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befide flrength of bodie and go^d footinge, they hadde
no princelie thing in them, which paying me thinke
commendes footing wonderfullie, callinge it-^. princelie
thinge.

Furthermore howe commendable Ihotinge is for
princes : Themiflius the noble philofopher Thennst.
foeweth in a certayne oration made to in ora>6-
Theodofius th[e] emperoure, wherin he doeth com-
mende him for. iii. thinges, that he vfed of a childe.
For footinge, for rydinge of an horfe well, and for
feates of armes.

Moreouer,not onelye kingesand emperours haue ben
brought vp in footing, but alfo the beft commune
wealthes that euer were, haue made goodlie ac~bes and
lawes for it, as the Persians which vnder Cyrus con-
quered in a maner all the worlde, had a
lawe that their children foulde learne thre m °*

thinges, onelie from v. yeare oulde vnto. xx. to ryde an
horfe well, to foote well, to fpeake truthe Leo de stra-
alwayes and neuer lye, The Romaines tagi 20<

(as Leothe[e]mperourin his boke of fleightes of warre2
telleth) had a lawe that euery man fooulde vfe footing
in peace tyme, while he was. xl. yere olde and that
euerye houfe fooulde haue a bowe, and. xl. foaftes ready
for all nedes, the omittinge of whiche lawe (fayth Leo)
amonges the youthe, hath ben the onely occafion why
the Romaynes loft a great dele of their empire. But
more of this I wil fpeake when I come to the profite
of footing in warre. If I fould rehearfe the ftatutes
made of noble princes of Englande in parliamentes
for the fettyng forwarde of footing, through this
realme, and fpecially that acte made for footing the
thyrde yere of the reygne of our mo oft drad
foueraygne lorde king Henry the. viii. I could be
very long. But thefe fewe examples fpecially of fo
great men and noble common wealthes, foall Hand
in ftede of many.

PIjU That fucheprinces andfuche commune welthes
haue moche regarded footing, you haue well