couenaunt. And amonge christen men it is so neglected, that hit is more often tymes broken than kept. And nat onely sealynge (whiche Seneca disdayned that it shulde be more sette by thanne soules) is uneth sufficient, but also it is nowe come into suche a generall contempt that all the lerned men in the lawes of this realme, whiche be also men of great wisedome, can nat with all their study deuise so sufficient an instrument, to bynde a man to his promyse or couenaunt, but that there shall be some thinge therein espied to brynge it in argument if it be denyed. And in case that bothe the

This characteristic of the Turks in their dealings with one another (for it was certainly not displayed in their intercourse with Christians) is confirmed by another writer at the end of the 16th century, who says, 'The third precept of the Turkes Lawe is deriued out of the Lawe of Nature, and consenteth also with the rules of Christianitie. Both which do will That no man do that unto another which they would not have done unto themselues. Uppon this commaundement they do imply thus much, that euerie man is bound to carrie himselfe towards his neighbour with all kinde of pietie, faithfulnes, and amitie. . . . that they use loyaltie, plainnes, and good dealing one to another without fraud or dissimulation. . . . . Besides, if anie man do chaunce to be tempted to hurt or defraud another, and that he do finde his thoughts and cogitations enclining and yeelding thereunto, he is commaunded by this Law presently to bethinke himselfe, and to enter into this consideration, that if another should intend the like iniurie and purpose the like matter against him, whether he could or would be contented (without any impatiencie and with a quiet minde) to suffer and endure it . . . . . Upon the equitie of this commaundement (as it seemeth) is the ciuill Justice of the Turkes for the most part and in most cases grounded. . . . So precise and upright is the law and religion of the Turkes in this behalfe, teaching them to haue a speciall regard of iustice and equitie in all their actions and dealings between man and man. The writer, however, is careful to add that towards Christians 'in most of their actions they do make shew that they haue little regard of that iustice, equitie, or humanitie, which is so commended unto them in this commaundement.'-Policy of the Turkish Empire, pp. 26, 27, ed. 1597.

This, no doubt, refers to the practices which a very few years afterwards led to the passing of the famous Statute of Uses, 27 Hen. VIII. cap. 10. It had, for instance, become a common practice for persons by means of conveyances to uses and declarations of last will to do that which the law did not permit, viz. to effect the disposition and devise of land by will. Mr. Reeves says, Covenants to raise uses were still in practise, notwithstanding they had been reprobated by judicial opinions of the courts of law in the last reign. Uses were originally a matter of invention, and they had not been so long canvassed in our courts as to preclude every private person from persisting in such opinions as his fancy or judgment

parties be equall in estimation or credence, or els he that denyeth superiour to the other, and no witnesses deposeth on knowlege of the thinge in demaunde, the promise or couenaunt is utterly frustrate. Which is one of the princypall decayes of the publike weale, as I shall traite therof more largely here after. And here at this tyme I leaue to speke any more of the partes of that moste royall and necessary vertue called Justyce.

CHAPTER VIII.

Of the noble vertue fortitude, and of the two extreme vices, Audacitie and Timerositie.

IT is to be noted that to hym that is a gouernoure of a publike weale belongeth a double gouernaunce, that is to saye, an.

might have dictated even in opposition to one or two declarations from the judges. With these sentiments many still advised them as sure conveyances, and as such they were practised all through this reign till at length they obtained a degree of legal recognition... Before the question of a covenant was settled, and while men were indulging themselves in every contrivance to maintain these secret methods of conveying their estates, the conveyance by lease and release was devised by Serjeant Moore. This is said to have been framed by that ingenious lawyer for the satisfaction of the Lord Norris, who wanted to conceal from his family the settlement of his estate.'-Hist. Eng. Law, vol. iii. pp. 385-7.

But, as Lord Coke says, 'Many times juries, together with other matter, are much induced by presumptions; whereof there be three sorts, viz. violent, prob-able, and light or temerary. Violenta præsumptio is manie times plena probatio. So it is in the case of a charter of feoffment, if all the witnesses to the deed be dead (as no man can keep his witnesses alive, and time weareth out all men) then violent presumption, which stands for a proofe, is continuall and quiet possession; for ex diuturnitate temporis omnia præsumuntur solenniter esse acta. Also the deed may receive credit per collationem sigillorum scripturæ, &c., et super fidem cartarum, mortuis testibus, erit ad patriam de necessitate recurrendum.'-Co. Lit. 6 b.

In this and the following chapter the author has evidently availed himself largely of the essay de Fortitudine of Pontanus, an Italian scholar, to whose works, as will be seen hereafter (post, p. 287), Sir Thomas Elyot makes a more

interior or inwarde gouernaunce, and an exterior or outwarde gouernaunce. The firste is of his affectes and passions, which do inhabite within his soule, and be subiectes to reason. The seconde is of his children, his seruauntes, and other subiectes to his autoritie. To the one and the other is required the vertue morall called fortitude, whiche as moche as it is a vertue is a Mediocritie or meane betwene two extremities, the one in surplusage, the other in lacke. The surplusage is called Audacitie, the lacke Timorositie or feare. I name Audacitie

that Audacitie whiche is an excessife and inordinate

truste to escape all daungers, and causeth a man to do suche actes as are nat to be ieoparded. Timorositie is as well

direct allusion. According to Hallam, the essay in question with some others was published in 1490. Erasmus, in his Ciceronianus, declares that Pontanus so handled his subjects that it is difficult to say whether he was a Christian or not. 'Tractat materias profanas, quasique locos communes, de Fortitudine, de Obedientiâ, de Splendore, quæ tractata facillimè nitescunt, atque ex se facile suppeditant sententiarum copiam, easque sic tractat, ut ægrè possis agnoscere Christianus fuerit nec Similiter temperat stylum in libello de Principe.'-Opera, tom. i. col. 1019. ed. 1703. For the purpose of comparison, the Editor has printed in the notes those passages of the de Fortitudine from which it is obvious that Sir Thomas Elyot had borrowed his ideas. The edition of the works of Pontanus which ha been consulted for this purpose is that in three octavo volumes published by Aldus at Venice in 1518.

ne.

This is evidently borrowed from Aristotle's definition : Пepl μèv ovv póßous καὶ θάρρῃ ἀνδρεία μεσότης· τῶν δ ̓ ὑπερβαλλόντων ὁ μὲν τῇ ἀφοβίᾳ ἀνώνυμος (πολλὰ δ' ἐστὶν ἀνώνυμα), ὁ δ ̓ ἐν τῷ θαρρεῖν ὑπερβάλλων θρασύς, ὁ δὲ τῷ μὲν φοβεῖσθαι ὑπερBáλλwv Typ de appeîv èxλeinwv deixós.-Eth. Nicom. lib. ii. cap. 7, which was also adopted by Pontanus who says, 'Est igitur virtutis hujus proprium affectus hos moderari, ac sub ratione continere, quo medium retinere possit, à quo mediocritas dicta est. Etenim fortitudo cum sit virtus, mediocritas sit quædam oportet. Medii autem ea vis ac natura est, ut in neutram extremorum partem propendat. Ab utroque enim recedit, quando utrumque inæquabile est. Quippe cum alteri exsuperantia, alteri defectus insit.'—Opera, tom. i. fo. 51 b, ed. 1518. Ὁ Ὁ δὲ τῷ θαρρεῖν ὑπερβάλλων περὶ τὰ φοβερὰ θρασύς. Δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ ἀλαζὼν εἶναι ὁ θρασὺς καὶ προσποιητικὸς ἀνδρείας.—Eth. Nic. lib. iii. cap. 7 (10). Pontanus says, 'Timiditati contraria est audacia, quando illa nimium metuit, contra hæc nimium confidit, atque etiam audet. Est autem audacis proprium, et antequàm periculum adeat, et postquàm adiit, supra quàm satis est confidere.'-Pontanus, ubi supra, fo. 62.

tie.

whan a man feareth suche thinges as be nat to be feared, Timorosi- as also whan he feareth thinges to be feared more than nedeth.a For some thynges there be whiche be necessary and good to be feared, and nat to feare theim it is but rebuke.b Infamie and reproche be of all honest men to be dradde. And nat to feare thynges that be terrible, agayne whiche no powar or witte of man can resiste, is foole hardynesse, and worthy no praise, as erthe quakes, rages of great and sodayne flodes, whiche do bere downe before them mountaynes and great townes, also the horrible fury of sodayne fire, deuourynge all thing that it apprehendeth. Yet a man that is valiaunt, called A valiant in latyne Fortis, shall nat in suche terrible aduentures be resolued into waylinges or desperation.

man.

• Ὁ δὲ τῷ φοβεῖσθαι ὑπερβάλλων δειλός· καὶ γὰρ ἃ μὴ δεῖ καὶ ὡς οὐ δεῖ, καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀκολουθεῖ αὐτῷ· Ελλείπει δὲ καὶ τῷ θαρρεῖν· ἀλλ ̓ ἐν ταῖς λύπαις ὑπερβάλλων μᾶλλον καταφανής ἐστιν. Δύσελπις δή τις ὁ δειλός· πάντα γὰρ φοβεῖται. -Arist. Eth. Nic. lib. iii. cap. 7 (10). Qui vero nimis extimescit, eum timidum ac meticulosum dicimus, qui nec in eo solum peccat, quòd etiam non metuenda pavitat, sed quòd ea, quæ timenda sunt, nequaquam, ut oportet, timeat.'—Pontanus, ubi supra, fo. 59 b.

• Ενια γὰρ (κακά) καὶ δεῖ φοβεῖσθαι καὶ καλόν, τὸ δὲ μὴ αἰσχρὸν, οἷον ἀδοξίαν.Eth. Nic. lib. iii. cap. 6 (9). 'Differunt enim inter se, quòd alia honestum est metuere, quæ ni metuantur, turpe ac flagitiosum ducimus. Quid enim improbius quàm infamiam non vereri ?'-Pontanus, ubi supra, fo. 52 b.

• Or, according to Aristotle, madness. Εἴη δ' ἄν τις μαινόμενος ἢ ἀνάλγητος, εἰ μηθὲν φοβοῖτο, μήτε σεισμὸν μήτε τὰ κύματα, κάθαπερ φασὶ τοὺς Κελτούς. Εth. Nic. lib. iii. cap. 7 (10). Pontanus, expanding this idea, says, 'Omnem profecto metum exuisse, hominis est aut parum sanæ mentis, aut prorsus stupidi atque obtorpescentis. Quis enim, nisi demens, atque in furorem actus, aut non rationis modo, sed pæne sensuum ipsorum expers factus, diluviones non horreat, motusque terrarum, atque incendia? Hæc igitur taliaque non metuere, videtur magis non sentientis cujuspiam, aut insani hominis, quàm sensu rationeque benè utentis esse.'-Ubi supra, fo. 59 b.

Et viri tamen fortes in mari deprehensi à tempestatibus, non ita erunt consternati, ut humiles dimissique appareant. Tolerabunt itaque procellas, non eo tamen quo nautæ animo, qui cum ferendis tempestatibus sint assueti, et bene sperant se invicem confirmantes, et suum interim munus exsequuntur. Cum illi ut parum assueti atque inexperti, de salute subinde desperent, ac tale mortis genus quàm molestissimè ferunt, cum etiam intelligant nullam in iis se dignam navare

But where force constrayneth him to abide, and neither powar or wisedome assayed may suffice to escape, but, will he or no, he must nedes perysshe, there dothe he paciently sustayne dethe, whiche is the ende of all euilles. And lyke as an excellent Phisitioun cureth moste daungerous diseases and dedely woundes, so dothe a man that is valiaunt auaunce himselfe as inuincible in thinges that do seme moste terrible,b nat unaduisedly, and as it were in a bestely rage, but of a gentill courage, and with premeditation, either by victorie or by dethe, wynnynge honour and perpetuall memory, the iuste rewarde of their vertue. Of this maner of valiaunce was Horatius Cocles, an auncient Romayne, of whose example I haue all redy written in the firste boke, where I commended the feate of swymming. d

Pirrhus, whome Anniball estemed to be the seconde of the moste valiaunt capitaines, assaulting a stronge King Pirfortresse in Sicile, called Erice, he firste of all rhus the other scaled the walles, where he behaued him hardye.

operam posse. At quo animo fuit Ajax in tantâ illâ tempestate nautarumque consternatione ne minimum quidem à se ipso recessit.'-Pont. ubi supra, fo. 55.

A

Περὶ ποῖα οὖν τῶν φοβερῶν ὁ ἀνδρεῖος ; ἢ περὶ τὰ μέγιστα; οὐθεὶς γὰρ ὑπομενετικώτερος τῶν δεινῶν. Φοβερώτατον δ ̓ ὁ θάνατος· πέρας γάρ, καὶ οὐδέν ἔτι τῷ τεθνεῶτι δοκεῖ οὔτ ̓ ἀγαθὸν οὔτε κακὸν εἶναι.—Arist. Εth. Nic. lib. iii. cap. 6 (9).

'An fortasse, ut excellentis est medici gravissimos morbos lætalesque plagas sanare, sic etiam fortis est viri in iis versari, seque invictum præstare, quæ maximè omnium formidibilia videantur? Si quidem fortitudinis materia et quidam quasi campus sunt difficillima quæque pericula atque illa maximè quæ mortem videantur allatura, quâ nihil sit omnino terribilius.'--Pontanus, ubi supra, fo. 53.

C

'Quocirca fortis vir, quique planè dicendus est vir, ex morte quæ quidem futura sit multo pulcherrima, decus illud adipisci contendet, cujus est quàm maximè studiosus, quo ut potiatur, difficillima quæque pericula sponte adibit, in quibus pervincendis, aut si hoc minus contigerit, in oppetendâ morte, laudemque et decus collocatum intelligit.'-Pontanus, ubi supra, fo. 53 b.

See Vol. I. p. 178.

• Τοῦ δ' Ερυκος ὀχυρωτάτου τῶν χωρίων ὄντος καὶ πολλοὺς ἀμυνομένους ἔχοντος ἔγνω βιάζεσθαι πρὸς τὰ τείχη. Καὶ τῆς στρατιᾶς γενομένης ἑτοίμης, ἐνεδύσατο τὴν πανοπλίαν καὶ προσελθὼν ηὔξατο τῷ Ηρακλεῖ ποιήσειν ἀγῶνα καὶ θυσίαν ἀριστεῖον, ἂν τοῦ γένους καὶ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ἄξιον ἀγωνιστὴν αὐτὸν ἀποδείξῃ τοῖς Σικελίαν οἰκοῦσιν Ἕλλησι· τῇ δὲ σάλπιγγι σημήνας καὶ τοῖς βέλεσι τοὺς βαρβάρους ἀνασκεδάσας καὶ τὰς κλίμακας προσαγαγὼν πρῶτος ἐπέβη τοῦ τείχους. ̓Αντιστάντων δὲ πολλῶν ἀμυνό