Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	vain_a	young_a	youth_n	17	3	8.3430	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07761	A discourse of life and death: written in French, by Phil. Mornay. Done in English by the Countesse of Pembroke; Excellent discours de la vie et de la mort. English	Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623.; Pembroke, Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of, 1561-1621.	1608 (1608)	STC 18141.5; ESTC S113371	23,951	146

the gouernmēt of his parents abandons himselfe to all liberty or rather bōdage of his passion which right like an vncleane spirit possessing him casts him now into the water now into the fire sometimes carries him cleane ouer a rocke and sometime flings him headlong to the bottome Now if he take and follow reason for his guide beholde on the other part wonderfull difficulties he must resolue to fight in euery parte of the field at euery step to be in conflict and at handstrokes as hauing his enemy in front in flanke and on the rerewarde neuer leauing to assaile him And what enimie al that can delight him all that hee sees neer or far off brieflie the greatest enemy of the world the world it selfe But which is worse a thousand treacherous and daungerous intelligences among his own forces his passion within himselfe desperate which in that age grown to the highest awaits but time houre occasiō to surprize him cast him into all viciousnes God onely and none other can make him choose this way God only can hold him in it to the end God only can make him victorious in all his combates And well wee see how fewe they are that enter into it and of those few how many that retire againe Followe the one way or followe the other he must either subiect himself to a tyrannicall passion or vndertake a weary cōtinual combate willingly cast himself to destructiō or fetter himself as it were in stocks easily sink with the course of the water or painfully swimme against the streame Loe here the yong m̄ who in his youth hath drunk his full draught of the worlds vain deceiueable pleasures ouertakē by them with such a dull heauinesse and astonishment as drunkeards the morrow after a feaste either so out of taste that hee will no more or so glutted that he can no more not able without griefe to speak or think of them Loe him that stoutely hath made resistance hee feeles himselfe so wearie and with this continuall conflicte so brused and broken that either hee is vpon the point to yeeld himself or content to die and so acquit himselfe And this is all the good all the contentment of this florishing age by children so earnestly desired and by olde folkes so heartilie lamented Nowe commeth that which is called perfect age in the which men haue no other thoughts but to purchase themselues wisdome and rest Perfect indeed but herin onely perfect that all imperfections of humane nature hidden before vnder the simplicity of childhood or the lightnesse of youth appeare at this age in their perfection We speake of none in this place but such as are esteemed the wisest most happy in the conceit of the world Wee played as you haue seene in feare our shorte pleasures were attended on with long repentance Be hold now present themselues to vs auarice and ambition promising if wee will adore them perfect contentment of the goods and honours of this world And surely ther are none but the ture Children of the Lord who by the faire illusions of the one or the other cast not them selues headlong from the top of the pinnacle But in the end what is all this contentment The couetous man makes a thousand voiages by sea and by land runnes a thousand fortunes escapes a thousand shipwracks in perpetuall feare and trauel and many times hee either loseth his time or gayneth nothing but sicknesses gouts oppilatiōs for the time to come In the purchase of this goodly repose hee bestoweth his true rest and to gaine wealth loseth his life Suppose hee hath gained in good quantitie that hee hath spoyled the whole East of pearles and drawen drie all the mines of the West will hee therefore bee settled in quiet can hee say that he is content All charges and iourneyes past by his passed paines hee heapeth vp but future disquietnesse both of minde and body from one trauell falling into nother neuer ending but changing his miseries Hee desired to haue them and now feares to lose them he got them with burning ardour possesseth in trembling cold hee aduētured among theeues to seek them hauing found them theeues robbers on al sides run mainely on him he la●oured to digge them out of the earth and now is inforced to religge and rehide them Finally comming from al his voiages he comes into a prison and for an end of his bodily trauels is taken with endlesse trauels of the mind And what at length hath this poore soule attained after so many miseries This Diuell of couerise by his illusions enchantments bears him in hand that hee hath some rare and singular thing and so it fareth with him as with those silly creatures whō the Diuel seduceth vnder colour of relieuing their pouerty who finde their hands full of leaues supposing to finde them full of crownes He possesseth or rather is possessed by a thing wherein is neither force nor vertue more vnprofitable and more base then the least hearb of the earth Yet hath he heaped together this vile excrement and so brurish is grown as therewith to crowne his head which naturally hee shoulde tread vnder his feet But howsoeuer it be is hee therwith content Nay cōirariwise lesse now then euer We cōmend most those drinkes that breede an alteration and soonest extinguish thirst and those meats which in least quantitie do longest resist hūger Now hereof the more a man drinkes the more he is a thirst the more hee eates the more an hungred It is a dropsie and as they tearme it the dogs hunger sooner may hee burst then be satisfied And which is worse so strange in some is this thirst that it maketh them dig the pittes and painefully draw the water and after will not suffer them to drinke In the middest of a riuer they are drie with thirst and on a heap of corne cry out of famine they haue goods and dare not vse them they haue ioyes it seemes and doe not enioy thē they neither haue for thēselues nor for another but of all they haue they haue nothing and yet haue wāt of al they haue not Let vs then returne to that that the attaining of all these deceiueable goods is nothing else but wearinesse of body the possession for the most part but wearines of the mind which certainely is so much the greater as is more sensible more subtile and more tender the soule then the body But the heap of al misery is when they come to lose them when either shipwrack or sacking or inuasion or fire or such like calamities to which these fraile thinges are subiect doth take and carie them from them Then fall they to crie to weep to tormēt them selues as little children that haue lost their plai-game which notwithstanding is nothing worth One cannot perswade them that mortal mē haue any other good in this world but that which is mortall They are in their owne conceits

not onely spoyled but altogether slayed And forasmuch as in these vaine things they haue fixt al their hopes hauing lost them they fall into despaire out of the which commonly they cannot bee withdrawen And which is more al that they haue not gained according to the accountes they made they esteem lost all that which turnes them not to greate and extraordinarie profite they account as damage whereby wee see some fall into such despaire as they cast away themselues In short the recompence that couetise yeeldes those that haue serued it all their life is oftentimes like that of the Diuell whereof the end is that after a small time hauing gratified his Disciples eyther gee giues them ouer to a hangman or himselfe breaks their necks I wil not here discourse of the wickednesse and mischiefes whereunto the couetous men subiect themselues to attaine to these goodes whereby their conscience is filled with a perpetuall remorse which neuer leaues thē in quiet sufficeth that in this ouer-vehemēt exercise which busieth and abuseth the greatest part of the world the body is slain the mind is weakned the soule is lost without any pleasure or contentment Come we to ambition which by a greedinesse of honour fondly holdeth occupied the greatest persons Think we there to finde more nay rather lesse As the one deceiueth vs giuing vs for al our trauel but a vile excrement of the earth so the other repayes vs but with smoke and winde the rewardes of this being as vaine as those of that were grosse Both in the one and the other wee fall into a bottomelesse pit but into this the fall by so much the more dangerous as at the first shew the water is more pleasant and cleare Of those that giue themselues to court ambition some are greate about Princes others commaunders of Armies both sortes according to their degree you see saluted reuerenced and adored of those that are vnder them You see them apparelled in purple in scarlet and in cloth of golde it seemes at first sight there is no contentment in the world but theirs But men knowe not how heauie an ounce of that vaine honour weighes what those reuerences cost them and how dearely they paye for an ell of those rich stufs who knewe them well would neuer buy them at the price The one hath attained to this degree after a long and painefull seruice hazarding his life vpon euerie occasion with losse oft times of a leg or an arme and that at the pleasure of a Prince that more regards a hūdred perches of ground on his neighbors frontiers then the liues of a hundred thousand such as hee vnfortunate to serue who loues him not and foolish to thinke himself in honour with him that makes so litle reckening to lose him for a thing of no worth Others growe vp by flattering a Prince and long submitting their tongues hands to say and do without differēce whatsoeuer they will haue them whereunto a good minde can neuer command it selfe They shall haue indured a thousand iniuries receiued a thousand disgraces and as neere as they seem about the Prince they are neuerthelesse alwayes as the Lyons keeper who by long patience a thousand feedinges and a thousand clawings hath made a fierce Lyon familiar yet giues him neuer meate but with pulling backe his hand alwaies in feare least he should catch him and if once in a yeare hee bites him hee sets it so close that he is paied for a long time after Such is the ende of all Princes fauourites When a Prince after song breathing hath raised a mā to greate height hee makes it his pastime at what time he seemes to be at the top of his trauell to cast him downe at an instant when hee hath filled him with all wealth hee wrings him after as a sponge louing none but himselfe and thinking euerie one made but to serue and please him These blind Courtiers make themselues belieue that they haue friendes and manie that honour them 〈◊〉 considering that 〈◊〉 make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and honour euerie bodi●●● so others doe by them Their superiours disdaine them neuer but with scorn doe so much as salute them their inferiors salute them because they haue neede of them I meane of their fortune of their foode of their apparell not of their person and for their equals betweene whom cōmonly friendship cōsists they enuie each other accuse each other crosse each other continually grieued either at their owne harme or at others good Now what greater hel is ther what greater torment than enuie which in truth is nought else but a feauer Hectique of the minde so they are vtterly frustrate of all friendship euer iudged by the wisest the chiefe soueraigne good among men Will you see it more clearely Let but Fortune turne her backe euerie man turns from them let hir frowne euerie man lookes aside on them let them once be disroabed of their triumphall garment no bodie will any more know them Againe let there be apparelled in it the most vnworthie and infamous whatsoeuer euen he without difficulty by vertue of his robe shall inherit all the honours the other had don him In the meane time they are puffed vp and grow proude as the Asse which caried the image of Isis was for the honours done to the Goddesse regard not that it is the fortune they carrie which is honoured not themselues on whom as on Asses many times she wil be caried But you will say At least so long as that fortune endured they were at ease had their contentment who hath 3. or 4. or more yeares of happie time hath not bin al his life vnhappie True if this bee to be at ease continually to feare to bee caste down from that degree whereunto they are raised and dayly to desire with great trauell to clime yet higher Those my friend whom thou takest so well at their ease because thou seest them but without are within farre otherwise They are faire built prisons full within of deep ditches and dungeons full of darkenesse serpents and tormentes Thou supposest them lodged at large and they thinke their lodgings strait Thou thinkest them very high they thinke themselues verie lowe Now as sick is hee and many times more sicke who thinks himselfe so then who indeede is Suppose them to bee Kings if they thinke themselues slaues they are no better for what are wee but by opinion You see them well followed and attended and euen those whom they haue chosen for their guarde they distrust Alone or in companie euer they are in feare Alone they looke behinde them in company they haue an eye on euery side of thē They drinke in gold and siluer but in those not in earth or glasse is poyson prepared and d●unke They haue their beds soft well made when they lay them to sleepe you shall not heare a mouse stir in the chamber not so much as a fly shal come neer their