as well as he. One says one thing, and another another, and there is, I say, no measure to end the controversy. 'Tis just as if two men were at bowls, and both judged by the eye; one says 'tis his cast, the other says 'tis my cast, and having no measure, the difference is eternal. Ben Jonson satirically expressed the vain disputes of divines, by Inigo Lanthorne, disputing with his puppet in a Bartholomew fair: It is so-It is not so- -It is so-It is not so. Crying thus one to another a quarter of an hour together. SELDEN. RELIGION is made a juggler's paper, now 'tis a horse, now 'tis a lantern, now 'tis a boar, now 'tis a mau. To serve ends, religion is turned into all shapes. IBID. REVENGE. Revenge, at first though sweet, Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils. Revenge is but a frailty, incident To craz'd and sickly minds; the poor content Of little souls, unable to surmount An injury; too weak to bear affront. MILTON. OLDHAM. REVENGE is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out: for as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law, but the revenge of that wrong putteth the law out of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon: and Solomon, I am sure, saith, "It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence." That which is past is gone and irrecoverable, and wise men have enough to do with things present and to come; therefore they do but trifle with themselves that labour in past matters. There is no man doth a wrong for the wrong's sake, but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honour, or the like; therefore why should I be angry with a man for loving himself better than me? And if any man should do wrong merely out of ill nature, why, yet, it is but like the thorn or brier, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other. The most tolerable sort of revenge is for those wrongs which there is no law to remedy: but then, let a man take heed, the revenge be such as there is no law to punish, else a man's enemy is still before hand, and it is two for one. Some, when they take revenge, are desirous the party should know whence it cometh: this is the more generous; for the delight seemeth to be not so much in doing the hurt, as in making the party repent; but base and crafty cowards are like the arrow that flieth in the dark. Cosmus, Duke of Florence, had a desperate saying against perfidious or neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable: "You shall "read," says he, "that we are commanded to "forgive our enemies, but you never read that we "are commanded to forgive our friends." But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune: "Shall "we," saith he, "take good at God's hands, and "not be content to take evil also?" And so of friends, in a proportion. This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well. LORD BACON. RICHES. To gather wealth by fraud, do not presume, RANDOLPH. RICHES are made for spending, and spending for honour and good actions; therefore extrordinary expense must be limited by the worth of the occasion. LORD BACON. I CANNOT call riches better than the baggage of virtue. The Roman word is better, impedimenta. For as the baggage is to an army, so is riches tó virtue: it cannot be spared nor left behind, but it hindereth the march; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great riches, there is no real use, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but conceit. IBID. BE not penny wise; riches have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves, and sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more. IBID FORTUNE is like a market, where, many times, if you stay a little, the price will fall. IBID. SEEK not proud riches, but such as thou mayest get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly. LORD BACON. A GREAT estate left to an heir, is as a lure to all the birds of prey round about to seize on him, if he be not the better established in years and judgment. IBID. TAKE heed that thou seek not riches basely, nor attain them by evil means: destroy no man for his wealth, nor take any thing from the poor, for the cry and complaint thereof will pierce the heavens. And it is most detestable before God, and most dishonourable before worthy men, to wrest any thing from the needy and labouring soul. God will never prosper thee in ought, if thou offend therein: but use thy poor neighbours and tenants well, pine not them and their children, to add superfluity and needless expenses to thyself. SIR WALTER RALECH. SHALL we value honour and riches at nothing, and neglect them as unnecessary and vain? Certainly no, for that infinite wisdom of God, which hath distinguished his angels by degrees, which hath given greater and less light and beauty to heavenly bodies, which hath made differences between beasts and birds, created the eagle and the |