Part 17
Though it seeme an approoued follie to cast pearles before swine, or to offer a golden saddle to an Asses backe: yet (not that I thinke either the Sowe worthie of the pearles, or the Asse fit for the saddle) I haue written vnto you, the one cause to manifest vnto you the vile and bad parts of your sonne whereof you will take no notice, and of which this Letter herein closed shall beare sufficient testimonie: the other for charities sake, to admonish you which are his father, that by your timelie looking to those matters, you may winde him from that, which by small sufferance will breed your woes, and his irrecuperable destruction, I haue vnderstood that hauing beene found heretofore in the like pilfering with two Masters that he serued, and the secrete information thereof beeing brought to your eares, you misliked his courtesie that tolde you, iustified the matter to bee false that was deliuered you, and not so much as examining the action, (which a good father would haue done by all manner of industrie) you allowed your sonne for honest, and affirmed that it was vnpossible hee should enter into anie such theeuerie. If I see the childe of such a father come to an euill ende, I will not maruell at all, seeing that besides the ordinarie inclinations alreadie graffed in his young yeares, his parentes are content by winking at it, to giue him furtheraunce, and in a manner to affirme it shall so bee, in so much as thereby seemeth, the sonne hath sworne hee will neuer liue honestlie, and the father hath promised that hee will set him forwarde to _Tiburne_, for his villainie. Is it reason that men (of zeale and conscience) should goe about to pittie their misfortunes, who haue protested neuer by compassion to preuent in themselues, the iust and appropriate rewarde of their owne euilles? What shall I say to the vnhappie father of such a sonne, or rather vnhappie childe of such a father, whether shall I forewarne him or you, the one purposing, the other animating, to what vnto each of you in the ende muste become a particular desolation? Trulie these thinges will not continue, they can not long holde. Well (not in respect that eyther of you haue deserued so much at my handes) but for pities sake, I am content to beare with your infirmities, and (so you will not vrge mee to your owne harmes, by your courteous, though not so much as honest vsage, for honestie willeth I shoulde haue mine owne againe, or recompence) will part with my losses: but yet therewithall warne you (to which ende I haue written this Letter) that you preuent your mischiefes betimes, you doe consider the successe of your owne harmes. So long the potte goeth to the Riuer, that at last it commeth broken home, euerie man will not deale with you as I doe. It can not bee, but you must needes knowe, nay rather bee a partaker of your sonnes euilles, howe euer you dissemble with the worlde, and face out the matter before people. Take heede I say, God when hee striketh, smiteth home, you will else repent it, for it will none otherwise bee. Because I haue yet some hope, that by driuing into your conceyte the enormitie hereof, and discouering the packe, which you saide was lockt vp from your seeing, that at the least wise for the feare of God, and to saue him from the gallowes, you will endeuour to chastise him. I haue sent this bearer, who can infourme you of the truth, time and place, of that which you goe about to shrowde vp so couertlie, and if afterwardes you will not bridle him, I protest his shamelesse foreheade must bee corrected by iustice, and the lawes must further passe vppon. Surelie not for enuie of the person, but for the shamelesse browe hee beareth, as one that had done none offence, to prouoke mee by euill vsage to blaze his faultes, that otherwise by good counsell, woulde haue couered them: I thinke it a deede meritorious to haue him punished, if you haue a desire as a father to cherish him, haue a regarde as a friend betimes to correct him, otherwise you shall sooner see him come to shame, then anie waies climbe vnto credite. But for ought I can heare, both father & mother are so addicted to the bolstring of his doings, as that it seemeth they haue alreadie vowed their infamie to the world, and his life to the gallowes: good counsell may do much, and though in taste I seeme a bitter enemie, the proofe in triall shall be better then of a fawning friend.
_An example reprehensorie wherein a man of wealth sufficient is reprehended for mariage of his daughter, to the riches of an olde wealthie Miser._
[Sidenote: _Exordium._]
[Sidenote: _Metonomia._]
[Sidenote: _Propositiō._]
[Sidenote: _Metaphora._]
Sir, I am not a little grieued for the loue I owe you, to see that in these ripe yeares of yours, wherein men commonly are freight with discretion, you neuertheles do verie indiscreetlie goe about to compasse a matter so repugnant to reason, or any maner of considerate and sage aduisement, as whereat the worlde can but woonder, and whereof all that know you, or by any meanes may vnderstand of the match, will no question greatly accuse & for euer condemne you. It is deliuered with vs here for certain, that you are intended (vpon the doting affection of a miserable old man, your neighbor, whose yeares are as well fraught with diseases, and his manacled and benummed old ioynts with imperfections, as his barred coffers with coine) to marry vnto him my neece your yoongest daughter vpon a suddaine, and that to the furtherance thereof, you offered to contribute of your owne store a reasonable and sufficient portion.
[Sidenote: _Antiphrasis_]
[Sidenote: _Auxesis._]
Trust mee when I heard it at first, I deemed it as a counterfeit ieast, thinking that the man whom I so wel knew before time, could not on a sudden become such a paragon, as whereon a maiden of her feature, youth, accomplishment, and fauor, could so quickly become enamored, neither thought I that howsoeuer the dotage of the olde man stood as a conceit to smile at, that you for your part would so much as vouchsafe to hearken to it, especially at any time so seriously to speake of it, much lesse to open your purse to become a purchaser of it, or by constraint at all to enforce her fauors, to giue signe or token anie waies vnto it.
[Sidenote: _Ecphonesis._]
[Sidenote: _Synonymia._]
[Sidenote: _Emphasis._]
[Sidenote: _Prosonomasia._]
[Sidenote: _Antithesis._]
[Sidenote: _Synonymia._]
[Sidenote: _Metonoia_]
[Sidenote: _Hyperbole._]
Alas sir, was there no one thing more wherein besides you coulde ouershoote your selfe, but onelie in so bad a purpose, an action so vnhonest, an intendment so vile, a matter so much impugning nature, as that the verie earth, or hell it selfe, coulde not belch out againste the fayre Virgine, so huge and so intolerable a mischiefe, to match I say, the matchlesse fauour of so young and dayntie a peece to the filthie, tawnie, deformed and vnseemelie hue of so wretched and ill fauoured a creature? What nature is this, to worke vnto her, whome of your owne flesh you haue ingendered, whome so long you haue nourished, whome to such and so manie perfections you haue trained, vppon a suddaine, naie euen in one moment, so manifest an occasion to cast her awaie, not yeelding vnto her heauy censure, so great a benefit as death, but ten thousand griefes, the least of all which is worse then any death that may bee, wherein comfortlesse she may complaine, grieue, and bemoane her selfe without any reliefe at all, but by the precious price and hazard of her own soule.
[Sidenote: _Antithesis._]
[Sidenote: _Hypotyposis._]
[Sidenote: _Metaphora._]
[Sidenote: _Antiphrasis._]
[Sidenote: _Antiphrasis._]
[Sidenote: _Erotema._]
[Sidenote: _Asyndeton._]
Howe vnequally doe you deale herein, to render vnto her being scarce sixteene yeares of age, a husbande enfeebled by fourescore yeares and vpwards, whose toes are swolne with the gowt, and legs consumed with the dropsie, whose leane carcase beareth no apparance but of old scars, and stifned limmes become vnweldie supporters of his pined corps, whome furs must fence from the least blast of cold, & dew of nappy Ale cherish with warme fires, whose nightcap carrieth more store of heat, then al his body doth of agility or strēgth, and nose far more fruitful then sauory, with distilling drops down trilling from thence in freshest spring of the ioliest seasons, maketh ill fauored refections. What wrong do you tender the poore maiden therin? How vnworthy and far ill beseeming is the same to her, who hath such a father, and apparantly shal be known to be such a mans daughter? shall you not therein bee noted of great folly, will not all men laugh at it, pitie it, crie shame of it, and her selfe poore soule praie to God to reuenge it.
[Sidenote: _Commoratiō._]
[Sidenote: _Antithesis._]
[Sidenote: _Metaphora._]
[Sidenote: _Anthypophora._]
It is too much intollerable beleeue mee, that you should endeuour in this sorte by colour of your Fatherlie authoritie to constraine her, whome (albeit shee is your owne childe) yet maie you not thus forciblie compell vnto so vnnaturall an extremitie: Consider with your selfe howe grieuous the thing you goe about to compasse, may returne vnto her, and whereas liking and choise is of all other things in case of marriage to bee accounted most dearest, you not onelie agaynst her will, do endeuour to induce a breach thereof, but also do giue her ouer into the handes of such a one, whose inequalitie so far forth disseuereth frō her appetite as that it cannot otherwise be, but (as vnto all others, so vnto her chiefly) it must become vnsufferable. Haue you no more care of her that is your daughter, but when nowe you haue brought her to the passe, wherein shee should participate the vertuous and modest vse of that, whereunto her yeares haue adapted her, and for which ende and purpose, marriage was by Gods sacred ordinance at the first ordayned, in steede of a louing and contented husbande, to giue her a withered olde Truncke, in lue of sweete and mutuall societie, to wedde her to sorrowe and euerloathed griefe, to endow her with larger profite then with honest contentment, thinke you that shee is a stone, that her senses from others are different in their right operation and qualities, that shee more or lesse, or in stranger sort then anie others, can become therein more forcible, or lesse iniuried? No sir, assure your selfe, you must needes heape vp no other but extremities vppon her, it cannot bee but if you proceed herein, you must of force vndoo her, the ende and conclusion is so vtterlie bad, as it cannot be remooued.
[Sidenote: _Peroratiō._]
[Sidenote: _Epiphonema._]
Returne then vnto your selfe, and thinke herein what best beseemeth your daughter, remember that what you take in hande in that action is vngodlie, iniust, seuere, and vnnaturall, that in giuing such a husband, you shall giue her (without the greater grace of God) and him both to the diuell. Consider, that you are with pietie, and to a Christian purpose and ende, to moderate your authoritie, weigh with your selfe that the couetousnes wherwith you are ouercome is no purchase to her of safety. And ballancing all these in the waight and cords of equalitie, withdraw your selfe, and by such meanes become disswaded from so great an absurditie. So may you the more easilie performe that vnto her belongeth, as a kinde and louing father, and for the profite by this trauell reaped at your hands, bind her and all vs with greater feruencie, to loue you. Whereon concluding the scope of all my former desires, I end, &c.
_An Epistle reprehensorie to a young Gentleman._
[Sidenote: _Narratiō._]
About seuen dayes passed, I receyued Letters from my Brother N. the long expectation whereof, and desire I had to bee infourmed of your well dooing, made mee inwardly reioyce at the first viewe of them, supposing that as I deliuered you out of my handes, I should still haue found you in the same predicament, without alteration, or so much as anie surmize of that wherof I haue beene thereby aduertised.
[Sidenote: _Synonymia._]
[Sidenote: _Antithesis._]
[Sidenote: _Epiphonema._]
It is long since indeede that you were with mee, at which time you were in manner a childe, neuertheles in those tender yeares so towardlie giuen, and of so milde and gentle disposition, as there was great cause whie then I should esteeme of you, and much matter offered to all others that knewe yee, whereupon to commend you: But nowe if it bee true as I am informed, your actions are turned quite contrarie, you are become a chaungeling, you are no more the same, but another in qualitie, minde and operation. If this bee so, you haue surelie taken a wrong course, in exchaunge of vertue, to make choise of vice: in steede of laudable exercises, to admit a number of lewd qualities: in place of good and honest vsage, to enter into a life vnciuill, lewde and sauage: your companie keeping is (as is reported) without anie order, your studies are carelesse, your pastime recklesse, your tabling drunkennesse, your liuing vnthriftinesse: finallie, blushing before time at all thinges, for their noueltie, you dare boldlie nowe to aduenture anie thing bee it with neuer so great infamie. These things, my good Coosen, I must tell you are vnfit for a Gentleman, and much ill beseeming that education of yours, whereunto they were neuer accustomed. From these, if you will doe aright, you are nowe to weld your speedie course, and quicklie to depart, calling to your remembrance, that what approcheth the condition of euerie ordinarie person is not meete for your credite, and what in men of common account appeareth to bee no blemish is in your reputation helde to be a great and notable faultinesse.
[Sidenote: _Hirmos._]
[Sidenote: _Epiphonema._]
When men desire to bee well famed, and by true renowne to rise vnto worthinesse, they flie sloath, and giue themselues to auoyde all occasions of Idlenesse, they endeuour to become painefull and industrious to couet thinges of highest accompt, and to bee in companie with the most vertuous. Their credite hath no supporte by vanities, they seeke not their reputation among raunnagates, they conuerse not with Tauerne-haunters, and bibbers, they liue not with men of vilde accompt, dissolute and vngratious, such kinde of meanes (as insufficient to glorie) they deeme wretched and opprobrious.
[Sidenote: _Antithesis._]
[Sidenote: _Auxesis._]
You nowe if you would bee such as you ought to bee, must also pursue the tracte of these, the sweetenesse and delicacie whereof (if but a little you will pierce into the sowre and harsh taste of the other) you shall quicklie conceiue, marke but the praise, benefites, estimate and good reporte, entertained with the one; and on the other side, the discredite, shame, discommoditie, and vile reckoning alwaies made of the other, and then iudge by your owne decernement, howe much and howe greatlie you are ledde awrie, in thus careleslie roaming vppon others vilities, and concluding with your selfe vppon the ill conceipt that all good men haue of such hatefull and disorderlie kinde of liuing, returne betimes, ere too late, for want of good aduisement, you foolishlie begin to crie out of your winning.
_Principiis obsta, sero medicina paratur,_ _Cum mala per longas conualuere moras._ First stop the cause, too late doth phisicke come, When euils smal, to great (by sufferance) run.
Credite me (whome euer you haue knowne to fauour you) the disgrace that quickly you shall sustaine, if betimes you relent not these euils, wil to a good mind become so vile and so odious as not without great sorow and griefe, may bee wiped away. I disguise not with you in that I saie, for you shall finde it and proue it to be true. It is a shame for any man in those yeares, wherin of al others his towardnes should chiefly be effected, to be accompted then bad, vilde, lewd, and ill demeaned, much more for a Gentleman, whose education was so good, whose infancy so well trained, whose adolescency so formerly with al kind of vertues indued, to become, now when most discretion should swaie in him, worse then before, more disordered then when hee was to be corrected, lesse commended in his owne gouernment then when he was vnder anothers intertainment.
[Sidenote: _Metaphora._]
The loue that I beare vnto you, maketh mee the more largelye heereof to enfourme you, which for that I deeme not of anie ill seede sprong out of your owne nature, to bee growne vppe into such kernels, I doe thereby adiudge, that with more facilitie they maie be disseuered, the braunches I knowe are of others wearing, which I neuer wish to bee so farre foorth lyked, as to become of your owne gathering. From the inconuenience whereof, I hitherto haue studyed thus much to withdrawe you, as hee that most of all desireth aboue anie other to enioie you. The haste of the messenger, and wearinesse of writing enforce mee to leaue. God, who is the conductor of all happie endeuours, blesse you, and till I heare from you againe, my selfe will exspect the best reformation that any good opinion may induce in mee, as yet to conceyue of you. Fare you well, this of. &c.
_Of Epistles Amatorie. Chap. 19._
=Diuers other patternes of sundrie occasions concluded vnder this Tytle, might besydes these heere bee put downe, whereof because I haue so largelie spoken in the discourse before these Epistles, I thinke the examples alreadie proponed to bee sufficient. And nowe the last of all these diuisions yet vnspoken of is |Amatorie|, whereof because the humours of all sortes with loue possessed, are so infinite and so great an vncertaintie in them remaineth, as that perchance euen in yᵉ verie writing of his letter, the louer himself is somtimes scarce certain of his own intended purpose therein, the lesse must of necessitie be the precepts of the same, for that in some of them wee require and entreate in others expostulate the matters and occasions falling in the necke therof, other times complaine, another while fawne and speake faire, then purge or cleare an accusation supposed agaynst vs. Finallie, innumerable are the deuises wherewith the reynes of loue are conducted. But in as much as I haue heretofore giuen vnto all other titles their seuerall preceptes, I will somwhat also in this place speake to the purpose thereof: In which I must first referre the writer vnto the consideration of the honestie of the action by him pretended to be written of, and then for the places of request, complaint, expostulation, or auoydance of anie thing therein happening to the waight of his owne affection, which how vehemently, or slenderly it weigheth, himselfe can best testifie, and lastly, for the well ordering of either of these, to the examples |Petitorie, Expostulatorie, Defensorie|, and |Excusatorie| in this booke plentifullie deliuered, wherein howbeit the matter of loue is no wayes expressed, yet to anie capable or wel disposed conceit, the conueyance thereof cannot in the selfe exchange of the subiect be without some import vnto them.=
=In this place there might also bee made a distinction of loue where in a |Sympathie| of minds from man to man aswell vniteth togither by an indissoluble league of amitie their hearts in one, as betwéene man and woman, and that for the most part by a far more waightie league, and more inuiolable discretion. But sith the alteration thereof, as it much differeth in qualitie from the other, is also alike exchaunged by title, that one tearmed by the name of |Friendship|, and this other chalenging onelie to be deciphered by |Loue|, these amours in this definition shall onely be intended such, as are modestly tendered from men vnto women, and so accordingly herein to be exampled and written vpon.=
=And howbeit the little experience I haue had of some conuersing in this kinde of studie, hath sufficientlie taught mee to knowe, that the verie instinct or setled impression of this kinde of fantasie is such a Schoolemaister to inuention, and so cunning a refiner of any well disposed conceit, as that with very small help, it thereby commonlie performeth much more then well could bee otherwise intended. To the helping and putting forwardes whereof, a number of excellent penned discourses onelie pertinent and seruing to the efficacie of those amours, are with the greatest singularitie that may bee deliuered, yet in so much as this booke taking vpon it to set foorth of euerye the tytles therein distinguished, some one or other particular example, may not by the defect of these, seeme to haue anie want of that, which by it hath bin formerlie promised. I haue thought good for order sake, to pursue also in this place, the effect of this Methode. The circumstances whereof by the examples following shall bee tendered.=
_An example of an Epistle, for the first entreatie of good will_.
The long and considerate regarde, by which in deepe contemplation I haue eyed your most rare and singular vertues, ioyned with so admirable beautie, and much pleasing condition graffed in your person, hath mooued me good Mistresse E. among a number whome entirely I knowe to fauour you, earnestlie to loue you, and therewith to offer my selfe vnto you. Nowe howbeit I may happilie seeme in some eyes, the least in woorthines of a number that daylie frequent you, yet may you vouchsafe in your owne priuate to reckon mee with the greatest in willingnesse, wherein, if a seded and immooueable affection towardes you, if feruent and assured loue grounded vpon the vndecaiable stay and proppe of your vertues, if continuall, nay rather inexterminable vowes, in all perpetuitie addicted vnto your seruices, if neuer ceasing and tormenting griefe vncertainlie carried, by a hazardous expectation, closed in the circle of your gracious conceyte, whether to bring vnto the eares of my soule a sweet murmure of life, or seuere sentence of a present death, may ought at all preuaile either to mooue, entreate, sue, solicite, or perswade you, I then am the man, who shrining in my inwarde thoughts, the dignitie of so woorthie a creature, and prising in deepest weight (though not to the vttermost value) the estimate of so incomparable a beatie, haue resolued liuing to honor you, and dying neuer to serue other but you, from whose delicate looks, expecting no worse acceptance, then may seeme answerable to so diuine an excellencie, I remaine.
_Your most passionate, loyall and perpetually deuoted, &c._
=This example seeming to be in the superlatiue degree, it is intended that the direction thereof or the like, shoulde passe vnto such a one, whose birth, education, or other complements, maie sufficientlie answere the greatnesse and efficacie thereof, otherwise to one meanlie demeaned, or farre lesse enabled, to indite or offer the like, it might seeme vnto the writer, a great indignitie, as well in iudgement, as by an apparant want of some other sufficiencie. For which I thought good to admonish thus farre in this place, howbeit in the seconde Chapter of this booke, I haue touching a respect in all writing to bee had vnto the partie, his partes, place and qualitie, plentifullie alreadie discoursed.=
_Another example to that purpose._