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<h2> Of Usury </h2>
<p>MANY have made witty invectives against usury. They say that it is a pity,
the devil should have God's part, which is the tithe. That the usurer is
the greatest Sabbath-breaker, because his plough goeth every Sunday. That
the usurer is the drone, that Virgil speaketh of;</p>
<p>Ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent.<br/></p>
<p>That the usurer breaketh the first law, that was made for mankind after
the fall, which was, in sudore vultus tui comedes panem tuum; not, in
sudore vultus alieni. That usurers should have orange-tawny bonnets,
because they do judaize. That it is against nature for money to beget
money; and the like. I say this only, that usury is a concessum propter
duritiem cordis; for since there must be borrowing and lending, and men
are so hard of heart, as they will not lend freely, usury must be
permitted. Some others, have made suspicious and cunning propositions of
banks, discovery of men's estates, and other inventions. But few have
spoken of usury usefully. It is good to set before us, the incommodities
and commodities of usury, that the good, may be either weighed out or
culled out; and warily to provide, that while we make forth to that which
is better, we meet not with that which is worse.</p>
<p>The discommodities of usury are, First, that it makes fewer merchants. For
were it not for this lazy trade of usury, money would not he still, but
would in great part be employed upon merchandizing; which is the vena
porta of wealth in a state. The second, that it makes poor merchants. For,
as a farmer cannot husband his ground so well, if he sit at a great rent;
so the merchant cannot drive his trade so well, if he sit at great usury.
The third is incident to the other two; and that is the decay of customs
of kings or states, which ebb or flow, with merchandizing. The fourth,
that it bringeth the treasure of a realm, or state, into a few hands. For
the usurer being at certainties, and others at uncertainties, at the end
of the game, most of the money will be in the box; and ever a state
flourisheth, when wealth is more equally spread. The fifth, that it beats
down the price of land; for the employment of money, is chiefly either
merchandizing or purchasing; and usury waylays both. The sixth, that it
doth dull and damp all industries, improvements, and new inventions,
wherein money would be stirring, if it were not for this slug. The last,
that it is the canker and ruin of many men's estates; which, in process of
time, breeds a public poverty.</p>
<p>On the other side, the commodities of usury are, first, that howsoever
usury in some respect hindereth merchandizing, yet in some other it
advanceth it; for it is certain that the greatest part of trade is driven
by young merchants, upon borrowing at interest; so as if the usurer either
call in, or keep back, his money, there will ensue, presently, a great
stand of trade. The second is, that were it not for this easy borrowing
upon interest, men's necessities would draw upon them a most sudden
undoing; in that they would be forced to sell their means (be it lands or
goods) far under foot; and so, whereas usury doth but gnaw upon them, bad
markets would swallow them quite up. As for mortgaging or pawning, it will
little mend the matter: for either men will not take pawns without use; or
if they do, they will look precisely for the forfeiture. I remember a
cruel moneyed man in the country, that would say, The devil take this
usury, it keeps us from forfeitures, of mortgages and bonds. The third and
last is, that it is a vanity to conceive, that there would be ordinary
borrowing without profit; and it is impossible to conceive, the number of
inconveniences that will ensue, if borrowing be cramped. Therefore to
speak of the abolishing of usury is idle. All states have ever had it, in
one kind or rate, or other. So as that opinion must be sent to Utopia.</p>
<p>To speak now of the reformation, and reiglement, of usury; how the
discommodities of it may be best avoided, and the commodities retained. It
appears, by the balance of commodities and discommodities of usury, two
things are to be reconciled. The one, that the tooth of usury be grinded,
that it bite not too much; the other, that there be left open a means, to
invite moneyed men to lend to the merchants, for the continuing and
quickening of trade. This cannot be done, except you introduce two several
sorts of usury, a less and a greater. For if you reduce usury to one low
rate, it will ease the common borrower, but the merchant will be to seek
for money. And it is to be noted, that the trade of merchandize, being the
most lucrative, may bear usury at a good rate; other contracts not so.</p>
<p>To serve both intentions, the way would be briefly thus. That there be two
rates of usury: the one free, and general for all; the other under license
only, to certain persons, and in certain places of merchandizing. First,
therefore, let usury in general, be reduced to five in the hundred; and
let that rate be proclaimed, to be free and current; and let the state
shut itself out, to take any penalty for the same. This will preserve
borrowing, from any general stop or dryness. This will ease infinite
borrowers in the country. This will, in good part, raise the price of
land, because land purchased at sixteen years' purchase will yield six in
the hundred, and somewhat more; whereas this rate of interest, yields but
five. This by like reason will encourage, and edge, industrious and
profitable improvements; because many will rather venture in that kind,
than take five in the hundred, especially having been used to greater
profit. Secondly, let there be certain persons licensed, to lend to known
merchants, upon usury at a higher rate; and let it be with the cautions
following. Let the rate be, even with the merchant himself, somewhat more
easy than that he used formerly to pay; for by that means, all borrowers,
shall have some ease by this reformation, be he merchant, or whosoever.
Let it be no bank or common stock, but every man be master of his own
money. Not that I altogether mislike banks, but they will hardly be
brooked, in regard of certain suspicions. Let the state be answered some
small matter for the license, and the rest left to the lender; for if the
abatement be but small, it will no whit discourage the lender. For he, for
example, that took before ten or nine in the hundred, will sooner descend
to eight in the hundred than give over his trade of usury, and go from
certain gains, to gains of hazard. Let these licensed lenders be in number
indefinite, but restrained to certain principal cities and towns of
merchandizing; for then they will be hardly able to color other men's
moneys in the country: so as the license of nine will not suck away the
current rate of five; for no man will send his moneys far off, nor put
them into unknown hands.</p>
<p>If it be objected that this doth in a sort authorize usury, which before,
was in some places but permissive; the answer is, that it is better to
mitigate usury, by declaration, than to suffer it to rage, by connivance.</p>
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<h2> Of Youth And Age </h2>
<p>A MAN that is young in years, may be old in hours, if he have lost no
time. But that happeneth rarely. Generally, youth is like the first
cogitations, not so wise as the second. For there is a youth in thoughts,
as well as in ages. And yet the invention of young men, is more lively
than that of old; and imaginations stream into their minds better, and, as
it were, more divinely. Natures that have much heat, and great and violent
desires and perturbations, are not ripe for action, till they have passed
the meridian of their years; as it was with Julius Caesar and Septimius
Severus. Of the latter, of whom it is said, Juventutem egit erroribus, imo
furoribus, plenam. And yet he was the ablest emperor, almost, of all the
list. But reposed natures may do well in youth. As it is seen in Augustus
Caesar, Cosmus Duke of Florence, Gaston de Foix, and others. On the other
side, heat and vivacity in age, is an excellent composition for business.
Young men are fitter to invent, than to judge; fitter for execution, than
for counsel; and fitter for new projects, than for settled business. For
the experience of age, in things that fall within the compass of it,
directeth them; but in new things, abuseth them.</p>
<p>The errors of young men, are the ruin of business; but the errors of aged
men, amount but to this, that more might have been done, or sooner. Young
men, in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace more than they can
hold; stir more than they can quiet; fly to the end, without consideration
of the means and degrees; pursue some few principles, which they have
chanced upon absurdly; care not to innovate, which draws unknown
inconveniences; use extreme remedies at first; and, that which doubleth
all errors, will not acknowledge or retract them; like an unready horse,
that will neither stop nor turn. Men of age object too much, consult too
long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business
home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of
success. Certainly it is good to compound employments of both; for that
will be good for the present, because the virtues of either age, may
correct the defects of both; and good for succession, that young men may
be learners, while men in age are actors; and, lastly, good for extern
accidents, because authority followeth old men, and favor and popularity,
youth. But for the moral part, perhaps youth will have the pre-eminence,
as age hath for the politic. A certain rabbin, upon the text, Your young
men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, inferreth that
young men, are admitted nearer to God than old, because vision, is a
clearer revelation, than a dream. And certainly, the more a man drinketh
of the world, the more it intoxicateth; and age doth profit rather in the
powers of understanding, than in the virtues of the will and affections.
There be some, have an over-early ripeness in their years, which fadeth
betimes. These are, first, such as have brittle wits, the edge whereof is
soon turned; such as was Hermogenes the rhetorician, whose books are
exceeding subtle; who afterwards waxed stupid. A second sort, is of those
that have some natural dispositions which have better grace in youth, than
in age; such as is a fluent and luxuriant speech; which becomes youth
well, but not age: so Tully saith of Hortensius, Idem manebat, neque idem
decebat. The third is of such, as take too high a strain at the first, and
are magnanimous, more than tract of years can uphold. As was Scipio
Africanus, of whom Livy saith in effect, Ultima primis cedebant.</p>
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<h2> Of Beauty </h2>
<p>VIRTUE is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best, in
a body that is comely, though not of delicate features; and that hath
rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect. Neither is it almost
seen, that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue; as if
nature were rather busy, not to err, than in labor to produce excellency.
And therefore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit; and study
rather behavior, than virtue. But this holds not always: for Augustus
Caesar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Belle of France, Edward the Fourth of
England, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael the Sophy of Persia, were all high
and great spirits; and yet the most beautiful men of their times. In
beauty, that of favor, is more than that of color; and that of decent and
gracious motion, more than that of favor. That is the best part of beauty,
which a picture cannot express; no, nor the first sight of the life. There
is no excellent beauty, that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
A man cannot tell whether Apelles, or Albert Durer, were the more trifler;
whereof the one, would make a personage by geometrical proportions; the
other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces, to make one
excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody, but the painter
that made them. Not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever
was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician that maketh an
excellent air in music), and not by rule. A man shall see faces, that if
you examine them part by part, you shall find never a good; and yet
altogether do well. If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in
decent motion, certainly it is no marvel, though persons in years seem
many times more amiable; pulchrorum autumnus pulcher; for no youth can be
comely but by pardon, and considering the youth, as to make up the
comeliness. Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and
cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth, and an age
a little out of countenance; but yet certainly again, if it light well, it
maketh virtue shine, and vices blush.</p>
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<h2> Of Deformity </h2>
<p>DEFORMED persons are commonly even with nature; for as nature hath done
ill by them, so do they by nature; being for the most part (as the
Scripture saith) void of natural affection; and so they have their revenge
of nature. Certainly there is a consent, between the body and the mind;
and where nature erreth in the one, she ventureth in the other. Ubi peccat
in uno, periclitatur in altero. But because there is, in man, an election
touching the frame of his mind, and a necessity in the frame of his body,
the stars of natural inclination are sometimes obscured, by the sun of
discipline and virtue. Therefore it is good to consider of deformity, not
as a sign, which is more deceivable; but as a cause, which seldom faileth
of the effect. Whosoever hath anything fixed in his person, that doth
induce contempt, hath also a perpetual spur in himself, to rescue and
deliver himself from scorn. Therefore all deformed persons, are extreme
bold. First, as in their own defence, as being exposed to scorn; but in
process of time, by a general habit. Also it stirreth in them industry,
and especially of this kind, to watch and observe the weakness of others,
that they may have somewhat to repay. Again, in their superiors, it
quencheth jealousy towards them, as persons that they think they may, at
pleasure, despise: and it layeth their competitors and emulators asleep;
as never believing they should be in possibility of advancement, till they
see them in possession. So that upon the matter, in a great wit, deformity
is an advantage to rising. Kings in ancient times (and at this present in
some countries) were wont to put great trust in eunuchs; because they that
are envious towards all are more obnoxious and officious, towards one. But
yet their trust towards them, hath rather been as to good spials, and good
whisperers, than good magistrates and officers. And much like is the
reason of deformed persons. Still the ground is, they will, if they be of
spirit, seek to free themselves from scorn; which must be either by virtue
or malice; and therefore let it not be marvelled, if sometimes they prove
excellent persons; as was Agesilaus, Zanger the son of Solyman, AEsop,
Gasca, President of Peru; and Socrates may go likewise amongst them; with
others.</p>
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<h2> Of Building </h2>
<p>HOUSES are built to live in, and not to look on; therefore let use be
preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had. Leave the
goodly fabrics of houses, for beauty only, to the enchanted palaces of the
poets; who build them with small cost. He that builds a fair house, upon
an ill seat, committeth himself to prison. Neither do I reckon it an ill
seat, only where the air is unwholesome; but likewise where the air is
unequal; as you shall see many fine seats set upon a knap of ground,
environed with higher hills round about it; whereby the heat of the sun is
pent in, and the wind gathereth as in troughs; so as you shall have, and
that suddenly, as great diversity of heat and cold as if you dwelt in
several places. Neither is it ill air only that maketh an ill seat, but
ill ways, ill markets; and, if you will consult with Momus, ill neighbors.
I speak not of many more; want of water; want of wood, shade, and shelter;
want of fruitfulness, and mixture of grounds of several natures; want of
prospect; want of level grounds; want of places at some near distance for
sports of hunting, hawking, and races; too near the sea, too remote;
having the commodity of navigable rivers, or the discommodity of their
overflowing; too far off from great cities, which may hinder business, or
too near them, which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh everything dear;
where a man hath a great living laid together, and where he is scanted:
all which, as it is impossible perhaps to find together, so it is good to
know them, and think of them, that a man may take as many as he can; and
if he have several dwellings, that he sort them so that what he wanteth in
the one, he may find in the other. Lucullus answered Pompey well; who,
when he saw his stately galleries, and rooms so large and lightsome, in
one of his houses, said, Surely an excellent place for summer, but how do
you in winter? Lucullus answered, Why, do you not think me as wise as some
fowl are, that ever change their abode towards the winter?</p>
<p>To pass from the seat, to the house itself; we will do as Cicero doth in
the orator's art; who writes books De Oratore, and a book he entitles
Orator; whereof the former, delivers the precepts of the art, and the
latter, the perfection. We will therefore describe a princely palace,
making a brief model thereof. For it is strange to see, now in Europe,
such huge buildings as the Vatican and Escurial and some others be, and
yet scarce a very fair room in them.</p>
<p>First, therefore, I say you cannot have a perfect palace except you have
two several sides; a side for the banquet, as it is spoken of in the book
of Hester, and a side for the household; the one for feasts and triumphs,
and the other for dwelling. I understand both these sides to be not only
returns, but parts of the front; and to be uniform without, though
severally partitioned within; and to be on both sides of a great and
stately tower, in the midst of the front, that, as it were, joineth them
together on either hand. I would have on the side of the banquet, in
front, one only goodly room above stairs, of some forty foot high; and
under it a room for a dressing, or preparing place, at times of triumphs.
On the other side, which is the household side, I wish it divided at the
first, into a hall and a chapel (with a partition between); both of good
state and bigness; and those not to go all the length, but to have at the
further end, a winter and a summer parlor, both fair. And under these
rooms, a fair and large cellar, sunk under ground; and likewise some privy
kitchens, with butteries and pantries, and the like. As for the tower, I
would have it two stories, of eighteen foot high apiece, above the two
wings; and a goodly leads upon the top, railed with statuas interposed;
and the same tower to be divided into rooms, as shall be thought fit. The
stairs likewise to the upper rooms, let them be upon a fair open newel,
and finely railed in, with images of wood, cast into a brass color; and a
very fair landing-place at the top. But this to be, if you do not point
any of the lower rooms, for a dining place of servants. For otherwise, you
shall have the servants' dinner after your own: for the steam of it, will
come up as in a tunnel. And so much for the front. Only I understand the
height of the first stairs to be sixteen foot, which is the height of the
lower room.</p>
<p>Beyond this front, is there to be a fair court, but three sides of it, of
a far lower building than the front. And in all the four corners of that
court, fair staircases, cast into turrets, on the outside, and not within
the row of buildings themselves. But those towers, are not to be of the
height of the front, but rather proportionable to the lower building. Let
the court not be paved, for that striketh up a great heat in summer, and
much cold in winter. But only some side alleys, with a cross, and the
quarters to graze, being kept shorn, but not too near shorn. The row of
return on the banquet side, let it be all stately galleries: in which
galleries let there be three, or five, fine cupolas in the length of it,
placed at equal distance; and fine colored windows of several works. On
the household side, chambers of presence and ordinary entertainments, with
some bed-chambers; and let all three sides be a double house, without
thorough lights on the sides, that you may have rooms from the sun, both
for forenoon and afternoon. Cast it also, that you may have rooms, both
for summer and winter; shady for summer, and warm for winter. You shall
have sometimes fair houses so full of glass, that one cannot tell where to
become, to be out of the sun or cold. For inbowed windows, I hold them of
good use (in cities, indeed, upright do better, in respect of the
uniformity towards the street); for they be pretty retiring places for
conference; and besides, they keep both the wind and sun off; for that
which would strike almost through the room, doth scarce pass the window.
But let them be but few, four in the court, on the sides only.</p>
<p>Beyond this court, let there be an inward court, of the same square and
height; which is to be environed with the garden on all sides; and in the
inside, cloistered on all sides, upon decent and beautiful arches, as high
as the first story. On the under story, towards the garden, let it be
turned to a grotto, or a place of shade, or estivation. And only have
opening and windows towards the garden; and be level upon the floor, no
whit sunken under ground, to avoid all dampishness. And let there be a
fountain, or some fair work of statuas, in the midst of this court; and to
be paved as the other court was. These buildings to be for privy lodgings
on both sides; and the end for privy galleries. Whereof you must foresee
that one of them be for an infirmary, if the prince or any special person
should be sick, with chambers, bed-chamber, antecamera, and recamera
joining to it. This upon the second story. Upon the ground story, a fair
gallery, open, upon pillars; and upon the third story likewise, an open
gallery, upon pillars, to take the prospect and freshness of the garden.
At both corners of the further side, by way of return, let there be two
delicate or rich cabinets, daintily paved, richly hanged, glazed with
crystalline glass, and a rich cupola in the midst; and all other elegancy
that may be thought upon. In the upper gallery too, I wish that there may
be, if the place will yield it, some fountains running in divers places
from the wall, with some fine avoidances. And thus much for the model of
the palace; save that you must have, before you come to the front, three
courts. A green court plain, with a wall about it; a second court of the
same, but more garnished, with little turrets, or rather embellishments,
upon the wall; and a third court, to make a square with the front, but not
to be built, nor yet enclosed with a naked wall, but enclosed with
terraces, leaded aloft, and fairly garnished, on the three sides; and
cloistered on the inside, with pillars, and not with arches below. As for
offices, let them stand at distance, with some low galleries, to pass from
them to the palace itself.</p>
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