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
thinking for Thoughts are free those can never be inslaved for we are not hindred from studying since we are allowed so much idle time that we know not how to pass it away but may as well read in our Closets as Men in their Colleges and Contemplation is as free to us as to Men to beget clear Speculation Besides most Scholars marry and their heads are so full of their School Lectures that they preach them over to their Wives when they come home so that they know as well what was spoke as if they had been there and though most of our Sex are bred up to the Needle and Spindle yet some are bred in the publike Theatres of the World wherefore if Nature had made our Brains of the same temper as Mens we should have had as clear Speculation and had been as Ingenious and Inventive as Men but we find She hath not by the effects And thus we may see by the weakness of our Actions the Constitution of our Bodies and by our Knowledge the temper of our Brains by our unsettled Resolutions incoustant to our Promises the Perverseness of our Wills by our facil Natures violent in our Passions superstitious in our Devotions you may know our Humours we have more Wit than Judgment more Active than Industrious we have more Courage than Conduct more Will than Strength more Curiosity than Secrecy more Vanity than good Houswifery more Complaints than Pains more Jealousie than Love more Tears than Sorrow more Stupidity than Patience more Pride than Affability more Beauty than Constancy more Ill Nature than Good Besides the Education and libertie of Conversation which Men have is both unfit and dangerous to our Sex knowing that we may bear and bring forth Branches from a wrong Stock by which every man would come to lose the property of their own Children but Nature out of love to the Generation of Men hath made Women to be governed by Men giving them Strength to rule and Power to use their Authority And though it seem to be natural that generally all Women are weaker than Men both in Body and Under standing and that the wisest Woman is not so wise as the wisest of Men wherefore not so fit to Rule yet some are far wiser than some men like Earth for some Ground though it be Barren by Nature yet being well mucked and well manured may bear plentifull Crops and sprout forth divers sorts of Flowers when the fertiller and richer Ground shall grow rank and corrupt bringing nothing but gross and stinking Weeds for want of Tillage So Women by Education may come to be far more knowing and learned than some Rustick and Rudebredmen Besides it is to be observed that Nature hath Degrees in all her Mixtures and Temperaments not only to her servile works but in one and the same Matter and Form of Creatures throughout all her Creations Again it is to be observed that although Nature hath not made Women so strong of Body and so clear of understanding as the ablest of Men yet she hath made them fairer softer slenderer and more delicate than they separating as it were the finer parts from the grosser which seems as if Nature had made Women as purer white Manchet for her own Table and Palat where Men are like coarse houshold Bread which the servants feed on and if she hath not tempered Womens Brains to that height of understanding nor hath put in such strong Species of Imaginations yet she hath mixed them with Sugar of sweet conceits and if she hath not planted in their Dispositions such firm Resolutions yet she hath sowed gentle and willing Obedience and though she hath not filled the mind with such Heroick Gallantry yet she hath laid in tender Affections as Love Piety Charity Clemency Patience Humility and the like which makes them neerest to resemble Angells which are the perfectest of all her Works where men by their Ambitions Extortion Fury and Cruelty resemble the Devill But some women are like Devills too when they are possest with those Evills and the best of men by their Heroick Magnanimous Minds by their Ingenious and Inventive Wits by their strong Judgments by their prudent forecast and wise Mannagements are like to Gods To the Reader I Desire those that read any of this Book that every Chapter may be read clearly without long stops and staies for it is with Writers as it is with men for an ill affected Fashion or Garb takes away the Natural and gracefull Form of the Person So Writings if they be read lamely or crookedly and not evenly smoothly throughly insnarle the Sense Nay the very sound of the Voice will seem to alter the sense of the Theme though the Sense will be there in despight of the ill Voice or Reader but it will be concealed or discovered to its disadvantage for like an ill Musician or indeed one that cannot play at all who instead of playing he puts the Fiddle out of tune and causeth a Discord which if well plaid upon would sound Harmoniously or is like one that can play but one Tune on all sorts of Instruments so some will read with one Tone or Sound of Voice though the Passions and Numbers are different and some again in reading wind up their Voices to such a passionate scrue that they whine or squeal rather than speak or read others fold up their Voices with that distinction that they make that three square that is four square and narrow that should be broad and high that should be low and low that should be high and some again so fast that the Sense is lost in the Race So that Writings though they are not so yet they sound good or bad According to the Readers and not according to their Authors and indeed such advantage a good or ill Readers gives as those that read well shall give a grace to a foolish Author and those that read ill disgrace a wise and a witty Author But there are two sorts of Readers the one that reads to himself and for his own benefit the other to benefit another by hearing it in the first there is required a good Judgement and a ready Understanding in the other a good Voice and a gracefull Delivery so that a Writer hath a double desire the one that he may write well the other that he may be read well And my desire is the more earnest because I know my Writings are not strong enough to bear an ill Reader wherefore I intreat so much favour as to give it its own Countenance wherein you will oblige the Writer to be Yours M. N. To the Lady of Newcastle upon her Book Intituled The WORLD' 's OLIO THE World to the World's Olio we invite you And hope these several Cates they may delight you It is the Mistris of the Feast her Wish And all these various Sorts cookt in Wits Dish For several Palats here is of the Best With Aromatick Spice of Phancy drest
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
Government they would have followed Brutus and that Government is to be approved best that pleaseth most for Government is for Safety Peace and Profit and there is nothing keeps them more in Peace than Unity and Concord and the Affections of the People to their Governors c. Of Portia POrtia that killed her self with hot burning Coals shewed more of Impatiency and Womanish Fear than Love to her Husband though no question her Love was great but her Fear was greater for Love begets Doubts and Doubts beget Fears and Fears beget Hate but true Love will be sure to save it self till they be sure that they can do no good to that they love and that they love is absolutely destroyed for true Love will hope untill there is no ground to raise Hopes on and Hope begets Courage and Courage will give Assistance as long as it hath a Being for though her Husband run out of Rome yet he had his Life and an Army to defend it for the time Therfore it seemed she grieved and run mad more for loss of her Husbands Power than for fear of her Husbands Person and whensoever a Woman loves her Husbands Power more than his Safety she loves her Vanity more than his Person for Power maintains Vanity Of Penelope Ulysses Wife PEnelope Ulysses Wife was Famous for that she never married whilst her Husband was in the Wars It is true she was Chast but she gave her self leave to be Courted which is a degree to Unchastity and a means whereby her Husbands Estate was wasted for if she had check'd and not permitted them at the first they would never have grown unto that Impudence But it seemed she loved to have her Ears filled with her own Praises for they that love their own Praises most commonly are catched in the Snare of Flattery for there are seldome Praises without much Flattery It is true she might be a Chast Woman but she shewed her self but an Indifferent Wife and not worthy of so much praise for it is not Honesty that makes a perfect good Wife although it be the chief Ingredient but she must be Thristy and Cleanly Modest reserved in her Behaviour and secret to her Husbands Counsels for often times a Woman dishonours her Husband by her Indiscretion as much as by the act of Adultery for there is nothing dearer to a Man than his Fame so a Wife should have a care to keep it Of Women dying with their Husbands I Have not read much Story but of that which I have I have observed that there have been many Women that have dyed with their Husbands but I have not read so usually that Men have dyed with their Wives for in some Nations there are few or no Widows Some say it is not so much out of Love to their Husbands as out of vainglorious Customes Of the Romans dying IT was not out of Courage that the Romans killed themselves but out of Fear for knowing they must dye they thought it was less pain to dye by their own hands than by anothers like Parents that will not suffer another to beat their Child but think their own Correction the easier though their Stripes be equal and every one thinks that better done which they do themselves than what another doth so they kill themselves to avoyd Pain But those are most willing to leave the World when the World hath left them for it is the Vanities that makes Men so in love with the World and themselves for most think they enjoy no Life if they enjoy no Vanity I will not say All although I say Most for the Wise and the Virtuous reject both or if they do not they embrace them but moderately and the Virtuous and Wise have Courage and the Couragious as they do not fear Death so they despise not Life for as Virtue is a Mean between two Extremes so it keeps in the Mean of all Conditions and Estates THE EPISTLE THis is to let you know that I know my Book is neither wise witty nor methodical but various and extravagant such as my Thoughts entertained themselves withall rather making it my Recreation not having much Imployment than my Trouble for I have not tyed my self to any one Opinion for sometimes one Opinion crosses another and in so doing I do as most several Writers do onely they contradict one and another and I contradict or rather please my self with the varieties of Opinions whatsoever since it is said there is nothing truly known but Measuring and Reckoning the which I will leave to Arithmeticians and Geometricians who have a Rule and Number which my Brain can neither level at nor comprehend but humble and plain Opinions raised by the Opinions of others I here present and many may think my Present not worth the reading and that it had been better my Thoughts had been buried than to trouble our Language with that there is so much already of foolish and impertinent Writings for those that know not how to choose good and prositable Books may take up such Rubbish in their place as to dam up their Heads from the light of shining Authors But there are few that have not so much Self-love as to desire to live in some-thing and I am one of those that had rather dam up a Head than to be buried under foot and wish my Brains could have melted better Metal to have made my Book as a Bell to sound clear and loud but not to offend the Ears of any for though I wish to fill them I would not hurt them for Fame is nothing but a Noyse And when I consider Fortune carries as many into her House as Merit I put out this Book though I cannot hope to have any acceptance amongst the Learned but leaving it to Fortunes friendship for she many times prefers the Mean and the Low and disgraces those of higher Abilities which if she favour me I know you will be my Friends but if she disgraces me there is not any thing in my Book can keep off a Scorning Censure but whether it please or be dis-approved I am as I am MARGARET NEWCASTLE The Worlds Olio LIB III. PART I. Of Monsters SOme say there are no Monsters nor ugly Creatures in Nature for a Toad a Spider or the like are as beautifull Creatures in Nature if it be according to their kind as the lovelyest Man or Woman It is true as being according to the natural shape of such a kind of Creature but that which is ugly is that which is deformed and that is deformed that is mishapen and that is mishapen that is made crooked or awry or one part bigger or less than another And those Creatures are to be called Monsters that have more parts than they should have or fewer or when their parts do not sit in their proper place as for example if a Man should have two Heads or four Legs or more Hands or Feet or Fingers or Toes or Eyes or Noses or Ears