rtf £Ij0crtfns» 45 panions which loue fhotinge, hearde you, they wolde thinke you made it but a triflyng and fabling matter, rather then any other man that loueth not Ihotinge coulde be perfuaded by this reafon to loue it. &OX0. Euen as I am not fo fonde but I knowe that thefe be fables, fo I am fure you be not fo ignoraunt, but you knowe what fuche noble wittes as the Poetes had, ment by fuch matters: which oftentymes vnder the couering of a fable, do hyde and wrappe in goodlie preceptes of philofophie, with the true iudgement of thinges. Whiche to be true fpeciallye in Homer and Euripides, Plato, Ariflotle, and Galene playnelye do fhewe: when through all their workes (in a maner) they determine all controuerfies, by thefe. ii. Poetes and fuche lyke authorities. Therfore if in this matter I feme to fable, and nothynge proue, I am content you iudge fo on me : feinge the fame iudgement mall condemne with me Plato, Ariflotle, and Galene, whom in that errour I am wel content to folowe. If thefe oulde examples proue nothing for fhoting, what faye you to this ? that the befl learned and fageft men in this Realme, which be nowe alyue, both loue fhoting and vfe fhoting, as the befl learnedbiffhoppes that be: amonges whome Philologe^ you your felfe knowe. iiii. or. v. which as in all good learning, vertue and fage- neffe they gyue other men example what thing they fhoulde do, euen fo by their fhoting, they playnely fhewe what honeft paflime, other men giuen to learning, may honeflly vfe. That erneft ftudie mufl be recreated with honeft paflime fufficientlye I haue proue'd afore, both by reafon and authorise of the befl learned men that euer wrote. Then feing paftymes be lefull, the mo oft fittefl for learning, is to be fought Tor. A paflyme, faith Ariflotle, mufl be lyke a ^^ medicine. Medicines ftande by contra- S-P