Governor of a Common-wealth And Wit is to be preferred before Beautie for there is as much difference as betwixt Soul and Body for Wit is as it were spiritual where Beautie is Corporal and Beautie is subject to the variations of several Opinions for Beautie is not Beautie in all Nations but Wit is Wit in all Languages Beautie wearies the Eye by Repetitions where Wit refresheth the Ear with variety of Discourse Wit is the God of Passion creating and disposing them at his pleasure Of Riches and Beautie RIches si to be preferred before Beautie though it be a gift of Fortune and Beautie a gift of Nature for Beautie incaptives where Riches inslaves all for were there a Beautie that had as much as Nature could give it joyned with an Angelical Mind yet it shall never triumph so long nor inthrall so many nor so constantly be served as Riches is for Riches hath no unfaithfull Lovers although she may have ignorant Servants whom she turns most commonly Weeping out of dores for she is a humersome Mistris and changeth often but seldom makes a good Choice And the Reason why Riches are preferr'd esteemed honoured and unweariedly followed is because she affords more variety which the Nature of Man delights and seeks after where Beauty is still one and the same but though Riches are fleeting yet many times the Carefull and Prudent have possest them long where Beauty no sooner shewes her self but dyes The Beauty of Mean Persons BEauty in Mean and Poor Persons is onely subject to Temptation not to Admiration as Beauty in Palaces is Famous in Historie but those Beauties as come from an Humble Birth and Breeding in a small Cottage are buried in their Poverty which shews it is not onely the Beauty which Nature gives but the Arts that adorn it which allures the Mind for Good Fortune gives Beauty a Lustre and makes it appear Divine so doth Rich Apparel Attendance and the like for it is the Trappings and the Ceremony which takes the Eyes of the Beholders whereas Ill Fortune and Poverty do cast a Shadow upon Natural Beauty and eclipse it from the Eyes of the World Thus Beauty is admired and divulged according to the Wealth and Dignity unless some strange and unusual Accident happens to the Beautifull to noyse it abroad otherwise we shall not hear of Poor and Mean Persons mentioned in many Ages but those which the Fancies of Poets make but of Beauties that were Great and Rich their Chronologies are full Of Imaginary Beauty SOme may imagine or think Beauty was framed and composed in the Opinions of Men rather than in the Lineaments and Symmetries and Motion of the Body or the Colour of the Skin for that which appeareth Beautifull to one Nation doth not so to another as witness the Indians the Ethiopians who think the blackest Skin stattest Noses and thickest Lips the most Beautifull which seem Deformed and Monstrous to the Europeans so particular Persons as in several Nations for to one Person shall appear a Beauty to enamour the Soul with Admiration to another shall appear even to a Dislike which shews that were there a Body never so exactly proportion'd or their Motions never so gracefull or their Colour never so Orient yet it will not please all I will not say there is no such thing as Beauty but no such Beauty as appears so to all Eyes because there is not Variety enough in one Beauty to please the various Fancies of Mankind for some fancy Black some Brown some Fair some a Sad Countenance some a Merry some more Bashfull some more Bold For Stature some Tall some Low some Fat some Lean some Dislike some Motions some others some grey Eyes some black Eyes some blew Eyes and to make mixture of all these it is impossible and though there may be as great and as good a Harmonie in Beauty as in Musick yet all Tunes please not all Ears no more do all Beauties please all Eyes Of Natural Beauty BEauty is a certain Splendor which flows in a Line or Air of Lights from the Spirits and gives a shining Glory upon the Face which Light with Ill Complexions or not Lovely Features is darkned as the Sun with Clouds wherein some Faces have thicker Clouds than others that make a Beauty appear more Splendorous at some times than others But in Age Beauty seldom or never appears being in the Winter season of Life but in Youth the Air is alwaies Serene and Clear Some see this Splendor or Beauty in a Face which others do not as having a more discerning Spirit which makes some wonder at such as do fall in Love with those that they shall think Ill-favoured besides there is a Sympathy of Spirits to perceive that in one and other as Lookers on cannot find out Of Pride IF Pride seems Handsome and may be allowed in any it is in Women because it gives a Distance to Idle Pretenders and Corrupters of Chastity Neither is it so bad in Women to be proud of their Chastity and Honest Affection as Alexander in his Victories or Helen in her Beauty or Rome of her Spoyls and Royal Slaves for Honesty is their greatest Beauty and they may glory in it as their greatest Honour and triumph in it as their greatest Victory and though that Women are naturally Fearfull yet rather than they would infringe the least part of a Chastity either in Words to Inchant or Looks to Allure or Actions to Invite they would enforce Life and Triumph in Death rather than their Virtue should be overcome either in the Stratagems of Follyes or Treacherous Bribes or by force of wicked Appetites But a Woman should be so well instructed in the Principles of Chastity as no false Doctrine could perswade her from it neither Praises nor Professions nor Oaths nor Vows nor Wealth Dignity nor Example having alwaies Temperance and Sobriety in Friendship To the same BUT some are bred with such Nicety and in such Innocency as if they meant to marry some Deity But Modesty should dwell in Womens Thoughts Wit marshal their Words Prudence rule their Actions they should have a Gracefull Behaviour a Modest Countenance a Witty Discourse a Civil Society a Curteous Demeanour Men should be Valiant in War Temperate in Peace Just to others Prudent to themselves but Natures Extraordinary Works are not Commonly distributed THE EPISTLE THE Reason why I print most of what I write is because I observe that not only the weak Writings of men get Applause in the World but the infinite weak Translators of others Works thus there are many simple Books take the World by the Ears but I perceive it is not the wit or worth of what is written that begets a delight to the Readers and a Fame to the Writers but it must fit the Genius of the Age And truly if we will but note it there is as much difference in the wit or understanding of some Ages I mean for the generality of men as between
THE WORLDS OLIO WRITTEN By the Right HONORABLE the Lady MARGARET NEWCASTLE LONDON Printed for J. Martin and J. Allestrye at the Bell in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1655. A DEDICATION TO FORTUNE I Dedicate this Book to Fortune for I believe she is a powerfull Princess for whatsoever she favours the World admires whether it be worthy of admiration or no and whatsoever she frowns on the World runns from as from a Plaguy Infection and not only shunns but exclaims against it although it be Virtue herself and that which is most to be lamented is that the strictest Votresses to Virtue turn Reprobates become Infidels and with false and superstious Devotion worship the Golden Fortune and Flatterers which are the Priests offer false Praises thereunto Wherefore if Fortune please with her helping hand she may place my Book in Fames high Tow'r where every Word like a Cymball shall make a Tinkling Noise and the whole Volume like a Cannon Bullet shall Eccho from Side to Side of Fames large Brasen Walls and make so loud a Report that all the World shall hear it But if not favour'd then my Book must dye And in the Grave of Dark Oblivion lye My Lord THE Reason why I have not dedicated any of my particular Books to your Lordship is that when I have writ all I mean to print I intend if I live to Dedicate the whole summe of my Works unto you and not by Parcells for indeed you are my Wits Patron not that I lay the Defects that may be found to your charge for upon my Conscience all the Faults are mine own but if there be any Wit or any thing worthy of Commendations they are the Crumms I gathered from your Discourse which hath fed my Fancy and though I do not write the same way you write yet it is like Nature which works upon Eternal matter mixing cutting and carving it out into several Forms and Figures for had not Nature Matter to work upon She would become Useless so that Eternal Matter makes Nature work but Nature makes not Eternal Matter Thus she is but as a labouring servant and as in Eternal Matter there lives Spirit and Motion which is Life and Knowledge so in your Discourse lives Sense and Reason in your Wit Delight and Pleasure in your Mind Honor and Honesty in your Actions Valour and Prudence in your Prosperity Generosity and Humility in your Misfortunes Patience and Magnanimity in your Friendship Truth and Constancy to your King and Country Fidelity and Loialty to your Neighbours Affability and Kindness to your Enemies Pardon and Pitty But My Lord I must do as the Painter did which was to draw Agamemnon in that posture as he stood to view his Daughter offerr'd as a Sacrifice who when he came to Pencil out his Countenance wherein Sorrow sate so lively he was forced to draw a Veil over his Face his Grief being too great for his Art to imitate So I when I come to describe your worth by my Pen I find your Merit so far beyond all expression that I am forced to leave off Writing only subscribing my self as I am Your Lordships honest Wife and humble Servant Margaret Newcastle An Epistle that was writ before the death of the noble Sir Charls Cavendish my most noble Brother-in-law Noble Sir ALthough I 'me absented from your person yet not from your Favours they are too great and certainly not to be worn out either by distance of Time or Place and you are so excellent and Divine an Architecture that your Generosity never missed the true Measure of Misery and may our payment of Praiers be justly returned you in Blessings from Heaven and as your Bounty runns a Race with Necessity so may your Merit win the Bell of Fame which Bell I wish may sound in every Ear and as long as there be Ears to hear So that your Name may live still in Report When that your Soul is gone to Heavens Court Sir Your humble and dutifull Servant Margaret Newcastle An Epistle to the Reader THIS Book most of it was written five years since and was lockt up in a Trunk as if it had been buried in a Grave but when I came out of England I gave it a Resurruction and after a view I judged it not so well done but that a little more care might have placed the words so as the Language might have run smoother which would have given the Sense a greater Lustre but I being of a lazy disposition did choose to let it go into the World with its Defects rather than take the pains to refine it besides to me it seemed as if I had built a House and not liking the Form after it was built must be forced to take it in pieces and rebuild it again to make it of that fashion I would have it or be contented as it was which considering with my self I found it would be as great a charge of Time and Pains as if I should build a New one on an other Ground besides there is more Pleasure and Delight in making than in mending and I verily believe my Neighbours which are my Readers would have found fault with it if I had done it as I could and they could but dispraise it as it is but I am so well armed with carclesness that their several Censures can never enter to vex me with Wounds of Discontent Howsoever I have my delight in Writing and having it printed and if any take a Delight to read it I will not thank them for it for if any thing please therein they are to thank me for so much pleasure and if it be naught I had rather they had left it unread But those that do not like my Book which is my House I pray them to pass by for I have not any entertainment fit for their Palats The Preface to the Reader IT cannot be expected I should write so wisely or wittily as Men being of the Effeminate Sex whose Brains Nature hath mix'd with the coldest and softest Elements and to give my Reason why we cannot be so wise as Men I take leave and ask Pardon of my own Sex and present my Reasons to the Judgement of Truth but I believe all of my own Sex will be against me out of partiality to themselves and all Men will seem to be against me out of a Complement to Women or at least for quiet and ease sake who know Womens Tongues are like Stings of Bees and what man would endure our effeminate Monarchy to swarm about their ears for certainly he would be stung to death so I shall be condemned of all sides but Truth who helps to defend me True it is our Sex make great complaints that men from their first Creation usurped a Supremacy to themselves although we were made equal by Nature which Tyrannical Goverment they have kept ever since so that we could never come to be free but rather more and more enslaved using us either like Children Fools
to himself so it deed an honest man is a friend and neghbour to all misfortunes miseries and necessities in helping them with kinde loving and industrious actions in distresse if he thinks he can asswage them and do himself no wrong for every man ought to be honest to himself as well as to another for though we are apt to consider our selves so much as it may be a prejudice to another yet we ought not to consider another so much to the prejudice of our selves for justice to our selves should take the first place by nature where to wrong ones self is the greatest injustice yet to discharge a trust is the chiefest part of honesty though it be to the prejudice of himself wherefore an honest man should not take such a trust as may indanger him to ruine Of Honesty THere are two sorts or kinds of Honesty the one a bastard and the other a true-born the bastard is to be honest for by-respects as out of fear of punishment either to their reputations estates or persons or for love of rewards that honesty brings but the true-born honesty loves honesty for honesties sake and is a circle that hath no ends and justice is the center and Honesty is the sweet essence of nature and the God of Humanity We ought not to be ungrateful to the dishonest IF one receive life from two men the one an approved honest man the other from a known false cruel and deceitful man which in our Language is called a Knave yet the benefit is as great from the knave as from the honest man for a benefit is a benefit from whom soever it comes and if a knave wrongs me not he is an honest man to me though he should be false to all others and that man that doth me an injury by his good will is a knave to me although he were honest to all men else wherefore those onely can challenge knaves that have received the wrong nor do we truly receive a wrong by what is meant but by what is done for one cannot say he was hurt that escaped a danger but he that was wounded but as one should receive a benefit with as much thankfulnesse from a knave as from him that is honest yet a man should be more careful and circumspect in dealing or trusting those that have the reproach or the bold brand of practising dishonesty or knavish actions then with those that take conscience or moral Philophy in their way which are full of gratitude and fidelity and truth as one that is a keeper of his promise a loyal subject and a loving husband a careful father a kinde master a faithful friend and a merciful enemy Of Obligations AS there are some that hate and shun those that can but will not oblige so there are others that hate and shun those they would but cannot oblige The first is out of a covetous nature that thinks that all the good that is done to others is a losse to themselves the other that thinks the least good he doth for others the more power is in himself so both is out of selflove both the shunner and the actor Truth and falshood not easily known IT is very hard and requires much time to finde out falshood for though occasions make a man know himself in part and so to another yet not so fully as we may rest upon him to be one and alwayes the same neither can we without great injustice censure alwayes by the hurt we receive for ill effects may fall from very good intentions and therefore how shall we censure by the intentions since none knoweth them but themselves for although an honest man desires to live as if the world saw his thoughts and strives to think as he would be judged for an honest man would not betray the trust of an enemy either by threats nor torments nor fear of death nor love to life nor perswasions of friends nor the allurements of the world nor the inchantments of tongues nor any miseries of his own shall make him step from the grounds of honesty but as a God he doth adoro it as a servant he doth obey it and though it be the chief part of honesty to keep a trust yet all trust is not honest so as it is as great a dishonesty to take an evil base or an unworthy trust as to betray a just one Of flattery Flattery takes most when they come into the eare like soft and sweet musick which lulls asleep reason and inchants the spirits but if they come in like the sound of a trumpet it awakes the reason and affrights the minde and makes it stand upon the guard of defence as when approaching enemies come to assault but if flattery be tolerable in any it is from the Inferiours to the Superiours as from the subject to the Prince and from the servant to the master or from the wife to the husband But for the Prince to flatter his subject and the master a servant is base but most commonly those that envie most flatter best either to pull down those they envy or to raise up themselves above them Divinity and Moral Philosophy DIvinity and Philosophy ties up nature or Divinity and Moral Philosophy are the two guardians of nature yet some times they prove the two goalers to nature when they presse or tye their chains too hard all things have their times and season unlesse art puts them out of the way Nature makes but fortune distrusts as when she misplaceth her workes as not using them to the right Of Atheisme and Superstition IT is better to be an Atheist then a superstitious man for in Atheisme there is humanitie and civility towards man to man but superstition regards no humanity but begets cruelty to all things even to themselves THE EPISTLE I Am very much or very little obliged to my readers for my former Books which I have set out either by their approvement or dislike in not granting me to be the Author but upon my conscience and truth those were as this Book is my own that is my thoughts composed them but if I had been inclosed from the world in some obscure place and had been an anchoret from my ininfancy having not the liberty to see the World nor conversation to hear of it I should never have writ of so many things nor had had so many several opinions for the senses are the gates that lets in knowledge into the understanding and fancy into the imagination but I have had moderate liberty from my infancy being bred upon honest grounds and fed upon modest principles from the time of twelve yeers old I have studied upon observations and lived upcontemplation making the World my Book striving by joyning every several action like several words to make a discourse to my self but I found the World too difficultto be understood by my tender yeers and weak capacity that till the time I was married I could onely read the letters
her and had rather die in the arms of danger then live in the arms of peace Why men write Bookes SOme say men write bookes not so much to benefit the world as out of love to Fame thinking to gain them honour of reputation but surely men are so delighted with their own conceits especially fine and new ones that were it a sin or infamie they would write them to see their beauty and enjoy them and so become unlawful Lovers Besides thoughts would be lost if not put into writing for writing is the picture of thoughts which shadows last longer then men but surely men would commit secret Idolatry to their own wit if they had not Applause to satisfie them and examples to humble them for every several man if wit were not discovered would think not any had it but he for men take pleasure first in their own fancies and after seek to gain the approving opinions of others which opinions are like womens dressings for some will get such advantage in putting on their cloaths who although they have ill faces and not so exact bodies will make a better shew then those that are well favoured and neatly shaped with disordered attire wherein some men are so happy in their language and delivery as it beautisies and adorns their wit which without it would be like an unpolished Diamond but such difference there is between that to create a fancy is the nature of a God but to make neat and new words is the nature of a Tailour Of several writings WRitings that are set forth in books and other wayes are of several and different natures For some as Magistrates and Fathers do reprove and endeavor to reclaim the world and men as moral Philosophers others as Atturnies do inform them as Historians some as Lawyers do plead in the behalf of some former writings and acts against others as contraversers some as Ambitious Tyrants that would kill all that stood in their way as Casuists some as Challengers as Logicians some as Scouts as natural Philosophers But they bring not alwayes true intelligence Some like hang-men as the Scepticks that strive to strangle not onely all opinions but all knowledge Some like Embassadours that are sent to condole and congratulate as bookes of Humiliation and thanksgiving Some as Merchants as translatours which traffick out of one Language into another Some as painted faces as Oratory some as Jubilies as to recreate rejoyce and delight the spirits of men as Poetry some as Bawds to intice the mindes as Amorous Romancy Some as pits that one must go many Fathoms deep to finde the bottom neither do they alwayes reach it as those that are called strong lines some as Conjurers that fright with their threatning prophesies some as Cut-purses that steal from the writings of others some as Juglers that would have falshood appear for truth some like Mountibanks that deceive and give more words then matter some as Echoes which commonly answer to anothers voice some like Buffons that laugh and jest at all and some like Flatterers that praise all and some like Malecontents that complain against all and some like God that is full of truth and gives a due to all deservers and some like devils that slauder all Of the motion of the thoughts in speaking and Writing THose that have very quick thoughts shall speak readier then Write because in speaking they are not tied to any stile or number besides in speaking thoughts lie close and carelesse but in writing they are gathered up and are like the water in a cup that the mouth is held downward for every drop striving to be out first stops the passage or like the common people in an uproar that runs without any order and disperses without successe when slow and strong thoughts come well armed and in good order discharges with courage and goeth off with honour The motion of Poets thoughts THe thoughts of poets must be quick yet so as they must go even without justling strong without striving nimble without stumbling for their thoughts must be as an instrument well strung and justly tuned to Harmony Great schollars are not excellent Poets SCholars are never good Poets for they incorporate too much into other men which makes them become lesse themselves in which great scholars are Metamorphos'd or transmigrated into as many several shapes as they read Authors which makes them monstrous and their head is nothing but a lumber stuft with old commodities so it is worse to be a learned Poet then a Poet unlearned but that which makes a good Poet is that which makes a good Privie Councellor which is observation and experience got by time and company Wit mistaken THey are not mistaken that think all Poets wits but those are mistaken that think there is no other wit but in Poets or to think wit lies in meer jests or onely in words or Method or scholastical knowledge for many may be very wise and knowing yet have not much wit not but wit may be in every one of these before mentioned for wit makes vse of althings but wit is the purest element and swiftest motion of the braine it is the essence of thoughts it incircles all things and a true wit is like the Elixer that keeps nature alwayes fresh and young Some thinks wit no wit when it is not understood but surely a fool makes not the wit the lesse although it loseth its aime if none knows it but the Author A comparison betwixt learning and Wit IT is a great mistake in some who think that great Stcholars are great wits because great Scholars but there is as great a difference as betwixt a natural inheritance that is intailed and cannot be sold and a Tenant that makes use of the land and payes the rent which is due to the Land-lord which is the Author or in another comparison a Scholar is like a great Merchant that trafficks in most Countries for transportable Commodities and his head is the ware-house to lay those goods in now may some say they are become his own since he bought them it is true they are so to keep them or make use of them or to sell and traffick with them by imparting them to pettie Merchants which are young students and Scholars but otherwise they are no more his then when they were in the Authours head before it was published but onely by retaile for wit is the childe of nature neither hath she made any thing so like her self as it Nay she hath made it to out-do her self for though nature hath not onely made this world but may be thought by reason to have made many others and so a world of worlds yet wit creats in its imaginations not only worlds but Heavens and Hells Gods and Devils onely it wants the materials to put them in body and give them a figure and colour The advanaage of Poetry and History POets make us see errours as what we should follow and what we