which if it hit to some purpose, with a few fustian
words he will seem a piece of strange stuff. He is never without old
merry tales and stale jests to make old folks laugh, and comfits or
plums in his pocket to please little children; yea, and he will be
talking of complexions, though he know nothing of their dispositions;
and if his medicine do a feat, he is a made man among fools; but being
wholly unlearned, and ofttimes unhonest, let me thus briefly describe
him:--He is a plain kind of mountebank and a true quack-salver, a danger
for the sick to deal withal, and a dizzard in the world to talk withal.

A WORTHY MERCHANT.

A worthy merchant is the heir of adventure, whose hopes hang much upon
wind. Upon a wooden horse he rides through the world, and in a merry
gale he makes a path through the seas. He is a discoverer of countries,
and a finder out of commodities, resolute in his attempts, and royal in
his expenses. He is the life of traffic and the maintainer of trade, the
sailor's master and the soldier's friend. He is the exercise of the
exchange, the honour of credit, the observation of time, and the
understanding of thrift. His study is number, his care his accounts, his
comfort his conscience, and his wealth his good name. He fears not
Scylla, and sails close by Charybdis, and having beaten out a storm,
rides at rest in a harbour. By his sea-gain he makes his land purchase,
and by the knowledge of trade finds the key of treasure. Out of his
travels he makes his discourses, and from his eye observations brings
the models of architectures. He plants the earth with foreign fruits,
and knows at home what is good abroad. He is neat in apparel, modest in
demeanour, dainty in diet, and civil in his carriage. In sum, he is the
pillar of a city, the enricher of a country, the furnisher of a court,
and the worthy servant of a king.

AN UNWORTHY MERCHANT.

An unworthy merchant is a kind of pedlar, who (with the help of a
broker) gets more by his wit than by his honesty. He doth sometime use
to give out money to gamesters, be paid in post, upon a hand at dice.
Sometime he gains more by baubles than better stuffs, and rather than
fail will adventure a false oath for a fraudulent gain. He deals with no
wholesale, but all his honesty is at one word; as for wares and weights,
he knows how to hold the balance, and for his conscience he is not
ignorant what to do with it. His travel is most by land, for he fears to
be