64.*E403
To Light a Candell Before the Deuill
To beard thy foes shews forth thy witt,
but helpes the matter nere a whit.
My sonne, were it not worst
to frame thy nature so,
That as thine vse is to thy friend,
likewise to greet thy foe:
Though not for hope of good,
yet for the feare of euill,
Thou maist find ease so proffering vp
a candell to the deuill.
This knowne, the surest way
thine enemies wrath to swage;
If thou canst currey fauour thus,
thou shalt be counted sage.
Of truth I tell no lye,
by proofe to well I knowe,
The stubborne want of only this
hath brought full many lowe.
And yet to speak the trouth
the Deuill is worse then naught,
That no good turne will once deserue,
yet looketh vp so haught.
Exalt him how we please,
and giue him what we can,
Yet skarcely shall we find such Deuill
a truly honest man.
But where the mighty may
of force the weake constraine,
It shal be wysely doone to bow
to voyd a farther payne,
Like as in tempest great,
where wind doth beare the stroke,
Much safer stands the bowing reede
then doth the stubborne oke.
And chiefly when of all
thy selfe art one of those
That fortune needes, will haue to dwell
fast by the Deuils nose:
Then (though against thine hart)
thy tongue thou must so charme
That tongue may say, where ere thou come
the Deuill doth no man harme.
For where as no reuenge
may stand a man in steede,
As good is then an humble speech,
as otherwise to bleede.
Like as ye see by him
that hath a shrew to wife,
As good it is to speak her faire
as still to liue in strife.
Put thou no Deuill in boote
as once did master Shorne:E404
Take heede as from madde bayted bull
to keepe thee fro his horne.
And where ye see the Deuill
so bold to wrest with lawe,
Make congé oft, and crouch aloofe,
but come not in his clawe.
The scholer forth of schoole
may boldlier take his mind,
The fields haue eyes, the bushes eares,
false birds can fetch the wind.E405
The further from the gone
the safer may ye skippe,
The nerer to the carters hand
the nerer to the whippe.
The neerer to the whippe
the sooner comes the jerke,
The sooner that poore beast is strucke
the sooner doth he yerke.
Some loueth for to whippe,
to see how ierkes will smart,
In wofull taking is that horse
that nedes must drawe in cart.
Such fellow is the Deuell,
that doth euen what he list,
Yet thinketh he what ere he doth
none ought dare say, but whist.
Take therefore heed, my sonne,
and marke full well this song,
Learne thus with craft to claw the deuell,
else liue in rest not long.