Francis Thynne (1544-1608), "The vnapt not to be forced to learninge," Emblemes and Epigrames
, ed. F.J. Furnivall (London: Early English Text Society, 1876), p. 57:
To Salamanca yf thow send an Asse,
to Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, or dowaye, [Douai]
or that by travell to farthest lands hee passe,
or in the princes Court longe tyme doe staye:
yf, when he went, he were an Asse, noe art
will make him horse, for felde, for waie, for cart.
Then spare your cost, yf nature give not witt,
to send yowr sonns vnto the learned scooles,
for to the same, yf nature make not fitt,
doe what you cann, they still shall prove but fooles;
then tourne ech witt to that which nature will,
els fondlie thow thy sonne and cost dost spill.