The.ii. Chapter. Of the shorte vncertayne lyfe in extreme age or sickenes

☞Anthony. COsin I haue bethought me somewhat vpon this matter since we were last together. And I fynde it, if we shoulde goe some waye to worke, a thyng that would require many mo dayes to treate therof, than we shoulde happely fynde mete thereto in so fewe as my selfe wene that I haue nowe to liue, while euerytime is not like with me, and among many paynfull, in whiche I loke euery daye to departe: my mendyng dayes come very seld, and are very shortly gone. For surely Cosin I cannot lycken my lyfe more metely now than to the snuffe of a candle that burneth within ye candelstyckes nose. For as the snuffe some time burneth down so lowe, that whoso loketh on it, would wene it were quite out, and yet sodeynly lifteth a flame halfe an inche aboue the nose, and geueth a preaty shorte lighte again, and thus plaieth diuers tymes, til at last ere it be looked for, out it goeth altogether: so haue I Cosin diuers such daies together, as eueryday of them I loke euen for to dye: and yet haue I than after that some suche fewe daies againe as you see me now to haue your selfe, in which a man would wene that I might well continue, but I knowe my lingering not likely to la[…]t long, but oure wil my snuffe sodeynly some daye within a while, and therfore wil I with goddes helpe, seme I neuer so wel amended neuertheles reckē euery day for my last: for thoughe that to the repressing of the bolde courage of blynde youth there is a very true prouerbe, yt as soone cometh a young shepes skin to the market as an olde, yet this difference there is at the least betwene them: that as the younge man maye happe sometime to die soone, so ye olde mā can neuer liue long. And there[…]ore Cosin, […]n our matter here leauīg out mani thinges yt I would els treate of, I shall for this time speake but of ve[…]y fewe, howbeit if god hereafter send me moe such daies, thā wyl we when you luste farther talke of moe.