Being entertained in a sorte as you are,Of right and meet. 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:Auxesis. 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.
Proceede then my C. in that whereunto your vertue, your Parentage, your soile,Of example.
Paradigma. 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,Epiphonema. 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 AlcibiadesParadigma. 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 fatherProsopopœia. 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.
The signification whereof, what other thinge may it else importe, but that betweene themHis Parents. 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.Sententia. T’is labours force that maketh way vnto Vertue: great matters vnto the furtherance of her are but easie,Auxesis. 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,Dialysis. 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,Anthypophora. 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.
Ease and securitie,Parœmia. 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.
THe extreame griefe wherein my selfe was a partaker with you,Exordium. 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,Insinuatiō. 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)Parenthesis. yet to your present behoofe may returne no question of soundest and best consideration.