r
your reasonyng euery honest poore man, shulde liue a more
pleasaunt life, then any other, how much soeuer he did
haboud in riches, honour, and dignitie: and breuely though
he had all kynde of pleasures. _HE._ Adde this too it (if it
please you) too bee a kyng, yea, or an emperour if you take
away a quiet mynd with it selfe, I dare boldely say, that
the poore man sklenderlye || and homely appareled, made
weake with fastyng, watchyng, great toile and labour, and
that hath scarcely a groat in all the worlde, so that his
mynde bee godly, he lyueth more deliciously then that man
whiche hathe fyue hudreth times greater pleasures &
delicates, then euer had _Sardanapalus_. _SP._ Why is it
the, that we see communely those that bee poore looke farre
more heuely then riche men. _HED._ Because some of them bee
twise poore, eyther some desease, nedines, watchyng, labour,
nakednesse, doo soo weaken the state of their bodyes, that
by reason therof, the chearefulnes of their myndes neuer
sheweth it selfe, neyther in these thinges, || nor yet in
their deathe. The mynde, forsooth thoughe it bee inclosed
within this mortal bodye, yet for that it is of a stronger
nature, it sowhat trasfourmeth and fascioneth the bodie
after it selfe, especially if the vehement instigation of
the spirit approche the violent inclination of nature: this
is the cause we see oftentymes suche men as bee vertuous die
more cherefully, then those that make pastyme contynually,
& bee yeoue vnto all kynd of pleasures. _SP._ In very dede,
I haue meruayled oftten at that thyng. _HED_ Forsoothe it is
not a thyng too bee marueyled at, though that there shulde
bee vnspeakeable || ioy and comforte where God is present,
whiche is the heed of all mirth and gladnes, nowe this is
no straunge thyng, althoughe the mynde of a godly man doo
reioyce contynually in this mortall bodye: where as if the
same mynde or spirit discended into the lowest place of hell
shuld lose no parte of felicitie, for whersoeuer is a pure
mynd, there is god, wher God is: there is paradise, ther is
heauen, ther is felicitie, wher felicitie is: ther is the
true ioy and synsere gladnes. _SP._ But yet they shuld liue
more pleasauntly, if certein incommodities were taken from
them, and had suche pastymes as eyther they dispise orels
can not get nor attaine vnto. _HE._ ||E.i.|| (I praye you)
doo you meane, suche incommodities as by the commune course
of nature folow the codition or state of ma: as hung