And if he had been by chance crossed in his sport, or his game not so good, he was so impatient, that he would revile and miscall many times, men of great worth with most bitter taunts, look so sowre, be so angry and waspish, so grieved & molested, that it is incredible to relate it. But if he had good sport, and been well pleased on the other side, incredibili munificentia, with unspeakable bounty and munificence he would reward all his fellow hunters, and deny nothing to any suiter when he was in that mood.

To say truth, ’tis the common humor of all gamesters, as Galateus observes, if they win, no man living are so jovial and merry, but if they lose, though it be but a trifle, two or three games at Tables, or a dealing at Cards for two pence a game, they are so cholerick and testy that no man may speak with them, and break many times into violent passions, oaths, imprecations, and unbeseeming speeches, little differing from mad men for the time.

Generally of all Gamesters and gaming, if it be excessive, thus much we may conclude, that whether they win or lose for the present, their winnings are not Munera fortunæ, sed insidiæ, as that wise Seneca determines, not fortunes gifts, but baits, the common Catastrophe is beggery, Ut pestis vitam, sic adimit alea pecuniam, as the plague takes away life, doth gaming goods, for omnes nudi, inopes & egeni;

Alea Scylla vorax, species certissima furti, Non contenta bonis animum quoque perfida mergit, Fœda, furax, infamis, iners, furiosa, ruina.

For a little pleasure they take, and some small gaines and gettings now and then, their wives and children are wringed in the mean time, & they themselves with losse of body and soul, rue it in the end. I will say nothing of those prodigious prodigals, perdendæ pecuniæ genitos, as he taxed Anthony, Qui patrimonium sine ulla fori calumnia amittunt, saith Cyprian, and mad Sybaritical spendthrifts, Quique una comedunt patrimonia cœna;

that eat up all at a breakfast, at a supper, or amongst Baudes, Parasites, and Players, consume themselves in an instant, as if they had flung it into Tybur, with great wages, vain and idle expences &c. not themselves only, but even all their friends, as a man desperately swimming drowns him that comes to help him, by suretiship and borrowing they will willingly undo all their associates & allies. Irati pecuniis, as he saith, angry with their mony:

What with a wanton eye, a liquorish tongue, and a gamesome hand, when they have undiscreetly impoverished themselves, morgaged their wits together with their lands, and entombed their ancestors faire possessions in their bowels, they may lead the rest of their dayes in a prison, as many times they do, they repent at leasure; and when all is gone begin to be thrifty: but Sera est in fundo parsimonia, ’tis then too late to look about; their end is misery, sorrow, shame, and discontent.

And well they deserve to be infamous and discontent, Catamidiari in Amphitheatro, as by Adrian the Emperors edict they were of old, decoctores bonorum suorum, so he cals them, prodigal fools, to be publikely shamed, and hissed out of all Societies, rather then to be pitied or relieved. The Tuscans and Boëtians brought their bankrups into the market place in a bear with an empty purse carryed before them, all the boyes following, where they sat all day circumstante plebe, to be infamous and ridiculous.

At Padua in Italy they have a stone called the stone of Turpitude, near the Senate house, where spendthrifts, and such as disclaime non-payment of debts, do sit with their hinder parts bare, that by that note of disgrace others may be terrified from all such vain expence, or borrowing more then they can tell how to pay. The Civilians of old set guardians over such brain-sick prodigals, as they did over madmen, to moderate their expences, that they should not so loosely consume their fortunes, to the utter undoing of their Families.

I may not here omit those two main plagues, and common dotages of humane kinde, Wine and Women, which have infatuated and besotted Myriades of people: They go commonly together.

Qui Vino indulget, quemque alea decoquit, ille In venerem putris——

To whom is sorrow, saith Salomon, Pro.23.39. to whom is wo, but to such a one as loves drink? it causeth torture, (vino tortus & irâ) and bitterness of minde, Sirac.31.21. Vinum furoris, Jeremy cals it 15. cap. wine of madness, as well he may, for insanire facit sanos, it makes sound men sick and sad, and wise men mad. To say and do they know not what.

Accidit hodie terribilis casus (saith S. Austin) hear a miserable accident; Cyrillus son this day in his drink, Matrem prægnantem nequiter oppressit, sororem violare voluit, patrem occidit ferè, & duas alias sorores ad mortem vulneravit, would have violated his sister, killed his father, &c.

A true saying it was of him, Vino dari lætitiam & dolorem, drink causeth mirth, and drink causeth sorrow, drink causeth poverty and want (Prov.21.) shame and disgrace. Multi ignobiles evasere ob vini potum, & (Austin) amissis honoribus profugi aberrarunt: Many men have made shipwrack of their fortunes, and go like rogues and beggars, having turned all their substance into aurum potabile, that otherwise might have lived in good worship and happy estate,

and for a few hours pleasure, for their Hilary term’s but short, or free madness, as Seneca cals it, purchase unto themselves eternal tediousness and trouble.

That other madness is on women, Apostatare facit cor: saith the wise man Atque homini cerebrum minuit. Pleasant at first she is, like Dioscorides Rhododaphne, that fair plant to the eye, but poyson to the taste, the rest as bitter as wormwood in the end (Prov.5.4.) and sharpe as a two-edged sword 7.21. Her house is the way to hel, & goes down to the Chambers of death:

What more sorrowful can be said? they are miserable in this life, mad, beasts, led like oxen to the slaughter: and that which is worse, whoremasters and drunkards shall be judged, amittunt gratiam, saith Austin, perdunt gloriam, incurrunt damnationem æternam. They lose grace and glory,

——brevis illa voluptas Abrogat æternum cœli decus——

They gain Hell and eternal damnation.