Feed or Sleepe He only hath this Ground and Grudge within him And hereupon no Man but prone no Beast but loth to be prouoked It striues still to shunne what he oft thirsts to iucurre My Friend be faire condition'd t is best for you to know and loue your selfe Nay my haughty Haire-braines t is no pishing tushing laughing scowling scoffing scorning matter Scorne thou my Pity while I pity thy Scorne Another hath wronged thee alas and alas that thou therefore wrongst thy selfe Thou needs must vex thy selfe because another hath vexed thee I had thought howeuer that thou couldst not so haue hated Another as not to loue thy Selfe But what carest thou how thou hazards thee to hurt him A Bee hath stung thee and thou 'lt pull the whole Hiue about thy eares yea silly Bee thy selfe wilt also sting though in the losse of thy Sting thou lose thy Life Thou 'lt throw thy Dare howeuer though more by that meanes light vpon thee It is nothing if thou perish in his ruine Ah silly Fencer but naked and yet spightfull in thy Frayes that lookest only where to hit the the other not where to guard thy selfe An angry Man is his owne worst enemy and offends none more than himselfe Hee is often more crucified in the Thirst than the other damnified in the Execution of Reuenge Anger is a Fury that rightly haunts the heart that harbours it a Viper that worthily gnawes the wombe that doth conceiue it It is but iust that an inordinate Mind and froward should be a Plague a Torment a Danger a Destruction to it selfe I haue cast thy Water I le tell thee what thou feeles which because thou feeles thou canst not tell Thy Disease is the spice of an Ague commonly called the Physicians Shame which euery Man is here to himselfe The Ground is a cholericke Humour the Seat a naughty Stomack the Cause a bad Digestion of hard meats especially the Signe a Burning a Shaking Fit the Effects a Distemper of the Body and a Distraction of the Mind the Cure is to be let bloud in a Wilde Veine to purge gently for Choler to abstaine from sharpe and bitter Prouocations and apply thy stomacke only with pleasant and easie Leniments Nay if you take it not in time before the third Fit at the furthest it growes to more Diseases than I can either Cure or Count. Then is it the Inflaming of the Bloud the Swimming of the Braine the Blearing of the Eyes the Burning of the Heart the Belching of the Stomacke the Shaking of the Hands Strifes Inflammation and loues Oppilation the Dropsie of Indignities and Consumption of all Humanity The Minds Extasie casting Reason in a trance the Bodies Lethargie lulling the sense asleepe Name me any thing that 's bad and it is no better A roaring Lion a rauening Wolfe a sauage Tigre a wilde Boare a she Beare an vntamed Beast an vnbrideled Horse an vnyoked Oxe an vntaught Ape a Cloud a Wind a Showre a Storme a Sea a Waue a Gulfe a Rocke a Wracke a Racke a Pit a Hell All the Elements out of their element A consuming Fire a pestilent Ayre a troubled Water and a quaking Earth Thus can I call it all that 's bad and what shall I say to thee A foule euill is Anger and egregious There 's no Euill which it either causes not or matches not What Euils to Strifes Enuies Murders and whence are they What Euills doe men beyond it and amongst vs Men What Euils are done beside it Thou knowst perhaps nor it nor thy selfe by these Names of mine or lou'st rather not to heare on 't in harsh tearmes I now come to thee thus mince it with thee It is forsooth as you commonly call it an Hasty nature So it s thus knowne in all but how call you it each in other Oh t is the Souldiers Stoutnesse the Ministers Earnestnesse the Womans Pettishnesse the Sicke-mans Peeuishnes the Young-mans Rashnesse the Old-mans Testinesse the Priuate-mans Choler and the Great mans Displeasure Be it so in the Seueralls what is it yet in the Summe Euery man in his Humour and yet but one Humour in euery Man Are Sinnes lesse for the varietie of Names and Subiects Anger may be more impotent in one than other yet is it not lesse euill We all haue not our Might answerable to our Mood It is with more Rancour than Power that the very Waspe stings and Worme turnes againe But it s good and it be but to sharpen a mans wits to be angry a little now and then Why not better to be alwayes more A Good thing is not Ill because it is more The Thing is meerely euill whose Increase may make it worse Vertues onely know a meane Vices haue a more or lesse A lesse Euill hath not more Benefit but lesse Danger A lesse Anger is a lesse Euill it therefore Profits not more but hurts lesse Who I angry at thee at thy Anger rather Nor angry at thy Anger I. It is not fitting a Fault should take vpon it to correct a Fault Yet let me say Zeale and Iustice reprehend and punish with earnestnesse with seuerity not rage not cruelty The Philosopher would not smite his Seruant because he was angry nor were I so would I chide thee We are not angry at him to whom we would the Amendment of euill together with the punishment Is the Law therefore angry because it conuicts the Iudge because hee condemnes the Officer because hee executes the Malefactor It is Pietie that moues here not Infirmitie The sword of Iustice is not put into a Mad mans hand Authoritie requires not a rash a lawlesse rigour to what a graue and iust seuerity can execute Are Magistrates set for Posts and Cyphers idle and immoueable It is the Spurre of their Office that now moues them They are angry at Enormities the very Cause is enough to exempt it from that Name It is not perturbation now but indignation Take away this spirit and life of the Common Wealth and each ciuill Society faints in dulnesse and heartlesnesse yea groanes vnder disorder confusednesse and ruine These may sin in being not angry These may bee angry and sinne not Thou both art angry and sinnest True true The Ant I know hath her gall the Flie her spleene and the Worme will turne againe Nature I haue learned hath giuen to all Creatures a desire and endeuour to preserue them selues in their proper Being and hence it is they so resist or auoid whatsoeuer may oppose or endanger it Euen vilest Creatures wax offended at what may molest their peace and safety How much rather then is the noblest Creature displeased at iniuries at indignities A Man is worthily moued at his Friends Wrong and his owne and a Christian aboue all at his Gods Dishonour But what