The praise of Brotherhood:OR
A description of Hoodes writ in Verse, not in Prose
Shewing which best becomes the Nose.
To the tune of Abington Fayre.
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TO Fashions strange the world is bent,
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one fashion gives not al content,
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For some with maskes their faces hide,
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and some theire brests lay open wide.
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Some goe with curled locks of haire
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and some fine hoods like hankes doe were,
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Then choyce of hoodes I will disclose,
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And shew which best becomes the nose.
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He that through stormes and tempests doth ride
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hath neede of a hood his head for to hide,
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To keep off each blast of the Northerne winde
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for to much cold comfort I know is unkind,
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When tempests rise and windes doe blow,
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and sturdy stormes their fury shew,
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A Close hood is good, when cold the wind blowes,
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Yet brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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He that will have the world to his minde
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must search well his wits now fashions to finde,
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And study new fangles to pleasure fond fooles,
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for wantons are willing to follow bad rules.
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Deceipt is unseemely it blindes the eyes,
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plain-dealing is pleasing which fooles doe despise;
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Keepe peace in thy bosome, shew love to thy foes,
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For brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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For brother,hood most I must commend,
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the vertue thereof so farre doth extend,
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true love and peace and charity,
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in brother-hood doe hidden lye,
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He that true brotherhood hath possest,
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shall livd well beloved and die double blest,
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Greate hopes therein I doe repose
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For brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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In dayes of old when I was but a boy,
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then Brother-hood went for a fashion each day,
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But brother-hood now is out of request
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and other hoodes are accounted best,
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For now strange tricks and trifles they use,
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which makes the poore man to stand in a muse,
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I doe say no more then all the world knowes,
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For brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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Priest-hood is an order divine,
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let them that attaine it in glory so shine,
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That poore men unlearned may find out the way
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which leades unto Re[st] that shall never decay,
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This priest-hood was unto the learned ordaynd,
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O blest is the man that true wisedome hath gaynd
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To succour the needy and pray for his foes,
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For brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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Knight-hood proceedes from honour and fame
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when men try there Valour to win them a name
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With undaunted force to fight in the field,
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to purchase renowne with sword and with shield:He that fights in field with might and with mayne,
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deserves well the honour of Knight-hood to gaine,
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Thus poore men by Valour to honour have rose,
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For brotherhood best becomes the nose.
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The Second Part, to [the Same Tune.]
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MAn-hood Ile prayse the best that I can,
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for he that wants manhood is counted no man
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And he that wants manners is counted an asse,
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A dunce, or a foole, but for that let it passe.
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Manhood is more then some men have possest,
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yet he that hath man-hood is a man at the least,
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And a man is a man, where so ever he goes
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Yet brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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Woman-hood next I i[n] order apply,
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in good sooth gossipe, Ile tell you no lye,
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A beautifull woman from woman-hood free,
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is like a faire Image made of an old tree,
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A modest woman is accounted wise
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and a shamelesse woman is a griefe to the eyes,
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A woman thats shameles her shame wil disclose
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Then brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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Neighbour-hood next doth follow in rancke
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but men are not now so free and so franke,
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So franke, and so free, So loving and kinde,
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for neighbour-hood now is quite worne out of minde
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Each man for himselfe now, and God for us all: for neighbour-hood now among men is but small,
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Yea those that are friends live as if they were foes,
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Though brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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The French-hood is a fashion of old,
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in Fraunce well respected as I have bin told
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For it so well becomes the Crowne,
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that it is held in high renowne,
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Old women doe thinke it is wonderfull rare,
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as if that none with them might compare,
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But for all that I doe depose,
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that brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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Yet cause the French-hood doeth make a fine show,
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therefore Ile speake of it as much as I know,
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For sure the French-hood much honour doth gayne,
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it holds all the witt that comes in the braine:
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Give Jone the French-hood and she will appeare
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to looke like a Lady all times of the yeare
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For hoods are deceitfull which makes me suppose,
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That brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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Child-hood, is a wonderfull simple thinge,
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Yet time and old age more wisedome will br[ing]
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Yet some men in age are so Childish grone
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as if that true man-hood they had never kno[wn]
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Let child-hood alone for children to use,
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and when they are old they will it refuse
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As a child growes in age so in wisedome he growes,
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Yet brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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But yet theres one hood which I have not exprest.
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and that is cald fals-hood more worse then the rest
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For false-hood breeds folly in an[y] mans heart:
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that doth so unwisely from vertue depart
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He that two faces beares under a hood,
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his deeds are deceitfull they cannt be withstood
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It will make true friends to be mortall foes,
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Then brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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I would that the world to love were inclind
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that each man might bare a brotherly mind,
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For brother-hood then would come in request
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and poore men find comfort which are much oppres[t]
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He that hath purchast much wealth and much gol[d]
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and lets his poore brother to starve in the cold,
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I respect such a friend but as one of my foes
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For brother-hood best becomes the nose.
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