LINCUS

Well met good Alcon, this falls happily, That we two thus encounter all alone, Who had not any conference scarce this month. Alcon in troth not any thing to speak, For these poor people of Arcadia here, Are so contented each man with his own, As they desire no more, nor will be drawn, To any contestation, nor indeed Is there yet any frame composed, whereby Contention may proceed in practic form? For If they had this form once to contend, Then would they brawl and wrangle without end. For then might they be taught, and concell'd how To litigate perpetually you know; And so might I be sure to do some good: But having here no matter where upon To furnish real actions, as else where, No tenures, but a cons umarie hold Of what they have from their progenitors Common, with out indiuiduitie; No purchasings, no contracts, no comerse, No politi que commands, no services, No general Assemblies but to feast And to delight themselves with fresh pastimes; How can I hope that ever I shall thrive? It seems it may, before men have transformed Their state of nature in so many shapes Of their own managements, and are cast out Into confusion by their knowledges. And either I must pack me hence, or el Must labour wholly to dissolve the frame, And composition, of their strange b ult state. Which now I seek to do, by drawing them To appr'hend of these proprieties Of mine and thine and teach them to in croch And get them states apart, & private shares. And this I have already set a work If it will take, for I have met with two The aptest spirits the country yields, I know, Mon anus, and Acrisius, who are both Old, and both choleric e, and bothperuerse, And both inchnable to A arice And if there quarrel hold, as 'tis begun I do not doubt, but all the rest will on. And if the worst should fallen, if I could gain The reputation but to arbitrate, And sway their strifes, I would get well by that. This peace of theirs, is not Like others peace Where craft lays traps t'inrich it self with wiles, And men make prey of men, and rise by spoils. This rather seems a quiet then a peace. For this poor corner of Arcadia here, This little angle of the world you see, Which hath shut out of door, all earth beside And are barred up with mountains, and with rocks; Hath had no intertrading with thereste Of men, nor yet will have but here alone, Quite out of Fortune's way, and underneath Ambition, or desire, that ways them not They live as if still in the golden age, When as the world was in his pupillage. But for mine own part, Alcon I protest I envy them that they thus make themselves, And everlasting holiday of rest, While others work, and I do think it fit Being in the world, they should be of the world, And If that other states should do this too As God forbid, what should we Lawyers do? But I hope shortly yet, we shall have here As many of us as are other where: And we shall sweat, and chafe, and tal e as loud, Brawl our selves hoarse, as well as they shall do At Patras, Sparta, Corinth or at Thebe , And be as arrogant and even as proud And then it'll be a world, and not before. But how dost thou with thy profession frame? And that is right my trick, I overwhelm My practice too, with darkness, and strange words, With Paragraphs, Condictions, Codicille , Acceptilations, Actions rescissory, Noxall, and Hypothecall, and involve Domestic matter in a foreign phrase. No, no, it must be foreign stuff, God wot, Or something else, that is not to be God. And it is easy to bring in the use Of any thing, though never so absurd, When nations are prepared to all abuse, And th'humour of corruption once is stirred. But Alcon peace, here comes a patien , peace. Yea and those Nations are far sooner drawn T'all frivolous distractions then are these. For oft we see, the gross do manage things, Far better then the subtle, cunning brings Confusion sooner then does ignorance. Nor do I doubt but I shall likewise live; And thrive, where ever I shall plant my self; For I have all those helps my skill requires, A wrangling nature, a contesting grace, A Clamorous voice, and and audacious face. And I can cite the law oppugn the law, And make the gloss to overthrow the text I can allege, and vouch authority, T'imbroyle the intent, and sense of equity: Beside by having be a Notary, And used to frame litigious instruments And leave advantages for subtlety, And strife to work on, I can so devise That there shall be no writing made so sure But it shall yield occasion to contest At any time when men shall think it best, Nor be thou checked with this Pistophoenax, That at thy first appearing thou art thus Discovered here, thou shall along with us, And take thy fortune too, as well as we. T'is true friend Alcon, he that hath once goat Elixir of opinion hath God all, And h'is th'man that turns his brass to gold. Then can I talk of Gallen, Aucrois, Hippocrates, Rasis, and Avicenna And books I never read, and use strange speech Of Symptoms, Crisis, and the Critique days, Of Trochiscs, Opiates, Apophilegmatismes, Eclegmats, Embrochs, Lixiues, Cataplasmes, With all the hideous terms, Art can devise, T'amuse weak, and admiring ignorance