is spokē is If thou shut thy wife within doores she neuer ceasseth to complayne if thou giue hir leaue to walke at libertie she gyueth occasion for thy neighbours to talke and thy selfe to suspect and if thou do much chide she goeth always with a crooked countenance if thou say nothing none may endure hir if thy dispence be in hir disposition the stocke goeth to wrack if the laying out be in thine owne hands beware thy purse or secret sale of thy goodes if thou kéepe thée much at home she thinks thée suspicious and if thou come late home she will say that thou dost wander and if thou giue hir good garmentes she must go foorthe to be séene if she be not well apparelled thou art bidden to an euill supper if thou shewe thy selfe louing she estéemeth thée little if thou be negligent therein she suspecteth thée to be in loue els where if thou denie what she craueth she neuer ceaseth to be importunate finally if thou vnto hir discouer any secret she cannot but publish it behold here the reason and also the occasion wherefore if in the common wealth there be ten well maried there be a hundred that do liue abhorred and in repentaunce which presently would depart from their wiues house and chamber if they could finish with the Church as they can performe with their conscience If matrimony amongst Christians were as it is amongst the Gentiles to be diuorced at euery mans liking I sweare there would be more hast to the lent of diuorcement than to all the rest of the yeare to be maried That no man do marry but with his equall THe rules and counsels that I will giue here vnto those that are to be married and also vnto such as be already maried if they be not profitable to liue contented at the least they shall serue them to auoyde many displeasures The first holesome counsell is to vnderstande that the woman choose such a man and the man such a woman that there bée equalitie both in bloud and in estate whiche is to witte the Knight with the Knight the merchaunt with the merchaunt the Squier with the Squier and the ploughman with the ploughman For if herein there be disconformitie the more base shal liue most discontented and the other of more worthy degree very much repentant The marchaunt that marieth his daughter vnto a Knight and the riche ploughman that taketh a man of worship vnto his sonne in law I do say and affirme that they bring into their house a proclaymer of their infamie a certaine moth for their garments a tormenter of their fame and also a shortner of their liues In an euill houre hath he maried his sonne or daughter that hath brought into his house such a sonne in lawe or daughter in lawe that is ashamed to name him father whose daughter or sonne he or she hath maried in such mariadges it can not truely be said that they haue brought to house a son but a Deuill a daughter but a Snake not to serue but to offend not children but basilisks not to honour him but defame him Finally I say that he that marieth not his daughter with his equall shall finde it lesse euill to burie than to marie hir for if she die they shall bewayle hir but one day but to be euill maried is to bewayle hir many yeares The rich marchant the poore squier the wise plough man and the good townflike craftes man néedes no daughter in lawe that can frill and paint hir selfe but such as he skilfull very well to spinne for that day that such men shall presume to haue in vre the carpet and pillow that day they spoyle their house and their goods sinketh to the bottome I retourne agayne to say and affirme that such men beware that bringes into their houses a sonne in Lawe that presumeth of woorship and knoweth not but to walke vp downe the streates that accompteth to be a trim Courtier and that is skilfull at cardes and dice or boasteth himselfe for running of horses for in such cases the poore father in lawe must fast to the ende the foolish sonne in lawe may haue to spend in follies But the conclusion of this counsell shall be that al men marry their children with their equall and according to their estate otherwise I doe certyfie before the yeare be out it shall raigne vpon their heades that séeke a foolishe or an inconuenient mariage Also it is a counsell very expedient that euery man choose a wife according to his complexion and condition for if the father marry the sonne or if the sonne do marry of necessitie not at his liking the sorrowfull yong man may not say of a troth that they haue maried him but for euermore haue marrd him To the ende that marriages be perpetual louing and pleasant betwixt the man and the woman there must be a knitting of hartes before stryking of hands it is very conuenient that the Father gyue counsell vnto the sonne that he marry to his contentation but in no wise to vse violence to force him against his lyking for all violent marriages engender hatred betwixt the married contention betwixt the fathers scandall amongst the neyghboures lawe betwixt the parents and quarrelles betwixt the kinred neyther is it my opinion that anye should marry sodainly and secretly as a vayne light yong man for euery mariage done onely in respect of loue without further aduisement most tymes doe ende in sorrowes It is a thing very common that a yong man of small age and lesse experience but of to much libertie knowing not what he doeth loue and muche lesse what he taketh in hand groweth enamoured of a young gyrle and marrieth with hir which at the very instant when he hathe finished to tast hir he beginneth presently to abhorre hir The thing that is most to be procured betwixt the married is that they loue entierly and feruently for otherwise they shall all day goe sorrowing with crooked countenances and the neighbours shall haue no want whereof to speake Also I will aduise them to haue their loues fixed true and sure settling in the hart by little and little for otherwise by the selfe same way that loue came running they shall sée hir returne flying I haue séene many in this world loue in greate haste whiche I haue knowen afterwardes abhorre at great leasure One of the moste painfullest things contained in mans life is that if there be a hūdred permanent and constant in loue there is also a hundred thousand that neuer cease to abhorre It is also to be aduertised that the counsell which I giue vnto the father to make no mariage without consent of his sonne the same I giue vnto the sonne that he marie not against the will of his Father for otherwise it may come to passe to receiue more offence by the malediction of his father than his mariage portion may yéelde him profit
what is he that dareth to saye that there is any thing which he cānot do or performeth that which is not reasonable Then presently lette vs examine the life of the good Iesus Christ and we will sée if we can finde wherin he hath bin extreme or wherein he hath vsed excesse since wée all confesse that his life hath not bin but as a clocke to gouerne vs and as a butte whereat to shoote Neyther are we able to saye that he committed any excesse in eating or drinking for presently after he was baptized hée wēt to fast in the desert fortie dayes fortie nights on a tāke And lesse did Iesus Christ vse excesse in his apparrell since it is not found written that he had more than two coates and yet went bare foote Not in sléeping eyther in recreating that hée vsed excesse since that many times he passed the night without rest slepe or lodging and tyred with trauell was driuen to repose vpon the welles side of Samaria Not in woordes eyther in his Sermons since his enimies did saye that neuer any man spake so little so well and with suche modestie Not in the lawe which he hath giuen vs eyther in the preceptes which he hath ordeyned for he hath not commaunded in his Gospell any thing whiche is prophane and in recompence he hath promised the obseruers therof life euerlasting Neyther hath hée vsed excesse in hourding of treasures or other comfortes of mans lyfe for that hée lyued Apostolike and all those of his colledge whiche partly lyued of Almes and did eate eares of corne in the fieldes for necessitie And to say the troth and to speake clerely of this matter the excesse and the greate extremitie whiche the blissed Iesus committed was not as it is sayd in drinking eating sleping or in any other thing but only in loue for all his other works and actions were finished except the loue which he did beare that was infinite and had no ende And therfore if any would ballaunce the griefes sorrowes afflictions and teares of Iesus Christ with the loue that he did beare vs without comparison hée shall finde his loue farre to excéede and surmount his tormentes for that vpon the trée of the Crosse his passion had an ende but his loue and affection did neuer ceasse And certaynly Iesus Christ in all things vsed greate moderation excepte in his loue whiche he did beare vnto the vniuersall worlde béeyng so excessiue that it excéeded the humanitie approching very néere vnto the diuinitie And therfore if he had not bene God and man as he was it had bene impossible to haue loued with so great affection and to haue bestowed so greate and maruelous things for that whiche he loued Moste certaynly Iesus vsed excesse and greate extremitie to suffer so many thornes to pearce his sacred heade so many other passions and tormentes to afflict his moste diuine bodye whiche passions and tormentes did farre excede the afflictions which the Martyrs indured Therfore we say that greate was the excesse and extreme was the loue that Iesus Christ did beare vs which he did manifest in the workes of a most true and perfect louer Moyses and Helie did not common with Iesus Christ of gouernement of the family neither of their synagoge but of the ignominious staunderous death which Iesus Christ should endure at Ierusalem and how he should die for all men and that he shoulde be tormented with excéeding afflictions whiche hée should indure with an heart accompanied with extreme loue Si diligitis me mandata mea seruate which is to say My deare disciples it is not sufficient to say that you loue me if otherwise you be negligent to obserue my commaundements for that you see I am not satisfied to loue you well in woordes but that I shew and performe the same in dedes Yf we would profoundly regard these wordes of Iesus Christ we shoulde finde the loue of God not onely to consist in affection but in effect I would say that good workes be more exorable vnto God than holy desires For him that is féeble and sicke it suffiseth that he loue but he that is hole and sounde ought to loue and woorke for Iesus Christ our God doeth accept the wante of power but is displeased with want of will. Diligite inimicos vestros benefacite ijs qui oderunt vos As if he should say Loue your enimies and do good vnto them that persecute you Iesus Christ gyuing to vnderstād that loue ought to be put in effect Likewise the scripture sayth Ignis in altari meo semper ardebit sacerdos nutriet illum mittens ligna VVithin the Temple that is dedicate sayeth the Lorde and vpon the Aultar which is consecrate vnto me I will that it be alway furnished with fire one of the Priestes hauing charge with wood to maintaine the same that it go not out In such wise that God is not satisfied that for his own tyme there shoulde be fire of loue but also therewithall hée commaundeth that it be entertayned with the woodde of good workes For as fire goeth out if it be not maintayned with wood so likewise loue groweth cold which is not mixed with good workes and as the fire without wood turneth to ashes so doth loue without workes take an ende and finishe The Philosopher will say that habitus is ingendred of actus and the Diuine will say that the good loue is conserued by the meane of the good worke Speaking of the extreme loue that God did beare vs Ieremie sayeth In charitate perpetua dilexi te which is I loue not as others neither is my loue like the loue of others for I loue mine with charitie and do intreate them with pitie The loue of man is such that if they determine to loue any thing it is moste likely they loue the same for the perfection therof As if he shoulde loue an Orient stone it is for the propertie or beautie thereof if he loue meate it is for the tast If he loue golde it is for that it is precious If he loue Musicke it is for that it gladdeth him If he loue his wife it is for hir bountie or beautie In such wise that man aduaunceth not to loue any thing in which he hath not some opinion that it shall like or please him But far otherwise is the loue whiche God beareth vs For we knowe not in ourselues any cause why God should be in loue with vs which is most euident for that our eies delight to behold nothing but vaine things our eares to heare lyes flatteries our hands ready to rapine our harts bent vpon couetise In suche wise that in our wretched and miserable person God findeth not any occasion why he should loue vs but many wherefore to hate vs Notwithstanding the blessed Iesus determined to remedie the sinnes that hée sawe in vs and the ingratitude that he founde in vs it pleased him to succour
and by feare so we of loue and good wil their law is called hard and that of the christians sweete The propertie of loue is to turne the rough into plaine the cruell to gentle the bitter to swéete the vnsauory to pleasant the angry to quiet the malicious to simple that grosse to aduised and also the heauy to light Hée that loueth neither can he murmur of him that doth anger him neither denie that they aske him neither resiste when they take from him neyther answere when they reproue him neither reuenge if they shame him neither yet will be gone when they send him away What doth he forget that dothe loue with all his hart what leaueth he vndon that knoweth not but to loue wherof doth he complaine that alwaies doth loue If he that doth loue hath any cause of complainte it is not of him that he loueth but of him selfe that hath made some fault in loue the conclusion is The hart that loueth entierly without cōparison much more is the pleasure that hee taketh in loue than the trauell he passeth in seruing Oh to how greate effect should it come too passe if being Christians wée should therewith be enamored of the lawe of Christ for then surely neither should wée be pensiue nor liue in paine for the heart that is occupied in loue doth neyther flie daungers nor is dismayed in trauelles The yoke that cattell do beare when hée is new is of him selfe very heauie but after when he is drie and somewhat worne he is more soft to be suffered and more light to be caried Oh good Iesu Oh high misterie of thée my God Since thou wouldest not incontinent after thy byrth burden vs with the yoke of thy lawe but that thou thy selfe vppon thy selfe didst beare the burden and thirtie yeares firste didst cary the same that it should drie and growe light and be seasoned What hath Christ cōmaunded vs to do that he first hath not done what yoke hath he cast vpon our backs that he first hath not borne vppon his shoulders If hée commaunded to fast he fasted if he commaunded to pray he prayed if he commaunded wée should forgiue he pardoned if he commaunded to die he died if he commaunded vs to loue he loued In such wise that if he commaunded vs to take any medicine first in him selfe hée made experence Christ doth not compare his blessed lawe vnto Tymber Stone Plants or Iron but only to the yoke bycause al these things may be caried by one alone but to drawe the yoke of necessitie there must be twain High also most profoūd is this misterie by the which is giuen vs to vnderstand that euen at the present houre that the good Christian shall put downe his head vnder the yoke to cary the same forthwith on the other part Christ puts himselfe to helpe him None calleth Christ that he doth not answere None doth commend himselfe vnto him that he doth not succour None doth aske him that he giueth not some what None doth serue him that he payeth not Likewise none doth trauell that he doth not helpe The yoke of the lawe of Christ doth more cure then wound doth more pardon than chastise doth more couer than accuse doth more feare than weary and also doth more lighten than burden For Christ him self that commaunded to beare he himself no other doth helpe vs to cary Oh good Iesu O loue of my soule with such a guide as thou who can lose the way with suche a patron as thou who feareth drowning with such a captaine as thou who dispaireth victory with such a companion as thou what yoke may bée painefull Oh swéete lawe oh blessed yoke oh trauell well imployed by the whiche wée passe vntoo Christe for not only thou dost make accompt too bée with vs in all our trauels but also dost promise not to leaue vs to our selues He that in the garden of Gethsemany came forth to receiue those that were come too take him It is firmely to bée beleued that he fayleth not to come forth to imbrace them that come to serue him If any worldly and mightie riche man doe contend at any time with a poore Christian truely we shall finde that the helpe is much more that Christe giueth vnto his poore seruant than all the cost that the world giueth to those that do followe the same Those that the world doth leade vnder his yoke to them hée giueth al things variable dismesured and by false waight but in the house of god all things are giuen whole entier without counterpeyse and most perfect We may well say with great reason that the yoke of Christe is swéete and his burden light for that the world doth not so muche as pay for the seruice wée do him but Christ doth pay vs euen for the good thoughts we hold of him Christ doth well sée that of our owne nature we be humane weake miserable foule and remisse for which cause he doth not behold what we are but what we desire to be Moyses gaue the lawe to the Hebrewes Solon to the Greekes Phoroneus to the Egyptians Numa Pompilius to the Romanes but as mē made thē euen as men died so they ended but the yoke of the law of God shall endure as long as God doth endure What may Moyses lawe be worth in whiche was permitted diuorcements and vsury What may the lawe of Phoroneus be estemed in which was graunted to the Aegyptians to be théeues Of what value may the law of Licurgus be accompted in whiche man slaughter was not chastised of what accompt may the lawe of Solon Solonius be reputed in which adultery was dissimuled Of what reputation may the lawe of Numa Pompilius be weighed in which it was allowed that as much as you coulde take was lawfull to conquer Of what consideration may wée iudge the law of the Lidians in which the maydēs vsed no other mariage but vnto him that did win them by adultery Of what iudgemēt may we thinke the law of the Baleares wherein it was commaunded that the bride shoulde not be giuen vnto the bridegrome before the next kinsman had vsed hir These and suche like lawes wée cannot say otherwise but that they were beasily brutish and vnhonest since they did containe vices and by vicious men were permitted He that is entred into the religion of Christ to be in déede a Christian hath no licence to bée proude a théefe a murderer an adulterer a glutton malicious neither blasphemous And if we shall happen to sée any to do the contrary he shall haue onely the name of a Christian but for the rest he shal be of the parish of Hell. The holy and sacred Lawe of Christe is so right in the things it doth admitte and so pure and sincere in the things it doth permit that it doth neither suffer vice nor consent to the vicious man Quia lex Domini immaculata The Hebrewes the Arabians the Pagans
great trauelles that vnprofitable friends bring with them is that they come not to seeke vs to the end to doe what we wil but to perswade vs to doe what they will. It is great perill to haue enemies and also it is greate trauell to suffer some kind of friendes for to giue the whole hart to one is not much but how much lesse when amongst many it is reparted neyther my condition may beare it either within the greatnes of your estate may it be cōtained that we should loue after such sort neither in such maner to behaue ourselues for that there is no loue in this worlde so perfect as that which holdeth no scruple of intereste Your Lordship saith in your letter that you write not vnto me for that I am rich or mighty but because I am learned and vertuous And you instantly desire me that I write vnto you with mine owne hand some thing that maybe worthy to be vnderstood and plesaunt to be read To that which you say that you hold me to be wise to this I aunswere as Socrates did whiche is too wit that hée knew not any thing more certaine but in perceyuing that he did know nothing Very great was the Philosophie that Socrates did inclose in the aunswere for as the deuine Plato doth say the lesser part that we vnderstand not is much more than al that we know In all this world there is not the like infamie as a man to bée imputed ignorant either the like kind of praise as to bée called wise bycause in the wise death is very euil imployed and in the foole life is much worse bestowed The tirant Epimethes séeing the Philosoher Demosthenes wéep immeasurable teares for the death of a Philosopher demaunded for what cause hée wept so muche since it was a straunge thing for Philosophers to wéepe To this Demosthenes answered O Epimethes I do not wéepe bycause the Philosopher died but for that thou liuest and if thou knowest not I will giue thée to vnderstand which is that in the scholes of Athens we do more wéepe bycause the euill doe liue than for the death of the good Also your honour doth saye that you doe iudge me to be a man solitarie and vertuous might it please the diuine clemencie that in al this and much more you speake the truth bycause in case for one to be or not to bée vertuous I dare venter to speake that how muche sure it is to be and not too séeme to be so daungerous it is to seeme to be and not to be in déede Man is naturally variable in his appetites profoūd in hart mutable in his thoughts incōstant in his purposes indeterminable in his conclusions wherof we maye well gather that man is easie to knowe and very difficile to vnderstand Your excellencie giues me more honour in calling me wise and vertuous than I giue to intitle you Duke of Sesa Marques of Bitonto Prince of Guilache and aboue all great captaine For to my vertue and wisedome warres can giue no impeachment but your potencie and greatnes is subiect vnto fortune Your honour writeth vnto me that I certifie you of my opinion in that the king our master doth commaund now of new that you passe once more into Italy by occasion of the battell that the Frenchmen of late haue ouercome at Rauenna whiche in the worldes to come shall be so famous as it was now bloudie Vnto this answering your honour I saye that you haue great reason to doubt and vpon the same too vse counsell for if you do not accomplishe what you be commaunded the Kyng takes displeasure and if you doe what they entreat you you contend with fortune Two times your honour hath passed into Italy and twice woon the kyngdome of Naples in which two iorneyes you ouercame the battell of Garrellano and the battell of Chirinola and slewe the best people of the house of Fraunce And that which is most of all you brought to passe that the Spanish nation of all the world were feared and obtained vnto your selfe renoume of immortall memory This being true as it is it were no wisedome either suretie once more to returne thither to tempt fortune which with none doth shew hir self so malicious and double as with such as spend long time in the warres Hanniball a Prince of the Carthaginians not contented too haue ouercome the Romanes in those great and famous battailes of Trene Trasmene and Canna but as hée would alway force and wrestle with fortune he came to be ouercome of those which he many times had ouercome Those that haue to deale with fortune must entreate hir but not force hir they must heare hir but not beleue hir they must hope in hir but haue no confidence in hir they must serue hir but not anger hir they muste bée conuersant with hir but not tempt hir For that fortune is of so euill a condition that when shee fauneth she biteth when she is angred she woundeth In this iourney that they commaund your honour neither do I perswade you that you go either diswade you to tary Onely I say and affirme with this third passage into Italy you returne to put your life in perill and your fame in ballance In the two first conquests you obtaine honour with them that be present fame for the worldes to come riches for your children an estate for your successours reputation amongst straungers credit amongst your owne gladnes for your friends and grief vnto your enemies Finally you haue gotten for excellencie this renoume of great Captaine not only for these our times but also for the world to come Consider well what you leaue and what you take in hand for that it may rather be imputed for rashnes than for wisedome that in keping your house where al doth enuie you should depart where al men should be reuenged You ouercame the Turkes in Paflonia the Mores in Granada the Frenchmen in Chirinola the Picardes in Italy the Lombardes in Garellano I holde it to be doubted that as fortune hath not more nations to giue you to ouercome she will now leade you where you shall be ouercome The Dukes the Princes the Captaines and vnder Captaines against whom you haue fought eyther they be deade or else gone In suche sort that nowe against an other kinde of people you must deale and fyght I sayd it for that it may chaunce that fortune which then did fauour you now maye fauour them To accepte warres to gather people to order them and to giue battaile it belongeth vnto men but to giue victorie appertaineth only to god Titus Liuius saith that many times with greate ignomie the Romaines were ouercome at Furcas Caudinas in the ende by the counsell of the Consull Aemilius they changed that Cōsul which had the charge of that army where they were before that time ouercome were frō thence forward conquerours of their enimies Of
is delicate and of smal strength so be is more offended by a little ayre that cōmes in at a chinke thā the cold of one whole winter night did gréeue him when he was yong The old men of your age ought very much to procure to eate good bread and to drinke good wine and the bread that is well baked and the wine that is a yeare old for as old age is compassed with infirmities and laden with sadnesse the good vituals shall hold them in health and the good wine shall leade them in mirth The old men of your age ought much to consider that theyr meales be small their meate yong and well seasoned and if they eate much and of many meates they euer goe sicke for notwithstanding they haue money to buy them they haue not heate to disgest them The old men of your age ought too procure their bed curteyned their Chamber hanged a meane fire the chimney without smoke for the life of olde men consisteth in going clenly warme cōtented and without anger The old men of your age ought vtterly to auoide to dwel vppon any riuer either to do their busines in moist groundes either to sléepe in ayry places for olde men being delicate as they are be like children and naturally accraised the ayre shall penetrate their powers and moystnesse shall enter their bones The old mē of your age vpon paine of their life ought to be temperate in their diet refusing to eate late for old mē as they haue their stomacks weake and growen colde they may not disgest two meales in a day for the olde man that is vnsatiable and a glutton vsing the contrary shall belke much and sléepe little The olde men of your age to the ende that they be not sicke or grow heauie neyther turne to be grosse ought a little to refreshe them selues walke into the fielde vse some exercise or be occupied in some facultie for otherwise it might happen them to get a tisick or a lamenesse in their limmes in such wise that it will be hard to fetch breath and by puffing and blowing giue warning where you walk The old men of your age ought to haue great care to auoyde all contentious brabbling amongst their seruants and sometime to beare with their negligences to pay their wages too the ende they go contented for otherwise they will be negligent in seruice and very suttle in stealing For conclusion the old men of your age ought much to procure to weare their apparell swéete and cleanly their shirts very well washed their house neat and wel swept and their chamber very close warme and well smelling For the olde man whiche presumeth to be wise if he will liue in health and goe contented ought to haue his body without life his hart without strife In the end of your letter you write that hauing left to loue sorow leaueth not to vere you which vseth to folow the enamored and instantly you desire me to giue you some remedy or to sende you some comfort for notwithstanding you haue throwen it out of the house it leaueth not nowe and then too knocke at the gate Sir in this case I remit you to Hermogenes to Tesiphontes to Doreatius to Plutarch and to Ouid which spent much time and wrote many bookes to giue order in what manner the enamored shoulde loue and the remedies that for their loue they should vse Let Ouid write what him pleaseth Dorcas say what he thinketh good but in fine there is no better remedie for loue than is neuer to begin to loue for loue is so euill a beast that with a thread he suffereth to be taken but hée will not depart with thrusts of a launce Let euery man consider what he attempteth marke what he doth beholde what he taketh in hand note whither he dothe enter and haue regarde where he may be taken for if it were in his handes to set the tables he is not certaine to win the game There is in loue after it is begon infinite shelues immesurable sloughes daungerous rockes and vnknowen whirelpooles in whych some remaine defaced others blinded some besoilde and also some others vtterly drowned in such wise that he that is best deliuered I accoumpt to be euill deliuered Oh how many times did Hercules desire to be deliuered from his loue Mithrida Menelaus from Dortha Pyrrhus from Helena Alcibiades from Dorobella Demophon from Phillis Hāniball from Sabina and Marcus Antonius from Cleopatra from whome they could neuer not only depart but also in the end for them and with them they were cast away In case of loue let no man trust any man and much lesse him selfe for loue is so naturall to man or woman and the desire to be beloued that where loue amongst them dothe once cleaue it is a sore that neuer openeth and a bond that neuer vnknitteth Loue is a metall so delicat a canker so secret that he planteth not in the face where he may be sene nor in the pulse where he may be felte but in the sorowfull hart where although he be sensible they dare not discouer it After all this I say that the remedie that I giue for loue is that they gyue him no place to enter amongst the entrayles nor giue theyr eyes libertie to behold windowes or giue eare to bawdes either suffer any trade of Dames to come or goe if any come to house to shut the dores and not to walke abroade after euening if with these conditions loue may not altogither bée remedied at the least it may be eased and amended Sir and my gossip if you will in all these things profite youre selfe and well consider thereof you shall be excused of many angers and also saue much money For to youre age and my grauitie it is more conuenient to vnderstande of the best wines than to view the windowes of the enamored Take for example chastisement the Licentiat Burgos your acquainted and my great friend which being old and enamored as you died this saterday a death so straunge and fuddayne as was fearefull to al men and sorowfull to his friēds No more but our Lord be youre guide and giue me grace too serue him From Burgos the .24 of Febr. 1523. A letter vnto Sir Iames of Gueuara vncle to the Author wherein he doth comfort him for that he hath bin sicke MAgnificent and right honorable Vncle it pleaseth your Honor to complaine of mée in youre letter that I neither serue you as my good Lorde either do sue as vnto a father or visite as an vncle neyther write as vntoo a friende I may not denie but as concerning kinred your are my Fathers brother in merit my good Lord my father in curtesie and my Progenitor in giuing of liberall rewards which I haue receiued at your hands not as a nephew but as a sonne much beloued Since I haue confessed the affinitie that I hold and affirme the dette
they shoulde bée caried to the Church of Oiendo to be kept and gaue great rewards vnto such as had hid them This good King Alonso was the firsts that commaunded that all the greate writers and singers should resort to Leon to the end they should write great singing bookes and litle breuiaries to pray on the which he gaue and deuided amongst all the Monasteries and Churches that he had founded for the cursed Moores had not left a Church in Spaine that they did not ouerthrow either booke that they did not burne This good king Alonso was the first that did begin to make all the Bishops houses ioyning to the Cathedrall Churches bycause the heate in the Sōmer either the colde in Winter should not let them to be resident in the Quier and to sée how they worshipped God. This good king Alonso the first died in the age of .lxiiij. yeres in the Citie of Leon in the yeare of our Lord. 793. And hys death of the Castilians and Nauarrois was as much bewayled as of all men his life was desired How acceptable his life was vnto God it appeared most cleare in that the Lord shewed by him at his death whiche is to wit that at the point of his last breath they heard ouer his chamber Angelike voices sing and say Beholde how the iust dieth and no man maketh account thereof his dayes be ended and his soule shall bée in rest The lamentation was so great that was made through out Spaine for the deathe of this good King Alonso that from thence forward euery time that any named his name if hée were a man he put off his cap and if a woman she made a reuerence Not thrée months after the death of the good King Alonso all the mightie of the Kingdome ioyned in parliament wherein they did ordeyne and commaund by a publique Edict that from thence forward and for euermore none should presume to say coldly or driely the king Alonso but for his excellencie they should cal him the king Alonso the Catholique for that he had bin a prince so glorious and of the diuine seruice so zelouse This good king was sonne in law of sir Pelaius he was the third King of Castile after the destruction thereof he was the first king of this name Alonso he was the firste that founded Churches in Spaine he was the first King at whose death such Angelike voyces were heard he was the first king that was intituled Catholike by whose deseruings and vertues all the kings of Spaine his successors be called to thys day Catholike Kings My Lorde it séemeth to me that since the kings of Spaine presume to inherit the name they should also presume to follow his life which is to wit to make warre vpon the Moores and to be fathers and defendours of the Church And for that in the beginning of this letter I did vse the spéech of a friend and in this I haue accomplished what you craued as a seruāt I say no more but that our Lord be your protector and gyue vs all his grace From Segouia the xij of May. 1523. A letter vnto Mosen Rubin of Valentia beeing enamoured wherein is touched the displeasures that the amorous dames giue vnto their louers MAgnificent and old enamored being in Madrid the fourth of August where I receyued a letter of youres and for that it was torne and the firme somewhat blotted I sweare vnto you by the law of an honest mā I could not find meanes to read it or imagine or cal to remembrance who should write it For notwithstanding we were acquainted when I was Inquisitor in Valencia it is almost a thousand yeares since we saw eche other after I awakened and called my selfe to remembrance and did read and read againe your letter I fell in the reckoning that it was of Mosen Rubin my neighbour I say Mosen Rubin the enamored I remēber that sometimes we were wont to play at the chesse in my lodging and cannot aduise me that you gaue me the dame but I do certainly remember that you did not suffer me to sée your enamored I remember that at the rock of Espadon at the encounter we had with the Moores I escaped wounded and you with a broken head where wée could neyther finde Chirurgion to cure vs or as muche as a clout to bind vs I remember that in reward for that I caused your bill to be firmed by the Quéene you sent me a Mule which I did gratifie and not receyue I remember that when we went to accompany the French King to Requena whē we came to the seuen waters I complayned for want of meate and you for lacke of lodging and in the ende I receyued you into my lodging and you went foorth to prouide victualles I remember when Caesar commaunded me to repaire vnto Toledo you gaue me a letter to be deliuered vnto the Secretarie Vrias vppon a certaine businesse of yours to whome I dyd not only speake but also obtained your sute I remember that chiding with a Chaplayne of youre wiues in my presence when he said vnto you that it were not conuenient you shuld deale fowly with him for that he had charge of soules was a Curat you made answer that he was not a Curat of soules but of fooles I remember that I counselled you and also perswaded you being in Xatina that you shoulde giue to the Diuell the loue that you wot of and I also doe knowe bycause they were tedious perillous and costly I remember that after in Algezira you reported wéeping and sighing that you had no power to chase them from your minde either roote them from your hart and ther I returned to say and sweare that it was no loue eyther pleasant to your persone or too your estate conuenient I remember that after we mette at Torres where I demaunded to what conclusion you had framed your loue you answered in a thousand sorrowes and trauelles for that you had escaped from thence wounded abhorred beflouted infamed and also be pilled Of many other things I remember I haue both séene and hard you speake and do in that time that we were neighbours and couersant in Valentia whereof although we may talke they are not too be written In this present letter you aduertise me that now you are enamored and taken with other new loues and that since I sayd the troth in the first you pray me to write my opinion in the second holding it for certaine that my skil serueth to let bloud in the right vayne and also to bind vp the wound Sir Mosen Rubin I woulde you had written or demaunded some other matter for speaking the very troth in this matter of loue you are not in the age to follow it eyther may it be contained with my ingrauitie to write it of my habit of my profession and of my authoritie and grauitie you shoulde haue demaunded cases of counsell and not remedies of loue
for I haue red more in Hostiensis that instructeth to giue counsell thā in Ouid that teacheth to be enamored Of a troth master Mosen Rubin I say that it is neither you or I that loue dothe like and with whome she doth delight For you are now olde and I am religious in such sort that in you age doth abound and in me wanteth libertie Beléeue me sir be out of doubt it is not loue but sorow not mirth but displeasure not tast but torment not recreation but confusion when in the enamored there is not youth libertie and liberalitie The man that is now entred into age and wil be yong againe and enamored they neuer terme him an old louer but a filthy old foole and as God saue me they haue great reason that so do call them for old rotten strawes are more fit to make dung than to bée kept The God Cupid and the Goddesse Venus will not haue in houshold but yong men that can serue liberall that knowe to spend and frée that can enioy and delight pacient that can suffer discréete that haue skill to talke secret that knowe too kéepe silence faithfull to gratify and valiant that can perseuer he that is not endued and priuileged with these conditions it should bee more sound counsell for him to delue in the field than to be enamored in pallace For there are not in this world men more miserable than the enamored that be foolish The doltish louer besides that his dame scorneth him his neighbours iest at him his seruantes beguile him Pandar bepéeleth him he is blinded with gilefull spéeche euill imployeth his iuels goeth without foresight he is light of beliefe and in the end findes himselfe beflouted All the offices crafts and sciences in this world may be learned except it be the skil and occupation to know to loue the whiche neither Salamon had skill to write Asclepius to paint Ouid to teache Helen to report either yet Cleopatra to learne but that from the schoole of the hart it must procéede and pure discretion must giue instruction There is not any thing wherein is more necessitie to be discréet than in being a louer for if a man haue hunger cold thirst and werinesse the only body feeleth it but the follies that is committed in loue the hart chiefly bewayleth thē To the end that loue be fixed sure perpetuall and true there must be equalities betwixt the enamored for if the louer bée yong and she old or he old and she yong or he wise and she a foole or he a foole and she wise or he loue hir and she abhorreth him or she loue him and he abhorreth hir beléeue me sir and be out of doubt that of fained louers they shall ende assured and vnfained enemies Master Mosen Rubin I thought good to say thus muche vnto you to the ende that if the louer that you haue now chosen be in possession of thrée score and thrée yeres as you are there is no greate perill that you loue and know hir For most of the time you shall spend shall bée in recounting vnto hir the louers that you haue holden and she in reckoning vp vnto you all such as hath serued hir Speaking more in particuler I woulde knowe to what purpose a man as you that hath passed thréescore yeares that is full spent and laden with the goute will nowe take a Curtisan yong and faire which will rather occupy hir selfe in robbing than delighting of you To what ende will you haue a loue of whome you may not be serued but to bind vp grieues and to driue away flies Wherefore will you haue a daintie Dame since betwixt you and hir there may rise no either cōuersation or communication but to relate and count reckonings and tales and how little you haue eaten all the daye and howe manie tymes you haue tolde the clocke that night For what cause wold you haue a loue since you want strēgth to folowe hir goodes to serue hir patience to suffer hir and youth to enioye hir Why will you haue an amorous dame vnto whome you can not represente howe muche you haue suffered and endured for hir sake but reporte howe the goute is rysen from the hande to the shoulders To what conclusion will you loue an infamous woman whiche will not enter in at your dores that daye whiche you cease to giue hir or shall grow negligent to serue hir To what consideration doe you delite to haue a wanton loue vnto whome you shall not dare to deny any thing that she craueth either chide for anye displeasure she giueth To what seruice will you haue a lawlesse loue who may not be serued conformably to youre good but agréeable to hir foolishnesse For what skill will you haue alemman which must be gratified for the fauour she beareth you and dare not complayne of the ielosies she shal demaund of you For what conceyt will you haue a seconde Lais which when she shall flatter you it shall not only be to content you but something to craue of you For what intente will you haue a loue before whome you must néedes laugh althoughe the goute make you raue For what meaning will you haue a dissolute dame with whom you shall spend all your goodes before you shall haue acquaintance with hir conditions And why desire you a lustie Lasse with whom you are ioyned for money and also susteyn hir with delights and yet in the end must depart from hir with displeasures If you M. Mosen Rubin with these conditions will néedes be enamoured be it so in a good houre for I am sure it will rayne into your house To your age and infirmitie it were more cōuenient to haue a friend to recreate than a Lamia with whom to putrifie Samocratius Nigidius and Ouide did wryte many bookes and made greate treatyses of the remedies of loue and the rewarde of them is they sought remedies for others and vsed none for themselues all thrée dyed persecuted and banished not for those offences they committed in Rome but for the loues they attempted in Capua Let Ouide say what hée dreameth Nigidius what him pleaseth Samocratius what hée thinketh good but in fine the greatest and best remedy against loue is to flée the conuersation and to auoyde the occasion for in causes of loue wée sée many escape that doe flée it and verye fewe that abide it Sir take you héede that the Dinel deceyue you not in your reckenyng a freshe to be enamoured since it is not conuenient for the health of your person either aunswerable to the authoritie of youre house For I assure you of my faith that sooner you shall be deliuered of the displeasures of your Courtizan than of the paynes of the goute My pen hath stretched out farther than I thought and also farther than you would but since you were the first that laid hand to weapon the fault is not myne if I haue hapned to giue you
and giue me grace to serue him From Burgos the 15. of September in the yeare 1523. A letter vnto Sir Ynnigo of Velasco Constable of Castile wherein the author doth teache the briefenesse of writing in olde time THe fourth of October here in Valiodolid I receyued a letter from your honour written in Villorado the thirtith of September and considering the distance from hence thither and the small tarying of your letter from thence hither too my iudgement if it had bin a troute it had come hither very fresh Pirrhus the King of the Epirotes was the first that inuented currers or postes and in this case he was a Prince so vigilant that hauing thrée armies spred in diuers partes his seate or pallace being in the Citie of Tarento in one day he vnderstood from Rome in two dayes out of Fraunce in thrée out of Germany and in fiue out of Asia In such sorte that his messengers did rather séeme to flie than otherwise The hart of man is such an inuentor of new thinges and so farre in loue with nouelties that the more straunge the thing is they say or wright vnto vs so much the more we do reioyce and delight therein for that olde things do giue lothsomenesse and new things do awaken the spirites This vātage you haue that can do much of them that haue but little that in short time you write whether you will and vnderstand from whence you think good although also it is most true that sometime you vnderstand some newes within thrée dayes which you would not haue knowen in thrée yeares There is no pleasure ioye or delight in this world that with it bringeth not some inconuenience in such wise that that wherin long time we haue had delight in one day wée pay and yelde againe Sir I haue saide thus muche to the end to continue your good opinion towards Mosen Ruben your Steward whiche by the date of your letter dothe séeme to haue made greate spéede and to haue slept very little for he brought the letter so freshe that it séemed the inke to be scarce drie You write vnto me that I should certefie you what is the cause that I being descended of a linage so auncient of body so high in the momentes of my prayers so long and in preaching so large how I am in writing so briefe especially in my last letter that I sent from the monasterie of Fres Dell Vall when I was there preaching vnto Caesar Whiche you say did containe but foure reasons and eight lines Sir in these things that you haue written you haue giuen me matter not to answere very short And if by chaunce I shall so doe from hencefoorth I say and protest it shal be more for your pleasure than for mine owne contentation As concerning that you say my linage is auncient your lordship doth well knowe that my graundfather was called sir Beltran of Gueuara my father also was named sir Beltran of Gueuara and my Cosin was called sir Ladron of Gueuara and that I am now named sir Antony of Gueuara yea and also your Lordship doth know that first there were Earles in Gueuara before there were Kings in Castile This linage of Gueuara bringeth his antiquitie out of Britaine and dothe containe sixe houses of honour in Castile whiche is to wete the Earle of Onate in Alaua sir Ladron of Gueuara in Valldalega sir Peter Velez of Gueuara in Salinas sir Diego of Gueuara in Paradilla sir Charles of Gueuara in Murcia sir Beltran of Gueuara in Morata All which be valiant of persones although poore in estates rentes in such sorte that those of this linage of Gueuara do more aduaunce themselues of their antiquitie from whence they are descended than of the goods which they possesse A man to discend of a delicate bloud and to haue noble or Generous parents doth muche profite to honour vs and doth not blunte the launce to defende vs for that infamie doth tempt vs to be desperate and the honour to mende our estate Christ and his Mother would not descend of the tribe of Beniamin whiche was the least but of the tribe of Iuda which was the greater and the better They had a law in Rome named Prosapia which is to say the law of linages by which it was ordained and commaunded in Rome that when contention did arise in the senate for the consulship that those which discended of the linage of the Siluians of the Torquatians and of the Fabritians should obtain chiefe place before all others and this was done after this manner for that these thrée linages in Rome were most auncient and did descend of right valiant Romaines They whiche descended of Cato in Athenes of Licurgus in Lacedemonia of Cato in Vtica of Agesilaus in Licaonia and of Tussides in Galacia were not onely priuiledged in their prouinces but also amongst all nations much honored And this was not so much for the desert of those that were liuing as for the merite of the auncient personages that were dead Also it was a lawe in Rome that all those that descended of the Tarquines of the Escaurians Catelines Fabatians and Bithinians had no offices in the commō wealth neither yet might dwell within the compasse of Rome And this was done for the hate they bare to King Tarquin the Consull Escaurus the tyrant Catiline the Censor Fabatus and the traytour Bithinius all which were in their liues very vnhonest and in their gouernement very offensiue Sir I say this bicause a man to be euill descending from the good surely it is a great infamie but to descend of the good and to bée good is no small glorie But in fine it is with men as it is with wines sometime he sauors of the good soyle sometime of the caske others of the goodnesse of the grapes A minde not to flie a noblenesse in giuing swéete and curteous in speach an heart for to aduenture and clemencie to pardon graces and vertues be these that are rarely founde in a man of base soyle And many times suche one is extract of an auncient and Noble linage As the worlde nowe goeth vpon who art thou and what art thou it doth not séeme to me a man may haue better blason in his house than to be and also descended of a bloud vnspotted For that such a man shall haue whereof to commend himself and not wherefore to be despised or taunted Sir also you say in your letter that I am in body large high drie and very straight of which properties I haue not whereof to complaine but wherefore to prayse my self Bycause the wood that is large drie and straight is more estéemed and bought at a greater price If the greatnesse of bodie displeased God hée had neuer created Paulus the Numidian Hercules the Grecian Amilon the wilde woodman Sampson the Hebrewe Pindarus the Thebane Hermonius the Corinth nor Hena the Ethicke whiche were in the
Lordship hath much may do muche deserueth much and therefore we all estéeme you very muche For me to be ignorant of the great estate of your persone of bloud so vnspotted of iudgement so delicate in letters of so great exercise and of so greate dexteritie in armes the cause were to great foolishnesse or to much lacke of wit. But let the cace rest let vs deuide all this vnkindnesse amongst vs whiche is to wit that your Lordship from hence forward deferre or put off your choler pardon Mansilla for forgetting his letter and also kind me to expound your doubts and after this maner we will giue amends to that which is past and vse silēce for the time to come Your honour demaundeth that I declare wherefore the Patriarch Abraham in the vale of Mambre and the Prophete Ezechiel neare vnto the riuer Cobar as holy scripture saith of them fell to the ground vpon their faces and contrariwise Heli the Prophet and the Iewes that tooke Christe fell backwards Your Lordship hath to consider that it is not so light or easie whiche you doubt of for if I be not deceyued it is a question that few men do moue and in a manner none dothe expound For notwithstanding I haue séene much and read much I can not remember me to haue considered or doubted neither at anytime to haue preached thereof I dare bée bold to say that by these two maners of fallings the one back wards and the other forwards do signifie two kindes of sinning For euen as to fall after the one manner or the other in the end all is falling so in like manner to sinne after the one sort or the other all is sinning Those that do fall vppon the backe and backwards we sée them haue their faces discouered and looking vp to heauen by these are to be vnderstood those which do sinne without the feare of God afterwardes haue no shame to haue sinned We sée by experience that he that falleth forwardes may helpe hym selfe to rise with hys hands with hys elbowes with his knées and with hys féete by this I woulde say that then we haue hope to come out of sinne when we shall be ashamed to haue sinned The contrary happeneth in him that falleth backwards that whych can neuer help him selfe with his handes or lift him selfe or stay with his féete By this I would say that the man that is not ashamed to be a sinner late or neuer shall we sée hym come out of sinne Plutarch and Aulus Gellius doe saye that no yong man of Rome might enter amongst the common women but wyth their faces very wel couered If ther hapned any so vnshame-fast that durst enter or come foorth discouered so openly was he chastised as if he had committed some forcible adultery It is to be noted that all those that fell forward were saints as Abraham and Ezechiel and on the contrary those that fell backwardes as Hely the priest of the temple and the Iewes that sold Christ were sinners Out of all this there may bée gathered how much and how greatly we haue to regard not only that we fall either so much as to stumble for we knowe not whether we shall fall forward as Abraham or backward as the vnfortunate Hely Considering we discend of sinners liue amongst sinners be conuersant amongst sinners and this world being in so great want of iust men we cannot deliuer our selues from all sinnes ioyntly therefore with thys let vs pray vnto the Lord that if he take away his grace that we do fall that he take not away shamefastnesse wherewith to arise Much is God offended with vs to sée how little we estéeme to sinne but he is muche more offended to sée howe slowly we remember to repent for they be very few that do leaue to sinne but at the time when they cannot more sinne Oh how many moe be they that fal backward with Hely thā forward with Abraham for if there be one that is ashamed of sinne there is an hundreth that account sinne but pastime Let euery man estéeme himselfe as he list and let euery man say what he supposeth but for my part I hold none for a greater sinner than he that accompts himselfe for very iust neyther do I conceyue for very iust but he that acknowledgeth himselfe to be a great sinner God doth well knowe what wee can do and he vnderstandeth very well the strength that we haue and thereof it is that he is not offended for that we bée not iust but bycause we doe not confesse to be sinners I returne to say that God doth not maruell that we be humane in sinning but that which doth offēd him is for that being as we are so great sinners we would well make the world beléeue that we be very iust Let the conclusiō be in this matter that they only fall backwards with Hely and with the Hebrewes that so without remorse sit downe to sinne as they would sit downe to eate and lie downe to sléepe Of that whiche I doe most maruell in this matter is that being as we are fallen into most grieuous sinnes we do so liue and go so contented as though we had receyued of God a safeconduit to be saued Behold here my Lord your letter answered Beholde youre doubt absolued Beholde here my fault excused And also behold here your choler remoued No more but that our Lorde giue you his grace and vnto me his glory From Madrid the xj of Nouember 1528. A letter vnto the Abbot of Monserrate wherein is touched the oratories that the Gentiles vsed that it is a better life to liue in Monserrate than at the Court. MOst reuerend and blessed Abbot in the eleuenth Calends of May your Monke brother Roger gaue me a letter of yours which I receyued with gladnesse and read with pleasure for that it was from your fatherhoode and brought by the hands of that graue Father Of Aurelianus the Emperour it is read that the letters which Domitius sent vnto him were so tedious that he heard them but did not answer them and the letters that the Censor Turinus sent him he himselfe did read them and with his owne hand aunswered them Of a troth there be men so tedious in their spéech and so without grace in writing that a man would rather be sicke of a feuer than heare their talke either reade their letters No man of any man ought to maruell since men be so diuers in complexion and so variable in condition that many times against our will the hart doth loue which were muche better to be abhorred and doth abhorre that which were better to be beloued I say this father Abbot to the ende you shall vnderstand that as oft as they say here is one of Monseratte my heart reioyceth to heare some newes from thēce and the eyes he quickened in readyng your letters Father you write vnto me that I aduertise you if in the olde tyme
drinking thereof it doth greate profit I would saye that the trauells which we suffer to be good they giue not so much paine when we endure them as they afterwards giue pleasure hauing passed them Prouide who will of the wines of Illana of the buttes of Candia and of the pipes of Rebedew but for my consolation and saluation I aske not of God but that al the days that remaine of my life he giue me leaue to drink if he please but one drop of his cup. There is another Cup which is called the cup of the wrath of God wherof to speake the entrailes do open the hart doth faile the flesh doth tremble and the eyes do wéepe with thys God doth threaten vs this is that whiche the Prophet speaketh of Of this the sorowfull Ierusalem did drinke of this the vnfortunate Sinagogue did make hir selfe dronke And the drunkennesse of this was the cause that Israell was banished from Iudea and translated into Babilon He drinketh of the cup of wrath that falleth from the state of grace wherein he stood wherof it foloweth that the soule is much more dead without grace than a body without a soule Then it is sayde that God is an angred when he is carelesse of vs and that day that we be forgetfull to feare him and he not delighted to loue vs and stumbling at euery steppe in the end of the iorney we shall be condemned Oh what difference there is in the wrath that men doe shewe and in that wrath and yre which is sayd to procéede from God for when men be angry they reuenge but God when he is angrie hee ceaseth to chastise In suche wise that God doth more chasten an euill man when he deferreth doth dissemble with hym than when he doth presently torment him There is not a greater temptation than not to be tempted there is no greater trouble than not to be troubled there is not greater chastisement than not to be chastised neyther is there a greater whip than not to be scourged of god The sick man of whose helth the phisition dispaireth is in small hope of his life I would say that his sinne which God doth not chastise I haue great suspition of his saluation It is much to be noted that the Prophete dothe not onely threaten Ierusalem for that she did drinke the cuppe of wrath but also bycause she did drink the grounds and dregs therof vntill nothing was left in suche wise that if there had bin more she woulde haue dronke more To drinke of the cuppe vnto the dregges is that hauing offended God greeuously committing all manner of sinnes wickedly forsaken some articles of the faith peruersely and hauing sinned with al the members damnably As if the commaundements being ten had bin ten thousand we had rather die than leaue any one of them disobeyed To drinke the Cup vnto the dregges is when we be not contented with breaking of one commaundement or two or thrée but that of force they must be broken al ten to drinke the cup vnto the dregs is if we leaue to commit any sinnes it is not for want of will but for want of power or for wante of occasion to drinke the cup vnto the dregges is that we doe not onely content our selues with sinning but that we doe presume and boaste ourselues of oure sinning to drinke the cuppe vnto the dregges is committing as we doe all manner of sinnes we can not suffer that they call vs sinners to drinke the cup vnto the dregges is to haue so greate vnshamefastnes in sinning that we dare not entire and vrge others to sinne to drinke the cup vnto the dregges is to haue our desires like a saint and our deserts like a deuill Behold here my Lorde Admirall what I conceaue of that text of the Prophet beholde here what I do thinke of youre doubt and I beséech God our Lord that he being pleased we may deserue to drinke of the cup that Christ did drinke of and not of the cup that Ieremie doth write of I write not vnto your lordship newes of the court as I was wont to write bicause it seemeth to commit treason vnto the holy Scripture if we should place any profane things at the foote of so holy a matter No more but that our Lord giue vs his grace From Madrid the xxv of March. Another letter vnto the same Commendathor Sir Lewes Braue wherein is written the conditions that the honorable old men ought to haue and that loue sildome or neuer departeth the hart where it is entred VEry noble and refourmed knight by the words of youre letter I vnderstoode how quickly the medicine of my writing came to youre hart and I do much reioyce to haue shotte at you with an arrow so inuenomed that was sufficient to make you stagger but not to strike you downe Although in the other letter whiche I did write vnto you it repented me to call you noble now I holde it for very well imployed in this letter to entitle you very noble bycause you haue amended the abuse of your life and answered according to your noblenesse Sir you write vnto me that the words of my letter did penetrate your hart and touch you to the quicke and to say you the troth I was right glad thereof for I did not write it that you should onely reade it but to the end you should cordially féele it Iointly with this I promise you as a Gentlemā and sweare vnto you as a Christian that it was not my meaning when I did write vnto you to offend you but to the intent to amend you Also you say that at the instant you read my letter you burned the tokens of your enamored dyd teare the letters of loue dispatch the page of messages remoued all talke of youre loue and gaue a quittance to the Pandor I cannot but praise what you haue done and much more will praise it when I shall sée you continue and perseuer in the same For vices be so euill to be vnrooted where they once take place that when we thinke they be all gone in the house they remayne hidden Sir I giue you great thankes for that you haue done and also do craue pardon for that I haue said although it be true to sée you amended I do little estéeme that you be offended For an vnkindnesse is sooner lost than vice remoued Also you craue of me in your letter that since I haue written you the conditions of an old man enamored that I write also vnto you the conditions that a wise olde man ought too haue bycause by the one may be knowne the shelfe that is to be shunned and by the other the channell obtayned that is nauigable wherein I delight to accomplish your request and to write your desire although it be true that I knowe not if my iudgement shall haue so delicate a vayne and my pen so good a grace in giuing counsell as in reprehending For
wishe them good successe of their mariage and from hence I pray vnto God they may delight ech other long and many a day Mosen Puche to be married with a wife of xv yeares and the Lady Mary to be married vnto 〈◊〉 husband of xvij if I be not deceyued there remayneth vnto them sufficient time to enioy their matrimonie and also to bewaile their marriage Solon Soâ—…onio commaunded the Atheniâ—es that they shoulde not marry vntill the age of xix The 〈…〉 commaunded the Lacedemonians that they should not marrie vntill the age of xxv The Philosopher Promotheus commaunded the Egyptians that they shuld not marrie vntill the age of xxx yeres And if by chaunce any durst marry before the appoynted age the fathers were publikely chastised and the children not holden for legitimat If Mosen Puche and the Lady Mary Gralla wer of Egypt as they be of Valencia they could not escape vnpunished and also their children disinherited For the great curtesy that I haue receyued of your mother and for the entire amity and perfect loue I held with your father in the time I was Inquisitor at Valencia it gréeueth me to sée you maried in so tender yeres and laden with so greate a charge for so great a burden is matrimonie as you neyther may haue licence to leaue it eyther haue you age to suffer and support it If your father did marry you of him selfe withoute consent he vsed with you no small crueltie and if you maried without licence you haue committed no lesse rashnesse For a yong man of xvij and a young woman of xv to dare set vp house their déedes declareth great temeritie and want of good counsell in the consent thereof for the poore yonglings neyther do they know the burden they take in hand eyther féele the liberty that they lose Let vs vnderstand what conditions the wife ought to haue and what conditions the husbande must hold in possession to the end they may be happily maried and if it be founde in Mosen Puche and in the Lady Mary Gralla from hencefoorth I confirme and ratify their mariage and condemne my selfe to haue spoken without skil The properties due to a maried wife is that she haue grauity when she walketh abroade wisedome to gouerne hir house patience to suffer hir husband loue to breede and bringing vp hir children affable with hir neighbours diligence to lay vp and to saue goodes accomplished in things appertayning to honour a friend of honest company and a great enemy of wanton and light toyes The properties appertayning to the married husbaÌ„d is to be reposed in his speach milde of coÌ„uersation faithfull wherin he is trusted wise wherein he giueth counsell carefull for the prouision of his house diligent in the ordering of his goodes of sufferance for the importunities of his wife zealous in bringing vp of his children aduised in things of honor and a sure man with all men that he dealeth But now demaunding answer if in the xvij yeres of Mosen Puche and in the xv yeres of Lady Mary Gralla we shall finde all that we haue sayde or that euer they thought thereof In men of so tender yeres and married so yong it is to be suspected that such and so delicate things neyther do they knowe to vnderstande when they bée told them neyther yet being wanting to aske for them but I aunswer and also prophesy vnto the xvij yeres of Mosen Puche to the xv yeres of the Lady Mary Gralla that if they will not learne all these properties and after their learning obserue them that in a little further processe of time they with their burden shall fall to the ground or else eyther of theÌ„ séeke newe loue I hold it not for so waighty to be admitted a nouice frier as a yong man to be married for the one may refuse and come foorth and the other may not repent The incommodities that do follow the marriage of xvij with xv Mosen Puche and the Lady Mary Gralla can more effectually declare than I can write For if I say ought it is by gesse but they maye affirme it as féeling witnesses For men to marry themselues very yong there followeth great hurtes whiche is to vnderstande their wiues are broken and spoyled in their child bed weaken their strength laden with children spend their patrimonie soone moued to ielousy not comprehending what appertayneth to honor they vnderstande not to prouide for the housholde the first loues finishe and new cares approche in such wise for marrying them selues so yong they come afterwards to liue discontented or else to be separated in theyr old age The diuine Plato gaue counsel to his commoÌ„ wealth that they should marrie their children in suche an age wherein they shoulde vnderstande what they did choose and very well perceyue what they tooke in hande Graue and very graue is this sentence of Plato for to take a wife or to choose a husband is no hard thing but to vnderstande to sustayne an houshold is very difficult I haue not bene married neyther haue had any motion to be married but for as much as I haue séene amongst my kinred and haue read in bookes by that I haue suspected of my neighbours and by which I haue hearde of my friends I find by my rekoning that those that chaunce to be well married haue here their Paradise and such as haue had worse chaunce of their house they haue made an hell What man to thys day that hath matched with a woman of such perfection that wished not in hir some things to be amended What woman hath chosen a husbande so accomplished that found not in him some thing to be misliked In the first vew of wowers of their contraction few mariages be displeasant but in proces of time few things be liked and that which is most certaine being in want and money spent incontinent without delay displeasures knocks at gate Oh sorowful married man if thou marry with a gentlewoman thou must beare with hir pomp and follie If thou encounter with a woman that is mild and wise thou must accept hir pouertie if thou match with one that is riche it may happen thée to be ashamed of hir kinred if thou choose thée a wife that is fayre thou hast mischaunce sufficient to watche hir if it be thy chaunce to obtayne a wife that is foule after fewe dayes thou wilt shunne thy house and also seeke newe lodging if thou boast thy selfe that thy wife is wise and of goodly personage also thou complaynest that she is costly and no house kéeper if thou say of thy selfe that thy wife is a good huswife forthwith it is reported that no seruant may endure hir fierce crueltie if thou doest glory that thy wife is honest and chast many times thou doest abhorre hir for that she is too much ielouse what wilte thou that I say more Oh thou poore maried man that which I speake besides that
kéepe silence and the husband to haue patience I dare saye and in a manner sweare it shall rather bée the dwelling of fooles than the house of friends where the husbands wanteth wisedome and the wife patience for in processe of time they shall eyther separate or else euery day be in battell Women naturally be tender in complexion weake in condition to this end a man is a man that he know to tolerate their faultes and couer their weakenesse in suche wise that once they muste support them byting and an hundred times licking If there be compassion of the man that is matched with a fierce wife much more of the woman that is encountred with a furious husband For there be men so fierce and of so small patience that the poore women their wiues neyther is theyr wisedome sufficient to serue them neyther their patience to suffer them sometime for their children sometime for theyr seruants and sometime for want of money betwixt man and wife offences may not be excused and in suche a case I durst auouch that then when the wife is angrie he hath néede to séeke his wittes which is to witte to take all things in iest or not to answer a word If vnto all things that the wife will be gréeued and frame complaints the wise man shoulde aunswer and satisfye let him holde it for certaine that he néedeth the strength of Sampson and the wisedome of Salomon Marke well married man what I say vnto thee which is that either thy wife is wise or else thy wife is a foole If thou be matched with a foole it auayleth little to reprehend hir and if thou bée married vnto a wise woman one sharp word is sufficient bycause my friend thou hast to vnderstand that if a woman bée not corrected by that which is sayde she will neuer amend by that which is threatned When a woman shall be inflamed with yre the man ought to suffer hir and after the flame is somewhat quenched to reprehend hir for if she once begin to loose hir shame in the presence of hir husband they will euery houre cleaue the house with yelles He that presumeth to be a wise man and to be a good husband he ought rather to vse his wife with milde reasons and sagacitie than with rigor and force for the woman is of suche disposition that in the ende of thirtie yeares marriage there shal euery day be found thwartings in hir condition and alterations in hir conuersation Also it is to be noted that if at all times the husband ought to shunne quarrelling with his wife much more he ought to auoyde the same when they shall bée newly married for if at the beginning she shall haue cause to abhorre and hate late or neuer will she returne to loue At the beginning of their marriage the wise husband ought to fawne flatter and to enamour his wife for if then they recouer loue ech to other although afterwards they come to some houshold words and grudgings it procéedeth of some new vnkindnesse and not of old rooted hatred Mortall enimies be loue and hatred and the firste of them that taketh lodging in the heart there he remayneth inhabitant all the days of life in such wise that the first loues may depart from the person but neuer forgotten at the hart If from the beginning of the mariage the woman do take the bit to abhorre hir husbande I commend them both vnto a miserable life and also vnto an vnfortunate old age For if he shall haue power to make hir to feare him he shall neuer haue strength to force hir to loue him Many husbandes do boast themselues to be serued and feared in their houses of whome I haue more pitie than enuie bycause the woman that abhorreth doth feare and serue hir husband but she that liketh doth loue him and cherish him Muche ought the woman to trauell to be in grace with hir husband and very much ought the husband to feare to bée in disgrace with his wife for if she doe once determine to fixe hir eyes vpon same other he shall enioy hir in despite of hir husband for so long a iorney and for so painefull a life as matrimonie is the husbād ought not to be satisfied that he hath robd his wife of hir virginitie but in that he hath possession and vse of hir will for it is not sufficient that they be maried but that they be well maried and liue very well contented The man that is not beloued of his wife holdeth his goodes in daunger his house in suspition his honour in ballance and also his life in perill bycause it is easie to belieue that she desireth not long life vnto hir husband with whome she passeth a time so tedious The Husbands be not ouer ielouse ALso it is a counsell to be imbraced that married men doe auoyde to be with their neighbours malicious and of their wiues ielouse bycause onely two kindes of people be ielous which is to vnderstand such as be of euill condition and suche as in their youth haue spent their time in wantonnes Such kind of men do imagine that their wiues giue the like entertainment vnto others as they receyued of their neighbours wiues the whiche is no small vanitie to thinke and no lesse foolishnesse to speake for if there be some that be dissolute ther be also other some wise honest and aduised To say that all women be good is of too much affection and to say that all bée euill is to great want of reason It is sufficient to say that amongst men there is many things to be reprehended and amongst women there wanteth not wherefore to be praysed I hold it not for euill that vnto hir whiche is vaine and light they vse hir not only with reason but also taking away occasion but withall it is to be vnderstoode with this condition that they vse hir not with such straytnesse either giue hir so euill a life whereby vnder colour to kéepe herin they bring hir to dispayre We cannot denie but there bée women of so euill condition and so vnhonest of inclination that will not be corrected with force eyther amended by chastisement But it séemeth that suche were borne into this world only to tormēt their husbands and to shame their kinred And on the other side there be women many and very manye whiche of theyr owne proper nature be of so tractable condition and chast inclination that it séemeth not that they were borne into the worlde but for a mirror to the common wealth and a glory vnto their whole kinred I retourne once more to saye that sometimes it is not euill to shut the dore to remoue hir from the window to denie hir going abroade and to deliuer hir frō some suspitious company but this the husband must bring to passe with great skill that he always shew a greater faith in the liberty she hathe than in the watch or
salutem Descendit ad inferos In the yeare a thousande fiue hundred twenty and thrée comming out of Fraunce by Nauarne in a little Churche in Viena not farre from the Growine I saw an Epitaph vpō the Tomb of the Duke Valentine which without writing I commended vnto my memorie and as I thinke thus it sayd Here lieth clad in a little clay That mortall men did feare VVhich in peace war the ful whole sway In all this world did beare O thou that goest with care to seeke VVorthy things of prayse most meete If worthy things thou wouldest prayse Here thou hast to direct thy wayes And therein farther to spend no dayes In the warres of Lumbardy there dyed an auncient soldier which was valiant and meanely rich who was buried by his friends in a little Village betwixt Plazentia and Voguera on whose Sepulture were written these words Here Campuzano doth lie VVith whose soule the Diuill did flie But his goodes had Sir Antonie In Alexandria de la Palla I found another soldier buried in the Churche within the Castell vpon whose Sepulture that is to say vpon the wall I saw writtē with a Cole these words Here lieth Horozco the Sergeant VVhich liued playing And died drinking In the Citie of Aste when Caesar went to make warre in Fraunce we stayed certayne dayes A Souldier was buried in the monasterie of Saint Frauncis as it séemed being very poore made his will very rich vppon whose Sepulture another Soldier placed these wordes Here lyeth Billandrando VVhich all that he had did not let to play And that which he had not he gaue away In the Citie of Nisa we buried an honorable soldier that had bin Captayne but in the morning and at night with a Cole I saw written vpon his Tomb these words Here lieth the Soldier Billoria VVhose body to the Church by his friēds did send But his hart to his loue he did incommende In a place of Spayne which shall be namelesse I founde the Sepulture of a certayne Gentlewoman vpon whose Tombe these words were written Here lieth the Lady Marina in earthly presse VVhich died thirty days before she was countesse In the .18 yeare I being warden of the Citie of Soria going to preach to the Camp of Gomara in a little Village I encountred with an old Sepulture vppon the stone whereof were written these words Here lieth bald Iohn Hussillo VVhich taught boyes to swimme And wenches to daunce very trim This yeare past in visiting my Byshoprick of Mondonedo I found in the Archdeaconship of Trasancos in a little Churche by the Sea side an auncient Tomb which they sayd was of a gentlemā naturall of the place which had these words writtē Here lieth Vasko Bell A good Gentleman and a fell The which neuer drew his sword indeede That made any man euer to bleede Going for Custos of my prouince of conception in a generall Chapter ioyntly with certayne religious Portingalls of my order bound to the same place amongst the which the warden of Sanctaren a man both wise and learned vnderstanding me to haue delight in old things sayde that in his Monasterie vppon a Tombe of a Portingall Gentleman were written these words Here lieth Basko Figueira Much against his will. So high a sentence so delicate words and so certain a troth as this as God saue me might not procéed either be inuēted but of a man of an high delicate iudgement they wer spokē in Portingall in a Monasterie of Portingall in the behalfe of a Portingall and a Portingall saide them whereof I gather vnto my selfe that the nobles of Portingall be wise in their attempts and of sharp iudgement in what they speake To my iudgemēt my appetite to my tast and liking to this daye I haue not heard or red a thing so gratious as the letter of that Sepulture bycause ther may not be said a greater troth than to say that Basko Figueira or any other persone is in hys Tomb much against his will. What Sepulture is in thys world so rich wherein any man desireth to dwel or wisheth to be buried what man is so insensible that woulde not rather liue in a narrow houell than in a large and ample sepulture Not only Basko Figueira lieth in his sepulture against his wil but also the Machabees in their Piramides Semiramis in hir Polimite the great Cirus in hys Obiesko the good Augustus in hys Columna the famous Adrian in his Mole magno the prowde Alaricus in hys Rubico All whyche if we coulde demaunde of them and they aunswere vs woulde sweare and affirme that they dyed without their owne consent and were buryed agaynste their willes My Lorde Admirall from hencefoorth I diuine that if Basko Figueira lyeth deade in his sepulture agaynst his will with an euill will I dare auouche you will bée buryed in yours although moste certayne the chappell is riche and your Tombe very stately Your honor hath to vnderstande that I thought good to enlarge this letter to the end you should haue wherat to maruel and also wherwith to laugh with a protestation that I make that if you wryte agayne within this halfe yeare I wyll refuse to answere for that I haue in hande certayne woorkes of myne owne presently to be printed and after to be published No more but that our Lorde be in your kéeping From Valiodolid the .xxx. of Marche 1534. A letter vnto Sir Alphonce Manrique Archebishop of Ciuill wherein is declared a certayne passage of holy Scripture conuenient to bee read of Iudges and prelates that be cruell RYght Noble and pitifull Prelate if your reuerend Lordship do conceyue that for the gallant baye mule which you haue sent mée by Orlande your Stewarde I shoulde submit my selfe to do you great seruice eyther to render greate thankes ye are greatly deceiued for although she be both faire and good I haue wonne and gayned the same by a sentence pronounced agaynste your honor for the costes of processe and the amendes wherein you are condemned when your moste reuerend Lordship and the Duke of Naiarra vppon a certaine contention did elect mée for your iudge which is to wéete where the situation of Sagunto shuld haue stande and the renowned Neomantia should haue bene wherein to determine and verifie your doubte I studied very muche and traueled not a little And since you are condemned in a Mule and consented vnto the sentence once againe I aduertise your honor that I will neyther restore hir and muche lesse pay for hir My Lord the Duke of Naiarra your brother at Courte doeth dayly threaten mée that eyther by violence he will take hir from mée or else cause hir to be stolen wherfore I humbly pray your honor to commaunde that he leaue me in peace otherwise I promise you to proue vnto him by my auncient histories that the borders and limites of Naiarra haue bene twoo leagues within the Duchie But nowe setting aside all iestes to speake in earnest I
interpretation of bookes If ye will say that those whiche presently be called Moores or Turkes be the same people whereof the Prophet speaketh Scrutati sunt iniquitates herevnto I answer that as false is the one as the other for as muche as if we will haue regarde vnto the time of the raigne of King Dauid which did prophesie the same vntill the time of Mahomet the first inuentor and conductor of the sect of the Moores we shall find that there dyd passe lesse than 2000. and more than 1800. yeares If we would say and affirme that the Prophet did meane and direct his speech vnto the Christians I saye also it is most false and repugnant vnto all troth for being admitted that the Christian faith had beginning to raigne 600. yeares before the sect of the Moores and more than 3000. yeares after the beginning of the Gentilitie or the Heathen from the tyme that this prophecie was written at Ierusalem vnto the time they began to name themselues Christians at Antioch there passed more than a thousand yeares and also thrée hundred yeares more for aduantage Behold here truly verifyed that since the prophecie may not be aduouched vpon the Gentiles the Moores neyther yet the Christians that it is to be vnderstood spoken vnto you Iewes more expressely for that the Prophet saith not Scruteront but Scruterent giuing vs to vnderstande that many yeares before King Dauid did pronounce the same youre auncesters had then already begon to corrupt the sacred Scriptures and to adde vnto the same erroneous glosses I lie not neyther do I repent to haue sayd that your auncient fathers Scrutati sunt iniquitates since they haue no grace to vnderstand the Prophecie of Ieremie which sayth post dies multos dicit dominus dabo meam legem in visceribus illorum in corde eorū ad scribā legem meam As if he wold haue sayd After many dayes and after many yeares I will create a newe people and will giue them a new lawe whiche I my selfe will wright in theyr bowells and hide within their harts to the ende that no persone shall falsefy the same and muche lesse shall they be able to forget it Then as the Prophecie which sayth Scrutati sant iniquitates c. is spoken onely vnto you and not to all men in lyke manner this Prophecie of Ieremy whiche sayth dabo legem in visceribus illorum c. is spoken vnto vs Christians and not to you Iewes For as muche as our Catholike fayth consisteth more in that which is rooted within our hartes than in that whyche is written in bookes in such manner the weale of the Christian lieth not in that whiche hée readeth but in that which he beléeueth The maruels that Christe hathe done and the doctrines which he hath giuen vnto the world It is necessary and well done to knowe and also to reade them but it is muche more founde and sure to beléeue them for the number is infinite which be saued without reading but not one persone without well beléeuing The Edicts and Proclamations which they ordeyned and the lawes of Moses Promotheus Solon Licurgus and Numa Pompilius were all written with their handes and preserued and kept safe in their originals within their liberties but the law of Iesus Christ ought most certaynly to be writtē within our harts for that in as much that the Lord gaue vs no other law but the law of loue he did like and thought it better that we shoulde search and find the same within our hartes than within our bookes And not without great mistery God sayd by the mouth of your Prophet that the law which his sonne should giue vs that he shuld first write it within the harts before the Euangelist shuld reduce them by writing into bookes for after this manner it might not be forgotten neyther yet burned And so if youre auncient predecessors hadde obtayned the law of Moyses written in their harts as they had them writtē in old parchment they had not in times past worshipped the Idolls of Baal Bell Pegor Asterot Bahalim and Belzebub for whiche offence you were caried captiue into straunge countries and falne into your enimies hands How it came to passe that the Hebrew tong was lost IN like manner ye vsed me with no small despight for that in disputing against you I alleaged youre Esay where God the Father speaking vnto his owne proper sonne sayde these wordes parum est mihi vt suscites tribus Iacob feces Israell dedit te in lucem gentium vt sis salus mea vsque ad extremum terrae As if hée would haue sayd it is no great matter that thou serue me to suscitate and raise vp the lies of Iacob and to conuert the dregges of Israell for I haue giuen thee also for a light vnto the Gentiles to the ende that thou shalt be my sauing health vnto the ende of the worlde There is no man hauing read although but little in the holy Scripture that will not saye and affirme that the Prophet Esay was not an Hebrew borne a Prophet of a noble line and right eloquent in the scriptures for which cause you ought rather to blame and complayne of him which doth call and tearme you lies and dregges of Iacob than of me the which in all oure diputations haue not at any time alleaged any Christian doctor but only Hebrewish Prophets I saye agayne that you haue small reason to be offended with him or me for there is another Prophet which doth call you off scowring another venim another lies another dregs another ordure another slime another smoke another filthe in suche wise that as oft as ye did not ceasse to sin so did they not ceasse to blason and to expresse you with most perfect tearmes Are ye able to denie that of your priesthood of your Scepter of your Temple of your Realme of your lawe of youre tong either of your scripture is there any remayning but the lies which smelleth and the dregs which stinketh Surely that which was in youre lawe cleare nete precious and odoriferous long before the incarnation was consumed and that little which remayned in Iesus Christ did take an end And as cōcerning the priesthood of your law the great sacrificer or the high Priest ought he not to be extract out of the Trybe of Leuy whereof you haue nothing left but the lies for yet in the time of yonger and better dayes it was no more giuen vnto the Leuits that did best deserue it but vnto him that offred most siluer in such wise that to him that offred most and had greatest skill to flatter the priesthood was giuē as when a garment is sold by the drumme Likewise of your Scepter royal what haue you but the lyes for Herod Eskalonite a straunger did not onely vsurpe your Realme but by industry caused the Prince Antigonus sonne to Alexander your King
the rest The conditions of a good king Princes ought so to recreate themselues that thereof ryse none offence Princes ought to limite their recreations In the auncient times yron was vsed in coyne It is to be noted that all lawes are reduced from three lawes Seuen maner of auncient lawes Lawes onely for Romane Senators The lawes for warre they vsed in Rome The first that made lawes for warres The procurer of the people was most priuiledged in Rome We receiue liberalitie from the Prince when he commaundeth to serue Note the great vertues of the Philosopher Licurgus Of him that brought vp one dog fat in idlenesse and in the house the other in the field To be good it doth much profite to be well brought vp A notable proclamation daily made A right worthy search Bathes and oyntmēts forbidden The authoritie of old men The disobedient sonne both chastised and disinherited A friend by fraternitie New inuentiō and the inuentors banished An honour vsed to the dead that valiantly died in the warres Gentlemen may commen but not cōtend For what causes a Gentleman may be inflamed with choler Helia is nowe Ierusalē and Byzantio is Constantinople Numantia was named of Numa Pompilius The Numantins in the warres did rather die than flee Rome was enuious of the fortune of Numantia Nine Consulles were slaine at the siege of Numantia The good Captaine ought rather loose his life than make an infamous truce In the warres vice doth more hurt thā the enimies The Numātines did eate the fleshe of the Romains To fight with a desparate man is no small perill The noble minded had rather die free than lyue a slaue The Numantines did kill their wiues and children No Numantine taken prisoner The continuance of the prosperitie of Numantia In the warres it importeth dot to write with an euill pen. More is spent to maynteyne opinion than to defende reason No excuse may excuse the losse of a battayle A iust warre is loste by an vniust captaine An euill lyfe doth come to make repayment in one day The more noble victorie is that which is obtayned by counsel thā by the sword Iron was made to eare fields and not to kill men We ought rather to make tryall by perswasion than by sworde The bloudie Captain doth finishe his days with an euill ende Iulius Cesar pardoned more enimies than he kilde It is more loued that is obteyned by request than by the sworde In tyme of warre it besemeth not a knighte to write from his house Note the right conditions of a right gētleman Is a gentleman a fault is tolerable if it be not vile The good knight hath in possessiō more armour than bookes Iudas Machabeus had rather lose his his lyfe than his fame To cōmaund many wil cost muche Note the wordes of a valiant captain To demaunde how many not where the enimies be is a signe of fear Words wordthy to be engraued on his tombe Of more value is the noble mynded expert captain than a greate armie Who was the valiāt Viriato captain of Spayne Viriato was inuincible in the warres Fewe vices are sufficiente to darken many victories Note what is due betwixte friendes Ingratitude seldom or neuer pardoned The grace that is giuen in preaching is seldome giuen in writing The hearte is more moued hearing the word of God than by reading The old lawe gaue punishment to the euill but no glorie to the good Vntill Christ none proclaymed rest For what cause Christe saide my yoke is sweete and my burden is light The propertie of a faithfull louer Perfect loue endureth all trauell Christ did not commaund vs to doe that whiche he did not first experimēt himself The worlde doth more chastise than pardon but in the house of God more pardoned than chastised In all the lawes of the world vices be permitted Christes lawes excepted The Lawe of christ is sharp vnto the wicked but easie and light to the vertuouse Daughters are to be married before they grow old The Ipineās did write the date of their letters with the superscriptiō With what paper they were wont to write Note the inck of old time Famouse eloquence of the Auctor in a base matter Notable exāples of cōtinēcie in Princes Catiline a tyrant of Rome It ought not to be written that cannot be written The inuētion of the A.B.C. The rentes of great Lords ought to be agreeable to their titles Gamsters at dice play them selues to nothing Postes in old time made great speede Euill newes neuer cōmeth to late The auctor reporteth of his linage of Gueuara To descend of a noble bloud prouoketh to be vertuous The auncient and noble Linages in Rome were much esteemed In Rome they bare no office that descended of traitours The properties of a man born of a good linage A note of the Giants of the old time The differēce betwixt the great and litle men Of a little Frier of the Abbay of Guysando Little thinges giue more offence than profite A sise is obserued in nothing but in sermōs More grauitie is required in writing thā in talking Note the breuitie of ancient writing Twoo Romane Captaines would two manner of warres The warres against Numantia was vmust The nature of warres that is to be holden iust Warres betwixt christiās dependeth of the secretes God. Eight condicions meete to be performed by a captaine generall of the warres The good knight ought to imitate his good predecessors He is not to be intituled a knight that is rich but vertuous In the talke of warres not that I haue heard but that I haue scene is most commendable for a gentleman The armes of a knight are giuen him to fight and not to behold Age and abilitie be mothers of good counsell The generous and noble mind dothe more feare to flie than to abide In soden perils it needeth not to vse lōg and delayed counsels A fort ought to be the sepulchre of the defendant If many be married they are not fewe that be repentant No married man may liue without trauell That man is miserable that is maried vnto a foolish woman Worship is not blemished by answering of a letter A Prince did write vnto a bitmaker A noble Romane did write vnto a plough man. No man is so euill in whom there is not somwhat to be praysed Negligence presumptiō be two things that loseth friends Euill nurture is hurtfull in all estates Where is money there is dispatch God doth many times bring things to passe rather by the weake thā by the strong Amongst .xij. sonnes the yongest was most excellent To lacke friends is perillous And some friends be tedious We ought rather to bewaile the life of the wicked than the death of the iust A man is to be knowne but not to be vnderstood The battell of Rauenna for euermore shall be renoumed Lesse in the warres than many other thing we haue to beleue fortune With great eloquence the aucthor declareth the nature of
band in Spayne in time past A right notable rule A necessary rule for these our dayes A rule for modestie of apparell A rule for erection of curtesie and good maner Rules for the obseruyng of peace Rules for the obseruing of peace Rules for the exercise of armes They should assaile each other The nobleminde of the maker of this rule is to be noted Things to be noted A gracious confession of Cicero A notable example to be imbraced Hastie counsell breedeth repentance Worthy to be admitted a counsellour Short newes from the court The conditions of Italy A plaine aduertisement Notable conditions in a Iudge May descend but not fall Excellent graces in a iudge A friēdly perswasion Skilful eloquence Why the kings of Castile be called Catholiques The ouer-names of renoumed kings The yere the day the month and hour that Spaine was lost Spaine lost in eight months and hardly recouered in eight hundred yeares To the end cold in winter neither heate in somer shold hinder residents The first inuētiō of the title Catholike Contrary salutations in respect of his birth and maners A sufficiente cause to forget olde acquaintance Assured notes of old acquaintance The issue of vnhonest loue The conditions of men apt for loue A louer in possession of threescore and three yeares A chief cause of courtizans loue The authors of remedies for loue and the frute they reaped therof The beginners of quarels do sometyme catche a wipe Contrarye congratulations in respect of his functiō and maners The lykelyhode of a notable combat A lewde office for an old bishop Prelates for the bodie Doubtfull to be answered A Bishoppe vtterly voyde of a scrupulous conscience A bishop fighting for a bishoprike An Abbot fighting for a bishoprike The prelate lost his Catelina A tinage is an earthen can vsed in Spain of no litle syse to holde their wine Repugnancie in respect of estate and maners The conditiō of tyrants The office of a Bishop A Bishop practiseth his houshold not to pray but to skirmish Armour vsed to wrong purpose A wrong meane to obtayne fame A sclaunderous fraternitie Difficult to content Vaine promises A quent of Maruedis which be 6. for a penny amount 2500 Dukats Repugnancie of speech in respect of noble bloud and want of iudgement A friuolous deuise Notable qualities euill imployed In rebellon vse to pardon the poore and to behead the Captaines Perswasions of a perfect friend An eloquence rarely vsed Rebelles of Spayne Euill guydes not to be followed An eloquent persuasion The wordes of a very frende Repugnancie in speeche in respect of birth and maners A famous speache of an heathen prince A magnificēt answere of a pagan king An exceeding humanitie of a generall to a poore souldior An excellente counsell to make enimies tender and to conserue frendes The couetous man defendeth his goodes from himselfe The liberall and noble minded is Lorde of his neighbour The vile conditions of the couetous Slaues to their owne goodes Wāting that which he possesseth Two kayes to his cofer but two C. in his hart The whole life of the niggard is spent in penance The fruites of couetousnesse Notable conditions of the captain Narsetes I cruell commandement A sharpe answere His penne is constrained to make combat Loyaltie and treason fight not with wordes but with swordes Famouse women Vngodly sciences A religiu◠theft An eloquent perswasion The auhors of Rebellion Hard shiftes An vntoward change A miserable state A wrong deuise to maintaine a common wealth Mischiefe for a medicine Large offers Pithyly perswaded A sharp reprehension A friendly aduise Cruell prayers The authors of Phisicke A tale tolde in iest beleued in earnest Great trauailes that physik hath past Phisick hath wandred many countreys Phisicke vtterly decayed the space four hūdred yeres Rules to be noted The place whereas Ipochras was borne and other famous men The diligence of Ipochras Phisitions banished out of all Greece Another hundred yeares phisick banished out of Greece An exceeding reward The first phisition that cured for mony Phisick banisht another C. yeares In foure hūdreth yeares Rome reserued no Phisitions Nero brought from Greece vices and phisitiōs Phisitions banished by Titus the Emperour Cato an enemy of Phisitions Nota The causes of praise of phisicke The rule and Lordship of the Phisition A law amōgst the Gothes A sentence of Ipochras The Emperour Adrians opinion of Phisitions A notable reward in the place of punishment Valiant phisitions The authors opinion of Phisicke Anciēt lawes for the maried The conditions of the hapily maried A note for the maried A graue sentence of Plato The trauels of the maried man. Equalitie betwixt the maried very necessary Housholde enimies A caueat for Parents A knitting of harts before striking of handes Loue cometh rūning and retorneth flying In old tyme the fathers blessing preferred before hope of inheritance Want of shamefastnes in womē most hurtfull The safetie of womens reputation The cause of domesticall Combatts Suspition no small enimy to womens liues The honoure of the husbād dependeth on the wife A notorious example of a Greeke A furio◅ woman is compared to the hill Ethna An euill kind a measuring Malice finds many faultes Commodities following a pacient wife The dwelling rather of foles than friends A time for the husbande to seeke hys wittes Forget not to make choyce to harboure such guests Causes rather of pitie than of enuy To be noted Good counsel Aduertisements worth the folowing To be cōsidered An euill maner of cōferēce The wiues complaynt Froward out of measure A counsell to be imbraced The office of the husband and of the wife Rather trotting than spinning Causes of spitefull patience No small offence to God. The wife and sword must not be lent A foolish fashion to take vp dust Necessary exercises for the maried wife Idlenesse and chastitie are greatenimies The workes of an huswife A friendly warning to al mothers A Mareuedy is the sixt part of a peny The originall of the Turks The first Saracyns This Mahomet was borne in Arabia issued of the line of Ismaell and of a base place he being an Orphant was sold to a great Marchant his master dyed he married his wydow he was instructed in false doctrine by a Moonke named Sergius a fugitiue from Constantinople he afterwards chalenged and the people attributed certaine deuine veneration vnto him whych the vnlearned Barbarians were prompt to beleeue so as whē by force of the falling sicknesse he fel he feyned to the people that he could not endure the brightnesse of the Angell Gabriell whome he affirmed to celebrate with him the secrets of the highest with many suche abhominable errours and such like abuses he abused the people Othoman Orchanees Amurathes Solyman and Baiazeth Mahomet sonne to Amurathes Mahomet first of the race of Othomās that tooke on him the name of Greate Turke and Emperor To this Baiazeth succeded Selim which poysoned his father bicause he liued ouerlong and to Selim succeded Soliman