Who fondly in doing, consumeth his stock,
In the end for his folly, doth get but a mock.
At some time to borrow, account it no shame,
If justly thou keepest thy touch for the same :
Who quick be to borrow, and slow be to pay,
Their credit is naught, go they never so gay.
Who breaketh his credit, or cracketh it twice,
Trust such with a süerty, if ye be wise:
Or if he be angry, for asking thy due,
Once even, to him afterward, lend not anew.
Once weekly, remember thy charges to cast,
Once monthly, see how thy expenses may last:
If quarter declareth too much to be spent,
For fear of ill year, take advice of thy rent.
Who orderly ent'reth his payments in book,
May orderly find them again (if he look :)
And he that intendeth, but once for to pay,
Shall find this in doing, the quietest way.
In dealing uprightly, this counsel I teach,
First reckon, then write, ere to purse ye do reach :
Then pay and dispatch him, as soon as ye can,
For ling'ring is hinderance, to many a man.
The eye of the master enricheth the hutch,
The eye of the mistress availeth as much :
Which eye, if it govern, with reason and skill,
Hath servant and service, at pleasure and will.
Pay weekly thy workman, his household to feed, Pay quarterly servants, to buy as they need:
Give garment to such as deserve, and no mo, Lest thou and thy wife, without garment do go.
The greatest preferment that child we can give, Is learning and nurture, to train him to live; Which whoso it wanteth, though left as a squire, Consumeth to nothing, as block in the fire.
When God hath so blest thee, as able to live, And thou hast to rest thee, and able to give ; Lament thy offences, serve God for amends, Make soul to be ready, when God for it sends.
To take thy calling thankfully,
And shun the path to beggary.
To grudge in youth no drudgery,
To come by knowledge perfectly.
To count no travell slavery,
That brings in penny saverly.
To follow profit earnestly,
But meddle not with pilfery.
To get by honest practisy,
And keep thy gettings, covertly.
To lash not out, too lashingly,
For fear of pinching penury.
To get good plot, to occupy,
And store and use it, husbandly.
To wed good wife, for company,
And live in wedlock honestly.
To furnish house with housholdry,
And make provision skilfully.
To suffer none live idly,
For fear of idle knavery.
To courage wife in huswifery,
And use well doers gently.
To keep no more but needfully
And count excess unsavoury.
To walk thy pastures usually,
To spy ill neighbour's subtilty.
To hate revengement hastily,
For losing love and amity.
To love thy neighbour, neighbourly,
And show him no discourtesy.
To answer stranger civilly,
But show him not thy secresy.
To use not man deceitfully,
To offer no man villainy.
To learn how foe to pacify,
But trust him not too hastily.
To meddle not with usury,
Nor lend thy money foolishly.
To hate to live in infamy,
Through craft, and living shiftingly.
To shun all kind of treachery,
For treason endeth horribly.
To learn to shun ill company,
And such as love dishonestly.
To banish house of blasphemy,
Lest crosses cross, unluckily.
To bear thy crosses patiently,
For worldly things are slippery.
To lay to keep from misery,
Age coming on, so creepingly.
To pray to God, continually,
For aid against thine enemy.
To spend thy Sabbath holily,
And help the needy poverty.
To live in conscience quietly,
And keep thyself from malady.
To ease thy sickness speedily,
Ere help be past recovery.
To seek to God for remedy,
For witches prove unluckily.
'Tis that delightsome transport we can feel,
Which painters cannot paint, nor words reveal,
Nor any art we know of can conceal.
Canst thou describe the sunbeams to the blind?
Or make him feel a shadow with his mind?
So neither can we by description show,
This first of all felicities below.
When happy love pours magic o'er the soul,
And all our thoughts in sweet delirium roll,
When contemplation spreads per rainbow wings,
And every flutter some new rapture brings,
How sweetly then our moments glide away,
And dreams renew the transports of the day:
We live in ecstacy, to all things kind,
For love can teach a moral to the mind.
Love is the grace of nature and the glory of reason, the blessing of God and the comfort of the world.
Love has prompted the noblest actions, taught the highest virtue, conducted in a path of rectitude to a goal starred and luminous, filled the soul with lofty aspirations, whispered hope and comfort to the drooping spirit, and made all things precious by its own mysterious alchemy. Love is a catholic passion. It belongs to all. It is a universal birthright. Princes and peasants alike acknowledge its power. Though it dwells in king's palaces, it does not fly from cottage homes. It adds fresh lustre
|