The works of F. Rabelais, M.D., or, The lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and Pantagruel with a large account of the life and works of the author, particularly an explanation of the most difficult passages in them never before publish'd in any language / done out of French by Sir Tho. Urchard, Kt., and others.

CHAP. XL. How Bridlegoose giveth Reasons, why he looked upon those Law-Actions which he decided by the Chance of the Dice.

YEa, but (quoth Trinquamel) my Friend, seeing it is by the Lot, Chance, and Throw of the Dice that you award your Judgments and Sentences, why do not you livre up these fair Throws and Chances the very same Day and Hour, without any further procrastination or delay, that the controverting Party-pleaders appear before you? To what use can those Wri∣tings

serve you, those Papers, and other Procedures contained in the Bags and Poaks of the Law-Suitors? To the very same use (quoth Bridle-goose) that they serve your other Worships. They are behooful unto me, and serve my turn in three things very exquisite, requisite, and authentical. First, For Formality-sake, the omission whereof, that it maketh all what∣ever is done, to be of no force nor value, is excellently well proved, by Spec. tit. de inst. edi. & tit. de rescript. praesent. Besides, that it is not unknown to you, who have had many more Experiments thereof then I, how oftentimes in Judicial Proceed∣ings, the Formalities utterly destroy the Materialities and Substances of the Causes and Matters agitated; for Forma mutata, mutatur substantia F. ad exh. L. Iulianus F. ad. leg. Pals. si is qui Quadraginta. Et extra de deci. C. ad audientiam. Et de Cel. Miss. C. in quadam.

Secondly, They are useful and steadable to me, (even as unto your other Worships) in lieu of some other honest and healthful Exercise. The late Master Othoman Vadat, a prime Physician, as you would say, Cod. de Comit. & Archi. Lib. 12. hath frequent∣ly told me, That the lack and default of Bodily Exercise, is the chief, if not the sole and only cause of the little Health, and

short Lives of all Officers of Justice, such as your Worships and I am. Which Ob∣servation was singularly well, before him, noted and remarked by Bartholus in Lib. 1. C. de Sent. quae pro eo quod: therefore is it, that the Practice of such-like Exercitations is appointed to be laid hold on by your other Worships, and consequently not to be denied unto me, who am of the same Profession: Quia accessurum naturam sequi∣tur principalis, de Reg. Iur. L. 7. & L cum principalis, & L. nihil dolo F. eo tit. F. de fide juss. L. fide Iuss. & extra de Officio de L. Cap. 1. Let certain honest, and recreative Sports and Plays of Corporeal Exercises be allowed and approved of; and so far, Ut omnes obed. in prius Coll. 7. & F. de prae∣script. ver L. gratuitatem & L. 1. Cod. de Spe. L. 11. Such also is the Opinion of D. Thom. in Secunda, Secundae Q. 168. Quoted in very good purpose, by D. at de Rosa; who, Fuit magnus Practicus, and a solemn Doctor, as Barbaria attesteth in Principiis Consil. Wherefore the Reason is evidently and clearly deduced, and set down before us, in Gloss. in praemio F. par ne autem tertii. Interpone tuis interdum gaudia curis. In very deed, one, in the Year a Thousand four hundred fourscore and sixth, having a Bu∣siness concerning the Portion and Inheri∣tance of a younger Brother, depending in

the Court and Chamber of the Four High Treasurers of France, whereinto assoon as ever I got leave to enter by a Pecuniary Permission of the Usher thereof, as your other Worships know very well, that Pe∣cunia obediant omnia; and there says, Bal∣dus, in L. Singularia. F. si cert. pet. & lol. in L. receptitia. Cod. de constit. pecuni. & card. in cler. 1. de Baptism. I found them all re∣creating and diverting themselves at the Play called Musse, either before or after Dinner; to me, truly, it is a thing altoge∣ther indifferent, whether of the two it was, provided that Hic not. that the Game of the Musse is honest, healthful, ancient, and lawful: A Muscho inventore, de quo Cod. de perhaere L. si post motam: & Muscarii. Such as play and sport it at the Musse, are excu∣sable in and by Law, Lib. 1. C. de excus. artific. lib. 10. And at the very same time was Master Tielman Picquet, one of the Players of that Game of Musse: there is nothing that I do better remember; for he laughed heartily, when his Fellow-Members of the aforesaid Judicial Cham∣ber, spoiled their Caps in swinging of his Shoulders; he, nevertheless, did even then say unto them, that the banging and flap∣ping of him to the wast, and havock of their Caps, should not at their return from the Palace to their own Houses, ex∣cuse

them from their Wives: Part 1. extra de praesum. & ibi glos. Now resolutory lo∣quendo, I should say, according to the stile and phrase of your other Worships, that there is no Exercise, Sport, Game, Play, nor Recreation in all this Palatine, Pala∣cial, or Parliamentary World, more ario∣matizing and fragrant, then to empty and void Bags and Purses: turn over Papers and Writings: quote Margins and Backs of Scrolls and Rolls; fill Panniers, and take inspection of Causes: Ex Bart. & Ioan. de prad. in L. falsa de condit. & De∣most. F.

Thirdly, I consider as your own Wor∣ships use to do, that Time ripeneth and bring∣eth all things to maturity, that by Time every thing cometh to be made manifest and patent, and that Time is the Father of Truth and Vertue. Gloss. in I. cod. de Ser∣vit. authent. de restit. & ea quae pa. & spe tit. de requis. cons. Therefore is it, that after the manner and fashion of your other Worships, I defer, protract, delay, pro∣long, intermit, surcease, pause, linger, su∣spend, prorogate, drive out, wyre-draw, and shift off the Time of giving a Defini∣tive Sentence, to the end that the Suit or Process, being well vanned and winnow∣ed, tost and canvassed to and fro; nar∣rowly, precisely, and nearly garbelled,

sifted, searched and examined: and on all Hands exactly argued, disputed and deba∣ted, may, by success of Time come at last to its full ripeness and maturity: by means whereof, when the fatal hazard of the Dice ensueth thereupon, the Parties cast or con∣demned by the said Aleatory Chance, will with much greater patience, and more mildly and gently endure, and bear up the disastrous Load of their Misfortune, then if they had been sentenced at their first arrival unto the Court: as, Not. gl. F. de excus. tut. L. tria onera. Portatur leviter quod portas quis{que} libenter. On the other part, to pass a Decree or Sentence, when the action is raw, crude, green, unripe, and unprepared as at the beginning, a danger would ensue of a no less inconve∣niency, then that which the Physicians have been wont to say, befalleth to him in whom an Imposthume is pierced before it be ripe; or unto any other whose Bo∣dy is purged of a strong predominating Humor, before its digestion: for as it is written, In Authent. haec consist. in nos. de constit. princip. So is the same repeated, In gloss. in C. caeterum extr. quod medicamenta morbis exhibent. hoc jura negotiis. Nature furthermore admonisheth and teacheth us, to gather and reap, eat and feed on Fruits when they are ripe, and not before. In∣stit.

de re di paragr. is ad quem & F. de acti∣on. empt. L. Iulianus. To marry likeways our Daughters when they are ripe, and no sooner. F. de donation inter vir. & ux∣or. L. cum his status paragr. si quia sponsa & 21 q. C. sic ut dicit. gl.

Iam matura thoro plenis adoleverat annis Virginitas.

And in a word, she instructeth us to do nothing of any considerable Importance, but in a full maturity and ripeness. 23 q. 2 paragr. ult. & 23. de C. ultimo.