kindes of Eloquence to heighten the Grandieure of a majestique Utterance Cresollius alleadgeth many causes why this one part of most noble Science seemes though not as neglected yet passed by and omitted by those great lights of Antiquitie For the Greekes borne in a region which by reason of the thinnesse and puritie of the aire was more fertile of good wits then any other productions had naturally both motions of the Minde and Body to explaine and unfold their cogitations and recondite senses with an incredible facilitie by reason whereof they lâ—sse needed the precepts of this Art For since they had two Palaestra's wherein a double Chironomia was practised one of Armes another of Peace and proper to the pacifique temper of Humanitie a domesticall Theater Doctors and Rhetorique Professors and publique Declamations having in common among them such illustrious aides of Pronunciation no marvell that so few Rhetoricians have left any Manuscripts of the Conformation of gesture this artifice of the Hand being a thing so common and as it were naturall unto them Which volubility of a prompt easie nature wonderfully accommodating it selfe to all things made the Satyrist say that the whole Nation of the Greekes were Comoedians for in the Scene and Theater and in graphicall assimilating and imitating the affections there were few of any Nation could match them and none that could out-act them And as they were very studious in all kinds of literature when they apply'd their minds to eloquence it cannot be said how they excel'd in gesture by the force and guide of Nature which perchance was the cause why the Stagerite said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Rhetorique was naturall and that any one without the instructions of a Teacher seems to be of himself by a Naturall ingenie fit to raise motions in himselfe and others But the Romans comeing out to speake not from under the Canopie of Minerva but the Pavilion of Mars being not of so ready polished a wit thought it convenient and necessary to have books of Institutions for the Conformation of these Rhetoricall expressions of which Plotius and Nigidius two great Doctors in these Elegancies to omit others published their beauteous Commentaries They that follow Aristotle in his mistaken opinion of Action esteeming these Chironomicall Notions as things of no great matter are much deceived for that great Doctor of the Lyceum as Cresollius well observes spake rather of himselfe then of all men in generall who being of a most excellent wit and by Nature furnished with all ornaments he contemned Rhetoricians as seeing himself to have little need of those petty Rules which were carried about for the conformation of Manuall gestures For else he had Demosthenes in his eyes a man wholly composed of this Artifice and turn'd after a manner upon the wheele of Rhetorique who at first by reason of his naturall imperfection herein was much discouraged by which it appeares that an Oratour is not borne but made and to speake well and laudably there is need of studie and striving before the facultie can be attained For as for this opinion of ignorant men who thinke that Gestures are perfect enough by Nature and that the climate availes nothing it being not materiall whether the Hand be moved hither or thither that every one may please himselfe observing no rule or admonition of Rhetoricians The daily Example of speakers refute For we see many both in sacred and prophane places so preposterously ilfavoredly expressing their minds that 't is a wonder how any eye can behold them with attention Certainly men polished with Humanitie cannot without loathing behold the praevarications of such durty and slovenly Oratours and with a just indignation distaste their inconsiderate action If the Naturall motions were absolutely compleat sufficiently fit to open unfold the sense of the Mind or were accommodated to gaine good will or opportune for the incredible force and varietie of the affections would these goodly Orators and lovers of faire speech so bewray themselves and wallow in the dirt But this is enough to prove that the actions of the Hand are not perfect by Nature Therefore let those upstart and tumultuarie Oratours bragge as much as they will of the force of Nature and facilitie of Gestures Reason and the sayings of the learned Ancients doe not onely gainsay them but prove these Cosmetique gestures of the Hand to be things of great moment the very Palme and Crown of Eloquence Had the ancient pieces of this Art which ingenious Oratours writ of old more for the benefit of after-times then their own come to our Hands men might have beene more ready in speaking then they are and not so prone in these points to offend the discreeter part of their Auditory but since those helpes are lost I cannot see how an Oratour can be perfect and absolutely compleat that hath not consulted with the Oracle of Quintilian about this Manuall pronunciation whose institutions contain all those ancient subtleties that escaped the injurious Hand of Time Things which of old they were wont to learne with their Grammar as Sidonius Apollinaris witnesseth which perchance was the reason why Polihymnia whom that learned Senatour affirmes to have taught the Elegancie of Gesture the same by the Greeks is said to have taught Grammar and Letters And indeed Decencie of expression doth so depend upon this Art that as Grammarians observe Decencie is properly spoken of Gesture and motions of the Hand and Body and it so exalts Beauty from the concrete into the abstract that Nature and the tacit voice and assent of all men allow of it as a thing very materiall in commerce and is so look'd for at the Hand of an Orator that the defects of extemporarie and jejune Orations have been covered by the Elegancies of this Artifice and those that have come off unhandsomly with their expressions for want of these comely and palliating graces of Elocution were ever laughed at and justly derided CHIRONOMIA OR THE ART OF Manuall Rhetoricke THE Clazomenian Sage as Plutarch reports of him upon a curious speculation of the properties and motions of the Hand as it were in an extasie of admiration concluded Man to be the wisest of all creatures because he had Hands as if they were the spring and fountaine of all intellectuall and artificiall elegancies which opinion of Anaxagor as Galen with great elegancie and humanity by way of inversion corrects That because Man was the wisest of all creatures therefore he had Hands given him the Hands being added that as he was the most intelligent so he might have fit organs to do and explain what his knowledge did inlight him unto Art in the Hand being the same with Science in the Intellect nor is the Genius of Nature silent herein Plutarch endeavours to give an Allegoricall interpretation of this saying of Anaxagoras Manus est causa sapientiâ—
CHIROLOGIA OR THE NATVRALL LANGVAGE OF THE HAND Composed of the Speaking Motions and Discoursing Gestures thereof Whereunto is added CHIRONOMIA Or the Art of MANVALL RHETORICKE Consisting of the Naturall Expressions digested by Art in the HAND as the chiefest Instrument of Eloquence BY HISTORICALL MANIFESTO'S EXEMPLIFIED Out of the Authentique Registers of Common Life and Civill Conversation With TYPES or CHYROGRAMS A long-wish'd for illustration of this Argument By J. B. Gent. Philochirosophus Manus membrum hominis loquacissimum LONDON Printed by Tho. Harper and are to be sold by R. Whitaker at his shop in Pauls Church-yard 1644. TO HIS HEROIQVE FRIEND EDWARD GOLDSMITH of GRAIES-INNE Esq. SIR WHen I first according to my open and free manner of communication to my Intellectuall Friendes shewed you a Copie of my Idea which acquainted you with my scope and generall projection upon Gesture you were pleased as in a Platonique extasie of apprehension to admire the vastnesse of the Designe to applaud the rise thereof and the promising aspect it had to the advancement of Learning insomuch as fill'd with the benevolent influence and illustration of a Prophetique rapture you turn'd Chiromancer divining by the lines of life and prosperity which appeared faire unto you in the first draught that the Hand would be embraced and kissed by the more intelligent part of the world and in time travell and learne to speake as it doth naturally so literally all Languages This strong reflection of your conceits on my early undertakings you have by the vivacity of a mastering phansie oftentimes endeavoured to propagate in the opinions of your most generous Acquaintances which as they were the friendly efforts of a subtle perspicacity of your Iudgement which I have heard a Great Critique to acknowledge to be the genuine felicity of your intellect whereby you are able to dissect the least atome of a Philosophicall projection I have though the raising of expectation proves many times an injurious courtesie took as a good omen to advance upon VVhat was then a cloud that had neither the shape nor bignes of a mans Hand is now growne fit to be held up and by its owne suffrage to chuse and confirme you its Patron For I affecting no Dedication that rises above the levell of Friendship having intentionally consecrated all the issues of my recesse and leisure to certaine select Friends This both by prescription and signiority of acquaintance as by a Prerogative and by a reciprocation of love for your affection to it falls to your Tuition I confesse some other of my digested thoughts strugled for precedencie claiming by the analogie of Natures usuall course and the Head would have had the priviledge of primogeniture But it fell out in the contention somewhat like as in the case of Tamars twins where Zarah put forth his Hand and the midwife said This is come out first However this Chirosophie or first Fruits of my Hand be accepted abroad having put forth my Right Hand in signe of amity to you and for performance of promise there remaines nothing most noble Chirophilus but that you take it between Yours in token of warranty and protection as the tender off-spring of one who is Your affectionate Friend JOHN BULVVER TO THE Candid and Ingenious READER This Copy of my IDEA OR THE Hint Scope and generall Projection THe consideration in generall and at large of humane Nature that great Light of Learning hath adjudged worthy to bee emancipate and made a knowledge of it selfe In which continent of Humanity hee hath noted as a maine deficiencie one Province not to have beene visited and that is Gesture Aristotle saith he ingeniosè solertèr corporis fabricam dum quiescit tractavit eandem in motu nimirum gestus corporis omisit that is he hath very ingeniously and diligently handled the factures of the Body but not the Gestures of the Body which are no lesse comprehensible by Art and of great use and advantage as being no small part of civill prudence For the lineaments of the Body doe disclose the disposition and inclination of the minde in generall but the motions doe not only so but doe further disclose the present humour and state of the minde and will for as the Tongue speaketh to the Eare so Gesture speaketh to the Eye and therefore a number of such persons whose Eyes doe dwell upon the Faces and fashions of men do well know the advantage of this observation as being most part of their ability neither can it bee denied but that it is a great discoverer of dissimulation and great direction in businesse For after one manner almost we clappe our Hands in joy wring them in sorrow advance them in prayer and admiration shake our Head in disdaine wrinkle our Forehead in dislike crispe our nose in anger blush in shame and so for the most part of the more subtile motions Taking therefore from hence my Hint I shal attempt to advance in the scrutinie and search after the scattered glances and touches of Antiquity tracing them through most classicall Authors with intent to reduce them into one continued and intire History propounding this form to my self to handle Gesture as the only speech and generall language of Humane Nature For ballast to the subject and to make the matter in Hand more sollid and substantive I shall annex consultations with Nature affording a glosse of their causes And for the further embellishing thereof I shall inrich most points of expression with examples both of Sacred and prophane Authority more especially drawne from Poets and Historians the only great Doctors in this point of Humane literature wherein by the way I shall lay claime to all metaphors proverbiall translations or usurpations and all kinde of symbolicall Elegancies taken and borrowed from Gestures of the Body with the depredations the subtiler Arts of Speech have made upon them for the advancement and exaltation of their particular inventions and designes All these together with the civill rites and ceremonious customes and fashions of divers Nations in their nationall expressions by Gesture with the personall properties and genuine habits particular men being but as so many severall lines that meet in an angle and touch in this point I intend to reduce and bring home to their fountaine and common parent the Body of man Two Amphitheaters there are in the Body whereon most of these patheticall subtilties are exhibited by Nature in way of discovery or impression proceeding either from the effect of sufferance or the voluntary motions of the Minde which effect those impressions on the parts which wee call the Speaking Motions or Discoursing Gestures and naturall Language of the Body to wit the Hand and the Head in answer whereof I intend two receptacles of the observations falling within the compasse of their particular Districts under the generall Titles of Chirologia and Cephalelogia The naturall language of the Hand and The naturall language of the Head and these two comprise
mischance that happened to the learned Oporinâ—s of the University of Basil going about to use this courtly expression to whom it being given in charge to receive the famous Erasmus by offering him presents of wine in the name of the City he was prepared for it with a brave and a long Oration but being trained up to the Schooles which hath little curiosity and quaintnesse in complements going about to kisse Erasmus his Hand full of the gout he did it so roughly that he hurt him and made him to cry out with paine he had put him to by his kisse which made the good Professour lose himselfe nor could he ever hit upon the beginning of his discourse untill they plentifully had powred out some of the presented wine for him to drink so to awaken his memory ¶ In supplication this gesture is also significant for it hath beene a custome with all Nations in supplication to appeale unto the Hand of those from whom they expected aid pressing upon it as that part whose touch was an omen of successe tendering their requests thereto because the power of doing doth most manifestly rest therein whereas to touch the left hand was ever accounted an ill presaging osse To this appertaines that of Apuleus Juvenem quempiam c. in medium producit cujus diu manus deosculatus c. miserere ait sacerdos And the same Author in another booke presents us with this examplar confirmation Pontianus ad pedes nostros advolutus veniam oblivionem praeteritorum omnium postulat flens manus nostras osculabundus Of which kinde of supplication exhibited with reverence and outward worship declaring the inward affection the Roman Annales are full of examples Thus Sophonisba the wife of Syphax taken prisoner by Masanissa desiring that it might be lawfull for her to open her mouth and make an humble speech unto him her Lord in whose only Hands lyeth her life and death If I may be so bold saith she as to touch your knees and that victorious Right Hand of yours c. to whom when as now she HELD HIM FAST BY THE HAND and requested his protection he GAVE HIS RIGHT HAND for assurance to performe her request And when Mithridates cast himselfe at the knees of Eunones Eunones moved with the nobility of the man and the change of his fortunes at his prayer which argued no base minde lifted up the suppliant and commended him that he had chosen the Adorsian nation and his RIGHT HAND for obtaining pardon Archelaus when he besought Sylla with teares in his eyes to be contented with what the Ambassadours of Mithridates his master had excepted against his demands TAKING HIM BY THE HAND by intreaty at the end obtained of Sylla to send him unto Mithridates promising that he would either bring him to agree to all the articles and conditions of peace that he demanded or if he could not he would kill himselfe with his owne Hands Thus also Nicias comming to Marcellus with tears in his eyes and embracing his knees and KISSING HIS HANDS besought him to take pity of his poore Citizens The Souldiers of Germanicus who upon pretence of this expression in their complaints lamentations and supplications unto him tooke him by the Hand as it were to kisse it thrust his fingers into their mouths that he might feele they were toothlesse Hecuba comming as a suppliant to Ulisses to intreat for Iphigenia as she addrest herselfe to TOUCH HIS RIGHT HAND he HID IT thereby cutting off all hope of pardon To this appertaines the speech of Lucius Caesar the kinsman of Julius Caesar the Conqueror where he praieth Cato to helpe him to make his oration which he should say unto Caesar in behalfe of the three hundred Merchants in Utica And as for thee Cato saith he I will KISSE HIS HANDS and fall downe on my knees before him to intreat him for thee ¶ For the exemplifying this expression in the sense of faith loyalty and subjection Martin Flumee affords us an Historicall and pregnant proofe in King John of Hungarie when with a great company of the Hungarian Nobility which he brought with him he came to KISSE SOLYMANS HAND and to acknowledge himselfe to him as his subject and tributarie who found him sitting under a canopie where he made no great countenance to move himselfe at the reverences he made but shewing a great majesty he GAVE HIM HIS RIGHT HAND in signe of amity which he KISSED There is a pleasant Story agreeable to this purpose of Amalasuinta Queen of the Longobards how when she after the death of the King her husband being childlesse had with great prudence and gravity governed the Kingdome and was much magnified of her subjects at the last her Nobles offered her a free power of chusing them a King out of the Nobility whom she might make her husband who having sent for one of her Nobles whom she preferred in her choice to the rest and he supposing he had been sent for about som affaires of State as soon as he saw the Queen who was come out to meet him he leapt from his horse and bowed himselfe to KISSE HER HAND to whom she smiling not my Hand but my face meaning that he was now no longer to be a subject but her husband and King Aurelianus sent by Clodovaeus to Clotilda of whose vertue he was enamoured to finde means of accesse unto her resolved to beg almes of her for which cause he stood at the gate of a Church among a great rable of beggars expecting the Princesse to come forth she failed not to performe acts of charity to all the poore according to her custome and perceiving this man who seemed of a generous aspect in these miserable rags felt her heart seised with extraordinary pity beholding one of so good carriage reduced to such misery and without any further enquiry she gave him a piece of gold Aurelianus seeing this Royall Hand to charitably stretched out to succour a counterfeited want whether he were transported with joy or whether he was desirous to make himselfe observed by some act he lifted up the sleeve of the Princesse which according to the fashion of Robes then worne covered all even unto her Hands and having bared her Right Hand KISSED it with much reverence She blushing yet passing on and shewing no resentment afterwards sending for him which was the scope of his desire who comming to the place assigned him Clotilda beholding him soundly chid him for his boldnesse in lifting up the sleeve of her garment and KISSING HER HAND He who was a most quaint courtier found out this evasion and said The custome of his Countrey permitted to kisse the lips of Ladyes at salutation but the unhappinesse of his condition abased him so low hee could not aspire to the face behold the cause why hee contented himselfe with the Hand it being a thing very reasonable to kisse
is farre lesse observed then the Right Hand is A Hand which if it once grow dexterious by habituall theeving will not be left for if it once affect to keep it selfe in ure it turnes to an incurable felon And it may be worth our inquiry why the Law doth so expressely order theft to be punished in this Hand for that the brawn of the left thumbe is branded in malefactors a kinde of penall pardon for the first transgression And if it may be lawful to divine of the legality of this law-checke I should thinke that there lyes some concealed symboll in the device and that the estates assembled had regard to the fellonious procacity and craft of this guilefull Hand which is prone by a slie insinuation with more subtile secrecie to present it selfe to any sinister intention doth no sooner move to such actions but every finger proves a limetwig which the ancient Aegyptians implied in their way of Hieroglyphique when they figured furacity or theft by a light fingured left hand put forth as it were by stealth To open and unfold the subtile and occult conceptions of antiquity about the nature and disposition of the left hand and to collect what hath been noted touching the sinister inclinations of this hand whereby its naturall properties have propagated themselves and by action insensibly spread into the manners and customes of men First it is the noted property of the left hand to be coverd and to keep as it were a recluse in the bosome or to be carried wrapped up in a cloake lurking closely and lying as it were in ambuscado to entrap and by a crafty fetch imperceptibely to make a prize of all that comes to Hand Whence the Greeks from whom the facetiousnesse of manners and elegancie of learning as some thinke were first derived signifie as much who will therefore have the left hand named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lavam manum because for the most part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tegi occultari soleat whereupon this hand being more idle for idlenesse is a maine cause of theft it is consequently more prone to this manuall transgression This light-fingered hand being called by Isidor Laeva quod aptior sit ad levandum to wit to beguile elude lessen and diminish anothers goods And Theocritus following herein the opinion of antiquity having noted the particular quality and behaviour of this hand and the private vice to which it is propense concludes from the pitchy temper thereof that the left hand signifies the captivity of unlawfull desire and rapacity so that it hath for this cause been consecrated to Laverna the goddesse of theeves as being by reason of its wily genius more fit and convenient for cousenage and clandestine theevery for being commonly hid and involved in the bosome of a gown or cloake and waiting in obscurity it comes to passe for the most part men suspecting no such thing that doing nothing and devoted to rest yet being at liberty and ready to handle it will be doing and somewhat of other mens suffers for it while this purloining hand thinkes it selfe the proprietary of anothers goods Hence that elegant recorder of the ancient fictions with a Poeticall touch of his pen sets a glosse upon this businesse thus Nataeque ad furta sinistrae And that quaint Comoedian long before him pointing out as it were with his finger the genuine deceitfulnesse of this hand called it Furtificam laevam the close and cunning pilferer And Euphormio alluding to the same properties of this hand saith Turgentes occulos furtiva manu exfrico And indeed laeva or sinistra according to the ancient manner of speaking used with the Ancients notes one to be a thiefe That subtill knave Asinius who was experienced in the crafty handling of things and drawing them to his owne private advantage used this hand as least suspected when he had watched an opportunity at a feast to steale away some of the linnen against whom Catullus in his stinging stile slings these words out of his crisped pen Maruccine Asini manu sinistra Non belle uteris sed in ioco atque vino Tollis lintea negligentiorum Hence also when Sophiclodisca the baud in Plautus upon suspition of felony demanded to see the Hand of Paeginum and the lad like a crafty wag had put forth his Right Hand she replied to him ubi illa altera furtisica laeva where is that other close and cunning pilferer the left hand Autolicus was expert in the slie feats of this hand of whom Martial Non erat Autolici tam piceata manus And we read in Catullus of Porcius and Socratio duae sinistrae Pisonis the two left hands of Piso that is instruments of his by whose private conveyance he received bribes for although in regard of their imployments under him they might be said to be his Right Hands yet in this sense of bribery and close conveyance they were properly called his left hands The Aegyptians in Hieroglyphique painted justice by an open left hand as the colder weaker and slower hand and therefore lesse prone or able to apply it selfe to offer or doe any injury But it is better for the Common-wealth that Judges should be without Hands as the Theban Statues of Judges were then in this sense to have a left hand Benedico Gestua LXIV THE IMPOSITION OF THE HAND is a naturall gesture significantly used in condemnation absolution pardon and forgivenesse benediction adoption initiation confirmation consecration ordination sanation and in gracing our meales That this gesture is of importance in condemnation is apparent by the commands of the old Law in case of temptation to Ethnicisme and practicall Idolatry So when the sonne of Shelomith the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan which she had by an Aegyptian had blasphemed the Lord by the hand of Moses commanded him to be brought forth without the campe and all that heard him were to LAY HIS HAND ON HIS HEAD And the laying of the Hand on the sacrifices head that was condemned in the offerers stead so often commanded in the Leviticall Law points to the signification of this gesture ¶ In absolution pardon and forgivenesse notwithstanding the identity of gesture there is a proper contrariety of expression and this seems to be a naturall and paraphrasticall gesture very sutable to that petition in the Lords prayer Forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive them their trespasses against us For AS Nature teacheth us to raise our Hands to beg pardon and forgivenesse at the Hand of God so she likewise moves us to the same expression of gesture as most proper and significant to seale our pardons to others implying that who forgives shall be forgiven and neither Nature nor Grace doth move us to aske pardon on any other terms The phrase of this gesture is significantly tooke into the formes of the Civill Law and
Lampridius speaking of the notorious effeminacie and luxurious impudencie of that sottish Emperour Heliogabalus among other expressions of his corrupted minde reports him to have used this Nec enim unquam verbis pepercit infamibus cum digitis impudicitiam ostentaret nec ullus in conventu audiente populo esset pudor Thus Caligula was wont to flout and frump Cassius Chaerea Tribune of the Praetorian cohort in most opprobrious tearmes as a wanton and effeminate person And one while when he came unto him for a watch-word to give him Priapus or Venus another while if upon any occasion he rendered thankes to reach out unto him his Hand not only fashioned but wagging also after an obscene and filthy manner Q. Cassius a right valiant man and one that distasted the corrupted manners of those times tooke this reproach of effeminacie so ill at Calligula's Hand that he bore him a particular grudge for this very cause and was the man that conspiring with Cornelius Sabinus his fellow Tribune deprived him of life and Empire Thus Diogenes when certain strangers in a great assembly were very inquisitive to know which was Demosthenes Diogenes in derision PUTTING FORTH THIS FINGER instead of the Index pointed him out and shewed him unto them covertly thereby noting the impudent nature and effeminacie of the man And it may be the envie and despite of Josephs brethren towards him shewed it selfe in the contumelious gesture of this Finger which pointed out unto him their contempt of him when he was afar off and waking towards them when they said one unto another Behold this dreamer commeth Contemno Gestus XVI TO COMPRESSE THE MIDDLE-FINGER WITH THE THUMBE BY THEIR COMPLOSION PRODUCING A SOUND AND SO CASTING OUT OUR HAND is a gesture we use to signifie our contempt of unprofitable things to shew by gesture how we sleight contemne insult and undervalue any thing This KNACKING with the Fingers was called by the ancient Romans * Crepitus or Percussio digitorum Hence that illustrious Poet expounding the sense of this expression makes mention of the Thumb which he therefore calls argutum id est resonantem whose verses very cleare for this businesse run thus Cum poteret seram media jam nocte matellam Arguto madidus pollice Paâ—aretus Arguto pollice that is as he hath iâ— in another place crepitu digitorum And Propertius to the same purpose At illi Pollicibus fragiles increpuere manus The posture of the same expression prepared to create a sound The statue of stone at Tharsis which Plutarch speaks of to have been made for Sardanapalus after his death and set over his grave did significantly retaine which statue was formed dancing after the Barbarian fashion and â—NACKING as it were with his Fingers over his head like an Anticke the inscription was Sardanapalus the son of Anacynderaxa built Anchialus and Tarsus in one day but thou my friend Eat drinke the wanton Leacher play For nothing else is ought I say signifying the undervaluing sound produced by such a KNACKING of the Fingers ede bibe c. nam caetera omnia sunt illius sonitus quem efficere manus solet as Athaeneus hath it Ironiam infligo Gestus XVII TO BEND THE MIDDLE-FINGER WHILE ITSTIFLY RESTETH UPON THE THUMB AND SO IN IE STING-WISE TO LET IT OFF is a triviall expression whereby we with a FILLIP inflict a trifling punishment or a scoffe This FILLIP with the Finger or naile some thinke is so called à sono fictitio qui cum Talitrum alicui impingitur datur and Talitrum à talione est enim ludi genus inter pueros quo par pari refertur vel recurvi digiti impressio unde forte melior denominatio Latinae vocis à talo convolutio digitorum quem emulatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graecis That this gesture was called Talitrum by the ancient Latines appears by Suetonius who speaking of Tiberius and the native vigour of his left Hand Articulis ita firmis fuit ut caput pueri vel etiam adolescentis Talitro vulneraret Sometimes they were said scimalissare who in mockery used this gesture A kinde of punishment we usually inflict upon unhappy wags Hence that of Petronius Ego durante adhuc iracundia non continui manum sed caput miserantis stricto acutoque articulo percussi Percussit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pueri Gitonis caput This slighting expression of the Fingers gives such a slur of disgrace if used to men that it hath been thought such a disparagement as wounded a tender reputation Sir Francis Bacon in his charge in the Star-Chamber touching Duells being then His Majesties Atturney Generall informes against the hot spirited Gallants of those times who pretended a defect in our Law that it hath provided no remedy for FILLIPS A strange thing that every touch or light blow of the person though they are not in themselves considerable save that they have got upon them the stampe of a disgrace should make these light things passe for such great matters The Law of England and all Laws hold these degrees of injury to the person slander battery maime and death but for the apprehension of disgrace that a FILLIP to the person should be a mortall wound to the reputation he saith it were good that men would hearken to the saying of Gonsalvo the great and famous Commander that was wont to say a Gentlemans honor should be de tâ—la crassiore of a good strong warpe or web that every little thing should not catch in it when as now it seems they are but of copweb-lawne or such light stuffe which certainly is weaknesse and not true greatnesse of minde but like a sicke mans body that is so tender that it feels every thing Contemptuose provoco Gestus XVIII TO BECKEN WITH THE EARE-FINGER is their usuall concise expression who are advanced by confidence to relie upon the strength of their ability and would by a provoking signall dare chalenge defie and bid one prepare for an encounter implying a strong presumption of the victory as if they esteemed him as nothing in their Hand To this expression Horace alludes Crispinus minimo me provocat accipe si vis Accipe jam tabulas Avaritiam prodo Gestus XIX TO GRIPE THE LEFT HAND THE THUMBE CLUTCHED IN WITH ALL is the hold-fast gesture of tenacious avarice and significant to discover the miserable and penurious condition of a close-fisted niggard a parcell of the character of an old pinch-penny This catching and restrained gesture is an expression often seen in the Hands of penny-fathers and men of a terene complexion and is parallel to the Thumbe under the girdle The Aegyptian Mythologists who were very quaint in their occult devices used to paint out Avarice by this posture of the left hand And they who allegorically interpret dreames make this hand the symboll of lucre profit gaine and
declarare And indeed the Prince of Roman Poets where he handles the names inventions of the nine Muses ascribes the finding out of this kind of utterance to Polyhymnia Signat cuncta manu loquitur Polyhymnia gestu The learned observation of these premises made the ancient Masters of the â—ieroglyphiques who used to decypher a distinct and articulate voyce by a Tongue adde a Hand comprehending the same to note out eloquence by that conceit implying that speech stood in need of that moist organ the Tongue but pronunciation required a Hand to wit an artificiall helpe to set it off and make it beautifull to the eye And the first inventer of the Art of Logique to note the moods and brevity of argumentation exhibited Logique by a Hand comprest into a Fist and Rhetoricke by an open and dilated Hand which is but pugnus expansus Analogicall to this is that symboll of the Cynique Manus non sunt proferendae complicatae confusis digitis which insinuates that speech should not be perplext in the delivery but should be open plaine and free for then speech labours of a blinde crampe when it is too concise confused or obscure Hence Phisiognomers according to their rule ad apparentiaem infer such men to be full of words whose manners and common use it is to hold the Hand spread out with the Fingers ☜ These Hand Critiques observing the apparent manners of men say That he who customarily useth much action of his Hand in his talke is a faire speaker and neat in his language And that ancient Interpretour of dreames in his Allegoricall inferences makes the Hand to signifie reason understanding speech and languages which as it were by the conduct of letters or rather an opportune speech declares the tacit affections of the minde Ribera observes that the Hand in Scripture doth not only signifie the divine suggestions of Prophesie but also all kinde of speech especially wherein there is any thing commanded and he addes the reason Quia sicut manns movet it a movet locutio praecipiens The reasons why grave Antiquity did render and understand all kinde of speech and language as Pierius notes by a Hand are for that the moving and significant extention of the Hand is knowne to be so absolutely pertinent to speech that we together with a speech expect the due motion of the Hand to explaine direct enforce apply apparrell to beautifie the words men utter which would prove naked unlesse the cloathing Hands doe neatly move to adorne and hide their nakednesse with their comely and ministeriall parts of speech And words would have but a cold lodging in the eares of the auditors if the Hand should not be the Harbinger of the Tongue to provide and prepare the eye for their better entertainment for as words paint out the image of the minde So these suffragans of speech by a lively sense afford that shadow which is the excellencie of the vocall pourtraicture Since as these gestures of the Hand alone and by themselves doe speak and shew the mentall springs from whence they naturally arise so invited by Art to the aid of Eloquence they become the Accessories and faire spoken Adjuncts of speech Hence the first Artificers of Manuall Rhetoricke hit on the right veine of Oratorie when conducted by a learned curiosity of wit they tooke in hand that polite device and elegant design of reducing the usuall gestures of Nature into strict rules of Art preparing the undigested motions of Nature and making them more formall and fit for the intention of Rhetoricke whose life and force they made much to consist in the just demeanour of the Hand whose motions appeare as emphaticall to the eye as speech doth to the eare two ports of sense through which all passions finde an entrance to ceaze upon the minde And hence such Orators have ever won the prise and have had their Hands crowned with the Olympique palme of Eloquence who have excelled in the subtill notions of this Art who conceiving Rhetoricke to consist most in a decent motion of the body bestowed well neare as much paines to adapt their gestures to Rhetoricall significations as in the elegant disposing of their choice flowers the Hands so surpassing in dignity all the other corporall adjutants of mans wit that there can bee no eloquence without them And they perceiving that action 〈◊〉 most sway with the people who most commonly are led by sense which is moved by some adequate object that without the true knowledge of this secret of Art none could be accounted in the number of good Oratours that a mean Oratour instructed in this knacke of action did oft excell the most eminent they bent their whole endeavours for the attaining this quality Demosthenes who deserves the sirname of Chirocrates for his active judgement in these Rhetoricall endeavours he was wont to compose the action and gesture of his body by a great looking-glasse and for further acquaintance with this faculty he entertainned Andronicus the Stage-player by whom being instructed in this Art after he had reformed the defect that was before in his Orations for want of Action he grew very famous for Eloquence insomuch that Aeschines the Oratour who in a discontent left Athens and came to keep a Schoole at Rhodes and begun to teach the Art of Rhetorique when he otherwhiles read unto the Rhedians and that with action and gesture the Oration he had pronounced against Ctesiphon when all the hearers marveiled thereat and namely how possibly he could be cast if he acted such an Oration You would never wonder at the matter quoth he my Masters of Rhodes if you had been in place and heard Demosthenes and seen the vigorous sharpnesse of his eyes the terrible weight of his countenance a sweet voyce accommodated to every word and the efficacious motions of his Hand and body This Art was generally practised by all the eminent Oratours of Athens unlesse perchance in that sad and solemne Session of the Areopagites where when they were to speak without affection in an obscure and darke place there was no cause why they should use the motioÌ„s of the hand Among the Romane Oratours Cicero to this intent made use of Roscius the Comoedian and Aesope the Tragaedian in his time the Masters of this kind of learning who was wont to call Roscius for his great skill in these subtleties of the Hand Delicias suas his Darling and upon a time in a most eloquent Oration he rebuked the people of Rome because while Roscius was acting they made a noyse What an apt Scholler he proved and what his opinion was of this Art appeares by his book de Oratore wherein he so highly extolls Action the practice whereof help'd to intitle him to the principality of Eloquence Plutarch relating the force of Cicero's eloquence by reason of the sweet grace of his pronunciation reports him in his Oration pro
lifting up of the Hand Verily Cornutus upon Perseus grants as much Magna saith he profutura hominibus locuturi tacere jubent moventes manum See the Naturall gestures Gest. XVI for examples of Oratours using this Action Canon XX. THE Hand propellent to the left-ward the left shoulder brought forward the Head inclined to the Southward of the Body is an action accommodated to aversation execration and negation Canon XXI TO shake the Hand with bended browes doth abhorre deny dislike refuse and disallow Canon XXII The hand resilient or leapeing back to the Northward of the Body whence it did descend makes an action fit to abominate and to accompany words of refusall or dislike and may serve also in point of admiration Canon XXIII THe Hand with a gentle percussion now greater now lesse now flat now sharpe according to the diversitie of the affections is fitted to distinguish the Comma's breathing parts of a sentence Canon XXIV BY his Hand referr'd unto him an Oratour may shew himselfe when he speakes any thing concerning himselfe Caesar used this patheticall demonstration of himselfe when one accused Brutus unto him and bad him beware of him What said he againe clapping his Hand on his breast Thinke ye that Brutus will not tarry till this Body dies Canon XXV The Hand bent into a fist and the Pulpit or Barre strooke therewith is an action of Rhetoricall heate and very artificially accompanies Anger and a more vehement contention Canon XXVI The palm strook upon a book held usually in the left hand of an Orator doth serve to excite and rowze up the Auditours This action is commonly used by our Moderne Oratours and hath succeeded in the place of smiting upon the thigh which cannot well be performed in our deep and little pulpits Canon XXVII TO clap the hand suddenly upon the breast is an actiof increpation proper in their hands who would arrest their speech and non-suit it by silence and by a carefull stop restraine their tongue and call back as it were their reprehended words put in a Rhetoricall Demur or crosse bill against their owne Declaration To this Action that of Homer appertaines Pectore autem percusso animum increpuit sermone Canon XXVIII THe Hand brought unto the stomack in a remisse garb spread thereon doth conscienciously assevere becomes them who affirme any thing of themselves Canon XXIX THE Breast stricken with the Hand is an action of Griefe sorrow repentance and indignation This is a very patheticall motion in Nature Rhetorical in Art and action in use with the ancient Oratours and with a profitable signification practised by the Jesuits who are wont not only with a light approach to touch the Breast but sometimes also to beat upon it with the Hand which they doe for the most part to testifie anguish of minde repentance and matters of Mortification which they acte and personate with such substantiall abundance of speech with such motion of the body and such imminent gesture that while they beat their Breasts they raise oftentimes great motions in the minds of their Auditors and religious teares are drawne from the eyes of many Which Rhetoricall action of the Hand is not alwaies to an inch framed by the precepts of Rhetoricians nor by line and levell fitted to the rule of Art nor weighed as 't were in the Goldsmiths ballance for they who assume this gesture strike their breast with an audible stroake when they judge it fit for their purpose although some who are more studious of eloquence doe not heartily admit of this loud contact of the Hand who with a peaceable meeknesse bringing the quiet Hand unto the breast by the forcible atchievements of that pronunciation procure a dreadfull influence to fall upon their Auditory But in a Senate of the Learned and a solemne Assembly of venerable personages a vehement percussion of the breast is not convenient but is to be remitted to the Theater lest as my Author saith some Stripling in Eloquence should tacitely throw at them that out of the Comoedie Hic pectus digitis pultat cor credo evocaturus foras Canon XXX THE Forehead stricken with the Hand is an action of dolour shame and admiration Quintilian grants this to have been used by some turbulent Oratours in their pleadings even in his time and very availeable with them who by a popular ostentation of Eloquence hunted after the applause of the people His words are these Jam collidere manus terrae pedem incutere femur pectus frontem caedere mire ad pullatuÌ„ circuluÌ„ faciunt Yet Oratours of very good esteeme by their practice commended the use and signification of this gesture but in Epilogue onely and a certaine fiery amplification when for the moving of passion these tragicall expressions of the Hand are held comely and convenient A gesture with the Greekes and Latines of equall use and signification as farre as our understanding can light us to the knowledge of those Rhetoricall ornaments of Expression in fashion with the Ancients And it was wont to attend upon three causes to Dolour Shame and Admiration In great griefe they thought it of old a very expressive demeanour of the Hand Cicero commendeth it in Brutus Dionysius Halicarnassensis acknowledgeth the use of this gesture Percutientes frontes aspectus tristes prae se ferentes Cicero insinuates as much to his friend Puto te ingemuisse ut frontem ferias Livie calls this affection of the Hand Capitis offensationem Flere omnes offensare capita With Q. Curtius it is Os converberare Is tum flere caepit os converberare moestus non ob suam vicem c. In Apuleius the gesture stands thus Dextra saeviâ—nte frontem replaudere The Greeks say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence Heliodorus of his old man Cum feriisset frontem collâ—crumasset And Libanius of the Persian King Caput identidem percutiens deplorat And we read it to have been the forme of lamentation used by the Spartans at their funeralls But of this dolorons adjunct of discontent and angry symptome of grieved nature Tullie in a kinde of medley of naturall invasions and Rhetoricall impressions of the Hand upon the assailed Body makes this rehearsall Mulâ—â—bres lacâ—rationes gâ—narum Pectoris feminum capitis percussio That this gesture was used in signification of shame S. Chrysostome declares who when he had upon a time with an incredible force of utterance rehearsed divers impious and ridiculous superstitions observed by some of the people he made the whole multitude of his auditors ashamed Of whose shame he puts down three visible arguments in words sounding to this effect Vultum operuistis Frontem percussistis ad terram inclinastis This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in another place hee expresseth in his owne language thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it was
convenient enough to expresse a certaine anxious and turbulent heat of cogitation of an Oratour that cannot sufficiently explaine his minde or doe as he would Cresollius conceives that infringere articulos that Qintillian speaks of as an elegant and comely action in the Hands of the ancient Rhetoricians and so commendable that they used it as a Manuall introduction to their Orations was no other but this Action Canon XLII THe Hands gently set together by a sweet approach causing a low sound by their light encounter or complosion make an opportune cadence of Action to attend the close or period of a sentence This Action was commended by the practice of Proaeresius that accomplished Oratour of old time the Master of brave speech and grace in ready speaking who publickly pleaded his cause at Athens to the great admiration of all men of whom one of his Auditours Eunapius thus speaks Proaeresius orditur flumen quodaam orationis singulos periodos pulsu manum finiens Canon XLIII BOth Hands smitten together with a certaine kinde of gravity doth affirme with Rhetoricall asseveration Canon XLIV BOth the Palmes held respective to the body declare benevolence Canon XLV BOth Palms held averse before the Breast denote commiseration This Action with this signification I have observed in some ancient painted tables the Hands of cunning Motists And verily without the knowledge of the naturall and artificiall properties of the Hand as Franciscus Junius well observes it is impossible for any Painter or Carver or Plastique to give right motions to his works or Hand for as the History runnes and ascribes passions to the Hand gestures and motions must come in with their accommodation The notions therfore of this Hand may bee of good use for the advancement of those curious Arts. Canon XLVI THe Hands addrest to both sides are well disposed to satisfie or to request Canon XLVII IF both Hands by turnes behave themselves with equall Art they fitly move to set off any matter that goes by way of Antithesis or opposition Canon XLVIII VVE may use likewise the advantage of both Hands when wee would present by some ample gesture the immensity of things some spaces far and wide extent a great number almost infinite large affections or when the voyce is reiterate by conduplication Canon XLIX BOth Hands modestly extended and erected unto the shoulder points is a proper forme of publicke benediction for the Hands of an Ecclesiasticall Oratour when hee would dismisse his Auditours It was the custome of the Hebrew Divines to observe this Decorum in elevation of the Hands for solemne Benediction And the Romanists who in matter of ceremony much emulate the externall devotion of the Jew in all their extensions and elevations of the Hand which they use in blessing keepe them within these prescribed bounds Not that there is any mystery in this point only the elevation of the Hand declares that we have chosen heavenly things according to Origen and the extension or spreading out of the Hands signifies the effectuall force of prayers as Basil expounds it Tertullian therefore regulating the Hands in this rite to a decencie of motion would have them temperately and modestly erected whereupon it seems to me the Papists conforming their Rubrique to the Jewish Talmud limit the Priests Hands not to overtop or exceed the distance of the shoulders This solemne Action according to some modern Expositors implies the solemnity of a presentation of the Auditours to God in prayer and doth denote unto them Gods favourable goodnesse protection and spirituall Benediction desires God to confirme the blessing given who opens with his Hands and fills all creatures with his blessings and seems to wish the accomplishment of all that is comprised in their Manuall vote That Priestly Blessing or solemne Benediction with which the Priests under the Law blessed the People was apparantly uttered and pronounced by this advancement of Gesture because they could not lay their Hands on all the Congregation they lifted them up onely to the shoulder-points the ordinary forme that was then in use was to impose the Hand which could not be done with any decent expedition and this the Levites conferred face to face from the place where they stood Such a solemne Benediction was that where with Melchisedech is said to have blessed Abraham when he met him in his returne from the slaughter of the Kings and blessed him The like was practised by the Hand of Aaron when he lift up his Hands towards the people and blessed them And Symon the High Priest the sonne of Onias in finishing the solemne service lifted up his Hands over the whole Congregation of the children of Israel to give the blessing of the Lord with his lips The people bowing themselves that they might receive a blessing from the most High The forme of which solemne Benediction the Psalmist gives us Lift up your Hands to the Sanctuary and praise the Lord. The Lord that hath made heaven and earth Blesse thee out of Sion For thus the Levites used to praise the Lord and blesse the People Spirituall Benediction having been ever accompanied with this sacred Manifesto of the Hands Hence we finde it observed that among the Hebrewes of old when the Priest blessed the People they used to erect three fingers to wit the Thumbe the Index and middle finger by which number of their fingers they tacitely implyed a Secret of the Trinitie Pâ—trus Blessensis seemes to allude to this action of the Hand His Benedictionibus sacerdos alios Benedicens protrusas ante vultum suum Palmas utrasque tenebat Cum vero dicebat Dominus quod Hebraico illo trino uno nomine exprimebant Tres digitos priores id est Policem Indicem Medium utriusque manus rectum altius erigebat dicto it à Domino digitos remittebat ut prius Addit statim Quid per trium digitorum elevationem melius quâm Trinitatis excellentia mysticè intelligi potest a qua scilicet vera plena Benedictio A Gesture of the Hand used in the same sense and signification by the Pope at this day who when he is carried upon mens shoulders in solemne procession with the same posture of his Right Hand and number of his fingers bestowes his Canonicall Benedictions upon the people onely waving them into a Crosse. Buxtorfius sayes that the moderne Jews at the feast of their Passeover when the Priest at the end of their Prayers Blesseth the people he extends and spreads abroad his Hands and Fingers which they call Châ—â—umim whereupon Schechina or the Glorie and Majestie of God doth rest upon the Hands of the Priest wherefore they give a strict charge that none of the people presume to looke upon their Hands at that time unlesse he would be imitten with blindnesse And in the Feast of Reconciliation when the Priest pronounceth the Blessing he extends out his Hands towards the
Atticks Cresollius hath cast in his minde what should be the cause why so excellent and weighty an Author should seeme justly to have reprehended this gesture for he could not altogether condemne it because in things sacred it hath been so religious and received with so great consent of all Nations that the most ancient holy mysteries which vulgarly were called Orgia as some Grammarians will have it tooke their denomination from this very gesture of the Hands But my Authour conjecturing what his meaning should be Perchance saith he his intention is to reprove the action of some foolish men who as Quintilian saith hold out their Hands after the manner of them who carry something or of those who as if they crav'd a Salary or Minervall of their Auditors most unskilfully bear about their Hands upwards in whom that of the Roman Poet may be verified Ille cava praetium flagitat usque Manu For Galen when he would expresse the Hand to be conveniently dispos'd for the conteining of water that it flow not out calls this purpose of the Hand Manum supinam But this would be done more unseasonably and to lesse purpose if a man by the motions of his Hands should use to imitate one taking up water out of some river as he in Virgil rite cavis undam de flumine palmis Sustulit That which seems most probable and to come neerest the true sense of that ancient Author Cresollius conceives to be an intended reproofe of a certaine action incident to nice and effeminate men for in that place Dio prosecutes the sinnes of voluptuousnesse and a lascivious habit of the minde Indeed tender and delicate minkes after their right womanish garbe lay their Hands upright which a wise man should not imitate and therefore in his opinion that excellent Poet Aeschylus with exquisite judgement aptly said Manus muliebri more supinatas So that great Emperor of learning and perpetuall Dictator of the Arts among the portentous signes of Impudence layes down Supinas manuum motus teneritudine quadam mollicie dissolutas After which manner Tatian paints out Crescens a Cynicall Philosopher the onely ring-leader to all abominable lust and beastly concupiscence whom he therefore calls delicato corpore fractum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praevar Sect. 14. THey who cast and throw out the Hand or raise the Arme with a shout if they doe it as of a customary disposition declare thereby the jovialitie of their natures To this vapouring expression of the Hand some refer that of the Prophet Hosea This is the day of our King the Princes have made him sick with flagons of wine he stretched out his Hand to scorners And Lipsius tels us that in Westphalia where they drinke super naculum as an ordinary elegancie at every quaffe carouse they put for th the hand and this seems naturall to good fellowes whose sociable disposition makes them very apt to fall upon this joviall exaltation of the Hand which in the Meridian of mirth naturally importeth the elevation of the cheered heart raised by the promotion of the brisked spirits Praevar Sect. 15. THe wagging and impertinent extension of the Fingers in speaking hath ever been accounted a note of levitie and folly And such who by a certaine reciprocall motion doe ever and anon lift up one or other of their Fingers visibly prolonged they seeme to trie conclusions with their hearers and to play with them at that exercise which was in use among the ancient Romans who had a game or lotterie wherein one held up his Finger or Fingers and the other turning away ghessed how many he held up Or if you will have it according to Polidors relation the play was after this manner Two having first shut their Hands forthwith let out their Fingers naming a certaine number As for example I put forth three fingers you as many I name foure you sixe so you by ghessing and naming the right number winne And because the Fingers thus unfolded suddenly appeare by a metaphor they were said in this sport Micare digitis Hence Varro Micandum erat cum Graeco utrum ego illius numerum aut ille meum sequatur This is well knowne among the Italians at this day and vulgarly called Mor perhaps saith Polydor quòd Maurorum hic sit ludus But the more approved opinion is quòd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Stultorum ludus And perhaps Nero had observ'd in Claudius his predecessor some such kinde of indiscreet prevarication with his Fingers who in spightfull and contumelious manner both in word and deed was wont every way to taunt and twit him with his folly and among other opprobrious indignities offered to his name and memory in scoffing wise he would say of him that he had left now Morari any longer among men using the first syllable of the word long in which word there is couched a double sense which gives the grace unto this pleasant scoffe for being a meere Latine word it signifieth to stay or make long abode and taking it thus it importeth that Claudius lived no longer among Mortalls But as Nero spake of Moros in Greeke which signifies a foole and hath the first syllable long it importeth that Claudius play'd the foole no longer here in the world among men Cresollius condemnes this Finger-loping gesture as very uncomely and unworthy the discreet Hand of an Orator so unadvisedly to counterfeit the common gestures of Buyers of confiscate goods and he would have the Edict of Appronianus Provost of the Cittie of Rome to be set before them in which he did desire this up-and-down motion of the Fingers to be cast not onely out of the Courts of Justice and the Senate house but from the Forum and very entercourse of buying and selling This Edict is yet to be seen in a marble table at Rome beginning thus EX AUCTORITATE TURCI APRONIANI V. C. PRAEFECTI URBIS RATIO DOCUIT UTILITATE SUA DENTE CONSUETUDINE MICANDI SUBMOTA SUB EXAGIO POTIVS PECORA VENDERE QVAM DIGITIS CONCLUDENTIBUS TRADERE c. They that would conserve the qualitie and state of an Oratour must avoyd this ridiculous custome of wagging the Fingers lest now they doe not seeme to stand in their Pulpits to sell sheep but to sell them oft or to brag and boast of their parts Praevar Sect. 16. SUch who have Hands too active in discourse and use to beat the aire with an odious kinde of Chiromachia bewray the cholerique transportation of their individuall natures a habit of the Hand incident to young men who as a Learned Father saith are wont to glory that in them Supra modum vigeant manus ad motionem This habituall imperfection the Ancients called Jactare manus even as the Satyrist scoffes at those who had a smackering of the Greeke Tongue who did à facie jactare manus a gesture it seems Parasites in their way of
a caveat entered for the interposing of some intervall or pause as 't were a measure of the expression or stay of the active elocution of the Hand some that are skilfull and curious in this matter would have three words to make the intervall of every motion in the Hand But Quintilian condemnes this for too nice a subtilty as that which neither is nor can be observed Cautio XII NO gesture that respects the rule of Art directs it selfe to the hinder parts Yet otherwhiles the Hand being as it were cast backe is free from this prohibition for whereas there are seven parts of motion To the Right Hand To the left upwards downwards forward backward and circular the first five are only allowed a Rhetorician Cautio XIII TAke heed of a Hand Solecisme or of transgressing against the rule of Action by the incongruity of your Hand and Speech For to speake one thing with the Tongue and to seem to meane another thing by a contrarient motion in the signifying Hand and so to thwart and belie a mans selfe hath been ever accounted a grosse absurdity in Rhetoricke and the greatest solecisme of pronunciation Which makes to this purpose Wee read how at the Olympique Games which in times past were celebrated at Smyrna where Polemon that skilfull Sophister was present there enters the Stage a ridiculous Player who when in a Tragedy he had cried out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ô Coelum he put forth his Hand to the earth and againe pronouncing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ô Terra erected his face towards Heaven The learned Sophister laughed at the absurd Actor withall alow'd so that all were neare might heare him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic manu solaecismum admisit Wherefore being President of those Games he by his censure deprived that rude and ignorant Mimique of all hope of reward For reconciling of the Hand and Tongue and bringing them to an uniformity of signification and for maintaining their naturall and most important relations Rhetoricians have agreed upon many Canons and Constitutions And the Hand then only accords and complies with Speech when it moves to verifie our words for if the motions of the Hand doe dissent from the expressions of the Tongue it may contradict and convince the tongue of vanity for so we may commend even when we doe reprove if the gainsaying Hand should have a contrarient motion seem to confirme when we are in doubt when we forbid our Hand may deport it selfe into the forme of an exhortation we may acquit when we accuse accept when we refuse and abhor comply in words yet by our disordered Hand bid defiance be sad with a rejoycing Hand affirme and grant what we deny and many other waies thwart and belie our selves No true construction can be made of any speech nor can we evade such dull absurdities of this voucher of our words do move in opposition to their meaning for without judgement and advice which should set in order and support the thought into the Hand that is ever ready to maintaine that trust that the Tongue endeavours to obtaine Truth wants her warrant and is so absurdly crost that the efficacie of Speech is utterly defac'd and all the credit that such language amounts unto is the pittance of a doubtfull faith Cautio XIV SHun similitude of gesture for as a monotone in the voyce so a continued similitude of gesture and a Hand alwayes playing upon one string is absurd it being better sometimes to use a licentious and unwarrantable motion then alwayes to obtrude the same Coleworts Cresollius sayes he once saw an eminent man one who had a name for the knowledge of honest Arts and indeed there was in the man much learning and that of the more inward recondit a great Antiquary and one that had a certain large possession of Divine and Humane Lawes goodnesse of words soft and pellucent and decked with flowers adorned and polished with the sayings of wise men and a speech flowing equally after the stile of Xenophons But it can scarce be imagined how much the ill composed and prevaricant gestures of his Hands tooke off from the common estimation of his accomplished wit For when he had turned himselfe to the left Hand he powred out a few words with little gesture of his Hands then reflecting himselfe to the Right Hand he plainly did after the same manner againe to the left Hand strait to the Right Hand almost with the like dimension and space of time he fell upon that set gesture and univocall motion his Hands making circumductions as it were in the same lineall obliquity you would have tooke him for one of the Babylonian Oxen with blinded eyes going and returning by the same way which for want of variation gave an incredible distaste to his ingenious Auditors which did nauseat that ingratefull saciety of Action if he might have followed the dictate of his owne Genius he would either have left the Assembly or given him money to hold his peace But he considered there was but one remedy that was to shut his eyes or to heare with them turned another way yet hee could not so avoid all inconvenience for that identity of motion entring at his ears did disturbe his minde with nodious similitude Cautio XV. TAke care that variety of gesture may answer the variety of the voyce and words which that it may be better done foure things are to be observed First see to the whole cause whether it be joyfull or sad then look to the greater part for in an Exordium a gentle motion is most commodious Narration requires the Hand a little spread and a quick freer motion Confirmation a more sharpe and pressing Action the conclusion of an Oration if it be composed to excite must have rowsing motions if to pacifie gentle and sweet if to sadnesse slow and short and broken motions if to joy liberall cheerfull nimble and briske accommodations Then the sentences are to be weighed which vary with the affections in expressing which diligence must be used Last of all the words some whereof are now and then to be set off with some emphasis of irrision admiration or some other signification yet those gestures which fall from the slow Hand are most patheticall Cautio XVI TAke heed of levitie and a scrupulous curiositie in a pedanticall and nice observation of these gestures of the Hands and Fingers Cautio XVII SHun affectation for all affectation is odious and then others are most moved with our actions when they perceive all things to flow as it were out of the liquid current of Nature Cautio XVIII VSe some preparation and meditate before-hand of the action you intend to accommodate your voyce with Cautio XIX ALthough an Orators art should not altogether consist in imitation yet remember that Imitation is one of the great Adjutants and chief Burnishers and Smoothers of Speech it having been an ancient and laudable custome for ingenious Sparks of