betters, because he can put himself forward, because he looks big, can bustle in the world, hath a fair outside, can temporise, collogue, insinuate, or hath good store of friends and money, whereas a more discreet, modest, and better-deserving man shall lie hid or have a repulse.  ’Twas so of old, and ever will be, and which Tiresias advised Ulysses in the [3961] poet,—­Accipe qua ratione queas ditescere, &c., is still in use; lie, flatter, and dissemble:  if not, as he concludes,—­Ergo pauper eris, then go like a beggar as thou art.  Erasmus, Melancthon, Lipsius, Budaeus, Cardan, lived and died poor.  Gesner was a silly old man, baculo innixus, amongst all those huffing cardinals, swelling bishops that flourished in his time, and rode on foot-clothes.  It is not honesty, learning, worth, wisdom, that prefers men, “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,” but as the wise man said, [3962]Chance, and sometimes a ridiculous chance. [3963]_Casus plerumque ridiculus multos elevavit._ ’Tis fortune’s doings, as they say, which made Brutus now dying exclaim, O misera virtus, ergo nihil quam verba eras, atqui ego te tanquam rem exercebam, sed tu serviebas fortunae. [3964]Believe it hereafter, O my friends! virtue serves fortune.  Yet be not discouraged (O my well deserving spirits) with this which I have said, it may be otherwise, though seldom I confess, yet sometimes it is.  But to your farther content, I’ll tell you a [3965]tale.  In Maronia pia, or Maronia felix, I know not whether, nor how long since, nor in what cathedral church, a fat prebend fell void.  The carcass scarce cold, many suitors were up in an instant.  The first had rich friends, a good purse, and he was resolved to outbid any man before he would lose it, every man supposed he should carry it.  The second was my lord Bishop’s chaplain (in whose gift it was), and he thought it his due to have it.  The third was nobly born, and he meant to get it by his great parents, patrons, and allies.  The fourth stood upon his worth, he had newly found out strange mysteries in chemistry, and other rare inventions, which he would detect to the public good.  The fifth was a painful preacher, and he was commended by the whole parish where he dwelt, he had all their hands to his certificate.  The sixth was the prebendary’s son lately deceased, his father died in debt (for it, as they say), left a wife and many poor children.  The seventh stood upon fair promises, which to him and his noble friends had been formerly made for the next place in his lordship’s gift.  The eighth pretended great losses, and what he had suffered for the church, what pains he had taken at home and abroad, and besides he brought noblemen’s letters.  The ninth had married a kinswoman, and he sent his wife to sue for him.  The tenth was a foreign doctor, a late convert, and wanted means.  The eleventh would exchange for another, he did not like the former’s site, could not agree with his