REst and quietnesse from labours, are happened vnto mee.

Two most acceptable commodities of mans lyfe, vnlesse immoderate vse haue made them most grie∣uous mischiefes, whiche it hath wrought in many, and hath procured as many plagues to the body, as diseases to the minde: swellyng to the one, and rust to the other.

I en∣ioy most pleasaunt rest.

Say rather that thou doest vse. We can enioy nothing here, but we vse many thynges: thus sayth the holsomer doctrine.

This quietnesse is very pleasaunt vnto mee.

It skilleth muche what kinde of quietnesse the same is: for there are two kindes of quietnesse, One is busie, whiche euen in very rest is doing somwhat, and bu∣sie about honest affayres, and this is very sweete: The other is slouthful & idle, and geuen onely to sluggyshnes, then which there is nothyng more loathsome, or more lyke to the graue▪ From the first 〈◊〉 many tymes spring great woorkes, both profitable to the we snare•• glorious to the auctours. From the seconde commeth nothyng but inglorious flouth and sleepines. The fyrst is meete for Philosophers: but the second for sluggardes, and suche as are geuen to their belly and sleepe, where they may eate and sleepe their fyll without interruption.

I enioy my wished rest.

That rest whiche we must enioy, shal neuer haue ende. Consider therefore in what rest thou take delight.

I haue founde wyshed rest.

Wouldest thou say rest, or lus∣king, or sleepe? whiche some Poetes call the kinseman, and some the image of death: and both very properly.

I sleepe and take my rest.

And many also that goe, do rest in minde, Page  [unnumbered]and many also that sit & lie, are troubled in mind. And sleepe it selfe, which is called the rest of al liuing thinges, hath it owne secret griefes, with many horrible and troublesome visions & fantasies: concerning which, the holy man talking familiarly with God, and being afflicted, maketh his complaynt.

I lye idly in my bed chamber.

Which of these, I pray thee, thinkest thou rested more pleasantly? eyther Vacia whiche lay sleeping at his Farme in the countrey, or Scipio fighting against his enimies in Africa, and Cato against serpentes, and Regulus against both? For there is neyther quietnes without ioy, neither can there be a∣ny ioy without vertue.

My toyles being past, I refresh my selfe with pleasant sleepe.

Toyle & laboure are the mat∣ters of vertue & glory, who so reiecteth these, reiecteth them also. Contrariwise, too muche sleepe is the matter of vice and infamie, which driueth many, and throweth them headlong into perpetual sleepe. For it nourisheth lust, maketh the body heauie, weakeneth the minde, dulleth the wit, diminisheth knowledge, extinguisheth the memorie, and breedeth forgetfulnes. It is not without cause, that wakeful and industrious persons are commended: As for the sleepie, we see not them praysed, but puffed. And therfore as some vs tearme sleepe, death, so other cal wakefulnesse, life. Take heede then, of lyfe and death which thou choose. It is best to wake, which the wise do commend, that the life may be y^e longer.

I enioy a long, & vn interrupted sleepe.

It is wel, if it be not bro∣ken by pinching cares, by couetousnes, by ambition, by feare, by sorowe, and by wicked loue: but euyl, if a mans sleepe be distur•ed by some care of dishonest st•die. Truely, while the people sleepe, the prince waketh, & while the armie resteth, the captaynes be vi∣gilant, which both experience declareth, and Homers Ilias pro∣ueth to be true. Vpon noble mindes vigilant cares do depende, but such as are sober and hotsome. It is credibly reported, that Augustus Caesar, of al Princes the greatest and best, vsed but short sleepe, and that also often interrupted. And thou gloriest in the contrary.

I sleepe profoundly.

So do gluttons, letchers, & wrathful persons, togeather with bruite beastes, but lyuing not∣withstanding: sl•ggish persons, and they that sleepe, are only com∣pared to the dead: and as touching that part of tyme, that happie Page  28men doo nothyng differ thereby from men in miserie, thou knowest it to be a position of Philosophie. Wherefore, as that part is diligently to be eschewed, whiche leaueth so small a dif∣ference of dreames onely betweene men and beastes: so is the contrary to be pursued, whiche offereth no hardnesse to them that are willing. For yf in respect of a simple glory, or small gaine, both Warriours, & Merchauntes, and Mariners, do watch whole nightes abroade in the open ayre, the one among ambushmentes of their enimies, the other among the surgies and rockes, more fierce then any enimie: art not thou able to watche some part of the nyghtes in makyng prayers to God, and among thy bookes, for the true glory, and a large gayne?

Being weerie when I was awake, I haue now wholly geuen my selfe to sleepe.

Thus it is, yee change not your copie, ye deale in all matters after one maner: and looke what thing God himselfe, or nature, or any art, hath geuen you for recreation, that ye turne to your owne shame and discommoditie▪ your drinke to drunkennes, your meate to surfeityng, your leysure to sleepinesse, your good health to voluptuousnesse, your beautie to lasciuiousnesse, your strength to iniuries, your wit to deceitfulnesse, your knowledge to pride, your eloquence to harmfulnesse, the brauerie of your hou∣ses, and the apparell of your backes, to pompousnesse and vayne ostentation, your ryches to couetousnesse and riot, your wiues and chyldren to feare and perpetual carefulnesse Goe nowe, be astoni∣shed, complayne of your fortune, and lament your wickednesse: of good thinges ye make euil, & of heauenly giftes, ye make fetters, and snares, and chaines for your soule.

I am delighted in pleasaunt sleepe.

Not only Kinges, Captaynes, and Princes, Philosophers, Poetes, & Householders, do watch vp, and rise in the night, which Aristotle sayeth to be auaylable for health, for good husbandrie, and philosophie: but theeues also, and pilferers, and whiche is also more marueylous, mad men, and lo∣uers, whom the remembraunce & desire they haue to their trulles, doth styrre forwarde: and wylt not thou for the loue of vertue, hate sleepe, that is freende to vices? and as Horace sayth ex∣cellently, Seeyng theeues ryse in the nyght to kill true menne, wilt not thou awake to preserue thy selfe? Ye may be ashamed, Page  [unnumbered]that filthie causes can so muche preuayle with you, and most so∣uereine can doo nothyng.

I sleepe all nyght, and no man troubleth mee.

Aristotle seemeth, whiche I haue touched before, in this maner to deuide a mans lyfe, attribu∣ting halfe to sleepe, and halfe to waking. And as touching the one halfe thereof, he sayth, that a vertuous mans lyfe differeth not from a fooles lyfe: in whiche place, he wyll haue he night to be vnderstoode for sleepe, and the day for wakyng. This I confesse, is a good and true diuision, for it equally deuideth tyme into the partes: But if it be thus taken, that the partes be of equal space, truely there is an other great difference betweene them. For there is no cogitation or discourse more sharpe, or more deepe, then the nyghtly, no tyme more conuenient for studentes. If he say that sleepe is the one halfe of our tyme, it is a strange saying, to come out of the mouth of so studious and learned a man. God forbyd that a minde whiche is well instructed, and geuen to studie, shoulde sleepe halfe her tyme, seeyng to some the fourth part, and to voluptuous persons also the thyrde part is sufficient. I would counsell a man to ryse in the nyght, in euery part of the yeere. God forbyd, but that they which haue any great exployt in hande, sleepe both the whole Winter and Summer nyghtes: Howbe∣it, it is sufficient perhappes to haue broken it once, and as muche sleepe as is broken by watching, so muche may be quickly supply∣ed, yf neede so require, by takyng a nappe after noone. But the houres of the winter nyghters are often to be broken: in them it were expedient to syng, to studie, to reade, to write, to thynke, to contemplate, by wit some new thing is to be deuised, & that which is wonne by studie, is to be repeated in memorie. Hearken also to S. Ierome, wryting to Eustochius: We must ryse, sayth he, twice or thrice a nyght, and we must meditate on some part of Scripture whiche we haue learned without booke: And at length, when your eyes are weerie with this studie, ye must eftsoones refreshe them with sleepe, and beyng then recomforted with a lytle rest, they must agayne be weeried with exercise, lest that by sleeping all the night long, and lying styl vpon the pillowe, ye appeare to be as it were buried carkases: By the often and coomely styrring of your selues, declare that ye are alyue, and geuen to vertue.