Fiue hundred pointes of good husbandrie

5.

Reading edition

¶ A Preface to the buier of this booke.

Chap. 5.

1 What lookest thou herein to haue? Fine verses thy fansie to please? Of many my betters that craue, Looke nothing but rudenes in thease.[E19] 2 What other thing lookest thou then? Graue sentences many to finde? Such, Poets haue twentie and ten, Yea thousands contenting the minde. 3 What looke ye, I praie you shew what? Termes painted with Rhetorike fine? Good husbandrie seeketh not that, Nor ist any meaning of mine. 4 What lookest thou, speake at the last? Good lessons for thee and thy wife? Then keepe them in memorie fast, To helpe as a comfort to life. 5 What looke ye for more in my booke? Points needfull and meete to be knowne? Then dailie be suer to looke, To saue to be suer thine owne.

* * * Mason remarks that this metre was peculiar to Shenstone.[E20]

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · In the edition of 1570 the first stanza of the "Preface to the Buier" reads as follows: "What lookest thou herein to haue? Trim verses thy f Note 2 · In the footnote to this Preface it is stated that the metre is peculiar to Shenstone, but this is incorrect, as it is also used by Prior: "D