The First Part.

THE present question, Whether Apprentiship extinguisheth Gentry being now not so much a pa­radox, as growne in secret to be of late a common opinion, I am bold to call a weighty and important question vniustly grounded vpon the learned folly of Erasmus of Roterdam, and the in­circumspection of Sir Thomas Smith Knight, in his booke de Republica Anglorum, and out of certaine wandring conceits hatcht among trees & tillage, as shall appeare hereafter. Weighty and impor­tant I am bold to call it, and it is so. Because in loo­king out vpon the concernings of the case, I finde that prospect so spacious, that within the compass thereof, as well the greater as the lesser Nobilitie of England are very notably, and very inexplicably enwrapped. What doe I say of the subalternall Nobilitie, when the Royall name it selfe (with all humble reuerence be it spoken) was deeply inte­ressed in the proposition? For Queene Elizabeth, though a free Monarch, and chiefe of the English in her turne, was a party of the cause, which shee ingenuously, and openly acknowledged, calling Sir Martin Calthorpe, kinsman, (as indeed he was) [Page 4] being at that time Knight, and Lord Maior of London: Yea Sir Godfrey Bullen (Knight also and Lord Maior of London) was lineall Ancestor to Queene Anne her mother (saith Camden in his Annals) no longer before then in the reigne of Henry the sixth King of England. Both which Knights (being also Gentlemen borne, & of right Worshipfull Families) ascended by due de­grees from the condition of Apprentises to the greatest annuall honor of this Kingdome. It is weighty and important, because without much impropriety of speech, it may be called quaestio sta­tus, which in the ancient phrase of the Emperour Iustinian, is as much to say as a tryall, whether one is to be adiudged bond, or free, seruile, or ingenu­ous, and implieth that odious, and vnnaturall se­quel, which by Textuists hath to name, Capitis di­minutio: wherof though the Romane lawes make a threefold diuision, yet in this our question, if but onely the third and lowest degree were incurred, which hapneth, cum qui sui juris fuerunt, coeperunt alieno iuri subiecti esse, that alone should keepe vs from neglect. It is weighty and important, and can appeare none other, because it directly tends to darken, and as it were to intercloud the lumi­nous body of that beauteous planet HONOR, with not onely foule but lasting spots. For what [Page 5] can lightly be a more disparagement, then for the free to become a kind of bondmen, or to be come of such? Nay, there is nothing without vs, which can bee of so great disparagement. Finally, it is weighty, and important for very many other rea­sons, and particularly because it is not onely fit that states of opinions should be rectified in this kinde, as breeding bad affections among people of the same nation (from whence great mischiefes often rise, euen to hatred, quarrels, and homicides) but that such also, as through vanity, or other sick­nesse of the wit, or iudgement, disdaine to seeme either Citie-borne, or Citie-bred, or to owe any thing of their worship, or estate, either to the City, or to Citizens, may vnderstand their owne place, and true condition, lest they be conuinced to be a­mong them, who are vnworthy of so honest ei­ther originall or accession as the Citie yeeldeth.

But let vs first behold the Cities Honour in Armes, as it stands displayed in ancient Heraldry, and as it is commented vpon out of authenticke Monuments in that worthily well commended Survey of LONDON, composed by that diligent Chronologer, and vertuous Citizen M. Iohn Stowe; The present figure with the same words as here they stand, is a copy of that which an old imper­fect larger volume at the Office of Armes contai­neth.

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[Page 7] There needs no greater demonstration of the Cities ancient honor, and of her peoples free qua­litie, then this, that a principall Baron of the Realm of England was by tenure her Standard-bearer. The figure of St. Paul (titularie patron of London) aduanced it selfe in the Standard, and vpon the shield those famous well-knowne Armories of the Crosse, and Weapon. The like picture of which Apostle was also embroidered in the capa­risons of that horse of warre, which for the pur­pose of the Cities seruice he receiued of gift at the hands of the Lord Maior. Vpon the Standard-bearers coat armour are painted the hereditarie ensignes of his owne illustrious Familie, that is to say, Or, a Fesse betweene two Cheuerns Gules. Which kind of field the ancients called Claurie, perhaps à claritate, because such fields as were all of one co­lour made their charges the more clearely seene, and perspicuous. And as they gaue to that species of blazon a peculiar name for the dignitie, so did they also assigne to this manner of bearing two Cheuerns, the terme Biallie, or a coat Biallie, a nume­ro binario. In which braue times had that noble Gentleman, but slightly, and farre off suspected, that he displayed that banner, for a kind of bond­men, or as for their seruice, his great heroick spirit [Page 8] would rather haue trodden such an office vnder foot. In good assurance therefore of this com­mon causes iustice, we proceed.

Sound opinion (meaning doctrine) is the an­chor of the world, and opinion (meaning a wor­thy conceit of this or that person) is the principall ingredient which makes words, or actions relish well, and all the Graces are, without it, little worth. To take the fame from any man that hee is a Gentleman-borne is a kind of disenablement, and preiudice, at leastwise among the weake (who consider no further then seemings) that is to say among almost all. Consequently a wrong. And if a wrong then due to be redressed. To find in­iurie, we must first enquire

Whether Apprentiship extinguisheth Gentrie.

4 The maine reason, certainly the most gene­rall, vsed to proue, that it doth, is, That Apprenti­ship is a kinde of bondage, and bondage speciallie voluntarie (in which case the Imperiall law-rule, non officit natalibus in seruitute fuisse, may bee per­haps defectiue) extinguisheth natiue Gentrie. But I denie that Apprentiship is either vera seruitus, or omnino servitus.

For explication of this difficultie, I will set be­fore your eyes the case as it is. A Gentleman hath [Page 9] a sonne, whom he meanes to breed vp in an Art of thrift, not rising meerely out of a stocke of wit, or learning, but out of a stocke of money, and credit, managed according to that Art; and for this cause hee brings his child at 15. or 16. yeares old, more, or lesse, to the Citie of London, prouides him a Master, and the youth, by his fathers coun­sel, willingly becomes an Apprētise, that is to say, interchangeably seales a written contract with his Master by an indented instrument. That he, for his certaine yeares true and faithfull seruice, shall learne that precious mystery of how to gaine honestly, and to raise himselfe. Let the legal and ordinarie forme of that instrument (extant in Wests Precedents, and familiar euery where) be du­ly pondered, and it will appeare a meere ciuill contract, which as all the world knowes, a bond­man is vncapable of. If you would know vnder what kinde, or species of contract that doth fall; I answer: That it seemes to be a contract of per­mutation, or interchange: In which mutuall obli­gation, or conuention, the act of binding is no more, but that (as reason and iustice would) the Master might be determinately for the time, and sufficiently for the manner, sure to enioy his Ap­prentise. Apprētiship being therfore, but an effect [Page 10] of a ciuill contract, occasioned, and caused by that prudent respect which the Contrahents mutually haue to their lawfull and honest commodity, and such onely as are free-borne, being capable to make this contract with effect, Apprentiship doth not extinguish Gentry.

On the contrarie, it is vrged: That although Apprentiship bee not a true bondage to all con­structions, and purposes, yet, that it is a temporary bondage, and equall (for the time it lasteth) to very seruitude. In which opinion Erasmus is, ma­king his Etymologie of our Prentises to be, for that they are like to such as are bought with mo­ney, pares emptitijs, which conceipt, as it is more li­terate, then happie, so, if it were set to sale, would find few Chapmen, but to laugh at it. For Erasmus is aswell proued to be errans mus in obscurorum vi­rorum Epistolis, as Apprentises in England to be pa­res emptitijs. But we absolutely deny that Appren­tiship is in any sort a kinde of bondage. For not­withstanding that to proue it be so, they make a parallel between the ancient Roman seruitude, and the London apprentiship, yet will these comparata, be found disparata, if not disparatissima. For seruus among the old Romans, was so called of seruando of preseruing or sauing, and not of seruiendo, of [Page 11] seruing, saith the Law-maker himselfe, the Em­peror Iustinian. But the word Apprentise commeth of Aprenti, the French word, a raw souldier, or young learner, Tyro, rudis discipulus; or of the French verbē, which signifies to learne, or of the Latine word apprehendo, or apprendo, which properly is to lay hold of, and translatiuely to learne, which de­riuations are consonant to the thing, and true howsoeuer Sir Thomas Smith in his bookes de Re­publica Anglorum, not remembring to distinguish betweene seruitude and discipline, bondage, and regular breeding, iniuriously defined them to be a kind of bondmen (meaning meere slaues, and not as in some places of England, bondsmen are taken for such as are in bonds for actionable causes) and such bondmen as differ onely thus from very bondmen (whose like words for signification are those foulest ones, slaues and villaines) that Ap­prentises be but for a time certaine. An ouersight which I could haue wished far off from so graue and learned a Gentleman, as that Knight, who was of priuy Counsell, in the place of Secretarie, to Queene Elizabeth.

Againe, that which did constitute a bondman among the old Romans, was such a power and right, vested in the Lord, ouer the very body of his [Page 12] bondman, or slaue, as descending to him vnder some receiued title, or other iure gentium, was maintained to him, iure ciuili Romanorum. By ver­tue whereof he became proprietarie in the person of his bondman, as in the body of his oxe, horse, or any other beast he had, which proprietariship was indeterminable, but only by manumission, and that act meerely depended vpon the will of his Lord, without any endentment, or condition on behalfe of the slaue, which a right Roman would neuer endure to heare of from his bondman. Fi­nally (which in the qualitie of that seruitude was most base,) seruus among them, nullum caput ha­buit, had no head in law, and neither was in cen­su, nor in lustro condito; asmuch to say, that they were out of the number of men, their names be­ing neither put, as among such as had wherewith to pay, in the Rolles of their Exchequer, or tables of their Capitol, nor, as bodies wherewith to serue in the generall musters of their Commonweale, but (to bee briefe) were reputed ciuilitèr mortui, dead in Law, death, and bondage being alike a­mong them, without any more reputation of be­ing members in the body politique, then brute cattell, for bondmen were reputed no body, serui pro nullis habiti.

[Page 13] And albeit the authority of the commonweale vpon this good ground of State, interest reipublicae ne quis re sua male vtatur, and the Maiestie of So­ueraigne Princes, meerly as in honor, and as mo­ued with commiseration of humane miseries, did sometime interpose it selfe vpon iust causes; as, where the Lord did immeasurably tyrannise, or the bondman tooke Sanctuary at the Emperours statue, and image, or, at the altar of some one or o­ther of their gods (an example whereof is in Plau­tus) yet the bondman after manumission, conti­nued in such relation to his late Lord, that in cer­taine cases, (as ingratitude) he who was once en­franchised was adiudged backe to his patron, and condemned againe to a farre more miserable ser­uitude then euer.

These things considered, and nothing being like in Apprentiship, who liues so carelesse of the honour of the English name, as to bring the disci­ples of honest Arts, and Schollers of mysteryes in ciuill trade, and commerce for vertuous causes, all called by the faire title of Apprentises, into the state or qualitie of bondmen? Faire I call it, because that title is common to them with the Inns of Court, where Apprentises at Law, are not the meanest Gentlemen. Apprentiship therefore is no volun­tarie bondage, because it is no bondage at all, but a [Page 14] title onely of politicke or ciuill discipline. Ap­prentiship therefore doth not extinguish Gentry. So then, Apprentises, whether Gentlemen of birth or others, whatsoeuer their Indentures doe pur­port, and howsoeuer they seeme conditionall ser­uāts, are in truth not boūd to do, or to suffer things more grieuous then yong souldiers in armies, or schollers in rigorous schooles, or nouices in no­uiceships: each of whom in their kind vsually do, and suffer things as base and vile in their owne quality, simply, & in themselues considered, with­out respect to the finall scope, or aime of the first institution, as perhaps the very meanest of fiue thousand Apprentises in London.

The finall cause therefore of euery ordination qualifies the course, and the end denominates the meanes and actions tending to it. For if that be no­ble, no worke is base prescribed in ordine, or as in the way to that end. Though abstracting frō that consideration, the worke wrought, in the proper nature of it, be seruile. As, for a souldier to dig or carie earth to a rampire, or for a student to goe bare-headed to a fellow of the house within the Colledge, as far off as he can see him, omitting the more deformed necessitie, of suffering priuate, or publike disciplines: or for a nouice in a nouiceship to wash dishes, or the like seeming-base workes, [Page 15] as by report, is vsuall. If then the generall scope, or finall reason of Apprentiship be honest, and wor­thy of a Gentlemā (as will appeare hereafter that it is) what can be clearer then that Apprentiship doth not extinguish Gentry?

I am the more feruent in this case; because this one false conceit (at all times hurtful, but chiefly in these latter times, in which the meanes of easie maintenance are infinitely straitned) that for a Gentleman borne, or one that would aspire to bee a Gen­tleman, for him to be an Apprentise to a Citizen, or Bur­gensis, is a thing vnbeseeming him, hath fill'd our Eng­land with more vices, and sacrificed more seruice­able bodies to odious ends, and more soules to sinfull life, then perhaps any one other vnciuill opi­nion whatsoeuer. For they who hold it better to rob by land, or sea, then to beg, or labour, doe dai­ly see, and feele, that out of Apprentises rise such, as sit vpon them, standing out for their liues as male­factors, when they (a shame, and sorrow to their kinred) vndergoe a fortune too vnworthy, euen of the basest, of honest bondmen.

The Second Part.

THese things considered, how should it fall into the minde of any good, or wise discouser, That Apprentises are a kind of bondmen, and consequently, That Appren­tiship extinguisheth natiue Gentry, and disenableth to acquisitiue? For, if that opinion bee not guilty of impiety to our Mother Countrey, where that lau­dable policie of Apprentiship necessary for our nation, is exercised as a point of seuere discipline, warrantable in Christianitie; certainly it hath in it a great deale of iniurious temeritie, and inconfide­rance; and why not impietie also, if they wilfully wrong the wisdome of England, their naturall common parent, whose children are free­borne? Surelie, notorious inconsiderance is apparent, because there are but two maine pillars of Common-weale, PRAEMIVM & PAENA, Reward and Punishment. Of which, in ciuill re­wards, Honor is highest, according to that of the most eloquent Tullie in his perished workes, de republica, (as S. Augustine citeth them) as that thing with which hee would his Prince should bee fed, and [Page 18] nourished; and in his Philosophie hath vttered that famous sentence concerning the same, Honos alit artes, omnes (que) accenduntur ad studia gloria. Among vs therefore coats of Armes, and titles of Gentle­men (which point the Knight beforesaid, how­soeuer erring in Apprentises estate, hath truely noted to be commodious for the Prince) being the most familiar part of Honor, they rip vp, and ouerturne the principall of those two pillars of common-weale, frō the very basis. A strange ouer­sight, specially of professors of skill in the Arts of publike gouernment, vnlesse perhaps they speake it because they would haue things reformed, or changed in this particular of Apprentiship. But we do not remember, that either Sir Thomas Eliot in his Gouernor, or Sir Thomas Chaloner, (Leigier Ambassador for Queen Elizabeth in Spaine) in his bookes of Latine Hexameters de rep. Anglorum in­staurandâ, (published with the verses of the Lord Treasurer Burghley's before it) or any other Au­thor rightly vnderstanding our England, and her generous people, did euer once taxe our Countries policie in this point. Yea, some make it a quaere, whether the Cities discipline had not more need to be reduced neerer to the ancient seuerity there­of, considering with what vices London flowes, [Page 19] and ouerflowes, then that it should bee abduced, though but a little, from it.

Now then let any one but rightly weigh with what conscience, or common sense, the first institutors, or propagators of the English forme of gouernment could lay vpon Industry, and ciuill Vertue (whose subiect are the lawfull things of this life, and whose neerest obiect is honor, and honest wealth) so foule a note as the brand of bondage, or any the least disparagement at all? whereas to quicken, & inflame affections in that kind, all wise Masters in the most noble ciuill Art gouernement, and all founders of Empire, and States, haue bent their counsels, and courses, to cherish such as are vertuously industrious, yea, God himselfe, (the onely best patterne of gouer­nours) hath made it knowne, that euen Mechani­call qualities are his speciall gifts, and his infused, as it were charismata.

3 For Moses hauing put into eternall monu­ments, that Iabel was pater pastorum (the most an-Art of encrease) and that Iubal was pater canenti­um (the first of which inuentions was for necessa­ry prouisions of food, and raiment, & the second to glorifie God, and honestly to solace men, to­wards sweetning the bitter curse which Adam [Page 20] drew vpon humane life,) it is thirdly vnder added in accomplishment of the three maine heads to which mortalls vse to refer all their worldly ende­uors (necessitie, profit, & pleasure) that Tubal Cain was Malleator, and faber ferrarius, an hammer-Smith, or worker in yron, that being one of those Arch-mysteries, sine quibus non aedificatur ciuitas, as the words are in Ecclesiasticus, Nay, there belon­ged in Gods owne iudgement so great praise to the particular excellency of some artificers, as that, in the building of Salomons Temple, they are regi­stred to all posterities in Scripture; and their skill is not onely made immortally famous, but a more curious mention is put downe of their parentage, and birth place, then of many great Princes, as in Hirams case, not he the King, but the brasse-foun­der. And in the new Testament, S. Paul, (being a Gentlemen borne of a noble familie, as the Anci­ents write) had the manuall Art of Scoenopoea, com­monly englished, Tent-making: vpon w ^ch place of St. Pauls trade (whereof in his Epistles he doth often glorie) it is declared to vs out of the Rab­bins, that S. Paul (who himselfe tells King Agrippa that he had liued a Pharisee; according to the most certaine way of Iewism) was brought vp so, by a traditionall precept, binding such a would studie [Page 21] sacred letters, to learne some one or other mysterie in the Mechanicks. And at this present among other things which the Turks retaine of the Iewish rites, this seemes one, when euen the Sultan him­selfe, or Grand Signior (as all his progenitors) is said to exercise a manuall trade, little, or much, com­monly once a day. And in fresh memorie Rodul­phus the Emperour had singular skill in making Dials, Watches, and the like fine works of Smith-craft, as also a late great Baron of England, which they practised.

4 If then such honor be done by God (as be­foresaid) not onely to those which are necessarie handy-crafts, but to those also which are but the handmaids of magnificence, and outward splen­dor, as engrauers, founders, and the like; hee shall be very hardie who shall embase honest Industry with disgracefull censures; and too vniust, who shall not cherish, or encourage it with praise and worship, as the ancient excellent policie of Eng­land did, and doth, in constituting corporations, & adorning Companies with banners of Armes and speciall men with notes of Noblesse.

5 And, as of all commendable Arts all wor­thy Common-weales haue their vse, so, in London they haue as it were their palace. But into the bo­die [Page 22] of the Citie none generally are encorporated, but such onely as through the strait gates of Apprentiship aspire to the dignitie and state of Citizens. That Hebrew bondmen were not, in MOSES law, among themselues, like to our Apprentises (howsoeuer the seuenth yeare agrees in time with the ordinarie time of our Apprenti­ses obligation) is euident both in the bookes of Exodus, and Deuteronomie. For, first, their title to their bondmen grew to their Lords by a con­tract of bargaine, and sale, which was indeed a kind of seruitude. For, when the seuenth yeare, in which the bondage was to determine, and ex­pire, if then he resolued not to continue a bond­man for euer, he was compelled to leaue his wife (if maried in his Lords house during bōdage) to­gether with his children, borne in that mariage behinde him, though himselfe departed free, but withall rewarded also. So that voluntarie bon­dage is not onely de iure gentium (as the Romane lawes import, by which a man might sell him­selfe, ad participandum precium) but also de iure diui­no positiuo. By which notwithstanding it doth not appeare, that such a bondage was any dispa­ragement, or disenablement in Iewish blood a­mong the Iewes, because in Exodus wee read of a [Page 23] prouision made for the Hebrew bond-woman, whom her Lord might take in mariage to him­selfe, or bestow her vpon his son, if he so thought good, but might not violate her chastitie, as if hee had ius in corpus. But the condition of an Appren­tise of London resembleth the condition of no per­sons estate in either of the lawes, Diuine or Imperi­all; For he directly contracteth with his Master to learne his mysterie, or Art of honest liuing, nei­ther hath his Master (who therefore is but a Ma­ster, & not a Lord) Despoticū imperium ouer his Ap­prentise (that is, such a power as a Lord hath ouer slaue) but quasi curaturam, or a Guardianship, and is in very truth a meere Discipliner, or Teacher, with authority of vsing moderate correction as a Fa­ther, not as a Tyrant, or otherwise. Immoderate correction whosoeuer doth vse, is (by a gracious statute of the fifth of Queene Elizabeth) subiect to be punished with the losse of the Apprentise, by absolutely taking him away.

6 Which things, so often as I deeply ponder, I cannot but hold it as loose, and as wandring a conceit, and as vnciuill a proposition in ciuill mat­ters as any: That Apprentiship should be imagined ei­ther to extinguish, or to extenuate the right of natiue Gentrie, or to disable any worthy, or fit person to acquisi­tiue [Page 24] Armories. For how can it in Gods name worke that effect, vnlesse it be criminall to be an Apprentise? Because no man loseth his right to beare Armes, or to write Gentleman, vnlesse hee be attainted in Law for such a cause, the conuic­tion whereof doth immediately procure corrup­tion in blood, which as in this case no man yet hath dreamed of.

Againe, when by the old common Law of England there are onely two sorts of bondmen, that is to say, villaines in grosse, and villaines regar­dant to a Mannour, and it is most certaine, that our Apprentise, or Schollar in Citie-mysteries, is nei­ther one nor other of them, what ignorance then, or offence was mother at first of this, not para­dox, but palpable absurditie, that Apprentiship ex­tinguisheth Gentry, or that Apprentises are as with vs a kind of bondmen?

The third Part.

1 THough in the premisses wee seeme to our selues, to haue said enough for establishing our Negation in this importāt question, that is to say, That Apprentiship is not a kinde of bon­dage, consequently, that it cannot worke any such effects as is before supposed, yet to leaue no tolle­rable curiositie vnsatisfied, wee will set before vs, as in a table, the whole condition of an Appren­tise. Meaning chiefly such an Apprentise as being the son of a Gentleman, is bound to a Master, who exerciseth the worthier Arts of Citizens, as Mer­chants by sea, Assurers, Whole-sale-men, & some such few others which may more specially stand in the first classe of the most generous mysteries, as those in which the wit or minde hath a farre greater part then bodily labour.

2 Such an Apprentise therefore when first he comes to his Master is commonly but of those yeares which are euery where subiect to correcti­on. His ordinarie seruices these. Hee goes bare-headed, stands bare-headed, waytes bare-headed, [Page 27] before his Master and Mistresse, and, while as yet he is the yongest Apprentise, hee doth perhaps (for discipline sake) make old leather ouer-night shine with blacking for the morning, brusheth a garment, runs of errands, keeps silence till he haue leaue to speake, followes his Master, or vshereth his Mistresse, and sometime my young Mistresses their daughters (among whom some one, or other of them doth not rarely proue the Appren­tises wife) walkes not farre out but with permis­sion, and now, and then (as offences happen) he may chance to be terribly chidden, or menaced, or (which sometime must be) worthily correc­ted; though all this but onely in ordine, and in the way to Mastership, or to the estate of a Citizen, which last worst part of this Apprentises condi­tion continues peraduenture for a yeare, or two, and while hee is commonly but at the age of a boy, or at the most but of a lad, or stripling. And, take things at the very worst, hee doth nothing as an Apprentise vnder his Master, which, when himselfe comes to be a Master his Apprentises shal not doe, or suffer vnder him. Such or the like is the bitterest part of an Apprentises happy estate in this world, being honestly prouided, at his Masters charge of all things necessarie, and decent. The [Page 28] Master in the meane-while seruing his Apprentises turne with instruction, and vniuersall conforma­tion, or moulding of him to his Art, as the Ap­prentise serues his Masters turne with obedience, faith, and industrie.

3 Here haue we a representation of an Ap­prentises being, or rather the well-being of a child vnder his father, who hath right of correction. Vpon view whereof we demand, why it should be supposed That Apprentiship extinguisheth Gentry? For if an Apprentise in London (since to haue Ap­prentises is a power not deriued to corporations out of prerogatiue, and royall priuiledge, but out of common Law) bee in their conceipts a kinde of bondman, it must either be, ratione generis ob­sequij, or ratione temporis adiecti, or contractus, or conditionis, or for all together; a fifth cause being hard to be either assigned, or imagined.

For the first point (w ^ch is in regard of the kind of seruice) that is but an effect of the contract, or bargaine, and consequently depends thereon, or participates in nature with it; which not impor­ting any kind of bondage, neither can the seruice it selfe, due by that agreement, bee the seruice of a bondman. So that as on the one side wee grant, that Apprentises, as Apprentises, doe some things, [Page 29] which Gentlemen would not doe, that liued sui iuris, specially vpon a necessity to obey, yet on the other side we constantly deny, that they doe any of them, either as seruile, or as seruilely, but propter finem nobilem, that is, to learne an honest mysterie to enable them for the seruice of God and their Countrey, in the station, place, or calling of a Citizen.

For the second (which is in respect of a cer­taine time (as of seuen yeeres at least) added and limited in the contract, that is meerely but a cir­cumstance of the agreement, and per consequens cannot alter the substance of the question. For if Apprentises are not a kind of bondmen, abstract­ing from the time which they are bound to serue, the addition of time, addeth nothing to the qua­lity of the contract, to make it seruile.

For the third (which is in regard of the con­tract, as it raiseth a relation, or the titles betweene two, of Master, and seruant) if the very act of binding to performance, be a sufficient reason to make Apprentises a kinde of bondmen, and so to disenable them to Gentry, either deriuatiue, or ac­quisitiue, the Masters themselues are also a kinde of bondmen, because, suo genere they aswell are bound as the Apprentises.

[Page 30] For the fourth (which is in respect of the con­dition either vocally exprest, or vertually implide in the contract) there is in it no proofe of bon­dage, but the contrarie. For in that the obligati­on is mutuall, it proues the Apprentise free as from bondage, though (for the Apprentises owne good) not free from subiection to discipline. Because onely free men can make contracts, and challenge the benefit of them. The verbe, not, seruire, but the verbe, deseruire (which is of farre lesse weight) comprised in the instrument, or Indenture, and containing the whole force of the obligation, hath onely in that place the sense of obsequi, & fa­cere, to obey, and doe as an Apprentise, and not ac­cording to the ancient sense, which it had among the Romanes. This ought not to seeme a para­dox. For the word dominari, to which seruire is a relatiue, and the word dominus, haue in tract of time beene so softened, and familiarised, as they are growne to be words of singular humanity. And what so common among the noble as to professe to serue? But the relation constituted in this case, is peculiar, and proper, the odious word dominus is not there at all, nor seruus, no nor famu­lus; the relation constituted is directly named be­tweene Master, and Apprentise: a cleare case that [Page 31] all iniuries to blood, and nature, are of purpose a­uoided in those conuentions; and conuentiones they are called in the interchangeably sealed instru­ment it selfe. So cleare a case, that in the Oath which all freemen make in the Chamber of Lon­don at their first admission, this clause among ma­ny others, is sworne vnto by them, That they shall take None Apprentise, but if he be Free borne, that is to say, no Bondmans sonne: which are the very words of the oath. Thus carefully open was the eye of institution in this noble point of the Cities policy, to preuent that no staine, no blemish, nor indignitie should wrong the splendor thereof. A thing which could not but follow ineuitably, if they who prouided against admission of bond­mens issue, into the estate of apprentiship, should themselues by making apprentises, make bond­men; or should in any sort embase their blood, whose Masters they were to be, as to the purpose of comming to bee Citizens in time. They neuer meant to make any man bond, who would haue none but the sonnes of free-borne persons bound apprentises. It shall be wilfull ignorance or ma­lice from hence forth to maintaine the contrary.

4. A most memorable exāple in Scripture to the purpose of the present question is that of Iacob and [Page 32] Laban in the nine and twentieth Chapter of Ge­nesis, where the time (seuen yeares) yea, & the very word (seruire) are plaine in that contract which was made betweene the vncle, and the nephew: yet who did euer say that Iacob was for this a kind of bondman? The reason why he was not, riseth from consideration of the finall cause, or inten­tion of the contract, which is recorded to haue beene honorable; the obtaining of a worthy wife, and of an estate to maintaine her with. Neither, when he was no longer defrauded of Rahel then seuen daies after his first seuen yeares, and when in the fruition of Rahel he serued also other seuen yeares, was he a kind of bondman, by as it were a relapse, or as by a cessation of expecting his re­ward, which he enioyed in enioying her. Out of which it followeth, that as Iacob was no kind of bondman though he serued, and serued out all his time twice ouer, so neither are Apprentises. And from this place of the Bible it is vnanswer­ablie proued that bodily seruice, is a laudable meanes to atchieue any good, or honorable pur­pose; a meanes truly worthy of a Gentleman.

5 Hereunto we finally adde, and repeat, that as an Apprentise tyes himselfe to his Master in the word deseruire, that is, to obey, and doe, restrictiuely [Page 33] to the ancient reason, and traditionall discipline of Apprentiship in London, so the Master tyes him­selfe to his Apprentise in the word docere, in lieu of his honest seruice, to teach him his Art to the vtmost. Which Masters part is growne to such estimation as that Apprentises now come com­monly like wines with portions to their Masters. If then Apprentiship be a kinde of seruitude, it is either a pleasing bondage, or a strange madnesse to purchase it with money.

6 An Apprentise therefore, as an Apprentise, being neither ratione obsequij, temporis, contractus, nor conditionis in any kinde a bondman, is in no respect a bondman: and hath therefore no more lost his title, and right to Gentrie, then hee hath done to any goods, chattels, lands, royalties, or any thing else, which, if hee had neuer beene an Apprentise, either had, might, or ought to haue come vnto him. Nay, much lesse can Gentry bee lost in this case, then right to lands, and goods, how much more inherent the rights of blood are then the rights of fortune. For, according to the law-rule, iura sanguinum nullo iure ciuili dirimi pos­sunt; whereas those other may be dissolued. And, that Gentry is a right of blood may appeare by this, that no man can truely alienate the same, or [Page 34] vest another in it, though legally he may, in case of Adoption, which is but an humane inuention in imitation of nature, and therefore, in rei veritate, no alienation at all, but a fiction, or an acception in law as if it were such. So that none can any more passe away his gentrie, to make another a Gentleman thereby, who was not a Gentleman before, then he can passe away any habit, or qua­lity of the minde, as vertue, or learning, to make another honest, or learned, who was vnlearned, or dishonest before. For Gentry is a quality of blood, or name, as vertue, and learning are of the minde. Vpon which reason that rule of law is grounded, which teacheth vs, that annulus signa­torius ornamenti appellatione non continetur.

7 To all this if it bee replied: That Appren­tiship is a kind of bondage, for that if an Appren­tise abandon his Masters seruice; his Master may both fetch him backe, as Lord for the time ouer his seruants body, and compell him also to liue vnder obedience. We answer thus. That such a power ouer the bodie of an Apprentise is not suf­ficient to constitute a bondman, though the ser­uice of the Apprentise belongs to the Master, Gods partin him, and the Commonweales being first deducted.

[Page 35] Aristotle held, that onely the Grecians were free, and all the barbarous, that is to say, all not Greci­ans, were bond. Some among vs seeme Aristo­totelians in this point, who as he gloriously ouer-valued his Country-men, so these ouer-value their paragon-Gentry, and repute none worthie of Armes, and Honor but themselues, we supposing on their behalfe, that they are indeed not vaine-pretenders onely, but true descendents from the most vnquestionable noble races, howsoeuer troubled perhaps with some little of the spirit of vanitie, and of too too much scorne of others. But as the Italians in our time, notwithstanding they thinke meanely of all who are not Italians, calling them (in Aristotles humor) Tramontani, and in that word implying them to be barbarous, doe com­mit an error, aswell as that great Philosopher, so those Gentlemen (how eminently noble soeuer) will be likewise found to liue in errour, for that others also may bee truely Gentlemen, for any thing which as yet is spoken in the former So­phisme: videlicet; The Master hath power ouer his Apprentises bodie: Ergo, Apprentises are a kinde of bondmen. Because if such a power bee enough to constitute a bondman, wee will say nothing of those free-borne persons being in minoritie, [Page 36] whose bodies their Guardians, may not onely by a right in law, fetch backe after escape, or flight, but giue away also in mariage. Nay, if for that rea­son Apprentises, borne Gentlemen, shall bee thought to haue forfeited their Gentry, in what estate are all the sonnes, and children of good houses in England, whose bodies their parents by a right of nature, may fetch back after flight, & ex­ercise their pleasure, or displeasure vpon thē, euen to disinherison? Nay, in what case are souldiers (to whom most properly, and most immediately the Honor of Armes doth belong) who for withdrawing themselues from their banner, or Captaine without leaue, may not only be forced backe to serue, but (according to the vsuall dis­cipline of warre) may be martiall Law bee han­ged vp, or shot at the next tree, or wheresoeuer, de­priued of breath at once, and of braue reputation together? So absurd it is to dispute, that the po­wer of a Master, by the title of a contract ouer the body of an Apprentise, in case of discipline, doth conuince a seruilitie of condition in the sufferer. For if the right to exercise corporall coerction should absolutely constitute a state of bondage in the subiect, the iniurie of that vntrue assertion would reach to persons of farre higher marke [Page 37] then City-prentises, as is most plainely proued. And therefore they must alledge somewhat else besides subiection of bodie to draw the estate of Apprentiship into that degree of reproach, which as they cannot doe, wee hauing preuented those obiections, so must they leaue it cleare from taint, or scandall.

8 We lay it downe therefore out of all the an­tecedences for a cleare conclusion: That Ap­prentises are so farre from being a kinde of bond­men, as that in our Common-weale they then first begin habere caput, and to be aliqui: to bee of account, and some bodie. For Apprentiship in London is a degree, or order of good regular sub­iects, out of whose as it were Nouiceships, or Colledges, Citizens are supplied. Wee call them Colledges according to the old Romane Law­phrase, or fellowships of men, for so indeed they are, comprehended within seuerall corporations, or bodies of free persons, intended to bee conso­ciated for commerce, according to conscience, and iustice, and named Companies, each of them se­uerally bearing the title of their seuerall worthy Monopolies, as Drapers, Salters, Clothworkers, and so forth. Wee say as before, that Apprentises in the reputation of our Commonweale, when [Page 38] first they come to bee Apprentises then first begin to be some bodie, and that Apprentiship is a de­gree, to which out of youth, and yong men, who haue no vocation in the world, they are aduanced and that out of Apprentises, by other ascents or steps, as donari ciuitate, to come to bee free of Lon­don, or Citizens, from thence to be of their com­panies Liuerie, the gouernours of Companies, as Wardens, and Masters, and gouernors in the City, as Common-counsel-men, Aldermens-deputies, Sheriffes, and Aldermen; and lastly the principall gouernour, or head of the Citie, the Lord Maior; yea sometimes also Counsellors of Estate to the Prince (whereof Master Stowe hath examples) are very orderly elected; and the whole policie dis­posed after as excellent a forme as most at this day vnder heauen.

9 True it is, that Apprentiship, as it is a de­gree, so is it the lowest degree, or classe of men in London. Lowest wee say, that it may come to the highest, according to that of S. Augustine, and of common sense, that those buildings rise highest, and stand fasteth, whose foundations are deepest. And as Apprentipish is the first in order, & mean­est in dignity, so can that be no title to embase the vocation, because there must be a first in all things. [Page 39] Of this degree the flat round Cap, haire close-cut, narrow falling-band, course side-coat, close-hose, cloath stockings, and the rest of that seuere habite was in antiquitie, not more for thrift, and vseful­nesse, then for distinction, and grace, and were o­riginally arguments, or tokens of vocation, or cal­ling, which point of ancient discipline the Catoes of England, graue common Lawyers, to their high commendation therein, retaine in their professi­on, and professors at this present, euen to the par­tie-coulored coates of seruing men at Serieants Feasts. An obiect, far more ridiculous among the new-shapes of our time (enemie of rigour, and discipline) then that of Apprentises. At which re­tained signes, and distinctiue notes among Law­yers, though younglings, and friuolous nouices, may somewhat wonder, till the cause be vnder­stood, yet is the thing it selfe so farre in it selfe from deseruing contempt, as that they who should of­fer it, would themselues bee laughed at. For the late Lord Coke, in the preface of his third booke of Reports, hath affirmed for the dignitie of the word Apprentise, that an Apprentise at Law is a double reader, whose degree is next to that of a Serieant at Law, who is only inferiour to a Iudge, and to no other degree of Lawyers.

[Page 40] 10 Here now let me be bold to say, that Ap­prentises seeme to haue drunke and sacrificed too deepely to their new Goddesse, Saint Fashion▪ An Idoll which was alwayes noted fatall to the Eng­lish. As at the periods, or vniuersall concussions of Empire in our portion of great Britaine, may in old Writers bee obserued. This they doe not without wrong in our opinions to the honestie of their degree, at leastwise in so farre abandoning their proper ornament, the Cap (anciently a note of libertie among the Romans) as not to haue one day at least in the yeare, wherein to celebrate the feast of their Apprentiship in the peculiar garbe thereof, which they should doe well and wisely to frequent for downe-bearing of contumelie, and scorne, by making profession in this wise, that they glorie in the ensignes of their honest calling.

11 For reuocation of which into vse though wee see no manner of hope, yet are those late Ma­gistrates of the Citie who laboured to reduce Ap­prentiship to practise this laudable point of out­ward conformitie, not the lesse to bee commen­ded: and it were to be wished perhaps, that in­stead of scattering Libels, and of discouering in­clinations to tumult, Apprentises had rather sub­mitted [Page 41] their vnderstandings, and resigned their wills in this particular to their louing superiours, making humble, and wise obedience the glorie of their persons, much rather then apparell in the fashion. For they who are not ashamed of their profession, ought not to be ashamed of the ensignes, and tokens of their profession, or degree. They indeed are out of fashion who are not in that fashion which is proper to their qualitie. The flat round Cap, in it selfe considered as a Geome­tricall figure, is far more worthy than the square, according to that ground in the Mathematicks, fi­gurarum spaerica est optima, and in Hieroglyphickes, is a symbol of eternity, and perfection, & a resem­blance of the worlds rotunditie. But I will make no encomium for caps. This I say, that as the square capp is retained not onely in the Vniuersi­ties, but also abroad among vs, as well by Eccle­siasticall persons in high places, as by Iudges of the Land, so the round capp being but a note in Lon­don, of Apprentises, and Citizens of London, as it is of Students, Barresters, Benchers, and Readers, in the Innes of Court, so the wearing thereof by Londoners cannot be a reproach, but an ornament. But communis error facit ius, and how freely soeuer these thoughts come from me out of abundant [Page 42] loue to the preseruation of vertue in that most ho­norable City, which ciuill discipline is ablest to doe, yet as much pietie as it is to wish the best, so great is the vanity to thinke to stoppe the generall streame of predominant custome by priuate wi­shes. Apprentises moreouer, and Citizens, because they are alwaies conuersant in the light of action, and concourse, and not shut vp in Colledges for studies sake, may thinke by this contrary way the more to honor their Citie, and to enioy thēselues.

12 Well may they in the meane time blush at their temeritie, who by teaching that Appren­tises are called Apprentises, as if they were pares emptitijs, doe dishonour and highly wrong the excellent old policie of this land. For they (as much as lyeth in the credit of their words) most dange­rously discourage flourishing Industrie, who cast such an aspersion vpon any ciuill profession, and order of men (assembled to vphold a kingdome by cōmerce, according to Iustice) as the least con­ceipt of so hatefull a note as bondage. And if it be temeritie to cast it vpon any renowned, or other corporation vniustly, it is singular iniquitie (let it not be called madnesse) to lay it vpon Lon­don, which shines among all Cities within the Empire of Britain.

The fourth Part.

THough thus I haue been the Aduo­cate, and Defender of the credit of the City, yet desire I not to be mi­staken. For it is very far from my thoughts, by this Apologie, or pa­tronisation, to confound degrees in common­weale, so to set vp as it were a new Babylon of mine owne. I am not ignorant therefore, that Citizens, as Citizens, are not Gentlemen, but Ci­zens; To hold otherwise were to take one order, or degree of men out of the Realme, or like Ho­races monster (a mans head, and a birds bodie) to create a thing which had halfe one, and halfe a­nother, and our lawes giue a proper name both to the tenure, and person, calling the tenure of Ci­tizens in Cities, Burgage, and their persons, Bur­genses, among whom the more eminent of them in London had of old not onely the honour of the title of Citizens, or Burgesses, but of Barons also.

2 The ordinarie Citizen therefore, is of a de­gree beneath the meere Gentlemen, as the Gen­tleman is among vs in the lowest degree, or classe of Nobilitie in England. And all [Page 46] Citizens as Citizens, yea, the Lord Maior himselfe, simply as a Citizen, is not a Gentleman, but Burgenfis. As the greatest Princes, and Despots that euer were, or euer shall be in the world, con­sidered in their first naturall condition, are at most but Ingenui, or free-borne, in which respect all are equall, for omnes natura aequales, and their first ciuill degree, or generall state, which either compre­hends all the orders of Nobilitie, or is capable of them, is among vs the Gentleman. In which re­spect he who shall say, That this or that King, or Emperour is a Gentleman, speakes rightly, and as the thing is. For Gentleman is the title, about which all other titles, as they concerne honor, and conueigh no iurisdiction, are put as robes and or­naments. This therefore is my meaning; That some Citizens may be a Citizen, and yet truely a Gentleman, as one, and the same man may in se­ueral respects be both a Lord and Tenant. Citizen in regard of his encorporation in London, Gentle­man in regard of birth, or of Armories assigned for encouragement of Industrie, to ennoble his ho­nest riches and titles of honor, or worship, in that City, whereof he is a qualified member. Neither is the communication of rewards, which consist of painted distinctiōs, composed according to the [Page 47] receiued rules of Heraldrie, iniurious to ancient Gentrie any more then the promiscuous permissi­on of wearing gold-rings on their fingers alike to freed-men, as to freemen, granted by the Empe­rour in the authentickes: the reason of gold-rings among Romanes, and of Armories among vs be­ing the same. Nor is it a new thing in our Com­monweale, that speciall Citizens, not borne to armories, but the sonnes of yeomen, or not of Gentlemen, should haue armes assigned them. For there is perhaps scarce any record of Armes granted in England more ancient then testimonies in the Halles of London, that speciall Citizens haue bin honourd with particular bearings. And these are aduanced vpon the Lord Maiors day by the speare-men of that companie of which his Lord­ship is a member, not all of them specially giuen of old, but some vndoubtedly borne by right of blood, as descendents of Gentlemen, but other againe as vndoubtedly assigned for excel­lency in City-Arts. Of which number there are at this day not a few, whose seri nepotes whose great-grand-childrens children are reputed amōg the oldest and best families of their Shires, with­out any relation to London, which notwithstan­ding raised them. Hence it followes, that as an Apprentise being a Gentleman-borne remaineth [Page 48] a Gentleman, which addition of splendor, and title, as God blesseth his labours, so a worthy Ci­tizen is capable of honor and Armes, notwith­standing his Apprentiship. And by this distinc­tion made betweene a Citizen meerely as a Citi­zen, and of a Citizen, as hee may also be a Gentle­man, that obiection which some bring out of a Statute enacted vnder one of our Kings, which forbidding the disparagement offered by the Guardian to marie the Ward borne gentle, to a Burgensis, may easily bee salued and answered. For in that Statute the word Burgensis is spoken in the natiue, and more narrow sense there­of, that is of one who is simply Burgensis, without any consideration of him as hee may otherwise bee a Gentleman, Esquire, or Knight, which in some places happens, as in the famous corporation of Droit Wiche in Worcester­shire. But howsoeuer, cerainely Burgensis here nothing concernes Citizens of London, who by an excellency of their calling had the honor in anti­quity to beare the name of Barons, and were sty­led so; and weighing that, the Citizen is a distinct degree from Burgensis, and aboue it; and therfore that law concernes them not. For the proofe of their title to the appellation of Barons, by way of Hexoche (as artists in eloquence call [Page 49] it) most famous is that place in the Histories of Mathew Paris, where speaking of the Londoners of his time, vnder King Henry the third, these words are eminent in him: Londonienses quos propter ciuitatis dignitatem, & ciuium antiquitatem, Barones consueuimus appellare. As for the distinct de­gree of a Citizen from a Burgensis, that appeares in this, that the City of London doth not send Bur­gesses to the Parliament, but Knights, or Citizens; and the enumeration of the rankes is cleare in a Statute of King Richard the second, enacted the fift yeare of his raigne, and the fourth Chapter of the same, where they are, Count, Baron, Banneret, Cheualier de Counte, Citizen de Citie, Burgeis de Burgh. The Princes before that time, but specially the Princes following (as the worthinesse of Citi­zens inuited) did ennoble them exceedingly, and continue more and more so to doe. Yet, in con­ferring Armes, and arguments of honor vpon Ci­zens, not borne Genlemen, reason requireth that they should not haue coats of the fairest bearing assigned to them, but such as either in Canton, Chiefe, Border, or otherwise might carie some testimonie, marke, or signe to shew the Art by which they were aduanced, as Merchant-Ad­uenturers to beare Anchors, Grocers Cloues, [Page 50] Clothworkers a Tezel, Merchantaylors a robe, and so forth; which those Gentlemen ought in honestie, and thankfulnesse to choose, and not on­ly to accept; and rather striue to match the best in goodnesse, and worth of spirit then in the silent tokens of it. Posteritie thriuing, there may then some change be also made in the coat for the bet­ter. Specially considering what pretty riddance hath beene in our times made of surcharges in ar­mories granted about the end of King Henry the eight; what encroachments vpon old Gentle­mens rights, by new ones, because their names onely haue beene the same; and many other inuen­tions to blanch or beautifie newnesse. According to which notion and dictamen, coats of Armes haue beene deliuered from their originall defor­mities, surfets, and surcharges, by their proper Physitian, the prouinciall King of Armes; So Sir Thomas Kitsons of Suffolk, whose Chief, now sim­ply gold, was heretofore ouerladen with three o­gresses, and they with an Anchor (the badge or argument of the originall) and two Lyons ram­pant argent; as at this houre is publikely extant to be seene in Trinitie Hall at Cambridge, whereunto he was a benefactor: and besides that Gentle­mans, the coat armours of some of the Peeres of [Page 51] this land, and of others also, not a few: very many more needing the like reliefe, or remedie. The rule of proportion seemes diligently obserued in antiquitie among vs, where the principall, and most noble charges, and formes of Armories were not appropriated but to analogicall compe­tencies of honourable qualitie.

3 Such therefore being the nature of Apprenti­ship, and such the condition of Citizens estate, as to the purposes of honor, and armes, let Fathers who are Gentleman put their children, who are not rather inclining to Armes, or letters, to Apprenti­ship, that is to say, to the discipline, and Art of ho­nest gaine, giuing them a title of being somewhat in our Countrey. For it is a vocation simply ho­nest, and may proue a stay to posteritie, and giue credit to their names, when licentious and cor­rupted eldest sonnes haue sold their birth-rights away. For albeit many Citizens thriue not, but breake, yet those fathers, or such who are in place of Fathers, worke more probably, who put their children, or Orphans into a certaine method of life, then others who leaue them at large. And as some riotous, foolish, or vnfortunate Citizens miscarrie, so ten to one more yonger brethren in the Country. And fathers, such of you are not gen­tlemen, [Page 52] put your children to be Apprentises, that so as God may blesse their iust, true, and vertuous industrie, they may found a new family, and both raise themselues and theirs to the precious and glittering title of Gentlemen bearing Armes law­fully. For which cause no Lord, nor Peere of this Land, who may perchance owe his world­ly estate, and as well the completiue, as the fun­damentall greatnesse, or amplitude of meanes, to such as haue beene Citizens of London; nor those other, whose originalls were from cheualrie, and martiall seruice (the most pure, and proper No­blesse of all, as to the purpose of bearing Armes) and yet since haue beene mixt with Citie-races, ought to thinke it the least disparagement to owne their benefactors and ancestors, Citizens of London. On the other part it will worthily well become them, freely and thankfully to ac­knowledge so honest originalls, and accession to originalls, as all this Realme from thence is filled with. Because among them the vertues of commutatiue iustice, and of commendable in­dustrie flourish, and, the sinewes of warre, and peace, abundance of treasure, are stored vp, as in the Chamber of the King.

4 Which acknowledgment, besides that it is in [Page 53] the lawes of honor, an act of bounden duty, they may the rather take it for a glorie, because our Princes haue vouchsafed to be incorporated; as members of seuerall Companies in the Citie, comming thereby as it were vnder that banner. Nor onely so, but Henrie the seuenth (whom all of vs will easily confesse to haue well enough vn­derstood what he did) is credibly said to haue beene in person, at the election of Master & War­dens, and himselfe to haue sitten openly among them in a gowne of crimson veluet, Citie-fashi­on, with a Citizens hood of veluet on his shoul­ders a la mode de Londres, vpon their solemne feast­day, in the common hall of his Company, Mer­chantailers. Moreouer, his grand-childe, Queene Elizabeth (no way inferior to her ancestor in high pollicie) was free of Mercers. Lastlie (which is more to our present purpose) our late dread So­ueraigne himselfe King Iames more learned then they both (though learning hath beene a Royall abilitie in our ancient Princes, & so flourishing in Sebert, King of East-England, that our venerable countreyman BEDE, affirmes him to haue been, per omnia doctissimus) encorporated himselfe into one the most important society of this kingdome Clothworkers, as men dealing in the principall and [Page 54] noblest Staplewares of all these Ilands; wooll, and cloath.

5 Nor let the names of Companies, because they seeme not to sound honorably enough as appellations of degrees in Gentry, and Nobility, auert the mind from them as things ignoble and vnworthy the dignity of generous dispositions, a thing erroniously holden in Fernes Blazon of Gentry. For all renowned Cities euer had in them vrbana nobilitas, and yet their citizens could not but bee distributed into orders, tribes, or titles of professions, yea sometimes also in their games, For the Circensian companies in Rome, called facti­ones, that is to say, companies, and denominated from the seuerall colors of their seueral clothings, White, blew, greene, and red, to which Domitian ad­ded two other, purple, and gold, were the speciall delights and exercises of Prince & people; which grew to such excesse, no longer after then in Tra­ians time, that Plinius secundus held it a matter wor­thy of his complaint, and censure, as in one of his Epistles is extant, where he saith nunc panno fauent, nunc pannum amant. Againe, such of the Gentry, who liue not in the citie, and doe most of all eleuate themselues with contempt of others in respect of the Arts, and wayes of maintenance, were they [Page 55] but incorporated vnder the true titles of their meanes, in which we will not speake of the pro­digious eating vp of whole houses, townes, and people, by a thousand wicked deuises proper to the mysterie of depopulation (against whose con­suming works so many statutes of this land haue long time warred in vaine) the names of those ci­tie-brotherhoods, or Companies would easilie sound, in a most curious eare, full out as faire, and well. Corne, Cattle, Butter, Cheese, Hay, Wood, Wooll, Coles, and the like, the materialls of their mainte­nance, all of them inseparable to Countrey-Com­monweales, and without which they can no more subsist then Drapers, as Drapers without cloath, Glodsmiths, as Goldsmiths without Iewels, or plate, and so forth. Neither doth it create any great odds in this point touching honour betweene parties in this dispute, that Gentlemen, by their of­ficers, as Bailiffes, Reeues, or the like, doe order their affaires for their more ease, & dignities. For besides, that the wisest among them exercise that superintendency in their owne persons, so herein the worthy Citizen is no way behind, dispatch­ing his businesses by Factors, Iourneymen, or ex­pert Apprentises, reseruing onely to himselfe the o­ueruiew, and controll all their doings. Citie-no­blesse [Page 56] so apparent, that the Knights or Gentlemen of Rome, professing Merchandise, and others a­mong them that way bent, had their Hall, or seat of their Colledge, or companie vpon Mount Ca­pitoline it selfe, dedicated to their patron Deity, or tutelarie God-head, Mercurie. Other encorporated societies there also were, as Goldsmiths, and the rest, who liued so far from being excluded out of the power of common-weale, or from honors, and signes of noblenesse, that they had right in some cases euen to ouertop the Lords, and out of their owne body to choose not only Consuls, but euen Dictators also, their super-soueraigne & most absolute Magistrate before their Emperors times. Yea so mighty were they growne in respect of e­lections and negatiue authoritie, that Clodius to be reuenged vpon Cicero, left his owne rancke of Pa­tritians, and Lords, and turned Commoner.

6 To conclude, such Gentlemen are much deceiued, which no sooner heare one named to be of this, or that Societie, or Colledge of trade in London, as of Grocers, Haberdashers, Fishmongers, or of any other of the twelue principall Monopolies (the Zodiacke of the citie, in whose Eclipticke line their Lord Maior must euer runne his yeares course) but they forthwith entertaine a low con­ceit [Page 57] of the parties quality, as too too much beneath their owne ranck, and order, without further ex­aminatiō; when it often happens, that he who is titular­lie of this, or that Fraternity, neuer was bred vp in it, nor vnderstands any more what it meanes then the re­motest Gentleman, their Masters themselues hauing been Merchants, or of other profession of life diuerse from their title, vnder which they are marshall'd, the law of the citie imposing an absolute necessity that all who are free of the city should cary the name of some one, or other of their brotherhoods. Againe, what doe the constellations of heauen shine the worse, or the lesse, because they carrie the names of Ramm, of a Water-bearer, of Fishes, and so forth? Or how many the fewer are their seuerall lights for that? Answerably to which I say, that if the parties mind be adorn'd with the starre-lights of vertue and honor, what basenesse is it for him to bee marshall'd vnder any of the names compre­hending one, or other of the honest Arts of worldly life?

7 In disputing thus, let me not be thought to set vp an enuious comparison betweene these two worshipfull degrees, or qualificatiōs of men. That is very farre from me. For it must euer bee granted, to the authority of general opinion foun­ded [Page 58] vpon custome among vs, that the true Coun­trey-Esquire caeteris paribus, is in his proper place before the Citie-Esquire, which with the perpe­tuall clause beforesaid of caeteris paribus holds also, throughout the other degrees of the inferior No­blesse in England. I reason here, as reason bids, not against the right, or dignities of persons either as in parallell, or as in disparagement, but against the vanity, and offences rising out of causelesse elatiō, and arrogance, and against their errours, who not vnderstanding the things of their owne coun­trey, are indeed meere Meteoroscopers, and houer in the clowdy region of admiration vpon rude, and vnlearned fansies, for which cause as minds nee­ding to be healed, so would I sincerely that they were healed. Such are theirs, who would per­haps think the Companies, or Monopolies of the citie more worthy of their acknowledgement, if where now they are denominated of some par­ticular ware, or craft, they were named of Eagles, Vultures, Lions, Beares, Panthers, Tygers, or so forth, as the seuerall orders of the Noble in Mexico (w ^ch Iosephus Acosta writes) vnder their Emperor: yet much better, because more truly, these fellowships of London cary the names of men as they haue vo­cations in professions, which onely men can exe­cute. [Page 59] Or they would peraduenture thinke more noblie of them, if those societies were denomi­nated of Eyes, eares, hands, feet, or of other members, as Philostratus, in the life of that impo­stor Apollonius Tianaeus, saith, the officers, and in­struments of a Philosophical King in India were. But as those were called of their King his eyes, eares, and so forth, so haue these mysteries some one, or other professor in each among them, from the higher trade to the lowest eminently designed out with the addition of King, as the Kings Mer­cer, the Kings Draper, and so forth. Againe, how much more worthy the whole is then the parts, because the parts are in the whole, so by that argu­ment it is more honourable to be marshall'd as a man among societies of ciuill men, then to be di­stinguisht by allusions to particular members. At leastwise, those singular Gentlemen might certain­in their most contempt of the City remēber that of Plato, Nemo Rex non ex seruis, nemo non seruus ex Regibus; and that also rare and reall worth may bee in the persons of Citizens themselues, see­ing Terentius (Consul of old Rome, with that no­ble Paulus Aemilius) was free of the Butchers com­pany, and our Walworth Lord Maior of old Lon­don was free of the Fishmongers. And they were [Page 60] not onely the Lords, Knights, and Gentlemen of Rome, who had voice in election of their princi­pall yearly Magistrates, but euen handycrafts-men▪ and Artificers, as is most manifest by that place of Salust in his Iugurthine warre, where Marius was chosen Consul, by the speciall affection of that sort of Roman Citizens, who (saith he) sua necessaria post illius honorem ducebant, preferred his election by their voices, before the trades by which they earnd their liuings. Finally, they may remēber, that in the posterity of Citizens many right noble, and worthy Gentlemen are often found, and that, be­sides the vniuersall mixture with Citie-races tho­row the Kingdom, it may not be denyed that true nobless shineth often very bright among thē. For they are Companies of free Citizens, in which, so­ueraigne Maiesty it selfe is incorporated, making them at once to be sacred as it were, and certainly magnificent. For euen as where the Sun is, there is no darknes, so where soueraign Princes are inter­ressed parties, there is no basenes. And as the Philo­sophers Medicine purgeth vilest metals, turning all to gold, so the operation of Princes intention to ennoble Societies with his personall presence, transmetalls the subiect, and clearly takes away all ignobilitie. Which things as they are most true in [Page 61] London, so, for that, the Emperour Constantinus mag­nus (if our ancient Fitz Stephan reports the right) Henry King of England, sonne of king Henry the second, and that braue great Prince Edward the first, and whosoeuer else, were borne in the Citie, they giue to it the glory of Armes: and Ieffrey Chaucer, Sir Thomas Moore knight, with others borne in London, communicate thereunto the glorie of wits and letters. To nourish vp both which most excellent titles to reall nobilitie in the Citie, the Artillery-yard, and Gressam Colledge were instituted.

8 Thus this question of Honor, and Armes, vndertaken at the instance of interessed parties, but more for loue to that great Citie, and her chil­dren, being by Gods assistance, and, as we hope, sufficiently discussed, the end of all is this, that al­beit the loue of humane praise, and of outward splendor in the markes, and testimonies of it, are very vehement fires in all worthiest natures, yet haue they no beatitude, nor (so to say) felicitation, but onely as with referment to this of the blessed Apostle,