Gaze on with wonder, and discern in me,  
The abstract of the world's Epitome.   

THE NEWYEARS GIFT: PRESENTED AT Court, from the Lady PARVULA to the Lord MINIMUS, (commonly called Little JEFFERIE) Her Majesty's Servant, with a Letter as it was penned in shorthand: wherein is proved LITTLE THINGS are better than GREAT. Written by MICROPHILUS.  
Printed at London by N. and I. Okes, dwelling in Little St. Bartholomew's. 1636.   

To the Reader.  
AS they are not always most valiant who are most violent: so commonly the most censorious, be the least judicious. I expect the judgement of the wise, and the censure of the over-wise; and wish I were of the formers pardon as certain, as the latter are of mine. The censures of the learned aught to be judicious, the censures of the unlearned humble, the censures of them both, charitable. Howsoever if any shall say, when I undertook this work I had but little to do, it shall no way displease him, who is, and will remain to his friends a servant, and to his foes a  
MICROPHILUS.   

TO HIS HIGH and Mighty friend, WILLIAM EVANS, Surnamed the Great PORTER.  
WILL, be not angry, this small book is read  
In praise of one no bigger than thy head.  
'Tis not in envy of thy greatness made  
Which might be unto twenty such, a shade:  
Though he be small in Body, and in Limb,  
Yet we commend something that's great in him.  
The greatness of his spiri● and his mind,  
Whose virtues are not like thy strength confined  
Unto his bulk: but pure with out a dreg:  
And has a body straighten then thy leg.  
Doubt not, in emulation som● will strain  
His sinewy Muse, for to advance thy fame,  
Then be not angry, this smal● Lord is praised,  
Since thou by Nature, he by wit is raised.  S. M.  


To his worthy friend Microphilus.  
HOw should one blaze the worth of little things?  
Thus; theyare as sparkling Diamonds to rings:  
But what needs praise from any, since thy pen  
Hath proved a Dwarf the miracle of men.  D. L.  

To Microphilus.  
THe less the Subject, greater is the Wit,  
That undertaking for to treat on it,  
Makes almost nothing something, wherefore I  
Thy rare invention dare to deify.  T. Little.  

To the Author.  
THou show'st (Dwarves Champion) that Nature sets  
Her rarest Gems in smallest Cabinets:  
Muses on tiptoes stand to reach his praise,  
Whose work deserves a neverfading Bays.  W. Loe.   

In Laudem operis.  ●uta solet parvis rebus inesse fides. W. Short. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Aris● V. cap. XI. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Aristot. de repub. Lib. V. cap VIII. 
Sunt quae ob id ipsum grat● quod minuta, veluti gemmae ● sculpturae: idem us● venit in ep●stolis et libris, qui non raro ip● brevitate redduntur commendat●ores. Sunt in delicies et pumili●nes non ob aliud quam insigne● corporis parvitatem.  Erasmus Adag. 
In minimis rebus omnia an● quae consuetudinis monumenta se●vanda.  Valerius Maximus Lib. I  

TO THE MOST exquisite Epitome of Nature, and compleatest Compendium of a Courtier, the Lord MINIMUS; the Lady PARVULA wisheth health and happiness.  
SIR,  
MAY it please your diminutive eminence, permit a devoted lover of your concise dimensions, to present very lowly, as most fitting to your person, (in remembrance of this New-yeare) a small Token of my unparalleled affection. Confess I must Compendious SIR my gift is fomewha● of the least, but my hope is, being there in so like yourself it will not displease you. And if, whatsoever is received, is received according to the measure or size of the receiver, be a true rule in Philosophy; then, bootless had it been for your Obsequious Handmaid, to have meditated any Present for size Greater; since how great soever, it would have been but as very little, yourself so very little, being the receiver: Nor is your littleness (mistake me not) mentioned as any derogation to worth: Diamonds of most precious value, are but little in substance: And if it might not appear in me presumption to trouble you with further Discourse, I could with easy, or no labour, prove things little to be far better than things that are Great.  
Is not a Microcosm better than a Macrocosm, the little-world, Man, than the Great world, Earth? nay Man the lesser world is, Lord of the Greater; and in the Greater world, which is the Creator's Library, (the several Creatures being as so many Books in it) have we not rarer Documents from the little decimo-sexto's, the Ant and Dove, then from the Great Folio's, the Elephant and Whale? Recollect your memory of the ancient times, who was it presently after the Flood of Deucalion and Pyrrha violated the Golden Age, vitiated those most candid manners of men, but the Great Giants, cloud aspiring Enceladus, hundred-handed Gyges, big-boned Porphyrion, and massy Tytius? perceive you not the fruits of Greatness? how it swollen them with pride, and puffed them up so high, as to dare wage war even with Heaven? On the contrary, who sees not the sweet effects of littlenesse● how humble and lowly it makes you, how far from pride, for the World cannot but testify, you have ever seemed little in your own eyes: I pass over (for brevity's sake) the innumerous impieties & immense cruelties of those Great ones, Saul and Goliath, only adding for observation, this latter was vanquished by little David. Turn from sacred to profane Histories, little Ulysses stood the Grecians at the expugnation of Troy in more steed then Great Aiax with all his might. Many others famous in their times, as Lycurgus and Solon for Law, this of Athens; the other of Sparta: Demosthenes and Hortensius for eloquence; this of Rome, the other of Greece; Miltiades and Themistocles for Valour, both of Greece? Virgil and Horace for Poetry both of Rome, with that excellent Historian Sallust, whom antiquity hath delivered to be men of very little stature. And that men of little stature should be both more valiant and wiser than men of Great, sufficient reasons may be fetched, even from Nature: For seeing that those which are little have all their members contracted, and as it were closer knitted and joined together, but those which are Great have theirs more spread abroad and severed; it is necessary, that in them forces united, and nearer gathered, render the structure of their bodies, more vigorous and agile; and in these, being scattered, make their bodies less valid, a● also ponderous and burdensome: and whereas the two mansions of Wisdom are the heart, and the brain, which in short and little bodies are not so far distant from each other as in Long and Great; by consequence it is undeniably evident, that the littler sort must be wiser than the Great: and indeed the Greater sort of people in the World generally, what are they? but vain and idle, and therefore in ordinary discourse, we ever distinguish them from the better sort, which by consequence will fall out to be those which are the lesser.  
And as men that are little are very excellent: So likewise that which is excellent in or about men is very little: Wit, the thing so admired, is not that in men very little? Money, the thing so desired, though a man have much, yet he esteems it as little; and things ever are to be judged as they are valued: Is not honesty in men very little? when Sophistry hath fled the schools, and is become a shopkeeper, and Tradesmen think if they lose their lying, they lose their living: Look for obedience, of things the best, is it not little? when Prince's commands are rather questioned then obeyed. Look for Malice, of things the worst, is it not very Great? when Fools had rather spend much in Law, then forgive somewhat in charity. Whose desires more rectified than the desires of a moderate man? and he desires but little. Is there any thing more sought, and less found then content? yet Nature (the Mother of us all) is content with a little. Little is the rule of judgement, for we commonly use to say, (Ex pede Herculem) you may judge by a little of the whole: Little is the only discourse of wise men, they talk but little: the best remedy for sick men, for they eat but little: and to speak truth little is the delight of most men, for what do men take more pleasure in, than the real courtesies of a friend, and are not the real courtesies of friends, now a days very little: On the other side, how many hopeful young Heirs have Great Estates undone? (but if not through the possessing of a Great estate, yet I am sure, through the wanting of a little wit.) How odious doth Covetousness render a man in the eye of the wise. and what is Covetousness bu● a Great desire and Longing after Much? you have seen, Sir, the commodity of little, and discommodity of Great at Large in others; in brief, take notice of them in yourself: Had you been Big and Great ten to one you never had proved a Courtier; 'twas only your littleness preferred you. According to these rules I cannot conceive how any judicious indifferent man can deny little to be better then Great: Nevertheless (such are the high-flowne times) this modest opinion is peremtorily opposed by those whose high towering and ambitious thoughts vainly aim at Greatness; who crush the little ones that are under them, crouch to all Great ones above them; are your friend in a compliment, but not in a business; familiarly give you the hand without the heart, skuller-like rowing towards Westminster look towards the Bridge, pretend one thing, intent another; who if but once in an age, and that too by chance; they do you a trifling courtesy, no gratuity will satisfy, if not Great; for if little, they disdain it, though seemingly accept it their mad humour being, to account all Great things amiable, little things despicable. But to convince those men (for your little sake) of their error, which is no little one, but like themselves, very Great; what Gassendus in his Book of Paradoxes against Aristotelians, saith of Court malcontents: Improbant aulam in qua tamen consenescunt, They speak ill of the Court, and yet are so troublesome, as to live and dye there: So may be said of these; how happens it, Great Estates which (as all things Great else) belike they so love, they so oft part with, and exclaim against little, when as they keep little? or what is it that feeds or clothes them their future hopes, which are so Great, or their present revenues which are little? & then too, is not one bird in the hand worth two in the bush, their little possessions more comfortable than their Great expectations of I know not what which because they look after I know not why, they may obtain I know not when. In the fancy of a man not acquainted through observation with the absurdities of the World, it would raise a combustion to imagine there were being such a crew of Heretics: for is it not very plain and evident, performances are better than promises, and are not promises Great, performances but little? Why, every ordinary Gallant almost you meet with will rise up an argument in this, for in his easy ambling Discourse you shall find though he cannot speak much to the purpose, yet he can speak little to the purpose, and is not that which is to the purpose better than that which is not? 'Tis true, the Vulgar people of the World, are likewise of opinion with the former. But wrong not yourself (most perfect abridgement of Nature) so as to be led by the inconstant opinions of the vulgar, who account this a Paradox, which is most Orthodox; little better then Great: the vulgar, that Hydraheaded multitude whose very reasons (not much unlike those in their shops, frail ones) because of their rarity wi●h them are to be suspected, but as for their obstinate tenants of all wisdom's followers to be detested & abhorred. I will not deny but that there may be some oblique, seeming-faire, colourable reasons pitifully forced by them for the inveigling of men to bestow credit on their poor assertion, yet it can never be beaten into my brain but that they may be gently confuted in it by their own homespun Proverbs. A Great Head is sign of a little wit; that's one of them; then I demand, which is better, a Great Head without a little wit, or a little wit without a Great Head? for any Head will serve with a little wit, better than a Great Head without any Wit: Another of them is this: A little head is sign of a Great Wit: Which (but by granting their assertion, Great is better than little) confutes their assertion, and proveth little better than Great: For if a Great Wit be found in a little head, than a little head must be better than a Great Head, because it contains the better, that is, the Greater Wit; and if a little wit be found in a Great Head, than a little wit must needs be better than a Great Wit, because it groweth in a better soil, the Greater Head: I hope therefore that as they will not deny to turn upon them their own proverbial weapon, Too much of one thing is good for nothing: so being thus convict, they cannot but confess, A little of every thing is excellent in all things. ay, but they never thought (because it was generally received) there were any reasons to the contrary; there would be a great scarcity of reasons sure in the World, if there were no other than those they could think of; and though they do not perceive a reason why little should be better than Great; there may be a reason which they do not perceive; well though they have lived in ignorance, it were to be wished they would give us some hope, they meant not to dye so, by recanting their error.  
What though little better than Great, seem to the vulgar a Paradox? may it be ever the less Orthodox, considering all things are not as they seem? as for example, some men want not only that which they have not, but also that which they have: This seems to be an incongruous speech, and yet though seeming so, it is not so, for it is verified of the Covetous. One would think this to be an absurd saying: If he be a fool he is a wise man; if he be a wise man he is a fool, yet though seeming so, it is not so, for it is verified (as a Philosopher avouched it) of a man that is silent. How confident are men in believing the world is very big, and that the Sea is of an unknown profundity, when as the World is but a d●yes walk 〈◊〉 the Sun goes about it in 24 hours, and the Sea which men think so deep is but shallow, for 'tis but a stones cast to the bottom. The Impuritans of the time who set their Sermons on the tenters, and use most prolix and long wound sentences, casting their auditory into a holy nap, through the illness of their matter, and waking them again by the shrillness of their clamour, may be (happily) by wise men censured to do it out of tedious ignorance, & 'tis a grave conjecture: yet (under favour) wise men are but men, and may mistake, for it is out of conscience to allow long measure to their course ware: If then speeches which seem improper, yet may be nothing less, and many men, even wisemen, have been, are daily, and to the world's end more or less will be mistaken in their opinions; why may not little be better than Great, although it seem not so, or though some men (reputed in other things very Wise) have thought to the contrary.  
And if a man but seriously observe, he shall find very few things such as they seem: and by reason wise men also have their weak times, their verdict to be no sufficient argument to command universal belief, especially where reason is pregnant with probable proofs on the adverse side, add to this, diffidence being so necessary a part of wisdom.  
Besides, admit this position little better than Great, seem very strange, yet stranger than this have been admitted, after a rational examination, and therefore why not this upon the like consideration? When I had one servant, I had a servant; when I had two servants, I had half a servant; when I had three, I had never a one: this speech I presume may be believed to be a very mad one, and yet it is a most wise one; for 'tis resolved thus: A Master having but one servant, thought him overburdened with work, and therefore took another to help him, (now he had two) but each so trusted to the others observance, that they were often missing, and the work not done; he chose another, (so he had three) and was then worse served then before: All things at Sea are mad: This saying likewise I presume would be reputed a very mad one (especially by Seafaring men, they would storm at it) and yet why may not it be a most true one? The Ship is mad, for it never stands still: The Mariners are mad to expose themselves to such imminent dangers: The Waters are raging mad in perpetual motion; and the Winds are as mad as the rest, they know not whence they come, nor whither they would go. Was not the quadrature of the circle maintained by men of approved judgement Hypocrates Chius among the ancient, and by Orontius Finaeus among the modern? Did not that excellent Philosopher Copernicus affirm the earth we stand on did not stand still, but move circularly? the good old man was to be commended in that he dealt roundly with the world, and told them the truth of his opinion, which (happily) was the opinion of truth: for why may not the Earth move, we departing from the Heavens, and they stand still, as well as the Earth be thought to stand still, and the heavens moving, seem to depart us? Did not Pythagoras avouch the Spheres to be musical? but our souls locked up in our bodies, for the present can not hear the Harmony? such Music certainly there is, the like was never heard of. And Lucian, that splendid wit, did in his judgement believe, that the souls of griping Usurers (if they had any) at their Deaths, for certain thousands of Years transmigrated into the bodies of Asses, and why should not others believe it? it were but fitting, that poor men with whip and cudgel might take their pennyworths out of them.  
And not only men's Opinions, but likewise many of their Actions demonstrate All things are not as they seem: For what think you of him who made diligent search at all the Inns of the Town to find his young chestnut coloured Gelding, with a Star in his forehead, and a white foot, when as the knave had none, but came thither a foot: of another, who going to the Fair, after he stately stalked thorough the chief Streets, cheapening Orient jewels, choice pictures, new-fashioned plate, rich hangings, and the dearest embroideries, departed home with the buying only of a wooden dish: or of a third, who going to their shops that sell costly apparel, calls confidently to see a suit of an hundred pounds, and when they were agreed of the price, quarrels with his boy for following him without his purse.  
Nor is this verified only in such Peripatetical madcaps, but in contemplating Philosophers, in conquering Commanders: Did not Diogenes, seeing a company of unskilful Archers shooting (that he might save himself from the Arrows) run and stand at the mark, that in his knowledge being, and in success proving, though not so to standers by at first seeming, the only place of safety. Did not Bessus a Captain, who thought for fear with his company to have fled; mistaking his way, run headlong with them upon his enemies, & so gave them a famous overthrow, his side by that means getting the day: If errors in wars be the way to get Conquests, and shooting-markes be places for men to stand at for safety, the former proved in the happy success of a Commander, the latter ratified in the wise choice of a Philosopher, & such a one as Alexander vouchsafed to say; If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes: doubtless then the World is in credit engaged to recant many of its credulous customs; (custom without verity being but an old heresy) that so men being disburdened of those Great errors wherewith their opinions have been loaded so long, they may prove more capable of the entertainment of truth and her propositions, of which one of the most refinedst is this now treated of, little better than Great: which now for any to deny as impossible, could be reputed no less than presumptuous obstinacy, since so really hath been demonstrated, All things are not as they seem, by various Arguments, fetched from the speeches, opinions, and actions of the better sort of men.  
And not only some particular persons in their speeches, opinions, and actions, but whole professions, nay flourishing Nations by their apparent customs demonstrate this assertion: First, for Professions; who seem more devout than Clergymen? or who seem to take more delight in Law then Lawyers? or in medicines than Physicians? and yet (according to the saying of a learned Archbishop of Florence) Lawyers go not to Law, Physicians take no physic, and some Divines are scarce good Christians. Secondly for Nations, it is the fashion of the women of Muscovy, to love that Husband best which beateth them most, and to think themselves never loved or regarded, unless they be two or three times a day well favouredly swaddled. In Tartary a man sees not her he intends to wed, till they be married, but hearing a good report of the young woman, solicits her father for her; If he be willing they meet at the Chancel of the Church in which there is a partition, through a hole whereof he puts his hand, and taketh his wife by hers; then her mother with a sharp instrument all to be pricketh his hand, if he let her go they deem it a refusal, but if he hold her fast and wring her by the hand till she squeak, then is he accounted a most loving husband, and her friends rejoice for her happy match.  
In general to conclude, have you not heard of men that stumble at straws, and leap over blocks: Of Democritus a Philosopher, who having put his eyes out, that he might the better contemplate, yet saw more than all Greece: and in that Greece that there was never less wisdom then in the time of the seven Wise men, of Brutus when he seemed maddest was the wisest of the Tarquin's; and of one Supputius who to converse but with one Wise man, traveled all over Europe, which men thought so full of them, and yet returned without his errand, and could find none. Omne meum, & nihil meum, that saying of Macrobius is not so known as true. Is it not true, that when Princes (prompted by Heaven) confer dignity on excelling men, though the Greater sort think the Honour only doth accrue to the receivers, yet the wiser few in their hearts confess, and then in their tongues to the world express it chiefly to be in the givers. A man may see much, and yet perceive little; a strange position, and yet verified of a weak Traveller. A man may be seen abroad, and yet walk invisible; and unusual speech, and yet verified of an able reserved man. One may have bad policy in him, & yet be a good man; a suspected sentence, and yet verified of a faithful profound Statist, (that hath by Art his Engines to foresee foreign mischiefs, and prevent them, to the advantage of his Master's honour, not only dexterity, when they are fallen, to shift them, to his Master's content) for bad policy may be in the knowledge of good men, but in the practice of wicked. Some man pays not so much for any thing, as for that which is given him; an unlikely, yet a certain truth: for it is known of the generous, who by taking a courtesy, parts with that he accounts most dear, his liberty: I could be yet infinite in instances, (most Honoured Sir) but that I study brevity, that I may like you in all things: I presume any clear judgement may have satisfaction by these, so as not any way to offer to deny, since so many things are not as they seem (especially adding to consideration things more unlikely are true, as for a creature to eat iron, as the Ostrich; or to live in fire, as the Salamander) but that it is in itself possible, little may be, and upon reasons alleged probable, little is, better than Great.  
When the Lapidaries dig in the earth, what is all their pains for, but to find parvum in Magno, a little of gold in a Great deal of Ground; and if Great were so excellent as men do fancy it, yet you may find Magnum in parvo that Great excellency in sundry little things. We know there are four parts of the World, and among them Europe the least; yet in fertility of grounds, variety of people and kingdoms, and in the flourishing wits of most learned men, it surpasses the Greatest, nay them all: In Europe how little was Rome, yet she hath visited Europe, Asia, and Africa with wars and victories, and to the whole world given Laws & command. Among beasts what more valiant than the Lion? who compared with a Bull, Horse or Elephant is but little; or if it be objected, a Lion is somewhat Great, it must be confessed a Cock is wondrous little, at whose crowing the Lion for all his Great valour will tremble. Quid solertius prudentia apum? parvae sunt. Quid laboriosius diligentia formicarum? parvae sunt. Quid subtilius ingenio aranearum? parvae sunt. (as the Orator aptly. Among the chirping Choristers of the Air, those which sing sweetest or fly swiftest, are of birds the least. What excellent soul-ravishing notes hear we from a little Nightingale?  
And as on things little, Nature hath bestowed a kind of excellency, for which they become so admired: so with that excellency, potency, lest they should be despised, and utility that they might be desired of all. The potency of little appears, in that life itself dependeth but on a small thread, and the least gnat in the air can choke one, as it did a Pope of Rome; a little hair in Milk strangle one, as it did a Councillor in Rome; a little stone of a Raisin stop one's breath, as it did the Poetical pipe of Anacreon: and well known it is by men experienced in Histories, how Themistocles little army overcame Xerxes Great Host. And can any thing be more commodious for Scholars and Travellers, then little maps in which are perfectly delineated the Greatest Kingdoms? But why call we any kingdom Great, when as all things in the World, as itself, are very little? Alcibiades braggeth of his lands, Socrates reacheth him a Map, bids him demonstrate where they lie; alas he could not find them, nor scarce discern Athens itself, it was so small a point in respect of the World, & the World is but as a point in respect of Heaven, & Heaven being finite, is but as a little point compared to its maker, which is infinite. The Sun how Big in compass soever it be in itself, it is the pleasure of Heaven to show it to us according to the smallness of a peck: and those celestial Glow-worms the Stars, we ●ee but as little pebbles. What so vexes the Sea, and makes it roar, but its Greatness? how angry and furious grows it, even to the loss of many men's lives, when the Wind presumes to puff it into Big-swelling waves; whereas let it have but its own liberty in a vent, how swiftly runs it, as eager of lessening itself, and though imprisoned, y●t through natural policy it secretly undermines by degrees those banks which violently keep it in its full Greatness, as endeavouring ever to be little. What though Rivers so commodious to commonwealths be very Great, yet the Springhead from whence they flow are but little. Flumina Magna vides parvis de fontibus orta, Ovid. The Clouds weep not down their grateful tears in Great Floods, but by drops. Great and High Mountains, nature's Bulwarks, cast up (as the Spaniard says) at God Almighty's own charges; what are they but heaps of rubbish, and offals left of the creation of the World, as so many warts or pimples, disfiguring the smooth face of the earth? the difficulty of their ascent, the horridness of their crags, the wildness of their inhabitants (beasts or people) the chillness of their frosty tops; with the inhospitable barrenness of their rugged sides leave often an imputation of poverty & barbarousness to that Country that hath most of them: Whereas the low valleys are most pleasant, most fruitful, most hospitable, enriching the inhabitants, refreshed with wholesome springs, beautified with curious structures; among which likewise the Cedarbuilt Palace is oft struck with thunder, when the shrubby cottage is secure.  
Would a man live happily and well? let him ever be getting a little, for Horace saith: Vivitur parvo bene. Is he not yet content, but would live better? let him still continue his endeavours of getting, though never so little, for Claudian saith: Vivitur exiguo melius: Nay, little is so lovely, that we should not only endeavour for it, as a thing necessary (for is it not most necessary every one should have a little?) but rejoice in it as a thing pleasant; and Great is so cumbersome, that we should not only not desire it, but fly from it, and both these proved out of Catullus. Quod nimium est fugito, parvo gaudere memento.  
But you perhaps (Sir) may demand, is a little wit better than a Great Wit? or a little estate, better than a Great Estate? or little honesty, better than Great Honesty? or little knowledge, better than Great Knowledge? I will not presume, being of the weaker Sex (admired Sir) herein to decide any thing; only be yourself the judge: The Philosopher saith, There is no Great Wit without a mixture of madness; then probably (by the rule of contraries) no little wit without a mixture of prudence; now judge you which is better, to be with a Great Wit mad, or with a little wit wise? As for Estates, the practice of the World (contrary to their opinions) in effect maintains the affirmative; for every man possessing a Great Estate accounts money but as dirt, but when once by any casualty it becomes little, than he makes much of it: Yet howsoever, grant a Great Estate were better, yet all know it is commonly gained but by degrees, that is, by little and little. A Lord who hath Great Revenues, is oft found melancholy, sighing; when his hired Groom (who has little or nothing) is blithe, whistling. As for honesty, wheresoever it is found, it is (I confess) very excellent; yet more excellent (likely) where it causeth, besides love, admiration; then where it barely moves affection: We love it in good men, we both love and wonder to discover it in knaves; now is not good men's honesty very Great? and find we not it in knaves very little? Lastly, how little knowledge is better than Great, may be thus demonstrated, the Greatest-Clerkes are not the wisest men.  
Little children (as most innocent) best for imitation; little women (as most nimble-spirited) best for generation; little men (as most witty) best for negotiation. Ask every Schoolboy, and he can tell you, parvi penditur honestas, honesty itself is but of little account: Ask the tradesman, and he will tell you, that a short term is better than a Long Vacation: Ask the Scholar, and he will tell you, nothing is better than Wisdom, and then ask any Courtier, whether little be not better than nothing.  
Go on, go on therefore, (diminutive Sir) with the guide of Honour, and service of Fortune, your loveliness being such, as no man can disdain to serve you, your littleness such, as no man needs to fear you, the first having put you without hatred, the latter below envy: Your little low person (me thinks) is nature's humble pulpit, out of which she reads graces diviner lectures to High-aspiring Mortals: and whereas some in the world (wedded to error) may fond imagine your residence at Court, to be rather for wonder and merriment, then for any use or service; you may require from them no less satisfaction than a public recantation: For as it hath been the custom of famous Princes to use (at chief times) some ceremony which represented some hidden Moral: as at the Court of Bel-gian David, or Prester john, the powerfullest Potentate in all Afrique, the first Dish served in at their Festivals is a Deaths-head; and it hath been in use, that the Coronation of Kings was celebrated at the Sepulchre of their Fathers; and the Pope at his Inauguration hath 4. Marble stones presented unto out of which he chooseth his toombe-stone: So (at all times) the residence of dwarves in Courts hath a twofold Representment, Theological, and Political, the first to the Sovereign, the second, to the Subject: For the first, as Philip King of Macedon betimes every morning had a little boy came unto him, and cried, Philippe, memento te esse mortalem, O Philip, remember how thou art mortal: So little dwarves (boys in proportion, though perchance men in discretion) being about a Monarch, though silent, yet their very persons (being with Princes of the same natural extraction) are as a voice crying, Rex, memento te esse minimum: O King remember how thou art little, borne like others little, to teach thee to Heaven, humility, to Earth, humanity: For the second, the civil regard in relation to the subject: the residence of dwarves about Monarches hath been by those who are grounded Politicians accounted emblemattically necessary, to denote those who desire to approach near Princes ought not to be ambitious of any Greatness in themselves, but to acknowledge all their Court-lustre is but a beam of the Royal Sun their Master, which when, and to whom, he please he can send forth or withdraw.  
Mind not, mind not therefore (most perfect abridgement of Nature) the Great neglect which the ignorant vulgar cast upon littleness, considering it hath made you an attendant of Princes, & is in itself so full of worth, that for it only you were thus preferred. And though it seems a mere riddle to say, You are always at Court, and yet are very little there; yet your person makes it so famous a one, that were Homer alive, and had his eyes again, again he would by this lose them, or else weep them out, that he lost them before by that lousy one of Fishermen (Quod capimus perdimus, Quod non capimus tenemus: What we take we lose, what we take not we keep) and miss the happy aenigma of your admired corpusculum. And since little is proved better than Great, little Schoolboys (I doubt not) will wisely relinquish their old theame-exordium: Vt olim Alexander ille Magnus Macedonum Rex: and learning out by enquiry some of your splendid deeds, will learnedly front their exercises thus, Ut nuper Galfredus ille parvus Britanniae pumilio. Certainly if there be any thing in the World worth the relying on, it is very little; no Great or Long happiness here to be expected, but very little and short. When one's undone by fire or shipwreck, or goods taken by Pirates, what sets him up but the King's 
Breve.  brief? and alas, how would many a poor Knight live, if he had not a little to keep him? Consider little morally, and virtue is in the mean; consider little theologically, and the whole Church is but a little flock; consider little civilly, and who dare deny, (I assume spirit from truth) but that the little prince is a better man than the King's Greatest Subject? Nay, the King himself, who is God's Epilogue, and man's Prologue, take him in the better consideration, with God, he is minor; take him in the other, with man, he is Mayor; for so Tertullian, Imperator est Maior omnibus, solo Deo minor: A King is Greater than all others, less only then God. And I will for ever heartily pray Heaven bless our Queen, because she hath made the Kingdom happy by bringing his Majesty so many little ones.  
In short, who desireth not in debt to be as little as may be? and what a rare temper is it in men of desert not to be ambitious of Greatness? & even in the Highest matters which men attempt, how commonly the most do come short, and in their Greatest business effect but little. And therefore as it was said of Scipio that he was nunquam minus solus, quam cum solus, never less alone, then when alone: so it may be said of you (excellent abstract of Greatness) that you are nunquam minus parvus, quam cum parvus, never less little, then when little. I hope you will pardon me, if in my style I have used a little boldness, and familiarity, you knowing it to be so commendable, and that it is Nimia Familiaritas, Great Boldness only which breedeth contempt; especially since you are no stranger, but of my own Country, an Englishman, though some (judging by your stature) have taken you to be a Lowcountryman. Many merry New-year's are wished unto you, by  
The sworn servant of your Honour's perfections, PARVULA.  
Postscript.  
If the Great Length of my Letter hath molested your more serious Affairs, you may thence gather the convenience of little; and yet that it might not displease, I appointed it (by my servant Microphilus) to be written in your own hand.  
FINIS.