contemn it, and tread upon it, and so consequently tread thrift under our feet? It was not known till the iron age, _donec facinus invasit mortales_, as the poet says; and the Scythians always detested it. I will prove it that an unthrift, of any, comes nearest a happy man, in so much as he comes nearest to beggary. Cicero saith, summum bonum consists in _omnium rerum vacatione_, that is, the chiefest felicity that may be to rest from all labours. Now who doth so much _vacare à rebus_, who rests so much, who hath so little to do as the beggar? who can sing so merry a note, as he that cannot change a groat?[33] _Cui nil est, nil deest_: he that hath nothing wants nothing. On the other side, it is said of the carl, _Omnia habeo, nec quicquam habeo_: I have all things, yet want everything. _Multi mihi vitio vertunt quia egeo_, saith Marcus Cato in Aulus Gellius; _at ego illis quia nequeunt egere_: many upbraid me, saith he, because I am poor; but I upbraid them, because they cannot live if they be poor.[34] It is a common proverb, _Divesque miserque_, a rich man and a miserable: _nam natura paucis contenta_, none so contented as the poor man. Admit that the chiefest happiness were not rest or ease, but knowledge, as Herillus, Alcidamus, and many of Socrates' followers affirm; why _paupertas omnes perdocet artes_, poverty instructs a man in all arts; it makes a man hardy and venturous, and therefore is it called of the poets _paupertas audax_, valiant poverty. It is not so much subject to inordinate desires as wealth or prosperity. _Non habet, unde suum paupertas pascat amorem_;[35] poverty hath not wherewithal to feed lust. All the poets were beggars; all alchemists and all philosophers are beggars. _Omnia mea mecum porto_, quoth Bias, when he had nothing but bread and cheese in a leathern bag, and two or three books in his bosom. Saint Francis, a holy saint, and never had any money. It is madness to doat upon muck. That young man of Athens, Aelianus makes mention of, may be an example to us, who doated so extremely on the image of Fortune, that when he might not enjoy it, he died for sorrow. The earth yields all her fruits together, and why should we not spend them together? I thank heavens on my knees, that have made me an unthrift.[36]
SUM. O vanity itself: O wit ill-spent! So study thousands not to mend their lives, But to maintain the sin they most affect, To be hell's advocates 'gainst their own souls. Ver, since thou giv'st such praise to beggary, And hast defended it so valiantly, This be thy penance: thou shalt ne'er appear Or come abroad, but Lent shall wait on thee: His scarcity may countervail thy waste. Riot may flourish, but finds want at last. Take him away that knoweth no good way, And lead him the next way to woe and want. [Exit VER. Thus in the paths of knowledge many stray, And from the means of life fetch their decay.
WILL SUM. Heigho. Here is a coil indeed to bring beggars to stocks. I promise you truly I was almost asleep; I thought I had been at a sermon. Well, for this one night's exhortation, I vow, by God's grace, never to be good husband while I live. But what is this to the purpose? "Hur come to Fowl," as the Welshman says, "and hur pay an halfpenny for hur seat, and hur hear the preacher talg, and hur talg very well, by gis[37]; but yet a cannot make her laugh: go to a theatre and hear a Queen's Fice, and he make hur laugh, and laugh hur belly full." So we come hither to laugh and be merry, and we hear a filthy, beggarly oration in the praise of beggary. It is a beggarly poet that writ it; and that makes him so much commend it, because he knows not how to mend himself. Well, rather than he shall have no employment but lick dishes, I will set him a work myself, to write in praise of the art of stooping, and how there never was any famous thresher, porter, brewer, pioneer, or carpenter that had straight back. Repair to my chamber, poor fellow, when the play is done, and thou shalt see what I will say to thee.
SUM. Vertumnus, call Solstitium.
VER. Solstitium, come into the court: without, peace there below! make room for Master Solstitium.
Enter SOLSTITIUM, _like an aged hermit, carrying a pair of balances, with an hour-glass in either of them--one hour-glass white, the other black: he is brought in by a number of Shepherds, playing upon recorders_.[38]
SOL. All hail to Summer, my dread sovereign lord.
SUM. Welcome, Solstitium:
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