Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	bind_v	law_n	nature_n	1,568	5	5.4669	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19848	A short discourse of the life of seruingmen plainly expressing the way that is best to be followed, and the meanes wherby they may lawfully challenge a name and title in that vocation and fellowship. With certeine letters verie necessarie for seruingmen, and other persons to peruse. With diuerse pretie inuentions in English verse. Hereunto is also annexed a treatise, concerning manners and behauiours.; Short discourse of the life of servingmen.	Darell, Walter.; Della Casa, Giovanni, 1503-1556. Galateo. English.	1578 (1578)	STC 6274; ESTC S105192	84,399	172

which they expecte in griefe and pensiuenesse of spirite then trembling to be alwayes in martyrdome Right honourable I vtter not these spéeches to shew my guilt which I trust appeareth not heynous in your eyes as to manifest my gréefe which to mée is found most tedious and too too excéeding raging féeling as it were my bodie faint and wearied being pressed with the weightie burthen of your heauie displeasure Wherfore most worthie counsellour exercise vppon mée the plentie of your bountie that I may liuing rather commende your mercie then in silence complaine of your seueritie And thus leauing your worthinesse in the handes of your counsell I wishe you those felicities which your owne heart desireth H. L. to his singular good maistresse for procuring his pardon THis one thing I learned by the instinct and benefite of nature my Souereigne good maistres had I neuer perused learned treatises discoursing manifoldly the selfe same in effecte that Happie dayes excéede the heaped summes and long life according to the opinion of all to them chéefely is found most swéete and plausible who being daungerously intrapped haue despaired of pittie or as wanderers through want of a skilfull Pilote haue fallen into the swallowing surge of Silla readie to be deuoured in that gulfe and as it were yelding to so greate a miserie and wretchednesse For this standes in common regarde with all rather to séeke to prolong our life then increase our wealth And the Souereigne delight and the pleasure of oure dayes is the solace of life This being vndoubtedly found most true and euident that there is in vs ingraffed an earnest and ardent affection of life and that life to them is founde moste deare pleasant who haue béene in perill of death How should I be addressed or in what manner may I yelde all obseruaunce to her by whose petition and earnest suite I haue auoided the terrour of death Uerily it is not in my slender capacitie to disclose the duetie that aunswers your desert the insufficiencie and basenesse of the one is so much inferior to the other in the excéeding greatnesse and goodnesse Wherefore sith my skill and abilitie is too simple to expresse liuely a thing of so high a nature I close my lippes as one vanquished with the excellencie of your goodnes Thus rendering imnortall praise for your greate goodnesse and crauing pardon for my presumptuous boldnesse I moste humbly take my leaue beséeching God to lende you long life with happie dayes W. S. to his louing father declaring that the cause why he did not write was for his vnhappie state I Haue this long time forborne to write vnto you deare father not in any negligent respect as not remembring with what humilitie I am bounde by the lawe of God to obey you or with what affection I am inioyned by the lawe of Nature to reuerence you but Fortune since my departure from you séemeth to haue dealt with mée so frowardly that I haue béene by no good order induced to giue you intelligence of my estate lest that percase the opinion of misliking which is alreadie in your ingendered viewing the continuance of these my so many casuall calamities might to my greate hinderaunce confirme in you a iudgement And yet what haue I not to fore painefully abode which presently I doe not with all patience suffer reteining alwayes a resolute and vnconquerable minde For this by perusing wittie and profound discourses of Philosophers I learne that albeit aduersitie hath power to vexe and trouble the condition of mortall men yet it hath no power to chaunge the constancie and courage of a valiant and puissant minde which in all resolutions and chaunges of times reteines one firme and vnmoueable vertue Euen as a trée which being well rooted although it be shaken with many violent windes yet in his firme there is no power to supplant him We through aduersitie become humble wise and perfect and the offender is better reformed by the proofe of afflictions then by any other meanes for knowing them to be the messengers of God he debateth not the griefes he féeleth but calleth his owne conscience to a reckoning he glorifieth him selfe in tribulation knowing that tribulation brings patience patience bréedes experience experience raiseth hope hope thus wrought and couched cannot be confounded In consideration whereof I déeme him moste vnhappie which hath not béene infortunate for he that hath not béene accussomed with aduerse and crooked Fortune hath least power ouer his passions And such as neuer haue felt perplexitie can little iudge of the worthines of patience Wherefore deare father mislike not of that which in the ende brings true and perfect felicitie I moste humbly take my leaue crauing your fatherly fauour blessing T. D. to his inconstant wife for her malicious stomache against him WIfe I do not a litle maruell at your vncourteous dealing towards mée howbeit as I haue iust cause to stomache the same so assure your selfe I will not be vnmindfull in yelding recompense as opportunitie and occasion shall serue In the meane while I am content to speake little suffer muche not for that I stande in awe of you or any of yours but that I sée you voide of reason and gouernement belonging to a woman whose crooked inclination is suche and in you so déepely rooted that it can no more chaunge your condition then the Uiper his poysoning or the Leopard his spottes You professe outwardly a maruellous shewe of religion I much maruell then that such mischiefe can harbour in so godly a creature whose vndermining pate sought meanes to shorten my dayes But nowe I finde the olde prouerbe true Amongest sweete flowers doeth lurke the stinging Snake It is not the point of any woman once coupled in the bandes of Marriage to minister any occasion of slaunder whereby the life of him whome shée hath peculiarly chosen may be defamed but by all meanes possible to indeuour her selfe to auoide suspicion weying that all her glorie resteth in her husbande and that in the husband is conteined the estimation of the wife If this be the point of any honest woman to thirste after bloud let all the worlde iudge for mine owne parte I can but lament your follie In hurting mée you hinder your selfe I beare with your infirmitie for that you are a woman Wherefore if you will further your quietnesse leaue off those slaunderous spéeches lest the worlde condemne you yeld you vp to miserie and shame H. W. to M. H. being moued without cause I Receiued your letters which when I had read mée thought they were so darke and obscure vnto mée that scarce I vnderstoode your style notwithstanding in perusing them ouer I partly vnderstood your meaning But now to the purpose Haue I gone about at any time to shorten your dayes or haue I sought mèanes to erect bloudie scaffoldes of murder whereby you might possesse your vntimely graue I perceiue for a

to the priuileged men nor againe attributed geuen without a scorne to them that were no such priuileged persones So at this daie wee must more freely vse those titles and the other significations of honour like to those titles bycause Custome the mightiest Lorde hathe largely therewith priuileged men of our time This vse and custome though so fayre and gallant without is altogether vaine within and consisteth in semblance without effect in wordes without meaning But this notwithstanding it is not lawful for vs to chaunge it but rather bycause it is not our fault but the fault of our tyme wee are bounde to followe it but yet wee must discretely doe it So that wee are to noate that Ceremonies are vsed eyther for a Profit or for a Vanitie or for a Duetie And euery lye that is told for a mans priuate profit is a deceite a sinne and a dishonest parte for in what so euer it bee A man can neuer honestly lye And this is a common fault with flatterers that counterfet them selues to be our friendes and apply them selues euer to our desiers what soeuer they be not bycause wee would haue it so but to the ende wee should doe them some pleasure for it And this is not to please vs but to deceiue vs And albeit this kind of fault be peraduenture by reason of custome sufferable yet notwithstanding bycause of it selfe it is fowle and hurtefull it yll becomes a gentle man to doe it For it is no honestie to seeke a pleasure by the hurt of another And if lyes and false flatteries may bee termed Ceremonies as I haue sayde before so oft as we vse them for respect of our gain profit so oft wee doe hazard our good name and credite so that this consideration alone myght moue vs well to leaue all Ceremonies and vse them no more It resteth now that I speake of those that bee done of Dutie and of those that be done of a Vainesse As touching the first VVe must not leaue them vndone in any wise For he that faileth to doe them dothe not onely displease but doth a wrong to him to whome they be due And many times it chaunceth the men come to daggers drawing euē for this occasion alone that one man hath not done the other that worship and honour vppon the way that he ought For to saye a trueth The power of custome is great of much force as I said and would be taken for a lawe in these cases And that is the cause we say You to euery one that is not a man of very base calling and in suche kinde of speach wee yealde such a one no maner of courtesie of our owne But if wee say Thou to suche a one then wee disgrace him and offer him outrage and wronge and by suche speach seeme to make no better reconing of him then of a knaue and a clowne And although the tymes past and other countryes haue vsed other maners let vs yet keepe our selues to our owne And let not vs dispute the matter which is the better oftwaine For wee must obserue not those that we Iudge in our owne conceits to be good but suche as be currant by custome vsed in our owne tyme as lawes which we be bound to keepe thoughe they be not all of the best tyll suche tyme as the magistrates the Prince or they that haue power to amēd them haue chaunged them to better So that It behoues vs hedefully to marke the doings and speache wherewith daily practise and custome wonteth to receaue salute name in our owne country all sortes and kinds of people and in all our familiar communicatiō with men let vs vse the same And notwithstanding the Admerall as peraduēture the maner of his time was suche in his talke with Peter the King of Aragon did many times Thou him Let vs yet saye to our King Your maiestie and your highnes aswell in speache as in writing And if they haue followed the vse of their time then let not vs breake the fashions of ours And these doe I call Duetifull Ceremonies bycause they proceede not as we would or of our free willes but are layde vppō vs by the Lawes I meane Common custome And in suche things as carry no euill meaning in them but rather some face of courtesie reason would and commaundeth vve shoulde rather obserue common Custome then dispute and lay the lawe for them And albeit to kisse in shewe of reuerence of very right appertayneth to the reliques of Saints and there holy matters yet if it bee the maner of your country at parting to say Signori Io vi bascio la mano Or Io son vostro seruidore Or els vostro schiauo in catena you must not disdaine it more then other But In farewelles and writings you must salute and take leaue not as reason but as custome will haue you and not as mē wont in times past or should doe but as men vseat this day for it is a chorlishe maner to say VVhat greate gentleman is he I pray you that I must master him Or is he becom master parson that I must kisse his hands for he that is wont to be Sird and likewise Sirreth other may thinke you disdaine him and vse some outrage vnto him when you call him to his face by his bare name and giue him no addition And these termes of Seignory seruice duetye and such other like vnto these as I haue sayde haue lost a greate parte of their harshnes and as hearbes lōg steepte in the water are sweetened and made softe and tender by reason of muche speache in mens mouthes and cōtinuall vse to speake them So that we must not abhorre thē as some rude and rusticall fellowes full of foolishe simplicitie doe that would fayne beginne the letters we write to Kinges and Emperours after this sort vz. Yf thou and thy children be in healthe it is well I am also in healthe saying that suche was the beginning of the letters the Latins did write to the magistrates of Rome If men should liue by their measure and go backe to those fashions and maners our first fathers dyd vse the worlde thē by litle and litle would come so about that we should feede vppon acornes againe And in these Duetifull Ceremonies there be also certain rules and precepts we must obserue that wee may not bee touched with Vainesse and Pride And first of all wee must consider the country where wee doe liue For all customes be not currant a lyke in all countreys And peraduenture that which they vse in Naples which is a Citye replenished with gentlemen of good houses and Lordes of greate power were not so fitte for Florens and Luke Which are inhabited for the most part with Merchāts and plaine gentlemē without any Prince Marques or Barone amongest them So that the braue and Lordelike manners of the gentlemē of Naples