XXXI.

Spend not on hopes. They that by pleading-clothes
Do fortunes seek when worth and service fail,
Would have their tale beleevèd for their oathes,
And are like empty vessels under sail.

Old courtiers know this: therefore set out sc,
As all the day thou mayst hold out to go.

XXXII.

In clothes, cheap handsomenesse doth bear the bell;
Wisedome's a trimmer thing then shop e'er gave.
Say not then, 'This with that lace will do well;'
But, 'This with my discretion will be brave.'

Much curiousnesse is a perpetuall wooing
Nothing with labour, folly long a-doing.

XXXIII.

handsome

Play not for gain, but sport. Who playes for more
Then he can lose with pleasure, stakes his heart;
Perhaps his wive's too, and whom she hath bore:
Servants and churches also play their part.

Onely a herauld, who that way doth passe,
Findes his crakt name at length in the church-glasse.

XXXIV.

If yet thou love game at so deere a rate,'

Learn this, that hath old gamesters deerly cost:

Dost lose? rise up; dost winne? rise in that state:

Who strive to sit out losing hands are lost.

Game is a civil gunpowder, in peace

Blowing up houses with their whole increase.

VOL. I.

C

XXXV.

In conversation boldnesse now bears sway:
But know, that nothing can so foolish be
As empty boldnesse: therefore first assay
To stuffe thy minde with solid braverie;

Then march on gallant: get substantiall worth;
Boldnesse guilds finely, and will set it forth.

XXXVI.

Be sweet to all. Is thy complexion sowre?

Then keep such companie; make them thy allay;

Get a sharp wife, a servant that will lowre:

A stumbler stumbles least in rugged way.

Command thy self in chief. He life's warre knows,
Whom all his passions follow as he goes.

XXXVII.

Catch not at quarrels. He that dares not speak
Plainly and home is coward of the two.
Think not thy fame at ev'ry twitch will break;
By great deeds shew that thou canst little do,-
And do them not; that shall thy wisdome be;
And change thy temperance into braverie.

XXXVIII.

If that thy fame with ev'ry toy be pos'd,

trifle, stopped

'Tis a thinne web, which poysonous fancies make: But the great souldier's honour was compos'd

Of thicker stuffe, which would endure a shake.

Wisdome picks friends; civilitie playes the rest :
A toy shunn'd cleanly passeth with the best.

XXXIX.

Laugh not too much; the wittie man laughs least;
For wit is newes only to ignorance.

Lesse at thine own things laugh, lest in the jest
Thy person share, and the conceit advance:

Make not thy sport abuses; for the fly
That feeds on dung is colourèd thereby.

XL.

Pick out of mirth, like stones out of thy ground,

Profanenesse, filthinesse, abusivenesse;

joke

These are the scumme, with which course wits abound:

The fine may spare these well, yet not go lesse.

All things are bigge with jest; nothing that's plain
But may be wittie, if thou hast the vein.

XLI.

Wit's an unruly engine, wildly striking

Sometimes a friend, sometimes the engineer;

Hast thou the knack? pamper it not with liking;
But if thou want it, buy it not too deere.

Many affecting wit beyond their power
Have got to be a deare fool for an houre.

XLII.

A sad wise valour is the brave complexion

serious, grave

That leads the van and swallowes up the cities.

The gigler is a milkmaid, whom infection.

Or a fir'd beacon frighteth from his ditties:

Then he's the sport; the mirth then in him rests,
And the sad man is cock of all his jests.

XLIII.

Towards great persons use respective boldnesse;
That temper gives them theirs, and yet doth take
Nothing from thine; in service, care or coldnesse
Doth ratably thy fortunes marre or make.

Feed no man in his sinnes; for adulation
Doth make thee parcell-devil in damnation.

XLIV.

Envie not greatnesse; for thou mak'st thereby
Thyself the worse, and so the distance greater.
Be not thine own worm; yet such jealousie
As hurts not others, but may make thee better,
Is a good spurre. Correct thy passions' spite;
Then may the beasts draw thee to happy light.

LXV.

When basenesse is exalted, do not bate
The place its honour for the person's sake;
The shrine is that which thou dost venerate,
And not the beast that bears it on his back.

take from

I care not though the Cloth of State should be
Not of rich arras but mean tapestrie.

XLVI.

Thy friend put in thy bosome; wear his eies
Still in thy heart, that he may see what's there.
If cause require thou art his sacrifice, 1 Ep. John iii. 16
Thy drops of bloud must pay down all his fear:

But love is lost, the art of friendship's gone,
Though David had his Jonathan, Christ His John.

XLVII.

Yet be not surety, if thou be a father:

Love is a personall debt; I cannot give

My children's right, nor ought he take it: rather
Both friends should die then hinder them to live.

Fathers first enter bonds to Nature's ends,
And are her sureties ere they are a friend's.

XLVIII.

If thou be single, all thy goods and ground
Submit to love; but yet not more then all:
Give one estate, as one life. None is bound
To work for two, who brought himself to thrall.

God made me one man; love makes me no more,
Till labour come and make my weaknesse score.

XLIX.

In thy discourse, if thou desire to please,
All such is courteous, usefull, new, or wittie :
Usefulnesse comes by labour, wit by ease;
Courtesie grows at Court, news in the citie:

Get a good stock of these, then draw the card
That suites him best, of whom thy speech is heard.

L.

Entice all neatly to what they know best;

For so thou dost thyself and him a pleasure;

But a proud ignorance will lose his rest,

Rather then shew his cards;-steal from his treasure

What to ask further: doubts well-rais'd do lock
The speaker to thee, and preserve thy stock.