BVT I am delighted in Dogges.

Now I vn∣derstande the delight of a beardles youth, who as Horace sayth, Delighteth in horses, and dogges, and the pleasant greene feeldes. But beware thou be not that which foloweth: Apt to be plucked to vice, and sharpe to them that tell thee thy fault. A flowe prouider for profite, lauishe of money, proud, couetous, and redy to forsake that which thou hast loued. I feare mee thou art suche an one, since thou settest thy pleasure vpon such transitorie delightes.

I am delighted with dogges, and foules.

This peece of madnesse was wantyng: is it not sufficient for thee, to gadde and wander abroade, but meanest thou to flye also?

Thou mockest me, for I meane not to flye, but I am delighted in the foules that flye.

But they wyll flye away, and contemne thy pleasure, and not knowe thee, and vnthankfully be deafe when thou callest them. What shouldest thou do that wan∣test feathers, seeyng thy pleasure is winged? Imagine that they returned, the taking of them would be hurtfull: thou wouldest cal againe, and forgetting thy more profitable affaires, loose thy time. Agayne, looking backe, and castyng thine eyes vp to the cloudes after thy foolyshe byrde, perhappes thou wilt weepe, as though there were no necessarie woorke to be doone in this lyfe: by rea∣son of the pleasure whiche you fynde by your idlenesse and slouth, ye glorie in that ye are slaues to your byrdes. Nature hath geuen you two handes, with the one ye rule the bird, the other you trou∣ble with crooked talentes. So being idle on al sides, & being come lame with desire to flie, to y^e end ye may not seme to do any thing with great noyse, ye ryse before day, and sodeinly run out of the doores, as though the enimies were at the threshold, & all the day Page  [unnumbered]after, ye run about the pondes and waters, wooddes, and bushes, filling the ayre with sundry outcries, and euil fauoured houlinges. And in this pastime ye spende your breath, whiche is meete for some greater matter: with whiche spirite your forefathers made their enimies afearde in battayle, and in peace mainteyned iu∣stice. At nyght when ye come home, as though ye had atchiued some great enterprice, yet syt within doores, declaryng howe well that byrde flue, and how well this byrde hath endued his meate, how many feathers of the trayne, and how many of the winges are remaning or lost. Is not this all your skyll? is not this your loue? is not this your felicitie? and is not this al whiche ye requite to God your Creatour, to your countrey that bredde you, to your parentes that be gate you, to your freendes that loue you, to wit, your Spathaukes, or your Hernshawes skimming in the ayre, and some peece of a torne foule, and swet, and dust, and your nyghtly storie of your lost day? Vnto this ye be alwayes vali∣ent and vnweeried, and vnto earnest businesse, weake and daintie. Liuies stories, and Tullies orations, and the holy Scriptures, ye condenme as ouerlong: whereof ye may be ashamed. Who can heare this with vnoffended eares? Who wyll beare with you, being borne to other thinges, to lyue in these delites, yf ye lyue in these doynges?

I take pleasure in Spanyels and Haukes.

We haue heard of many princes and noble men, whereof some were wont to take delight in horses, and many in dogges, insomuche that Adrian the Emperour erected monumentes, not for horses only, as those of whom we made mention before, but for dogges also: And moreouer, buyl∣ded a citie in the same place, where in prosperous hunting he had slayne a shee Beare with his owne hand, & vsed many tyme to kyl a Lion, but neuer that he made any tombe for a byrde or foule: For which cause, some say that Virgil mocked Marcillus that was nephue to Augustus, in that he seemed to take pleasure in them when he was a young man.

I delight muche in huntyng.

This exercise was peculiar sometime to the Latines, but nowe to the Frenchmen, whiche experience tea∣cheth to be true, and wherof some of theyr owne writers do boast. Wherefore to speake nothyng of those kinges, whose whole lyfe Page  45was perpetual huntyng, the chiefest kyng of them all, when∣soeuer he had any rest from battayle, excercysyng hym selfe in dayly huntyng, at length when he grewe to the extremitie of death, relieued the discommodities and weerysomnesse of his age with this exercyse. A strange matter, specially in a wyse Kyng, and not abhortyng from good learnyng: How∣beit, this was his countrey maner as some report. But let it be his countrey guyse, and let them enioy it alone, neyther let the Ita•ians take it away from the Frenchmen, neyther contende with them in folly: For yf, laying errour aside, thou cast thyne eyes vppon the thyng it selfe, thou shalt per∣ceyue that this is the exercyse of base Noble men of the mea∣nest degree, whom a certayne slouth and distrust, whiche is companion to cowardise, and from lowe matters shame and pryde doo dehort and plucke backe. Wherefore, beyng vn∣fyt for honest affayres, they dwell in Wooddes, not to lorde a solytarie lyfe, whereunto they knowe them selues as vn∣meete as for the lyfe polytike, but to lyue with wy•o beastes, and Dogges, and Byrdes, which they woulde not delyght to doo, vnsesse they were ioyned vnto them by some lykenesse: who yf they conceyue any pleasure thereby, or only passyng away of theyr tyme, they doo foolyshly on both sydes, and yet perhaps may attayne to theyr desyre. But yf they seeke ther∣by any glory of theyr wyt and magnificencie, then are they decei∣ued For, what commendation (I pray you) is it, I say, not for Princes, but for Gentlemen, to take pleasure in handy craftes, or rather seruyle practises, and affayres? whiche is one of theyr excuses. For they whiche haue vtterly renounced the libe∣ral studies, which theyr forefathers esteemed, and proclaymed open warre agaynst learnyng, whyther shal they run but to the enimies Campe? But perhaps they wyll be ashamed when they looke backe to the elder tymes, and conferre them selues with theyr predecessours: For they shal oftentymes reade how Plat• studied Philosophie, and Homere exercysed Poetrie, and •ullie pleaded, and Cae•ar triumphed, but neuer reade that they hunted.