Necessary Observations
1 Precept.
First worship God, he that forgets to pray
Bids not himselfe good morrow nor good day.
Let thy first labour be to purge thy sin;
And serve him first, whence all things did begin.
2 Pre.
Honour thy Parents to prolong thine end,
With them though for a truth doe not contend.
Though all should truth defend, doe thou loose rather
The truth a while, then loose their Loves for ever.
Who ever makes his fathers heart to bleed,
Shall have a child that will revenge the deed.
3 Pre.
Thinke that is just; 'tis not enough to doe,
Unlesse thy very thoughts are upright too.
4 Pre.
Defend the truth, for that who will not dye,
A coward is, and gives himselfe the lye.
5 Pre.
Honour the King, as sonnes their Parents doe,
For he's thy Father, and thy Country's too.
6 Pre.
A freind is gold; if true hee'le never leave thee,
Yet both without a touchstone may deceive thee.
7 Pre.
Suspicious men thinke others false, but hee
Cozens himselfe that will too credulous bee.
For thy freinds sake, let no suspect be shown;
And shun to be too credulous for thine own.
8 Pre.
Take well whate're shall chance, though bad it bee;
Take it for good, and 'twill be so to thee.
9 Pre.
Swear not: An oath is like a dangerous dart
Which shot rebounds to strike the shooters heart.
10 Pre.
The law's the path of life; then that obey,
Who keeps it not, hath wandring lost his way.
11 Pre.
Thanke those that doe thee good, so shalt thou gaine
Their second helpe, if thou shouldst need againe.
12 Pre.
To doubtful matters doe not headlong run;
What's well left off, were better not begun.
13 Pre.
Be well advis'd, and wary counsell make,
E're thou dost any action undertake.
Having undertaken, thy endeavours bend
To bring thy Action to a perfect end.
14 Pre.
Safe in thy brest close lock up thy Intents;
For he that knows thy purpose, best prevents.
15 Pre.
To tell thy miseries will no comfort breed,
Men helpe thee most that thinke thou hast no need.
But if the world once thy misfortunes know,
Thou soone shalt loose a freind, and find a foe.
16 Pre.
Keepe thy freinds goods; for should thy wants bee known
Thou canst not tell but they may be thine own.
17 Pre.
To gather wealth through fraud doe not presume,
A little evill got will much consume.
18 Pre.
First thinke, and if thy thoughts approve thy will
Then speake, and after what thou speakst fulfill.
19 Pre.
Spare not, nor spend too much; be this thy care,
Spare but to spend, and only spend to spare.
Who spends too much may want, and so complaine.
But he spends best that spares to spend againe.
20 Pre.
If with a stranger thou discourse first learne
By strictest observations to discerne,
If he be wiser then thy selfe; if so
Be dumbe, and rather choose by him to know.
But if thy selfe perchance the wiser bee,
Then doe thou speake that he may learne by thee.
21 Pre.
If thou dispraise a man let no man know
By any circumstance that he's thy foe;
If men but once find that, they'l quickly see
Thy words from hate, and not from judgment bee,
If thou wouldst tell his vice, doe what you can
To make the world believe thou lov'st the man.
22 Pre.
Reprove not in their wrath incensed men,
Good councell comes cleane out of season then.
But when his fury is appeas'd and past,
He will conceive his fault and mend at last.
When he is coole, and calme then utter it;
No man gives Physick in the midst oth' Fit.
23 Pre.
Seeme not too conscious of thy worth, nor be
The first that knows thy own sufficiency.
If to thy King and Country thy true care
More serviceable is then others are
That blaze in court, and every Action sway
As if the Kingdome on their shoulders lay.
Or if thou serv'st a master, and dost see
Others prefer'd of lesse Desert then thee.
Do not complaine though such a Plaint be true,
Lords will not give their Favours as a Due.
But rather stay and hope: it cannot bee
But men at last must needs thy vertues see.
So shall thy trust endure and greater grow,
Whilst they that are above thee, fall below.
24 Pre.
Desire not thy meane fortunes for to set
Next to the stately Mannors of the Great.
He will suspect thy labours, and oppresse
Fearing thy greatnesse makes his wealth the lesse.
Great ones doe love no Æquals: But must bee
Above the Termes of all comparitie.
Such a rich Neighbour is compared best
To the great Pike that eats up all the rest.
Or else like Pharaohs Cow, that in an houre
Will seaven of his fattest freinds devoure.
Or like the sea whose vastnesse swallows cleane
All other streams, though no encrease be seene.
Live by the Poore, they doe the Poore no harme;
So Bees thrive best when they together swarme.
Rich men are Bears, and Poore men ought to feare 'em
Like ravenous wolfes; 'tis dangerous living neare 'em.
25 Pre.
Each man three Divels hath selfe borne afflictions;
Th' unruly Tongue, the Belly, and Affections.
Charme these, such holy Conjurations can
Gaine thee the friendship both of God and man.
26 Pre.
So live with man as if Gods curious eye,
Did every where into thine Actions prie.
For never yet was a sinne so void of sence,
So fully fac'd with brazen Impudence
As that it durst before mens eyes commit
Their beastly lusts, least they should witnesse it.
How dare they then offend, when God shall see,
That must alone both Judge and Jury bee.
27 Pre.
Take thou no care how to deferre thy death,
And give more respit to this Mortall breath.
Would'st thou live long? the only means are these
'Bove Galens diet, or Hippocrates .
Strive to live well; Tread in the upright wayes,
And rather count thy Actions then thy dayes,
Then thou hast liv'd enough amongst us here,
For every day well spent I count a yeare.
Live well, and then how soone so e're thou die,
Thou art of Age to claime Æternitie.
But he that out lives Nestor , and appeares
T' have past the date of gray Methusalem's yeares,
If he his life to sloth and sinne doth give,
I say he only Was , he did not Live .
28 Pre.
Trust not a man unknown he may deceive thee;
And doubt the man thou knowst for he may leave thee.
And yet for to prevent exceptions too,
'Tis best not seeme to doubt although you doe.
29 Pre.
Heare much but little speake, a wise man feares,
And will not use his tongue so much as eares.
The Tongue if it the hedge of Teeth doe breake
Will others shame, and its own Ruine speake.
I never yet did ever read of any
Undone by hearing, but by speaking many,
The reason's this, the Eares if chast and holy,
Doe let in wit, the Tongue doth let out folly.
30 Pre.
To all alike be curteous, meeke, and kind.
A winning carriage with indifferent mind,
But not familiar, that must be exempt,
Groomes saucy love, soone turnes into contempt.
Be sure he be at least as good as thee,
To whom thy freindship shall familiar bee.
31 Pre.
Judge not between two freinds, but rather see
If thou canst bring them freindly to agree.
So shalt thou both their Loves to thee encrease,
And gaine a Blessing too for making Peace;
But if thou should'st decide the cause i'th' end,
How e're thou judge thou sure shalt loose a freind.
32 Pre.
Thy credit wary keepe, 'tis quickly gone;
Being got by many Actions, lost by one,
33 Pre.
Unto thy Brother buy not, sell, nor lend,
Such Actions have their own peculiar end;
But rather choose to give him, if thou see
That thou hast pow'er, and hee necessitie.
34 Pre.
Spare in thy youth, least Age should find thee poore
When time is past, and thou canst spare no more.
No coupl'd misery is so great in either,
As Age and Want when both doe meet together.
35 Pre.
Fly Drunkennesse, whose vile incontinence
Takes both away the reason and the sence.
Till with Circaean cups thy mind possest
Leaves to be man, and wholy turnes a Beast.
Thinke whilst thou swallowest the capacious Bowle,
Thou let'st in Seas to wrack and drown the soule.
That hell is open, to remembrance call,
And thinke how subject drunkards are to Fall.
Consider how it soone destroyes the grace
Of humane shape, spoyling the beauteous face,
Puffing the cheekes, blearing the curious eye,
Studding the face with vitious Heraldry.
What Pearles and Rubies doth the wine disclose,
Making the purse poore to enrich the Nose?
How does it nurse disease, infect the heart,
Drawing some sicknesse into every part!
The stomack overcloyd, wanting a vent
Doth up againe resend her excrement.
And then (├┤ see what too much wine can doe!)
The very soule being drunke spews secrets too.
The Lungs corrupted breath contagious ayre,
Belching up fumes that unconcocted are.
The Braine o'rewarm'd (loosing her sweet repose)
Doth purge her filthy ordure through the nose.
The veins doe boyle glutted with vitious food,
And quickly Fevers the distemper'd blood.
The belly swells, the foot can hardly stand;
Lam'd with the Gout; the Palsie shakes the Hand.
And through the flesh sick waters sinking in,
Doe bladder-like puffe up the dropsi'd skin.
It weaks the Braine, it spoiles the memory;
Hasting on Age, and wilfull Poverty.
It drownes thy better parts; making thy name
To foes a laughter, to thy freinds a shame.
'Tis vertues poyson, and the bane of trust,
The match of wrath, the fuell unto lust.
Quite leave this vice, and turne not to't againe,
Upon Presumption of a stronger braine.
For he that holds more wine then other can,
I rather count a Hogshead then a man.
36 Pre.
Let not thy Impotent lust so pow'rfull bee
Over thy Reason, Soule, and Liberty,
As to enforce thee to a marryed life,
E're thou art able to maintaine a wife.
Thou canst not feed upon her lips and face,
Shee cannot cloth thee with a poore imbrace.
My selfe being yet alone, and but one still,
With patience could endure the worst of ill.
When fortune frownes, one to the wars may goe
To fight against his foes, and fortunes too.
But the greife were trebled for to see
Thy wretched Bride halfe pin'd with Povertie.
To see thy Infants make their dumb complaint
And thou not able to releive their want.
The poorest beggar when he's dead and gone,
Is rich as he that sits upon the Throne.
But he that having no estate is wed,
Starves in his grave, being wretched when he's dead.
37 Pre.
If e're I take a wife I will have one
Neither for beauty nor for portion;
But for her vertues; and I'le married bee
Not for my lust, but for posteritie.
And when I am wed, I'le never jealous bee,
But make her learne how to be chast by mee.
And be her face what 'twill, I'le thinke her faire
If shee within the house confine her care,
If modest in her words and cloths shee bee,
Not daub'd with pride and prodigalitie,
If with her neighbours shee maintaines no strife,
And beare her selfe to me a faithfull wife,
I'de rather unto such a one be wed
Then claspe the choicest Helen in my bed,
Yet though shee were an Angell my affection
Should only love, not dote on her perfection.
First worship God, he that forgets to pray
Bids not himselfe good morrow nor good day.
Let thy first labour be to purge thy sin;
And serve him first, whence all things did begin.
2 Pre.
Honour thy Parents to prolong thine end,
With them though for a truth doe not contend.
Though all should truth defend, doe thou loose rather
The truth a while, then loose their Loves for ever.
Who ever makes his fathers heart to bleed,
Shall have a child that will revenge the deed.
3 Pre.
Thinke that is just; 'tis not enough to doe,
Unlesse thy very thoughts are upright too.
4 Pre.
Defend the truth, for that who will not dye,
A coward is, and gives himselfe the lye.
5 Pre.
Honour the King, as sonnes their Parents doe,
For he's thy Father, and thy Country's too.
6 Pre.
A freind is gold; if true hee'le never leave thee,
Yet both without a touchstone may deceive thee.
7 Pre.
Suspicious men thinke others false, but hee
Cozens himselfe that will too credulous bee.
For thy freinds sake, let no suspect be shown;
And shun to be too credulous for thine own.
8 Pre.
Take well whate're shall chance, though bad it bee;
Take it for good, and 'twill be so to thee.
9 Pre.
Swear not: An oath is like a dangerous dart
Which shot rebounds to strike the shooters heart.
10 Pre.
The law's the path of life; then that obey,
Who keeps it not, hath wandring lost his way.
11 Pre.
Thanke those that doe thee good, so shalt thou gaine
Their second helpe, if thou shouldst need againe.
12 Pre.
To doubtful matters doe not headlong run;
What's well left off, were better not begun.
13 Pre.
Be well advis'd, and wary counsell make,
E're thou dost any action undertake.
Having undertaken, thy endeavours bend
To bring thy Action to a perfect end.
14 Pre.
Safe in thy brest close lock up thy Intents;
For he that knows thy purpose, best prevents.
15 Pre.
To tell thy miseries will no comfort breed,
Men helpe thee most that thinke thou hast no need.
But if the world once thy misfortunes know,
Thou soone shalt loose a freind, and find a foe.
16 Pre.
Keepe thy freinds goods; for should thy wants bee known
Thou canst not tell but they may be thine own.
17 Pre.
To gather wealth through fraud doe not presume,
A little evill got will much consume.
18 Pre.
First thinke, and if thy thoughts approve thy will
Then speake, and after what thou speakst fulfill.
19 Pre.
Spare not, nor spend too much; be this thy care,
Spare but to spend, and only spend to spare.
Who spends too much may want, and so complaine.
But he spends best that spares to spend againe.
20 Pre.
If with a stranger thou discourse first learne
By strictest observations to discerne,
If he be wiser then thy selfe; if so
Be dumbe, and rather choose by him to know.
But if thy selfe perchance the wiser bee,
Then doe thou speake that he may learne by thee.
21 Pre.
If thou dispraise a man let no man know
By any circumstance that he's thy foe;
If men but once find that, they'l quickly see
Thy words from hate, and not from judgment bee,
If thou wouldst tell his vice, doe what you can
To make the world believe thou lov'st the man.
22 Pre.
Reprove not in their wrath incensed men,
Good councell comes cleane out of season then.
But when his fury is appeas'd and past,
He will conceive his fault and mend at last.
When he is coole, and calme then utter it;
No man gives Physick in the midst oth' Fit.
23 Pre.
Seeme not too conscious of thy worth, nor be
The first that knows thy own sufficiency.
If to thy King and Country thy true care
More serviceable is then others are
That blaze in court, and every Action sway
As if the Kingdome on their shoulders lay.
Or if thou serv'st a master, and dost see
Others prefer'd of lesse Desert then thee.
Do not complaine though such a Plaint be true,
Lords will not give their Favours as a Due.
But rather stay and hope: it cannot bee
But men at last must needs thy vertues see.
So shall thy trust endure and greater grow,
Whilst they that are above thee, fall below.
24 Pre.
Desire not thy meane fortunes for to set
Next to the stately Mannors of the Great.
He will suspect thy labours, and oppresse
Fearing thy greatnesse makes his wealth the lesse.
Great ones doe love no Æquals: But must bee
Above the Termes of all comparitie.
Such a rich Neighbour is compared best
To the great Pike that eats up all the rest.
Or else like Pharaohs Cow, that in an houre
Will seaven of his fattest freinds devoure.
Or like the sea whose vastnesse swallows cleane
All other streams, though no encrease be seene.
Live by the Poore, they doe the Poore no harme;
So Bees thrive best when they together swarme.
Rich men are Bears, and Poore men ought to feare 'em
Like ravenous wolfes; 'tis dangerous living neare 'em.
25 Pre.
Each man three Divels hath selfe borne afflictions;
Th' unruly Tongue, the Belly, and Affections.
Charme these, such holy Conjurations can
Gaine thee the friendship both of God and man.
26 Pre.
So live with man as if Gods curious eye,
Did every where into thine Actions prie.
For never yet was a sinne so void of sence,
So fully fac'd with brazen Impudence
As that it durst before mens eyes commit
Their beastly lusts, least they should witnesse it.
How dare they then offend, when God shall see,
That must alone both Judge and Jury bee.
27 Pre.
Take thou no care how to deferre thy death,
And give more respit to this Mortall breath.
Would'st thou live long? the only means are these
'Bove Galens diet, or Hippocrates .
Strive to live well; Tread in the upright wayes,
And rather count thy Actions then thy dayes,
Then thou hast liv'd enough amongst us here,
For every day well spent I count a yeare.
Live well, and then how soone so e're thou die,
Thou art of Age to claime Æternitie.
But he that out lives Nestor , and appeares
T' have past the date of gray Methusalem's yeares,
If he his life to sloth and sinne doth give,
I say he only Was , he did not Live .
28 Pre.
Trust not a man unknown he may deceive thee;
And doubt the man thou knowst for he may leave thee.
And yet for to prevent exceptions too,
'Tis best not seeme to doubt although you doe.
29 Pre.
Heare much but little speake, a wise man feares,
And will not use his tongue so much as eares.
The Tongue if it the hedge of Teeth doe breake
Will others shame, and its own Ruine speake.
I never yet did ever read of any
Undone by hearing, but by speaking many,
The reason's this, the Eares if chast and holy,
Doe let in wit, the Tongue doth let out folly.
30 Pre.
To all alike be curteous, meeke, and kind.
A winning carriage with indifferent mind,
But not familiar, that must be exempt,
Groomes saucy love, soone turnes into contempt.
Be sure he be at least as good as thee,
To whom thy freindship shall familiar bee.
31 Pre.
Judge not between two freinds, but rather see
If thou canst bring them freindly to agree.
So shalt thou both their Loves to thee encrease,
And gaine a Blessing too for making Peace;
But if thou should'st decide the cause i'th' end,
How e're thou judge thou sure shalt loose a freind.
32 Pre.
Thy credit wary keepe, 'tis quickly gone;
Being got by many Actions, lost by one,
33 Pre.
Unto thy Brother buy not, sell, nor lend,
Such Actions have their own peculiar end;
But rather choose to give him, if thou see
That thou hast pow'er, and hee necessitie.
34 Pre.
Spare in thy youth, least Age should find thee poore
When time is past, and thou canst spare no more.
No coupl'd misery is so great in either,
As Age and Want when both doe meet together.
35 Pre.
Fly Drunkennesse, whose vile incontinence
Takes both away the reason and the sence.
Till with Circaean cups thy mind possest
Leaves to be man, and wholy turnes a Beast.
Thinke whilst thou swallowest the capacious Bowle,
Thou let'st in Seas to wrack and drown the soule.
That hell is open, to remembrance call,
And thinke how subject drunkards are to Fall.
Consider how it soone destroyes the grace
Of humane shape, spoyling the beauteous face,
Puffing the cheekes, blearing the curious eye,
Studding the face with vitious Heraldry.
What Pearles and Rubies doth the wine disclose,
Making the purse poore to enrich the Nose?
How does it nurse disease, infect the heart,
Drawing some sicknesse into every part!
The stomack overcloyd, wanting a vent
Doth up againe resend her excrement.
And then (├┤ see what too much wine can doe!)
The very soule being drunke spews secrets too.
The Lungs corrupted breath contagious ayre,
Belching up fumes that unconcocted are.
The Braine o'rewarm'd (loosing her sweet repose)
Doth purge her filthy ordure through the nose.
The veins doe boyle glutted with vitious food,
And quickly Fevers the distemper'd blood.
The belly swells, the foot can hardly stand;
Lam'd with the Gout; the Palsie shakes the Hand.
And through the flesh sick waters sinking in,
Doe bladder-like puffe up the dropsi'd skin.
It weaks the Braine, it spoiles the memory;
Hasting on Age, and wilfull Poverty.
It drownes thy better parts; making thy name
To foes a laughter, to thy freinds a shame.
'Tis vertues poyson, and the bane of trust,
The match of wrath, the fuell unto lust.
Quite leave this vice, and turne not to't againe,
Upon Presumption of a stronger braine.
For he that holds more wine then other can,
I rather count a Hogshead then a man.
36 Pre.
Let not thy Impotent lust so pow'rfull bee
Over thy Reason, Soule, and Liberty,
As to enforce thee to a marryed life,
E're thou art able to maintaine a wife.
Thou canst not feed upon her lips and face,
Shee cannot cloth thee with a poore imbrace.
My selfe being yet alone, and but one still,
With patience could endure the worst of ill.
When fortune frownes, one to the wars may goe
To fight against his foes, and fortunes too.
But the greife were trebled for to see
Thy wretched Bride halfe pin'd with Povertie.
To see thy Infants make their dumb complaint
And thou not able to releive their want.
The poorest beggar when he's dead and gone,
Is rich as he that sits upon the Throne.
But he that having no estate is wed,
Starves in his grave, being wretched when he's dead.
37 Pre.
If e're I take a wife I will have one
Neither for beauty nor for portion;
But for her vertues; and I'le married bee
Not for my lust, but for posteritie.
And when I am wed, I'le never jealous bee,
But make her learne how to be chast by mee.
And be her face what 'twill, I'le thinke her faire
If shee within the house confine her care,
If modest in her words and cloths shee bee,
Not daub'd with pride and prodigalitie,
If with her neighbours shee maintaines no strife,
And beare her selfe to me a faithfull wife,
I'de rather unto such a one be wed
Then claspe the choicest Helen in my bed,
Yet though shee were an Angell my affection
Should only love, not dote on her perfection.
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