A Father vvriteth vnto his Sonne.

WElbeloued Sonne af∣ter Commendations appertaining. &c. It is already thrée monthes ago, and now at thys present going on the fourth, synce we recei∣ued any Letters from thée: me thinkes thou mightest haue coniectured with thy selfe (if thy heart had not ben altogether stony) in what troubles and calamities I with thy wéeping and sorowfull mother doe liue. There are now .xxiiij. wynters gon and past, synce forth of thy mothers wombe into this trāsitory lyfe thou wast brought, & bycause euen from thy youth vpward, I was a carefull and desyrous Father to see thée good, modest, gentle, kynde, and with all other vertues ador∣ned Page  [unnumbered] (beholding then thy sharpe wit & li∣uely memory of thy naturall inclination and spirite) I thought good (as thou kno∣west) to send thée to Paris. to the studie of the Ciuill Lawes, according to thyne owne desyre: thou hast now ben there foure yeares, and I determined to giue thee yerely an hundred Crownes for the sustentation of thy lyuing, to wit, at the ende of euery six monthes fiftie: & more∣ouer to sende thée Clothes of Silke and of Woll, for the apparell of thy body. Thou shalt vnderstand (my déere childe) that thy mother hath ben my wife .xxvj. yeres: I haue had (by the goodnesse of God) of hir two children onely, where∣of thou art the first, and after thée Loyse thy Sister, vpon whose vertuous life the Sunne beames hauing shyned by the space of .xxiij. yeres, and I knowing hir worthy of a husband, haue thought good this yere to mary hir, and to giue hir to Hely Loyer, for his legitimate and law∣full spouse: and bicause that he is a rich man, it behoued me for the full sūme of hir mariage to giue three thousād poūds, Page  106 so that I was cōstrained to pay him not onely all the redy money that I had, but also to borow more than three hundreth Crownes, bicause I would not fayle to the fidelitie and promise which I hadde made hym. This therfore was the occa∣sion that with my Letters of the viij. of August last past, I had not the meane to sende thée more than thirty Crownes, within these .xv. or .xx. dayes I will sende thée the other twenty, for the full accom∣plishing of the terme past, and the fiftie for the beginning of the yere present: Therefore for default of the sayd money ceasse not from any maner of study: but now it pleaseth me to talke a little vnto thée. Thou then drawne by disdayn, and moued with vniust yre, for so light an oc∣casyon (as voluntarily willing to worke vengeance) stayest thou to giue answer vnto y^e humaine & gentle Epistles of thy Father, vnto the swete & louing Letters of thy Mother? disdaynest thou to aun∣swere brotherly the tender letters of thy chast, prudēt & new maried sister? O thou miscreant, thinkest thou peraduenture y^tPage  [unnumbered] the pitie of thy Father would not haue sent thée the twenty Crownes, which for the necessitie and ornament of our house could not then be done? O Neroical cru∣eltie of a childe, O heart of Iron, O bar∣barous vsage, O wickednesse worthy to be caryed to the vttermost endes of the world: I sée wel ynough how wise thou arte made, to know how to molest me euen at the very heart roote, together with thy miserable mother: who for that thy plague of spirite, taketh hir dayly nourishment with sharpe and bitter an∣guishes. The Ʋirgilian Quéene Dido of Carthage, was neuer so passioned with loue towards hir pitiful child Ascanius, as by thy occasion the tendernesse of the charitie of thy mother towards thée, is at this present afflicted and desolate, and for thee onely she lyuing doeth accompt hir selfe miserable and vnfortunate: Alack I pray you tell me, is this the Doctrine of the sage Plato? are these the instruc∣tions of Aristotle, that prince of Nature: who say, that it is not possible that chil∣dren should make recompense to theyr Page  107 Fathers and mothers for the goodnesse of them receiued. Thou then my deare sonne, if thou wilt that thy mother liue, take forth with thy penne and write, to comfort hir. Thou oughtest to remem∣ber (as a reasonable man) y^t she brought thee into this world, that thou wast ten∣derly & warmly norished in hir wombe, & that thou didst there receiue thy life, lymmes, flesh, blood, synowes & bones: since which tyme also how carefull and diligent a father I haue ben for thee (to auoyde the vanitie of wordly prayses) certainly I demaunde none other wyt∣nesse but euen thy selfe. •halar, although he was a tyrant and of notable seueritie, yet sometimes appeared Ciuil, who wri∣ting vnto his sonne •aurolus, sayth vnto him, y^t a childe ought verily to be mynd∣full of the benefits of his Parents Alas, I pray thee reade the historie of Valerus, where thou shalt vnderstand the pitie of Coriolan, towards his Mother: and the promptnesse of the pitifull heart of Si∣mon the Athe••a•, towards his Father Miltiades. Finally, I had purposed to Page  [unnumbered] haue continued longer in this Epistle: but the teares which fal from myne eyes will not suffer me to passe further. I be∣leue that through the great anguish of y^e griefe that thy pitiful ••ther susteineth, if she should sée thée in hir presence, she could not say to thée, O Sonne write vn∣to me: but I dout not but that those hir distilling teares would forthwith prick thée foreward to write vnto hir: and bi∣cause she is thy Mother, (and that bothe good and worshipful,) thou mightest per∣aduenture learne the dutie of true pitie, not bashing to accompanie hir, with so∣rowfull wayling and repentance, for the errour towardes thy Parentes, without consideraction by thée cōmitted. God kepe thée, and vouchsafe to make thée worthie of his infinite grace.