Page 111
MAXIME CXX.
To comply with the Times.
Knowledge it self ought to be accor∣ding to the mode, and it is no small piece of wit to counterfeit the ignorant, where there is no knowledge. The relish and language change according to times. We must not speak in the old fashion; the relish must take with the new. The re∣lish of good heads serves for a rule to others in every profession, and by conse∣quent we are to conform to it, and en∣deavour to improve our selves. Let a prudent man accommodate himself to the present, whether as to body, or mind, though the past may even seem better unto him. In manners onely that rule is not to be observed, seeing vertue is at all times to be practised. It is not known now a-days, what it is to speak truth, to keep ones word. If any doe so, they pass for old-fashioned people. So that no body imitates them, though all love them. Unhappy age, wherein vertue passes for a stranger, and vice for a cur∣rent mode! Let a wise man then live as he can, if he cannot as he would. Let him be content with what lot hath given