Scene 26.
Sweet-heart, refuse not Riches, it will buy thee friends, pacifie thy enemies; it will guard thee from those dangers that throng upon the life of every creature.
Heavenly Providence is the Marshal which makes way for the life to pass through the croud of dangers, and my Vertue will gain me honest friends, which will never forsake me, and my humble submission will pacifie my enemies, were they never so cruel.
But Riches will give thee delight, and place thee in the midst of pleasures.
No, it is a peaceable habitation, a quiet and sound sleep, and a healthful body, that gives delight and pleasure, and 'tis not riches; but riches many times destroy the life of the body, or the reason in the soul, or, at least, bring infirmities thereto through luxury; for luxury slackens the Nerves, quenches the Spirits, and drowns the Brain, and slackned Nerves make weak Bodies, quenched Spirits, timorous Minds, a drowned Brain, a watry Understanding, which causeth Sloth, Effeminacy, and Sim∣plicity.
How come you to know so much of the world, and yet know so few passages in it, living obscurely in a Farmers house?
The Astronomers can measure the distance of the Planets, and take the compass of the Globe, yet never travel to them; nor have they Embassadors from them, nor Liegers to lie therein to give Intelligence.
How come you to be so learnedly judicious, being so young, poor, and meanly born and bred?
Why, Fire, Air, Water, and Earth, Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals, are Volumes large enough to express Nature, and make a Scholar learn to know the course of her works, and to understand many ef∣fects