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¹ A good name is more worth then precious oyntment: & the day of death, is better the the day of byrth.² It is better to go into an house of mourning, then into a banketting house: For there is the ende of all men, and he that is liuing taketh it to heart.³ Grauitie is better then to laugh: for when the countenaunce is heauie, the heart is refourmed.⁴ The heart of the wise is in the mourning house: but the heart of the foolishe is in the house of myrth.⁵ It is better to geue eare to the chastening of a wyse man, then to heare the songue of fooles:⁶ For the laughyng of fooles is like the cracking of thornes vnder a pot: and that is but a vayne thing.

⁷ The wyse man hateth wrong dealing, and abhorreth the heart that coueteth rewardes.⁸ Better is it to consider the ende of a thing then the beginning: The pacient of spirite, is better then the hye minded.⁹ Be not hastyly angrie in thy minde: for wrath resteth in the bosome of fooles.¹⁰ Say not thou, What is the cause that the dayes of the old time were better then they that be nowe? for that were no wyse question.

¹¹ Wysdome with inheritaunce is good, yet better is it with them that without care may beholde the sunne:¹² For wysdome defendeth aswell as money, and the excellent knowledge & wysdome geueth lyfe vnto hym that hath it in possession.¹³ Consider the worke of God, how that no man can make the thing straight, whiche he maketh crooked.¹⁴ Use well the tyme of prosperitie, and remember the tyme of misfortune: for God doth so temper the one and the other, that a man can finde nothing els.¹⁵ All thinges haue I considered in the time of my vanitie: that the iust man perisheth for his righteousnesse sake, & the vngodly liueth in his wickednesse.¹⁶ Therfore be thou neither to righteous nor ouer wyse, that thou perishe not.¹⁷ Be neither to vnrighteous also nor to foolishe, lest thou die before thy time.¹⁸ It is good for thee to take holde of this, and not to let that go out of thy hande: For he that feareth God, commeth foorth with them all.¹⁹ Wysdome geueth more courage vnto the wyse, then ten mightie men of the citie.²⁰ For there is not one iust vpon earth that doth good, and sinneth not.²¹ Take no heede vnto euery word that is spoken, lest thou heare thy seruaunt curse thee: ²² for thyne owne heart knoweth that thou thy self also hast ofttimes spoken euyll by other men.

²³ All these thinges haue I proued in wysdome, for I thought to be wyse, but she went farther fro me then she was before: ²⁴ yea and so deepe, that I might not reache vnto her.²⁵ I applied my minde also vnto knowledge, and to seeke and searche out science, wysdome, and vnderstanding, to knowe the foolishnesse of the vngodly, and the errour of doting fooles.²⁶ And I founde that a woman is bitterer then death, the whiche hath cast abrode her heart as a net that men fishe with, and her handes are chaynes: Who so pleaseth God shall escape from her, but the sinner wyll be taken with her.²⁷ Beholde (saith the preacher) this haue I diligently searched out and proued: One thing must be considered with another, that a man may come by knowledge, which as yet I seeke, and finde it not.²⁸ Among a thousande men I haue founde one: but not one woman among all.²⁹ Lo this onlye haue I founde, that God made man iust and right: but they sought many inuentions.