Aristotle must find out the motion of Euripus; Pliny must needs see Vesuvius, but how sped they? One loseth goods, another his life; Pyrrhus will conquer Africk first, and then Asia:

He will be a sole Monarch, a second immortal, a third rich, a fourth commands. Turbine magno spes solicitæ in urbibus errant: we run, ride, take indefatigable paines, all up early, down late, striving to get that, which we had better be without, (Ardelion’s busie-bodies as we are) it were much fitter for us to be quiet, sit still, and take our ease.

His sole study is for words, that they be

—— Lepidæ lexeis compostæ ut tesserulæ omnes,

not a syllable misplaced, to set out a stramineous subject: as thine is about apparel, to follow the fashion, to be terse and polite, ’tis thy sole busines: both with like profit. His only delight is building, he spends himself to get curious pictures, intricate models & plots, another is wholly ceremonious about titles, degrees, inscriptions:

A third is over-solicitous about his diet, he must have such and such exquisite sauces, meat so dressed, so far fetched, peregrini aeris volucres, so cooked, &c. something to provoke thirst, something anon to quench his thirst. Thus he redeems his appetite with extraordinary charge to his purse, is seldome pleased with any meale, whilest a triviall stomack useth all with delight and is never offended.

Another must have roses in winter, alieni temporis flores, snow water in summer, fruits before they can be or are usually ripe, artificial gardens and fish-ponds on the tops of houses, all things opposite to the vulgar sort, intricate and rare, or else they are nothing worth.

So busie, nice, curious wits, make that unsupportable in all vocations, trades, actions, employments, which to duller apprehensions is not offensive, earnestly seeking that which others as scornfully neglect. Thus through our foolish curiosity do we macerate our selves, tire our souls, and run headlong, through our indiscretion, perverse will, & want of government, into many needless cares, and troubles, vain expences, tedious journies, painful houres, and when all is done, quorsum hæc? cui bono? to what end?

Nescire velle quæ Magister maximus Docere non vult, erudita inscitia est.

Amongst these passions and irksome Accidents, unfortunate marriage may be ranked: a condition of life appointed by God himself in Paradise, an honourable and happy estate, and as great a felicity as can befall a man in this world, if the parties can agree as they ought, and live as Seneca lived with his Paulina: but if they be unequally matched, or at discord, a greater misery cannot be expected, to have a scold, a slut, an harlot, a fool, a fury or a fiend, there can be no such plague.

Eccles.26.14. He that hath her is as if he held a Scorpion, &26.25. a wicked wife makes a sorry countenance, an heavy heart, and he had rather dwell with a Lyon, then keep house with such a wife. Her properties Jovianus Pontanus hath described at large, Ant.dial.Tom.2. under the name of Euphorbia.

Or if they be not equal in years, the like mischief happens. Cecilius in Agellius lib.2.cap.23. complains much of an old wife, dum ejus morti inhio, egomet mortuus vivo inter vivos, whilest I gape after her death, I live a dead man amongst the living, or if they dislike upon any occasion,

Judge who that are unfortunately wed What ’tis to come into a loathed bed.

The same inconvenience befals women.

At vos ô duri miseram lugete parentes, Si ferro aut laqueo læva hac me exsolvere sorte Sustineo: ——

Hard hearted parents both lament my fate, If self I kill or hang, to ease my state.

A young Gentlewoman in Basil, was married, saith Felix Plater, observat. l.1. to an ancient man against her will, whom she could not affect, she was continually melancholy, and pined away for grief; and though her husband did all he could possibly to give her content, in a discontented humor at length she hanged her self. Many other stories he relates in this kinde.

Thus men are plagued with women; they again with men, when they are of divers humors and conditions; he a spendthrift, she sparing; one honest, the other dishonest, &c. Parents many times disquiet their children, and they their parents. A foolish son is an heaviness to his mother. Injusta noverca:

A step-mother often vexeth a whole family, is matter of repentance, exercise of patience, fuel of dissention, which made Cato’s son expostulate with his father, why he should offer to marry his client Solinius daughter, a young wench, Cujus causa novercam induceret; what offence had he done, that he should marry again?

Unkinde, unnatural friends, evil neighbors, bad servants, debts and debates, &c. ’twas Chilons sentence, comes æris alieni & litis est miseria, misery and usury do commonly together; suretiship is the bane of many families, Sponde, præstò noxa est: he shall be sore vexed that is surety for a stranger, Prov.11.15. and he that hateth suretiship is sure.

Contention, brawling, law-sutes, falling out of neighbors and friends. —— discordia demens (Virg.Æn.6.) are equal to the first, grieve many a man and vex his soul. Nihil sanè miserabilius eorum mentibus (as Boter holds) nothing so miserable as such men, ful of cares, griefs, anxieties, as if they were stabbed with a sharp sword, fear, suspicion, desperation, sorrow, are their ordinary companions.

Our Welchmen are noted by some of their own writers, to consume one another in this kinde; but whosoever they are that use it, these are their common symptomes, especially if they be convict or overcome, cast in a suit. Arius put out of a Bishoprick by Eustathius, turned Heretick, and lived after discontented all his life.

Every repulse is of like nature; heu quanta de spe decidi! Disgrace, infamy, detraction, will almost effect as much, and that a long time after. Hipponax a Satyrical Poet, so vilified and lashed two painters in his Iambicks, ut ambo laqueo se suffocarent, Pliny saith, both hanged themselves.

All oppositions, dangers, perplexities, discontents, to live in any suspense, are of the same rank: potes hoc sub casu ducere somnos? Who can be secure in such cases. Ill bestowed benefits, ingratitude, unthankful friends much disquiet and molest some.

Unkinde speeches trouble as many: uncivil carriage or dogged answers, weak women above the rest, if they proceed from their surly husbands, are as bitter as gaul, and not to be digested. A Glass-mans wife in Basil became melancholy because her husband said he would marry again if she died.

No cut to unkindness, as the saying is, a frown and hard speech, ill respect, a brow-beating, or bad look, especially to Courtiers, or such as attend upon great persons, is present death:

Ingenium vultu statque caditque suo,

they ebbe and flow with their masters favors. Some persons are at their wits ends, if by chance they overshoot themselves, in their ordinary speeches, or actions, which may after turn to their disadvantage or disgrace, or have any secret disclosed.