Good husbandry lusteth Ill husbandry eateth Ill husbandry dayeth, Ill husbandry lurketh, Ill husbandry liveth Ill husbandry taketh, Ill husbandry prayeth His wife to make shift: Ill husbandry drowseth Ill husbandry lieth Ill husbandry ways hath Ill husbandry never Hath wealth to keep touch: Good husbandry ever Hath penny in pouch. Good husband his boon Hath a toad with an R.1 HUGH RHODES. [Was a gentleman of the King's Chapel towards 1550. Wrote a Book of Nurture (whence our extract), and a Song of the Child-Bishop.] CAUTIONS. He that spendeth much, And getteth nought; He that oweth much, And hath nought; He that looketh in his purse And findeth nought,— He may be sorry, And say nought. He that may and will not, May repent and sigh not. He that sweareth Till no man trust him; He that lieth Till no man believe him; He that borroweth Till no man will lend him,— Let him go where No man knoweth him. He that hath a good master, And not content with him; But few men will know him. 1 One of the editors of Tusser understands this expression to amount to much the same as "getting more kicks than halfpence." He quotes from Brockett the proverb, "Over-many masters, as the toad said when under the harrow." EDMUND SPENSER. [Born in London, 1553; died in Westminster, 16 January 1599. The Prosopopoia is an early poem, published in 1591, and then spoken of by the author as "long sithens composed in the raw conceit of my youth." It is evidently in large measure a satire: the Lord Treasurer Burleigh is regarded as the main object of attack.} PROSOPOPOIA: OR, MOTHER HUBBARD'S TALE. IT was the month in which the righteous maid Fled back to heaven whence she was first conceived, And the hot Syrian dog on him awaiting, After the chafèd lion's cruel baiting, Corrupted had the air with his noisome breath, And poured on the earth plague, pestilence, and death. Reigned amongst men, that many did to die, That it to leeches seemèd strange and geason. They sought my troubled sense how to deceive D No Muse's aid me needs hereto to call; "Whilom" (said she) "before the world was civil, The Fox and the Ape, disliking of their evil And hard estate, determinèd to seek Their fortunes far abroad, like with his like; "The Fox, that first this cause of grief did find, 'Gan first thus plain his case with words unkind. "Neighbour Ape, and my gossip eke beside, (Both two sure bands in friendship to be tied) To whom may I more trustily complain The evil plight that doth me sore constrain, And hope thereof to find due remedy? Hear then my pain and inward agony. Thus many years I now have spent and worn In mean regard and basest fortune's scorn, Doing my country service as I might,— No less, I dare say, than the proudest wight; And still I hoped to be up advanced For my good parts, but still it hath mischanced. I mean my gossip privy first to make.' "Ah! my dear gossip,' (answered then the Ape) 'Deeply do your sad words my wits awhape, Both for because your grief doth great appear, And eke because myself am touched near; For I likewise have wasted much good time, Still waiting to preferment up to climb, Whilst others always have before me stepped, And from my beard the fat away have swept, That now unto despair I 'gin to grow, And mean for better wind about to throw; Therefore, to me, my trusty friend, aread Thy counsel: two is better than one head.' "Certes' (said he) 'I mean me to disguise In some strange habit, after uncouth wise, Or like a pilgrim or a limiter, Or like a gipsy or a juggeler, And so to wander to the worlde's end, |