If thou beest wise laugh, for since the powrspowers, of discourse & reason, & laughter
be equally proꝑproper to man onely, why shall not he be most wise that hath
most use of laughinge, as well as he that hath most use of reasoninge
& discoursinge? I allwayes did & shall vnderstand the Adage, (ꝑper multum
risum
risum poteris cognoscere stultum) that by much laughinge thou maist
know theare is a foole, not that yethe laughers are fooles; but that amongst
them is some foole, that wise men laugh at, wchwhich made Erasmus to put
this as his first argument in the mouth of his folly, that shee made
beholders laugh, for fooles are most laughed at, and laugh the least
themselues of any; And nature saw this faculty to be so necessary in
man, that she hath beene contented, that by more Causes wee should
be importuned to laugh, then to anie of anie other power, for things
in themselues vtter contrary, beget this effect; for we laugh both att
witty & obsurd things, at both wchwhich I haue seene men laugh soe longe and
soe earnestly, that at last, they haue wept, that they could laugh no
longer more, And thearfore the Poet haueinge discribed the quietnes of
a wise retired man. sayeth in one. what we haue sayd in many lines
before; Quid facit Carius tuus? ridet. we haue receiued, that extre -
mity of laughinge, yea of weepinge, alsoe hath beene accounted
wisdome; and Democritus & Heraclitus, the louers of those extreams
haue beene accounted louers of wisdome, now amongst orour wise men
I doubt not but many would be found, that would laugh at Heraclitus
his weepinge, but none that would weepe at the laughinge of Demo -
critus; At the he hearingehearinge of Comedies, or other witty reporte I haue
knowne some, who not vnderstandinge the ieasts, yet haue chosen
this as the best meanes to seeme vnderstandinge & wise, to laugh when
their Companions laugh; and I haue prsumedpresumed them ignorant, that I
haue seene vnmoved. A foole if he Come to a princes Court, & see a
gay man, leaninge at the wall, soe glisteringe, soe painted in
many coulors that he is hardly discerned from one of the picturs
in the Arras hanginge, his body like an iron bound chest, girt
in & thick ribbed, wthwith broad gould laces: may; and Comonly doth; envy
him; but alas, shall a wise man, that may not onely, not envy, but
not pitty this monster, doe nothinge? yes let him laugh: And if one
of these cholericke hott firebrands, wchwhich nourish themselues by quarrell -
inge, & kindlinge others, spit vppon a foole but one sparke of dis -
grace, he (like a thatchd house, quickly burninge) may growe
angrie, but the wise man (as Cold as a Salamander, may not only
not