¶ For exspences.

AS for Exspences, here and take ryght good hede, that yf in thy house thyne exspē ces, & thyne receytes be equall, than a sodeyne chaunce of losse by infortune, may soone dy­stroye the state of it.

¶ Neclygence.

¶ The state of a necligent man mareth a ruynous house. For necligence of a man gouernynge a howse, is as a great fyre, kyndled in the same serche therfore wysely & dylygent­ly, & the purpose of them, that my­nyster thy gooddes, for a man redy to fal, and not yet fallen may soone be holpen, for it is lesse shame to abstayne than to fall, often to ouer se thy gooddes, in what maner they stande is great prudence.

¶ Thy beastes.

¶ Than remembre the meate and [Page]the drīke of thy beastꝭ, for though they hunger and thurste, they cannot aske what they lacke or nede.

¶ The costes.

¶ To ouer sumptuous weddinges yeldeth hurte without worship, cost done to resyste malyce is worshyp­full. Cost done to refresshe thy frendes is resonable, coste done to su­stayne wastfull spenders is alway­es but loste.

¶ Meate and drynke.

¶ To norysshe thy meyne in a measure honestly, not delycatly, he that is a gloton vnyeth otherwyse, than by deth shall chaunge his maners, Glotonye of a vyle & neclygent per­sone, is but corruption. The welfa­re of a dylygent persone is but a solace, yf there be a strife betwene glotony and thy purse, be thou thy self aduocat betwene them, and let the sentence or the moste parte be with thy purse, for whan he bryngeth in [Page]his two wytnesses with hym, that is to say, the cheste & the selier voy­de, or els nygh voyde, I trow thou wylt holde with the purse, & yf the purse be bounde with Couetousnes thā the sentence goth agaynst glotony, Be not desyrous of costly deyntes, for than thou wylte gyue sen­tence wi [...]h glotony agaynst the purse to his hurte.

¶ The couetyce.

Couetyce doth nothynge rightful but whan he lyeth, what is a coue­touse man, he that hath suffycyent rychesse, and euer dredeth pouerte, & yet he besyeth hym selfe a way to lyue in pouerte. A [...]l that is kept for other mē he thynketh it wel, & that thynge that is spended vpon hym selfe, be thynketh it but losse.

¶ The seller of corne:

If thou be a corne seller, lone thou no derth, yf thou do, thou sleest the poore men, sell thy corne whan it is [Page]at a reasonable pryce, and not whan the poore men maye not bye it, not onely to thy neyghboure, but also to thy enemyes sell at an easye pryce, for not alwaye with swerde, but oft tymes by meate and drynke thy enemye is ouercome.

¶ The enemyes.

And yf thou haue an enemy be not to conuersaūt with vnknowen men but alwayes agaynst hym, and all agaynst vnknowen persones, lett [...] thyne iyen be thy guyde, for a subtyl [...] enemye intendeth at somtyme to be auenged. The febl [...]nes of thyne ene­mye is not a perpetuell peace, but truse for a tyme, yf thou wene that thou be sure of thyne enemye, thou puttest thy selfe in peryll.

¶ The gyftes.

Receyue gladly the small gyftes of thy poore neyghboure or frende, for oft tymes he is more trustye frende that gyueth with his herte, than he [Page]that offeryth hymselfe onely, for in wordes there is great plenty of frendes, call not hym thy frende that oft prayseth the in thy presence, yf thou counceyll thy frende, desyre not to please him, but to please reasō, Say t [...] thy frende in counceyllinge, thus semyth me, not precisely, thus is to be done, for yf thy counceyll come to euyll profe, there foloweth some re­ [...]rese, than yf it come to good effect, [...]han it is praysynge.

¶ The women.

Of thy womē suspect what they do rather pretende ygnoraunce thanne knowledge, for whan thou knowest the cryme of thyne euyll wyfe, of no Phesycian thou shalt be cured. The [...]rowe taken of thyne euyll wyfe, [...]hou maye abate whan thou hereth lyke thinges of other menēs wyues [...] noble and a gentyl herte serchyth not the warkes of a woman, thou shalt sooner chastyce thyne euyl wyfe [Page]with smylynge, than with a staffe a yonge woman a strompet shal consume away ryches an olde woman a strumpet yf y^e lawe wolde suffer i [...] she were worthy to be brent quycke.

¶ The clothynge.

Sumptuous Clothynge outragy­ously a preyfe of lytell wyt, ouer shy­nynge coloures in thy clothing gendreth disoa [...]ne to thy neyghboures, study to please with vertue, and not with clothynge. The petycion of a woman askynge clothes, and is suf­ficiently clothed, she with her vnstedfastnes, steryth dysdayne.

¶ The Iogelars.

A man cherysshyng Iogelars shal soone haue a wyfe, whose name i [...] pouerte, but who shall be her sone [...] forsoth derysion, yf if happen the to here the wordes of a iogelar, fayne thyself not to here them, but to thic­ke on other thynges. Iogelars that hurte any man eyther ī his goodes [Page]or in his body, be worthy to be han­ged, what is a iogelar? but a distroyer, or els deth of a mānes soule, the instrumentꝭ of a Iogelar please not our lorde God.

¶ The seruauntes.

A seruaunte of hyghe harte put a waye from the, as after to be thyne enemye. A seruaunt glosynge in his maners and condycions remeue fro th [...], a seruaunt nyghe vnto the, and [...]ft tymes praysyng the withstande, a seruaunt lyghtly shamefaste loue as thyne owne sone. Also and thou haue a seruaunte that is a lyer or a swerer, put hym or her awaye, for they shall do the neuer profyte.

¶ Of buyldynge.

And yf thou wylte buylde, let nede moue the, and not thyne owne vo­luptuousnes, for the apetite of a buylder is neuer in buyldynge satyate. Inordynate and ouer moche desyre of buyldynge causeth and abydeth y^e [Page]sellynge of thynges buylded, toure buylded, and the cheste euacuat ma­keth a man after wyse.

¶ The sellynge of herytage.

And yf thou wylte selle, beware that thou selle not a parte of thyne herytage to them that ben greatter than thy self, but rather for lesse pryce, sell al to hym that offereth most it is better to suffre great hungr [...] than the sellynge of thy patrimony, but it is better to sell than to do vsu­rye and worse.

¶ Of felawshyp.

And yf thou wylte haue a felawe, rather felawshyppe the with hym that accordeth to the in maners thā in goods, and suffre hym pacyeutly all in lawfull thynges, let not here of wrath be felawshypped vnto the.

¶ Dronkennes.

He that in dyuer syte and a boun­daunce of wyne is sobre is an erthly [Page]God, droukennesse doth nothynge ryght but whan she falleth into the myre, whan thou arte dystempred with wyne fle conuersacyon & seke slepe. The dronken excusynge hym selfe openly accuseth his dronkenes, it semyth not well a yonge man or a yonge woman to knowe wynes, fle a dronken phesycian fle also a phesycyan wyllynge to proue in the howe [...]rom a lyke syckenes he shall cure other folkes.

¶ Of dogges.

Lyttel dogges leue them to clarkꝭ and ladyes, dogges that can kepe thy howse be profytable, houndes for to hunte spende more then they shall gette the.

¶ Of fortune.

Yf fortune be to the cōtrary se that the rule of honest lyuyng be suffycyent to the, what profytes it the, the rule of lyuynge? take hede thou seest fooles not doynge theyr deuoyre toget [Page]theyr lyuyng, and yet they excuse them by fortune. It is seldom seen dewe dylygence with infortune, but it is seldomer seen infortune parted from Slouth. The slouthfull man abydeth to be holpen of god, whiche in the worlde dyspyseth to laboure, watche therfore besylye and let the lyghtnes of spendynge be recompensed with scarsenes of getynge.

¶ Of thy tastament.

Aege cōmeth I counceyll the ra­ther cōmyt the to God than to thy sone, whan thou shalte dyspose thy goodes I councell theto cōmaunde fyrste that thydettes and seruaun­tes be payde, that done loke thou be take not thy soule to them that be couetous, neyther to players of dyce & cardes, neyther to them that loueth thy person, but to them that loueth theyr owne sowles, dispose thy selfe before sickenes, for oftimes by sickenes a man is made the seruaunt of [Page]syckenes, and a seruant may not make a testamente. Therfore in thy ly­bertye make thy testamente or thou come to bondage, yf thou haue an heyre make hym not thy executour.

¶ Of thy sones.

Nowe here of thy sones: whan the [...]ather is deed, the sones seke deuysyon, if they be noble better is the spredynge abrode of them in the worlde [...]an the deuysyon of thy herytage, [...]r oftymes the deuysyon of the he­ [...]ytage is the dystruction of the kyndred, yf they be labourers let them do what they wyll, yf they marchaū [...]es theyr deuysyon is better than to [...]e togyther lest the infortune of one [...]e imputed to other.

¶ Of thy mother.

Here now of thy mother, yf thy mother seke to be maryed she doeth vn­wysely, but that she wepe her syn̄es I wolde that she beynge olde myght take a yonge man, for he shall not [Page]onely caste awaye h [...] [...]ut also her goodes whiche done she shal drynke with the cuppe of sorowe, which she deserued by her dotage.

Si vis ad vitam ingredi serua mandata.