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,Merismus. 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.
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.Narratiō. 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,Synonymia. 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.
The course you doe take herein, seemeth in my opinion verie euill,Merismus. insomuch as contrarie to that, which both your yeares, your estate, your liuing and present occasions doe require, you forciblie are endeuoured to make so vndiscreete and setled a resistance:Erotema. Whie La. doe you thinke it profiteth at all, the deceased ghost of him that loued you (a young Gentlewoman as you are, scarce exceeding twentie yeares) to liue thus solitarie? Hangeth the censuring of your modestie, and acceptaunce of that which your best friendes doe wish for, and the wisest doe allowe of, on the tatling humours of common supposes?Commoratiō. if it bee deemed once fit for you to marry againe, and that vpon the warie and circumspect choyse thereof dependeth a manner of necessitie, and that nowe, before anie one of yours almost suspected it, the plenty of that might bee charily wished for, is layde alreadie into your bosome, behooueth the respect of a little time, which (beeing sooner or later, so it bee perfourmed with modestie and aunswered with discretion)Parenthesis. mattereth not at all to detaine you so much, as thereby you are not able to see into your owne profite? Is it not, I pray you, a purpose honest that is tendered? Is it not a matter lawfull to bee accepted? Is it a thing vnmeete for your present yeares at this instant to be reputed? Nay, is it not all in all whatsoeuer,Auxesis. that in the best sort as the case now standeth, may vnto you be offered? Why then abstaine you the entertainment of your owne good? Why drawe you thus backeward from your owne aduauncement? Why cease you to accept that, whereunto in the ende you must by meere force bee compelled? If you will beleeue mee in any thing, or doe suppose the waight of my credite to be auaylable vnto you in ought, I would aduise you in other sort, considering that by declyning from a selfe-opinion of that whereunto without anie manifest reason you are induced, you shall doe most good vnto your selfe, and giue occasion to them that loue you, to thinke that by so doing, their good counselles haue happely preuailed with you and wrought such aduauncemente vnto you, I haue thought with my selfe many times sithence the death of your husbād, howe much imported the vnsetled reach of your liuing to be renued in match with one of good calling: see nowe God and Fortune more fauouring your hap, then your selfe, your owne wel doing, haue sente you such a one, as of whome you might vaunt, and iustly in all thinges be occasioned to accompt of. It now appertaineth that either by fond self-wil, or too much vnkindnes, you shake not off from you the foremost occasion of your succeeding happines. I reck not what of the cōmon sortProcatalepsis. (more of ignorance then wit) may insuppose of the hastie conclusion be in secret alleadged, their errours like their fancies, are as incertaine as peeuish. Be you onely herein perswaded, to what most of all beseemeth you, and think that both in the waightines, and regard attributed to his and your own worthines, you can for the present frame your selfe to nothing,Vtilitie. that to your estate may returne so cōmodious, whereunto though no other matter at all enioyned you, it were sufficient that so forcedNecessitie. a necessitie constraineth you, to which the regard of your selfe and your owne good fortune willeth to obey.Epilogus. Longer coulde I debate vnto you the greate liking of many, conceiued of the partie, to the deliuerie whereof by the report of your neerest kinsmen, I doe solie refer you, onelie studying in this, and whatsoeuer els I may, by all indeuours to pleasure you, whereof praying you to be most assured, I doe in all curtesie leaue to detaine you. At B. this of, &c.
Another Example of an Epistle Swasorie perswading
the carefull acceptance and regard
of one brother to
another.
THE sounde and entire familiaritieExordium, by insinuation. wherewith your parents in their life time sometimes entertained me, and the neerenes of neighbourhoode twixte both our friendes and long education wherein iointly we haue conuersed together, mooueth mee at this instant somewhat to write vnto you in respect of the reputation credit, and accompt that in the worlde you nowe beare, and also the rather to win you to the regarde of that, which to the estate of your presente being, and worthinesse of your parents, might be found meetest and conuenient.
It is giuen me to vnderstand of a younger brother you haue here in London,Narratiō. who at the time of your fathers death beeing committed to your charge, is for the defaulte of maintenaunce, badly inured, woorse trained, and most perillously by all kinde of likelihood (through such sufferaunce) in the loosnesse of his liuing alreadie hazarded.
I woondered not a little when I hearde it,Liptote. and so much the more was the matter troublesome vnto mee, in that respecting it was not tolde in secrete, it seemed by the lookes and gestures of the whole companie that heard it, your good demeanor thereby was very hardly censured, for that standing in such case of credite as you doe, your wealth so aboundant, and your parentes so well accompted of, you woulde in this sort,Prosonomasia. and in that place of all others suffer him to wander carelesse, whome you ought to the contrarie to haue constrained, by any possible carefulnes. How ill beseeming it is both to you & yours, that it shoulde so fall out, you may by supposes coniecture. For my parte, it grieued mee when I heard it, and I was not quiet till I found conuenient time to aduertise you of it. And if my opinion may at all preuaile with you, you shoulde quickly call him home from hence, and see him more better to be prouided for, and more worthily trained.Merismus. Consider I pray you, the life hee taketh in hand, befitteth not such a one, whose originall was so honest, is ill beseeming the younger brother of your selfe, vnwoorthie his birth or name of a Gentleman, and altogether repugnant to the qualitie of your behauior or the greatnesse of your liuing. You are to remember that hee is yet verie greene, nowe pliable to whatsoeuer may bee impressed in him, as chafed waxe apte to receiue anie figure,Parabola. like vnto a newe vessell to bee seasoned with whatsoeuer liquor, what hee now taketh taste and sauour of, that hee holdeth,Allegoria. what habite you nowe cast vpon him, the same shadow he lightly beareth. Great cause haue you therfore now to be warie how and in what sort he liueth.
Your industrie,Congeries. your brotherlie care, your loue, your especiall regarde and kindnesse it is, that must bee ayding in this, you and none but you are the man on whome hee relieth,Emphasis. you are to prouide for him, and it is your selfe that must answere for him. Think that nature, loue, dutie yea verie piety bindeth you vnto him, who hath none other left to depend on, but such as by possibilitie your self may become vnto him. In the consideration of which let (I pray you) my wordes become thus much regarded vnto you, that herein as in all other things you performe that beseemeth you.Peroratiō. Longer could I occupie my selfe to trauell in this action with you, but that I deem it (more then impertinent) any further therein to require you. Greeting your selfe manie times in my name, I bid you therefore farewell. From my house in B. this of, &c.
Of Epistles Dehortatorie, and Disswasorie. Chap. 12.
