leave them to their Taylors with whom they will live in much better Correspondence when the Danger is prevented of their falling out about Privileges XI Men of Injustice and Violence in their private Dealings are not to be trusted by the People with a Commission to treat for them in Parliament In the 4th of Edw. 3. The King Commandeth in his Writs not to chuse any Knights who had been Guilty of Crime or Maintenance These warm Men seldom fail to run into Maintenance taken in a larger Extent It is an unnatural Sound to come from a Man that is arbitrary in his Neighbourhood to talk of Laws and Liberties at Westminster he is not a proper Vehicle for such Words which ought never to be prophaned An habitual Breaker of the Laws to be made one of the Law-makers is as if the Benches in Westminster-hall should be filled with Men out of Newgate Those who are of this Temper cannot change their Nature out of respect to their Countrey Quite contrary they will less scruple to do Wrong to a Nation where no Body taketh it to himself than to particular Men to whose Resentments they are more immediately exposed In short they lie under such strong Objections that the over-balance of better Men cannot altogether purify an Assembly where these unclean Beasts are admitted XII Excessive Spenders and unreasonable Savers are to be Excluded being both greedy from differing Causes They are both of them Diseases of Infection and for that Reason are not to be admitted into Publick Assemblies A prodigal Man must be greedy because he thinketh he can never spend enough The Wretch must be so because he will never think he can hoard enough The World first admireth Men's Wisdom for getting Money and then raileth at them if they do not throw it away so that the Prodigal Man is only the less unpopular Extreme he is every jot as well prepared as the Miser to fall out with his Morals when once a good Temptation is offered him to lay them aside On the other side some Rich Men are as eager to overtake those that are Richer as a Running horse is to get to the Race-post before the other that contendeth with him Men often desire to heap rather because others have more than that they know what to do with that which they covet with so much Impatience So that it is plain the Fancy hath as great a share in this imaginary Pleasure of Gathering as it hath in Love Ambition or any other Passion It is pretty sure that as no Man was ever the Richer for having a good Estate if he did not look after it so neither will he be the Honester if he hath never so much Want of care will always create want of Money so that whether a Man is a begger because he never had any Money or because he can never keep any it is all one to those who are to trust him Upon this head of Prodigality it may be no unreasonable Caution to be afraid of those who in former Service have been extravagantly Liberal of the Publick Money Trusting is so hazardous a thing that it should never be done but where it is necessary so that when Trustees are found upon Tryal to be very Lavish even without examining into the Causes of it which are generally very suspicious it is a reasonable part of preventing Wit to change Hands or else the Chusers will pay the Penalty that belongeth to good Nature so misplaced and the Consequences will be attended with the Aggravation of their not being made Wiser by such a severe and costly warning XIII It would be of very great use to take a general Resolution throughout the Kingdom That none should be chosen for a County but such as have either in Possession or Reversion a considerable Estate in it nor for a Burrough except he be Resiant or that he hath some Estate in the County in present or Expectancy There have been Eminent Men of Law who were of opinion That in the Case of a Burgess of a Town not Resiant the Court is to give Judgment according to the Statute notwithstanding Custom to the contrary But not to insist now upon that the prudential part is Argument enough to set up a Rule to abrogate an ill Custom There is not perhaps a greater Cause of the Corruption of Parliaments than by adopting Members who may be said to have no title by their Births The Juries are by the Law to be Exvicineto And shall there be less care that the Representatives of the People be so too Sure the Interest of the County is best placed in the hands of such as have some share in it The Outliers are not so easily kept within the pale of the Laws They are often chosen without being known which is more like chusing Valentines than Members of Parliament The Motive of their standing is more justly to be supposed that they may redress their own Grievances which they know than those of the Countrey to which they are strangers They are chosen at London to serve in Cornwall c. and are often Parties before they come to be Representatives One would think the Reproach it is for a County not to have Men within their own Circle to serve them in Parliament should be Argument enough to reject these Trespassers without urging the ill Consequences in other Respects of their being admitted XIV As in some Cases it is advisable to give a total exclusion to Men not fitly qualified so in others it is more proper to lay down a general Rule of Caution with allowance of some Exceptions where Men have given such proofs of themselves as create a Right for them to be distinguished Of this nature is that which I shall say concerning Lawyers who by the same Reason that they may be useful may be also very dangerous The Negligence and want of Application in Gentlemen hath made them to be thought more necessary than naturally they are in Parliament They have not only ingrossed the Chair of the Speaker but that of a Committee is hardly thought to be well filled except it be by a Man of the Robe This maketh it worthy of the more serious reflection of all Gentlemen that it may be an Argument to them to quailfy themselves in Parliamentary Learning in such a manner as that they may rely upon their own Abilities in order to the serving their Countrey But to come to the point in question It is not without Precedent that Practising-Lawyers have been excluded from serving in Parliament and without following those Patterns strictly I cannot but think it reasonable that whilst a Parliament sitteth no Member of Parliament should plead at any Bar. The Reason of it is in many respects strong in it self and is grown much stronger by the long sitting of Parliaments of late but I will not dwell upon this The matter now in question being concerning Lawyers being Elected which I conceive should be done with so much
Miscellanies BY The Right Noble LORD The Late Lord Marquess OF HALIFAX VIZ. I. Advice to a DAUGHTER II. The Character of a TRIMMER III. The Anatomy of an EQUIVALENT IV. A Letter to a DISSENTER V. Cautions for Choice of PARLIAMENT MEN. VI. A Rough Draught of a NEW MODEL at SEA VII Maxims of STATE c. LONDON Printed for Matt. Gillyflower at the Spread-Eagle in Westminster-Hall 1700. Sacellum Appollinare A Funeral POEM TO THE MEMORY OF THAT Great Patriot and Statesman GEORGE LATE Marquiss of HALLIFAX AS HEAVEN it Self's on Empire's Axis roll'd For God-Head's but Dominion Uncontrould So the Crown'd Head the Sublunary JOVE Does in his Loyal Orb of Glory move With all his Bolts of Fate in his High-Post Of Sovereign Pow'r the Weilded Thunder boast But in the highest tow'ring Flight of KINGS 'T is the Great Statesman plumes their Eagles Wings They move the Great MACHINE He Sets the Springs And thus whilst Pregnant EMPIRE's Labouring Head With some vast Off-spring Teems the Statesman's Aid To bring the Fair Divine Minerva forth Is call'd the Great Lucina to the Birth Wisdom and Counsel 'T is their Min'string Ray Those Bright CROWN Genij Cheer th' Imperial Sway The Harmony of WORLDS is only Theirs Empire but Guides 't is They that Tune the Sphere Counsel in Church or State the Warmth by Whom Aaron's and Moses's Budding Wands both Bloom Thus MONARCHY what tho' She Reigns Alone 'T is by her Argus-Eyes She Guards her Throne Her Lights an Hundred tho' her Hand 's but One. Of those Rich Lights Great HALLIFAX shin'd there In Pow'rs whole Constellation None more Fair In Calms or Storms in every varying Gale The Furl'd the Hoysted or the Slacken'd Sail The Helm to Manage or the Mates to Cheer No Pilot-Hand cou'd ever Worthier Steer TRUST the Magnetick Load-Star of his Soul And FAITH and ZEAL his Needles to the Pole The Studied World was his Long Theam and All The Politick Movements of the Mighty Ball Yes the Old World He had Fathom'd o're and o're Nay had there been yet Vnknown Globe's t' explore To give that Head that Reach those Depths their Due He had stood a Fair Columbus for the New In SENATES There with all his Brightest Beams Not Michael to th' Embattl'd Seraphims A Mightier Leading CHIEF Oraculous Sense Victorious Right Amazing Eloquence All from that clearest Organ sweetly Sung From that bold ENGLISH CICERO's Silver Tongue Well might Great TRUTH and Genuine Justice flow For he Lookt Vpward when he Talkt Below Up to ASTRAEA Heav'ns translated Pride Her Righteous Ballance his Great Standard Guide In Redress'd Wrongs and Succour'd Rights APPEAL No Hand in the Judiciary Scale More Weigh'd and Pois'd than HALLIFAX alone Ev'n Half the Great Tribunal was his Own But in that more Exalted patriot-Patriot-Cause The Moulding of those Stamps Imperial Laws Then when the whole Divinity of Pow'r In her Collective Strength that Lab'ring Hour In her All-wise Consulting Providence Sits some New Fair Creations to Commence In that High Work for the Great FIAT Fixt No Hand like His the Sovereign ELEMENTS mixt This Fam'd GAMALIEL in the Great State-Schools Thus by unerring PRUDENCE Sacred Rules No wonder on that Card'nal Hinge He mov'd In Pow'r-Craft Skill'd that Bold Arts-Master prov'd The Great Performing Part He had Study'd thro' And no less Learnt the Greater Duty too The Publick Spirit and the Active Soul More Lively Warmth than e're Prometheus stole Those Champions both of Earth and Heav'n's Just Right Bound by their Great Indenture Tripatite Their equally divided FAITH must bring Betwixt their GOD their Country and their King In Pow'r and Trust thro' his whole Life's long Scene Never did Honour wear a Hand more Clean He from the Israel Prophet's Copy drew The Suppliant Naaman for his Grace might sue Distress 't is true his Succour ne'r cou'd lack But then her Laded Chariots must go Back No Syrian Bribe was on his Shoulders worn That Tainted Robe such TRUTH and VIRTUE scorn Thus like the Eden Pair Why is Truth drawn A Naked Beauty in Transparent Lawn Yes 'till her Innocence for Imp'ious Gold That Tempting False Hesperian Apple Sold 'T is from that Fall Original Blushes came 'T was Then She wanted Fig-Leaves for her Shâ—me A Bribe That most loath'd Thought Ev'n his whole Roof His humblest Menials that Temptation-Proof So Fair their Leading LORD's Example stands Oblige with Frank Full Hearts but Empty Hands His Favours in that Generous Current run As Providence vouchsafes Her Rain and Sun His Favours Cheaper ev'n than Heav'n's conferr'd For though like Heav'n th' Imploring Pray'r He heard Yet no Thanksgiving Offrings Return'd To his Kind GRACE no Gumms nor Incense burn'd Ay and 't was Nobly Brave What can more high Than an Vnmercinary Greatness fly If ought his Obligations must Defray He rather chose that Heav'n than Man should Pay Yes with a Fair Ambition Just Disdain Scorn'd less than JOVE his Golden Show'rs shou'd Rain And well so High that Fair Ambition tow'r'd For HALLIFAX so Scorn'd and JOVE so Show'r'd Whil'st that vast Affluence Warm'd his Fruitful Soyl 'Till his Rich Glebe and Loaded Harvest Pile With that Increase that Milky Canaan flow'd Prosperity thus Reap'd where Virtue Sow'd NATURE and FORTUNE Here both Rivals join'd Which to their darling HALLIFAX more Kind Should heap the Ampler Mass Nature her more Refin'd and Fortune in her Coursâ—r Oar. The World but Smil'd where Heav'n had Smil'd before Great Blessings when by Greater MERIT shar'd Not Providence's Gift but her Reward Are all Heav'n's Fairest Blazon Noblest Pride Th' Eternal DISPENSATION Justifi'd The Righteous Distribution ought no less So Great 't is to Deserve and then Possess Nor in Proud Courts nor States alone that Great Dictator Ev'n in the DESPOTIC Seat In His own narrower Domestic Sway His Houshold Sweat Penates deckt so Gay To VICE like Hannabal to Rome that sworn Eternal Foe and VIRTUE 's Champion born To his own Filial Nursery so Kind A FATHER with those Leading Lights He shin'd HONOVR so Lovely by that Pencil drawn The Early Phosphor to their Morning Dawn So Fam'd his equally Paternal Care T' Instruct the Great and to Adorn the His Advice to a Daughter Fair. Thus BEAUTY's Toilet spread so all Divine Her Cabinet Jems so Furnisht from That MINE The Virgin and the Bridal Coronet Were by Kind HALLIFAX so richly Set VIRTUE and INNOCENCE at that full View As ev'n th' Original Eden Lanschape drew All her whole Hierarchy of Graces not One least Enamell'd Heav'nly Spark forgot Each Star in the whole Feminine Renown From Cassiopaea's CHAIR to Ariadne's CROWN In the Rich Furniture of that Fair MIND Those dazling Intellectual Graces shin'd To draw the Love and Homage of Mankind Nothing cou'd more than his firm FRIENDSHIP Charm Cheerful as Bridal-Songs as South-Suns Warm And Fixt as Northern-Stars When e're He daign'd The Solemn Honour of his Plighted Hand He stood a more than Second Pylades Vnshaken as Immutable DECREES But whilst these
the false measure of general Equality It may be alledged by the Counsel retained by your Sex that as there is in all other Laws an Appeal from the Letter to the Equity in Cases that require it It is as reasonable that some Court of a larger Jurisdiction might be erected where some Wives might resort and plead specially And in such instances where Nature is so kind as to raise them above the level of their own Sex they might have Relief and obtain a Mitigation in their own particular of a Sentence which was given generally against Woman kind The causes of Separation are now so very course that few are confident enough to buy their Liberty at the price of having their Modesty so exposed And for disparity of Minds which above all other things requireth a Remedy the Laws have made no provision so little refin'd are numbers of Men by whom they are compil'd This and a great deal more might be said to give a colour to the Complaint But the Answer to it in short is That the Institution of Marriage is too sacred to admit a Liberty of objecting to it That the supposition of yours being the weaker Sex having without all doubt a good Foundation maketh it reasonable to subject it to the Masculine Dominion That no Rule can be so perfect as not to admit some Exceptions But the Law presumeth there would be so few found in this Case who would have a sufficient Right to such a Privilege that it is safer some Injustice should be conniv'd at in a very few Instances than to break into an Establishment upon which the Order of Humane Society doth so much depend You are therefore to make your best of what is settled by Law and Custom and not vainly imagine that it will be changed for your sake But that you may not be discouraged as if you lay under the weight of an incurable Grievance you are to know that by a wise and dexterous Conduct it will be in your power to relieve your self from any thing that looketh like a disadvantage in it For your better direction I will give a hint of the most ordinary Causes of Dissatisfaction between Man and Wife that you may be able by such a Warning to live so upon your Guard that when you shall be married you may know how to cure your Husband 's Mistakes and to prevent your own First then you are to consider you live in a time which hath rendred some kind of Frailties so habitual that they lay claim to large Grains of Allowance The World in this is somewhat unequal and our Sex seemeth to play the Tyrant in distinguishing partially for our selves by making that in the utmost degree Criminal in the Woman which in a Man passeth under a much gentler Censure The Root and the Excuse of this Injustice is the Preservation of Families from any Mixture which may bring a Blemish to them And whilst the Point of Honour continues to be so plac'd it seems unavoidable to give your Sex the greater share of the Penalty But if in this it lieth under any Disadvantage you are more than recompens'd by having the Honour of Families in your keeping The Consideration so great a Trust must give you maketh full amends and this Power the World hath lodged in you can hardly fail to restrain the Severity of an ill Husband and to improve the Kindness and Esteem of a good one This being so remember That next to the danger of committing the Fault your self the greatest is that of seeing it in your Husband Do not seem to look or hear that way If he is a Man of Sense he will reclaim himself the Folly of it is of it self sufficient to cure him if he is not so he will be provok'd but not reform'd To expostulate in these Cases looketh like declaring War and preparing Reprisals which to a thinking Husband would be a dangerous Reflexion Besides it is so course a Reason which will be assign'd for a Lady 's too great Warmth upon such an occasion that Modesty no less than Prudence ought to restrain her since such an undecent Complaint makes a Wife much more ridiculous than the Injury that provoketh her to it But it is yet worse and more unskilful to blaze it in the World expecting it should rise up in Arms to take her part Whereas she will find it can have no other Effect than that she will be served up in all Companies as the reigning Jest at that time and will continue to be the common Entertainment till she is rescu'd by some newer Folly that cometh upon the Stage and driveth her away from it The Impertinence of such Methods is so plain that it doth not deserve the pains of being laid open Be assur'd that in these Cases your Discretion and Silence will be the most prevailing Reproof An affected Ignorance which is seldom a Vertue is a great one here And when your Husband seeth how unwillâ—ng you are to be uneasie there is no stronger Argument to perswade him not to be unjust to you Besides it will naturally make him more yielding in other things And whether it be to cover or redeem his Offence you may have the good Effects of it whilst it lasteth and all that while have the most reasonable Ground that can be of presuming such a Behaviour will at last entirely convert him There is nothing so glorious to a Wife as a Victory so gain'd A Man so reclaim'd is for ever after subjected to her Vertue and her bearing for a time is more than rewarded by a Triumph that will continue as long as her Life The next thing I will suppose is That your Husband may love Wine more than is convenient It will be granted That though there are Vices of a deeper dye there are none that have greater Deformity than this when it is not restrain'd But with all this the same Custom which is the more to be lamented for its being so general should make it less uneasie to every one in particular who is to suffer by the Effects of it So that in the first place it will be no new thing if you should have a Drunkard for your Husband and there is by too frequent Examples evidence enough that such a thing may happen and yet a Wife may live too without being miserable Self-love dictateth aggravating words to every thing we feel Ruine and Misery are the Terms we apply to whatever we do not like forgetting the Mixture allotted to us by the Condition of Human Life by which it is not intended we should be quite exempt from trouble It is fair if we can escape such a degree of it as would oppress us and enjoy so much of the pleasant part as may lessen the ill taste of such things as are unwelcome to us Every thing hath two Sides and for our own ease we ought to direct our Thoughts to that which may be least liable to exception To sall upon
dead Parliaments are now grown to be quite other things than they were formerly In Ancient Times they were little more than Great Assizes A Roll of Grievances Magna Charta confirmed Privileges of Holy Church preserved so many Sacks of Wool given and away Now there are Traps and Gins laid for the well-meaning Country-Gentleman he is to grapple with the Cunning of Men in Town which is not a little improv'd by being rewarded and encourag'd So that men whose good Intentions are not seconded and supported by some degree of Ability are as much the more dangerous as they are less criminal than Cunning Knaves Their honest Mistakes for want of distinguishing either give a Countenance to or at least lessen the Scandal of the injurious things that are done to the Publick and with leave ask'd for so odd an expression Their Innocent Guilt is as mischievous to the Laws and Liberties as the most deliberate Malice of those that would destroy them IX There is an Abuse which daily increaseth of sending such to Parliament as are scarce old enough to be sent to the University I would not in this restrain the Definition of these Boys to the Age of Twenty One If my Opinion might take place I should wish that none might be chosen into the House of Commons under Thirty and to make some Equality I should from the same Motives think it convenient That no Lord should have a Vote in Judicature under that Age. But to leave this Digression I cannot see why the Chusers should not at least make it a Rule among themselves Not to send any Man to Represent them under the Age of Twenty five which is the time of Majority in most other places of the world Surely it is not that we are Earlier plants than our Neighbours Such supposition could neither be justifi'd by our Climate nor by the degree of Latitude in which we are placed I must therefore attribute it to the haste our Ancestors had and not without reason to free themselves from the Severity of Wardships But whether this or any thing else was the cause of our earlier stepping into Man's Estate so it is now that according to our Laws Twenty one is the Age of Discretion and the Young Man is then vested with a Legal how defective soever he may be in his Natural Understanding With all this there ought to be a difference made between coming out of Pupilage and leaping into Legislatorship It is perhaps inconvenient enough that a man should be so soon let loose to destroy his own Estate but it is yet worse that he should then have a Power of giving away other men's The Law must make General Rules to which there always will be some Objections If there were Tryers appointed to judge when Leading-Strings should be left off many would wear them a very great while and some perhaps with their Gray Hairs there being no small number of Old Boys in all times and especially in this It is necessary therefore to make Exceptions to this General Rule where the Case so much requireth it as it doth in the matter in question The ground of sending these Minors to Parliament ought not to recommend the Continuance of it to those who are Lovers of Liberty since it was by the Authority and Influence of Great Men that their Stripling Sons were first receiv'd by the humble depending Boroughs or the complying Counties They called it as many do still the best School for Young Men. Now Experience hath shew'd us that it is like a School only in this respect That these Youngsters when they are admitted deserve to be whipp'd in it If the House of Commons is a School it must be for Men of riper Age these are too young to learn there and being elevated by a mistaken smattering in small Politicks they grow too supercilious to learn any where else so that instead of improving young promising Plants they are destroy'd by being misplac'd If then they do themselves hurt by it it is surer yet that they do the House no good by coming into it They were not Green Geese that are said to have sav'd the Capitol they were certainly of full Age or else their Cackling could not have been heard so as to give warning Indeed it look'd of late when the Fashion was to have long continu'd Parliaments as if we might plant a Boy in the House with a Prospect that he might continue there till he had Gray Hairs And that the same Sapling might have such a Root as that he might grow up to be Timber without being remov'd If these Young Men had skill enough to pitch upon some Body in the House to whom they might resign their Opinion and upon whose Judgment they might lean without Reserve there might be less Objection But to speak Truth they know as little how to chuse as those did who Elected them so that there is no other Expedient left than the letting them alone One may say generally speaking That a young Man being too soon qualifi'd for the serious Business of Parliaments would really be no good Symptom It is a sign of too much Phlegm and too little Fire in the beginning of Age if Men have not a little more heat than is convenient for as they grow older they will run a hazard of not having so much as is necessary The Truth is The vigour of Youth is soften'd and misapply'd when it is not spent either in War or close Studies all other Courses have an idle Mixture that cometh to nothing and maketh them like Trees which for want of Pruning run up to Wood and seldom or never bear any Fruit. To conclude this Head it must be own'd That there is no Age of our Life which doth not carry Arguments along with it to humble us and therefore it would be well for the Business of the World if young Men would stay longer before they went into it and old Men not so long before they went out of it X. Next to these may be rank'd a sort of superfine Gentlemen Carpet-Knights Men whose Heads may be said to be only Appurtenances to their Perukes which intirely ingross all their Care and Application There Understanding is so strictly appropriated to their Dress that no part of it is upon pain of their utmost Displeasure to be diverted to any other use It is not by this intended to recommend an affected Clown or to make it a necessary Qualification for a Member of Parliament that he must renounce clean Linen or good Manners but surely a too earnest Application to make every thing sit Right about them striketh too deep into their small stock of Thoughts to allow it Furniture for any thing else To do Right to these fine-spun Gentlemen Business is too course a thing for them which maketh it an unreasonable Hardship upon them to oppress them with it so that in tenderness to them no less than out of care to the Publick it is best to