A PRECEDENT FOR YOUNG PENMEN. OR THE LETTER-WRITER CONTAINING LETTERS of sundry sorts, with their several Answers. Full of Variety, Delight, and Pleasure, and most necessary for the instruction of those that can write, but have not the Gift of inditing.  
LONDON, Printed by G. Elder, for Robert Wilson, and are to be sold at his shop at Gray's Inn Gate. 1615.   

To the Reader.  
IN these latter times every Ballad-maker will be a Poet, as if every peddler would seem a Merchant, and every Pettifogger a Lawyer: so he that can scarce indite a Letter, will take upon him to be a Secretary: For myself, I dare not be so saucy, as to put such a Title to my Book; only this I have here written a few Letters, which, I hope, are so composed as will be precedents for young pen men, and not displeasing to elder years: such as they are, I put them out into the world to the censure of all: entreating the best to correct what is amiss, and the rest not to discommend that they cannot mend: and rest as I have reason.  
Your well-willing friend. M. R.   

TO THE RIGHT Worshipful, and my most worthy esteemeed Kinsman ANTHONY HOBART, of Hales Hall in the County of Norfolk, Esquire, all happiness on Earth, and the joys of Heaven hereafter.  
IN reading of Epistles, written in divers languages, I find them dedicated to such patrons, as could judge of their worth, and would accordingly accept them: Some to men of great account; other to men of lower Titles of honour, but in higher esteem of their love: Now finding great men so busy in great Matters, that I should have great ado with their patience, in troubling their leisures from employment in more serious affairs, and yet knowing my labours, in my Letters, worth the looking on, I have bethought me of such a Patron, as in his kindness will understand my work, and regard my love; which having found in your many favours, give me leave, with my service, to present my Book to your Patronage: Each Letter hath his Answer; the Subjects are divers, so is the manner of their inditing: Hateful I know they will not be to any; good they may do to many, that can aptly make use of them: and for yourself, and perhaps yours after you, it may be no hurt to peruse them; howsoever, at your idle leisure they will save time, and perhaps yield you pleasure in reading them: but loath to be tedious in needless Eloquence, I will leave them to your kind acceptance, and my love to your like command: and so rest.  
Your most loving Kinsman, M. R.   

❧ A Table of all the Letters in this Book.  

A Letter of request for a kindness.  
The Answer to the same.  
A Letter of counsel to a friend in distress.  
The Answer to the same.  
A Letter from a Nephew to his uncle from the University.  
The Answer to the same.  
A Letter of Love, to a Gentlewoman of good worth.  
Her Answer to the same.  
A Letter of kindness from a loving Father, to call horn an unthrifty son.  
His Answer.  
A Love letter to a fair Gentlewoman.  
Her Answer.  
A Letter of discontentment to a Gentlewoman of incontinency.  
Her Answer.  
A Letter of reprehension, of suspected unthankfulness.  
His Answer.  
A Letter of counsel from a discreet Mother, to her Daughter newly married.  
Her Answer.  
A kind letter of a Father to a prodigal son.  
His Answer.  
A Letter in a kind of challenge, upon report of a great abuse.  
His Answer.  
A Letter to a Kinsman, a young man towards a Wife.  
His Answer.  
A discontentive Letter upon the denial of friendship.  
His answer.  
A letter from a friend to a fantastical conceited madcap.  
His answer.  
A biting Letter to a clamorous Gentlewoman.  
The Answer to the same.  
A discontentive Letter of a coy Mistress.  
Her answer.  
A letter written to a friend in time of great affliction.  
His answer.  
A kind of quarrelsome Letter, upon a frown of a friend.  
His Answer.  
A Letter to an Uncle to borrow a horse.  
His Answer.  
A Letter from an old man, to his adopted Son, going from the University to travail. His answer.  
A letter of Counsel not to be precise. The answer.  
A letter from a Knight of great place, to a Gentleman to attend him. His answer.  
A Letter to a Knight for the entertainment of a Steward into his service.  
A thankful Letter upon the trial of his Servant.  
A Letter of counsel from a Brother to his Sister, upon her going from the Country to the Court.  
Her answer.  
A kind letter to a scholar going from the University to a benefice in a City.  
A letter to a worthy Knight beyond the Seas.  
His Answer.  
A letter of counsel to a friend going to travail.  
His Answer.  
A Letter written to a Nobleman, by a Gentleman in distress.  
A pleasant conceited letter to a friend in the Country.  
The Answer.  
A kind letter to a friend in the Country from the City.  
His Answer.  
A melancholy discontentive Letter, upon a frown of a Kinsman.  
A discontentive letter of a lover.  
The Answer.  
A comfortable letter to a kinsman, upon the burial of a young Son.  
The answer.  
A Letter to an Hypocrite upon betraying of a Friend.  
His answer.  
A Letter of advice to a friend that was to be married.  
His answer.  
A Letter of unkindness to a Kinsman, upon a report of his abuse. His answer.  
A Letter of kindness from a Gentleman to his love, from beyond Seas.  
Her answer.  
A most kind letter from a Lady to her Servant of good worth.  
His answer.   
FINIS.   

A Letter of Request for a kindness.  
IF you knew my need, you would not deny me, specially knowing the good you may do me. Your excuse may prove more wit, than love, and, my want, more grievous, than I hope your good will would me: that which will hurt you little will help me much, and what my remembrance shall be of your kindness, shall rest in my thankfulness: If protestations be not idle, you will perform the part of a friend, to put your will to your power, to pleasure him once that will love you ever: In Sum, leaving my hopes comfort to your kind answer, I rest:  
Yours or not mine own: W. H.   

The Answer.  
I Will not deny you, though I cannot help you, in that measure of comfort, that may answer your expectation: for, my purse is not even with my Credit, though I will not complain of poverty. Come therefore to me, and know me, that, Truth hath no Tricks, and I will not falter with a Friend: as I know my estate, I must manage my affairs; if I hurt myself, I can not help my Friends, but since bare words yield little comfort, you shall find better fruits in my affection: I know you are wise, and hope to find you kind, in being persuaded of my love, to be as ready as able to perform more than I will protest: so expecting your presence, in assurance of your patience, till I see you, and always, I rest:  
Your faithful loving friend: H. W.   

A Letter of Council to a Friend in distress.  
HOnest Will, I Condole with thee in thy discontentments, though I cannot ease thee of thy sorrows: but though my comfort be little, let not my Counsel dislike thee, to tell thee what I think, that will not be amiss for thee to think on: The traveler must not give over, till he come to his journeys end, and till the days work be done, there is no looking for wages: deep waters are dreadful to them that fear to wet their feet, but, wisdom will through though she wade up to the Chin; believe it, it is the Evening praiseth the Day, and he is only happy that holds out to the end: stand therefore to your tackling: For though your crosses are grievous, yet surely is your blessing great, in being so well able to go through them: and therefore fight the good fight, and your conquest will be comfortable, and if not here, yet in Heaven: shortly, God willing, I will see thee, and till then, pray for thee, that thy faith may never fail thee: and that I may find thee in such rest, that I may joy in thy Resolution: till when, and always, I rest.  
Thine, or not mine own: D. S.   

The Answer.  
Kind Robin, I am sorry you are sorry for me, because it will do you more hurt, then me, good: yet am I so far comforted in your Counsel, that if I could be myself, I should be much benefited by your instructions: but if oppression make the wiseman mad, bear with the imperfection of Fools: and know that when patience is put to her strength, passion, puts Grace to her Trial, I speak not this in despair of mercy, for God is all-sufficient as well in Comfort, as Correction: but, crosses abroad, and crucifyings at home, unkindness of kin, unfaithfulness of friends, breaches of vows, delaying of times scorns of beggars, and scoffs of fools, with frustrating of hopes, in prayers of faith and tears of repentance, have almost broken my heart, which only lives in the Grape to know an end of my grief: yet will I tarry the Lords leisure, and till then rest full of grief.  
Yours, what mine own.   

A Letter from a Nephew to his Uncle from the University.  
GOod Uncle you writ unto me, to know what fruit I have made of my study: To tell you truth, in reading over my Alphabet, I found in all the Cross row, the worst letter was, O: especially when I, went before it, and V: followed after it: For there finding that I o u, and can not yet come out of your debt, I cannot be aggrieved, that you are discontented, that I o u, and can not help it, yet thus much I gain by my reading, to find in my conscience, the charge of my debts, which I will discharge with all the speed that I am able, and in the mean time entreat my friends to that patience, that shall be nothing to their disprofit, among whom holding your love in no little account, assuring you ere long to here from me, and in the mean time not unthankful for your kindness: I rest.  
Your bounden loving cozen. R. W.   

The Answer.  
GOod cozen in your Alphabet you say you find o, the worst Letter, now, with me it is not so: for I find it rather in h: which I feel not in my Toe, for I am not so Rich as to have the Gout, nor in my head, for I thank God, I have reasonable good health of body, but it is only at my Heart to think of my unhappiness to have so ill comfort of my kindness: yet, let me not write this to trouble you, your Debt being but a Trifle; and therefore knowing your honest heart, I leave the time, to your best ability, and in the mean time hoping of your love, I wish you not to hurt yourself to help me; for though I am poor I am no beggar, and will not be unkind to them I love: in which, be you assured, I will rest, during life:  
Your loving Uncle: T. M.   

A Letter of Love to a Gentlewoman of good worth.  
WOrthy Lady, if I could not dissemble I were a fool, but if I would I were the more fool, knowing your wisdom to know craft to be the greatest folly, and your virtue to allow only Truth, to be the best Elequence: In plain Truth therefore, give me leave, to lay the service of my heart, at the feet of your favour, where if the deserts of my endeavour may not be disdained, your Honour shall not be embased, where your virtue is honoured: so craving pardon for my presumption, in the Humility of affection, I humbly take my leave.  
Your more willing, then worthy servant: B. R.   

Her Answer.  
SIr I have received your Letter, and by the Contents guess at your content: but give me leave to tell you that protestations are perilous shadows, and the Devil never deceives more than when he comes like an Angel of light: I speak not this with an ill conjecture to wrong a good mind, but the world is so full of Treason, that Truth is crept into a little Corner: To honour virtue, I cannot deny you, and to deserve well I can not dissuade you, but in the happiness of my favour your hopes may be deceived, though thus far, I subscribe to your petition, that I will disdain no honourable affection, but wish I were a more worthy Mistress of so worthy a Servant: and so in that care of my discretion, that may be no touch to my reputation. I rest.  
Your well wishing friend, E. B.   

A Letter of kindness from a loving father to call home an unthrifty Son.  
THe Pelican kills herself, to feed her young chickens: an unkindly brood to be the death of their breeder: the Cuckoo kills the Sparrow that hatched her: Oh unnatural bird to be her death, that gave her life! and the little Snakes eat out the belly of their dam ere they come abroad: Oh most hateful worm to be of so hellish a nature. Now seeing the shame of these, wilt thou like a shadow follow their substance? with thy disordinate life to be the death of thy father? I love thee dearly, and wilt thou grieve me deeply? do not so good Son: turn the glass of thy disgrace, to a course of better comfort: Leave the world and come home to me: I will meet thee half way with my robe and with my ring, I will wed thee to my love, and the fat Calf shall be killed to make a feast for thy coming: so beseeching God so to bless thee that I may see the fruits of his grace in thee, till I see thee or hear from thee, to the Lord of Heaven I leave thee.  
Thy most loving father. W. R.   

Answer.  
MY dear Father, I most humbly thank you for your kind Letter; which hath so wrought in my love, as hath almost Metamorphosed my mind from the humour it was in: for since that Grace hath opened the eye of my understanding, to discern betwixt good and evil, I find him worse than a Devil that feareth not God, and a Child to be loathed that loves not his Father: pardon therefore what is past, and fear not what is to come. You invite me to your house, that am worthy to be driven from your door, and will meet me half way, that merit banishment from your presence, and make me a feast that deserves ever to be kept fasting: but this shows, love descends before it ascend; God came to Man, ere Man could come to God; your love called me to comfort, before I could come to receive it: In sum, your kindness hath bound my love in an indissolvable duty, in which I hope shortly to see you, and till then ever to pray for you, that all happiness may befall you: and so humbly rest.  
Your obedient Son:   

A Love-letter to a fair Gentlewoman.  
Sweet Creature, if the World did not hold thee fair. I should think myself blind: and if the wise did not admire thee, I should not so much honour thee: but since, thy worth deserves more honour than I can give thee, give me leave only to pray for thee, that no black spot of pride may stain the fair white of thy virtue: but that, continuing in thy goodness, thou mayst enjoy the fullness of thy happiness: and for myself, that in the desert of thy favour, I may be a Servant of thy command: in which, more hoping in thy virtue, then presuming of my fortune: I rest.  
Thy unworthy Servant: B. T.   

Her Answer.  
KInd Sir; I would be as loath to be the gaze of the World's eye, as the subject of your fiction: and for the honour of wisdom, it should be rather in the Heavens than the Earth: for your prayers, I thank you, though I hope they are more charitable than necessary: and for your service, take it not unkindly, that I wish you a more worthy Mistress: and so entreating you to give me leave, to leave you to yourself, whom you have most reason to make much off; I rest.  
Too unworthy a Mistress of so worthy a Servant: E. M.   

A Letter of discontentment to a Gentlewoman, suspected of Incontinency.  
IF you were as wise as Solomon, yet if you were not more honest, I would not give a penny for your wit; if you were as rich as Croesus, yet if you want grace, I would not give an half penny for your wealth; and if you were as fair as Venus, yet, if you want virtue, I will not give a point for your painting: Sergeant modesty, is plain hypocrisy, and to flatter for gain, is the common course of the world: Babies in gay coats are children's sports, and fools Idols: For myself, I have known you long, and began to love you, but finding your folly, I have withdrawn my affection; and to play fair with you, upon even terms. I had rather give over my game with a little loss, then have a bare stake to set my rest upon: so wishing you henceforth to make your best match for your advantage, and not deceive yourself with hoping after a fools fortune, meaning as little as I can to trouble my thought with your idle humours. As I found you, I leave you: and so rest.  
Your Friend as I find cause: W. R.   

Her Answer.  
WHat you think of yourself, I know not, and what your estate is, I care not: it seems you are well read in names, but lack judgement in applying their natures: they that fear not God are worse than the Devil, and they that want grace are in a pitiful taking; for virtue, it is so rare, that think Venus' better fits your humour: for your pence, halfpences, and points, they are but peddlers ware, and therefore I have nothing to do with such Chapmen. Hypocrisy mistaken, may take jealousy in an idle humour, and as good be a painted Baby as a peevish Bowby: for your gain, if you be not pleased, you may change your Card or be content with your fortune, and for your frank play you are so fresh a gamester, that I think loss of time will be all that will be gotten by you: and so wishing you to keep your money in your purse, play with children for Apples, that you may eat your part of them, if you lose: like a white Godson, I will leave you to your mother's blessing: and so rest: till I see you, which I hope to do, never.  
Yours, Ass you mine: M. T.   

A Letter of reprehension of suspected unthankfulness.  
Cousin how kind you have found me, you know, and how unthankful, I have found you, I would I did not know: to be so long from me, and in your silence to forget me: in the notes of a good nature, I find no such ill disposition: but lest I may wrong you, and myself, with a false suspicion of unkindness, not knowing the cause, that may be excusable, I pray you write unto me by this Bearer: for if the cause of your silence have been sickness, I am sorry for it, if your Letters have been lost, or intercepted, we are both wronged, howsoever it is something is amiss, which I wish kindly to be amended: not to trouble you with a tedious Letter, the Contents perhaps discontentive, till I here from you, which I expect presently, in the nature of a kinsman and love of a friend, without great cause to the contrary: I rest.  
Your very loving cozen: R. D.   

His Answer  
MY good Uncle, how kind so ever I have found you, I now find you contrary, when in the Construction of dispositions, exprobration, and unthankfulness make a hard Choice, which is the greater Cut in unkindness: you think it long, since you heard from me, and I here from you to soon, when, in your writing, I find you so far from yourself: for, could I not be myself, I should forget you: but, if a Card come cross, shall the game be given up? and if there fall out a mischance, shall it give suspicion of an ill mind? I hope not: well the cause known of my silence, I leave so the report of this bearer, to whom I know you will give trust: and by whom, I send you an other written long since, how miscarried and returned, being tedious to write, I will leave to his delivery: so hoping, that when you find where the fault is you will there lay the repentance, in the true assertion of a Natural kinsman, rather willing to deserve a good turn, then to here of it: I take my leave.  
Your very loving cozen, N. W.   

A Letter of Counsel from a discreet Mother to her Daughter, newly married.  
MY good Daughter, thou art now going into the world, and must leave to be a Child, and learn to be a Mother, and to look to a family, rather than to the entertainment of a friend: and yet, both necessary in their kinds: find the disposition of thy husband, and in any wise move not his impatience: Let thy kindness bind his love, thy virtue his comfort, and thy housewifery his commendation: avoid fatling Gossips, yet be kind to thy Neighbours, and no stranger to thy kindred, be gentle to thy servants, but not overfamiliar: have an eye to the door, and a lock to thy Chest: keep a Bit, for a Beggar, and a Bone, for a Dog: make much of the be that brings home the honey, and lose not the Cock that makes much of his Chickens, take heed abroad of the Kite, and within of the Rat: pray to God for his blessings to all thy proceed, and have a religious care of thy modest government, and rather for charity then praise give relief to the poor: if at any time thou hast need of any good I can do thee, be assured while thou hast a mother, thou hast a friend: so, hoping in thy kindness, thou wilt take care of my Counsel, beseeching God so to bless thee that I may ever have joy in thee, with my heart's love, to his tuition I leave thee: And so rest.  
Thy most loving Mother. E. B.   

Her Answer.  
MY good Mother, you have passed the years of a Child, and know the Care of a Mother: and therefore, for your kind advice for my carriage I humbly thank you, and what benefit I will make of your lessons, you shall find in the fruit of my observation: I am but newly come into the world, and God knows, when I shall go out of it: and am yet scarce warm in my house, and therefore hardly know yet how to go through it: for my husband's humour, if he altar not his Nature, I do not doubt, we shall live as Doves: while care and kindness shall continue content: my servants shall find me, both a Mistress and a friend, my Neighbours no stranger, and idle Gossips no companion: thus in the duty of love, with thanks for motherly care in prayer to the Almighty, to bless me with his Grace, and to live no longer, then in his love and yours, I take my leave: for this time, but rest during life.  
Your most loving Daughter, E.W.   

A kind Letter of a Father, to a Prodigal Son.  
MY Son, for thee to spend carelessly, that which with great care I have gotten, may be as much thy disgrace, as my grief: when I would do thee good, and shall not be able to perform it, and thou shalt do thyself hurt, when I cannot help it: I can be content to increase thy exhibition, but to maintain Riotousness, is to Nurse iniquity: yet let me not be bitter in my reprehension: but, let my kindness be thy correction: Let me know thy wants, and I will supply them: but let them not exceed my ability, lest I be short to relieve them: I know thou hast wit to consider of my writing, and I hope thou hast Grace to make use of thy understanding: and therefore, to be brief, in the love of a Father, I leave thee to thy heavenly Father: who, I hope, will so bless thee, that, I shall have joy in thee: so, hoping to hear from thee, and that good of thee, that may make me glad to know it, in thee: till I see thee, and always: I rest.  
Thy loving Father: R. B.   

His Answer.  
MY good Father, your reprehension was to kind for so ungracious a Son, and yet the mildness of your Counsel, hath so wrought in my love, that the limits of your direction, shall be the passage of my life: and such shall be henceforth my care of your comfort, as I shall rather, wish my grave, than your grief: I have called my wits to account, and in the expense of Prodigality, I find so poor a reckoning, that the sum will be all in misery, where sorrow hath little comfort: I have cut my finger, but not wounded my hand, and a little Salve will make all hole: my wants are not great, but I wish rather to want life, than grace to be thankful to God, for his goodness, and to you for your kindness: so, in the due and true obedience of love, praying for your health, and hearts ease: I rest.  
Your most loving Son: H. P.   

A Letter in a kind of Challenge, upon report of a great abuse.  
HOw you have wronged me you know, but how you will right me, I know not: Patience is a virtue, also would I quit a villainy in a true kind: good words will hardly excuse ill actions: I know you are cunning, I wish you were honest: to abuse any man, is but the Badge of an ill mind, but to wrong a friend is a proof of a vile Nature: which how I can digest you shall find as it falls out: and lest sufferance may be thought Cowardice, let this suffice, give me a speedy satisfaction, or to have your wages for your good work: and so till I hear from you, to a better end than I expect: I rest.  
Yours as I have: S. T.   

His Answer.  
IF your rage were not above your reason, I should think to satisfy your discretion; but let me tell you, the truth, in being to credulous upon report, you may wrong yourself and your friend: I speak not this in fear of your threats, but to clear my conscience of a false accusation: I know no wrong I have done you, and how I am resolved to right you, when occasion shall serve you shall, find what is in me: if you will be at quiet with yourself, your friends will not trouble you, and he that is your servant pay him his stipend: for mine own part, I am nothing in your debt, but for a few foul words: which I will bury in oblivion, except necessity of occasion, wherein yet I will observe a method not to pass the course of good manner: so hoping ere long to find you in a better humour: I rest, as I have reason.  
Yours, as you mine. I. S.   

A Letter to a Kinsman, a young man towards a Wife.  
GOod cozen, I hear you are in love, I wish it with all the world: and that your affection is forcible, I hope it is in virtue, but that it is with a woman, which makes me to fear your weakness: either in some touch of her unworthiness or your own: I speak not this to dissuade you from marriage, for the course is honourable: but if there be a cross to content, it may prove uncomfortable: what ever it be, I wish it, to the best, but let me entreat you, not to conceal from my Love, upon what ground you have builded the house of your hopes comfort, that if I like the platform, I may the better pray for your prosperity, and in the hope of your good husbandry, be glad of your thrift: I know not your object, but what ever be your subject, make not yourself an object: in brief, acquaint me, I pray you, with your proceedings, that when you draw your deeds my hand may do you no hurt: so wishing you first to serve God, and then to look to yourself, and to know Diana, before you be to busy with Cupid, in the hearty love of a true Kinsman, till I here from thee, and always: I rest.  
Your most loving Uncle. T. R.   

His Answer.  
MY good Uncle, I thank you for your kind Letter, and touching the Contents, I hope my Answer shall not discontent you, that I am in Love, I do not deny it, but with all the world I will not confess it, for the Reprobates are out of the Rule of Charity: that my affection is of force, I grant it, for so had I rather have it, then fantastic, and with a woman believe it, for shall we abandon their love, by whom we have our breeding to life? I know it is not your meaning: for my weakness, in unworthiness, you must leave that to the blessing of Grace, whereon building the house of my hopes comfort, the foundation well laid I the less fear the fall of it: in the Subject of mine Object can be no Abject, when Diana's Cupid knows neither Vulcan nor Venus: but if Pallas and Mars make a conjunction Copulative, in an Accident unseparable, the joy may be unspeakable: I writ not this out of the Art, but the heart of love, where there is more hope of faith, than a poetical fiction. To grow towards the matter, that I know you most look at, let it suffice you, that shortly I will see you, and then acquaint you with that I hope shall not dislike you, but to the confirming of comfort, at the hour of conclusion, in joining hands unto hearts you will be rather a father then a friend: in hope whereof, and prayer for which, I humbly rest.  
Your most loving Nephew: T. P.   

A discontentive Letter upon the denial of friendship.  
IF I were rich, I would be beholding to no beggars, and if wise, I should trouble no fools: but he that is plagued for his sins must have patience with his crosses: yet spite of the Devil, God will bless his Servants: when Christmas comes we shall have Holy days, and though the Lent be long, Easter follows Good-Friday: I know to well you understand me to ill: but having known you to long, to find that I do in you at last, meaning to trouble you no more, except with my fight against my will, I rest as I have reason.  
Yours as you mine. B. D.   

His Answer.  
HE is poor whom God hateth, and he rich that is contented: he is wise that knows himself, and he unwise that misconstrueth an other: punishments of sin are the trials of patience, and afflictions well taken are the tokens of love: twixt feasting and fasting are days of indifference, and who will not work must take the profit of idleness. Your knowledge to well may be taken to ill: but if your presence may be troublesome, let me entreat your absence: so neither angry, nor well pleased, till I hear better of your humour: I rest.  
Yours, as you mine. H. B.   

A Letter from a friend to a fantastical conceited Madcap.  
IF I know where to find you, I should know how to send after you, for what I think of you, I should know how to write unto you, but I think you are like a Bird, to fly up and down, where you list, or like a Chameleon, to change into all manner of colours: I am sorry to see how your unseasoned brain sets your wits a woolgathering: but would you once be yourself, your friends would be glad of you, for there are good things in you, howsoever you make use of them: If I had not heard of you now, I think I should never have heard of you, for I could not devise almost what should become of you, very strangely you went from me, but if more kindly, you would come to me, your welcome should be in better than bare words: & therefore, if I may entreat you, and not to trouble you, when you can conveniently, let me see you, that we may speak of something, that is necessary to be spoken off: be you assured, I will not hurt you, and what good I can do you, you shall find before I will tell you: and thus with my hearty commendations to your kind acceptation, in hope shortly to hear from you, and not long after to see you: till then and ever, to the Lord of heaven I leave you.  
Your assured loving Friend. N. W.   

His Answer.  
IF you were not estranged from that I left you, I should know how to find you: but being as you are, I know not what to say unto you: you have not heard from me a long time, and me thinks to soon at last, considering the comfort I find in your Commendations: For you would seem kind, and yet in words show the contrary, when in the manner of your writing, the bitter overcomes the sweet: if the good be marred, what should you do with the evil: and if my wits be out of temper, what should a fool do among wise men: I have no Birds nor Beasts to figure your fancies, but an Ape is no man, though he be nimble in his conceits: and he that bites like Diogenes, deserves a name of his Nature, your hurt I fear not, and your good I seek not: but if I chance to come, near you, it is a chance, but I will see you, when as I find my welcome, you shall envy my company: till then, rather to quite your courtesies, then to move your discontent, in the Answer of your Letter, loath to be in your debt for an humour: in more love then idle talk, as I was and will be: till I see you, and always.  
Your loving friend. H. T.   

A biting Letter to a Clamorous ungentlewoman.  
IF all Birds were Nightingales, the Owl would not make such a noise, whose feature is as ill favoured as her Note is unpleasing: yet such deformed things are in Nature, that perfection may be the better esteemed: her feed is most upon vermin, except she light on a Bird in her sleep: when having filled her gorge she falls to pruning of her feathers, till she leave near a good one on her back: now if you understand not this figure go no further than yourself, in whom being all that unworthiness that may deserve all unhappiness, in the same I leave you, as I found you, and so I rest till I hear better of you.  
Yours, as you see: W. B.   

Answer.  
IF all Beasts were Horses, an Ass would not keep such a braying: whose shape is as unhandsome as his flesh is unwholesome: yet such creatures there are to serve the use of a Clown, only to bear either burdens, or blows: now if you understand not my meaning, look but upon your picture, and you shall see the proportion: in which being nothing, worth any thing, in as little regard as may be, till I find better cause of liking; I rest as I was, and will be.  
Yours as you may conceive. A. S.   

A discontentive Letter of a coy Mistress.  
YOur coy looks condemn you for little noise, & your sharp speech of no sweet disposition: it is pity so good apparel should have so ill lining, if I had not mine eyes I should worship an Idol, but when it know colours, I can guess which is in grain to be short, I will give honour her right, and virtue her Grace, beauty her praise, and wisdom her honour, but where I find conditions of a contrary Nature, I will regard them accordingly: the best is I am not the first that hath been deceiue●… nor shall be the last that shall be deluded: and yet though this be no excuse for my folly, it shall be a warning to my discretion, in the placing of my affection, in which not over boots though over shoes, not gone so far but I can come home again: I rest.  
Yours if you were your own. N. R.   

Her Answer.  
IF you look for hearts in eyes, you may be out of the rule of love, and let me tell you that your crabbed writing shows a crooked disposition, for your apparel and the lining, if I were acquainted with your Tailor, I should the better know the measure of your meaning: and yet if I mistake not your figure it goes no further than yourself, whose out side is better than your inside: if you deceive yourself, blame no body but yourself, and if you deceive me; I will snap up mine own sorrow: if you have done amiss, know how to excuse it, or amend it, and when you find a good warning, make your best use of it: In brief, howsoever you trouble yourself, I pray you trouble me no more: for which kindness, I shall rest in much thankfulness.  
Yours as I find cause. B. T.   

A Letter written to a friend in time of great affliction.  
Kind Anthony, thou writest unto me to know how I do: and though perhaps it may be grievous to thee to know it, yet being truth, to thy love I will tell it: if thou ask how I far? as hard as any man to live, if what I do? shed tears for my sins and pray for mercy, sigh to think of the follies of my youth, and sorrow to see the misery of mine age: If how I pass my time? in the passions of the mind: if where I live, in the ma●e of grief, where till I get into my grave, I think I shall never get out: if how I live so near the nature of death, as if one may live dying, I die living: for may I not offend the heavens majesty to speak it, I think never course of life came nearer to the thorny Crown about Christ's head which pricked him round about: so is it with me; crosses abroad and crucifyings at home, in body and mind, puts patience to a high point: Oh my torments are innumerable and almost intolerable, but that his goodness that gave me them, gives me grace to bear them: for in brief, if want to supply necessities, unnatural kindred, unfaithful friends, unconscionable Creditors, unquiet neighbours and a most uncomfortable wife, meet all together to the trial of a heart, whether it will hold or not, think if thou canst, in what perplexity is my spirit: and pray in thy heart for my ease or end of it: And thus assured, if thou canst do me good, to find it, till I hear from thee, and till death, I rest.  
Thine what mine own. W. R.   

His Answer.  
HOnest Henry, I am sorry in my heart for thy heaviness, and to ease thee of thy grief could be content to bear part of thy passions: but let this comfort thee, that thou art not alone in thy calamities; for every man hath his cross, carry it as well as he can: and for myself; though my shoes be finely made, yet they so wring my toes, that they give me many a twing at the heart: and yet I must commend my Shoemaker and conceal my pain, because the fault is in my feet: if we had not our sins we should not have our punishments: believe me Henry, afflictions are the Badges of God's blessings, if they be borne without murmuring at his will: he that keeps a house may have many evil birds about it, but I must confess within doors the night Raven is the worst, whose continual croaking is many times uncomfortable: but have patience, it is a spiritual salve, that healeth all the sores of the heart, and a Tenure by which we have possession of our Souls, which gift of grace, God of his goodness, in his mercy grant me, and thee, and all his servants: deliver us from our miseries and make the joy of our lives in the feeling of his love: to which prayer, hoping thou wilt say Amen, till I see thee, and always: I rest.  
Thine or not mine own. R. B.   

A kind of quarrelsome Letter, upon a frown of a friend.  
AT my last being in your company, your countenance gave me some imagination of your discontent: if you be angry, I would know with whom, and for what: if it be with yourself, you know how to mend yourself, if with me, I know not why, nor care I wherefore; if it be your nature, I will not seek to alter it, and if but your humour, I would wish you to purge it, and so wishing you to satisfy me, if you have any skill in Astronomy, whether we shall have fair weather or foul: as I hear from you I rest.  
Yours, as you mine. T. N.   

His Answer.  
MY occasions of my countenance are secret to myself: at which, if any take exceptions I wish me out of their company: your condition I know not, nor desire greater to be acquainted with: for any hurt that is done the amends may be soon made; if you be desirous of quarrels you may have your hands full of mischief, but if you will be at peace with yourself, I know no man that means to trouble you, so loath to be at cost with any Almanacs, to look into the rules of Astronomy, come what weather will, welcome by the Grace of God: and so I rest.  
Yours as you mine. D. T.   

A Letter to an Uncle to borrow a horse.  
MY good Uncle, I have occasion to travel some few miles, further than (I fear) my feet will easily carry me, if therefore I may entreat you to lend me your horse, for some few days, I will travel him easily, tend him carefully, and feed him sufficiently: his safe return you shall not doubt, nor my thankfulness for your kindness: so loath to use needless compliments till I here from you, and always I rest.  
Your very loving Nephew. R. T.   

His Answer.  
IF I should lend you my horse you might think me an ass knowing your horsemanship, and his quality: but let this satisfy you, three things I will not lend, nor can I spare: my wife, my horse, nor my sword: the one from my bed, the other from my stable, the third from my side: the one for my pleasure, the other for my defence, and the third for my service: but, that you shall not think I will be altogether unkind, I have sent you herein enclosed a piece of gold, to hire you a Nag: so hoping of your discretion, to have patience with my denial, I rest.  
Your most loving Uncle. T. R.   

His Answer. A Letter from an old man to his adopted Son, going from the University to travail.  
MY good Son, I find by thy writing that thou art determined to leave the university, and to look abroad into the world; and being persuaded, that I have seen something in it, desirest my counsel for thy carriage through it: to satisfy thy request, let this suffice thee in a few words, that I set thee down for a caveat in all thy courses: if thou be a Courtier, beware of cost, if a Lawyer of Conscience, if a Merchant of Credit, if a Tradesman of craft, if a Churchman of error, if a Soldier of blood, if a travailer of thy way, and whatsoever, of thy estate; and that the world may not overgo thee, pray to God so to bless thee, that his grace may ever guide thee, and then have thine eyes about thee, & fear no hurt to come near thee: but for that all nations are not of one nature, nor all men of one mind, make use of thy observation, according to the place of thy passage: avoid grossness, and niceness, lest the one may prove as disgracious as the other displeasing: cloy not thyself with friends and purchase no foes: take heed of subtle wits and smooth tongues; for they are the closest pickpockets in a commonwealth: take heed of dead bones in nimble fingers, and have no love to play with painted paps, lest when you look for your stake, you find a bare board: sort with the best spirits, practise the best exercises, and love the best people: let God be ever before thee, and his blessing be ever with thee: So, ready in any kindness, to perform any thing that may do thee pleasure, to the uttermost of my power, I rest.  
Thy most loving father. D. T.   

His Answer.  
MY good Father, touching your Compendium, for my carriage through all courses, how kindly I take it, you shall know when I am able to requite it: in the mean time, I will make that use of it, that in much thankfulness shall make me think of your kindness: for I find it like Ramus his abridgement of Aristotle's Logic, where in a little room a man may run over a world: it is a little nose gay, but full of sweet flowers, and in the sent I find such comfort, that I will like, semper vivens, have it ever fresh in my memory. While I live I will keep it as the Apple of mine Eye, and if I live to have a Son, I will learn it him as a good Legacy: for myself I take it as a portion of much love, which while I live I hope not to part with: In brief not to use ceremonious compliments, with so judicious an understanding in the thankful heart of an honest mind: till I see you, and always: I rest.  
Your most loving Son. T. W.   

A Letter of Counsel not to be precise.  
GEntle cozen, I fear you are more full of conscience than wit: for if you follow your precise course, you will prove either a silly Ass, or a holy Beggar: for let me tell you, while we are in the world, we must use the world, and neither to wish to be out of it, nor to be idle in it: be not of the Family of Love, without a working Faith, lest while you look up to heaven, you be shut out of God's house: to be religious I allow you, and commend you ●o be zealous, but in the music of the Soul go not a Note above Ela, lest you be quite out of tune: and when your Brain swims in Humours, you be drowned in the depth of errors: were you a Churchman, the commodity of your Altar, might give you leisure to contemplate: but being in an other predicament, you must look about you in an other ●…ature: In brief, God's providence must be no excuse for idleness: you are commanded six days to labour, not only with the mind, but all the members: hear then the word of God, and do thereafter: take h●ed of Hypocrisy, it is the high way to hell: from which God keep you, and lead you in the way of Truth, that in the patience of your pains, you may see the fruits of your labours: in which you shall best please God, profit yourself, and be no charge to your friends: So in my prayers for you, hoping to hear well of you, to the tuition of the Almighty, I leave you.  
Your loving cozen. M. B.   

The Answer.  
MY good cozen, I fear you have more wit than conscience, to look more into the world, than your comfort above the world: we are all God's Beggars, for who hath any thing that he hath not received? and better I hold it to be a silly Ass, than a subtle Fox, and a holy Beggar, than a hellish liver: you wish me religious, and commend my zeal, and yet while I am in the world I must be a worldling: how greeth this together: we cannot serve God and Mammon: Martha was full of business, but one thing is necessary, and Mary chose the good part: I confess, want may be grievous, and poverty disgracious in the world, but the covetous GOD hateth: though I be no chaplain shall I not be of the Church? and in God's house I hope we love all one an other: Now for the work of Faith, can the Spirit be better exercised, then in hearing of the word of God? and when Meditation helpeth memory, may not contemplation be comfortable? Good Cousin deceive not yourself, in misdeeming of me, be you as far from heresy, as I am from hypocrisy, and if your Brain swim in the delight of Truth, you will never drown in the depth of error: To conclude, have a charitable opinion of my disposition, and I will pray for your perfection: so hoping on God's providence, that I shall be no charge to your purse: wishing you so clear a sight, that you may have a most happy seeing: in the true Love of a kinsman, I rest.  
Yours, what mine own. C. B.   

A Letter from a Knight of great place, to a Gentleman to attend him.  
HOnest Henry, now I am come to the place that I have taken upon me, I have many occasions of employments of many servants, among whom I want one of that sufficiency that I know to be in thyself, whom I would willingly proffer to place of good profit: For knowing thine insight into the world, how to manage businesses, in their best Natures, thou shouldest ease me of much trouble, and be a mean of thine own good. Strictness of conscience, may be hurtful in curiousness; and secrecy, with sufficiency make a great proof of wit. In brief, I know you can understand me, and therefore if you be not otherwise bestowed, let me know by your answer, how you like of my offer: which howsoever shall not dislike me, because I know you love me: So wishing you what you wish yourself, till I hear from you, I rest.  
Your affectionate friend: M. I.   

His Answer.  
WOrthy Knight, I rejoice in your advancement, and am assured you can not want fit servants for your employment, more worthy than myself of your preferment: but in my humble love give me leave to tell you the truth of my opinion: that there is nothing puts more home to the heart of an honest mind, then to run any course that may give a wound to the Conscience: which while wit would excuse, wisdom lays open, when if the soul find grace in Repentance of sin, the heart cannot but bleed in the sorrow of iniquity: but God is all-sufficient in all things: and therefore knowing your virtuous disposition, to his gracious protection leaving your most happy preservation, in prayer for the same, with the increase of all comfort, in the bounden duty of my loves service, I humbly take my leave.  
Your servant assured in what resteth in my power: I. S.   

A Letter to a Knight for the entertainment of a Steward into his service.  
WOrthy Knight; at my last being with you, you spoke unto me to do my best in helping you to a Servant, that you might employ for your Steward: Now if it please you at my hands to accept the bearer hereof, believe it you shall find his sufficiency so fitting your content, that I dare undertake you shall not need to seek any further: I have known him long, and such every way his disposition, as may deserve good regard in a very good understanding: he is honest, and wise, and able to live of his own, yet in donor of your worthiness desireth to follow your favour: for his Truth you shall not doubt it, and for his behaviour, I know you will like it: for his wages I will leave it to your wisdom in his desert: so with his duty commending my service to the command of your kind love, till I see you, and always: I rest.  
Your very loving Kinsman. T. R.   

A thankful Letter upon the trial of his Servant.  
MY good cozen, among many courtesies, I thank you most kindly for my man, who in my great content, hath answered the Contents of your Letter, for such hath been his carriage as hath gotten good will, not only of all my house, but of such of my friends, as have occasion to know his service: less vice, and more matter worthy love, have I not seen in a man of his sort: yea such hath been his desert of my love, as except for his better preferment, I will not part with him in haste: For in earnest in many true Rules of Civility he may be an example to good judgements: In brief, as I never found you to fail in any kind care of my good, so in this I have great cause to thank you: and wherein it may lie in my power to requite you, be assured you shall know I love you: in which, I rest assuredly.  
Your most affectionate Kinsman and friend R. S.   

A Letter of council from a Brother to his Sister upon her going from the country to the Court.  
SWeet Sister, I hear thou art going from home to a high place, from the country to the Court, believe it thou wilt find it a place of danger, for the preservation of thy best comfort: for there is honour both to be got, and lost: but for a caveat in thy carriage, read what I here have written unto thee, and lay it up in thy memory, it will do thy understanding no hurt: Take heed of the Mewing of Musk Cats for they watch but for a Mouse, and when they have their prey, they are all gone away: Let not the fading gloss of gay clothes dazzle the eyes of thy spirit, nor fair tongues rob thee of thy fame: for a good name is not like a garment: for if it once be broken, it will never be set together again: there are many hands that will be plucking of flowers, whose hearts never care how the stalks grow, or whither: but if you will be your own friend, let no man take the fruit without the Tree: believe no idle vows, nor vain protestations, for many times the tongue and the heart are far asunder: when the best words have not the best meanings: Nor let ambition bewitch thee, for the sin is all one with the Lord or his Lackey: the Ice once cracked will crack more, and what is the face that hath lost the beauty of the mind? sweet Sister, I writ not this that I fear thy imperfection, but to forewarn thee from evil: And what good is to be gotten, seek it by that virtue that may keep thy colour without stain, when a Maiden blush is the beauty of modesty: serve God, and he will bless thee: pray to him, and he will defend thee? love him, and he will keep thee, that no hurt shall come near thee: be constant in thy Religion, loyal in thy Allegiance, courteous in thy behaviour, and virtuous in thy love, so no doubt but the Court will grace thee, and the King of Kings will so advance thee, that though she be no Lady on earth, thou shalt be an Angel in heaven: To which happiness in prayer for thee, to his tuition I leave thee.  
Thy most loving Brother. D. H.   

Her Answer.  
MY most loving Brother, I most kindly take your most loving Letter, which I will lay up for your sake, and mine own good, not in my pocket nor my Cabinet, but in the inward Chest of my heart: and will daily read it, as the rules of true wisdoms direction: but to be a little merry with the answer of your figures, let Musk Cats Meaw where they will, I hope to be no Venison for Vermin, and for the Garden of my favour there shall no hand pluck aflower, except he take the Root and stalk to his keeping: for the gloss of gay coats, they may bewitch Babies eyes, but the eye of virtue, looks after no vanity, and for false hearts and fair tongues, they are easily discerned, they go so commonly together: betwixt pride and baseness there is a carriage of civility, which I hope to hit on without touch of dishonour, so leaving Lords to their Ladies, and their Lackeys to lower Creatures, beseeching the Almighty to bless me here with his Grace, and hereafter in Heaven to make the least of his handmaides rather than the greatest Princess on the Earth with all the pleasures of the world: to which prayer hoping you will say Amen: in much thankfulness for the care of your kindness: I rest.  
Your most loving Sister. E. B.   

A kind Letter to a Scholar going from the University to a Benefice in a City.  
GOod Cousin, I understand by your Father, that you are determined shortly to leave the University: but yet withal that you have bend your mind only to the study of Divine understanding, and leaving the world, betake yourself wholly to the Church, and in the ministery of the word to do good unto God's people: I commend your determination, but with you, if I might advise you, to spend some few more years in the University, for your further hearing and reading, for your better confirmation of your resolution: not that I fear the blessing of your Spirit, but that it is a function of great charge, care, and labour. Charge in regard of the Talon, being out of the Treasury of Heaven, the riches of the Soul, then for care in the wisdom of the use of the same, to whom, at what time most fitting for his Glory that gave it, and their good, that shall receive it: and for labour that you be not found idle, when you shall be called to account to yield up a reckoning of your Stewardship: yet let me not dissuade you from a good work in respect of your young years: For john was the youngest of the Evangelists, and Timothy was young in the Church of GOD; and therefore I fear not his gracious blessings to thy proceed: In hope whereof, and prayer for which, I rest.  
Your most loving Uncle. T. W.   

A Letter to a worthy Knight beyond the Seas.  
WOrthy Knight, I know you expect by this bearer to hear from me: to write you news into a foreign nation, I know not how my letters may be intercepted: and then if I should write any thing either false, or unfitting, my hand would witness against my will: and yet let me say thus much of my observation of the world, that in these latter times, I find nature in so strange a course, almost in the carriage of a world of Creatures, that, had not the Creator of the earth a hand of mercy over it, surely the sins of the Creatures would call for a new deluge: but what shall I say, myself being as a Cipher among figures, or a shadow among men, to see the world at such a pass, as that I hold him happy that is well out of it: but the best is, when night is past, that maskers will be gone, and when the Sun sends forth his beams, the Owl will not dare to look abroad: not to trouble you too long with little better than trifles, give me leave only to Love you, and to wish I were with you, which if your return be not the sooner, may hap to be ere you be aware: till when, in the service of my hearts love I rest.  
Yours assured at command. T. N.   

His Answer.  
YOu dare not write unto me in thee, sparts for fear either of your own mistaking in your writing, or misfortune in the delivery of your letters: but hap what will I have written to you of the occurrents of this time, where betwixt the Masculine and Feminine Gender, a conjunction copulative is of such a force as puts down all the speeches of the world, yea there is such fluttering among these birds, as if every day were Saint Valentine's: and touching the wheel of the world, it runs such a whirligig, that if nature mend not her course, she will be quite out of credit; in the Courts such envy, betwixt Mars and Apollo, that a song sometime puts a service out of countenance: in the City such jealousy betwixt Vulcan and Venus, that Mercury hath much to do to save Cupid's bow and arrows: In brief all the powers of hell are so busy in the world, that if God did not bless his servants, the Devil would have a shrewd day: but he that is gracious hath not to do with the vicious; and he that trusteth in God, hath no fear of the Devil: to be brief, if thy leisure will serve thee, make a step over to me, thou shalt make thine own welcome, and thy charge shall be nothing: so longing to see thee?, till I hear from thee, and always I rest.  
Thine or not mine own. R. D.   

A Letter of Counsel to a friend going to travail.  
GOod cozen, I understand thou art determined to travail, let me entreat thee to take heed to thy way: for mountains are laboursome to climb, and a valley may be of a deadly length, woods may be full of wild beasts, and the high ways have unhappy holes; the Rivers may have swift streams, the Seas are full of rocks and sands, and the best ship may have a leak: learn therefore thy compass before thou run thy course, lest if thou light among the Sirens, thou be drowned ere thou swim: Fortune helpeth the bold but seldom to a blessed end; and what a woe is it to wit when had I witted sees the wheel, that threw him headlong from his happiness: I speak not this to disanimat thee, for adventures are honourable, so the cause be according, but if imagination be deceived, how is discretion impaired? I would not yet like a Snail have thee live always in a shell, but know thy way and then take thy walk: betwixt Scylla and Charybdis the Channel is narrow, and he that looks not with both his eyes, may be deceived on one side: but what ever thou dost, do all to God's glory: Love him above all, and fear nothing at all: but from him only, have all that is necessary in all: so loath to make a long book of a few lines for thy instructions, let this suffice that I have written: be wary in thy passage, and pass not wisdom in those limits: when thou beginnest to read, in all the letters of the row the Holy Ghost be thy speed: a little token of my love I send thee, and so with my prayers for thee, to the Lord of heaven I leave thee.  
Your faithful loving Kinsman. T. N.   

His Answer.  
GOod cozen your kind Letter I take most kindly, and let me tell you what answer I make to your admonitions: no man knows his way till he have learned it, and he that best knows his compass may yet run his course awry, when sudden storms may wrack the best ship: adventures and labours are the passages of man's life, and mountains and valleys are the walks of the world: he that looks to his feet need not fear a hole in the way, and he that feareth a beast is not fully a man: for the rivers, strong Oars will go against swift streams, and a cunning Pilot will keep the channel, where the passage is narrow, there is the more need of heed, and if the ship be tied, there is the less fear of her sailing: for the songs of Sirens they are the fictions of the Poets, but the figures are good warnings to beware the mischief of wantonness: he that will wink when he should see, may blame himself for his blindness, and yet the clearest eye may be deceived in a colour: Imagination must breed hope, before happiness be attempted, and where the intent is virtuous, the voyage is like to be gracious: all is in the will of God, upon the hand of whose mercy, building the hope of my comfort: assuring myself of your prayers for the prosperity of my travails: till my return and always: I rest.  
Your most loving cozen. D. T.   

A Letter written to a Nobleman, by a Gentleman in distress.  
Right Honourable,  
WHen Lords beg of Kings, I hold it the less baseness to beg of Nobleness: and though this book begging be a disgrace to learning, yet since, Paupertas non est vitium, and, Honos alit Artes, I hope your honour will rather relieve affliction then rebuke presumption: in the few lines that I here humbly present your honourable patience, I have written that my heart is burst,, and yet to set it together again, what I cannot do, if I should die in not doing of it: vouchsafe my good Lord to read them, and me in them: & with a few of your golden Angels, deliver me from a world of incarnate Devils: which with silver daggers seek to stab the heart of my liberty: which, being a great part of my life, do a Noble deed to save it: God himself will requite you, and I shall be bound to pray for you, that all the good, that the heavens will, and the world can give may befall you: So having long known and ever loved your Honour, beseeching the Almighty to bless the same, with increase of advancements, in the worthiness of true Nobleness, at the feet of your favour, laying down the service of my heart's love, craving pardon for my presumption, I humbly rest, during life.  
Your Honours: in all humble devoted and bounden duty and service: W. R.   

A pleasant conceited Letter to a friend in the Country.  
YOu writ unto me for News, and me thinks it is News you writ unto me: For not having heard from you thus long, I wonder I have heard from you at last: And yet though I am merry with your silence your Letter is welcome, for I rather feared your health then your unkindness: but to answer your expectation, let me tell you that the occurrents of this time are such as are either false, and then unfit to write: or if true, not worth the writing: only this I dare tell you, that rich men play with the world, and make a kind of paradise upon earth, while the portion of the poor is most held in patience: For myself I am as you left me, neither beholding to friends, nor fearful of enemies, and for the world I am so far in love with it, that I could wish I were well out of it, and for yourself I wish rather your continuance of your home loving friends, then to hunt here after fortune a day after the fair: To conclude, if I come near you, I will see you, where so ever you are I will love, and so to the Lord I leave you.  
Yours, what mine own. N. B.   

The Answer.  
OLd wag of the world, I see thou art never out of thy humour: I am glad to hear from thee, not of thy discontents: but to see now thou setst them down, which in a manner is as music, when I am sometime melancholy disposed, but for the rich let them be proud only of their time, for the poor may happen meet with them at their graves, and prove better men in an other world: For thyself I held thy happiness greater in thy Contemplation then many misers in their large possessions: And in brief when thou art weary of the world come to me, and let us talk of that which all the world shall not hear of: so longing for thee, till I see thee, or hear from thee, I rest.  
Thine, or not mine own. B. S.   

A kind Letter to a friend in the Country, from the City.  
Kind Anthony, I am sure thou dost not marvel a little at my long silence: I could make sufficient excuse, were it not to tedious to write: But let this suffice, that a troubled mind is not always in temper: and the world is at such a pass, that the wise are amazed at it, and for myself, such I do find it, that as I can not get out of it, so I scarce know what to do in it: for wisdom is watched, whether her works be like her faith, and folly is much in favour, because she pleaseth the common people: so that I think I must turn fool, if I will feed on fat meat: and yet it greeth so ill with the nature of my spirit, that I had rather live as a shadow among men, then be the substance of a monster: oh my good Anthony how happy a life do you lead? that may here the Birds sing in your woods, see your Ewes suckle your Lambs in your fields, catch a fish with a worm, a Coney with a Ferret, and a hare with your Greyhound, and by the way as you come home, contemplate more comfort than the earth can give you: for he that hath a heart to lift up his eyes, will be of Senecaes' opinion, that the mind of that man is brought into a straight, that can be contented with earth: and he that were in his right wits would hold it the greatest misery in man's life to desire to live, though in misery: For mine own part I wish I were not out of it, but so in it, that I may not love it: but I will neither hasten my death nor prolong my life in this world, but attend his pleasure that will call me out of it; and the little time that I have in it, I would I could spend it in thy presence, not to ease my charge, nor to charge thee, but that in true worth, I know not a more worthy friend: and thus till I see thee, which shall he as soon as I can conveniently, in the affection of an honest heart: I rest.  
Thine or not mine own. R. B.   

His Answer.  
HOnest Robin, thy silence was not so discontentive, as thy letter was comfortable, for thou writest not like the world, bare words for matter, but always like thyself, the fruits of true judgement: thou sayest well of the world that it is a strange pass, when, let the wisest heads have the most honest hearts, yet will the eyes of wickedness, be prying into their proceedings, while fools craft is soon seen, when they most seek to deceive themselves: but let the fat Bulies' of Bashan, feed with Dives in his delicates, poor Lazarus will have a time to be far merrier than meat can make them: Oh Robin the monsters of this age see not their own deformities, and better be a shadow among men, than so vumanly a substance: while blessed be the spirit, that hates the course of iniquity: for my happiness I confess it is more than I am worthy of: but most in contemplation above possession, when the Spirit above Nature, sees Grace above Reason, showing it a better world than this where it lives: yet while in this little time we pass the pilgrimage of a few days, more pleasure is in the least creature of life, than the fairest dead Idol: if I catch a Trout with a fly, & a Nightingale with a worm, the one serves me in my dish, the other sings in my Chamber, and are not these comforts more contentive, then to hang on friends, and hope of fortunes, while the wits are dead weary, ere travail find comfort: well be the world what it will, come thou to me when thou wilt: and command what thou wilt, for though I say it, believe it thou hast not a more loving friend, that will approve it: so longing to so thee, that I may have my fill of discourse with thee, with all the happiness a heart can wish thee, to the Lord of heaven I leave thee: and so rest.  
Thine what mine own. W. R.   

A melancholy discontentive Letter, upon a frown of a Kinsman.  
cozen, upon your last looks, I looked a little into myself, where I find it too true, that he that is cursed in the cradle, can hardly be blessed in the swaddle, and yet God is too strong for the Devil, while Fortune is but the fiction of fools: Patience goes against the hear with Nature but yet where grace guides the Spirit the way is not hard to heaven: the fore-horse goes strait, because he sees on either side, and the wild goose race makes more haste then good speed: I know there is a difference betwixt running and creeping: and yet who is surest footed may take a fall; excuses are more ready than foresights, and yet the wisest may be overtaken ere he be aware: In sum, he that cannot be himself, must be subject to others censures, and therefore to conclude with my cross, this shall be only my comfort: that he that is at wars with the world shall have peace in Heaven; to which joy after sorrow God send me, and all his servants, among whom hoping to find your name in the book of life: in more love than I found in your books, I rest.  
Your loving kinsman. B. S.   

A discontentive Letter of a Lover.  
WHen you were fair I loved you, for than you were not painted: and when you were wise I honoured you, for than you were not inconstant, but when Art married Nature, and variety showed but vanity, I was aggrieved at my folly to have grounded my affection on so little Grace; yet when I see all true Birds have feathers, I must let them take their flight: but yet rather hear them in the woods than feed them in Cages: yet will I not shut them out at my windows nor hurt them, if they come in my house, but regard them in their Natures: and so hoping that you understand the figure in the honour of your best substance, I rest.  
Yours, more than you are yourself. S. T.   

Her Answer.  
GOod cozen, do not wrong affection with a false jealousy: Nature is ever herself, and I will be no changeling: what my looks were I know not, but what my love is you may know: Curses and Crosses differ much in construction, and punishments for sin are no plagues unto patience: God is ever good, and will help his servants while the fictions of fortune, are but the fruits of idleness: He that builds his hope in heaven, may the better carry his crosses in the world, which bred in the Cradle, will be blessed in the Saddle: And therefore my good cozen, not a little rejoicing in the resolution of your disposition, command my love, though I cannot command my looks: and wherein I am myself fear me not to be yours: for poverty is no vice, where virtue deserves honour: and so wishing thee much good, and ready to do thee any good, in the best nature of good will: I rest.  
Your very loving Kinsman. T. R.   

The Answer.  
WHen you were wise I did esteem you, for than you were not humorous, and when you were faithful, I did love you, for than you were not jealous, but since imagination marred discretion, and jealousy overtopped love, I will quit you with your own Card that I am sorry in my affection to be so mistaken in a friend: but since beasts are most of a hair, though not all of a hew, I will rather look on them in a field then lead them in my hands: and yet will I not hunt them from my ground: nor drive them from their field: and so hoping that your skill in Arithmetic will discern a figure from a Cipher: I rest.  
Yours so far as I may be myself. M. W.   

A comfortable Letter to a Kinsman upon the Burial of a young Son.  
SWeet cozen, I know you are both religious and learned, and therefore hope I shall need the less reasons to persuade you to that patience that may best make proof of your disposition: I am sorry for your sorrow, and not your loss of your dear and worthy beloved little Son: For know this he was but lent you, till be that hath him would send for him: yea yourself are not your own, but only his that lets you have here a being, till he will have you be in a better place: Good cozen I know Nature is of great force, yet where Grace governs Reason, all is referred to the will of God. I am assured that you pray daily that his will may be done, and will you grieve that his will is done? far be it from you: you know it is written, and I am assured you believe it, that whosoever loveth Father or Mother, or Wife, or Child more than God, is not worthy of his love: Take heed therefore not to offend the Creator, with to much loving his Creature; and lose not yourself, in losing his love, that you have for his love that you cannot have: he is among the Angels, and would you have him among men? Yea, he is with God himself, and are not you glad that he is with him? Furthermore, if you were alone in your grief, you were the more to be lamented, but when thousands are in your predicament let not passion exceed Reason, but humble your will to the will of God, to whose heavenly protection, leaving your most happy preservation: I rest.  
Your most loving Kinsman. H. B.   

The Answer.  
MY good cozen, I thank you for your kind Letter, in which I have received no little comfort: but let me tell you that a collop cut out of the flesh puts near home to the heart, and therefore so far as a man may not offend God, give me leave to be myself, but yet I beseech him of his mercy, I may not pass the limits of his love: I read that jacob sorrowed, for the only imagined death of joseph, and shall not I grieve to see my boy in his grave? and yet this is my comfort, his years were to young to commit any actual sin, and in the election of love I am assured he was a Lamb of the Lords flock: it is written, that GOD would have young Lambs for his Sacrifice, and my boy could not be to good for his Altar: No, let not my soul live, but in the service of his love: though I loved him on earth, yet would I not wish him from heaven: for there is no jewel so safely kept, as that which is ●aid up in the Lord's Treasury: I have read it, that sorrow may tarry for a night, but joy cometh in the morning: then if the night be long there is a time of mourning till morning, and therefore blame not Nature in being herself, though the power of Grace shall work in her patience. In sum, I hope so to manage my affection, as shall not impeach my discretion, nor lose his love that is the joy of my life: to whose gracious blessing leaving our eternal comfort, in prayer for that patience that may qualify unfitting passion, in much thankfulness for your careful kindness, wishing with conveniency to see you, and often to hear from you, in more affection than protestation: I rest.  
Your very loving cozen. T. W.   

A Letter to an Hypocrite upon betraying of a Friend.  
TO deny a Friend may be a touch of unkindness, to deceive a Friend a proof of ill Nature, but to betray a Friend to plain a villainy: Cheaters are set down in the orders of evil persons: Panders are base Rascals, and the scum of the earth: but Traitors are most hateful villains of the world: Among the twelve Apostles there was but one judas, and wilt thou leave the Saints to follow one Devil? If thou wilt run his course thou mayst run to his confusion: Wilt thou mistake GOD for Gold, and sell thy Soul for a little Silver? What will be thy end? Shame on earth, and sorrow endless: What shall I say to thee? but think what will become of thee, being a horrible Hypocrite, take thy portion among them: Heaven will abhor thee, and while the world hates thee, hell stands gaping for thee: but GOD in his mercy, if it be his holy will, forgive thee: and so never meaning more to look on thee, but to give all my friends warning of thee, to the will of the Almighty: I leave thee.  
Thy never more Friend. I. S.   

His Answer.  
AN unwilling offence may be an excuse acceptable, what I spoke of a sudden, I repent at leisure: for believe if no gain could have made me so ungracious: but yet the occasion of your discomfort, can not but grieve me in unhappiness, though far be it from my thought to do so wilful a wickedness: be not therefore so bitter in your invective against my baseness: For if I were of judas his Nature, I wish no other than his end: place me not therefore among Hypocrites, for I hate them in my heart, and desire not to live, to deserve that imputation: be you assured my grief is greater for you than I will show, till in the fruit of my labour, I may make proof of my Love, wherein I will not cease till I have effected something to some issue in your good, in which you shall see how far it is from me to be so unhonest as I was unhappy, and how far my evil hap was from the Nature of an evil mind: and so entreating your patience, so suspend your judgement, I hope ere it be long to have you write in an other humour: till when beseeching the Almighty to bless you with health, and my heart with happiness, to be a mean of your comfort: till then and always I rest: howsoever you esteem me, in the affection of an honest heart.  
Your most faithful friend. E. B.   

A Letter of advice to a friend that was to be married.  
FRiend William, I hear that you are shortly to take a Wife, or rather to be taken of a Wife: and that for a little times pleasure you will sell your lives liberty: but if the matter be not so far gone with you, let me tell you a little of my mind, to make you look about you: for touching your choice, note what I say unto you: if your wife be to young she knows not how to make her ready, & if too old she must have one to help her out of her bed: if she be fair, she will give you cause of jealousy, if foul, she will be annoyance to thee: if full of talk she will be troublesome, if sullen she will be irksome, if of honourable Parents you must make curtsy to all her kindred, if base you must provide for a generation: If rich she will be proud of her portion, and he kept accordingly, if poor still calling for necessities and sometime more than needs: if wise, she will think to govern thee, if foolish she will disgrace thee, if Barren she will be uncomfortable, if full of children she will be chargeable: if you trust her not with all you have, she will grow suspicious of your love to her, if you trust her with all you have, she will make you a servant to her: if she never loved any, she will not know how to love you, and if she have loved other, she will not leave all for one: furthermore, if a man buy a house, or land, he will survey it, ere he purchase it, and if he do not like it when he hath it, he may find means to part with it: but for a wife he must take her at all adventures, & once had during life must never part with her: and therefore if thou canst fine a woman neither young nor old, wise nor foolish, rich nor poor, kind nor froward, honourable nor base, talkattue nor sullen, let me see her, that I may commend thy choice in her, but till then make stay of the Bells, they may not ring to thy Bridal: but if thy affection be settled and not to be removed, then in God's name, go on with God's blessing: So till I hear from thee how the world goes with thee, wishing thee either a good wife or none: in my prayers for thy prosperity, I rest.  
Thine what his own. B. T.   

His Answer.  
FRiend Samuel, your Caveats to my marriage I have looked over very carefully, and am sorry to see your course so far short of such comfort: for in the election of Grace, it is an holy ordinance of God, for the good of his people: and in the world what companion can equal a kind wife? If I were as nice in my choice, as you are in your notes, I might have a long dream, and awake find nothing: but come to yourself, when you die what issue will you leave of your love? & if you live how ungodly is your course? for myself I am fully resolved rather to adventure the hope of virtue, then to run a vainer course, and to nourish mine own family then to feed on another man's trencher: In brief, when the Bells ring, you shall know what business is at Church: and if you come to my house, you shall be hearty welcome: till when wishing you as to myself, I rest.  
Your very loving friend. R. T.   

A Letter of unkindness to a kinsman upon a report of his abuse.  
cozen, I am sorry to hear that I do of you: how you have used me you know, how I can digest it you know not, I would willingly forget unkindness, but if my patience nourish your presumption, who deserveth to be blamed if one folly beget another? you are my near kinsman, I would you were not so far from me in kindness, but I fear the Proverb proves to true in you, to use me more like a kinsman than a friend: but I can be angry and not sin, or rather be sorry and not angry: for if you will come to me, and acknowledging your fault make it a warning to your further evil: the evil past shall not be remembered, and the good to come not unregarded: and so wishing to see you, and the sooner the better, till than I rest.  
Your loving cozen. D. H.   

His Answer.  
MY good cozen, were I not as near unto you in love as in Nature, I should reverence your years, but scarce have patience with your humour, and indeed I should take your unkind Letter as it is written: upon a false supposition to touch me with an ill condition to wrong him at all, whom I love so much me thinks goes much against the Note of good Nature: For let me tell you, I never used you ill, nor will use you but well: and if any man have otherwise reported, upon his face, whosoever, except yourself, I will approve it: I think no man so dishonest as to devise it, but if it be a woman, though her wickedness show her weakness, yet I wish her tongue had not such strength with your ears as to put such an imagination into your heart, to be so needless a trouble to your mind: to see you I fear not, and the sooner for mine own satisfaction, that where the fault is found it may be confessed: And so leaving to your discretion to consider of my desert: in irremovable affection, I rest: till I see you, and always.  
Your assured loving Kinsman. T. W.   

A Letter of kindness from a Gentleman to his love, from beyond Seas.  
Sweet Love, how I grieve for thine absence, thy presence when I see thee, shall make proof: the Seas may separate bodies, but not minds; and there is no Nation in the world that can alter the nature of love: Mistrust not therefore my frailty; for, my affection is fixed, and suspect not mine infidelity, for my vow is ever before me: if my business were over, it should not be long ere I would be with thee: and be persuaded, so soon as I can I will see thee: in the mean time, by this Bearer, a token of my love I have sent thee: by whom, I make no doubt, to hear happily from thee: so praying for thy health, and our joyful meetings, till then, and ever.  
Thine, or not his own. R. B.   

Her Answer.  
Sweet heart, I have received thy Letter lovingly, thy love kindly, and thy token thankfully: believe it, if it might be no trouble to thee, the Seas should not keep me from thee: for, wheresoever I am, my heart is with thee: of thy love I am not jealous, though I would be joyful of thy company: for me thinks I live, as a kind of dead body without thee. By this Bearer, I return thee a requital of thy kindness, and wish myself had as swift a passage to thy love: In brief, not knowing the trouble of thy business, I will only pray for thy health, till our meeting make our happiness: and so rest full of unrest, till I may rest during life, in most faithful love.  
Thine what mine own: S. P.   

A most kind Letter from a Lady to her Servant of good worth.  
MY second self, whom if I could, I should love more than myself, knowing thy Affection, and being assured of thy Faith, I wonder at nothing more then, at what keeps thee from me: I expected thee long since, and have now sent to thee on purpose, to know how thou dost, and why I do not see thee: thou knowest my Estate, yet am I poor without thee: for under heaven, I have no life but in thy love: to which I heartily commend the hope of my world's comfort: let therefore, all excuses laid aside, thy presence hasten my happiness, and send me word by this Bearer, when I shall expect thee without fail: till when, holding every hour an year, my mind being desirous to be disburdened of some matter that I will not commit to Paper: In hope of thy health, and prayer for thy happiness till I see thee, and ever I rest.  
Thy loving Mistress, and most assured Friend: M. W.   

His Answer.  
MY more than myself, most worthy beloved and honoured Mistress, I am sorry for nothing, but that you should be sorry for any thing: and especially, that in me should rest the occasion of your discontent; but such have been my business, as have so crossed me in my coming, as when I have had my foot in the stirrup, have brought me back from my horse: but the heat is well over which hath troubled my mind, that though I have no disease, yet am I so much diseased, that finding my heart written over with the Letter Y, and feeling small comfort in the Vowel O, have only wished for my health, to be with the blessed Syllable V: Your Estate is yourself, upon whom under heaven, is the stay of my happiness: shortly I intent to see you, and if your messenger make not the more haste, to be with you before him, till when, and during life, I rest.  
Your faithful loving Servant: D. T.  
FINIS.