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[Illustration: MILTON, BACON, CHAUCER, and SHAKESPEARE.]
THE BEST
_of the_
WORLD'S CLASSICS
RESTRICTED TO PROSE
HENRY CABOT LODGE
_Editor-in-Chief_
FRANCIS W. HALSEY
_Associate Editor_
With an Introduction, Biographical and
Explanatory Notes, etc.
IN TEN VOLUMES
Vol. III
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND--I
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
NEW YORK AND LONDON
COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
* * * * *
The Best of the World's Classics
VOL. III
GREAT BRITAIN AND
IRELAND--I
1281-1745
* * * * *
CONTENTS
VOL. III--GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND--I
RICHARD DE BURY--(Born in 1281, died in 1345.)
In Praise of Books.
(From the "Philobiblon")
SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE--(Reputed author.)
I The Route from England to Constantinople.
(From the "Travels")
II At the Court of the Great Chan.
(From the "Travels")
JOHN WYCLIF--(Born about 1324, died in 1384.)
The Baptism of Christ.
(Being a translation from the Gospel of Mark)
GEOFFREY CHAUCER--(Born about 1340, died in 1400.)
Of Acquiring and Using Riches.
(One of the prose "Canterbury Tales")
WILLIAM CAXTON--(Born about 1422, died in 1491.)
Of True Nobility and Chivalry.
(From the "Game and Playe of Chesse." Translated by Caxton from
the French original)
SIR THOMAS MALORY--(Born about 1430, died after 1470.)
Of the Finding of a Sword for Arthur. (From the "Morte d'Arthur")
SIR THOMAS MORE--(Born in 1478, died in 1535.)
Life in Utopia.
(From the "Utopia")
JOHN KNOX--(Born in 1505, died in 1572.)
An Interview with Mary Queen of Scots.
(From the "History of the Reformation in Scotland")
ROGER ASCHAM--(Born in 1515, died in 1568.)
Of Gentle Methods in Teaching.
(From the "Schoolmaster")
JOHN FOXE--(Born in 1516, died in 1587.)
The Death of Anne Boleyn.
(From the "Book of Martyrs")
SIR WALTER RALEIGH--(Born in 1552, died in 1618.)
The Mutability of Human Affairs.
(From the Preface to the "History of the World")
FRANCIS BACON--(Born in 1561, died in 1626.)
I Of Travel.
(From the "Essays")
II Of Riches.
(From the "Essays")
III Of Youth and Age.
(From the "Essays")
IV Of Revenge.
(From the "Essays")
V Of Marriage and Single Life.
(From the "Essays")
VI Of Envy.
(From the "Essays")
VII Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature.
(From the "Essays")
VIII Of Studies.
(From the "Essays")
IX Of Regiment of Health.
(From the "Essays")
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE--(Born in 1564, died in 1616.)
I Brutus to His Countrymen.
(From "Julius Cæsar")
II Shylock in Defense of His Race.
(From the "Merchant of Venice")
III Hamlet to the Players.
(From "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark")
BEN JONSON--(Born in 1573, died in 1637.)
Shakespeare and Other Wits.
(From "Timber; or, Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter")
IZAAK WALTON--(Born in 1593, died in 1683.)
I The Antiquity of Angling.
(From Part I, Chapter IV, of "The Compleat Angler")
II Of the Trout.
(From Part I, Chapter IV, of "The Compleat Angler")
III The Death of George Herbert.
(From the "Lives")
JAMES HOWELL--(Born in 1595, died in 1666.)
I The Bucentaur Ceremony in Venice.
(From the "Familiar Letters")
II The City of Rome in 1621.
(From the "Familiar Letters")
SIR THOMAS BROWNE--(Born in 1605, died in 1682.)
I Of Charity in Judgments.
(From the "Religio Medici")
II Nothing Strictly Immortal.
(From Chapter V of "Urn Burial")
JOHN MILTON--(Born in 1608, died in 1674.)
I Of His Own Literary Ambition.
(From "The Reason of Church Government")
II A Complete Education Defined.
(From the "Tractate on Education")
III On Reading in His Youth.
(From the "Apology for Smectymnus")
IV In Defense of Books.
(From the "Areopagitica")
V A Noble and Puissant Nation.
(From the "Areopagitica")
VI Of Fugitive and Cloistered Virtue.
(From the "Areopagitica")
LORD CLARENDON--(Born in 1608, died in 1674.)
Of Charles I.
(From the "History of the Rebellion")
THOMAS FULLER--(Born in 1608, died in 1661.)
Qualities of the Good Schoolmaster.
(From "The Holy and Profane State")
JEREMY TAYLOR--(Baptized in 1613, died in 1667.)
The Benefits of Adversity.
(From the "Rules and Exercises of Holy Dying")
ABRAHAM COWLEY--(Born in 1618, died in 1667.)
I Of Obscurity.
(From the "Essays")
II Of Procrastination.
(From the "Essays")
GEORGE FOX--(Born in 1624, died in 1691.)
An Interview with Oliver Cromwell.
(From the "Journal")
JOHN BUNYAN--(Baptized in 1628, died in 1668.)
I A Dream of the Celestial City.
(From "The Pilgrim's Progress")
II The Death of Valiant-for-truth and of Stand-fast.
(From "The Pilgrim's Progress")
III Ancient Vanity Fair.
(From "The Pilgrim's Progress")
JOHN DRYDEN--(Born in 1631, died in 1700.)
Of Elizabethan Dramatists.
(From the "Essay on Dramatic Poetry")
SAMUEL PEPYS--(Born in 1633, died in 1703.)
I Of Various Doings of Mr. and Mrs. Pepys.
(From the "Diary")
II England Without Cromwell.
(From the "Diary")
GILBERT BURNET--(Born in 1643, died in 1715.)
Charles II.
(From the "History of Our Own Times")
DANIEL DEFOE--(Born in 1661, died in 1731.)
I The Shipwreck of Crusoe.
(From "The Life and Surprizing Adventures
of Robinson Crusoe")
II The Rescue of Man Friday.
(From "The Life and Surprizing Adventures
of Robinson Crusoe")
III In the Time of the Great Plague.
(From the "History of the Great Plague")
JONATHAN SWIFT--(Born in 1667, died in 1745.)
I On Pretense in Philosophers.
(From "Gulliver's Travels")
II On the Hospitality of the Vulgar.
(From No. 1 of _The Tatler_)
III The Art of Lying in Politics.
(From _The Examiner_)
IV A Meditation upon a Broomstick
V Gulliver Among the Giants.
(From "Gulliver's Travels")
JOSEPH ADDISON--(Born in 1672, died in 1719.)
I In Westminster Abbey.
(From No. 26 of _The Spectator_)
II Will Honeycomb and His Marriage.
(From Nos. 105 and 530 of _The Spectator_)
III Pride of Birth.
(From No. 137 of _The Guardian_)
IV Sir Roger and His Home.
(From Nos. 2 and 106 of _The Spectator_)
* * * * *
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND--I
1281-1745
RICHARD DE BURY
Born in 1281, died in 1345; the son of Sir Richard
Aungerville, his own name being taken from his birthplace,
Bury St. Edmonds; educated at Oxford, and became a
Benedictine monk; tutor to Edward III; dean of Wells
Cathedral in 1333; bishop of Durham the same year; high
chancellor of England in 1334; founded a library at Oxford;
his "Philobiblon" first printed at Cologne in 1473.
IN PRAISE OF BOOKS[1]
The desirable treasure of wisdom and knowledge, which all men covet
from the impulse of nature, infinitely surpasses all the riches of the
world; in comparison with which, precious stones are vile, silver is
clay, and purified gold grains of sand; in the splendor of which, the
sun and moon grow dim to the sight; in the admirable sweetness of
which, honey and manna are bitter to the taste. The value of wisdom
decreaseth not with time; it hath an ever-flourishing virtue that
cleanseth its possession from every venom. O celestial gift of divine
liberality, descending from the Father of light to raise up the
rational soul even to heaven; thou art the celestial alimony of
intellect, of which whosoever eateth shall yet hunger, and whoso
drinketh shall yet thirst; a harmony rejoicing the soul of the
sorrowful, and never in any way discomposing the hearer. Thou art the
moderator and the rule of morals, operating according to which none
err. By thee kings reign, and lawgivers decree justly. Through thee,
rusticity of nature being cast off, wits and tongues being polished,
and the thorns of vice utterly eradicated, the summit of honor is
reached and they become fathers of their country and companions of
princes, who, without thee, might have forged their lances into spades
and plowshares, or perhaps have fed swine with the prodigal son.
Where, then, most potent, most longed-for treasure, art thou
concealed? and where shall the thirsty soul find thee? Undoubtedly,
indeed, thou hast placed thy desirable tabernacle in books, where the
Most High, the Light of light, the Book of Life, hath established
thee. There then all who ask receive, all who seek find thee, to those
who knock thou openest quickly. In books Cherubim expand their wings,
that the soul of the student may ascend and look around from pole to
pole, from the rising to the setting sun, from the north and from the
south. In them the Most High, Incomprehensible God himself is
contained and worshiped. In them the nature of celestial, terrestrial,
and infernal beings is laid open. In them the laws by which every
polity is governed are decreed, the offices of the celestial hierarchy
are distinguished, and tyrannies of such demons are described as the
ideas of Plato never surpassed, and the chair of Crito never
sustained.
In books we find the dead as it were living: in books we foresee
things to come; in books warlike affairs are methodized; the rights of
peace proceed from books. All things are corrupted and decay with
time. Satan never ceases to devour those whom he generates, insomuch
that the glory of the world would be lost in oblivion, if God had not
provided mortals with a remedy in books. Alexander, the ruler of the
world; Julius[2] the invader of the world and the city, the first who
in unity of person assumed the empire in arms and arts; the faithful
Fabricius,[3] the rigid Cato, would at this day have been without a
memorial if the aid of books had failed them. Towers are razed to the
earth, cities overthrown, triumphal arches moldered to dust; nor can
the king or pope be found, upon whom the privilege of a lasting name
can be conferred more easily than by books. A book made renders
succession to the author; for as long as the book exists, the author,
remaining immortal, can not perish; as Ptolemy witnesseth; in the
prolog of his Almagest,[4] he (he says) is not dead, who gave life to
science.
What learned scribe, therefore, who draws out things new and old from
an infinite treasury of books, will limit their price by any other
thing whatsoever of another kind? Truth, overcoming all things, which
ranks above kings, wine, and women, to honor which above friends
obtains the benefit of sanctity, which is the way that deviates not,
and the life without end, to which the holy Boethius attributes a
threefold existence in the mind, in the voice, and in writing, appears
to abide most usefully and fructify most productively of advantage in
books. For the truth of the voice perishes with the sound. Truth,
latent in the mind, is hidden wisdom and invisible treasure; but the
truth which illuminates books, desires to manifest itself to every
disciplinable sense, to the sight when read, to the hearing when
heard; it, moreover, in a manner commends itself to the touch, when
submitting to be transcribed, collated, corrected, and preserved.
Truth confined to the mind, tho it may be the possession of a noble
soul, while it wants a companion and is not judged of, either by the
sight or the hearing, appears to be inconsistent with pleasure. But
the truth of the voice is open to the hearing only, and latent to the
sight (which shows as many differences of things fixt upon by a most
subtle motion), beginning and ending as it were simultaneously. But
the truth written in a book being not fluctuating, but permanent,
shows itself openly to the sight passing through the spiritual ways of
the eyes, as the porches and halls of common sense and imagination; it
enters the chamber of intellect, reposes itself upon the couch of
memory, and there congenerates the eternal truth of the mind.
Lastly, let us consider how great a commodity of doctrine exists in
books, how easily, how secretly, how safely they expose the nakedness
of human ignorance without putting it to shame. These are the masters
that instruct us without rods and ferulas, without hard words and
anger, without clothes or money. If you approach them, they are not
asleep; if investigating you interrogate them, they conceal nothing;
if you mistake them, they never grumble, if you are ignorant, they can
not laugh at you.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: From the "Philobiblon," a treatise on books, translated
from the original Latin into English in 1852 by John Englis. The Latin
text and a new translation by Andrew J. West were printed by the
Grolier Club of New York in 1887.]
[Footnote 2: The reference is to Julius Cæsar.]
[Footnote 3: The Roman Consul, general and ambassador to Pyrrhus in
280, who was noted for inflexible honesty.]
[Footnote 4: The best-known work of Ptolemy of Alexandria, astronomer
and mathematician, who lived in the first half of the second century.]
SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE
Reputed author of a book of "Travels" of the fourteenth
century, a compilation intended as a guide to pilgrims in
the Holy Land, and based upon works by William of Boldensele
(1336) and Friar Odoric of Pordenone (1330).
I.
THE ROUTE FROM ENGLAND TO CONSTANTINOPLE[5]
He that will pass over the sea and come to land, to go to the city of
Jerusalem, he may wend many ways, both on sea and land, after the
country that he cometh from; for many of them come to one end. But
trow not that I will tell you all the towns, and cities and castles
that men shall go by; for then should I make too long a tale; but all
only some countries and most principal steads that men shall go
through to go the right way.
First, if a man come from the west side of the world, as England,
Ireland, Wales, Scotland, or Norway, he may, if that he will, go
through Almayne and through the kingdom of Hungary, that marches to
the land of Polayne, and to the land of Pannonia,[6] and so to
Silesia.
And the King of Hungary is a great lord and a mighty, and holds great
lordships and much land in his hand. For he holds the kingdom of
Hungary, Sclavonia, and of Comania a great part, and of Bulgaria that
men call the land of Bougiers, and of the realm of Russia a great
part, whereof he has made a duchy, that lasts unto the land of
Nyfland,[7] and marches to Prussia. And men go through the land of
this lord, through a city that is called Cypron,[8] and by the castle
of Neasburghe, and by the evil town, that sit toward the end of
Hungary. And there pass men the river Danube. This river of Danube is
a full great river, and it goeth into Almayne, under the hills of
Lombardy, and it receives into him forty other rivers, and it runs
through Hungary and through Greece and through Thrace, and it enters
into the sea, toward the east so rudely and so sharply, that the water
of the sea is fresh and holds its sweetness twenty mile within the
sea.
And after, go men to Belgrade, and enter into the land of Bourgiers;
and there pass men a bridge of stone that is upon the river of
Marrok.[9] And men pass through the land of Pyncemartz and come to
Greece to the city of Nye, and to the city of Fynepape,[10] and after
to the city of Dadrenoble,[11] and after to Constantinople, that was
wont to be called Bezanzon.[12] And there dwells commonly the Emperor
of Greece. And there is the most fair church and the most noble of all
the world; and it is of Saint Sophie. And before that church is the
image of Justinian the emperor, covered with gold, and he sits upon a
horse crowned. And he was wont to hold a round apple of gold in his
hand; but it is fallen out thereof. And men say there, that it is a
token that the emperor has lost a great part of his lands and of his
lordships; for he was wont to be Emperor of Roumania and of Greece, of
all Asia the less, and of the land of Syria, of the land of Judea in
the which is Jerusalem, and of the land of Egypt, of Persia, and of
Arabia. But he has lost all but Greece; and that land he holds all
only. And men would many times put the apple into the image's hand
again, but it will not hold it. This apple betokens the lordship that
he had over all the world, that is round. And the other hand he lifts
up against the East, in token to menace the misdoers. This image
stands upon a pillar of marble at Constantinople.
II
AT THE COURT OF THE GREAT CHAN[13]
The men of Tartary have let make another city that is called Caydon.
And it has twelve gates, and between the two gates there is always a
great mile; so that the two cities, that is to say, the old and the
new, have in circuit more than twenty mile.
In this city is the court of the great Chan in a full great palace and
the most passing fair in all the world, of the which the walls be in
circuit more than two mile. And within the walls it is full of other
palaces. And in the garden of the great palace there is a great hill,
upon the which there is another palace; and it is the most fair and
the most rich that any man may devise. And all about the palace and
the hill be many trees bearing many diverse fruits. And all about the
hill be ditches great and deep, and beside them be great fish ponds on
that one part and on that other. And there is a full fair bridge to
pass over the ditches. And in these vivaries be so many wild geese and
ganders and wild ducks and swans and herons that it is without number.
And all about these ditches and vivaries is the great garden full of
wild beasts. So that when the great Chan will have any disport on
that, to take any of the wild beasts or of the fowls, he will let
chase them and take them at the windows without going out of his
chamber.
This palace, where his court is, is both great and passing fair. And
within the palace, in the hall, there be twenty-four pillars of fine
gold. And all the walls be covered within of red skins of beasts that
men call panthers, that be fair beasts and well smelling; so that for
the sweet odor of those skins no evil air may enter into the palace.
Those skins be as red as blood, and they shine so bright against the
sun, that scarcely no man may behold them. And many folk worship these
beasts, when they meet them first at morning, for their great virtue
and for the good smell that they have. And those skins they prize more
than tho they were plate of fine gold.
And in the midst of this palace is the reservoir for the great Chan,
that is all wrought of gold and of precious stones and great pearls.
And at four corners of the reservoir be four serpents of gold. And all
about there is made large nets of silk and gold and great pearls
hanging all about the reservoir. And under the reservoir be conduits
of beverage that they drink in the emperor's court. And beside the
conduits be many vessels of gold, by the which they that be of
household drink at the conduit.
And the hall of the palace is full nobly arrayed, and full
marvellously attired on all parts in all things that men apparel with
any hall. And first, at the chief of the hall is the emperor's throne,
full high, where he sits at the meat. And that is of fine precious
stones, bordered all about with pure gold and precious stones, and
great pearls. And the steps that he goes up to the table be of
precious stones mingled with gold.
And at the left side of the emperor's seat is the seat of his first
wife, one degree lower than the emperor; and it is of jasper, bordered
with gold and precious stones. And the seat of his second wife is also
another seat more lower than his first wife; and it is also of jasper,
bordered with gold, as that other is. And the seat of the third wife
is also more low, by a degree, than the second wife. For he has always
three wives with him, where that ever he be.
And after his wives, on the same side, sit the ladies of his lineage
yet lower, after that they be of estate. And all those that be married
have a counterfeit made like a man's foot upon their heads, a cubit
long, all wrought with great pearls, fine and orient, and above made
with peacocks' feathers and of other shining feathers; and that stands
upon their heads like a crest, in token that they be under man's foot
and under subjection of man. And they that be unmarried have none
such.[14]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 5: From the "Travels," the earliest extant book written in
English. In this specimen the spelling has been in part modernized.
First printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1429. "Mandeville" has been called
the "Father of English Prose."]
[Footnote 6: An old name for Hungary.]
[Footnote 7: Now known as Livonia, one of the Baltic provinces of
Russia.]
[Footnote 8: Now Oedenburg, a city of Hungary.]
[Footnote 9: The Morava, one of the chief rivers of Servia.]
[Footnote 10: Philippolis.]
[Footnote 11: Adrianople.]
[Footnote 12: An old form of the word Byzantium, a town founded by
Megariaus in the seventh century B.C. When Constantine founded the
city to which he gave his own name, Byzantium, lying east of it, was
included within the city limits.]
[Footnote 13: From the "Travels."]
[Footnote 14: The quaint words in which "Mandeville" concludes his
book are these: "And I, John Mandeville, knight, above said (altho I
be unworthy), that departed from our countries and passed the sea, the
year of grace a thousand three hundred and twenty-two, that have
passed many lands and many isles and countries, and searched many full
strange places, and have been in many a full good honorable company,
and at many a fair deed of arms (albeit that I did none myself, for
mine unable insuffisance), now I am come home, in spite of myself, to
rest, for gouts arthritic that me distrain, that define the end of my
labor; against my will (God knows)."]
JOHN WYCLIF
Born about 1324, died in 1384; "The Morning Star of the
Reformation"; educated at Oxford; rector in Lincolnshire and
Buckinghamshire; Royal ambassador to papal nuncios at Bruges
in 1374; in sermons attacked the Church of Rome; five papal
bulls, authorizing his imprisonment, signed against him;
threw off allegiance to the Church and wrote fearlessly
against papal claims; died of paralysis; his bones in 1428
exhumed and burnt and his ashes cast into the river Swift by
order of the synod of Constance; his translation of the
Bible from the Vulgate, completed about 1382 was the first
complete translation ever made.
THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST[15]
1. The bigynnynge of the gospel of Jhesu Crist, the sone of God.
2. As it is writun in Ysaie, the prophete, Lo! I send myn angel bifore
thi face, that schal make thi weye redy before thee.
3. The voyce of oon cryinge in desert. Make ye redy the weye of the
Lord, make ye his pathis rihtful.
4. Jhon was in desert baptisynge, and prechinge the baptym of
penaunce, into remiscioun of synnes.
5. And alle men of Jerusalem wenten out to him, and al the cuntree of
Judee; and weren baptisid of him in the flood of Jordan, knowlechinge
her synnes.
6. And John was clothid with heeris of camelis, and a girdil of skyn
abowte his leendis; and he eet locusts, and hony of the wode, and
prechide, seyinge:
7. A strengere than I schal come aftir me, of whom I knelinge am not
worthi for to vndo, _or vnbynde_, the thwong of his schoon.
8. I have baptisid you in water; forsothe he shal baptise you in the
Holy Goost.
9. And it is don in thoo dayes, Jhesus came fro Nazareth of Galilee,
and was baptisid of Joon in Jordan.
10. And anoon he styinge vp of the water, sayth heuenes openyd, and
the Holy Goost cummynge doun as a culuere, and dwellynge in hym.
11. And a voys is maad fro heuenes, thou art my sone loued, in thee I
haue plesid.
12. And anon the Spirit puttide hym in to desert.
13. And he was in desert fourty dayes and fourty nightis, and was
temptid of Sathanas, and was with beestis and angelis mynstriden to
hym.
14. Forsothe aftir that Joon was taken, Jhesus came in to Galilee,
prechinge the gospel of the kyngdam of God,
15. And seiynge, For tyme is fulfillid, and the kyngdam of God shal
come niy; forthinke yee, _or do yee penaunce_, and bileue yee to the
gospel.
16. And he passynge bisidis the see of Galilee, say Symont, and
Andrew, his brother, sendynge nettis into the see; sothely thei weren
fishers.
17. And Jhesus seide to hem, Come yee after me; I shal make you to be
maad fishers of men.
18. And anoon the nettis forsaken, thei sueden hym.
19. And he gon forth thennes a litil, say James of Zebede, and Joon,
his brother, and hem in the boot makynge nettis.
20. And anoon he clepide him; and Zebede, her fadir, left in the boot
with hirid seruantis, their sueden hym.
21. And thei wenten forth in to Cafarnaum, and anoon in the sabotis he
gon yn into the synagoge, taughte them.
22. And thei wondreden on his techynge; sothely he was techynge hem,
as hauynge power, and not as scribis.
23. And in the synagoge of hem was a man in an vnclene spirit, and he
cried,
24. Seyinge, What to vs and to thee, thou Jhesu of Nazareth? haste
thou cummen bifore the tyme for to destroie vs? Y woot thot thou art
the holy of God.
25. And Jhesus thretenyde to hym, seyinge, Wexe dowmb, and go out of
the man.
26. And the vnclene goost debrekynge hym, and cryinge with grete vois,
wente awey fro hym.
27. And alle men wondriden, so that thei soughten togidre among hem,
seyinge, What is this thinge? what is this newe techyng? for in power
he comaundith to vnclene spirits, and thei obeyen to hym.
28. And the tale, or _tything_, of hym wente forth anoon in to al the
cuntree of Galilee.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 15: Part of Chapter I of the Gospel of St. Mark, as
translated by Wyclif. It will be noted that Wyclif's orthography is
irregular, the same word being often spelled differently on the same
page. This selection is printed in the original as a specimen of the
English of Wyclif's time.]
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
Born about 1340, died in 1400; son of a London vintner;
taken prisoner in Brittany in 1359 while serving with the
king's army; sent to Italy on a royal embassy in 1374 and
again in 1378; besides the "Canterbury Tales," wrote many
books; a large number once attributed to him are now
considered spurious.
OF ACQUIRING AND USING RICHES[16]
When Prudence had heard her husband avaunt himself of his riches and
of his money, disparaging the power of his adversaries, she spake and
said in this wise: Certes, dear sir, I grant you that ye are rich and
mighty, and that riches are good to 'em that have well obtained 'em,
and that well can use 'em; for, just as the body of a man may not live
without soul, no more may it live without temporal goods, and by
riches may a man get him great friends; and therefore saith Pamphilus:
If a neatherd's daughter be rich, she may chose of a thousand men
which she will take to her husband; for of a thousand men one will not
forsake her nor refuse her. And this Pamphilus saith also: If thou be
right happy, that is to say, if thou be right rich, thou shalt find a
great number of fellows and friends; and if thy fortune change, that
thou wax poor, farewell friendship and fellowship, for thou shalt be
all alone without any company, except it be the company of poor folk.
And yet saith this Pamphilus, moreover, that they that are bond and
thrall of linage should be made worthy and noble by riches.
And just as by riches there come many goods, so by poverty come there
many harms and evils; and therefore says Cassiodore,[17] poverty the
mother of ruin, that is to say, the mother of overthrowing or falling
down; and therefore saith Piers Alphonse: One of the greatest
adversities of the world is when a free man by kind, or of birth, is
constrained by poverty to eat the alms of his enemy. And the same
saith Innocent in one of his books; he saith that sorrowful and
mishappy is the condition of a poor beggar, for if he asks not his
meat he dieth of hunger, and if he ask he dieth for shame; and dire
necessity constraineth him to ask; and therefore saith Solomon: That
better it is to die than for to have such poverty; and, as the same
Solomon saith: Better it is to die of bitter death, than for to live
in such wise.
By these reasons that I have said unto you, and by many other reasons
that I could say, I grant you that riches are good to 'em that well
obtained them, and to him that well uses riches; and therefore will I
shew you how ye should behave you in gathering of your riches, and in
what manner ye should use 'em. First, ye should get 'em without great
desire, by good leisure, patiently, and not over hastily, for a man
that is too desiring to get riches abandoneth him first to theft and
to all other evils; and therefore saith Solomon: He that hasteth him
too busily to wax rich, he shall be not innocent: he saith also, that
the riches that hastily cometh to a man soon lightly goeth and passeth
from a man, but that riches that cometh little and little waxeth alway
and multiplieth. And, sir, ye should get riches by your wit and by
your travail, unto your profit, and that without wrong or harm doing
to any other person; for the law saith: There maketh no man himself
rich, if he do harm to another wight; that is to say, that Nature
defendeth and forbiddeth by right, that no man make himself rich unto
the harm of another person.
And Tullius[18] saith: That no sorrow, no dread of death, nothing that
may fall unto a man, is so much against nature as a man to increase
his owyn profit to harm of another man. And though the great men and
the mighty men get riches more lightly than thou, yet shalt thou not
be idle nor slow to do thy profit, for thou shalt in all wise flee
idleness; for Solomon saith: That idleness teacheth a man to do many
evils; and the same Solomon saith: That he that travaileth and busieth
himself to till his land, shall eat bread, but he that is idle, and
casteth him to no business nor occupation, shall fall into poverty,
and die for hunger. And he that is idle and slow can never find
convenient time for to do his profit; for there is a versifier who
saith, that the idle man excuseth him in winter because of the great
cold, and in summer then by reason of the heat.
For these causes, saith Cato, waketh and inclineth you not over much
to sleep, for over much rest nourisheth and causeth many vices; and
therefore saith St. Jerome: Do some good deeds, that the devil, which
is our enemy, find you not unoccupied, for the devil he taketh not
lightly unto his working such as he findeth occupied in good works.
Then thus in getting riches ye must flee idleness; and afterward ye
should use the riches which ye have got by your wit and by your
travail, in such manner, that men hold you not too scarce, nor too
sparing, nor fool-large, that is to say, over large a spender; for
right as men blame an avaricious man because of his scarcity and
niggardliness, in the same wise he is to blame that spendeth over
largely; and therefore saith Cato: Use (saith he) the riches that thou
hast obtained in such manner, that men have no matter nor cause to
call thee neither wretch nor miser, for it is a great shame to a man
to have a poor heart and a rich purse; he saith also: The goods that
thou hast obtained, use 'em by measure, that is to say, spend
measurably, for they that foolishly waste and squander the goods that
they have, when they have no more proper of 'eir own, that they
prepare to take the goods of another man. I say, then, that ye should
flee avarice, using your riches in such manner, that men say not that
your riches are buried, but that ye have 'em in your might and in your
wielding; for a wise man reproveth the avaricious man, and saith thus
in two verse: Whereto and why burieth a man his goods by his great
avarice, and knoweth well that needs must he die, for death is the
end of every man as in this present life.
And for what cause or reason joineth he him, or knitteth he him so
fast unto his goods, that all his wits will not dissever him or depart
him from his goods, and knoweth well, or ought to know, that when he
is dead he shall nothing bear with him out of this world? And
therefore saith St. Augustine, that the avaricious man is likened unto
hell, that the more it swalloweth the more desire it hath to swallow
and devour. And as well as ye would eschew to be called an avaricious
man or a chinch, as well should ye keep you and govern you in such
wise, that men call you not fool-large; therefore, saith Tullius: The
goods of thine house should not be hid nor kept so close, but that
they might be opened by pity and debonnairety, that is to say, to give
'em part that have great need; but the goods should not be so open to
be every man's goods.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 16: One of the only two "Canterbury Tales" that were written
in prose, its title being "The Tale of Melibæus." The spelling here
has been partly modernized.]
[Footnote 17: Statesman and historian; born about 464 A.D.; an
administrative officer under Odoacer Theodoric, whose works were
published in 1679.]
[Footnote 18: Cicero.]
WILLIAM CAXTON
Born about 1422, died in 1491; the first English printer;
began to translate the "Histories de Troye" in 1469 and
issued the work in 1474, either at Cologne or Bruges;
translated and had printed in 1475 "The Game and Playe of
Chesse," the second printed English book; set up a press in
Westminster, London, in 1476, where he continued to print
books until his death.
OF TRUE NOBILITY AND CHIVALRY[19]
The knight ought to be made all armed upon an apt horse, in such wise
that he have an helmet on his head, and a spear in his right hand, and
covered with his shield; a sword and a mace on his left side; clad
with an hauberk and plates before his breast; leg harness on his legs;
spurs on his heels; on his hands his gauntlets. His horse well broken
and taught, and apt to battle, and covered with his arms. When the
knights be made they be bayned or bathed. That is the sign that they
should lead a new life and new manners; also they wake all the night
in prayers and orisons unto God that he will give them grace that they
may get that thing that they may not get by nature. The king or prince
girdeth about them a sword, in sign that they should abide and keep
him of whom they take their dispences and dignity.
Also a knight ought to be wise, liberal, true, strong, and full of
mercy and pity, and keeper of the people, and of the law, and right as
chivalry passeth other in virtue, in dignity, in honor, and in
reverence, right so ought he to surmount all other in virtue; for
honor is nothing else but to do reverence to another person for the
good and virtuous disposition that is in him. A noble knight ought to
be wise and proved before he be made knight; it behoveth him that he
had long time used the war and arms; that he may be expert and wise
for to govern others. For since a knight is captain of a battle, the
life of them that shall be under him lieth in his hand, and therefore
behooveth him to be wise and well advised. For sometimes art, craft
and engine is more worth than strength of hardiness of a man that is
not proved in arms, for otherwhile it happeneth that when the prince
of the battle relies on and trusteth in his hardiness and strength,
and will not use wisdom and engine for to run upon his enemies, he is
vanquished and his people slain. Therefore saith the philosopher that
no man should choose young people to be captains and governors,
forasmuch as there is no certainty in their wisdom. Alexander of
Macedon vanquished and conquered Egypt, Judæa, Chaldee, Africa, and
Assyria unto the marches of Bragmans more by the counsel of old men
than by the strength of the young men.
The very true love of the common weal and profit now-a-days is seldom
found. Where shalt thou find a man in these days that will expose
himself for the worship and honor of his friend or for the common
weal. Seldom or never shall he be found. Also the knights should be
large and liberal, for when a knight hath regard unto his singular
profit by his covetousness, he despoileth his people. For when the
soldiers see that they put them in peril, and their master will not
pay them their wages liberally, but intendeth to his own proper gain
and profit, then, when the enemies come, they turn soon their backs
and flee oftentimes. And thus it happeneth by him that intendeth more
to get money than victory, that his avarice is ofttimes cause of his
confusion.
Then let every knight take heed to be liberal, in such wise that he
ween not nor suppose that his scarcity be to him a great winning or
gain. And for this cause he be the less loved of his people, and that
his adversary withdraw to him them by large giving. For ofttime battle
is advanced more for getting of silver than by the force and strength
of men. For men see all day that such things as may not be achieved by
force of nature be gotten and achieved by force of money. And
forsomuch it behooveth to see well to that when the time of battle
cometh, that he borrow not, nor make no curtailment. For no man may be
rich that leaveth his own, hoping to get and take of others. Then
alway all their gain, and winning ought to be common among them except
their arms. For in like wise as the victory is common, so should the
despoil and booty be common unto them. And therefore David, that
gentle knight in the first book of Kings in the last chapter, made a
law: that he that abode behind by malady or sickness in the tents
should have as much part of the booty as he that had been in the
battle. And for the love of this law he was made afterward king of
Israel.
Alexander of Macedon came in a time like a simple knight unto the
court of Porus, king of Ind, for to espy the estate of the king and
of the knights of the court. And the king received him right
worshipfully and demanded many things of Alexander and of his
constancy and strength, nothing weening that he had been Alexander,
but Antigone, one of his knights. And after he had him to dinner; and
when they had served Alexander in vessel of gold and silver with
diverse meats, after that he had eaten such as pleased him, he voided
the meat and took the vessel and held it to himself and put it in his
bosom or sleeves. Whereof he was accused unto the king. After dinner
then the king called him and demanded wherefore he had taken his
vessel, and he answered: Sir King, my lord, I pray thee to understand
and take heed thyself and also thy knights. I have heard much of thy
great highness, and that thou art more mighty and puissant in chivalry
and in dispences than is Alexander, and therefore I am come to thee, a
poor knight, which am named Antigone, for to serve thee. Then it is
the custom in the court of Alexander that what thing a knight is
served with, all is his, meat and vessel and cup. And therefore I had
supposed that this custom had been kept in thy court, for thou art
richer than he. When the knights heard this, anon they left Porus, and
went to serve Alexander, and thus he drew to him the hearts of them by
gifts, which afterward slew Porus that was king of Ind, and they made
Alexander king thereof. Therefore remember, knight, alway that with a
closed and shut purse thou shalt never have victory. Ovid saith that
he that taketh gifts, he is glad therewith, for they win with gifts
the hearts of the gods and of men.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 19: From the "Game and Playe of Chesse," translated by
Caxton from the French original.]
SIR THOMAS MALORY
Born about 1430, died after 1470; compiler and translator of
the "Morte d'Arthur" from French prose romances which had
been built up on earlier poems dealing with the life and
death of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table; the
"Morte d'Arthur" printed by Caxton in 1485.
OF THE FINDING OF A SWORD FOR ARTHUR[20]
And so Merlin and he departed, and as they rode King Arthur said, "I
have no sword." "No matter," said Merlin; "hereby is a sword that
shall be yours and I may." So they rode till they came to a lake,
which was a fair water and a broad; and in the midst of the lake King
Arthur was aware of an arm clothed in white samite, that held a fair
sword in the hand. "Lo," said Merlin unto the King, "yonder is the
sword that I spake of."
With that they saw a damsel going upon the lake. "What damsel is
that?" said the King. "That is the Lady of the Lake," said Merlin;
"and within that lake is a reach, and therein is as fair a place as
any is on earth, and richly beseen; and this damsel will come to you
anon, and then speak fair to her that she will give you that sword."
Therewith came the damsel to King Arthur, and saluted him, and he her
again. "Damsel," said the King, "what sword is that which the arm
holdeth yonder above the water? I would it were mine, for I have no
sword." "Sir King," said the damsel of the lake, "that sword is mine,
and if ye will give me a gift when I ask it you, ye shall have it."
"By my faith," said King Arthur, "I will give you any gift that you
will ask or desire." "Well," said the damsel, "go ye into yonder
barge, and row yourself unto the sword, and take it and the scabbard
with you; and I will ask my gift when I see my time."
So King Arthur and Merlin alighted, tied their horses to two trees,
and so they went into the barge. And when they came to the sword that
the hand held, King Arthur took it up by the handles, and took it with
him; and the arm and the hand went under the water, and so came to the
land and rode forth.
Then King Arthur saw a rich pavilion. "What signifieth yonder
pavilion?" "That is the knight's pavilion that ye fought with
last--Sir Pellinore; but he is out; for he is not there: he hath had
to do with a knight of yours, that hight Eglame, and they have
foughten together a great while, but at the last Eglame fled, and else
he had been dead; and Sir Pellinore hath chased him to Carlion, and we
shall anon meet with him in the highway." "It is well said," quoth
King Arthur; "now have I a sword, and now will I wage battle with him
and be avenged on him." "Sir, ye shall not do so," said Merlin: "for
the knight is weary of fighting and chasing; so that ye shall have no
worship to have a do with him. Also he will not lightly be matched of
one knight living: and therefore my counsel is, that yet let him pass;
for he shall do you good service in short time, and his sons after his
days. Also ye shall see that day in short space, that ye shall be
right glad to give him your sister to wife." "When I see him," said
King Arthur, "I will do as ye advise me."
Then King Arthur looked upon the sword and liked it passing well.
"Whether liketh you better," said Merlin, "the sword or the scabbard?"
"Me liketh better the sword," said King Arthur. "Ye are more unwise,"
said Merlin; "for the scabbard is worth ten of the sword: for while ye
have the scabbard upon you, ye shall lose no blood, be ye never so
sore wounded--therefore keep well the scabbard alway with you." So
they rode on to Carlion.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 20: From the "Morte d'Arthur."]
SIR THOMAS MORE
Born in 1478, died in 1535; met Erasmus in London in 1497;
after 1503 devoted himself mainly to politics; entered
Parliament in 1504; ambassador to Flanders in 1515;
published "Utopia" in 1516; privy counsellor to Henry VIII
in 1518; present with the King at the Field of the Cloth of
Gold in 1520; speaker of the House of Commons in 1523;
defended the papacy against Luther; succeeded Wolsey as
chancellor in 1529; refused in 1534 to take the oath of
adherence to the act vesting the succession in the issue of
Anne Boleyn and committed to the Tower, indicted for high
treason and executed July 6th, 1535.
LIFE IN UTOPIA[21]
There are fifty-four cities in the island, all large and well built,
the manners, customs, and laws of which are the same, and they are all
contrived as near in the same manner as the ground on which they stand
will allow. The nearest lie at least twenty-four miles' distance from
one another, and the most remote are not so far distant but that a man
can go on foot in one day from it to that which lies next it. Every
city sends three of their wisest senators once a year to Amaurot, to
consult about their common concerns; for that is the chief town of the
island, being situated near the center of it, so that it is the most
convenient place for their assemblies. The jurisdiction of every city
extends at least twenty miles; and where the towns lie wider, they
have much more ground. No town desires to enlarge its bounds, for the
people consider themselves rather as tenants than landlords.
They have built, over all the country, farmhouses for husbandmen;
which are well contrived, and furnished with all things necessary for
country labor. Inhabitants are sent, by turns, from the cities to
dwell in them; no country family has fewer than forty men and women in
it, besides two slaves. There is a master and a mistress set over
every family, and over thirty families there is a magistrate. Every
year twenty of this family come back to the town after they have
stayed two years in the country, and in their room there are other
twenty sent from the town, that they may learn country work from those
that have been already one year in the country, as they must teach
those that come to them the next from the town. By this means such as
dwell in those country farms are never ignorant of agriculture, and so
commit no errors which might otherwise be fatal and bring them under a
scarcity of corn. But tho there is every year such a shifting of the
husbandmen, to prevent any man being forced against his will to follow
that hard course of life too long, yet many among them take such
pleasure in it that they desire leave to continue in it many years.
These husbandmen till the ground, breed cattle, hew wood and convey it
to the towns either by land or water, as is most convenient. They
breed an infinite multitude of chickens in a very curious manner: for
the hens do not sit and hatch them, but a vast number of eggs are laid
in a gentle and equal heat in order to be hatched; and they are no
sooner out of the shell, and able to stir about, but they seem to
consider those that feed them as their mothers, and follow them as
other chickens do the hen that hatched them. They breed very few
horses, but those they have are full of mettle, and are kept only for
exercising their youth in the art of sitting and riding them; for they
do not put them to any work, either of plowing or carriage, in which
they employ oxen. For tho their horses are stronger, yet they find
oxen can hold out longer; and as they are not subject to so many
diseases, so they are kept upon a less charge and with less trouble.
And even when they are so worn out that they are no more fit for
labor, they are good meat at last. They sow no corn but that which is
to be their bread: for they drink either wine, cider, or perry, and
often water, sometimes boiled with honey or licorice, with which they
abound; and tho they know exactly how much corn will serve every town
and all that tract of country which belongs to it, yet they sow much
more, and breed more cattle, than are necessary for their consumption,
and they give that overplus of which they make no use to their
neighbors.
When they want anything in the country which it does not produce, they
fetch that from the town, without carrying anything in exchange for
it. And the magistrates of the town take care to see it given them;
for they meet generally in the town once a month, upon a festival day.
When the time of harvest comes, the magistrates in the country send
to those in the towns, and let them know how many hands they will need
for reaping the harvest; and the number they call for being sent to
them, they commonly dispatch it all in one day.
He that knows one of their towns knows them all--they are so like one
another, except where the situation makes some difference. I shall
therefore describe one of them, and none is so proper as Amaurot; for
as none is more eminent (all the rest yielding in precedence to this,
because it is the seat of their supreme council), so there was none of
them better known to me, I having lived five years all together in it.
It lies upon the side of a hill, or rather a rising ground. Its figure
is almost square: for from the one side of it, which shoots up almost
to the top of the hill, it runs down, in a descent for two miles, to
the river Anider; but it is a little broader the other way that runs
along by the bank of that river. The Anider rises about eighty miles
above Amaurot, in a small spring at first. But other brooks falling
into it, of which two are more considerable than the rest, as it runs
by Amaurot it is grown half a mile broad; but it still grows larger
and larger, till after sixty miles' course below it, it is lost in the
ocean. Between the town and the sea, and for some miles above the
town, it ebbs and flows every six hours with a strong current. The
tide comes up about thirty miles so full that there is nothing but
salt water in the river, the fresh water being driven back with its
force; and above that, for some miles, the water is brackish; but a
little higher, as it runs by the town, it is quite fresh; and when
the tide ebbs, it continues fresh all along to the sea. There is a
bridge cast over the river, not of timber, but of fair stone,
consisting of many stately arches; it lies at that part of the town
which is farthest from the sea, so that the ships, without any
hindrance, lie all along the side of the town.