mplained of in his time, _Qui
opulentiores sunt, in ordinem parasitorum cogunt eos, et ipsos tanquam
canes ad mensas suas enutriunt, eorumque impudentes. Venires iniquarum
coenarum reliquiis differtiunt, iisdem pro arbitro abulentes_: Rich men
keep these lecturers, and fawning parasites, like so many dogs at their
tables, and filling their hungry guts with the offals of their meat, they
abuse them at their pleasure, and make them say what they propose.
[2085]"As children do by a bird or a butterfly in a string, pull in and let
him out as they list, do they by their trencher chaplains, prescribe,
command their wits, let in and out as to them it seems best." If the patron
be precise, so must his chaplain be; if he be papistical, his clerk must be
so too, or else be turned out. These are those clerks which serve the turn,
whom they commonly entertain, and present to church livings, whilst in the
meantime we that are University men, like so many hidebound calves in a
pasture, tarry out our time, wither away as a flower ungathered in a
garden, and are never used; or as so many candles, illuminate ourselves
alone, obscuring one another's light, and are not discerned here at all,
the least of which, translated to a dark room, or to some country benefice,
where it might shine apart, would give a fair light, and be seen over all.
Whilst we lie waiting here as those sick men did at the Pool of [2086]
Bethesda, till the Angel stirred the water, expecting a good hour, they
step between, and beguile us of our preferment. I have not yet said, if
after long expectation, much expense, travel, earnest suit of ourselves and
friends, we obtain a small benefice at last; our misery begins afresh, we
are suddenly encountered with the flesh, world, and devil, with a new
onset; we change a quiet life for an ocean of troubles, we come to a
ruinous house, which before it be habitable, must be necessarily to our
great damage repaired; we are compelled to sue for dilapidations, or else
sued ourselves, and scarce yet settled, we are called upon for our
predecessor's arrearages; first-fruits, tenths, subsidies, are instantly to
be paid, benevolence, procurations, &c., and which is most to be feared, we
light upon a cracked title, as it befell Clenard of Brabant, for his
rectory, and charge of his _Beginae_; he was no sooner inducted, but
instantly sued, _cepimusque_ [2087](saith he) _strenue litigare, et
implacabili bello confligere_: at length after t