WHat sayest thou, that I haue lost both my tongue & my speeche also?

What if thou haue founde securicie & rest? How many doth the tongue beate downe and ouerthrowe that are gyltlesse of do∣ing any harme? It is a foolyshe pleasure, but truely very common of some that would seeme to haue done that whiche they neyther do, nor can doo. He lyed that sayde he had stayne the kyng of the Israelites and his sonne, and yet being innocent of the deede was punished for his lye, when he had escaped the danger of the battel. How great labour it is to speake, to answere, to faigne, to lye, to smooth vp wordes, to wey sentences, to bethynke howe and what to speake, and sweetely to beate the ayre, for so they desire a voyce, and after what sort thou oughtest to moue, not ouly thy tongue, but also thy whole body, for euen vnto this poynt there is one part of Rethorique doth reache: howe when thou musest, thou must looke downe on the grounde, whiche Page  295hande, and also whether thou must thrust it foorth, with whiche foote thou must stampe on the ground. Is not (thinkest thou) this finenesse troublesome inough, and to take the paynes to learne some indifferent sight in musicke, that thou mayest thereby sound thy woordes the more sweetly? is it not in very deede then a labour to speake, and a quietnesse to holde a mans peace?

I can speake to no purpose.

Those thynges which I sayde in the lacke of eloquence, may more aptly be repea∣ted in the losse of the tongue. Then since thou canst not speake, hold thy peace, and that whiche necessitie byddeth thee to do, do it wyllyngly. Whiche thyng, they that can speake myght do many tymes more profitably, and repeate them often that they haue not donne so. Holde thy peace, I say, and thinke not that thou sustaynest any losse: thinke with thy lelfe secretly, and speake with thy selfe in priuitie, whiche to be better then to speake in o∣pen assembly, they that are eloquent cannot deny.

I am fallen dumbe.

If Cicero and Demosthenes had been dumbe, they had lyued longer, and dyed a more gentle death.

I haue quite lost the vse of my tongue.

And the custome of lying, and the artes of deceyuing, and the instrument of purchasing enmitie and infamie: for many are be∣come more infamous for their tongue, then for their deedes. There is no part of the body reedier to hurt, and harder to bridle. Therefore, not without cause (as some great and rare matter) vttered he those woordes, who sayde, I wyl looke vnto my wayes that I offende not with my tongue. Whiche when a certayne holy man, who came to the studie of diuinitie had hearde, is reported to haue departed away, and that he would heare no more thereof. And when as, after a long season, his maister marueylyng, de∣maunded of hym why he had been so long absent from his stu∣die whiche he had begun: he ausweared, that the very first worde had geuen hym enough to do, and that he could not fulfyl that one poynt by any his labour or traueyl whatsoeuer. See thou despise not this gouernment nor bridle, whiche is offered vnto thee ey∣ther by nature or fortune, but wyllyngly yelde thy selfe to be ru∣led, and spurne not agaynst thine owne destinie.

I haue lost my tongue.

Nowe kepe thou with al di∣ligence Page  [unnumbered]that which the wyse man wylleth thee, to wyt, thyne hart, and beyng called from two careful watchynges vnto one, and dis∣charged from the one moitie of thy labour, thou mayest the more easily keepe a fewe, and more warely guard precious thynges.

I haue lost my tongue.

In a certayne fewe men this is a noble and excellent member, but in the greater sort of the people, very pestilent and noysome, and a great deale better that many had wanted it. Whiche is not only seene to be true in a seruant, in that the Satirike Poet sayth, The tongue is the worst part of an euyl seruant, but also in many free per∣sons, vnto whom nature hath geuen nothing woorse then their tongue. Warres, deceites, adulteries, and al kynde of abuses (for the most part) should surceasse, dyd not the tongue cast abrode and nouryshe their euyl seedes.

I haue lost my tongue.

If an euyll one, thou hast gayned much: For it is great ryches, to be poore in wyckednesse. Who so hath not these, is borne ryche, but who so looseth them, is made ryche, and his lyuing beyng encreased with a newe re∣uenewe, hath founde that by loosing, whiche he had lost by find∣yng. But yf thou haue lost a good tongue, I say agayne keepe thy hart. Thou hast lost that wherewith thou mightest please men, keepe that wherewith thou mayest please God: vnto whom yf thou canst not speake with thy tongue, yet talke vnto hym with thy hart. For yf it be written of the wycked, Lying lyppes are in their hart, and with their hart they haue spoken: why are not godly lyppes in the hart of the ryghteous, that they also may speake in their hart, where∣as are the eares of God? And that is true, whiche the same man wrytech in an other place, My mouth is not hydden from thee, whiche thou madest in secret. For there is no thought, be it neuer so secrete, that is hidden from God, neyther hea∣reth he lesse them that speake softly, then those that crye a∣loude: yea, he heareth no clamour, be it more or lesse, before the clamour and crying out of the hart, for he harkeneth vn∣to none but that, and he is delited with silence. This cla∣mour, dyd he that was first a keeper of sheepe, and afterwarde Page  296a most famous shepheard of the people of God, restrayne within the closure of his lyppes, who deserued to heare the voyce of God saying vnto hym, Why cryest thou vnto me? He spake not, but he cryed, yea he spake, but it was with the hart. And lyke as he that heareth God is not deafe, so he whom God heareth is not dumbe.