And who may doubt of great wiſdome in them, that doth but obſerve with how much labour and cunning our _Iuſticers_ and other _diſpenſers_ of the _Lawes_ ſtudy to imbrace them: and how zealouſly our _Preachers_ dehort men from them, onely by urging their _ſubtilties_, and _policies_, and _wiſedome_, which are in them? Or who can deny them a good meaſure of _Fortitude_, if hee conſider how _valiant men_ they have overthrowne, and being themſelves overthrowne, how much and how patiently they _beare_? And though they bee moſt _intemperate_, I care not, for I undertooke to furniſh them with _ſome vertue_, not with _all_. _Neceſſity_, which makes even bad things good, prevailes alſo for them, for wee muſt ſay of them, as of ſome ſharpe pinching _Lawes_; If men were free from _infirmities_, they were needleſſe. Theſe or none muſt ſerve for _reaſons_, and it is my great happineſſe that _Examples_ prove not _Rules_, for to confirme this _Opinion_, the World yeelds not _one Example._ [Decoration] 7. _That Old men are more fantaſtike then Young._ Who reads this _Paradox_ but thinks mee more _fantaſtike_ now, than I was yeſterday, when I did not think thus: And if one day make this ſenſible change in men, what will the burthen of many yeeres? To bee _fantaſtike_ in _young men_ is _conceiptfull diſtemperature_, and a _witty madneſſe_; but in _old men_, whoſe ſenſes are withered, it becomes _naturall_, therefore more full and perfect. For as when wee _ſleepe_ our _fancy_ is moſt ſtrong; ſo it is in _age_, which is a _ſlumber_ of the _deepe ſleepe of death_. They taxe us of _Inconſtancy_, which in themſelves _young_ they allowed; ſo that reprooving that which they did approove, their _Inconſtancy_ exceedeth ours, becauſe they have changed _once more_ then wee. Yea, they are more idlely buſied in _conceited apparell_ then wee; for we, when we are _melancholy_, weare _blacke_; when _luſty_, _greene_; when _forſaken_, _tawney_; pleaſing our owne _inward_ affections, leaving them to others indifferent; but they preſcribe _lawes_, and conſtraine the _Noble_, the _Scholer_, the _Merchant_, and all _Eſtates_ to a certaine _habit_. The _old men_ of our time have changed with patience their owne _bodies_, much of their _lawes_, much of their _languages_; yea their _Religion_, yet they accuſe us. To be _Amorous_ is proper and _naturall_ in a _young man_, but in an _old man_ most _fantaſtike_. And that _ridling humour_ of _Iealouſie_, which ſeekes and would not finde, which requires and repents his knowledge, is in them moſt common, yet moſt _fantaſtike_. Yea, that which falls never in _young men_, is in them moſt _fantaſtike_ and _naturall_, that is, _Covetouſneſſe_; even at their _journeyes end_ to make great proviſion. Is any _habit_ of _young men_ ſo _fantaſtike_, as in the hotteſt ſeaſons to be _double-gowned_ or _hooded_ like our _Elders_? Or ſeemes it ſo _ridiculous_ to weare long haire, as to weare _none_.