tters was a Spenser and every man of affairs a
Sidney or even a Raleigh. Extracts from _The Seven Deadly Sins_ and _The
Gull's Hornbook_ may be given:--

"O Candle-light! and art thou one of the cursed crew? hast thou
been set at the table of Princes and Noblemen? have all sorts of
people done reverence unto thee, and stood bare so soon as ever
they have seen thee? have thieves, traitors, and murderers been
afraid to come in thy presence, because they knew thee just, and
that thou wouldest discover them? And art thou now a harbourer of
all kinds of vices? nay, dost thou play the capital Vice thyself?
Hast thou had so many learned Lectures read before thee, and is
the light of thy understanding now clean put out, and have so
many profound scholars profited by thee? hast thou done such good
to Universities, been such a guide to the lame, and seen the
doing of so many good works, yet dost thou now look dimly, and
with a dull eye, upon all goodness? What comfort have sick men
taken (in weary and irksome nights) but only in thee? thou hast
been their physician and apothecary, and when the relish of
nothing could please them, the very shadow of thee hath been to
them a restorative consolation. The nurse hath stilled her
wayward infant, shewing it but to thee: What gladness hast thou
put into mariners' bosoms when thou hast met them on the sea!
What joy into the faint and benighted traveller when he has met
thee on the land! How many poor handicraftsmen by thee have
earned the best part of their living! And art thou now become a
companion for drunkards, for leachers, and for prodigals? Art
thou turned reprobate? thou wilt burn for it in hell. And so
odious is this thy apostasy, and hiding thyself from the light of
the truth, that at thy death and going out of the world, even
they that love thee best will tread thee under their feet: yea, I
that have thus played the herald, and proclaimed thy good parts,
will now play the crier and call thee into open court, to arraign
thee for thy misdemeanours."

* * * * *

"For do but consider what an excellent thing sleep is: it is so
inestimable a jewel that, if a tyrant would give his crown for an
hour's slumber, it cannot be bought: of so beautiful a shape is
it, that though a man lie wi