No maner of man doth or can vse to muche shoo- Obedience the best propertie of a Souldyar. 25. Reasons and authorites agaynste shootynge in war with the confutacion of the same. God is pleased with stronge wepons and valy- The commoditie of Shootyng in war throughe the Histories Greke and Latin, & all nations Chri- Vse of shootynge at home causethe strongeshoo- Vse of shootynge at home, except men be apte by nature, and connynge by teachyng, doth litle good A, The first boke of the schole of shoting. PHILOL HILOLOGUS. You studie to sore Toxophile. TOX. I wil not hurt my self ouermoche I warraût you. PHI. A Take hede you do not, for we Physicions saye, that it is nether good for the eyes in so cleare a Sunne, nor yet holsome for ye bodie, so soone after meate, to looke vpon a mans boke. TOX. In eatinge and studyinge I will neuer folowe anye Physike, for yf I dyd, I am sure I shoulde haue small pleasure in the one, and lesse courage in the other. But what newes draue you hyther I praye you? PHI. Small newes trulie, but that as I came on walkynge, I fortuned to come wt thre or foure that went to shote at the pryckes: And when I sawe not you amonges them, but at the last espyed you lokynge on your booke here so sadlye, I thought to come and holde you with some com munication, lest your boke shoulde runne awaye with you. For me thought by your waueryng pace & earnest lokying, your boke led you, not you it. it. TOX. In dede as it chaunced, my mynde went faster then my feete, for I happened here to reade in Phedro Platonis, a place that entretes wonderfullie of the nature of soules, which place (whether it were for the passynge eloquence of Plato, and the Greke tongue, or for the hyghe and godlie description of the matter, kept my mynde so occupied, that it had no leisure to loke to my feete. For I was reding howe some soules being well fethered, flewe alwayes about heaue and heauenlie matters, other some hauinge their fethers mowted awaye, and droupinge, sanke downe into earthlie thinges. PHI. I remebre the place verie wel, and it is wonderfullie sayd of Plato, & now I se it $5 In Phedro. A PHI. And was no maruell though your fete fayled you, seing your minde Alewe so fast. TOX. I am gladde now that you letted me, for my head akes wt loking on it, and bycause you tell me so, I am verye sorie yt I was not with those good feloes you spake vpon, for it is a verie faire day for a mā to shote in. me thinke you were a great dele better occupied & in better cōpanie, for it is a very faire daye for a mā to go to his boke in. TOX. Al dayes and wethers wil serue for that purpose, and surelie this occasiō was ill lost. PHI. Yea but clere wether maketh clere mindes, and it is best as I suppose, to spend ye best time vpon the best thinges: And me thought you shot verie wel, and at that marke, at which euery good scoler shoulde moste busilie shote at. And I suppose it be a great dele more pleasure also, to se a soule flye in Plato, then a shafte flye at the prickes. I graunte you, shoting is not the worst thing in the world, yet if we shote, and time shote, we ar not like to be great winners at the length. And you know also we scholers haue more ernest & weightie matters in hand, nor we be not borne to pastime & pley, as you know wel ynough who sayth. TOX. Yet the same man in the M. Cic. i off. same place Philologe, by your leue, doth admitte Arist. de moribus. 10. 6. Arist. Pol. 8. 3. holsome, honest and manerlie pastimes to be as necessarie to be migled with sad matters of the minde, as eating & sleping is for the health of the body, and yet we be borne for neither of bothe. And Aristotle him selfe sayth, yt although it were a fonde & a chyldish thing to be to ernest in pastime & play, yet doth he affirme by the authoritie of the oulde Poet Epicharmus, that a man may vse play for ernest matter sake. And in an other place, yt as rest is for labour, & medicines for helth, so is pastime at tymes for sad & weightie studie. PHI. How moche in this matter is to be giuen to ye auctoritie either of Aristotle or Tullie, I că not tel, seing sad me may wel ynough speke merily for a merie matter, this I am sure, whiche thing this faire wheat (god saue it) maketh me remēbre, yt those husbädmen which rise erliest, and come latest home, and are content to haue their diner and other drinckinges, broughte into the fielde to them, for feare of losing of time, haue fatter barnes in haruest, than they whiche will either slepe at none time of the daye, or els make merie In Phedro. wt their neighbours at the ale. And so a scholer yt purposeth to be a good husband, and desireth to repe and enioy much fruite, of learninge, muste tylle and sowe thereafter. Our beste seede tyme, whiche be scholers, as it is verie tymelye, and whan we be yonge: so it endureth not ouerlonge, and therfore it maye not be let slippe one houre, oure grounde is verye harde, and full of wedes, our horse wherwt we be drawen very wylde as Plato sayth. And infinite other mo lettes whiche wil make a thriftie scholer take hede how he spedeth his tyme in sporte and pleye. TOX. That Aristotle and Tullie spake ernestlie, and as they thought, the ernest matter which they entreate vpon, doth plainlye proue. And as for your husbandrie, it was more probablie tolde with apt wordes propre to ye thing, then throughly proued with reasons belongynge to our matter. For contrariwise I herd my selfe a good husbande at his boke ones saye, that to omit studie somtime of the daye, and sometime of the yere, made asmoche for the encrease of learning, as to let the lad lye sometime falloe, maketh for the better encrease of corne. This we se, yf the lande be plowed euerye yere, the corne commeth thinne vp: the eare is short, the grayne is small, and when it is brought into the barne and threshed, gyueth very euill faul. So those which neuer leaue poring on their bokes, haue oftētimes as thinne inuention, as other poore me haue, and as smal wit and weight in it as in other mens. And thus youre husbandrie me thinke, is more like the life of a couetouse snudge that oft very euill preues, then the labour of a good husbad that knoweth wel what he doth. And surelie the best wittes to lerning must nedes haue moche recreation and ceasing from their boke, or els they marre them selues, whe base and dompysshe wittes can neuer be hurte with continuall studie, as ye se in luting, that a treble minikin string must alwayes be let down, but at suche time as when a man must nedes playe: when ye base and dull stryng nedeth neuer to be moued out of his place. The same reason I finde true in two bowes that I haue, wherof the one is quicke of cast, tricke, and trime both for pleasure and profyte: the other is a lugge slowe of cast, folowing the string, more sure for to last, then pleasaunt for to vse. Now sir it chaūced this other night, one in my chabre wolde nedes bende them to proue their strength, but I can not tel how, |