Howbeit many times that word
is mistaken, and under the name of bounty and hospitality, is shrouded riot
and prodigality, and that which is commendable in itself well used, hath
been mistaken heretofore, is become by his abuse, the bane and utter ruin
of many a noble family. For some men live like the rich glutton, consuming
themselves and their substance by continual feasting and invitations, with
[696]Axilon in Homer, keep open house for all comers, giving entertainment
to such as visit them, [697]keeping a table beyond their means, and a
company of idle servants (though not so frequent as of old) are blown up on
a sudden; and as Actaeon was by his hounds, devoured by their kinsmen,
friends, and multitude of followers. [698]It is a wonder that Paulus Jovius
relates of our northern countries, what an infinite deal of meat we consume
on our tables; that I may truly say, 'tis not bounty, not hospitality, as
it is often abused, but riot and excess, gluttony and prodigality; a mere
vice; it brings in debt, want, and beggary, hereditary diseases, consumes
their fortunes, and overthrows the good temperature of their bodies. To
this I might here well add their inordinate expense in building, those
fantastical houses, turrets, walks, parks, &c. gaming, excess of pleasure,
and that prodigious riot in apparel, by which means they are compelled to
break up house, and creep into holes. Sesellius in his commonwealth of
[699]France, gives three reasons why the French nobility were so frequently
bankrupts: "First, because they had so many lawsuits and contentions one
upon another, which were tedious and costly; by which means it came to
pass, that commonly lawyers bought them out of their possessions. A second
cause was their riot, they lived beyond their means, and were therefore
swallowed up by merchants." (La Nove, a French writer, yields five reasons
of his countrymen's poverty, to the same effect almost, and thinks verily
if the gentry of France were divided into ten parts, eight of them would be
found much impaired, by sales, mortgages, and debts, or wholly sunk in
their estates.) "The last was immoderate excess in apparel, which consumed
their revenues." How this concerns and agrees with our present state, look
you. But of this elsewhere. As it is in a man's body, if either head,
heart, stomach, liver, spleen, or any one part be misaffected, all the rest
suffer with it: so is it with this economical body. If the head be naught,