* Take not his name, who made thy mouth, in vain :
It gets thee nothing, and hath no excufe
Lult and wine plead a pleasure, avarice gain :
But the cheap fwearer through his open fluce
5 Lets his foul run for nought, as little fearing:
Were I an Epicure, I could bate fwearing.
When thou doft tell anothers jeft, therein
Omit the oaths, which true wit cannot need ;
Pick out of tales the mirth, but not the fin.
10 He pares his apple, that will cleanly feed.
Play not away the vertue of that name,
Which is the beft ftake,when griefs make thee tame.
The cheapest fins moft dearly punisht are;
Because to fhun them alfo is fo cheap :
15 For we have wit to mark them, and to fpare.
O crumble not away the fouls fair heap.
If thou wilt die, the gates of hell are broad:
Pride and full fins have made the way a road.
Lie not; but let thy heart be true to God,
20 Thy mouth to it, thy actions to them both:
Cowards tell lies, and thofe that fear the rod;
The ftormy working foul fpits lies and froth.
Dare to be true. Nothing can need a lie :
A fault, which needs it moft, grows two thereby.
25 Fly idleness, which yet thou canst not fly
By dreffing, miftreffing, and complement.
If thofe take up thy day, the Sun will cry
Against thee: for his light was only lent.
God gave thy foul brave wings; put not those fea30 Into a bed, to fleep out all ill weathers.
Art thou a Magistrate ? then be severe:
If ftudious, copy fair what time hath blurr'd;
Redeem truth from his jaws : if fouldier,
Chase brave employments with a naked sword
Throughout the world. Fool not; for all may have,
If they dare try, a glorious life, or grave.
O England full of fin, but moft of floth!
Spit out thy flegme, and fill thy breaft with glory:
Thy Gentry bleats, as if thy native cloth
Transfus'd a fheepifhneffe into thy ftory:
Not that they all are fo; but that the most
Are gone to graffe, and in the pasture loft.
This loffe fprings chiefly from our education.
Some till their ground, but let weeds choke their Ton
Some mark a partrige, never their childs fashion: 15
Some ship them over, and the thing is done.
Study this art, make it thy great defign;
And if Gods image move thee not, let thine.
Some great eftates provide, but do not breed
A maft'ring mind; fo both are loft thereby :
Or else they breed them tender, make them need
All that they leave: this is flat poverty.
For he that needs five thousand pound to live,
Is full as poor as he that needs but five.
The way to make thy fon rich, is to fill
His mind with reft, before his trunk with riches:
For wealth without contentment, climbs a hill
To feel those tempefts which fly over ditches.
But if thy son can make ten pound his measure, Then all thou addeft may be call'd his treasure. 30
When thou dost purpose ought (within thy power).
Be fure to do it, though it be but small,
Conftancy knits the bones, and makes us ftowre,
When wanton pleasures becken us to thrall.
Who breaks his own bond, forfeiteth himself :
What nature made a ship, he makes a shelf.
Do all things like a man, not sneakingly :
Think the king fees thee ftill; for his King does.
impring is but a lay-hypocrifie :
to Give it a corner, and the clue undoes.
Who fears to do ill, fets himself to task:
Who fears to do well, fure fhould wear a mask.
ook to thy mouth: diseases enter there.. Thou haft two fconfes, if thy ftomack call; 5. Carve, or difcourfe; do not a famine fear. Who carves, is kind to two; who talks, to all. Look on meat, think it dirt, then eat a bit ; And say withall, Earth to earth I commit.
Slight those who say amidft their fickly healths,
20Thou liv'ft by rule. What doth not fobut man?
Houfes are built by rule, and common-wealths.
Entice the trufty fun, if that you can,
From his Ecliptick line; becken the sky.
Who lives by rule then, keeps good company.
25 Who keeps no guard upon himself, is flack,
And rots to nothing at the next great thaw.
Man is a fhop of rules, a well-trufs'd pack,
Whofe every parcel under-writes a law.
Lose not thy felf, nor give thy humours way:
30 God gave them to thee under lock and key.
By all means use sometimes to be alone.
Salute thy felf: fce what thy foul doth wear.
Dare to look in thy cheft; for 'tis thine own:
And tumble up and down what thou find'ft there.
Who cannot reft till he good fellows find,
He breaks up house, turns out of doors his mind.
Be thrifty, but not covetous: therefore give
Thy need, thine honour, and thy friend his due.
Never was scraper brave man. Get to live;
Then live, and ufe it: elfe, it is not true
That thou haft gotten. Surely ufe alone
Makes money not a contemptible ftone.
Never exceed thy income. Youth may make
Ev'n with the year: but age, if it will hit,
Shoots a bow fhort, and leffens ftill his stake,
As the day leffens, and his life with it.
Thy children, kindred, friends upon thee call;
Before thy journey fairly part with all;
Yet in thy thriving, ftill mifdoubt fome evil;
Left gaining gain on thee, and make thee dim
To all things elfe. Wealth is the conjurers devil;
Whom when he thinks he hath, the devil hath him.
Gold thou maift fafely touch; but if it stick
Unto thy hands, it woundeth to the quick.
What skills it, if a bag of ftones or gold
About thy neck do drown thee? raife thy head;
Take ftars for money; ftars not to be told
Ey any art, yet to be purchased.
None is fo waftful as the fcraping dame;
She lofeth three for one; her foul, reft, fame.
no means run in debt: take thine own measure.
ho cannot live on twenty pound a year,
nnot on forty: he's a man of pleasure,
kind of thing that's for it felf too dear.
The curious unthrift makes his clothes too wide,
And fpares himself, but would his taylor chide.
end not on hopes. They that by pleading clothes
fortunes feek, when worth and fervice fail,
ould have their tale believed for their oaths,
And are like empty veffels under fail.
Old courtiers know this: therefore fet out fo,
As all the day thou maist hold out to go.
cloths, cheap handfomnefs doth bear the bell.
ifdom's a trimmer thing than shop e're gave.
Say not then, This with that lace will do well;
ut, This with my difcretion will be brave.
Much euriofity is a perpetual wooing
Nothing with labour, folly long a doing.
lay not for gain, but fport. Who plays for more
Than he can lofe with pleasure, ftakes his heart:
erhaps his wives too, and whom fhe hath bore:
ervants and churches alfo play their part.
Only a herald, who that way doth pafs,
Finds his crackt name at length in the Church-glass,
If yet thou love game at fo dear a rate,
earn this, that hath old gamefters dearly coft:
Doft lofe? rife up: doft win? rife in that ftate.
Who ftrive to fit out lofing hands, are loft.
Game is a civil gunpowder, in peace
30 Blowing up houfes with their whole encrease.
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