the great trauaile, cost, and paine, dayly employed by your dearest
beloued parents, to induce vnto you the precious, and of all other most
delicate and sweete pleasure of learning: the value whereof, is without
all estimate, and the comfort therein conceiued, in no wise to bee
comprehended: the louing regarde of whome, and the most lamentable want
of the other, when I doe see you either with some ill fauouring aspect
not to incline vnto, or with some more then straunge or vnused tearmes
not to account of, I cannot but greeue with my heart, respecting the
linke whereby I stand charged to either of you, in so great apparance
as I doe to behold the same. True it is, that you are a Gent. that you
are heire apparant to large and verie great possessions, that you are
(for the yeares you beare) of comely and goodly personage, that you are
in all things well accomplished, and euerie way as beseemeth: but yet
when I behold this fauour, this comlinesse, these accomplishments, and
know you to bee a Gent. and thinke vpon your large ensuing reuenues
and possessions, me thinkes there should yet be an ornament of all
these, and a thing of farre more goodly shewe, and more surpassing
value wanting to the same, that might if it were well entertained ad
more glorie vnto all the others, then the waight of the rest were euer
able to purchase. For suppose that all these complements of yours are
of large price, and verie necessarie, as they are indeede, and such
wherewith the state of man is greatly beautified, yet are they all but
thinges pertinent vnto the bodie, by force whereof (setting onelie
our shape aside) wee doe communicate in euerie thing with beastes,
for with them wee liue, wee mooue, wee go, wee eate, and enioie the
sensuall appetite of inward or outward abilities. _B_ut by the benefit
of learning, of knowledge, of skill, wee make difference of things, and
are onely thereby in our selues distinguished from beastes. And if man
which is the principal worke of God, was from the beginning a chosen
creature indued aboue any others, and therefore poynted to excell and
go beyond all others, howe much more needefull shall it bee for euerye
one according to such appoyntment to preferre and put forwarde the vse
thereof vnto his owne profite. And seeing as well by the ordinance
of God, as common vse of reason, whereby we are gouerned and ledde,
euerie man is induced to propose vnto himselfe the exercise of thinges
that are good and honest, and that the same also among these, which
maketh a man nearest to his Creatour in perfection, is of all others
the moste to bee desired: howe much auaylable then and importaunt is
it to euerie man to bee frequented with learning, the vse whereof
freeth him of common ignoraunce, and maketh him capable of the high and
loftie mysteries. And if in anie studie whatsoeuer, the reputation of
honest and good is to bee sought for, what I pray you then learning,
may bee iudged more honest, which hauing with it a certaine kinde of
diuine and sacred originall, hath from the beginning of the worlde,
beene with all men in greatest price and estimation. What may bee
deemed more good then that which from verie Asses and blockes, and (if
it were lawfull to say) from bruite men and beastes also themselues
maketh distinction, and without the which, there were left vnto vs from
such, no place at all of difference. What then that can bee sayde to
bee more honest, which draweth a man vppe to the diuine contemplation
of the sacred Maiestie, to the knowledge of high and heauenly thinges,
of woorthie and honourable vertues, and beeing sequestred by the wante
thereof, hee becommeth no otherwise than as a hogge, still groueling
on the earth, searching onely wherewith to fill his bellie, neglecting
in the meane time the expectation or regarde of any other statelie or
eternall Soueraintie. Nowe therefore, if the vse of learning, as the
thinge of greatest accompt and most woorthie, is heere sette downe to
bee so generallie, commended to all sortes of men, howe much more
consonant and agreeing is it then to the reputation of a Gentleman, who
by what distaunce so euer hee is measured in capacitie, minde, order,
state and gouernment from anie other common or ordinarie person, by
so much the more ought hee in all endeuours to aspyre and seek to goe
beyond them. For whereas all other men in their seuerall vocations are
for the most parte, as it were withdrawne from the speciall notice and
eye-marke of all publique administration and gouernement: the Gentl.
contrariwise, the more woorthie and noble that hee is in calling, the
more neerer is hee to that aduauncement whereunto by nothing so much as
learning hee is enabled to bee preferred. For what profitable member
can hee bee in such a place, whose ignoraunce is farre greater then his
witte, and whose knowledge is lesse then the least of that, whereof
hee ought to take notice and experience. And seeing learning is of all
other thinges, a store-house so plentifull and precious, as whereof
the wiseman maketh his treasure, the poore man his riches, and the
wealthy one his pastime and pleasure, shall the Gentleman who in all
other thinges, by Nature striueth to bee excellent, bee in the greatest
action of all others so carelesse and negligent? Admit that you will
heere alledge the tediousnesse of studie, and a certaine impossibilitie
almost to attaine thereunto, I must aunswere vnto you againe, that
this commeth not of the labour thereof, which to those that willingly
aspire to the delicate taste of the same, yeeldeth great facilitie with
pleasure to bee receyued: but to a slouthfull and sluggish endeuour and
disposition. Far be it therefore (good Sir) that you beeing a Gentleman
in all other thinges so towardly, and the sonne of such a one as you
are, shoulde with the touch of so great a blemish, bee so throughly
stained. So woorthie a discente as whereof you are deriued, such
infancie and child-hoode wherein so worthily you haue beene trained,
so great loue and charge of parents wherewithe you may bee animated,
doe inuite you farre otherwise, and to a more excellent purpose. Let
the sweete and yet vnknowne delight thereof prouoke you, the praise and
commendation solye to vertue appropriate and belonging, once prick you
forward, the honour and aduancement thereby continually happening egge
you. And if none of all these preuaile, yet the riches and rewarde
farre greater then anie earthly treasure, which are therunto incident,
tie you to a desire thereof. Thinke of the worthines of those, who
by howe much the more noble they were in birth, by so much the more
zealouslie they haue trauelled, not shunning any labour, sweate,
tediousnesse, scorning, yea bondage it selfe, whereby to compasse vnto
themselues the glorie and rewardes annexed to the dignitie heereof.
And if no other remembrance may be sufficient to establish you, regard
yet your liuing father and grandfather, the one of whom neglecting his
ease and quiet at home, trauailed all Fraunce, Germanie, and Italie,
to the intent to attaine vnto the greatnesse of that whereunto you are
so hardly perswaded. Neither thinke I that you in whome all other good
actions do so plentifully flow, wil herein alone with a little labour
be terrified: Wherefore my good N. I eftsoones entreate you againe, and
againe, by all the loue you haue ought to your name, fame, parentage
and stocke, and by all the expectation that in them, or anie of them,
is of your happinesse conceiued, you will proceede in this purpose: the
weight whereof besides the commoditie and pleasure redounding to your
selfe, shall vnto your parents and all others returne most comfortable
and pleasing. All which recommending to your courteous consideration to
bee entertained, I doe herewith take my leaue, &c.
_An other example Hortatorie, wherein an honourable Gentleman
is egged forward in the profession of Armes, and seruice
of his Prince and Country._
[Sidenote: _Exordium._]
Sithence the time of my little abode heere in London being scarce
twentie dayes, vnderstanding of the being in town of my La. your
mother, I repaired thereupon to her presence to visite her: there did I
receiue notice of your being in Ireland, and that vpon your honourable
behauiour, and good seruice there done: The L. D. did not onely
testifie the same by his owne hand-writing vnto diuers of the priuie
Counsell, but also in especiall letters besides commended the weight
thereof, vnto the regard of her most excellent Maiestie.
[Sidenote: _Insinuatio_ by praise of the action.]
[Sidenote: _Parenthesis._]
[Sidenote: _Epitheton._]
[Sidenote: _Metaphora._]
I did not a little reioyce to see that in such young yeares wherein
commonlie falleth out a contempt of all excellencies, and a
fantasticall desyre of counterfeyte vanities, you coulde (besides the
common trade and custome of the worlde) addict your selfe wholie vnto
so weightie and honourable an exercise, as by laboursome trauaile in
the seruice and honour of your Prince and countrie, to put forwarde
your selfe so timely. Credite mee, it is not a little pleasing vnto mee
to thinke thereon, neither standeth my affection so slender vnto your
fathers off-spring, but that I must euer holde the reputation of their
weldoing, an aduauncemente to my imaginations, and the sounde of their
good successe the verie harmonie of mine inwarde soule.
[Sidenote: _Auxesis._]
It is no newe thing I confesse, euen in these dayes to see a Gentleman
honourablie descended as your selfe, and of like worthie education, to
attaine vnto learning, to become practised in Armes, to put forward
themselues in seruice, but to continue with resolution, to performe it
with labour, to atchieue it with valour, to beare it with honour, here
is the excellencie, this is the rarenesse, hence springeth the noueltie.
[Sidenote: _Hypotyposis._ vertue hath three entrances.]
[Sidenote: Fortitude.]
[Sidenote: Magnanimitie.]
[Sidenote: Longanimitie.]
_Vertue_ retaining yet her ancient Maiestie, though not pursued as
in olde time, with such woonted vehemencie, hath three entraunces,
leading directly vnto her beautifull passage, by the portes whereof,
whosoeuer is desirous to attaine her, in her purest and most glorious
estate, must of necessitie enter. First, _Fortitude_, whereby hee must
be enabled to endure whatsoeuer labour and trauell to be imposed,
accounting nothing difficult, to the end and sweet rewarde whereof her
excellencie is appropriate. Next, _Magnanimitie_, which by a vehement
and haughtie desire, reacheth vnto thinges most excellent & of highest
and stateliest value, not regarding the hard, tough, & maine force of
the passage, with what pursuit soeuer it must bee followed, so be it
by such meanes it may be wonne, and the glorie thereunto due, may at
last be attained: the reach wherof, tending to the last end and scope
of al his determinatiōs, sweetneth all maner of trauel, and induceth
therewithal a contempt of whatsoeuer lesse valued or hindering, to
the worthines of the same. Then _Longanimity_, enabling by greate
constancie with rare and accustomed patience, to awaite and endure the
end, neuer giuing ouer vpon whatsoeuer assaults, til the determined
scope be by all kind of industry fullie and perfectly furnished.
[Sidenote: _Etiologia._]
For this cause, the most renowmed parte of _vertue_ is saide to bee
excellent, for that manie doe contemplate her a far off, but few or
none at all doe almost come so nigh her, as perfectly to see and
discerne her, in so much as some, nothing regarding the singularitie of
that, whose sweetnesse they neuer tasted of, become forcelesse of the
pursuit of so diuine an excellencie: and some other fauouring a litle
the daintines thereof, yet ouer-reached with the tediousnes of the
enterprise, and hindered by the opposition of a thousand vanities, are
so astonished in the first onset, as being therewith ouercome, doe by
and by giue ouer their purposes.
[Sidenote: Adhortation to vertue.]
Now therefore my C. if you will bee a right fauourer of _vertue_
indeede, it behooueth that by these possibilities you doe (as a
faithful regarder of her diuine & sacred essence) only seeke to pursue
her, and that with such and none other respectes, and to no other ende
and purpose, but for the sole fruition of her stately and immortall
deitie.
[Sidenote: _Merismus._]
The time now calleth you forth, your Countrie and soyle wherein you
were borne and nourished inuiteth you, your praise alreadie gotten, and
hope of renowne euer after to followe, perswade you, the honour of your
house and parentage constraineth you, yea euerie of these solie and
altogether doe exhort and commaund you, that becomming the selfe same
you vowed, and they long since haue looked for, you doe nowe shewe your
selfe such as was promised, and wherein the expectation first conceiued
of you, may in no wise bee frustrated.
[Sidenote: _Clymax._]
[Sidenote: _Antistrophe._]
Consider I pray you, that the rewarde of _vertue is honour_, the
guerdon of _honour_, _Fame_, the scope of _Fame_, _Eternity_, the
seat of _eternity_, immortall and euerlasting glory. In liuing in the
seruice of your Prince and countrie, the profession you haue taken in
hand is honourable, the charge honourable, the purpose honourable, and
the ende and successe thereof must needes be honourable: behooueth then
that your continuance therein and your owne deserts be also deemed
honourable.
[Sidenote: _Metaphora._]
[Sidenote: _Commoratio._]
Thinke when you tooke vpon you to beare Armes, you then receiued the
full cognizance of _Vertue_, you were entertained with _honour_, you
became apprentise to _fame_, and it was assured (that beeing with
loyaltie demeaned) you shoulde at length receiue the rewarde of euer
flourishing glorie. It is (beleeue me) no small matter, that being
a particular member, you are put foorth as a piller, vpon the prop
whereof reposeth one parte of the weight of the common-weale, that
the ioyes of your whole countrie are fixed vpon your wel-doing, that
in pursuite hereof your priuate cause is not your owne, (the secrete
reuenge whereof may happelie turn to an infamed mischiefe) but the
cause of the _common good_, the publike matter of al, and that where
the scope is of all others most famous and honoured.
[Sidenote: Of right and meet.]
[Sidenote: _Auxesis._]
Being entertained in a sorte as you are, you shoulde highly wrong the
opinion of a greate manie, in drawing backe from that wherein you haue
beene alreadie so worthilie behaued, and in becomming lesse than that
whereunto in your cradle you were at the beginning so principally
ordained: for vnseemelie were it that you shoulde not haue beene
hereunto at the first committed, vnlawfull not to haue persisted, and
dishonourable (in due sorte) not to see it accomplished.
[Sidenote: Of example. _Paradigma._]
[Sidenote: _Epiphonema._]
[Sidenote: _Paradigma._]
[Sidenote: _Prosopopœia._]
Proceede then my C. in that whereunto your vertue, your Parentage,
your soile, and your fidelitie haue called you, thinke what, how much,
and how greatlie it importeth you, that hauing had so manie of your
auncestours since their first originall, who haue beene deemed so
woorthie, it fitteth not your selfe alone (in so important actions,
concerning especially the honour of your prince and countrie) to bee
founde otherwise then equall vnto them in the highest qualitie. So
and in such maner, and by such kind of meanes haue the most auncient
and renowned worthies of the world be come to be tearmed honored,
and mightie. So _Epaminondas_ and _Alcibiades_ among the _Grecians_,
_Æmilius Paulus_, _Fabii and Scipiones_ among the Romanes, haue bin
deemed most statelie. For such cause the acts of your predecessors &
nobilitie of your deceased father haue bin registred with the most
worthy. O so sweetly might sound from out his breathing ghost vnto your
liuing eare, that excellent verse of _Virgill_.
_Disce puer virtutem ex me verumque laborem,_
_Fortunam ex aliis._
=Learne vertue (Child) of me and labours true,=
=But |Fortunes| chaunce, from others do pursue.=
[Sidenote: His Parents.]
[Sidenote: _Sententia._]
[Sidenote: _Auxesis._]
[Sidenote: _Dialysis._]
[Sidenote: _Anthypophora._]
The signification whereof, what other thinge may it else importe,
but that betweene them who beeing neuer eternized by anie memorable
action, as hauing confounded their liues with obscuritie, and such as
neuer were borne, there resteth in maner no difference at all. _Ardua
virtutis est via._ T’is labours force that maketh way vnto _Vertue_:
great matters vnto the furtherance of her are but easie, the meaner,
trifles; the lowest of no value. To ouercome others by vertue is a
thinge most honourable, but in pursuite thereof to bee conuinced of
any other, is a thinge most vituperable: You are nowe brought by
Fortune into a straight passage, whereby of necessitie you must either
by reputation of most excelling worthinesse finish the iourney, or
recreant and discomfited, confesse the vttermost of your imbecilitie.
But what doe I conferre vnto your viewe, the notes of such and so
manie doubtes and hazardes, knowing a minde insinuate in your selfe
by nature, that coulde neuer so much as thinke or imagine of thinges
contemptible, or of anie vile or seruile qualitie at all? truelie for
no woorse meane, nor to anie other ende or purpose, but thereby to egge
you forwarde by all kinde of possibilities, to the encrease of your
highest woorthinesse, that by howe much the more you shall goe about to
excell any others, by so much the more greater you may be commended and
extolled aboue others.
[Sidenote: _Parœmia._]
Ease and securitie, are two pernicious enemies of euer flourishing
glorie, and industrie preuenteth all circumuention, which either by
slouth or negligence may bee imposed: the victorie is not any others,
but your owne, nor the honour to any other appertaining but vnto your
selfe. Bee therefore such in continuance, as may fullie bee answerable
to each part of your noblenesse, and God who is the creator of all
thinges, and fauourer of each worthie enterprise, blesse your endeuours
with the sustentation of _Vertue_, which is euer permanent. At B. this
of &c.
_An Epistle Swasorie, wherein a
Gentlewoman is counsel-
led to mariage._
[Sidenote: _Exordium._]
[Sidenote: _Insinuatiō._]
[Sidenote: _Parenthesis._]
The extreame griefe wherein my selfe was a partaker with you, of the
death of your late husbande, woulde not suffer mee (good Mistresse E.)
at my last beeing with you, to deliuer what then I thought meete for
your estate, & sithence I haue more at large considered vppon to bee
for your profite. And albeit your selfe are, I knowe of discretion
sufficient, and the number of your friendes of regarde compotent,
both to consider and counsell, what vnto your present affayres may
bee deemed most correspondent: yet may it not bee ill accepted, if
my selfe of a great manie, that haue wyshed well to your person, and
fauoured euermore your good condition, doe heerein also among the
rest, put forwarde my meaning, and perswade you thereby vnto that,
which (though not alreadie may bee fitting to your instant lyking) yet
to your present behoofe may returne no question of soundest and best
consideration.
[Sidenote: _Merismus._]
And first, I deeme it not impertinent to referre vnto your knowledge
what I haue throughly conceyued with my selfe of your beeing, _viz._
that you are a widowe, a Gentlewoman of verie worshipfull parentage
and discent, the wife before time of a Gentleman of as good reputation
as liuing, as good alliaunce as credite, that you are knowne to bee
modest, discreete, wise and well gouerned, that you are and ought to
bee warie in your actions, and such as whereof the babling multitude
may reape no aduauntage, and finallie that by reason of the ouerhastie
determination of his life (whose continuaunce might haue ridde you of
innumerable cares) you are pestred with some troubles, the most part
of your liuing in suspence, and that whereof you deeme your selfe
most assured, hanging vppon so manie hazardes, as hitherto remayneth
doubtfull, in what sort you shall compasse it, or with what liking to
your selfe you may happily ouerpasse the same.
[Sidenote: _Narratiō._]
[Sidenote: _Synonymia._]
Touching the first, I warne you not that according to your present
estate, you do minde what you are, what you haue bin, of whom you are
discended, and in what sort you may best prouide with warinesse, to
deale for all these: but drawing to the latter, and weighing on what
tearmes you stande, howe hardly you are bestead, howe slender meanes
to auoid it, I repute him not the worst wel-willer, that coulde aduise
you with contentment and litle hazard, in what sort you might best
endeuour in all effectes to aunswere it. It is reported vnto mee, that
by the procurement of some, fauouring your aduauncement, there is nowe
profered vnto your lyking a young Gentleman, vertuous, discreete, and
well ordered, the sonne and heyre of a worshipfull Knight, on the
choyce and regarde of whose Parents, dependeth the best assuraunce of
your whole portion, in whose condition and behauiour, albeit you finde
no one thing to bee reprehended, yet disclaime you to bee married, you
will heare of no suters, there must bee in your presence no speech at
all of lyking, and you meane not so soone forsooth to set forwarde for
a husband.
[Sidenote: _Merismus._]
[Sidenote: _Erotema._]
[Sidenote: _Commoratiō._]
[Sidenote: _Parenthesis._]
[Sidenote: _Auxesis._]
[Sidenote: _Procatalepsis._]
[Sidenote: _Vtilitie._]
[Sidenote: Necessitie.]
[Sidenote: _Epilogus._]