An other Epistle Monitorie, touching the reformation
of a Couetous life.
ALbeit good brother,Exordium. I knowe the matter of my writing will become offensiue vnto you, and that I am not ignorant what heauie aduersaries you haue, that daylie doe goe about to suppresse the soūd & faithful aduise of those, who without flattery doe wish heartilie wel vnto you, and studiouslie are busied at al times for and towardes your good. Such neuerthelesse is the loue and dutie that I owe you, as seeing you in so great an errour as you are ouerwhelmed in, I cannot in respect of our brotherlie affection, but I must needes warne you of it, whereof if you become not repentant, and a renouncer betimes, I doubt,Metonomia. not onelie the worlde will crie out agaynst you, but God also in high displeasure will bee angrie with you.Narratiō. Trulie for mine owne part I am ashamed, and also it greatlie grieueth me euerie where to heare of this extreame couetousnesse and harde dealings, by you vsed towardes your poore tenants, and other the inhabitants about you, who notwithstanding that God hath aboundantlie blessed you with ryches more then sufficient, you bee yet so miserablie bent vpon the worlde, as you care not by what district and seuere handling you doe attaine vnto your wealth, onelie so you haue it, or can come by it, you holde no conscience or question at all of the winning it.Ecphonesis. Alas what cries doe you procure agaynst you of the poore and wretched people, who beeing plagued with the harde yoke you laie vppon them, are not able of themselues to redresse, but onelie doe pray to God that hee will for them reuenge it. The matter is too hatefull, and so great is the oppression and wrong thereby offered, as it cannot continue. Might my woordes become of weight vnto you, I woulde wish you to leaue it, and if not for my sake, or in regard of your owne credite thereby so greatlie blemished and impayred, and your good name and fame vtterlie by such meanes obscured and defaced,Merismus. yet for Gods sake, who commaundeth charitie and right to all men, who willeth that wee doe to euerie one as wee would bee done vnto, who forbiddeth by such execrable lucre to heape to our selues so vniust and filthie gaine,Asyndeton. you will refraine it, reforme it, amende it. In trueth you doe not knowe, howe much euill thereby you procure vnto your selfe, the blind desire you haue to heape vp riches will not permit you to see,Brachiologa. what rancour, mischiefe, impietie, terrour and dread, you crowde so neare togither, the little care you haue of the world to come, so quencheth your affections, as you haue not power to beholde the enormitie wherein you are so vehementlie transported.Metonomia. For shame abstaine and become not the common obloquie of all men, bee not you the man alone whome so manie shall curse, and all men for the most part crie vengeance vpon. Otherwise if by no admonition you will relent, assure your selfe, God who is the righter of all wronges, will in most seuere manner compell you vnto it, and in the ende by great rigour punish you for it. It little liketh mee that herein, so iust cause remaineth, as whereby I am forced in this sort to argue with you, in which action the nature of a brother may giue you to vnderstande in what sort I admonish you, and with what louing care I retaine you:Peroratiō. the consideratien of which hath mooued mee (as my selfe woulde wish in the like of whatsoeuer I shoulde haue erred, to bee dealt withall by you)Sententia. to account the sweete rebukes of a friend to bee farre more profitable then the dissembling glozes of a cruell and bitter enemie; to which end whatsoeuer I haue sayde, may in like maner be conceyued by you. Farewell. L. this of, &c.
An Epistle Monitorie to a father, touching the lewd
and ill demeanour of his sonne.
THough it seeme an approouedExordium. follie to cast pearles before swine, or to offer a golden saddle to an Asses backe:Allegoria. yet (not that I thinke either the Sowe worthie of the pearles, or the Asse fit for the saddle) I haue written vnto you, the one cause to manifest vnto you the vile and bad parts of your sonne whereof you will take no notice, and of which this Letter herein closed shall beare sufficient testimonie: the other for charities sake, to admonish you which are his father, that by your timelie looking to those matters, you may winde him from that, which by small sufferance will breed your woes, and his irrecuperable destruction, I haue vnderstood that hauing beene found heretofore in the like pilfering with two Masters that he serued,Narratiō. and the secrete information thereof beeing brought to your eares, you misliked his courtesie that tolde you, iustified the matter to bee false that was deliuered you, and not so much as examining the action, (which a good father would haue done by all manner of industrie) you allowed your sonne for honest, and affirmed that it was vnpossible hee should enter into anie such theeuerie. If I see the childe of such a father come to an euill ende, I will not maruell at all, seeing that besides the ordinarie inclinations alreadie graffed in his young yeares, his parentes are content by winking at it, to giue him furtheraunce, and in a manner to affirme it shall so bee, in so much as thereby seemeth,Antithesis. the sonne hath sworne hee will neuer liue honestlie, and the father hath promised that hee will set him forwarde to Tiburne,Erotema. for his villainie. Is it reason that men (of zeale and conscience) should goe about to pittie their misfortunes, who haue protested neuer by compassion to preuent in themselues, the iust and appropriate rewarde of their owne euilles?Aporia. What shall I say to the vnhappie father of such a sonne, or rather vnhappie childe of such a father, whether shall I forewarne him or you, the one purposing, the other animating,Prolepsis. to what vnto each of you in the ende muste become a particular desolation? Trulie these thinges will not continue, they can not long holde. Well (not in respect that eyther of you haue deserued so much at my handes) but for pities sake, I am content to beare with your infirmities, and (so you will not vrge mee to your owne harmes, by your courteous,Orismus. though not so much as honest vsage, for honestie willeth I shoulde haue mine owne againe, or recompence) will part with my losses: but yet therewithall warne you (to which ende I haue written this Letter) that you preuent your mischiefes betimes, you doe consider the successe of your owne harmes.Parimia. So long the potte goeth to the Riuer, that at last it commeth broken home, euerie man will not deale with you as I doe. It can not bee,Metanoia. but you must needes knowe, nay rather bee a partaker of your sonnes euilles, howe euer you dissemble with the worlde, and face out the matter before people. Take heede I say, God when hee striketh,Sententia. smiteth home, you will else repent it, for it will none otherwise bee. Because I haue yet some hope, that by driuing into your conceyte the enormitie hereof, and discouering the packe, which you saide was lockt vp from your seeing,Allegoria. that at the least wise for the feare of God, and to saue him from the gallowes, you will endeuour to chastise him. I haue sent this bearer, who can infourme you of the truth, time and place, of that which you goe about to shrowde vp so couertlie, and if afterwardes you will not bridle him,Metonomia. I protest his shamelesse foreheade must bee corrected by iustice, and the lawes must further passe vppon. Surelie not for enuie of the person, but for the shamelesse browe hee beareth, as one that had done none offence, to prouoke mee by euill vsage to blaze his faultes, that otherwise by good counsell, woulde haue couered them: I thinke it a deede meritorious to haue him punished, if you haue a desire as a father to cherish him,Antithesis. haue a regarde as a friend betimes to correct him, otherwise you shall sooner see him come to shame, then anie waies climbe vnto credite. But for ought I can heare, both father & mother are so addicted to the bolstring of his doings, as that it seemeth they haue alreadie vowed their infamie to the world, and his life to the gallowes:Peroratiō. good counsell may do much, and though in taste I seeme a bitter enemie, the proofe in triall shall be better then of a fawning friend.
An example reprehensorie wherein a man of wealth sufficient is
reprehended for mariage of his daughter, to the riches
of an olde wealthie Miser.
SIr, I am not a little grieued for the loue I owe you, to see that in these ripe yeares of yours,Exordium. wherein men commonly are freight with discretion, you neuertheles do verie indiscreetlie goe about to compasse a matter so repugnant to reason, or any maner of considerate and sage aduisement, as whereat the worlde can but woonder,Metonomia. and whereof all that know you, or by any meanes may vnderstand of the match, will no question greatly accuse & for euer condemne you. It is deliuered with vs here for certain,Propositiō. that you are intended (vpon the doting affection of a miserable old man,Metaphora. your neighbor, whose yeares are as well fraught with diseases, and his manacled and benummed old ioynts with imperfections, as his barred coffers with coine) to marry vnto him my neece your yoongest daughter vpon a suddaine, and that to the furtherance thereof, you offered to contribute of your owne store a reasonable and sufficient portion.
Trust mee when I heard it at first, I deemed it as a counterfeit ieast, thinking that the man whom I so wel knew before time, could not on a sudden become such a paragon, as whereon a maiden of her feature, youth,Antiphrasis accomplishment, and fauor, could so quickly become enamored, neither thought I that howsoeuer the dotage of the olde man stood as a conceit to smile at, that you for your part would so much as vouchsafe to hearken to it, especially at any time so seriously to speake of it, much lesse to open your purse to become a purchaser of it,Auxesis. or by constraint at all to enforce her fauors, to giue signe or token anie waies vnto it.
Alas sir,Ecphonesis. was there no one thing more wherein besides you coulde ouershoote your selfe,Synonymia. but onelie in so bad a purpose, an action so vnhonest, an intendment so vile, a matter so much impugning nature,Emphasis. as that the verie earth, or hell it selfe, coulde not belch out againste the fayre Virgine, so huge and so intolerable a mischiefe, to match I say, the matchlesse fauour of so young and dayntie a peece to the filthie,Prosonomasia. tawnie, deformed and vnseemelie hue of so wretched and ill fauoured a creature?Antithesis. What nature is this, to worke vnto her,Synonymia. whome of your owne flesh you haue ingendered, whome so long you haue nourished, whome to such and so manie perfections you haue trained,Metonoia vppon a suddaine, naie euen in one moment, so manifest an occasion to cast her awaie, not yeelding vnto her heauy censure,Hyperbole. so great a benefit as death, but ten thousand griefes, the least of all which is worse then any death that may bee, wherein comfortlesse she may complaine, grieue, and bemoane her selfe without any reliefe at all, but by the precious price and hazard of her own soule.
Howe vnequally doe you deale herein,Antithesis. to render vnto her being scarce sixteene yeares of age, a husbande enfeebled by fourescore yeares and vpwards,Hypotyposis. whose toes are swolne with the gowt, and legs consumed with the dropsie, whose leane carcase beareth no apparance but of old scars, and stifned limmes become vnweldie supporters of his pined corps,Metaphora. whome furs must fence from the least blast of cold,Antiphrasis. & dew of nappy Ale cherish with warme fires, whose nightcap carrieth more store of heat, then al his body doth of agility or strēgth, and nose far more fruitful then sauory,Antiphrasis. with distilling drops down trilling from thence in freshest spring of the ioliest seasons, maketh ill fauored refections.Erotema. What wrong do you tender the poore maiden therin? How vnworthy and far ill beseeming is the same to her, who hath such a father, and apparantly shal be known to be such a mans daughter? shall you not therein bee noted of great folly, will not all men laugh at it, pitie it, crie shame of it,Asyndeton. and her selfe poore soule praie to God to reuenge it.
It is too much intollerable beleeue mee, that you should endeuour in this sorte by colour of your Fatherlie authoritie to constraine her, whome (albeit shee is your owne childe) yet maie you not thus forciblie compell vnto so vnnaturall an extremitie: Consider with your selfeCommoratiō. howe grieuous the thing you goe about to compasse, may returne vnto her, and whereas liking and choise is of all other things in case of marriage to bee accounted most dearest, you not onelie agaynst her will, do endeuour to induce a breach thereof, but also do giue her ouer into the handes of such a one, whose inequalitie so far forth disseuereth frō her appetite as that it cannot otherwise be, but (as vnto all others, so vnto her chiefly) it must become vnsufferable. Haue you no more care of her that is your daughter, but when nowe you haue brought her to the passe, wherein shee should participate the vertuous and modest vse of that, whereunto her yeares haue adapted her, and for which ende and purpose, marriage was by Gods sacred ordinance at the first ordayned,Antithesis. in steede of a louing and contented husbande,Metaphora. to giue her a withered olde Truncke, in lue of sweete and mutuall societie, to wedde her to sorrowe and euerloathed griefe, to endow her with larger profite then with honest contentment, thinke you that shee is a stone, that her senses from others are different in their right operation and qualities, that shee more or lesse, or in stranger sort then anie others, can become therein more forcible, or lesse iniuried?Anthypophora. No sir, assure your selfe, you must needes heape vp no other but extremities vppon her, it cannot bee but if you proceed herein, you must of force vndoo her, the ende and conclusion is so vtterlie bad, as it cannot be remooued.