A dialoge of comfort against tribulacion, made by Syr Thomas More Knyght, and set foorth by the name of an Hu[n]garie[n], not before this time imprinted

¶The .vi. Chapiter. ¶Of the vnsuertie of landes and possessions.

LAndes and possessions many men yet muche more esteme then money, because the landes seme not so casuall as money is or plate, for that though theyr other substaunce may be s••olne and taken away, yet euermore they thinke that theyr land wyll lye styll where it laye•• but what are we the better that our land can not be styrred but wyl lye s••yll where it laye, while our selfe maye be remoued & not suffered to come neare it? what great difference is there to vs, whither our substaūce be mouable or vn∣mouable, syth we be so mouable our selfe, y^t we may be remoued frō them both, & lese thē both twaine•• sauing y^• som•• time ••n y^e money is the suertie somewhat more. For when we ••e fayne our selfe to ••••ee, we may make shifte to cary some of our money w^t vs, where of our land we can not cary one inche. If our lād be a thing of more suertie than our•• money, howe happeth it than

that in this persecucion, we be more frayde to lefe it. For if it be athing of more surety, than can it not so soone be lost. In the translacion of these two greate Empi••rs, Grece first, sith my self was borne. And after Siry, since you were borne to, the land was loste be∣fore the money was founde.

Oh Cosin Uincent, if the whole worlde were anyma∣ted with a reasonable soule, as Plato had went it were, and that it had wytte and vnderstanding to marke & perceiue all thing, Lorde God howe the grounde on which a Prince buildeth his palace, would lowd laugh his lord to s••orne, when he sawe him proude of hys pos∣session, and hearde hym boaste him selfe that he and his bloud are for euer the very Lorde and oweners of that land. For than woulde the grounde thinke that while in him self. Ah thou sely poore soule, that weneste thou were halfe a God, and arte amidde thy glory, but a man in a ••aye gowne. I that am the grounde here, ouer whom thou arte so proude, haue had an hun∣dreth such owners of me, as thou callest thy selfe, m••e than euer thou hast hearde the names of. And some of them that proudly went ouer my headde•• lye nowe lowe in my belly, and my ••yde lyeth ouer them•• and many one shall as thou doest nowe, call hym selfe myne owner after the••, that neyther shalbe sybbe to thy bloud, or any worde heare of thy name, who ought your castle Cosin thre thousand yere a goe.

Vincent.

Thre thousand U••e••e? Naye naye, in any Kyng christen or heathen you maye strike ••f a thyrde parte of that well inoughe, and as farre as I weene, half of the remnau••te ••oo. In farre fe••er yeres than thre thousand, it maye well fortune, y^t a poore plough mannes bloud maye come vp to a kingdome: and a

kinges right royal kynne on the other syde fal d••une to ••he plough and carte•• and neither that king knowe that euer he came fro the carte, nor that carter knowe y^t euer he came from the crowne.

¶Antony.

We finde Cosin Uincent in ful Antentique storyes, manye s••raunge chaunces as meruelous as that, come aboute in the compasse of very f••we yeres in effect. And be such thinges than in reason so great∣ly to be sette by, that we shoulde esteme the losse at so greate, when we see that in the keping our surety is so lytle.

☞Vi••cent.

Marrye Uncle but the lesse suretye that we haue to kepe it•• syth it is a greate commoditie to haue it, the fearder by so much, and the more lothe we be to forgoe it.

☞Anthony.

That reason shall I Cosin turne againste your selfe. For if it be so as you saye, that syth the thinges be commodious, the lesse suerty that you see you haue of the keping, the more cause you haue to be afrayde of the losing.

Than on the other side, the more that a thinge is of hys nature such, that the commoditye thereof bringeth a man lytle suerty and much feare, that thing of rea∣son, the lesse haue we cause to loue. And than the lesse cause that we haue to loue a thinge, the lesse cause haue we to care the•• fore, or feare the losse thereof, or be loth to goe therefrom.