Example proof hereof in earth is well found,
Manifest, open, and very evident;
For except the husbandman suffer his ground
Sometimes to rest, it woll bear no fruit verament;
Therefore they let the field lie every second year
To the end that, after rest, it may the better corn bear.
Thus then (as I have said) it is a thing natural,
And naturally belonging to all living creatures,
And unto man especially above others all,
To have at times convenient pastance, mirth and pleasures,
So they be joined with honesty, and kept within due measures;
And the same well allowed not only the said Cato,
But also the Philosophers, Plutarch, Socrates, and Plato.
And Cicero Tullius, a man sapient and wise,
Willeth the same, in that his first book,
Which he wrote and entituled of an honest man's office:
Who so is disposed thereupon to look,
Where to define and affirm he boldly on him took,
That to hear interludes is pastime convenient
For all manner men, and a thing congruent.
He reckoneth that namely as a very honest disport,
And above all other things commendeth the old comedy,
The hearing of which may do the mind comfort;
For they be replenished with precepts of philosophy:
They contain much wisdom, and teach prudent policy;
And though they be all writers of matters of none importance,
Yet they show great wit, and much pretty conveyance.
And in this manner of making Plautus did excel,
As recordeth the same Tullius, commending him by name:
Wherefore this maker delighteth passingly well
To follow his arguments, and draw out the same,
For to make at seasons convenient pastimes, mirth and game:
As now he hath done this matter, not worth an oyster shell,
Except percase it shall fortune to make you laugh well.
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