BVT I am brauely aparelled.

Thinges that are pure, doo loue to be seene naked: And it is a common fashi∣on to couer filthie thinges.

I am most exquisitely apparelled.

Thou mayest be ashamed of thy outwarde trimnesse, as oft as thou shalt thinke what is couered therewith: For it were a frentike part of pryde, to couer dounge with purple.

I am very neately apparrelled.

Hast thou not heard what y^t most valient man in Salust saith? that neatnesse belongeth to women, and labour to men.

My ap∣parell is fayre and fine.

Then is it a banner of pryde, and a nest of lasciuiousnesse.

My clothes are excellent, and care.

I wyll not set agaynst thee godly poore soules halfe naked, and stiffe with colde, and scarce able to keepe of the winters bitternes, with their simple mantles of Rugge. I know well, that sinfull wealth, disdaineth holy pouertie. And the same most rich man also, of whom I spake yet whyle in our third dispu∣tation before this, vsed consideratly to weare none other garment then home made, suche as was spun and wrought by his wife, and his sister, and his daughter, and his nices: For this is also written of him, Thus he that was lorde of al, weeried a fewe women, but such as were most neare of kin vnto him. And thou perhaps being another mans seruant, doest weerie nations that are a great way of from thee. For thee the Fleminges spinne, for thee they carde, for thee they weaue: for thee the Persians, the Seres, the Indi∣ans do ioyle: for thee the Tyrian Murrey swimmeth, or Purple fishe: for thee the softe grains of Hispis hangeth vpon the shrubs: for thee the sheepe of Brytaine looke whyte: for thee the Indian Sandix looketh redde: both Oceans sweate for thy sake: but for Augustus, only his wife and his daughter, his sister and his nices do take payne. Thus much is vertue decreased, & pride increased. And since men haue délighted in the contrary, the examples of modestie are waxed vile. For in diet and apparell many contem∣ning this great & woorthy prince, haue gone after the woorst, as Caius & the residue, whose belly & backe were neuer couered with ciuile, nor manlike, nor Romane, nor truly humane, but with mad, Page  [unnumbered]and somtyme womanishe, at another tyme diuine, superfluous on euery syde, and monstrous attyre.

My garmentes are most exquisite.

Costly apparell, both by suspition of great diligence in trimming and settyng foorth the beautie, dimi∣sheth the grace, and by the bryghtnesse thereof, bewrayeth the ble∣mishes of the deformed, and styrreth vp the eyes of suche as passe by to beholde it. And therefore, a deformed man or woman, can not hurt them selues by any meanes more, then by couetyng to seeme fayre and wel fauoured, The gallant apparell, and braue settyng foorth of the body, whiche is of purpose done to win fame by, prouoketh laughter.

I am decked foorth in most choyce colours.

Nature cannot be surpassed by art: And many times disdayning that she is prouoked, by howe much the more greater force she is pressed and couered, by so much the more she riseth vp and sheweth her selfe. As for the natural defor∣mities of this mortal body, they can neither be altered with co∣lours, nor couered with odors, but they make them either more euident to be seene, or more doubtful to be suspected.

I am caried away with the loue of precious & variable attyre.

Lay a dead carkase in a coffin of golde, beset it rounde about with pearles and cloth of golde, the more thou trimmest it, the more horrible and vgly it is. And to the intent thou mayest not be offen∣ded at that whiche I speake, let vs seeke out the originall of that name. For this word carkas, commeth of the Verbe cado, which signifieth to fal. Which being so, why may not the body of a liuing man be so called, aswel as of a dead? For, the one is alrep••••••on, the other shal fal, & falleth continually.

I haue 〈◊〉 sle•pa∣rel, and made after the new fashion.

I haue no time nor place now to lament & detest this counterfeiting mockerie of out∣landish attyre, whiche this present frentike age hath brought in a∣mong you from the farthest partes of the world. But both God & man do vtterly abhor these deformed beastes in the shape of men, whose mindes are brutish, whose speech is the latin tongue, whose apparel barbarous & strainge, whose heare is brayded & frisled af∣ter y^t delicacy of women, whose maners are hard & vnciuil, after the toughnes of boares: at one side, plainly bewraying the filthines of their bodies by the impudencie of their demeanure: on the other Page  27side, openly discoueryng the lightnes of their mindes, by the wa∣uering of the feathers in their top. But whether the maisters that are so vigilant, or the schollers that are so apt to learne, deserue most to be hated, it is to be doubted: By whose deuises thou seest it is now come to passe, that betweene Iesters and Dukes, be∣tweene honest Matrons and Harlottes, there is in syght almost no difference at all: Neyther doeth this mischiefe cease, but it day∣ly increaseth, and the madnesse is diuersly varied.