[The instruction of a Christian man, in vertue and honestie.].

Of Yong mans estate.

THe state of a Young manne, is the fourth age: whiche beginneth wyth him at the yeares of .14. It is called the

State of a Young manne, or Young mans State, of thys Verbe Adolesco: whyche signifieth, to growe vp. For, at that time, menne do growe vppe in bo∣dy, in Strength, and in Reason, yea, in Vice also and in Vertue: although more inclined vnto Vice than vnto Vertue. And at that time, is euery mans nature and disposition first known, and wher∣vnto it is moste bente and affected. For before, thoroughe the small discretion of their age, it coulde not so well be known and discerned. For, (saieth Terence) so soone as they be Yong menne, they gyue themselues to some solace and pastime, as also vnto Study: eyther else to bring vp Horses, or Dogges to hunt withall: eyther to make much of Philosophie and of Learning. Vnto whome also Horace doeth agrée, in his Arte of Poetrie: A Yong man hauing no bearde, after hee hathe once gotten hys necke from vn∣der the Yoke of hys Gouernour, gyueth hymselfe immediatelye vnto Ryding, to Hunting, and to solacing of hymselfe abroade, counting then Simplicitie to be

but Wickednesse: contemptuous also of all suche as gyue vnto hym good coun∣cell: nothing regarding his owne pro∣fite: very wastefull of his money: ouer∣loftie, greedy, swifte also and readye to forsake suche thinges as oughte of hym to be beloued. This Age, that is to wit, Young mans State, is of twoo sortes: The one, from fouretéene to eyghtéene yeares doe continue, and is called, Yong mans State (béeyng without Bearde) bycause in those yeares Yongmen are wythout any Bearde: like as in times paste, Phoebus, that is, Apollo, stoode in the Temple of the Ethnickes withoute a Bearde, as sayeth Valerius Maximus in his firste Booke Of Despised Religi∣on, touching Dionisius the Syracusian Tyrante: And at eightéene yeares, is the firste beginning that a Bearde doth growe: and men are then sayde to goe oute of the Beardelesse time, and so to stretche forwards vnto Mannes State. Into euery kinde of Wickednesse, doeth this Age caste a Yongman down head∣long: as into Slouth and Idlenesse, into

Pastimes and Playes, into Disobedi∣ence, Surffetting, Ryot, haunting of Whoores, Pryde, and wastefull Dis∣pending: they vainelye consume theyr Substaunce: béeyng nothyng at all carefull for the life that shall followe: as all Comedies doe witnesse: whyche speake nothing else of Yong men, than, that they doe consume theyr riches vp∣on Whoores, vpon Ryot, and Banquet∣ting.

Notes

• Terence in Andria.
• The affe∣ctions com∣monly in Youth.