1 MAN'S AGE DIVIDED HERE YE HAVE,

BY PRENTICESHIPS, FROM BIRTH TO GRAVE.

CHAP. L.

7. THE first seven years, bring up as a child, 14. The next to learning, for waxing too wild. 21. The next, keep under Sir Hobbard de Hoy, 28. The next, a man, no longer a boy. 35. The next, let Lusty lay wisely to wive, 42. The next, lay now, or else never to thrive. 49. The next, make sure, for term of thy life, 56. The next, save somewhat for children and wife. 63. The next, be stayed, give over thy lust, 72. The next, think hourly, whither thou must. 77. The next, get chair, and crutches to stay, 84. The next, to heaven, God send us the way!

Who loseth their youth, shall rue it in age!
Who hateth the truth, in sorrow shall rage.

¶ ANOTHER DIVISION OF THE NATURE OF MAN'S AGE.

CHAP. LI.

THE Ape, the Lion, the Fox, the Ass, Thus sets forth man, as in a glass.

Ape. Like Apes we be toying, till twenty and one,
Lion. Then hasty as Lions, till forty be gone.
For. Then wiley as Foxes, till threescore and three,
Ass. Then after for Asses, accounted we be.

Who plays with his better this lesson must know,
What humbleness Fox to the Lion doth owe :
For Ape with his toying, and rudeness of Ass,
Brings (out of good höur) displeasure to pass.

COMPARING GOOD HUSBAND, WITH UNTHRIFT HIS BROTHER,

THE BETTER DISCERNETH THE TONE FROM THE T'OTHER.

CHAP. LII.

1. ILL husbandry braggeth To go with the best : Good husbandry baggeth Up gold in his chest.

2. Ill husbandry trudgeth With unthrifts about : Good husbandry snudgeth, For fear of a doubt.

3. Ill husbandry spendeth Abroad, like a mome: Good husbandry tendeth, His charges at home.

4. Ill husbandry selleth

His corn on the ground:
Good husbandry smelleth
No gain that way found.

5. Ill husbandry loseth,

For lack of good fence;
Good husbandry closeth,
And gaineth the pence.

6. Ill husbandry trusteth
To him and to her;
Good husbandry lusteth,
Himself for to stir.

7. Ill husbandry eateth,
Himself out of door:

Good husbandry meateth,
His friend and the poor.

8. Ill husbandry dayetli,
Or letteth it lie:
Good husbandry payeth,
The cheaper to buy.

9. Ill husbandry lurketh,
And stealeth a sleep:
Good husbandry worketh,
His houshold to keep.

10. Ill husbandry liveth,
By that and by this:
Good husbandry giveth
To every man his.

11. Ill husbandry taketh,
And spendeth up all :
Good husbandry maketh,
Good shift with a small.
12. Ill husbandry prayeth,
His wife to make shift:
Good husbandry saith,
Take this of my gift.

13. Ill husbandry drowseth,
At fortune so awk:

Good husbandry rouseth,
Himself as a hawk.

14. Ill husbandry lieth,
In prison for debt:
Good husbandry spieth,
Where profit to get.

15. Ill husbandry ways

Hath, to fraud what he can:
Good husbandry praise

Hath, of every man.

16. Ill husbandry never

Hath wealth to keep touch :

Good husbandry ever,

Hath penny in pouch.

Good husband his boon

Or request hath afar :
Ill husband as soon,

Hath a toad with an R.

¶ A COMPARISON BETWEEN CHAMPION COUN

TRY AND SEVERALL.

CHAP. LIII.

1. THE Country enclosed I praise, The t'other delighteth not me;

For nothing the wealth it doth raise,

To such as inferior be.

How both of them partly I know,
Here somewhat I mind for to shew.

2. There swineherd, that keepeth the hog,
There neatherd, with cow and his horn;
There shepherd, with whistle and dog,
Be fence to the meadow and corn.
There horse, being tied to a balk,
Is ready with thief for to walk.

23. The t'one is commended for grain,

Yet bread made of beans they do eat:
The t'other for one loaf hath twain,

Of meslin, of rye, or of wheat.
The champion liveth full bare;
When woodland full merry doth fare.

24. T'one giveth his corn in a dearth,

To horse, sheep, and hog every day:
The t'other give cattle warm barth,

And feed them with straw and with hay.
Corn spent of the t'one so in vain,
The t'other doth sell to his gain.

25. T'one barefoot and ragged doth go, And ready in winter to starve; When t'other ye see do not so,

But hath that is needfull to serve. T'one pain in a cottage doth take, When t'other trim bowers do make.

26. T'one layeth for turf and for sedge, And hath it with wonderfull suit; When t'other in every hedge,

Hath plenty of fuel and fruit. Evils twenty times worser than these, Enclosure quickly would ease.

27. In woodland, the poor men that have,
Scarce fully two acres of land,
More merrily live, and do save
Than t'other with twenty in hand.
Yet pay they as much for the two,
As t'other for twenty must do.

28. The labourer coming from thence, In woodland to work any where, (I warrant you) goeth not hence, To work any more again there. If this same be true (as it is,) Why gather they nothing of this?

22. The poor at enclosures do grutch,

Because of abuses that fall;

Lest some man should have but too much,

And some again nothing at all.

If order might therein be found.
What were to the severall ground?

¶ THE DESCRIPTION OF AN ENVIOUS AND NAUGHTY NEIGHBOUR.

CHAP. LIV.

Ax envious neighbour is easy to find,

His cumbersome fetches are seldom behind.

His hatred procureth from naughty to worse,

His friendship like Judas, that carried the purse,

His gait, like a sheep-biter, fleering aside,
His look, like a coxcomb, up puffed with pride.
His face made of brass, like a vice in a game,
His gesture like Davus, whom Terence doth name
His brag, as Thersites, with elbows abroad,
His cheeks, in his fury, shall swell like a toad.
His colour like ashes, his cap in his eyes,
His nose in the air, his snout in the skies.
His promise to trust to, as slippery as ice,
His credit much like to the chance of the dice.
His knowledge or skill is in prating too much,
His company shunned, and so be all such.
His friendship is counterfeit, seldom to trust,
His doings unlucky, and ever unjust.
His fetch is to flatter, to get what he can,
His purpose once gotten, a pin for thee then.

¶ A SONNET AGAINST A SLANDEROUS TONGUE.

CHAP. LV.

DOTH darnell good, among the flow'ry wheat?
Do thistles good, so thick in fallows spy'd?
Do taint worms good, that lurk where ox should eat?
Or sucking drones, in hives where bees abide?
Do hornets good, or these same biting gnats?

In house well deckt, what good do gnawing rats? Foul swelling toads, what good by them is seen? Or casting moles, among the meadows green?

Doth heavy news make glad the heart of man? Or noisome smells, what good doth that to health? Now once for all, what good (shew who so can?) Do stinging snakes, to this our commonwealth?

No more doth good, a peevish slanderous tongue, But hurts itself, and noys both old and young.

His brain is unquiet, till all come to naught.
His memory pregnant, old ills to recite,
His mind ever fixed, each ill to requite.
His mouth full of venom, his lips out of frame,
His tongue a false witness, his friend to defame.
His eyes be promoters, some trespass to spy,
His ears be as spialls, alarum to cry.
His hands be as tyrants, revenging each thing,
His feet at thine elbow, as serpent to sting.
His breast full of rancour, like canker to fret,
His heart, like a lion, his neighbour to eat.

Objection.

If she were mine, I tell thee troth,
Too much to trouble her, I were loath,

For greediness to thrive :

Lest some should talk, as is the speech, The good wife's husband wears no breech, If such I hap to wive.

Affirmation.

What hurts it thee what some do say,
If honestly, she take the way,

To help thee for to thrive :
For honesty will make her prest,
To do the thing that shall be best,
If such ye hap to wive.

Objection.

Why did Diogenes say then,

To one that askt of him time when,
Were best to wive to thrive?
Not yet (quoth he) if thou be young,
If thou wax old, then hold thy tongue,
It is too late to wive.

Affirmation.

Belike he knew some shrewish wife, Which with her husband made such strife, That hinder'd him to thrive :

Who then may blame him for that clause, Though then he spake, as some had cause, As touching for to wive.

Objection.

Why then I see, to take a shrew, (As seldom other there be few) Is not the way to thrive :

So hard a thing, I spy it is,

The good to chuse, the shrew to miss, That feareth me to wive.

Affirmation.

She may in something seem a shrew, Yet such a huswife, as but few,

To help thee for to thrive :

This proverb, look, in mind ye keep,
As good a shrew is, as a sheep,
For you to take to wive.

Objection.

Now, be she lamb, or be she ewe,
Give me the sheep, take thou the shrew,
See which of us shall thrive :

If she be shrewish, think for troth,
For all her thrift I would be loth,
To match with such to wive.

Affirmation.

Tush! farewell then, I leave you off, Such fools as you who love to scoff,

Shall seldom wive to thrive : Contrary her, as you do me, And then ye shall, I warrant ye, Repent ye, if ye wive.