Tranjlated out of Latine into Englifh. --~his Abilities famous and fup~orted (as I before ~ewed) with t~e ~rieod~ip of great Perfonages, might witheafehave~ttamedto_whatfoever hts defires had 1n~hned htm: but af. fecting neither Riches nor Authortty, the wtfbes ofha~py men, ( thou~h hts d~fcrts were equal with any) yet w:~~ he we~ I contented to keep the confcten~ of w~ll-domg t? htmfelf, and that Rewards fhould remain m the PoiTeffion of others. Thts I netther admat, as wholly to hi£ Commendation, nor yet find fault with, a~ many have done: Let ~s at Ieafi favour good men (o far, as to allow Vertue, to choo(e what degree of Fortune it hO:eth to fhin~ in; or if we wlll needs rdlr3in it within certain limits, let us do ic to thofc who are good wnh hope of re. ward; as for them who are fofor no defigo, if their glory overwhelm us not, we fhall not need tofe.artheir multitude. I fhall write of a life, bearing continually true and folids fruits; but not fuch whercon the Readers feofes may furfeit ; where neither the rare !l:ratagems of War or Peace fhall be related, nor any fuch difcourfes as Writers ufe, whe~ they imend to captivate the ears oftbe hearers. I am to fpeak ofa life paffed over without. notfc, of modeft:y a: home and abro~d, of continence, charity, contempt of the World, :tnd thuft after heav~nly thmgs; of unwearted labours, and all actions fo performed as might be exemplary or beneficial to 01hcrs. I have fhewed before, that Mr. Fox firfi applied himfelfto write the Hifl:ory of the Church, wbiHl he was at B~jil; and that the. c:mfe he did not there fini{h .it, was, that he ~ight after· wards ufe the Tefhmony of m0re WJt neffes. Thi9 Work, not a httle, vexed the mmds of the Papifts. For well they faw that, in vain, they had fpilt fo much bloo:J, and to no effeCt, been guilty of fo great cruelty, if an account of theft: proceedings muft be rendred to fucceeding Ages: and that the Work it fclfcould not be taken out ofmem hand 5, they well underftood. There was therefore no other hope left, but by charging the Author with fallbood, and feigning fome Cavils againfr him, (o to leffen his credit and authority ; which whilft Mr. Fox endeavoured to remove, and rake away from himfelf, he could not avoid it, but muft needs pafs muchthelawful boundsof:mHiftory, byanewheapofmatters and tefl:imonies. And let us but by this judge of tht: induftrr of our Author, that he not only .gathered together fo many feveral thing~, as the materials of his Work, from all diftanccs of umes or places, and through all Shires of the Kingdom, colle~ed the A& of both Courts, and the Records of matters judged, but alfo alone by a moft diftrallcd kind of dili.gence (earched our, examined, freed evca from mat heating, and afterward reduced into convement order thofe things themfelves, being partly as it were rufty, and eaten out by Antiquity, partly by hatred or flattery of Authors corrupted, and partly hid in the rugged and fuort form of old writing. I find by the Authors own Notes, that in the eleventh rear afier he began to write ir, the work was finifhed; and very probable it is, that Work !ball live, which wasfolong in bringing forth: Neither in all that ~i:ct;y"!~pl~~;~et~~~c 0:u~~~fe~e~~dn~a~~~~~h~~~r~~infe1?,raff~~~ !~~n~~efu~0affi~:c~7t~~: being fcattered, and the mind divided into many cares at once. though it bath never fo many helping hands. I have ofien begun to confid~r with my felf, of tho(e two forts of toylings, which men efreem an Honour to undertake, whtch may be the more painful or more grievous, warfare or ft:udyi ng. Many things feem to make for both fides,but not in fuew alike perfwafive. For the miferiesof War being grievous, not only tothofe who endure them, but even to rhofe that but hear them reported, as they give fcope enough to the Relator, fo they make no light impretlion in the judgment of the ft:nfc it felf: whereas the labour of fiudying is chiefly confiderablc in the fi!ent tefiimo~y of thar, whereby life is maintained, and whereof only the In· telleB: can dctermme. Thus IS the queftion transferred to the ~ind, and the Body, that of thefc two, that may be thought to have the better caufe, whofe evds do in greatne!S outweigh the ot.bers. I will neither take to my ~elf authority to decide fo weigh~y a Controverfie; nor yet will I conce::~ l what I know many wtfcmen to have thought concermng that matter; which is this, That thofe evils which h::~ppen eo the Body, though they may be exceffively raging and difpleafant, yet they ufe always to determine in one of tbefe three~ wearinefr, pain or death ; whereof the t\~o firfi are curable by time, and affwaged by remedies, and the la!l: valiant men ufe alfo to defptfe. Now the mind when it is overfirained, though it producetb in fame fort the fame mifchiefi, yet it fioppeth not at wearinefs or pain, but rather procetdeth to the ruinc of that whereon even the life of man dependeth. For that in the evils of the mind, he who is once tired, cannot by giving over his Work for a while, or abating fame part of his diligence in labour, recover again his former firength ; . nor overcome the difcommodities he ihall thereby endW'C, though with never fo great abundance ofother contentments. They do therefore conclude,. that there is as.much more mifery _in thiS fober, tb~n in that &lorious kind of warfare, as !here.tsmore danger m lofing an appettte to meatordrmk, than m having the meat or drink ~f~~~~~dnf~;:~; p~~te~tl~e i1~~!!c~h~ ~nli~~~gac:~f~~~f~~b'm~~n~£b~~~~:fu~~sfm~~~i~~ cagerneG offiudying, more of himCcl£ ' The t~uth of this was, by Mr. FoxeJ example confirmed, who when he had, for many years, left no ttme free from t.hought of his fiudy, either not at all, or not feafonably a~ord_ing himei1:o:~a~~~tf;n.t:e~::~~~; ~i~s ~~i~~nfst~o~ro~~~r~ ~~~~~a~~ ~~~t ~~m~~~~~ ~:;:.ho~~ ~~~ me~ns he fir~ fell mto that withered leannc(s of Body, in which many afterward faw him, never agam returmng to that pleafing and chearful countenance whicb be bad before; but when he would by no meam be perCwaded to lc:ifen his accuftomed Labours, or by afide hii fl:udy, c 3 to
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