[ N. H. opens Section 11 of his best-selling business book, The Pleasant Art of Money-Catching, with a definition-by-negation (a prose character of those who will not thrive). This is then followed by his “Rules for Thriving” at business, delivered in verse. ]
S E C T. X I.
Who they are and the very Persons pointed at, that will never thrive in the World should they live to the days of Methusalem.
1. They will never thrive that observe not Time and Opportunity.
2. They cannot thrive that are not punctual; that by failing, loose their friends, loose their advantage of Thriving.
3. They cannot thrive, who are of too light, voluble, and wandring minds.
4. They cannot thrive, who are of too narrow, fixed, peremptory and resolute, and slow, and not able to meet with the great variety of Occasions.
5. They cannot thrive, that are too credulous, easie, and hasty.
6. They cannot thrive, that are too anxious, diffident and zealous.
7. They cannot thrive, that are not resolved, and well weighed.
8. They cannot thrive, who take no care of their little Expences.
9. They cannot thrive, who have not an exact Account of their Expences and Incoms.
10. They cannot thrive, who meddle with more than they are well able to manage, &c. Of this Sort there are abundance in the City of London.
Rules of Thriving, which
whosoever follows, shall in a very
little time get a vast Estate.
1.
Fly Idleness, which yet thou canst not fly,
By dressing, mistressing, and complement,
If those take up thy day, the Sun will cry
Against these, for his light only was lent.
God gave thy soul brave wings, put not those feathers
Into a bed to sleep out all ill weathers.
2.
--------------- fool not, for all may have,
If they dare try, a glorious life or grave.
3.
When thou dost purpose ought within thy power,
Be sure to do it, though it be but small,
Constancy knits the bones, and makes us stowre,
When wanton pleasures beckon us to thrall:
Who breaks his own Bond, forfeiteth himself,
What nature made a ship, he makes a shelf.
4.
Do all things like a man, not sneakingly.
Think the King seeth thee still for his King does,
Simpring is but a lay Hypocrisy:
Give it a corner and the Chi undoes:
Who fears to do ill, sets himself to task:
Who fears to do well, sure should wear a mask.
5.
Slight those that say, amidst their sickly healths
Thou livest by rule, what doth not so, but man?
Houses are built by rule, and Common-wealths:
Entice the trusty Sun, if that you can
From his Ecliptick line: beckon the Sky,
Who lives by rule then, keeps good Company.
6.
Who keeps no guard upon himself, is slack,
And rots to any thing at the next great thaw:
Man is a shop of Rules, well trusted back:
Whose every Parcel underwrites a Law.
Loose not thy self, nor give thy humours way,
God gave them to thee under lock and key.
7.
Be thrifty, but not covetous, therefore give
Thy need, thine honour, and thy friend his due:
Never was scraper brave man: get to live,
Then live and use it, else its not true
That thou hast gotten, surely Use alone
Makes Money not a contemptible stone.
8.
Never exceed thy Income; Youth may make
Even with the Year, but Age if it well hit,
Shoots a bow short, and lessens still his State
As the Day lessens, and his Life with it,
Thy Children, Kindred, Friends, upon thee ___
Before thy Journey fairly part with all.
9.
By no means run in debt, take thy own measure,
Who cannot live on twenty pound a year,
Cannot on forty, he is a man of pleasure:
A kind of thing that’s for it self too dear.
The curious Unthrift makes his cloth too wide,
And spans himself, but would the Taylor chide.
10.
Spend not on hopes, they that by pleading cloaths
Do fortunes seek, when worth and service fail,
Would have their tales believed for their oaths,
And are like empty Vessels under sail:
Old Courtiers know this: therefore set out so,
As all the day long thou mayest hold out to go.
11.
In Cloths, cheap handsomness doth bear the bell,
Wisdoms a Trimmer-thing than shop ere gave:
Say not then, this with that Lace will do well,
But this with my Discretion will be brave:
Much curiousness is a perpetual wo[o]ing,
Nothing with labour: folly long a doing.
12.
Play not for gain, but sport; who plays for more
Than he can lose with pleasure, stakes his heart,
Perhaps his wives too, and whom she hath bore;
Servants and Churches also play their part,
Only a Herauld who that way doth pass,
Finds his crack’d name at length in the Church-glass.
13.
If yet thou love Games at so dear a rate,
Learn this that hath old Gamesters dearly cost:
Do’st lose, rise up, do’st win, rise in that state;
Who strive to sit out looking hands are lost:
Game is a civil Gun-powder in peace,
Blowing up Houses with their whole increase.
14.
Wholly abstain or wed: thy bounteous Lord
Allows thee choice of Paths, take no by-ways,
But gladly welcome what he doth afford:
Not grudging that thy lusts hath bounds and stays,
Continence hath its joy: weigh both, and so
If Rottenness have more let Heaven go.
15.
Drink not the third glass, which thou canst not tame,
When once it is within thee, but before
Mayest rule as thou list, and pour the shame
Which it would pour on thee, upon the floor.
He that is drunken, may his Mother kill,
Big with his Sister: he hath lost the Reins,
Is out-lawed by himself: all kind of ill
Doth with his liquor slide into his veins.
The drunkard forfeits men, and doth divest
All worldly right, save what he hath by beast,
If Reason move not gallantly, quit the Room,
All in a Ship-wrack shift their several way.
Let not a common ruin thee intomb.
Be not a beast in courtesie, but stay
At the third glass, or forego the place;
Wine above all things doth Gods stamp deface.
16.
Lye not: but let thy heart be true to God,
Thy mouth to it, thy actions to them both.
Cowards tell lies, and those that fear the rod,
The stormy working soul spits lies and froth:
Dare to be true, nothing can need a lye,
A fault which needs it most, grows two thereby.
17.
Be sweet to all, is thy complexion sowre,
Then keep such company, make them thy allay:
Command thy self in chief, he lifes war knows,
Whom all his passions follow as he goes.
18.
Think not thy fame at every twitch shall break,
By great deeds shew that thou canst little do,
And do them not: that shall thy wisdom be,
And change thy temperance into bravery.
19.
Wisdom picks friends, Civility plays the rest,
A toy shunned clearly, passeth with the best.
20.
Towards great persons use respective boldness,
That temper gives them theirs, and yet doth take
Nothing from them, in service, care or coldness,
Doth capably thy fortunes mar or make.
21.
Envy not greatness: for thou makest thereby
Thy self the worse, and so the distance greater.
Be not thine own worm: yet such jealousie
As hurts not others, but may make thee better:
Is a good spur, correct thy passions spight,
Then may the beast draw thee to happy light.
22.
Thy friend put in thy bosome, wear his eyes
Still in thy heart, that he may see what’s there.
23.
Yet be not hasty if thou be a Father,
Love is a personal debt I cannot give
My Childrens right; nor ought he take it,
Rather both Freinds should die, than hinder them to live,
Fathers first enter Bonds to Natures ends,
And are her Sureties, ere they are Friends.
24.
Calmness is a great advantage; he that lets
Another Chase, may warm him at his Fire;
Mark all his Wandrings, and enjoy his Frets,
As cunning Fencers suffer hence to Tire.
25.
Mark what another says; for many are
Full of themselves, and answer their own Notion,
Take all unto thee then with equal Care,
Ballance each dram of Reason like a Potion.
26.
Pitch thy Behaviour low, thy Progress high,
So shalt thou Humble, and Magnanious be.
Sink not in spirit; who aimeth at the Sky,
Shoots higher far than he that means a Tree.
27.
Let thy mind still be bent, still plotting where
And when, and how thy business may be done,
Slackness breeds Worms; the sure Traveller
Though he alight sometimes, still goeth on.
Active and stirring Spirits live alone,
Write on the others, here lives such a one.
28.
Who say I care not, those I give for lost,
And to instruct them, ’twill not quite the cost.
29.
Scorn no mans love, though of a mean degree,
Love is a present for a mighty King.
Much less make any one thine Enemy,
As Guns destroy, so may a little thing.
The cunning Workman never doth refuse
The meanest Tool that he may chance to use.
30.
All Forreign Wisdom doth account to this,
To take all that’s given; whether Wealth
Or Love, or Language, nothing comes amiss,
A good digestion turneth all to health.
And then as for our fair Behaviour may
Strike off all Scores, none are so clear as they.
31.
Affect in things about thee cleanliness,
That all may gladly board thee as a flower;
Slovens take up their stock of noysomness
Before-hand, and anticipate the last hour:
Let thy mind, sweeteness have its operation,
Upon thy Body, Cloaths, and Habitation.
32.
In Almes regard thy means, and others merit,
Think Heaven a better bargain, than to give
Only the single Market-penny for it,
Join hands with God to make a man to live.
33.
Sum up at Night what thou hast done by day,
And in the Morning, what thou hast to do,
Dress and undress thy Soul: Mark the decay
And growth of it; if with thy Watch that too
Be down, then wind up both; since we shall be
Most surely judged, make thy Accounts agree.
34.
In brief, acquit thee bravely, play the man,
Look not on pleasures as they come, but go,
Defer not the least virtue: Lifes poor span
Make not an Ell by triflng in thy Woe:
If thou do ill, the joy fades not the pains:
If well, the pain doth fade, the joy remains.
— Excerpt from The Pleasant Art of Money-Catching, by N. H. (London, 1684), pp. 23–31.
Popular handbooks like this were well-used by owners, and because they also tended to be more cheaply printed (so that the lowly apprentice, and the “young Shop-keeper ... setting up in the World,” and the village tradesman could afford them), have not held up as well, over time, as some of the grand folios printed for posterity. Today, good copies of 17th-century best-sellers are rare, indeed.
For this reason (poor print quality), I am unable to make out the word towards the end of verse set 8 (rhymes, probably loosely, with “all”). In contrast, the dashed line at the beginning of verse set 2 (for which the reader is supposed to supply a name) was intended by N. H., and printed as such in the original of 1684.
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