A learned commendation of the politique lawes of Englande vvherin by moste pitthy reasons & euident demonstrations they are plainelye proued farre to excell aswell the ciuile lawes of the Empiere, as also all other lawes of the world, with a large discourse of the difference betwene the. ii. gouernements of kingdomes: whereof the one is onely regall, and the other consisteth of regall and polityque administration conioyned. written in latine aboue an hundred yeares past, by the learned and right honorable maister Fortescue knight ... And newly translated into Englishe by Robert Mulcaster.

NOw moste gracious prince is not all thys enoughe to moue youre highnes to the studye of y^e lawe? Seing that thereby you shal indue your selfe with Iustice, whiche shall yelde vnto you the name of a iuste man. And shall also eschue the infamy of ignoraunce in the lawe. And further by the lawe you enioying felicity, shal be blessed in this life. And finallye beinge furnished w^t a louyng feare, whiche is the wisedome of God, you shall obtain & possesse Charitie, whiche is a sted¦fast loue to godward, and by the meane thereof clea¦nynge to God, you shall by the apostles sayenge bee made one Spirite wyth hym.

But forsomuche as the lawe without grace can∣not accōplish these thīgs it is necessarie and requi∣site that aboue all things you make earneste inter∣cession for it: and also y^t you beecome a studious sercher of goddes lawe, & of the holye scripture.

For scripture saieth that all men are vaine in whō is not y^e knowlege of god in the xiii. chapiter of the booke of wisedome.

Wherefore moste noble prince while you are yet yong, & while your soule is as it were a smoothe blanke table, write in it these thinges, lest heere∣after you happen to take pleasure in writīg lessōs of lesse profit therin.

For as a certeine wyse man sayeth,

Whereof the vessel newe, did first receue the taste:

Therein when it is olde, the sent will euer last.

What handycrastes mā dothe so negligentlye re∣gard y^e profite of his child whōe while hee is yong, he wil not see brought vp in such an occupacion, as thereby hee maye after∣warde obtaine to leade a mery life. So the carpen∣ter teacheth his sonne to cutt with an axe: y^e smyth his to stryke w^t an ham∣mer: and whome he en∣tendethe to make a spiri∣tuall minister, him he pro¦cureth to be trained vp in learning. So likewise is it conuenient y^t a kinges sonne which shal gouern the people after his fa∣ther bee in his youthe in∣structed in the lawes.

Whiche order if the rue∣lers of the worlde would obserue, then the worlde should be gouerned with muche more Iustice then now it is. Vnto whom if you wyll followe myne exhortacion, you shall mi∣nister no smale example.