THE FIGURE OF FOUR: Wherein are sweet flowers, gathered out of that fruitful ground, that I hope will yield pleasure and profit to all sorts of people.  
The second Part.  
LONDON, Printed for john Wright, and are to be sold at his shop without Newgate, at the sign of the Bible. 1636.   

To the Reader.  
THis little fruit of no little labour, gathered together, and bound up in this little paper, for the better use of them, that can and will consider of the nature of every one in his right kind, I kindly commit to your acceptations, assuring myself that being free from taxing of any, and far from abuse, but of abusers: hoping that some will receive good in the memory of what they read, and no Horse will kick except his back be galled; I leave it to the wide world to take such fortune as will fall out. And so, loath to make a long Supper of a little meat, wishing you to take the best and leave the worst, and break none of the pale, I rest,  
Your well-willer in a greater matter, N. B.   

THE SECOND Part of the Figure of Four  
1 THere are four things greatly to be taken heed of: a Fly in the eye, a bone in the throat, a dog at the heel, and a thief in the house.  
2 There are four bitter things that are used but for necessity: Rubard Gall, worm wood, and a dogged wife.  
3 There are four grievous lacks to a great many in the world: lack of health, lack of wealth, lack of wit, & lack of honesty.  
4 There be four especial poor Scholars in the world: Pettifoggers Quacksalvers, Ballad-makers, and A. B. C. Schoolmasters.  
5 There are four things ill to be proud of: a painted face, a patched body, a pied coat, and a paltry wit.  
6 There are four things fair at the first sight: new books, fat horses, fresh colours, and flick faces.  
7 There are four strange men in the world: they that make a god of their gold▪ an angel of the devil, a paradise of their pleasure, and glory of their pride.  
8 There are four notes of an excellent wit: to learn that which is good, to labour for that which is necessary, to foresee a mischief, and to forget that which cannot be recovered.  
9 There be four jests of wit: to hope for dead men's goods, to trust to the word of a bankrupt, to be in love with a lewd Quean, and to tell news after a Carrier.  
10 There be four things very uncomfortable: to lie in bed and cannot sleep, to sit at meat and have no stomach, to see music and cannot hear it, and to want money and cannot come to it.  
11 There are four persons not to be believed: a horse-courser when he swears, a whore when she weeps, a lawyer when he pleads false, and a traveller, when he rels wonders.  
12 There are four persons not to be trusted: a fool, a flatterer, an Atheist, and an enemy.  
13 There are four ill houses to go into: a smoky house, a rotten house, a lousy house, and a bawdy house.  
14 There are four things very hurtful for the stomach: raw flesh, stale fish, musty bread, and sour drink.  
15 There are four silly fools in the world: he that follows a shadow, starts a flea, drowns an Eel, and makes love to a picture.  
16 There are four great trials of wit: to choose a friend and keep him, to conceal adversity with patience, to be thrifty without covetousness, and to live out of the fear of the Law.  
17 There are four suspicions of a perfect wit: to trust unfaithfulness, to show unthankfulness, to advance unworthiness, and to nourish wickedness.  
18 There are four great Ciphers in the world: he that is lame among dancers, dumb among Lawyers, dull among Scholars, and rude amongst Courtiers.  
19 Four kinds of men may be well spared: a swaggerer among civil people, a thief among true men, an Atheist among the religious, and a Jew among Christians.  
20 Four sorts of people are very troublesome: fools among wisemen, borrowers among rich men, cowards among soldiers, and beggars amongst Courtiers.  
21 There are four wicked kinds of scoffers: they that scoff at the honest, at the wise, at the learned, or at the poor.  
22 There be four knaves much dealt withal in the world: the Knave of Clubs; the Knave of Hearts, the Knave of Spades, and the Knave of Diamonds.  
23 There are four base professions: a Wittol, a Cuckold, a Bawd, and a Beggar.  
24 There are four close-catchers in the world: a Rat-catcher, a Moule-catcher, a Foole-catcher, and a Coney-catcher.  
25 There are four chief lights: the light of Sense, the light of Reason, the light of Grace, and the light of Glory.  
26 There are four sundry kinds of Loves: the love of God, the love of men, the love of women, and the love of children.  
27 Four kinds of men hateful in a Commonwealth: a Parasite, an Hypocrite, a Mutineer, and a Murderer.  
28 Four idle kinds of exercise: rhyming, riding, raging, and running on errands.  
29 There are four great sokers of a man's estate: long sickness, a costly wife, a sleepy eye, and a proud prodigal spirit.  
30 There are four ill ways for a thief: the way to the prison, the way to the ludge, the way to the Gallows and the way to hell.  
31 There are four things foolishly proud: a Pea●ocke that is proud of his tail, for he must moult it once every year; an Hart that is proud of his horns, for he must mew them once a year, a Cuckoo that is proud of her note, for she sings but once a year; and an Oak that is proud of his beef, for it falls once a year.  
32 There are four terrible sounds in the world: the report of a Cannon, a clap of thunder, the doom of a judge, and the scolding of a shrewd woman.  
33 There are four natural skippers: a Flea, a Frog, a Grasshopper, and a Cat.  
34 There are four chief smellers: Deer, Dogs, Ravens, and Smell-feasts.  
35 There are four things seldom seen: a beggar to grow rich, an Usurer to grow bountiful, a fool to grow wise, and a baggage to become honest.  
36 There are four creatures of more charge than profit: Parrots, Monkeys, fysting dogs and fiddling wenches.  
37 Four pitiful objects to a good eye: a wise man distracted, a City ruined, a ship on fire, and an Army defeated.  
38 Four kinds fine fools: he that thinks himself wise and is not, he that spends all to be thought bountiful, he that pines himself to leave to another, and he that believes a Queans love.  
39 There be four things of much strength in the world: love with the religious, for it upholds the soul; health with the laborious, for it upholds the body; learning with the studious, for it upholds the wit; and parience with the gracious, for it upholds the spirit.  
40 Four excellent virtues in a Virgin: Silence, Humility Constancy, and Devotion.  
41 Four great blessings to a wife a modest eye, a kind spirit, a painful hand, and a true heart.  
42 Four notes of a divine nature: to regard him whom the world scorneth to love him whom the world hateth, to help him whom the world hurteth, and to advance him whom the world overthroweth.  
43 There are four chief notes of a good huswife: early rising, close gathering, safe keeping, and well bestowing.  
44 There are four things go commonly together: a fleeting face, a leering eye, a flattering tongue, and a false heart.  
45 There are four fearful Judgements: sudden madness, sudden war, sudden ruin, and sudden death.  
46 Four kinds of Vermine do very much hurt where they come: Mice among cheese, Weasels among Coney's Moules among Gardens, and Whores among Gallants.  
47 Four things are tedious to many good minds: a long tale, a long winter, a long fasting, and a long voyage.  
48 Four things weary out a good mind: employment without reward, oppressions without relief, cruel cre 〈…〉 s, and importunate beggars.  
49 Four things to be taken heed of: an intruding friend, a flattering servant a wanton wife, and a wicked neighbour.  
50 There be four chief horses for service: the courser for the soldier, the Hackney for the post, the Carthorse for the Farmer, and the Hobby-horse for the Morris-dance.  
51 Four men to be banished all good company: a liar, a swearer, a quarrellor and a tale-teller.  
52 Four kinds of women much set a work: a midwife, a milkmaid, a market-woman, and a meale-woman.  
53 Four kinds of cleanly wenches: a dairy wench, a shop wench, a needle wench, and a starch wench.  
54 Four kinds of black men: a Moor, a Collier, a Smith, and a Scullion.  
55 Four white women: the Lady White, Mistress White, Goodwife White, and Widow White.  
56 Four high things to look upon: a high man, a high Constable, a high Steeple, and a high Maypole.  
57 Four needful eyes in a Tavern: an eye to the guest, an eye to the plate, an eye to the score, and an eye to the door.  
58 Four things go through many things: wit, art, experience, and money.  
59 Four days welcome to Scholars: Christmas day, Shrove-tuesday, Easter-day, and Whitsunday.  
60 Four kinds of men not to be stood against: Princes and Potentates, Judges and Generals.  
61 Four things grievously empty: a head without brains, a wit without judgement, a heart without honesty, and a purse without money.  
62 Four diseases hardly to be cured: the gout in an old man, the greensickness in a woman, the farcie in an old horse, and the rot in a sheep.  
63 Four chief comforts to the sense of nature: health, liberty, mirth, and money.  
64 Four chief nuts in the world the Chest-nut, the Walnut, the Small-nut, and the sort nut.  
65 Four chief musical birds: the Nightingale, the Lark, the Linner, and the Robbin-red-brest.  
66 Four fine little labourers: the Bee, the Ant, the Silkworm, and Spider.  
67 Four kinds of beastly men in the world: a glutton, a drunkard, a lecher, and a bawd.  
68 Four kinds of thiefs worthy to be hanged: horse-stealers, cutpurses house-breakers, and pick-pockets.  
69 Four things good in a goose: her quills for pens, her feathers for pillows, her flesh for the dish, and her grease for the ache.  
70 Four excellent medicines for many diseases: abstinence, exercise, mirth and patience.  
71 Four things ill for a Carrier: lean horse, hard fare, foul weather, and foggy women.  
72 Four great in-liers: a woman that lies in childbed, a knave that lies in wait, a whore that lies in a sweat, and a madman that lies in Bedlam.  
73 Four present cases for four great pains: to scratch for the itch, to break wind for the colic, to piss for the stone, and to sweat for the cold.  
74 There are four kinds of ugly objects: a scabby jade, a mangy dog, a lousy knave, and a pocky whore.  
75 Four chief Doves in the world: the Turtledove, the Wood-dove, the Ring dove, and the House-dove.  
76 Four perilous snares to fall into: the snare of an Usurer, the snare of a lewd woman, the snare of a slatterer, and the snare of the Devil.  
77 Four strange sports: to see a Bear hunt a wild duck, an Ape kiss an Owl, a Goose bite a Fox, and a Squirrel hunt a Coney.  
78 Four sweet Trades in a City: Sugar-men, Comfit-maker's, Perfumers and Nose-gay-makers.  
79 Four speedy passengers in the world: a bird thorough the air, a ship thorough the sea, a word from the mouth and a thought from the mind.  
80 Four round walkers in the world a wheel, a spindle, a bowl, and a millstone.  
81 Four tokens of foul weather: aches in the limbs, sleepiness in the head, sweeting of stones, and darkness of weather.  
82 Four tokens of fair weather: when the Robbin-red-brest sings early, when the Bee works earnestly, when the Spider keeps home, and the Swallow flies merrily.  
83 Four creatures are great spoilers where they come: Hogs among pease, Dear among corn, Cats among milk-pans, and Whales among Herrings.  
84 Four Kings without Kingdoms: the King of Man, the King of Portugal, a King in a play, and a painted King.  
85 Four strange things to be deciphered: a man and no man, threw a stone and no stone, at a bird and no bird, in a tree and no tree.  
86 Four interpretations of these four things: a man and no man was an Eunuch, and therefore no man: the stone was a pumice, the bird was a Bar, and the tree was an Eldertree.  
87 Four hard days in the year: Good-friday for Scholars, for than they fast: Ash-wednesday for Papists, for than they must be whipped; rent-day for poor folks, for than they must pay their Landlords; and the Execution-day for Thiefs, for than they must be hanged.  
88 Four things much talked of, and little found: Wisdom, Virtue, Honesty, and Conscience.  
89 Four creatures go willingly to their business: a Bride to Church, a boy to breckfast, an heir to his land, and a sweetheart to his love.  
90 Four things are soon out: a candle out of his light, a fool out of his tale, an eye out of his sight, and a prodigal out of his patrimony.  
91 Four things ill for the earth: a winter's thunder, a summer's frost, a long drought, and a sudden flood.  
92 Four things prettily described: a whore by her leering, a setter by his peering, a parasite by his fleering, and an epicure by his cheering.  
93 Four vile things in nature: to be unkind to a wife, unnatural to a child untrue to a Master, unthankful unto a friend.  
94 Four offenders not to be pardoned: he that will not be admonished, he that will outface a lie, he that will not amend, and he that delights in his wickedness.  
95 Four costly spots in the world: the spots on the cards, the spots on the dice, the spots on embroideries, and the spots on ill tongues.  
96 Four men needful in an army: a good Commandor, a good Scout, a good Sentinel, and a good Gunner.  
97 Four things chiefly necessary in peace: a good King, a good Counsel, a good soil, and good Subjects.  
98 Four ill things in Music: to play out of time, or out of tune, false strings, and bad instruments.  
99 Four things good above all: God, his Word, his grace, and Glory.  
FINIS.