well as their Authors the name of the best of whom call'd â—ristides hardly survives his Writings He liv'd doubtless before Marius and Syllas's Wars for Sisenna a Roman Historian had Latiniz'd his Fables which were very obscene yet long the delight of the Romans Photius in his Bibliotheque has given an extract of a fabulous Story composed by Antonius Diogenes whom he thinks to have liv'd sometime after Alexander It treats in Prose of the Loves of Dinias and Dercyllis in imitation of Homer's Odysseis and relates many incredible Adventures its Author also makes mention of one Antiphanes who before had written in that Nature and who perhaps may be a Comic Poet whom the Geographer Stephanus says to have writ some such Relations These are thought to have been the modells of what Lucius Lucian Iamblichus Achilles Tatius and Damascius have written in that kind not to speak of Heliodorus Bishop of Tricca who under Arcadius and Honorius wrote the Adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea some passages of which have been copied by Guarini and the Author of Astrea Our Britains about that time have not been behind hand with other Nations in writing such Books Theleisin whom Some place among the Bards because he made some Propheciâ—s in Verse liv'd about the middle of the sixth Century and as well as Melkin wrote fabulous Histories in Welsh of Britain King Arthur Merlin and the Knights of the round Table Those of Ieoffrey of Monmouth have not much more the appearance of Truth and as much may be said of what Gildas a Welsh Monk writ of King Arthur Perceval and Lancelot The French sometime after had also their famous Romance of the Heroic Deeds of Charles the Great and his Paladins said to be the Work of Turpin Archbishop of Rheims but it was written above two Hundred Years after him and was followed by many more as false which yet pleased the people of those times more simple and ignorant yet than those who wrote them Then none endeavouring to get good Memoirs to write true History and Men finding matter more easily in their Fancy Historians degenerated into Romancers and the Latin Tongue fell into as much contempt as Truth had done before Then the Troubadours Comics and Contours of Provence who were the writers that practis'd what is still call'd in the Southern parts of France Le guay Saber or the Gay Science spread all over that Kingdom their Stories and new sort of Poetry of all kinds composed in the Roman Language which was a mixtuâ—e of the Gallic Tentonick and Latin Tongues in which the 〈◊〉 was superior so that to distinguish it from that usually spoken through the other parts of the Gauls it kept the name of Roman The Germans as Tacitus relates us'd to sing the Heroic Deeds of Hercules when they went to fight The ancient Inhabitants of Denmark Sweeden and Norway had fabulous Stories which they engrav'd in old Runic Characters upon large Stones of which some are still to be seen The most usual diversion at their Feasts was to sing in rhiming Verse the brave Deeds of their ancient Giants These Stories us'd to draw Tears from the Eyes of the Company and after that being well warm'd with good Cheer to their Tears succeeded Crys and Howlings till all at last fell in confusion under the Table The Kings and Princes of Denmark Norway and the neighbouring Countries had always their Scaldri thus were call'd their Poets who us'd extempore to make Verses in Rhime embellish'd with Fictions and Allegories upon all Memorable Events and those were immediately learn'd and sung by the People Even some of the Kings and Queens of those Countries were Scaldri As Olaus Wormius tells us The Indians Iapanese and Chinese have an infinite Number of Poets and Fables and the latter esteem almost Rustic any other way than that of Apologues in their Conversation Even the Turks to fit themselves for Love or War have not only the Persian Romances but Fables of their own devising and will tell you that Roland was a Turk whose Sword they still preserve at Bursa with Veneration relating the particulars of his Life and the great things he did in the Levant The Americans are great Lovers of Fables and near Canada the most wild among them after their Feasts generally desire the oldest or the greatest Wit of the Company to invent and relate to them some strange Story Beavers Foxes Racoons and other Animals generally come in for a share in the Fiction and the hearers are very attentive to their Adventures the Relation of which they never interrupt but by their Applause and thus Days and Nights are past with equal satisfaction to the Speaker and the Hearers The People of Florida Cumana and Perou excite themselves to work and to martial exploits by Songs and fabulous Narrations of the great Atchievements of their Predecessors Whatever they relate of their Origin is full of Fictions but in this those of Perou far out-lye the rest and have their Poets to whom they give a Name that answers to that of Inventors Also those of Madagascar have Men who stroul from House to House to recite their Composures and those of Guinea have their tellers of Fables like those of the Northern Parts of America Thus as observes Huetius from whom I have borrowed part of these Historical Observations on Fables no Nation can well attribute to it self the Original of them Since all equally have been addicted to invent some in the most ancient Times there is only this Difference that what was the Fruit of the Ignorance of some Nations even in Europe has been that of the Politeness of the Persians the Ionians and the Greeks When Rabelais lived all the foolish Romances that had been made in the barbarous Ages that preceded his were very much read therefore as he had a design to give a very great latitude to his Satyr he thought he could not do better than to give it the form of those lying Stories the better to secure himself from Danger and at once show their Absurdities also to cause his Book to be the more read having perceived that nothing pleased the People better than such Writings the Wise and Learned being delighted by the Morality under the Allegories and the rest by their odness This was a good Design and it proved as Effectual to make those who had any sence throw away those gross Fables stuffed with wretched Tales of Giants Magicians and Adventurous Knights as Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixot proved in his Country to root out Knight-Errantry Thuâ— Lucian before him in his Story of the Ass enlarged afterwards by the Philosopher Apuleius had ridicul'd Lucius of Patras and to make it the more obvious called that Fable by the name of that Mythologist who had writ a Book of strange Metamorphoses which he foolishly believed to be true Rabelais seems also to have imitated Lucian's true History called so by its Author by Antiphrasis though some have thought that
But if he said so many great Men have said much the same Thus Augustus near his Death ask'd his Friends Whether he had not very well Acted the Farce of Life And Demonax one of the best Philosophers when he saw that he could not by reason of his great Age live any longer without being a Burthen to others as well as to himself said to those that were near him what the Herald used to say when the public Games were ended You may with-draw the Show is over and refusing to Eat kept his usual Gayety to the â—ast and set himself at Ease I wave many other Stories concerning Rabelais which seem as Inconsistent and Fabulous as the Legends of Symeon the Metaphrast St. Xavier's Miracles or the Traditions of the Monks our witty Satyrist's irreconcileable Enemies We ought not easily to believe that â—e who even in the most Licentious Places of his Merry Composures is thought by the Iudicious to have generally a design to expose Villany and in the Places that are Graver as also in his Letters displays all the Moderation and Iudgment of a good Man we ought not I say to believe that such a Man in his seventieth Year can have abandoned himself to those Excesses being Curate of a large Parish near Paris Prebend of St. Maur des Fossez in that City and honour'd and lov'd by many Persons equally eminent for Vertue Learning and Quality 'T was by a Person who with those three advantages was also a great States-Man and a very good Latin Poet I mean John Cardinal Du Bellay Bishop of Paris who knew Rabelais from his Youth that he was taken from the Profession of Physic to be employed by that Prelate in his most Secret Negotiations 'T was he that knew him best yet he thought him not unworthy of being one of the Prebends of a Famous Chapter in a Metropolis and Curate of Meudon in his Diocess 'T was doubtless in that pleasant Retreat that he composed his Gargantua and Pantagruel tho' some say 't was at that House call'd Douiniere already mention'd and that the Neighbouring Abbey of Sevillé whose Monks liv'd not then according to the Austerity of their Rule is partly the Subject of iâ— which causes him They say to make so often mention of the Monks the Staff of the Cross and the Vine-yard of Sevillé as also of Basché Lerné Panzoust c. which are Places near that Abbey The Freedom which Rabelais has used in that Work could not but raise it many Enemies Which caused him to give an Account in his Dedicatory Epistle to Odet Cardinal of Chastillon his Friend of the Motive that induc'd him to Write it There he tells him that though his Lordship knew how much he was daily Importun'd to continue it by several great Persons who alledg'd that many who languish'd through Grief or Sickness reading it had receiv'd extraordinary Ease and Comfort yet the Calumnies of a sort of uncharitable Men who said it was full of Heresies though they could not shew any there without perverting the Sence had so far Conquered his Patience that he had resolv'd to write no more on that subject But that his Lordship having told him that King Francis had found the reports of his Enemies to be unjust as well as King Henry the 〈◊〉 then Reigning who therefore had granted to that Cardinal his Priviledge and particular Protection for the Author of those Mithologies now without any fear under so Glorious and Powerful a Paâ—ronage he securely presum'd to write on And indeed 't is observable that in the Book to which that Epistle is prefix'd he has more freely than in the rest exposed the Monks Priests Pope Decretals Council of Trent then sitting c. That Epistle is Dated the 28. of January 1552. and some write that he Died in 1553. By this Epigram Printed before his last Book Rabelais seems to have been Dead before it was Published Rabelais est il mort Voicy encor un Livre Non sa meilleure part a repris ses esprits Pour nous faire present de l'un de ses escrits Qui le rend entre nous immortel fait vivre Nature quite This Satyrical Work employed him only at his spare hours for he tells us that he spent no time in Composing it but that which he usually allowed himself for Eating yet it has deserved the Commendations of the best of serious Writers and particularly of the great Thuanus whose approbation alone is a Panegyric And if we have not many other serious Tracts by its Author the private Affairs of Cardinal Du Bellay in which he was employed and his profession as a Physician and a Curate may be supposed to be the Cause of it Yet he Published a Latin Version of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates and with them some of Galen's Works which for its faithfulness and purity of Stile has been much esteemed by the best Iudges of both Nor is Vorstius who attempted the same sâ—â—d to have succeeded so well Rabelais also Wrote several French and Latin Epistles in an excellent Styâ—e to several Great and Learned Men and particularly to Cardinal de Chastillon the Bishop of Maillezais and Andrew Tiraqueau the Famous Civilian who is said Yearly to have given a Book and by one Wife a Son to the World during Thirty Years though he never drank any thing but Water in which he differed much from his Friend Rabelais Those Epistles do not only shew that he was a Man fit for Negotiations but that he had gain'd at Rome the Friendship of several Eminent Prelates He likewise writ a Book callâ—d Sciomachia and of the Feasts made at Rome in the Pallace of Cardinal Du Bellay for the Birth of the Duke of Orleans Printed at Lyons in 8 o by Sebast Gryphius 1549 And there is an Almanack for the Year 1553 Calculated by him for the Meridian of Lyons and printed there which shews that he was not only a Grammarian Poet Philosopher Physitian Civilian and Theologian but also an Astronomer Besides he was a very great Linguist being well skill'd in the French German Italian Spanish Latin Greek and Hebrew Tongues and we see in his Letters that he also understood Arabic which he had learn'd at Rome of a Bishop of Caramith Some Write that Rabelais Died at Meudon but Dom Pierre de St. Romuald says that Dr. Guy Patin Royal Professor at Paris who was a great admirer of Rabelais assur'd him that he caused himself to be brought from his Cure to Paris where he lies Buried in St Paul's Church-Yard at the foot of a great Tree still to be seen there 1660 He Died in a House in the Street call'd La Rue des Jardins in St. Paul's Parish at Paris about the Year 1553. Aged seventy Years But his Fame will never Die Estienne Pasquier Advocate General one of the most learned and judicious Writers of his Age Joachim Du Bellay Arch-deacon of Paris Nam'd to the Arch-bishopric of Bordeaux Peter Boulanger
it presently fall to railing and reviling adding after a whole Litany of comical though defamatory Epithetes that course unraung'd Bread or some of the great brown Houshold Loaf was good enough for such Shepherds meaning that the gross Notions of Transubstantiation ought â—o satisfie the Vulgar The Shepherds reply modestly enough and say that the others us'd formerly to let them have Cakes by which must be understood the times that preceded the Doctrin of Transubstantion Then Marquet one of the Cake-Merchants treacherously invites Forgier to come to him for Cakes but instead of them only gives him a swindging Lash with his Whip over-thwart the Legs whereupon he is rewarded by the other with a broken Pate and falls down from his Mare more like a dead then like a living Man wholly unfit to strike another blow These two Combatants are the Controverstists of both parties the Papist immediately begins to rail and abuse his Adversary The Lutheran confounds him in his replys and for a blow with a Whip treacherously given very fairly disables his Enemy This is the Judgment that Rabelais a Man of Wit and Learning impartially passes on the Writers of both Parties If any would seek a greater Mystery in that Grand Debate as Rabelais calls it which term I believe he would hardly have used for a real Fight let them imagin that he there describes the Conference at Reinburgh where Melancthon Bucer and Pistorius debated of Religion against Eccius Iulius Pflug and Iohn Gropper and handled them much as Forgier did Marquet But this Exploit of Forgier being inconsiderable if compared to those of Fryar Ihon des Entomeures or of the Funnels as some corruptly call him we should endeavour to discover who is that brave Monk that makes such rare Work with those that took away the Grapes of the Vineyard By the pretended Key which I think fit to give you after this since it will hardly make up a Page we are told that our Fryar Ihon is the Cardinal of Lorraine Brother to the Duke of Guise but that Conjecture is certainly groundless for though the Princes of his House were generally very brave yet that Cardinal never affected to show his Courage in martial Atchievements and was never seen to girt himself for War or to fight for the Cause which he most espoused besides had he been to have fought it would have been for Picrochole It would be more reasonable to believe that Fryar Ihon is Odet de Coligny Cardinal de Chastillon Archbishop of Tholouse Bishop and Earl of Beauuais Abbot of St. Benign of Dijon of Fleury of Ferrieres and of Vaux de Cernay For that Prelate was a Man of Courage no ways inferior to his Younger Brothers the Admiral and the Lord d' Andelot Besides he was an Enemy to Spain and a Friend to Navarre then he was a Protestant and helped his Brothers doing great Service to those of his Party and was married to Elizabeth de Hauteville Dame de Thoré a Lady of great Quality Pope Pius IV. in a private Consistory deprived him for adhering to his Brothers but he neither valued the Pope nor his Censures he died in England in 1571 and lies interr'd in Canterbury Cathedral having been made a Cardinal by Clement VII at his and Francis I.'s Interview at Marseilles in 1533. I own that what he did for the Protestant Cause was chiefly after the Death of Rabelais and that some have represented him as a Man wholly given to his Ease but Rabelais whose best Friend he was knew his Inclinations even when he composed this Work which made him dedicate the Fourth part of it to him And 't is chiefly to that brave Cardinal that we are obliged for that Book and the last of this mysterious History since without the King's Protection which he obtained for Rabelais he had resolved to write no more as I have already observed And for his being addicted to his Pleasures that exactly answers the Name of his Abbey of Theleme of which those that are Members do what they please according to their only Rule Do what thou wilt and to the Name of the Abbey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Volontas Perhaps Rabelais had also a regard to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which often signifies a Nuptial Chamber to shew that our valiant Monk was married thus the Description of the Abbey shows us a model of a Society free from all the Tyes of others yet more honest by the innate Vertues of its Members therefore its Inscription excludes all Monks and Fryars inviting in all those that expound the holy Gospel faithfully though others murmur against them Indeed I must confess that he makes his Fryar swear very much but this was to expose that Vice which as well as many others reigned among Ecclesiastics in his Age. Besides the Cardinal had been a Souldier and the Men of that Profession were doubtless not more reserv'd then than they are now I will give an instance of it that falls naturally into this Subject and is the more proper being of one who was also a Cardinal a Bishop a Lord an Abbot Married a Soldier a Friend to the House of Navarre engaged in its Wars and who perhaps may come in for his share of Friar Ihon. I speak this of Caesar Borgia the Son of Pope Alexander VI. who having made his escape out of Prison at Medina del Campo came in 1506 to his Brother in Law Iohn d' Albret King of Navarre Being Bishop of Pampeluna its Capital he resign'd it as well as his Cardinal's Cap and other Benefices to lead a Military Life and after many Engagements in other Countries was killed being with King Iohn at the Siege of the Castle of Viane which held for Lewis de Beaumont Earl of Lerins Constable of Navarre who had rebelled against King Iohn That Earl having thrown a Convoy into the Castle Caesar Borgia who desir'd to fight him at the Head of his Men cryed Où est où est ce Câ—mtereau Ie jure Dieu qu'aujourd'huy â—e le feray mourir ou le prendray prisonier Ie ne cesseray â—usques á ce qu'il soit entierement destruit ne pardonneray ny sauveray la vie à aucun des siens Tout passera par l' epeé jusques aux chiens aux chats That is Where is where is this petty Earl By G I will this day kill or take him I will not rest till I have wholly destroyed him Nor will I spare one Creature that is his all to the very Dogs and Cats shall die by the Sword It cannot be supposed that Rabelais drew his Friar Ihon by this Man but 't is not unlikely that he had a mind to bring him in by giving some of his Qualifications to his Monk for there is no doubt that our Author made his Characters double as much as he could as it were stowing three and perhaps five in the place of one for want of Room not altogether like an Actor who
Greek et Latin speaking Greek and Latin in French thought to have refin'd his Mother Tongue So Rabelais to prevent the spreading of that Contagion has not only brought that Limousin Author on his Pantagruelian Stage but wrote a Letter in Verse all in that Style in the name of the Limousin Scholar printed at the end of the Pantagruelian Prognostication Pasquier who liv'd at that time has made the like Observation on that Chapter when in his second Book of Letters p. 53. he says pour l'ornement de nostre langue et nous aider mesmes du Grec et du Latin non pour les escorcher ineptement comme fit sur nostre jeune age Helisaine dont nostre gentil Rabelais s'est mocqué fort a propos en la personne de l'escolier Limosin qu'il introduct parlanâ— a Pantagruel en un language escorche Latin The 7th Chapter wherein he gives a Catalogue of the Books in St. Victor's Library is admirable and would require a large Comment it being a Satyr against many Writers and great Affairs in that Age as well as against those who either make Collections of bad Books or seek no others in Libraries but I have not leasure to read over a great number of Books that ought to be consulted for such a Task The Cause which was pleaded before Pantagruel by the Lords Suck-fizle and Kiss-Breech seems to be a Mock of the famous Tryal concerning two Dutchies four Counties two Vi-counties and many Baronies and Lordships to which Loyse de Savoye the Mother of Francis the first laid Claim Charles de Bourbon Constable of France was possest of them but because he had refus'd to marry her she made use of some Titles which she had to them to perplex him and though she could not even with the King her Son's Favour cast the Constable yet they were sequestred into the King's Hands and the final determination put off Pasquier in his Recherches observes that when Guillaume Poyet afterwards Chancellor and Francois de Monthelon afterwards Lord-Keeper then the two most famous Councellors of the Age pleaded the Cause the first for Plantiff the other for Defendant They armed themselves with a pedantic Iuris prudence borrowed from a parcel of Italian School Boys whom some call Doctors at Laws true Hatchers of Law Suits such was the Rhetoric of that Time and as it is easie to stray in a thick Wood so with a confused heap of various Quotations instead of explaining the Cause they perplexed it and filled it with darkness Upon this by the united Voice of the People the Name of the Plantiff was owned to contain the Truth of the Case that is Loyse de Savoye Loy se desavoye The Law goes astray which is perhaps the happiest Anagram thaâ— eâ—er was fot 't is made without changing the Order of the Letters and only by dividing the Words otherwise than they are in the Name The 18 19 and 20th Chapters treat of a great Scholar of England who came to argue by Signs with Pantagruel and was overcome by Panurge I do not well know on whom to fix the Character of Thaumast that Scholar whose Name may not only signifie an Admirer an admirable Person or one of those School-men who follow the Doctrin of Thomas Aquinas in opposition to that of Scotus And I find as little Reason to think that any would have come to confer with Anthony de Bourbon of Geomancy Philosophy and the Cabalistic Art Indeed Sir Thomas Moore went Ambassador to Francis the First and Erasmus who lived some time in England also came to Paris but I cannot think that either may pass for the Thaumast of Rabelais Perhaps he hath made him an English Man merely on purpose to disguise the Story and I would have had some thoughts of Henricus Cornelius Agrippa who came to France and died there but I will prove when I examin the Third Book that he has brought him on the Stage by the Name of Her-trippa So 't is not impossible but that he may have meant Hieronimus Cardan of Milan who flourish'd in that Age and was another dark Cabalistic Author The first has said Occult. Philos. l. 1. c. 6. That he knew how to communicate his Thoughts by the species of Sight in a magical Way as Pythagoras was said to do by writing any thing in the Body of the Moon so as it should be legible to another at a vast distance and he pretends to tell us the method of it in his Book De vanitate Scientiarum Cardan also has writ concerning private Ways of imparting our Thoughts Subâ—ilit l. 17. and De Variet Rerum lib. 12. but these ways of signifying our Thoughts by Gestures called by the Learned Bishop Wilkins Semaeology are almost of infinite Variety according as the several Fancies of Men shall impose Significations upon such Signs as are capable of sufficient difference And the Venerable Bede has made a Book only of that commonly stiled Arthrologia or Dactylologia which he calls Lib. de loquelâ per gestum digitorum sive de indigitatione So that perhaps our Author made his Thaumast an English Man not to reflect on Beda but because that Learned Father is the most Ancient and Famous Author that has written a Book on that Subject I have Read of a public Debate much like that of Thaumast and Panurge and as probable said to have been held at Geneva The Agressor lifted up his Arm and closed three of his Fingers and his Thumb and pointed with the remaining Finger at his Opponent who immediately pointed at him again with two Then the other shewed him two Fingers and one Thumb whereupon his Antagonist shook his closed Fist at him Upon this the Aggressor showed him an Apple and the other looking into his Pocket found a bit of Bread and in a scornful way let him see it which made him that began the Dispute yield himself vanquished Now when the Conqueror was desired to relate what their Signs signified He with whom I disputed said he threatned first to put out one of my Eyes and I gave him to understand that I would put out both his Then he threatned to tear both mine and take off my Nose upon which I shewed him my Fist to let him know that I would knock him down And as he perceived that I was angry he offered me an Apple to pacifie me as they do Children but I showed him that I scorn'd his Present and that I had Bread which was fitter for a Man After all Montluc who is our Panurge may have had some Dispute about the Signs of the true Religion or the two Sacraments of the Protestants and the seven of the Romans they being properly called Signs and such a thing not being recorded by Historians like many others that relate to this Work it may not be possible to discover it The Dipsodes that had besieged the City of the Amaurots are the Flemings and other Subjects of the Emperor Charles the
c. All their Beauty if they can be said to have any consists in their Rich or rather punning Rhimes and truly that Epigram is unworthy of Marot T is probable that as Cretin was then old he was respected by the young Fry who yet outliv'd their Error for never did Man sooner lose after his Death the Fame which he had gained during his Life And the Reason which caused Marot to write to him in such equivocal Rhimes was doubtless because Cretin affected much that way of Writing Here are four of Cretin's Lines which in his Book are follow'd by 122 more such Par ces vins verds Atropos a trop os Des corps humains ruez envers en vers Dont un quidam aspre aux pots apropos A fort blasmé ses tours pervers par vers c. I never saw more Rhime with so little sence For this Reason Rabelais who as Pasquier says had more Iudgment and Learning than all those that wrote French in his time has exposed that riming old Man And to leave us no room to doubt of it the Rondeau which Raminagrobis gives to Panurge upon his irresolution as to his marriage Prenez la ne la prenez pas c. that is Take or not take her off or on c. is taken out of Cretin who had addrest it to Guillaume de Refuge who had ask'd his advice being in the same perplexity However Rabelais makes him dye like a good Protestant and afterwards turns off cunningly what the other had said against the Popish Clergy who would not let him dye in Peace and to shew more plainly that this is said of Cretin Rabelais says at the beginning of the four and twentieth Chapter Laissans là Villaumere that is having left Villaumere which relates to William that Poet's name I ought not to omit a Remark printed in the last Dutch Edition of this Book concerning what Panurge says of Cretin He is by the Vertue of an Ox an arrant Heretic a thorough-pac'd rivitted Heretick I say a rooted Combustible Heretick one as fit to burn as the little wooden Clock at Rochel his Soul goeth to thirty thousand Cart-full of Devils Rabelais there reflects on the Sentence of Death passed on one of the First that owned himself a Protestant at Rochell He was a Watch-maker and had made a Clock all of Wood which was esteemed an admirable Piece but because it was the Work of one condemn'd for Heresy the Judges order'd by the said sentence that the Clock should be burned by the common hangman and it was burned accordingly we must also observe that the adjective Clavelé that is full of Nails or Rivitted is brought in because that Watch-maker who was very famous for his Zeal was named Clavelé In the 24th Chapter Panurge consults Epistemon who perhaps may be Guillaume Ruffy Bishop of Oleron one of Queen Margarite's Ministers who had been sometime in Prison for preaching the Reformation and was afterwards made Bishop in the King of Navarre's Territories having without doubt dissembled like many others Thus his descent into Hell in the second Book may be his Prison I own that he is with Pantagruel in the Wars but so is Panurge and this is done to disguise the Characters I am the more apt to believe him a Clergy Man because he understands Hebrew very well which few among the Layty do and none else in our Author besides Panurge who calls him his dear Gossip then his Name denotes him to be a thinking considering Man and as he was Pantagruel's Pedagogue so probably Ruffy initiated or instructed the Duke in the Doctrine of the new Preachers Enguerrant whom Rabelais taxes with making a tedious and impertinent Digression about a Spaniard is Enguerrant de Monstrelet who wrote La Chronique Annales de France In the same Chapter he speaks of the four Ogygian Islands near the Haven of Sammalo by this he seems to mean Iersey Gernsey Sark and Alderney As Queen Margaret liv'd a while and dy'd in Britanny our Actors may be thought sometimes to stroul thither Calypso was said to live at the Island Ogygia Lucian amongst the rest places her there and Plutarch mentions it in the Book of the Face that appears in the Circle of the Moon Her-Trippa is undoubtedly Henricus Cornelius Agrippa burlesqued Her is Henricus or Herricus or perhaps alludes to Heer because he was a German and Agrippa is turn'd into Trippa to play upon the word Tripe But for a farther Proof we need but look into Agrippa's Book de Occult. Philosoph Lib. 1. Cap. 7. de quatuor elementorum Divinationibus and we shall find the very words us'd by Rabelais of Pyromancy Aeromancy Hydromancy c. Besides Agrippa came to Francis the First whom our Author calls the great King to distinguish him from that of Navarre Fryar Iohn des Entosmures or of the Funnels as he is called in this Translation advises Panurge to marry and whether by that brave Monk we understand Cardinal Chastillon or Martin Luther the Character is kept since both were Married neither was the latter wholly free from Fryar Iohn's swearing Faculty if it be true that being once reproved about it he replyed condonate mihi hoc qui fui monachus Entomeures has doubtless been mistaken for Entonnoir a Funnel but the true Etymology is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cut and make incisions which was our Monk's delight who is described as a mighty Trencher-man In the following Chapters a Theologian Physitian Lawyer and Philosopher are consulted Hippothadeus the Theologian may perhaps be Philip Shwartzerd alias Melancthon for he speaks too much like a Protestant to be the King's Confessor neither could Montluc be supposed to desire his Advice Rondibilis the Physitian is doubtless Gulielmus Rondeletius Thuanus remarks in the thirty eighth Book of his History that Will. Rondelet of Montpellier died 1566 and that though he was a learned Physitian Rabelais had satiris'd him he adds that indeed the Works of Rondelet do not answer the Expectation which the World had of him nor the Reputation which he had gain'd and his Treatise of Fishes which is the best that bears his Name was chiefly the Work of Will. Pelissier Bishop of Montpelier who was cast into Prison for being a Protestant However Rabelais makes him display much Learning in his Discourse to Panurge I am not so certain of the Man whom Trouillogan personates he calls him an Ephectic and Pyrrhonian Philosopher I find that Petrus Ramus or De la Ramée afterwards Massacred at Paris had written a Book against Aristotle and we have also his Logic but as he is mentioned by Iupiter in the Prologue to the fourth Book by the name of Rameau where his dispute with Petrus Galandius and his being nam'd Peter are also mentioned I am in doubt about it Moliere has imitated the Scene between Trouillogan and Panurge in one of his Plays and Mr. Dela Fontaine the story of Hans Carvell and that of the
the Ruins of Time in a Kingdom where 't is not easie to find many Books and Persons that can inform us of that Author I could get together what follows principally if we consider how little is to be found in the French late Editions of his Works FRANCIS RABELAIS was born about the Year 1483 at Chinon a very ancient little Town scituate near the Place where the River Vienne loses it self into the Loire in the Province of Touraine in France His Father Thomas Rabelais was an Apothecary of that Town and possessed an Estate called la Douïniere near which Place having first sent his Son Francis to be Educated by the Monks of the Abbey of Sevillé and finding that he did not improve he removed him to the Vniversity of Anger 's where he studied sometime at a Convent called la Baumette but without any considerable Success There he became acquainted with Messieurs Du Bellay one of whom was afterwards Cardinal And 't is said that Rabelais having committed some Misdemeanor was there very severely used A Famous Author writes That he was bred up in a Convent of Franciscan Friars in Poictou and was received into their Order Which Convent can be no other than that of Fontenay le Comte in the said Province where he proved a great Proficient in Learning in so much that of the Friars some envied him some through Ignorance thought him a Conjurer and in short all hated and misused him because he studied Greek the Beauties of which Tongue they could not relish its Novelty making them esteem it not only Barbarous but Antichristian This we partly observe by a Letter which Budaeus the most learned Man of his Age in that Tongue writ to a Friend of Rabelais wherein he highly Praises him particularly for his Excellent Knowledge in that Tongue and exclaims against the Stupidity and Ingratitude of those Friars Such a Misfortune befel Erasmus as also the Learned Rabanus Maurus Magnentius Abbot of Fulda and Aâ—chbishop of Ments For having Composed some Excellent Poems in Verse they only served to expose him to the Hatred of his Monks who accused him of applying himself too much to Spiritual Things and too little to the Encrease of the Temporal to the Loss as they thought of the Monastery So that abouâ— the Year 842 he was forced to retire near Lewis King of Germany his Protector where his Monks who had soon found their Error and their Loss in the Absence of so esteemable an Abbot came to beg his Pardon and prayed him to resume the Administration of the Abbey which however he resolutely declin'd Thus Rabelais hating the Ignorance and Baseness of the Cordeliers was desirous enough to leave them being but too much prompted to it by several Persons of Eminent Quality who were extreamly delighted with his Learning and facecious Conversation A Monk relates That he was put in Pace that is between four Walls with Bread and Water in the said Convent for some unlucky Action and was redeemed out of it by the Learned Andrew Tiraqueau then Lieutenant-General that is Chief Iudge of the Baylywick of Fontenay le Comâ—e and by Tradition 't is said in that Town That on a Day when the Country People used to resort to the Convent's Church to address their Prayers and pay their Offerings to the Image of St. Francis which stood in a Place somewhat dark near the Porch Rabelais to Ridicule their Superstition privately removed the Saint's Image and placed himself in its room having first disguised himself But at last too much pleased with the awkward Worship which was payed him he could not forbear Laughing and made some Motion which being observed by his gaping staring Worshippers they cryed out Miracle My good Lord St. Francis moves Vpon which an Old crafty Knave of a Friar who knew Stone and the Virtue of St. Francis too well to expect this should be true drawing near scar'd our Sham-Saint out of his Hole And having caused him to be seized the rest of the Fraternity with their knotty Cords on his bare Back soon made him know he was not made of Stone and wish he had been as hard as the Image or Senceless as was the Saint nay turned into the very Image of which he lately was the Representation At last by the Intercession of Friends of which Geoffroy d' Estissac Bishop of Maillezais is said to have been one be obtained Pope Clement VII's Permission to leave the beggarly Fellowship of St. Francis for the Wealthy and more easie Order of St. Bennet and was entertained in that Bishop's Chapter that is the Abbey of Maillezais But his Mercurial Temper prevailing after he had lived sometime there he also left it and laying down the regular Habit to take that which is worn by secular Priests he rambled up and down a while till at last he fixed at Montpellier took all his Degrees as a Physician in that Vniversity and practis'd Physic with Reputation And by his Epistle before the Translation of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates and some Works of Galen which he Published and Dedicated to the Bishop of Maillezais in 1532 he tells him that he publicly read Physic in that Vniversity to a Numerous Auditory 'T is vulgarly said that Rabelais having Published some Physical Tract which did not sell upon the disappointed Book-seller's Complaint to him told him that since the World did not know how to value a good Book they would undoubtedly like a bad one and that accordingly he would write something that would make him large amends upon which he Composed his Gargantua and Pantagruel by which the Book-seller got an Estate But either this is an Error or Rabelais must have been more imposed on them our Sir Walter Rauleigh was by his selfish Stationer since the above-mentioned Translation which was Printed by the Famous Gryphius of Lyons at first in 1532. was reprinted many times since particularly in 1543. of which Date I have an an Edition of it which was undoubtedly before Rabelais began to write his Gargantua and none ever mentioned any other Tract of Physic by him and also when he speaks of his Annotations on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates he says that Gryphius importuned him very much to consent that they might be printed We do not know how he came to leave Montpellier tho probably he was sent by its Vniversity to sollicit for them at Court and then was invited to stay at Paris of which John Du Bellay his Friend afterwards Cardinal was not only Bishop but Governour at least 't is certain he attended him in his Embassy to Pope Paul the III. though I believe that the chief occasion of his going to Rome was to put a stop to the Ecclesiastical Censures fulminated against hâ—â— for leaving his Convent and 't is thought the Bishop of Maillezais abetted that desertion and incouraged him in his Studies at Montpellier which perhaps made Rabelais afterwards dedicate to him and own then that he owed all things to him
ran to a Iudge who having heard the Information immediately sent to secure Rabelais the Dauphin having been Poysoned some time before so the Doctor with his Powder was seiz'd and being examined by the Iudge gave no answer to the Accusation safe that he told the young Merchant that he had never thought him fit to keep a Secret and only desired them to secure what was in the Papers and send him to the King for he had strange things to say to him Accordingly he is carefully sent to Paris and handsomly treated by the way on free Cost as are all the King 's Prisoners and being come to Paris was immediately brought before the King who knowing him asked him what he had done to be brought in that Condition and where he had left the Cardinal Du Bellay Vpon this the Judge made his Report shew'd the Bills with the Powder and the Informations which he had drawn Rabelais on his side told his Case took some of all the Powders before the King which being found to be only harmless Wood Ashes pleaded for Rabelais so effectually that the business ended in Mirth and the poor Iudge was only laugh'd at for his Pains Though this Story be Printed before many Editions of Rabelais somewhat otherwise than I here give it I would not any more be answerable for its Truth than for that of many more which Tradition ascribes to him When a Man has once been very famous for Iests and merry Adventures he is made to adopt all the Iests that want a Father and many times such as are unworthy of him For this Reason I will omit many Stories which some indeed relate of Rabelais but which few can assure or believe to be true Yet since the witty Sayings merry Triflings and the Accounts of the indifferent Actions of Great Men have found not only their Historians but their Readers from Tully's Puns to the false Witticisms insipid Drolling and empty insignificant Remarks that make up the greatest part of the Scaligeriana and some others of those unequal Collections of Weeds and Flowers whose Titles end in ana we may with greater Reason relate the Iests of Rabelais whose Life as well as his Writings have been thought a continual Iest and this would not sâ—em to be the Life of Rabelais did not some Comical Stories make a part of it Neither were his Iests sometimes less productive of Good than the deep Earnest of others Of which the Vniversity of Montpellier furnishes us with an Instance None being admitted to the Degree of Doctor of Physic there who has not first put on the Gown and Cap of Dr. Rabelais which are preserved in the Castle of Moâ—ac in that City The Cause of this uncommon Veneration for the Memory of that Learned Man is said to be this Some Scholars having occasioned an extraordinary Disorder in that City Anthony Du Prat Cardinal Archbishop of Sens then Lord Chancellor of France upon Complaint made of it caused the Vniversity to be depriv'd of part of its Privileges Vpon this none was thought fitter to be sent to Paris to sollicit their Restitution than our Doctor who by his Wit Learning and Eloquence as also by the Friends which they had purchased him at Court seem'd made to obtain any thing When he came to Paris about it the Difficulty lay in gaining Audience of the Chancellor who was so incensed that he refused to hear any thing in Behalf of the Vniversity of Montpellier So Rabelais having vainly tried to be admitted at last put on his Red Gown and Doctor 's Cap and thus Accoutred came to the Chancellor's Palace on St. Austin's Key but the Porter and some other Servants mistook him for a Mad-man So Rabelais having in a peremptory Tone been ask'd there who he was let his impertinent Querist know that he was the Gentleman who usually had the Honour to flea He-Calves and that if he had a mind to be first flead he had best make haste and strip immediately Then being ask'd some other Questions he answer'd in Latin which the other understanding not one of the Chancellor's Officers that could speak that Tongue was brought who addressing himself to our Doctor in Latin was answered by him in Greek which the other understanding as little as the first did Latin a third was fetch'd who could speak Greek but he no sooner spoke in that Language to Rabelais but that he was answered in Hebrew and one who understood Hebrew being with much Difficulty procur'd Rabelais spoke to him in Syriac Thus having exhausted all the Learning of the Family the Chancellor who was told that there was a merry Fool at his Gate who had out-done every-one not only in Languages but in smartness of Repartees desired that he might be brought in 'T was a little before Dinner Then Rabelais shifting the Farcical Scene into one more serious addrest himself to the Chancellor with much Respect and having first made his Excuse for his forc'd Buffoonry in a most Eloquent and Learned Speech so effectually pleaded the Cause of his Vniversity that the Chancellor at once ravish'd and perswaded not only promised the Restitution of the Abolish'd Privileges but made the Doctor sit down at Table with him as a particular Mark of his Esteem Much about that time hearing with what Facility for the sake of a small Sum of Money the Faculty of Orange some say Orleans admitted Ignorant Pretenders as Doctors of Physic not only without examining but even without seeing them Rabelais sent the usual Fees and had one received Doctor there unseen by the Name of Doctor Johannes Caballus and let the wise Professors and the World know afterwards what a worthy Member they had admitted into their Body since that very Doctor was his Horse Jack or as some say his Mule For if there are various Lections there may well be also various Traditions of the same Passage Though I know that it as little becomes a Chast Historian to launch into large Digressions as to advance Things without good Authorities I cannot forbear mentioning something very particular concerning that very Numerical Doctor I mean Joannes Caballus And that I may not be thought to relate Stories without Authorities I will make bold to quote that of a Book written Stylo maximè Rabelaesano viz. Le Moyen de Parvenir I remember to have read the Story in a less Apocriphal Author but Time hath blotted his Name out of my Memory Rabelais being at Paris and more careful of himself than of his Mule had trusted it to the Care of a Printer's Men desiring them at least not to let it want Water But having perhaps forgot to make them drink they also easily though uncharitably forgot the Brute At three days end the Creature having drank as little Water as its Master a young unlucky Boy took a Fancy to get on its back even like the Miller's Daughter without a Saddle another Truand Scholar begg'd to get behind him so did a third and
Peter Ronsard once Prince of the French Poets Jean Antoine de Baif and many more of the best pens of his Age honour'd his Memory with Epitaphs the two latter in French That by Ronsard being too long I omit here is that by Baif Pluton Prince du noir Empire Où les tiens ne rient jamais Recois aujourd ' huy Rabelais Et les tiens auront de quoy rire Here are Four others in Latin of which the two first are to be found in Pasquier Ille ego Gallorum Gallus Democritus illo Gratius aut si quid Gallia progenuit Sic homines sic coelestia Numina lusi Vix homines vix ut Numina laesa putes Sive tibi sit Lucianus alter Sive sit Cynicus quid hospes ad te Hac unus Rabelaesius facetus Nugarum Pater artifexque mirus Quicquid is fuerit recumbit urnâ Somnus ingluvies Bacchusque Venusque Jocusque Numina dum vixi grata fuere mihi Caetera quis nescit Fuit Ars mihi cura medendi Maxima ridendi sed mihi cura fuit Tu quoque non lacrymas sed risum solve Viator Si gratus nostris Manibus esse velis Non Rabelaesius solus Sed aula Ecclesia Et omnis Mundus Agunt Histrioniam A great number of Learned Men have made mention of him in their Writings as Will. Budé Master of the Requests alias Budaeus in Epistolis Graecis Jac. Aug. de Thou President in the Court of Parliament at Paris alias Thuanus Hist. Lib. 38. Commentar de vitâ suâ lib. 6. Theod. Bâ—za Clement Maroâ— who inscribed to him an Imitation in French of the 21st Epig. of Martial's Fifth Book Si te cum mihi Chare Martialis c. Hugh Salel that Translated Homer's Iliad into French Stephen Dolet a French and Latin Poet burn'd for being a Protestant at Paris 1545. Peter Ronsard Stephen Pasquier in his Recherches de la France and in the First and Second Books of his Lettres Jean Cecile Frey Francis Bacon Lord Verulam in his Book of the Progress of Learning Andrew Du Chesne in his Book des Antiquiâ—ez de France Thevet Hist. de Jean Clopinel Gab. Mic. de la Roche Maillet Vie des Illust. Personnages Fran. Grudé Seigneur de la Croix du Maine in his Biblioteque Ant. du Verdier Sieur de Vauprivas Conseiller du Roy in his Bibl. Universelle Franc. Ranchin Dr. of Physic at Montpellier Scaevola de Sainte Marthe Conseiller du Roy c. alias Samarthanus lib. primo Elog. Clarorum Virorum Sir William Temple in the Second Part of his Miscellan C. Sorel First Historiographer of France in his Biblioteque Francoise Dr. Ant Van Dale De Oraculis Consecrationibus Monsieur Costar dans son Apologie· M. Menage Romuald in the Third part of his Thresor Chronologique and several others named in a Book called Floretum Philosophicum that mentions many particulars of his Life and the Names of those that have spoke of him A Curate of Meudon in Honour of his Predecessor also caused to be Printed whatever is writ in his Praise which Books I have not been able to find There is also a large Account of Rabelais in the Grand Historical French Dictionary Some Learned Mens OPINION OF D r. RABELAIS· De Rabelaeso clarorum aliquot Scriptorum Testimonia Guilielmus Budaeus in Epistolis Graecis O Deum immortalem sodalitatis Praesulem nostraeque amicitiae Principem Quidnam est illud quod andivimus Te etenim ô caput mihi exoptatum Rabalaesum Theseum tuum intelligo ab istis elegantiae venustatis osoribus Sodalibus vestris obturbatos propter vehemens circa literas Graecas studium quam plurimis gravibusque malis vexari Papae ô in faustam virorum delirationem Qui usque adeò sunt animo ineleganti ac stupido ut quibus cohonestari universum Sodalitium vestrum convenerat multúmque sapere quippe qui exiguo temporis Spatio ad doctrinae fastigium pervenerint eosdem sanè calumniosè insimulando in ipsosque conjurando finem imponere conati sunt ornatissimae exercitationi Et post alia Vale salutato meo nomine quater Rabalaesum scitum industrium vel sermone si praestò sit aut per Epistolas denuncians Viri Illustriss Iac. Aug. Thuani in Supremo Gallâ—arum Senatu Praesidis Commentariorum de vita sua lib. 6. CHinone hospitium habebat Thuanus in domo oppidi amplissimâ quae quondam Francisci Rabalaesi suit qui litteris Graecis Latinisque instructissimus Medicinae quam profitebatur peritissimus postremo omni serio studio omisso se totus vitae solutae ac gulae mancipavit ridendi artem hominis sicut ipse aiâ—bat propriam amplexus Democriticà libertate scurâ—ili interdum dicacitate scriptum ingeniosissimum fecio quo vitae regnique cunctos Ordines quasi in scenam sub fictis nominibus produxit populo deridendos propinavit Hominis ridiculi qui totâ vitâ ac scriptis ridendi aliis materiam praebuit memoria à Thuano Calignono hîc renovata est cum bellè cum Rabelaesi Manibus actum uterque dicerer quod Domus ejus publico diversorio in quo perpetuae commessationes erant hortus adjacens ad ludum oppidanis per dies festos se exercentibus projectum in hortum despiciens in quo cum litteris operam dabat libros habere studere solitus erat vinariae cellae inserviret Ex eâque occasione Thuanus à Calignono inviratus hoc Carmen extemporaneum fecit Ipse Rabelaesus loquitur Sic vixi ut vixisse mihi jocus atque legenti Quos vivus scripsi sit jocus usque jocos Per risum atque jocos homini data vita fruenda Inter amarescit seria felle magis Et nunc ne placidos laedant quoque seria manes Cavit Echionii provida cura Dei. Nam quae à patre domus fuerat Chinone relicta Quâ vitreo Lemovix amne Vigenna fluit Postquam abii communis in usum versa tabernae Laetisico strepitu nocte dieque sonat Ridet in hac hospes pernox ridetur in horto Cum populus festo cessat in urbe die Tibiaque inflato saltantes incitat utre Tibia Pictonicos docta ciere modos Et quae Musaeum domino quae cella libellis Nectareo spumat nunc apotheca mero Sic mihi post minimum vitae tam suaviter actum Dent hodiè ad priscos fata redire jocos Non aliâ patrias aedes mercede locare Vendere non aliâ conditione velim Theodorus Beza de Francisco Rabelaesio QUI sic Nugatur tractantem ut seria vincat Seria cum faciet dic rogo quantus erit Scaevola Samarthanus ex Libro primo Elogiorum Gallorum Doctrina Illustrium F. Rabelesaeus Impulsu quorumdam Procerum qui urbanâ ejus dicacitate plurimum oblectabantur Monasterii claustra juvenis transiliit demumque in ridendis hominum actionibus totus fuit Cùm enim
pro eâ qua pollebat Linguarum Medicinae Scientià multa graviter eruditè posset scribere quod Hippocratis Aphorismi ab illo castâ fide traducta aliquot Epistolae nitido Stylo conscriptae satis indicant Lucianum tamen aemulari maluit ad cujus exemplum ea Sermone Patrio finxit quae nugae esse videntur sed ejusmodi tamen sunt ut Lectorem quemlibet eruditum capiant incredibili quadam voluptate perfundant Neque solùm erat in scribendo salis facetiarum plenus verum eandem jocandi libertatem apud quemlibet in omni sermone retinebat adeò ut Romam Joanne Bellajo Cardinale profectus in Pauli III. conspectum venire jussus ne ipsi quidem Pontifici Maximo pepercerit Atque hunc intemperantiae suae causam ingeniosè praetexebat quòd cum sanitati conservandae nihil magis officiat quà m maeror aegrimonia prudentis Medici partes sint non minus in mentibus hominum exhilarandis quà m in corporibus curandis laborare Anton. Van Dale De Oraculis Consecrationibus p. 341. DE Oraculis Sortibus inter alia scripsit per Lusum Jocum doctissimus magâ—us ille Gallus Rabelaesius cujus nugae saepius multorum doctorum seria vincunt in vitâ gestis Gargantuae Pantagruelis tam doctè meo judicio quam lepidè ac falsè Sir William Temple in his Miscellanea Second Part. THE great Wits among the Moderns have been in my Opinion and in their several Kinds of the French Rabelais and Montagne Rabelais seems to have been Father of the Ridicule a Man of excellent and universal Learning as well as Wit and though he had too much Game given him for Satyr in that Age by the Customs of Courts and of Convents of Processes and of Wars of Schools and of Camps of Romances and Legends yet he must be confest to have kept up his vein of Ridicule by saying many things so Smutty and Prophane that a pious Man could not have afforded though he had never so much of that Coyn about him And it were to be wished that the Wits who have imitated him had not put too much value upon a Dress that better Understandings would not wear at least in public and upon a compass they gave themselves which some other Men cannot take Mr. l'Abbe Costar dans son Apologie A Monsieur Menage Pag. 149. RAbelais est autant a la mode quil fut jamais Ses railleries sont agreables d'un Agreément qui ne finira point tant qu'il y aura Sur la Terre d' habiles Rieurs Les modes les habillemens changeront toûjours mais non pas celles des bons contes des bons mots qui se soustiennent d'eux mesmes qui sont en effet de bonnes choses Ceux de Plaute de Lucien quelques vieux qu'ils foient ne laissent pas de conserver la fleur la Grace quils avoient dans leur nouveauâ—é M. Estienne Pasquier Conseiller du Roy Avocat General en sa Chambre des Comptes a Paris Au Livre de ses Recherches de la France JE mettray entre les Poetes du mesme Temps Francois Rabelais Car combien qu'il ait crit en prose les Faits heroiques de Gargantua Pantagruel il estoit mis au rangdes Poetes comme l'prend la responce que Marot fit a Sagon sous le nom de Fripelipes fon Valet Je ne voy point qu'un Saint Gelais Un Heroet un Rabelais Un Brodeau un Seve un Chapuy Voisent escrivant contre luy Aux gayetez qu'il mit en lumiere se mocquans de toute chose il serendit le Nompareil Dema part je recognoitray franchement avoir l'esprit si folastre que jene me lassay jamais de le lire ne le leu jamais que je n'y trouvasse matierede rire d'en faire mon profit tout ensemble PREFACE· Wherein is given an Account of the Design and Nature of this Work and a Key to some of its most difficult Passages THE History of Gargantua and Pantagruel has always been esteem'd a Masterpiece of Wit and Learning by the best Judges of both Even the most grave and reserv'd among the Learned in many Countries but particularly in France have thought it worthy to hold a place in their Closets and have past many hours in private with that diverting and instructive Companion And as for those whose Age and Profession did not incline them to be reserv'd all France can witness that there has been but few of them who could not be said to have their Rabelais almost by heart Since Mirth could hardly be compleat among those that love it unless their good Cheer were season'd with some of Rabelais's Wit Fifty large Editions of that Book have not suffic'd the World and though the Language in which it is writ be not easily unstood now by those who only converse with modern French Books yet it has been reprinted several Times lately in France and Holland even in its antiquated Style Indeed some are of Opinion That the odd and quaint Terms used in that Book add not a little to the Satisfaction which is found in its perusal but yet this can only be said of such of them as are understood and when a Reader meets with many words that are unintelligible I mean to him that makes it not his business to know the meaning of dark and obsolete Expressions the Pleasure which what he understands yields him is in a greater measure allay'd by his disappoâ—ntment of which we have Instances when we read Chaucer and other Books which we do not throughly understand Sir Thomas Vrwhart has avoided that obscurity in this following Translation of Rabelais so that most English Readers may now understand that Author in our Tongue better then many of the French can do in theirs To do him justice it was necessary that a Person not only Master of the French but also of much Leasure and Fancy should undertake the Task The Translator was not only happy in their things but also in being a learned Physitian and having besides some French Men near him who understood Rabelais very well and could explain to him the most difficult words and I think that before the first and second Books of Rabelais which are all that was formerly printed of that Author in English there were some Verses by Men of that Nation in praise of his Translation It was too kindly received not to have encouraged him to English the remaining three Books or at least the Third the fourth and fifth being in a manner distinct as being Pantagruel's Voyage Accordingly he translated the third Book and probably would have finished the whole had not Death prevented him So the said third Book being found long after in Manuscript among his Papers somewhat incorrect a Gentleman who is not only a very great
know where to fix This must be granted yet 't is not an impossible thing and if we can but once unmark Panurge who is the ridiculous Hero of the Peece we may soon guess by the Servant and the Air and Figure of his Master who Pantagruel is We find these four Characters in Panurge 1. He is well skill'd in the Greek Hebrew and Latin Tongues he speakes High and Low Dutch Polish Spanish Portuguese English Italian c. 2. He is learned understanding politic sharp cunning and deceitful in the highest Degree 3. He publicly professes the Popish Religion tho he in reality laughs at it and is nothing less than a Papist 4. His chief Concern next to that of Eating is a Marriage which he has a desire yet is affraid to contract least he should meet with his Match that is a Wife even as bad as himself I do not know if those who by the pretended Key have been induc'd to believe that Panurge was the Cardinal of Amboise in a Disguise have been pleased to observe these four qualities but I am sure that nothing of all this can be applyed to that Prelate unless it be that in general he was an able Minister of State But all four were found in Iohn de Montluc Bishop of Valence and Die who was the eldest Brother of the Marschal de Montluc the most violent Enemy which the Hugonots had in those Days 1. Historians assure us that he understood the Eastern Tongues as also the Greek and the Latin the best of any Man in his time and in sixteen Embassies to many Princes of Europe to whom he was sent in Germany England Scotland Poland Constantinople he doubtless learn'd the living Tongues which he did not know before 2. He gain'd a great Reputation in all those Embassies and his Wit his Skill his Penetration and his Prudence in observing a Conduct that contented all Persons were universally admired But he even out did himself in the most difficult of all those Embassies which was that of Poland to the Throne of which Kingdom he caus'd Henry de Valois Duke of Anjou to be rais'd in spight of the difficulties which the Massacre of Paris that was wholly laid to his Charge in Poland he having been one of the chief Promoters of it created concerning his Election His Toils and his happy Success in those important Negotiations caus'd him to take this Latin Verse for his Motto Quae Regio in terris nostri non plena laboris 3. The whole Kingdom of France and particularly the Court knew that he was a Calvinist and he himself did not make a Mystery of it as appears by his preaching their Doctrin once before the Queen in a Hat and Cloak after the manner of the Calvinists which caus'd the Constable of Monâ—morency to say aloud Why do not they pull that Minister out of the Pulpit Nay he was even condemn'd by Pius IV. as an Heretick but that Pope having not assigned him Judges in partibus according to the Laws of the Kingdom he kept his Bishoprick and the Dean of Valence who had accused him of being a Calvinist not being well able to make good his Charge Montluc who had mighty Friends caus'd him to be punish'd for it also after his Death his Contract of Marriage with a Gentlewoman call'd Anne Martin was found yet he still kept in the Roman Church and still enjoy'd the Revenues of his Bishoprick as if he had been the most bigotted Papist in that Kingdom The Considerations that kept him from abjuring solemnly the errors of the Church of Rome were that Calvin let him know that according to his Reformation there could be no Bishops he own'd that this Obstacle would not perhaps have hinder'd him from leaving that Communion could his Kitchin have follow'd him in the other excepting that he was altogether for a Reformation and in all things favour'd 〈◊〉 Professors and 't is what Rabelais has observ'd when he makes him conclude all his Discourses in many Languages with saying that Venter famelicus auriculis carere dicitur at this time I am in a very urgent necessity to feed my Teeth are sharp my Belly empty my Throat dry and my Stomach fierce and burning all is ready if you will but set me to work it will be as good as a Balsamum for sore Eyes to see me guleh and raven it for God's sake give order for it 4. His chief Concern next to that of living plentifully was that of his Marriage and as we have observed he Married and had a Son whom he own'd and who was afterwards legitimated by the Parliament 't is the same who is famous in History by the name of Balagny and who was afterwards Prince of Cambray his Father caus'd him to be sent into Poland concerning the Duke of Anjou's Election of which we have spoke and he was very serviceable to that Duke in it Now 't is that Marriage of the Bishop of Valence that so much perplexes him by the name of Panurge in Rabelais's third Book and which is the occasion of Pantagruel's Voyage to the Holy Bottle in the fourth and fifth 'T is much to be admired how a Bishop that openly sided with the Calvinists who was also a Monk yet marryed and living with his Wife whom he had regularly wedded could enjoy one of the best Bishopricks in France and some of the chief Employments at Court He must doubtless have been extreamly cunning and have had a very particular Talent to keep those envied posts in the Church and State in spight of all those disavantages in the midst of so many storms rais'd against him and the Reformation by Enemies that had all the Forces of the Kingdom in their Power and could do whatever they pleased This Prudence and Craftiness is described to the Life by our Author when he makes Panurge relate how he had been broach'd upon a Spit by the Turks all larded like a Rabbet and in that manner was roasting alive when calling on God that he might deliver him out of the pains wherein they detained him for his sincerity in the maintenance of his Law the Turn-spit fell asleep by the Divine Will and Panurge having taken in his Teeth a Fire-brand by the end where it was not burn'd cast it into the Lap of his Roaster with another set the House on Fire broach'd on the Spit the Turkish Lord who design'd to devour him and at last got away though pursued by a great number of Dogs who smelt his leacherous half roasted Flesh and he threw the Beacon with which he had been larded among them 'T is observable that there he exclaims against the Turks about their abstaining from Wine which perhaps may refer to the Church of Rome's denying the Cup in the Eucharist to the Laity at which particularly Montluc was offended To lard a Man is a Metaphor often us'd by the French to signifie to accuse and reproach and so he was even before he had his Bishoprick throwing
Devil of Pope-feague-land in his inimitable Contes and Nouvelles There was a Iack-pudding in France in that Age call'd Triboulet but I believe that the Fool whom our Author describes in the 38. Chapter is one more considerable though less famous I cannot guess why he has heap'd up so many Adjectives on that Fool unless it be to show the excess of his Folly and to mock some of the Authors of that Age who often bestow'd a large train of such unnecessary Attendants on a single Noun Substantive Marotte is a word very much us'd by the French signifying a Fools Bauble or Club and the word â—ou given by Rabelais to Triboulet implys a mad crack'd-brain'd or inconsiderate Man and also a Jester the word Idiot being more us'd in French for what we properly call a Fool Now Clement Marot the best Poet in the Reign of Francis the First whose Valet-de Chambre he was Styled was a notable Iester and is said to have played many merry Tricks that relished somewhat of Extravagance Besides many among the Vulgar mistaking the Enthusiasm of Poets for Madness have but a small Opinion of the Wisdom of most of them But these Considerations do not seem to me strong enough to make me believe that Rabelais would have passed so severe a Censure on that Poet who was then but lately dead an Exile for his Religion and had made honourable mention of him in his Works they being undoubtedly intimate Friends Judge Bridlegoose who decided Causes by the Chance of Dice and was Arraigned for Prevarication at the Bar of the Parliament of Mirelingois resembles much a Judge of Montmartre who they say could neither Write nor Read yet had been a Judge many Years and being once called into Question in a superior Court owned his Ignorance as to the Point of Writing and Reading but affirmed that he knew the Law and desiring that the Cause of which an Appeal had been made from his Jurisdiction might be examined he was found to have done Justice and his Sentence and Authority were confirmed Rabelais takes Notice of such a Story as is that of his Bridlegoose vulgarly reported of the Provost of Montlehery But though he may allude to it and to that of the Bayliff of Montmartre which perhaps may be the same I believe that his Bridlegoose is a Man of greater Consequence Considering the strong Intercession made for him by Pantagruel and the others whom he shows on his Stage he may be Guillaume Poyet who by the favour of Loyse de Savoye the King's Mother his Client had been made Lord Chancellor of France and in 1545 being convinced of several Abuses and Prevarications was deprived of his Office I have said before that the Herb Pantagruelion is Hemp Rabelais makes Pantagruel load a great quantity of it on Board his Ships and indeed it is one of the most useful things in the World not only at Sea but also at Land The curious and pleasing Description of that Plant makes up the rest of this Third Book HAD not the following Translation of the three first Books of Rabelais been ready to be publish'd before I was desired to give an Account of them and of his Life I might have printed my Observations at the End of each Chapter and have given a more exact Commentary However I hope that I have said enough to shew that what appears trivial and foolish in that Work is generally Grave and of Moment when seriously examin'd Yet as I dare not offer my Conjectures as certainties principally on a Book which has been so universally read and admired and never till now attempted to be explained I humbly submit all I have said to the Judgment of the Learned to whom I will esteem my self much obliged if they will be pleased either to let me know wherein I have erred or communicate to me their Remarks on this Work which may be printed with the two remaining Books with their Names if they please and a thankful Acknowledgment of the Favour Having first done my Endeavour to satisfie the Reader concerning the Meaning of that mysterious History I hope to be now the more patiently suffered to give some Account of the Nature of the Fable the Style and the Design of it MANKIND is naturally addicted to the Love of Fables Long before Learning had been brought into Greece and Italy the Egyptians Persians Arabians and other Eastern Nations to Enhance the value of Truths which they did not think fit to be prostituted to the Vulgar hid them under the Veils of Allegories and Apologues they also used sometimes to lay aside the Study and Speculation of high mysteries to divert themselves with framing Stories which had nothing of Truth in them and no other design than most of our Romances Also in the Decay of Learning which followed that of the Roman Empire for want of true History and solid Knowledg Men fed their Minds with gross Fictions such as are the Legends of Monks and the old sorts of Romances Thus two opposite ways barren Ignorance and Luxuriant Learning leading Men often the same End that is the study of Fables their Number is as great as their Original is Ancient Herodotus says That the Greeks had from Aegypt their Mythologic Theology Homer brought from thence that Inclination to Fables which made him invent many things about the Original and Employments of his Gods and Pythagoras and Plato learned also there to disguise their Philosophy Thus our Author calls his Writings Pythagorical Symbols in the Prologue to his first Book and not without Reason since as I have made it appear the chief part of them is mysteriously writ But what those Ancient Philosophers did thro a Reverence of Nature ours did thro Necessity being forc'd to keep such a Medium as that he might be understood by all Readers in most parts of his Book yet by few Persons in others and might secure himself from the attacks of his Enemies by the Ambiguity of his Sence Lucian tells us that Fables were so much in vogue in Assyria and Arabia that there were persons whose only Profession iâ— was to explain them to the People and Erpenius assures that all the World together never produc'd so many Poets as the Latter As for Persia Strabo says that Teachers there us'd to give to their Disciples Precepts of Morality wrapt up in Fictions The Gymnosophists of India are said by Diogenes Laeâ—tius to have delivered their Philosophy in Enigmas So that the learned Huetius thinks that when Horace said Fabulosus Hydaspes 't was chiefly because its Spring is in Persia and its Mouth in India Countries through which it flows whose Inhabitants were Lovers of Fables And indeed it was from the Persians as that Prelate observes that those of Miletum in Ionia learned first to frame those amorous Fictions which were afterwards famous through Greece and Italy by the name of Milesian Fables which with Millions more of such insignificant voluminous Lyes are lost and forgotten as
and whom it imitates Greek Latin and Italian making up the Composition with an Italian Termination Some have celebrated the Amours of Grammarians and of others in that Italogrecolatin Tongue and I have seen a Book in Prose in that Idiom of Idioms entituled Hipnerotomachia di Polifilo Cioè combattimento di amore in Sogno or The Fight of Love in a Dream Dante is full of Latin and Provenzale of which he boasts saying Namque locutus sum in Lingua trina and Petrarch though more sparing of Latin has many French and Provensale Words even whole Lines of the latter ponendovene anche de i versi inâ—eri says one of his Country Men And besides a great Number of Books of Burlesque Poetry and Prose which they have in Lingua Bergamesca Bolognese Paduana Venetiana Bresciana Veronese Genouese Napolitana Romana Ciciliana Sarda c they sometimes have mixed several of those Dialects together This mixture of Languages and of odd and fantastic Terms has been censured by Vavassor chiefly because he pretends that the Ancients never us'd it though none will deny that they mixt Words and Verses of different kinds that has read of their Satura Lanx or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diomedes says Satyra est carmen quod ex variis poematibus constat and Lucilius whom Pliny says to have first found out Stylum Nasi the way of speaking us'd in Plays wrote in a low and vulgar Style mixt sometimes with Greek Plautus has Punic words and Cicero has Greek particularly in his Epistles But to show that odd words such as are found in our Author 's Burlesque Writings have been us'd by the Ancients we need but consult Diogenes Laertius and we shall find that Democritus allowed himself as great a Liberty in using odd Expressions as in laughing at Mankind For he had so many particular Words that a Greek Author made a Dictionary of them his Biographer relates some of them and Hesychius has preserv'd also one or two which he had probably out of that Dictionary that has been lost Vavassor himself owns that Aristophanes has verba inusitata composita ex multis verbis sonantibus and that in his Plays Persae Triballi Scythae patriâ barbarâ voce utuntur Laco Thessalus That Comic Poet has indeed many Words as strange as Rabelais as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from which the Latin have made coaxare then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are the various Voices of Birds Then he has Diminutives as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if Rabelais has very long Words so has Aristophanes as his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and many others among which the longest is made up of twenty eight and begins by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Also in the Anthologia Grammarians are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there is an Epigram by an ancient Poet all in such Burlesque against Philosophers which begins thus O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. A great number of long Decomposites are found in Greek Authors and if the Latins have us'd them less 't is because their Tongue was not so happy in linking Words together as Quintilian observes Yet we have many in Plautus that are downright Burlesque of the the same kind as Ferritribaces Servilicolae Plagipatide Cluninstaridysarchides c. What shall we think of the Parodiae of which Aristophanes and Lucian are full and which Iulian has us'd in his Caesars as many more among the Greeks have done those Witticisms being a part of the Salt which they so much desir'd in all Jocose and Satyrical Composures As for the Puns Clenches Conundrums Quibbles and all such other Dregs or Bastard sorts of Wit that here and there have crept in among the infinite number of our Auhor's ingenious and just Conceptions I will not Apologize in their Behalf otherwise then by showing that Aristophanes and Plautus have strewed them more lavishly through their Works which are partly of the Nature of this Nor is it necessary to mention the great Tully and many more among the Ancients that allowed themselves the Freedom of using them many of those dropt in Conversation by that Orator having been thought wâ—â—thy to be made publick They were doubtless better lik'd in those times than they are now and we find them in as great a Number in almost all the Writers of the last Age that pretended to Wit nor have Rhetoricans refus'd to teach or use the Figure Antanaclasis So though we may mislike the Pun we may admire the Author since these are but so many small Spots which far from darkning him illustrate the Beauties by which they are plac'd None can mislike the great number of various Images which he gives of the same Things or the long train of verbs or substantives which he often sets together Indeed in another Work they might be thought redundant Ambitiâ—sa ornamenta rescindenda sunt But here those Terms tho they are often Technical and therefore instructing are only used to cause Mirth And they become our Author so well that we seldom read them over without laughing Mirth being so desirable a thing so beneficial to the Body and to the Mind and laughing one of the distinguishing Characters of Mankind our Author may be said not to have advantag'd the World a little in composing this merry Treatise He justifies himself in his Dedication to Cardinal Chastillon for his Comical Expressions by representing the ease which many disconlate and sick persons had received by them and he sayâ— before his first Book Le Râ—re est le propre de l' homme or as it has been English'd Laugh only so to show thy self a Man Even Caesar had writ a whole Book of merry and witty Sayings and Balsac a great Enemy to Burlesque has said que ce n'estoit paspeu meriter du genre humain que de réjouir quelquefois Auguste That Mankind was not a little obliged to the Man who sometimes could make Augustus merry That Emperor as Macrobius tells us did not think it below him sometimes to write Lampoons and made one on Pollio who knowing it said at ego taceo non est enim facile in eum conscribere qui potest prosâ—ribere Horace afteâ— he has said that it is not enough to make a Hearer laugh 〈◊〉 est quaedam haec quoque vâ—â—tus Nor has 〈…〉 only aim'd at Mirth tho he has partly â—â—de it subseâ—vient to his chief Design He knâ—w â—haâ— the learned and the â—gnorant by different motives delight in Fables and that the love of Mirth being universal the only way to cause his sentiments to be most known and followed was to give them a merry Dress The Counsel of Trent begun to â—it in 1545 and then our Author begun to write The Restauration of Learning had made the most knowing among the Clergy and the Layety desire that Primitive Christianity might also be restor'd Accordingly I find that when Rabelais was at Rome in
1536 the Cardinal of Trent who was a German came thither to press the Pope to a Council and in our Author's presence said to Cardinal Du Bellay that the Pope refused to grant a Council but that he would repent it for the Christian Princes would take away what they had given to the Church The universal Cry was for the Restitution of the Câ—p to the Layety and of Marriage to the Clergy against Indulgences Pardons c. This caused Rabelais to put out these Pithagorical Symhols as he calls them That while some of the great ones privately and the Protestants publickly were indeavouring a thorough-Reformation he might insinuate a Contempt of the Church of Rome's Fopperies châ—efly in the Clergy of France and those that were at the Council of Trent as also in such of the Layety as had wit enough to find out his meaning And this is what he means in the Prologue to his 3. Book by the comical Account which he gives of Diogenes who seeing the Inhabitants of Corinth all very busy in their preparations for the War and himself not invited to help them roul'd and tossed about his Tub that he might not be said to be Idle For says Rabelais I held it not a little disgraceful to be only an Idle Spectator of so many valorous eloquent and warlike Persons who in the View and Sight of all Europe act this Notable Interlude or Tragicomedy By the word Eloquent we may easily Judge that this notable Interlude is the Council then sitting He knew that in 1534 Calvin having dedicated his Institution to Francis the I. the Bigots about him cunningly perswaded that King not to read that excellent Work nor its incomparable Preface tho he was otherwise not very religious having made a League with the Turks and joyned his Fleet to that of Barbarossa as also charg'd his Children in 1535 on pain of incurring his Curse to revenge his wrongs on Charles the V. whom he used to call Satan's eldest Son So partly that his Book might not have the same fate he made it mysterious and indeed that King had it read to him inspight of those who told him it was heretical But he was so imbroyl'd in Wars that perhaps he dar'd not favour the Reform'd for fear of being served by the Pope like the King of Navarre However even his Mother Loyse de Savoye what Divotion soever she shew'd to Popish Fopperies seems to have had but little Respect for them For in her Journal writ with her own hand and kept still in the Chambredes Comptes at Paris are found these words concerning St. Francis de Paule Frere Francois de Paule fuâ—parmoy canonisé a tout le moins jenpayay la Taxe that is Fryar-John de Paule was sainted by me at least I paid the Fees For making him a Saint Yet our Author wrote not so darkly but that the Ingenious of that Age could know his meaning for the very antidoted Conundrums which are the 2. Chapter of his first Book show that he treated of Religion as he had said in the Prologue before it The first Stanza may perhaps be only designed to make the rest pass for a Banter but the second mentions the Pope and Calvin plainly the first whose Slipper 't is more meritorious to kiss than to gain Pardons and the other from the depth issued were they fish for Roaches that is the Lake at Geneva who said Sirs for God's sake let us forbear doing this in the French Qui dit Messieurs pour Dieu nous en gardons I have not the leasure to examin now the other Stanzaes though I can explain some of them But to show that Rabelais was understood when he writ we need but read the Verses printed in the French before his second Book they are by Hugues Salel a Man of great Wit and Learning who as I have said had translated Homer's Iliads In them he encourages the Author to write on and tells him that under a pleasing Foundation he had so well describ'd useful Matters that if he was not rewarded here below he should be rewarded in Heaven Gross Superstition proceeds from Ignorance so next to the First he exposes the Latter but I need not come to particulars I may say that he has satirised all sorts of Vice and consequently all sorts of Men we find them all promiscuously on his Scene as in Bay's grand Dance in the Rehearsal Kings Cardinals Ladies Aldermen Soldiers c. He saw that Vice was not to be conquer'd in a Declamatory War and that the angry railing Lectures of some well-meaning Men were seldom as effectual to make it give Ground as the gay yet pointed Ralleries of those who seem unconcern'd the latter convincing us effectually while the others with their passionate Invectives perswade â—s of nothing but that they are too angry to direct others This gay way of moralizing has also nothing of the dry mortifying method of those Philosophers who striving to demonstrate their Principles by Causes and a long Series of Arguments only rack the mind but its Art and delicacy is not perceived by every Reader Consequently many People will not easily find out the inward Beauties of the Works of Rabelais But he did not intend that every one should perceive them tho every one may be extreamly diverted by the outward and obvious Wit and Humour We may say of those hidden graces what a Learned Man says of those in Horace's Satires Quae cum animae plebeiae percurrunt nec venustatem vident nec necessitatem argumenti intelligunt Eruditi praeter incredibilem leporem ad principium quo nititur recurrunt The figure Oximorum by which things at first appear foolish tho they are sharp and witty is such a Master pice in Rhetoric as can be perceived by none but the Skillfull Painting has its Grotesque and bold Touches which seem irregular to the Vulgar only pleased with their odness while Masters thro the antic Features and rough Strokes discover an exact Proportion a Softness and a Boldness together which charm them to an unspeakable degree So in artful Jests and Ironies in that lusus animi and judicious extravagance what seems mean and absurd is most in sight and strikes the Vulgar but better Judgments under that course outside discover exquisite Wit just and sublime Thoughts vast Learning and the most profound Reasonings of Philosophy Our Author's first Prologue has lead me to this Observation by that which he makes concerning Socrates Sorbiere who was a Man not much given to praise the Living and much less the Dead applys this to Rabelais owning that his Satire is the most learned and universal that ever was writ and that it also so powerfully inclines our Minds to Mirth that almost all those whom he had known that had been much conversant with it had gain'd by it's means a Method of thinking agreably on the most profound and melancholic Matters Thus it teaches us to bear Adversities gallantly and to make
was eating and drinking And indeed that is the fitâ—est and most proper hour wherein to write these high Matters and deep Sciences as Homer knew very well the Paragon of all Philologues and Ennius the Father of the Latin Poets as Horace calls him although a certain sneaking Iobernol objected that his Verses savour'd more of the Wine than of the Oil. A certain Addle-headed Cocks-comb saith the same of my Books but a turd for him The fragrant Odour of the Wine Oh how much more sparkling warming charming celestial and delicious it is than of Oil And I will glory as much when it is said of me that I have spent more on Wine than Oil as did Demosthenes when it was told him That his Expence on Oil was greater than on Wine I truly held it for an honour to be called and reputed a good Fellow a pleasant Companion or Merry Andrew for under this name am I welcom in all choice Companies of Pantagruelists It was upbraided to Demosthenes by an envious surly Knave that his Orations did smell like the Sarpler or Clout that had stopped a musty Oil Vessel Therefore I pray interpret you all my Deeds and Sayings in the perfectest Sense reverence the Cheese-like brain that feeds you with all these jolly Maggots and do what lies in you to keep me alwaies merry Be frolic now my Lads chear up your Hearts and joyfully read the rest with all the Ease of your Body and Comfort to your Reins But hearken Ioltheads O dickens take ye off with your Bumper I will do you Reason pull away Supernaculum TO THE READER RAbelais had studied much and look'd about And found the World not worth one serious Thought So Reader howsoever pert thou art Take this along he lays it not to heart Before-hand with you here he reads your doom And damns Mankind past present and to come Be Knaves or Fools that either squint or drivel Blindfold he throws and gives you to the Devil He saw what beastly farce this World was grown That Sence and all Humanity were gone Reason from thee that never was his care He wou'd as soon chop Logic with a Bear But for the Laughing part he bids thee strain Laugh only so to shew thy self a Man CHAP. I. Of the Genealogy and Antiquity of GARGANTUA I Must refer you to the great Chronicle of Pantagruel for the knowledge of that Genealogy and Antiquity of Race by which Gargantua is descended unto us In it you may understand more at large how the Giants were born in this World and how from them by a direct Line issued Gargantua the Father of Pantagruel And do not take it ill if for this time I pass by it although the Subject be such that the oftner it were rememb'red the more it would please your Worships According to the Authority of Plato in Philebo and Gorgias and of Flaccus who says That there is some kind of Matters such as these are without doubt which the frequentlier they be repeated still prove the more delectable Would to God every one had as certain knowledge of his Genealogy siâ—ce the time of the Ark of Noah until this Age. I think many are at this Day Emperors Kings Dukes Princes and Popes on the Earth whose Extraction is from some Porters and Pardon-pedlars as on the contrary many are now poor wandring Beggars wretched and miserable who are descended of the Blood and Lineage of great Kings and Emperors occasioned as I conceive it by the Revolution of Kingdoms and Empires From the Assyrians to the Medes From the Medes to the Persians From the Persians to the Macedonians From the Macedonians to the Romans From the Romans to the Greeks From the Greeks to the Franks And to give you some hints concerning my self who speak unto you I cannot think but I am come of the Race of some rich King or Prince in former Times for never yet saw you any Man that had a greater desire to be a King and to be rich than I have and to the end only that I may make good Chear do nothing nor care for any thing and plentifully enrich my Friends and all honest and learned Men But herein do I comfort my self that in the other World I shall be all this yea and greater too than at this present I dare wish As for you with the same or a better conceit enjoy your selves in your distresses and drink fresh if you can come by it But returning to our Subject I say that by the especial care of Heaven the Antiquity and Genealogy of a Gargantua hath been reserved for our use more full and perfect than any other except that of the Messias whereof I mean not to speak for it belongs not unto my Province and the Devils that is to say the false Accusers and Church-vermin will be upon my Jacket This Genealogy was found by Iohn Andrew in a Meadow which he had near the Pole-arch under the Olive-tree as you go to Marsay Where as they were casting up some Ditches the diggers with their Mattocks struck against a great brazen Tomb unmeasurably along for they could never find the end thereof by reason that it entred too far within the Sluces of Vienne Opening this Tomb in a certain place thereof sealed on the top with the mark of a Goblet about which was written in Hetrurian Letters HIC BIBITVR they found nine Flaggons set in such order as they use to rank their Kyles in Gascony of which that which was placed in the middle had under it a big greasie great grey jolly small moudy little Pamphlet smelling stronger but no better then Roses In that Book the said Genealogy was found written all at length in a Chancery hand not in Paper not in Parchment nor in wax but in the Bark of an Elm-tree yet so worn with the long tract of time that hardly could three Letters together be there perfectly discerned I though unworthy was sent for thither and with much help of those Spectacles whereby the art of reading dim Writings and Letters that do not clearly appear to the sight is practised as Aristotle teacheth it did translate the Book as you may see in your Pantagruelising that is to say in drinking stifly to your own hearts desire and reading the dreadful and horrific Acts of Pantagruel At the end of the Book there was a little Treatise entituled the Antidoted Conundrums The Rats and Moths or that I may not lye other wicked Vermin had nimbed off the beginning the rest I have hereto subjoyned for the Reverence I bear to Antiquity CHAP. II. THE Antidoted Conundrums Found in an ancient Monument ....... The Cymbrians overcomer Pass thr ... the Air to shun the dew of Summer ... At his coming ... great Tubs were fill'd .... Fresh Butter down in showers distill'd ..... His Grandam overwhelm'd so hey Aloud he cry'd ............ His Whiskers all beray'd to make him madder So bang'd the Pitcher till they rear'd the Ladder To lick
sweat over all their Body or were otherways weary Then were they very well wip'd and rubbed shifted their shirts and walking soberly went to see if dinner were ready Whilst they stayed for that they did clearly and eloquetnly pronounce some sentences that they have retain'd of the Lecture in the mean time Master Appetite came and then very orderly sat they down at Table At the beginning of the meal there was read some pleasant History of the warlike actions of former times until he had taken a glass of Wine Then if they thought good they continu'd reading or began to discourse merrily together speaking first of the vertue propriety efficacy and nature of all that was serv'd in at the table of Bread of Wine of Water of Salt of Fleshes Fishes Fruits Herbs Roots and of their dressing by means whereof he learned in a little time all the passages competent for this that were to be found in Plinie Athenaeus Dioscorides Iulius Pollux Galen Porphirie Oppian Polybius Heliodore Aristotle Elian and others Whilst they talked of these things many times to be more certain they caused the very books to be brought to the Table and so well and perfectly did he in his memory retain the things abovesaid that in those Days there was not a Physician that knew half so much as he did Afterwards they conferr'd of the lessons read in the Morning and ending their repast with some conserve or marmelade of quinces he pick't his teeth with mastic tooth-pickers wash't his hands and eyes with fair fresh water and gave thanks unto God in some neat Hymn made in the praise of the divine bounty and munificence This done they brought in cards not to play but to learn a thousand pretty tricks and new inventions which were all grounded upon Arithmetic By this means he fell in love with that numerical science and every day after dinner and supper he past his time in it as pleasantly as he was wont to do at cards and dice So that at last he understood so well both the Theory and Practical part thereof that Tunstal the Englishman who had written very largely of that purpose confessed that verily in comparison of him he understood no more high Dutch And not only in that but in the other Mathematical Seiences as Geometrie Astronomie Music c. For in waiting on the concoction and attending the digestion of his food they made a thousand pretty instruments and Geometrical figures and did in some measure practise the Astronomical Canons After this they recreated themselves with singing musically in four or five parts or upon a set theme or ground at random as it best pleased them in matter of musical instruments he learned to play upon the Lute the Virginals the Harp the Allman Flute with nine holes the Viol and the Sackbut This hour thus spent and digestion finished he did purg his body of natural excrements then betook himself to his principal study for three hours together or more as well to repeat his morning Lectures as to proceed in the book he had in Hand as also to write handsomly to draw and form the Antic and Roman Letters This being done they went abroad and with them a young Gentleman of Tourain named the Esquire Gymnast who taught him the Art of riding changing then his clothes he rode a Naples courser a Dutch roussin a Spanish gennet a barded or trapped steed then a light fleet Horse unto whom he gave a hundred carieres made him go the high faults bounding in the air free the ditch with a skip leap over a stile or pale turn short in a ring both to the right and left hand There he broke not his lance for it is the greatest foolery in the world to say I have broken ten lances at tile or in fight a Carpenter can do even as much but it is a glorious and praise-worthy Action with one lance to break and overthrow ten Enemies Therefore with a sharp stiff strong and well steeled lance would he usually force up a door pierce a harness beat down a tree carry away the ring lift up a cuirasier saddle with the male coat and gantlet all this he did in compleat arms from head to foot As for the prancing flourishes and smacking popisms for the better cherishing of the horse commonly used in riding none did them better then he The great Vaulter of Ferrara was but as an Ape compared to him He was singularly skilful in leaping nimbly from one horse to another without putting foot to ground and these horses were called desultoriâ—s he could likewise from either side with a lance in his hand leap on horseback without stirrups and rule the horse at his pleasure without a Bridle for such things are useful in military Engagements Another day he exercised the battel-ax which he so dextrously wielded both in the nimble strong and smooth Management of that weapon and that in all the Feats practiseable by it that he past Knight of Arms in the field and at all Essays Then tost he the pike played with the two handed Sword with the Backsword with the Spanish tuck the dagger poiniard armed unarmed with a buckler with a cloak with a targuet Then would he hunt the Hart the Roe-buck the Bear the fallow Deer the wilde Boar the Hare the Phesant the Partridg and the Bustard He played at the Baloon and made it bound in the air both with fist and foot He wrestled ran jumped not at three steps and a leap nor at the Hears leap nor yet at the Almenes for said Gymnast these jumps are for the wars altogether unprofitable and of no use but at one leap he would skip over a Ditch spring over a Hedge mount six paces upon a Wall ramp and grapple after this fashon up against a window of the full height of a lance He did swim in deep Waters on his belly on his back sidewise with all his body with his feet only with one Hand in the Air wherein he held a book crossing thus the breadth of the River of Seina without wetting it and dragged along his cloak with his Teeth as did Iulius Caesar then with the help of one Hand he entred forcibly into a boat from whence he cast himself again headlong into the Water sounded the depths hollowed the rocks and plunged into the pits and gulphs Then turned he the boat about governed it led it swiftly or slowly with the stream and against the stream stopped it in its course guided it with one Hand and with the other laid hard about him with a huge great Oar hoised the sail hied up along the mast by the shrouds ran upon the edge of the decks set the compass in order tackled the boulins and steerr'd the helm Coming out of the Water he ran furiously up against a Hill and with the same alacrity and swiftness ran down again he climed up at trees like a cat and leaped from the one to the other like a squirrel
he had joyned it to the Treatise in which he gives Precepts to write History well as an Example of his Rules But he declares at the beginning of that incredible History That his only design was to expose many Poets Historians and Philosophers who with inpunity related false Things as Truth and used upon unfaithful Relations to treat of foreign Countries as Ctesias and Iambulus had done But our History is not altogether an Imitation of that of Lucian though it participates of its Nature 'T is Dramatic also as that Greek Author says of some of his Works a mixture of Dialogue and Comedy of serious Matter and of the Ridicule of Plays of all sorts whether Trabeatae Pretextatae Palliatae Togatae Attellanae Tabernariae c. 'T is the Satyrica of the Greeks the Archaea the Media and the Nova Comoedia For sometimes great things are treated by our Author in a manner equal to their Grandeur at others they are brought down to the Level of the Planipedia Now and then little more than Mirth is meant Often also particular Persons are reflected on by Name at others they appear mask'd and disguised and frequently as in the new Comedy of the Greeks the Characters are general 'T is likewise Hilarotragoedia that sort of Dramatic Composures which Rhinthon of of Taras about the Reign of the first Ptolomy is said to have invented which doubtless got him that Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given him by Stephanus Bysantius which some render Iocator but is thought by Hesychius to signifie Scurra This Rhinthon's Fables of which Donatus makes mention in his Notes on Terence and which Suidas says were Thirty eight in Number still in being when Spephanus writ were imitated at Rome And as that Geographer says that Rhinthon turn'd Tragic Things into Ridicule an Italian Critic thinks that the Hilarotragoedia was only una tragedia contrafatta è di grave ridotta al piacevole è di tragedia per dir cosi fatta Comedia that is a Tragedy turn'd into a Comedy or a Farce But the Learned Spanheim more properly thinks that Rhinthon had joined the comic Mirth of the Greek Satyric Plays and Interludes to the gravity of Tragedy which may by that have got the name of Mixta Our Rabelais's Work is also a Satyr of the kind of those which from Menippus were call'd Menippaean by his imitator Varro the most learned among the Romans having given that Name to that which he made because like that Cynic Philosopher in it he had treated of grave Matters in a merry joking Style That Satyr or as Tully calls it that Poema varium et elegans was at once a mixture of Prose and several sorts of Verse of Greek and of Latin of Philology and of Philosophy That Orator makes him give some account of its design and variety and without Doubt that Work was far more esteemable than the Examples which he follow'd if as Diogenes Laertius says those of Menippus were made merely to excite Men to Laugh consisting chiefly of Parodiae or Verses out of famous Authors and generally Homer Euripides and such others inverted and tagg'd together sometimes like the Cento of Ausonius and often in the Nature of our Mock Songs Yet since Strabo says that by them he got the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ioco-serius we may believe that there was a morality in them but that as in our Rabelais not being obvious some thought them trifling like many in our Age who find it much easier to Judge and find fault than to understand I could wish that among the other sorts of Writing which in something have been imitated by our Author I might not reckon Petronius Arbiter Yet I only say this as to his immodesty for otherwise as that Consul under some Amorous Fictions has concealed a close and Ingenious Satyr on the vices that reign'd in Nero's Court and was as nice and good a Judge of polite Learning as of dissolute Pleasures without doubt he is to be follow'd and admir'd And indeed his Fable was esteem'd to be like the Greek Satyric Poems which Plato says consisted of Fictions whose hidden sence differ'd very much from the superficial signification of the Words since Macrobius while he distinguishes Fables made barely to please from those that at once divert and instruct has placed that of Petronius among the latter Our Author 's Works are also an Imitation of Democritus and of Socrates if we may compare Writings with Actions for those two Philosophers used to be still merry and freely ridicul'd what ever was a fit Subject of Rallery For this reason Quintilian says of the latter Etiam vita unversa Ironiam habere videtur qualis est vita Socratis and that great Philosopher who had deserved the Name of the Wisest of Men was called Scurra by Zeno as Tully renders it Yet Plato and Xenophon his Scholars have not only transmitted to us some of his admirable expressions but also imitated them and we may apply to Rabelais what Vavassor said of that wise Man Constans ac perpetuus irrisor Mortalium In this his Work somewhat differs from the greatest part of the Satires of the Roman◠for he seldom leaves his Ridiculing for their angry Railing Their chief Design is less to rally than excite either Indignation or Hatred facit indignatio versum Which caused an Ancient Grammarian to say Satyra dicitur carmen apud Romanos nunc quidem maledicum thus calling Satire a railing or slandering Poem And Ovid excusing himself for not having writ any gives it the Epithete of biting Non ego mordaci distrinxi carmine quemquam Nec meus ullius crimina versus habet Accordingly the Authors of the Roman Satires generally keep the Character of Censors Horace has given the gayest Air of them all to his Satires and in that of Nasidienus the Description of the fight between Sarmentus and Messius as also in some others has affected a comic Style he also tells us that Satyr ought to be sometimes treated gayly and at others sullenly or gravely Et sermone opus est modo tristi saepe jocoso Yet in other places he speaks of the Sharpness of his Satyrs and owns that they were an ill-natur'd or malicious kind of Writing Lib. 2. Sat 1. tristi laedere versu Pantolabum scurram Nomentanumque nepotem Then he takes notice of the Complaint of some against him Lividus mordax videor tibi He also observes that 't is not enough to make a hearer laugh Ergo non satis est risu diducere rictum Auditoris Sat. 10. Lib. 1. Far from this he saith it is a commendable thing to fill a Man with shame and as he calls it to bark at him if he deserves it Si quis opprobiis dignum latraverit This causes another Satyrist speaking of Lucilius whose Imitator he was as well as Horace to say Ense velut stricto quoties Lucilius ardens Infremuit rubet auditor cui frigida mens Criminibus Juvenal
Cardan Netherlanders Terouenne Picardy The Town of Liliers Castles near Liliers St. Omer c. Boors thaâ— Sheltered themselves there Bapaume A. of Bourbon obtaining Cloths for his Army His Disgust His Vassals in Picardy settled in the Low Countries Montluc's Abbey St. Therese a Nun Virgo Veneta Cretin an Old Poet Monstrelet Historiogrâ—pher Iersey Gernsey c. St. Malo Henry Corne. Agrippa Philip Melancthon Rondeletus a Physitian Petrus Ramus A Jester thus nam'd Chancelor Poyet Hemp. THE AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE TO THE FIRST BOOK MOST Noble and Illustrious Drinkers and you thrice precious Pockified blades for to you and none else do I dedicate my Writings Alcibiades in that Dialogue of Plato's which is intituled The Banquet whilst he was seâ—ting forth the Praises of his Schoolmaster Socrates without all question the Prince of Philosophers amongst other Discourses to that purpose said that he resembled the Silenes Silenes of old were little Boxes like those we now may see in the Shops of Apothecaries painted on the outside with wanton toyish Figures as Harpies Satyrs bridled Geese horned Hares sadled Ducks flying Goats Thiller Harts and other such like counterfeited Pictures at pleasure to excite People unto Laughter as Silenus himself who was the Foster-father of good Bacchus was wont to do but within those capricious Caskets were carefully preserved and kept many rich and fine Drugs such as Balm Ambergreece Amamon Musk Civet with several kinds of Precious Stones and other things of great price Iust such another thing was Socrates for to have eyed his outside and esteemed of him by his exterior appearance you would not have given the peel of an Onion for him so deformed he was in Body and ridiculous in his Gesture He had a sharp pointed Nose with the look of a Bull and Countenance of a Fool He was in his Carriage simple boarish in his Apparel in Fortune poor unhappy in his Wives unfit for all Offices in the Commonwealth always laughing tipling and merry carousing to every one with continual gibes and jeers the better by those means to conceal his divine Knowledge Now opening this Box you would have found within it a heavenly and inestimable Drug a more then human Understanding an admirable Vertue matchless Learning invincible Courage unimitable Sobriety certain Contentment of Mind perfect Assurance and an incredible Misregard of all that for which Men commonly do so much watch run fail fight travel toyl and turmoil themselves Whereunto in your Opinion doth this little flourish of a Preamble tend For so much as you my good Disciples and some other jolly Fools of Ease and Leasure reading the pleasant Titles of some Books of our Invention as Gargantua Pantagruel Whippot the Dignity of Cod-peeces Of Pease and Bacon with a Commentary c. are too ready to judge that there is nothing in them but Iests Mockeries lascivious Discourse and recreative Lyes because the outside which is the Title is usually without any farther enquiry entertain'd with Scoffing and Derision But truly it is very unbeseeming to make so slight account of the works of Men seeing your selves avouch that it is not the Habit makes the Monk many being Monasterially accoutred who inwardly are nothing less than Monachal and that there are of those that wear Spanish Caps who have but little of the Valour of Spaniards in them Therefore is it that you must open the Book and seriously consider of the matter treated in it then shall you find that it containeth Things of far higher value then the Box did promise that is to say that the Subject thereof is not so foolish as by the Title at the first sight it would appear to be And put the case that in the literal Sense you meet with Matters that are light and ludicrous and suitable enough to their Inscriptions yet must not you stop there as at the Melody of the charming Syrens but endeavour to interpret that in a sublimer Sense which possibly you might think was spoken in the Iollity of Heart Did you ever pick the Lock of a Cupboard to steal a Bottle of Wine out of it Tell me truly and if you did call to mind the Countenance which then you had Or did you ever see a Dog with a Marrow-bone in his Mouth the Beast of all other says Plato lib. 2. de Republica the most Philosophical if you have seen him you might have remarked with what Caution and Circumspectness he wards and watcheth it with what care he keeps it how fervently he holds it how prudently he gobbets it with what affection he breaks it and with what diligence he sucks it To what end all this What moveth him to take all these pains What are the hopes of his Labour What doth he expect to reap thereby Nothing but a little Marrow True it is that this little is more savoury and delicious then the great quantities of other Sorts of Meat because the marrow as Galen testifieth 5. facult nat 11. de usu partium is a nourishment most perfectly elaboured by Nature In imitation of this Dog it becomes you to be wise to smell feel and have in estimation these fair goodly Books stuffed with high Conceptions that seem easie and superficial but are not so readily fathom'd and then like him you must by a sedulous Lecture and frequent Meditation break the Bone and suck out the substantial Marrow that is my allegorical Sense or the things I to my self propose to be signified by these Pythagorical Symbols with assured hope that in so doing you will at last attain to be both very wise and very brave for in the perusal of this Treatise you shall find another kind of Taste and a Dictrin of a more profound and abstruse consideration which will disclose unto you the most glorious Doctrin and dreadful Mysteries as well in what concerneth your Religion as Matters of the public State and Life oeconomical Do you believe upon your Conscience that Homer whilst he was a couching his Iliads and Odysses had any thought upon those Allegories which Plutarch Heraclides Ponticus Fristatius Cornutus squeezed out of him and which Politian filched again from them If that is your Faith you shall never be of my Church who hold that those Mysteries were as little dream'd of by Homer as the Gospel-Sacraments were by Ovid in his Metamorphosis though a certain Gulligut Fryar and true Bacon-eater would have undertaken to prove it if perhaps he had met with as very Fools as himself and as the Proverb says a Lid worthy of such a Kettle If you give any Credit to him why are you not as kind to these jovial new Chronicles of mine Albeit when I did dictate them I thought upon no more than you who possibly were drinking the whilst as I was For in the composing of this Masterly Book I never lost nor bestowed any more nor any other time than what was appointed to serve me for taking of my bodily Refection that is whilst I