That by much _laughing_ thou maiſt know there is a _foole_, not, that the _laughers_ are _fooles_, but that among them there is ſome _foole_, at whome _wiſemen_ laugh: which moved _Eraſmus_ to put this as his firſt _Argument_ in the mouth of his _Folly_, that _ſhee made Beholders laugh_: for _fooles_ are the moſt laughed at, and laugh the leaſt themſelves of any. And _Nature_ ſaw this _faculty_ to bee ſo neceſſary in man, that ſhee hath beene content that by _more cauſes_ we ſhould be importuned to _laugh_, then to the _exerciſe_ of any other _power_; for things in themſelves utterly _contrary_, beget this effect; for wee laugh both at _witty_ and _abſurd_ things: At both which ſorts I have ſeen Men _laugh ſo long_, and _ſo earneſtly_, that at laſt they have _wept_ that they could laugh no more. And therfore the _Poet_ having deſcribed the quietneſſe of a _wiſe retired man_, ſaith in one, what we have ſaid before in many lines; _Quid facit Canius tuus? ridet_. We have received that even the _extremity_ of _laughing_, yea of _weeping_ alſo, hath beene accounted _wiſedome_: And that _Democritus_ and _Heraclitus_, the _lovers_ of theſe _Extremes_, have been called _lovers of wiſedome_. Now among our _wiſemen_ I doubt not, but many would be found who would laugh at _Heraclitus_ weeping, none which weepe at _Democritus_ laughing. At the hearing of _Comedies_ or other witty reports, I have noted ſome, which not underſtanding _jeſts_, &c. have yet choſen this as the beſt meanes to ſeeme _wiſe_ and _underſtanding_, to laugh when their _Companions laugh_; and I have preſumed them _ignorant_, whom I have ſeene _unmoved_. A _foole_ if he come into a _Princes Court_, and ſee a _gay_ man leaning at the wall, ſo _gliſtering_, and ſo _painted_ in many _colours_ that he is hardly diſcerned from one of the _pictures_ in the _Arras_, hanging his _body_ like an _Iron-bound-cheſt_, girt in and thicke ribb’d with _broad gold laces_, may (and commonly doth) envy him. But alas! ſhall a _wiſeman_, which may not onely not _envy_, but not _pitty_ this _monſter_, do nothing? Yes, let him _laugh_. And if one of theſe _hot cholerike firebrands_, which nouriſh themſelves by _quarrelling_, and kindling others, ſpit upon a _foole_ one _ſparke_ of _diſgrace_, he, like a _thatcht houſe_ quickly burning, may bee _angry_; but the _wiſeman_, as _cold_ as the _Salamander_, may not onely not be _angry_ with him, but not be _ſorry_ for him; therefore let him _laugh_: ſo he ſhall be knowne a Man, becauſe he can _laugh_, a _wiſe Man_ that hee knowes at _what_ to laugh, and a _valiant Man_ that he _dares_ laugh: for he that _laughs_ is juſtly reputed more _wiſe_, then at whom it is _laughed_. And hence I thinke proceeds that which in theſe later _formall_ times I have much noted; that now when our _ſuperſtitious civility_ of _manners_ is become a mutuall _tickling flattery_ of one another, almoſt every man affecteth an _humour_ of _jeſting_, and is content to be _deject_, and to