him well) whose wisdom and virtue commanded no less respect than his station. He was of the middle stature, and not yet broken by age; his looks begat reverence rather than fear; his conversation was easy but grave. He sometimes took delight in trying those who came to him upon business, by speaking sharply to them, though with decency; and was much pleased when he discovered spirit and presence of mind without rising to impudence, for this resembled his own temper, and he judged it the fittest for business. He spoke with grace and weight, was eminently skilled in law, had a vast understanding, an extraordinary memory; and these rich gifts of nature were improved by study and experience. When I was in England, the king depended much on his counsel, and the government seemed to be chiefly supported by him; for he had been trained in business from his youth, and having experienced many vicissitudes of fortune, he had acquired wisdom at no small cost; and she is best retained when dearly purchased.

'One day when I was dining with him, an English lawyer, who happened to be at table, ran out in high commendation of the severity exercised against thieves, who, he said, were then hanged so fast, that there were sometimes twenty on one gibbet; adding, he could not enough wonder, since so few escaped, that there were yet so many who were stealing everywhere.

Here I, who took the liberty of speaking freely before

the cardinal, observed, that there was no reason to wonder at the matter, since this mode of punishment was neither just in itself, nor beneficial to the public. The severity of it is too great, and the remedy ineffectual; simple theft not being so great a crime that it ought to cost life, and no punishment, however severe, being able to keep those from robbing who can find no other means of livelihood. In this,' I added, not only you English, but a great 'part of the world, imitate bad masters, who are readier to ' chastise their scholars than to teach them. Dreadful punishments are inflicted on thieves; but it were better to 'make good provisions that all might know how to gain a livelihood, and be preserved from the necessity of stealing and of dying for it.'

Care enough hath been taken of that,' said he.There be many handicrafts, and there is husbandry. By these they may live, unless they have a greater inclination to follow bad courses.'

• That will not serve your turn,' I replied. • Many lose their limbs in civil or foreign wars, as lately in the Cornish rebellion, and some time ago in your wars with France. Thus mutilated in the service of their country, they can no longer follow their old trades, and are too old to learn new ones. But since wars are only accidental, and have intervals, let us consider the occurrences of every day.

Your numerous nobility are themselves as idle as drones,

subsisting by the labour of their tenants, whom they oppress to extremity to raise their revenues. This indeed is. the only instance of their frugality, for in all else they are prodigal even to their own ruin. They have about them a number of idle fellows, who never learned any art by which they might gain their living. These, as soon as their lord dies, or themselves fall sick, are turned out of doors; for lords are readier to feed the idle than to relieve the sick, and the heir is frequently unable to keep together so large an establishment as did his predecessor.

Now when the stomachs of those who are thus turned out of doors grow keen, they rob keenly; and what else can they do? When, wandering about, they have worn. out their clothes and their health, ghastly and ragged, men of quality will not, and the poor dare not maintain them. For one bred in idleness and pleasure, is unfit for the spadeand mattock, and will not serve for the wages and diet of the poor.'

Such men should be particularly cherished,' he replied, for they are the main strength of the armies for which we have occasion. Their birth inspireth them with a higher sense of honour than is to be found in tradesmen and husbandmen.'

You might as well say,' replied I,' that you must cherish thieves on account of wars, for you will never want the one while you have the other; and as robbers sometimes.

prove gallant soldiers, so soldiers often prove brave rob

bers.

• But this bad custom, so common among you, of keeping many servants, is not peculiar to this country. France hath yet a more pestiferous crew, for she is full of soldiers, still kept up in time of peace, if such a state can be called peace. And these are kept in pay on the same plea which you urge for those idle retainers about noblemen; it being a maxim of those pretended statesmen, that it is ne cessary for the public safety to hold a good body, especially veterans, ever in readiness. They think raw men not to be depended upon, and sometimes seek occasions for war to train them in the art of throat-cutting, or, as Sallust saith, to keep their hands in use, that they may not grow dull by intermission.

But France hath learned to her cost, how dangerous it is to feed such animals. Rome, Carthage, Syria, and many more, ruined and overthrown by standing armies, should be a lesson to others. And the folly of this maxim of the French appeareth even from this; their trained soldiers often find your raw men their masters, on which I will not enlarge, lest you think I flatter the English.

Every day's experience sheweth, that mechanics and husbandmen, if they be not disabled or dispirited by extreme want, are not afraid of contending with those idle fellows. Thus you need not apprehend, that those well

shapen, strong men (whom alone the nobility love to hire) at present enfeebled by their modes of life, would be less fit for exertion were they properly bred and employed. And it seemeth very unreasonable, that for the prospect of a war, you should maintain so many idle fellows as to disturb you during peace, a time much more worthy of consideration.

• But I think not that this necessity for stealing ariseth hence only; there is yet another cause of it more peculiar to England.'

• What is that?" said the cardinal,

• The increase of pasture,' replied I; by which your sheep,. naturally mild and tractable, may now be said to devour men, and unpeople towns and villages. Wherever the sheep of any soil yield a softer and richer wool, there the nobility, gentry, and even those holy men the abbots, not content with their old rents, nor thinking it sufficient that, living in indolence, they do no good to the public, resolve on the contrary to harm it. They stop agriculture, destroy houses and towns, reserving only the churches, and inclose grounds for their sheep. As if parks and forests had swallowed too, little of the land, these worthies convert the places best inIrabited into solitudes.

For when an insatiate wretch, the plague of his country, resolves to inclose many thousand acres, landlords as