I woulde for mine owne parte nothing at all mislike what herein you haue in some sorte frequented,concession. weighing indeede that as they may bee in sorte entertained, those qualities doe not ill beseeme a Gentleman, but are in their kinde verie fit and commendable to anie youthfull reckoning:Parison. yet studying them as you doe by them selues, inuring your selfe whollie to their delighte, abandoning what else might best honour and beautifie their woorthinesse, in respect of the sole propertie of them selues and their owne peculiar goodnesse, I say that in such regarde they are vanities, trifles, thinges of no momente, and in each sounde opinion to bee heldeSynonymia. of farre lesse value and iudgement.
The intendment of your going to the Vniuersitie was for learning sake, to become an excellent scholler, not an exquisite dauncer, a Maister of ArteProsonomasia. not an artlesse maister, a good Rhetorician, not a conceited Musitian: your Vncles care, was by vilefying his wealth vnto you, (the weight whereof by imminent perilles wee see daylie perish before our eies) to purchase for you the endowment of a farre more greater and assured treasure, and that is by knowledge to teach you to discerne trifles, to procure in you a minde to despise trifles, that leauing small riches to inherit, you your selfe might gather possessions whereby to enrich you.
You then are farre misconceiued, to relinquish the hoped reckoning of that you came for, to applie your selfe to that which fewe doe accompt of, and the wisest woulde neuer sweate for, you shall therefore vppon better aduise endeuour if you doe well, to returne your conceite to a far more better purpose. You shall call to minde that all studies whatsoeuer, by how much the more excellent ech one appeareth before the other, by so much the more assured are they in their kinde, and aboue all the residue, with far greater estimate to bee preferred: if so? then must you graunt me that no one thing vpon earth (then learning, then precious and high esteemed skill, then aboue all earthly things whatsoeuer,Synonymia. heauenlie science) is of so great and surpassing excellence. To lay out vnto you herein, howe much glorious is her shining hue aboue all others,Parison. howe sugred her plantes, howe daintie her fruits, howe delicate her pleasures, howe incomparable her high and statelie reach, how she participateth the skies, the element, the venerable search and knowledgeAsyndeton. of high and sacred mysteries: I need not, you know it, you haue felt & tasted of it. But to shewe howe much you misprise the force of her vertue, howe ill conceiued, and far wandring, you are from the due esteeme of her glorie, to make loue to her handmaides, to professe liking to her seruantes, to become sole entertainer of her vassals: hereon resteth the iniurie, this is it I complaine of vnto you.
And if either the sum and type of honestie placed in the weight of the action,congeries. the necessitie, meetnes, and worthines, the vtility and benefits seuen hundred fold compensing the trauel, may (as earthly things haue often power to mooue one,Parenthesis. aboue things of far higher estimation) induce you to her most dearest and precious fruition, search then the fauor of these your louing mistresses, and (seemlie I grant you may find them) but neuer shall they proue either so wealthy or beautifull. What then should let you to returne to this glorious Ladie?Erotema. Will you because you are an earthlie substance, followe the common reason of euerie earthlie creature? humum sapere & alta spernere? or saying that the appetites of the one are much pleasanter for the time, or far lesse tedious then the other,Allegoria. welde your opinion by a peeuish conceite of ease, to become a creditor to wantonnes?
These imaginations as they are meerelie bad, so are they ten times woorse in the pursuite, then they are sweete in the foremost thought. PeeuishMeiosis. were it, simplie for you to stande vppon these vanities, thinges wherein children haue delight, and young weaklinges doe roue at cunninglie: you must suppose and harpe vpon the end that must succeede vnto your trauaile, and finding the reache thereof pursue it with feruencie: Such actions as these doe onelie beseeme men, and heerein alone shall you shewe your selfe such as you may desire to bee, and your friends doe heartilie wish you to prooue. Alexander restlesse in the day tyme,Allegoria. gaped for worldles, but in the night season was rocked a sleepe by the Muses, the pleasure hereof appeased his day labours, and the content of this gaue rest to his trauels.
Too much impertinent were it for me to hale you on with arguments,Peroratiō. who onelie go about to perswade you with warrantise: Neither thinke I in the ende you will declare your selfe otherwise, then euer I haue expected of you. Much more could I infer, that might greatlie induce you to that whereunto your owne willingnesse must in the ende, of necessitie conduce you. Onely, if in the weight hereof my perswasions may something preuaile: I shall not forget in any woorthie part thereof, at all times to commend you. In which reposing my selfe for the present, I ende: this of, &c.
An other example disswasorie, wherein the partie is by diuers rea-
sons disswaded from entring into an action in appa-
rance verie dangerous.
I Haue (good brother) receiued your letters,Exordium. dated the eight day of this instant, which were with as great diligence as celeritie, conueied to my handes, and by the fidelitie of the bearer haue vnderstoode to the vttermost what you willed, and both of that and your letter haue at large considered.Propositiō. It seemeth therin vnto mee, that whether through ignorance of your owne good,Aporia. or inconsiderate rashnesse of youth, or voluntarie intrusion of your selfe into your owne harmes, I knowe not, but the matter and action mentioned and inforced by the whole course of your letter, is altogither to be misliked, and for the extremitie thereof to bee by all reason vtterly condemned,Auxesis. as whereunto you ought not to condescende, much lesse to bee seene in publique to bee a fauourer of, or, which is more, to appeare to bee, the onelie man through whose follie and immoderate rashnesse, the same is solie to be accomplished.
O good God! what blindnes is it that leadeth you?Ecphonesis. what sencelesse furie that bewitcheth you? What matter of euill that pursueth you? By the intollerable force whereof, without anie fore-sight at all, either of the goodnesse or ilnesse of the action, the lawlesse prosecution, the matter of your owne reputation, the daunger of lawe wherein you are intruded,Auxesis. the difficultie whereby it must be attained, the vnhonest sollicitation of your friends, to so great a hazard, the discommoditie that thereon is attendant, and perill euerie way that in the execution cannot be auoyded: you will notwithstanding all this forget your selfe so much, as in the accomplishment of a purpose so farre different from the nature (I will not say of a Gentleman) but of an honest man, go about to put in proofe what in the ende must of necessitie returne to your owne confusion.
But you will say it is loue,Procatalepsis. and extreame lyking that compelleth you to so forcible an action, as without the obtaining whereof you are nobodie, Antipophora. you cannot liue. Loue say you? Alas, what loue tearme you this, that is laden with so manie disordered motions, call you this loue? Nay rather call it madnesse,Orismus. for loue is measured by no extremitie, but in the honest and vertuous encrease thereof, where not by a harebraine furie, but by a discreete and moderate ascention men by degrees doe climbe vnto that, the sweete and pleasant force whereof neuer participateth anie occasion of such vnreasonable badnesse.Erotema. Why brother, doe you loue her whome you haue sued for, and because by desert you cannot attaine her, will you vndertake thereupon to bereaue her by force? Howe vnhonest I pray you is the purpose of so great a wrong?Auxesis. Howe vnfit to bee put forwarde in the meaner sort of men?Etiologia. How intollerable in a Gentleman? For if in the account of things vnhonest, any action whatsoeuer may appeare to be vile, what then this I pray you may bee deemed more dishonest, more bad, or more vile?