And for bodily stature which some so much admire, and goodly presence, ’tis true, to say the best of them, great men are proper, and tall, I grant, —— caput inter nubila condunt; but belli pusilli, little men are pretty;

Sed si bellus homo est Cotta, pusillus homo est.

Sickness, diseases, trouble many, but without a cause; It may be ’tis for the good of their souls: Pars fati fuit, the flesh rebels against the spirit: that which hurts the one, must needs help the other. Sicknesse is the mother of modesty, putteth us in minde of our mortality; and when we are in the full career of worldly pomp and jollity, she pulleth us by the ear, and maketh us know our selves.

Pliny calls it, the sum of philosophy, If we could but perform that in our health, which we promise in our sicknesse. Quum infirmi sumus, optimi sumus; for what sick man (as Secundus expostulates with Rufus) was ever lascivious, covetous, or ambitious? he envies no man, admires no man, flatters no man, despiseth no man, listens not after lyes and tales, &c.

And were it not for such gentle remembrances, men would have no moderation of themselves, they would be worse then tigers, wolves, and lions: who should keep them in awe? princes, masters, parents, magistrates, judges, friends, enemies, fair or foul meanes cannot contain us; but a little sicknes (as Chrysostome observes) will correct and amend us. And therefore with good discretion, Jovianus Pontanus caused this short sentence to be engraven on his tombe in Naples: Labour, sorrow, grief, sicknesse, want and woe, to serve proud masters, bear that superstitious yoke, and bury your dearest friends, &c. are the sawces of our life.

If thy disease be continuate and painfull to thee, it will not surely last: and a light affliction, which is but for a moment, causeth unto us a far more excellent and eternall weight of glory, 2 Cor. 4. 17. bear it with patience: women endure much sorrow in childbed, and yet they will not contain; and those that are barren, wish for this pain: be couragious, there is as much valour to be shewed in thy bed, as in an army, or at a sea fight: aut vincetur, aut vincet, thou shalt be rid at last.

In the mean time, let it take his course, thy minde is not any way disabled. Bilihaldus Pirkimerus, Senator to Charles the fifth, ruled all Germany, lying most part of his days sick of the gout upon his bed. The more violent thy torture is, the lesse it will continue: and though it be severe and hideous for the time, comfort thy self as martyrs do, with honour and immortality.

That famous philosopher Epicurus, being in as miserable pain of stone and colick, as a man might endure, solaced himself with a conceit of immortality: the joy of his soul for his rare inventions, repelled the pain of his bodily torments.

Basenesse of birth is a great disparagement to some men, especially if they be wealthy, bear office, & come to promotion in a common-wealth; then (as he observes) if their birth be not answerable to their calling, and to their fellowes, they are much abashed and ashamed of themselves. Some scorn their own father & mother, deny brothers & sisters, with the rest of their kindred & friends, & will not suffer them to come near them, when they are in their pomp, accounting it a scandall to their greatnes, to have such beggarly beginnings.

Simon in Lucian, having now got a little wealth, changed his name from Simon to Simonides, for that there were so many beggars of his kin, and set the house on fire where he was born, because no body should point at it. Others buy titles, coats of armes, and by all means screw themselves into ancient families, falsifying pedegrees, usurping scutchions, and all because they would not seem to be base.

The reason is, for that this gentility is so much admired by a company of out-sides, and such honour attributed unto it, as amongst Germans, Frenchmen, and Venetians, the gentry scorn the commonalty, and will not suffer them to match with them; they depresse, & make them as so many asses, to carry burdens.

In our ordinary talk and fallings out, the most opprobrious and scurrile name we can fasten upon a man, or first give, is to call him base rogue, beggarly rascall, and the like: Whereas in my judgement, this ought of all other grievances to trouble men least. Of all vanities and fopperies, to brag of gentility is the greatest; for what is it they crack so much of, and challenge such superiority, as if they were demi-gods? Birth?

Tantane vos generis tenuit fiducia vestri?

It is non ens, a mear flash, a ceremony, a toy, a thing of nought. Consider the beginning, present estate, progresse, ending of gentry, and then tell me what it is. Oppression, fraud, cosening, usury, knavery, baudery, murther and tyranny, are the beginning of many ancient families; One hath been a bloud-sucker, a parricide, the death of many a silly soul in some unjust quarrels, seditions, made many an orphan and poor widow, and for that he is made a Lord or an Earl, and his posterity gentlemen for ever after. Another hath been a bawd, a pander to some great men, a parasite, a slave, prostituted himself, his wife, daughter, to some lascivious prince, and for that he is exalted.

Tiberius preferred many to honours in his time, because they were famous whore-masters and sturdy drinkers; many come into this parchment row (so one cals it) by flattery or cosening; search your old families, and you shall scarce find of a multitude (as Æneas Sylvius observes) qui sceleratum non habent ortum, that have not a wicked beginning: