Better a Dry Morsel in Quietness

1Better is a drye morsell wt quyetnesse, the a full house and many fatt catell wt stryfe.

2A discrete seruaut shal haue more rule then the sonnes yt haue no wysdome, and shal haue like heretage wt the brethren.

3Like as syluer is tried in the fyre and golde in the fornace, euen so doth the LORDE proue the hertes.

4A wicked body holdeth moch of false lippes, & a dyssemblynge persone geueth eare to a disceatfull toge.

5Who so laugheth ye poore to scorne, blasphemeth his maker: and he yt is glad of another mans hurte, shal not be vnpunyshed.

6Childers children are a worshipe vnto the elders, and the fathers are the honor of the children.

7An eloquent speach becometh not a foole, a dyssemblinge mouth also besemeth not a prynce.

8Liberalite is a precious stone vnto him that hath it, for where so euer he becometh, he prospereth.

9Who so couereth another mans offence, seketh loue: but he yt discloseth the faute, setteth frendes at variaunce.

10One reprofe only doth more good to him yt hath vnderstodinge, then an C. stripes vnto a foole.

11A sedicious personne seketh myschefe, but a cruell messaunger shal be sent agaynst him.

12It were better to come agaynst a she Bere robbed of hir whelpes, then agaynst a foole in his foolishnes.

13Who so rewardeth euell for good, the plage shal not departe fro his house.

14He yt soweth discorde & strife, is like one yt dyggeth vp a water broke: but an open enemie is like the water yt breaketh out & reneth abrode.

15The LORDE hateth as well him yt iustifieth ye vngodly, as him yt condempneth the innocet.

16What helpeth it to geue a foole money in his hode, where as he hath no mynde to bye wysdome?

17He is a frende that allwaye loueth, and in aduersite a man shal knowe who is his brother.

18Who so promiseth by the hande, & is suertie for another, he is a foole.

19He yt loueth strife, delyteth in synne: & who so setteth his dore to hye, seketh after a fall.

20Who so hath a frowarde herte, opteyneth no good: and he yt hath an ouerthwarte tonge, shal fall into myschefe.

21An vnwyse body bryngeth himselfe in to sorowe, and ye father of a foole can haue no ioye.

22A mery herte maketh a lusty age, but a sorowfull mide dryeth vp ye bones.

23The vngodly taketh giftes out of the bosome, to wraist the wayes of iudgment.

24wysdome shyneth in ye face of him yt hath vnderstondinge, but ye eyes of fooles wandre thorow out all lodes.

25An vndiscrete sonne is a grefe vnto his father, and heuynesse vnto his mother yt bare him.

26To punysh ye innocent, and to smyte ye prynces yt geue true iudgmet, are both euell.

27He is wyse and discrete, yt tempereth his wordes: and he is a ma of vnderstodinge, yt maketh moch of his sprete.

28Yee a very foole (when he holdeth his tonge) is counted wyse, and to haue vnderstodinge, when he shutteth his lippes.