perhaps without Reason that we attribute Facility of Belief and easiness of Persuasion to Simplicity and Ignorance and I have heard the Belief compar'd to the Impression of a Seal stamp'd upon the Soul which by how much softer and of less resistance it is is the more easie to be impos'd upon Ut necesse est lancem in libra ponderibus impositis de primis sic animum perspicuis â—edere As the Scale of the Balance must give way to the Weight that presses it down so the mind must of necessity yield to Demonstration and by how much the Soul is more empty and without Counterpoise with so much greater Facility it dips under the weight of the first Perswasion And this is the reason that Children the common People Women and sick Folks are most apt to be led by the Ears But then on the other side 't is a very great Presumption to slight and condemn all things for false that do not appear to us likely to be true which is the ordinary Vice of such as fansie themselves wiser than their Neighbours I was my self once one of those and if I heard talk of dead Folks walking of Prophecies Enchantments Witchcrafts or any other Story I had no mind to believe Somnia terrores magicos miracula sagas Nocturnos lemures portentaque Thessala Dreams Magick Terrors Wonders Sorceries Hob-goblins or Thessalian Prodigies I presently pitied the poor People that were abus'd by these Follies whereas I now find that I my self was to be pitied as much at least as they not that Experience has taught me any thing to convince my former Opinion tho' my Curiosity has endeavoured that way but Reason has instructed me that thus Resolutely to condemn any thing for false and impossible is arrogantly and impiously to circumscribe and limit the Will of God and the Power of Nature within the Bounds of my own Capacity than which no folly can be greater If we give the Names of Monster and Miracle to every thing our Reason cannot comprehend how many are continually presented before our Eyes Let us but consider through what Clouds and as it were groping in the Dark our Teachers lead us to the Knowledge of most of the things we apply our Studies to and we shall find that it is rather Custom than Knowledge that takes away the Wonder and renders them easie and familiar to us Lucret. l. 2. Jam nemo cessus saturusque videndi Suspicere in Caeli dignatur lucide Templa Already glutted with the Sight now none Heaven's lucid Temples deigns to look upon And that if those things were now newly presented to us we should think them as strange and incredible if not more than any others Id. ibid. Si nunc primum mortalibus adsint Ex improviso seu sint objecta repentè Nil magis his rebus poterat mirabile dici Aut minus ante quod auderent fore credere gentes Where things are suddenly and by surprize Just now objected new to mortal Eyes At nothing could they be astonish'd more Nor less than what they so admir'd before He that had never seen a River imagin'd the first he met with to be the Sea and the greatest things that have fall'n within our Knowledge we conclude the Extreams that Nature makes of the kind Id. ibid. Scilicet fluvius qui non est maximus ei est Qui non ante aliquem majorem vidit ingens Atbor homoque videtur omnia de genere omni Maxime quae vidit quisque haec ingentia fingit A little River unto him does seem That bigger never saw a mighty Stream A Tree a Man any thing seems to his view O' th kind the greatest that ne'er greater knew Consuetudine Oculorum Cicero de Nat. Deora lib. 2. assuescunt Animi nequâ— admirantur neque requirunt rationes earum rerum quas semper vident Things grow familiar to Mens Minds by being often seen so that they neither admire nor are inquisitive into things they daily see The Novelty rather than the greatness of things tempts us to enquire into their Causes But we are to judge with more reverence and with greater Acknowledgment of our own Ignorance and Infirmity of this infinite Power of Nature How many unlikely things are there testified by People of very good Repute which if we cannot persuade our selves absolutely to believe we ought at least to leave them in Suspence for to conclude them impossible is by a temerarious Presumption to pretend to know the utmost Bounds of Possibility Did we rightly understand the difference betwixt impossible betwixt extraordinary and what is contrary to the common Opinion of Men in believing rashly and on the other side in being not too incredulous we should then observe the Rule of Ne quid nimis enjoyn'd by Chilo When we find in Froissard that the Count de Foix knew in Bearn the defeat of John King of Castile at Juberoth the next day after and the means by which he tells us he came to do so we may be allow'd to be a little merry at it as also at what our Annals report that Pope Honorius the same day that King Philip Augustus died at Mant performed his publick Obsequies at Rome and commanded the like throughout all Italy the Testimony of these Authors not being perhaps of Authority enough to restrain us But what if Plutarch besides several Examples that he produces out of Antiquity tells us he is assur'd by certain Knowledge that in the time of Domitian the News of the Battel lost by Antonius in Germany was publish'd at Rome many days Journey from thence and dispers'd throughout the whole World the same day it was fought and if Caesar was of Opinion that it has often happened that the report has preceeded the accident shall we not say that these simple People have suffer'd themselves to be deceived with the Vulgar for not having been so clear sighted as we Is there any thing more delicate more clear more spritely than Pliny's Judgment when he is pleased to set it to work Any thing more remote from vanity Setting aside hâ—s Learning of which I make less account in which of these do any of us excell him And yet there is scarce a Puisne Sophister that does not convince him of untruth and that pretends not to instruct him in the Progress of the Works of Nature When we read in Bouchet the Miracles of St. Hilary's Relicks away with it his Authority is not sufficient to bear us the liberty of contradicting him but generally to condemn all such like Stories seems to me an impudence of the worst Character The great St. Augustine professes himself to have seen a blind Child recover sight upon the Relick of St. Gervase and St. Protasius at Milan a Woman at Carthage cur'd of a Cancer by the sign of the Cross made upon her by a Woman newly Baptiz'd Hesperius a familiar Friend of his to have driven away the Spirits that
which Consideration it comes into my Head that Nature does not in this swerve from her general Polity for Physicians hold that the Birth Nourishment and Encrease of every thing is the Corruption and Dissolution of another Lucret. l. 2 Nam quodcunque suis mutatum finibus exit Continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante For what from its own confines chang'd doth pass Is straight the Death of what before it was CHAP. XXII Of Custom and that we should not easily change a Law receiv'd HE seems to me to have had a right and true apprehension of the power of Custom who first invented the Story of a Country-woman who having accustomâ—d her self to play with and carry a young Calf in her Arms and daily continuing to do so as it grew up obtain'd this by Custom that when grown to be a great Ox she was still able to bear it For in truth Custom is a violent and treacherous School-mistriss She by little and little slily and unperceiv'd slips in the foot of her Authority but having by this gentle and humble beginning with the benefit of Time fix'd and establish'd it she then unmasks a furious and tyrannick Countenance against which we have no more the Courage or the power so much as to lift up our Eyes We see it at every turn forcing and violating the Rules of Nature Plin. l. 6. Usus efficacissimus rerum omnium magister Custom is the greatest Master of all things I believe Plato's care in his Republick and the Physicians who so often submit the Reasons of their Art to the authority of Habit as also the story of that King who by Custom brought his Stomach to that pass as to live by Poison and the Maid that Albertus reports to have liv'd upon Spiders and in that new World of the Indies there were found great Nations and in very differing Climates who were of the same Diet made provision of them and sed them for their Tables as also they did Grashoppers Mice Bats and Lizards and in a time of scarcity of such Rareties a Toad was sold for six Crowns all which they cook and dish up with several Sawses There were also others found to whom our Diet and the Flesh we eat were venomous and mortal Consuetudinis magna vis est Cicero Tusâ— l. 2. Pernectant venatores in nivâ— in montibus uri se patiuntur Pugiles Caestibus contust ne ingemiscunt quidem The Power of Custom is very great Hunts-men will one while lie out all night in the Snow and another suffer themselves to be parch'd in the Mountains and Fencers inur'd to beating when bang'd almost to pulp with Clubs and Whirl-Batts disdain so much as to groan These are strange Examples but yet they will not appear so strange if we consider what we have ordinary experience of how much Custom stupifies our Senses neither need we go to be satisfied of what is reported of the Cataracts of Nile and of what Philosophers believe of the Musick of the Spheres that the Bodies of those Circles being folid and smooth and coming to touch and rub upon one another cannot fail of creating a wonderful Harmony the changes and cadencies of which cause the Revolutions and Dances of the Stars but that the heating Sense of all Creatures here below being universally like that of the Aegyptians deaf'd and stupified with the continual Noise cannot how great soever perceive it Smiths Millers Pewterers Forge-men and Armorers could never be able to live in the perpetual Noise of their own Trades did it strike their Ears with the same Violence that it does ours My perfum'd Doublet gratifies my own Smelling at first as well as that of others but after I have worn it three or four Days together I no more perceive it but it is yet more strange that Custom notwithstanding the long Intermissions and Intervals should yet have the Power to unite and establish the Effect of its Impressions upon our Senses as is manifest in such as live near unto Steeples and the frequent noise of the Bells I my self lie at home in a Tower where every Morning and Evening a very great Bell rings out the Ave Maria the Noise of which shakes my very Tower and at first seem'd insupportable to me but having now a good while kept that Lodging I am so us'd to 't that I hear it without any manner of Offence and often without awaking at it Plato reprehending a Boy for playing at some childish Game Thou reprov'st me says the Boy for a very little thing Custom reply'd Plato is no little Thing And he was in the right for I find that our greatest Vices derive their first Propensity from our most tender Infancy and that our principal Education depends upon the Nurse Mothers are mightily pleas'd to see a Child writhe off the Neck of a Chicken or to please it self with hurting a Dog or a Cat and such wise Fathers there are in the World who look upon it as a notable Mark of a Martial Spirit when he hears his Son mis-call or sees him domineer over a poor Peasant or a Lacquey that dares not reply nor turn again and a great sign of Wit when he sees him cheat and over-reach his Play-fellow by some malicious Trick of Treachery and Deceit Deceit ought to be corrected in the greenest Years but for all that these are the true Seeds and Roots of Cruelty Tyranny and Treason They bud and put out there and afterwards shoot up vigoâ—ously and grow to a prodigious Bulk and Stature being cultivated and improv'd by Custom and it is a very dangerous Mistake to excuse these vile inclinations upon the Tenderness of their Age and the triviality of the Subject first it is Nature that speaks whose Declaration is then more sincere and inward thoughts more undisguised as it is more weak and young secondly the Deformity of Cozenage does not consist nor depend upon the Difference betwixt Crowns and Pins but meerly upon it self for a Cheat is a Cheat be it more or less which makes me think it more just to conclude thus Why should he not cozen in Crowns since he does it in Pins than as they do who say they only play for Pins he would not do it if it were for Money Children should carefully be instructed to abhor ever the Vices of their own contriving and the natural Deformity of those Vices ought so to be represented to them that they may not only avoid them in their Actions but especially so to abominate them in their Hearts that the very Thought should be hatefull to them with what Mask soever they may be palliated or disguis'd I know very well for what concerns my self that for having been brought up in my Chilhood to a plain and sincere way of dealing and for having then had an Aversion to all manner of juggling and foul Play in my Childish Sports and Recreations and indeed it is to be noted that the
Zenon us'd to say that he had two sorts of Disciples one that he call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 curious to learn things and these were his Favourites the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that cared for nothing but Words not that fine Speaking is not a very good and commendable Quality but not so excellent and so necessary as some would make it and I am scandaliz'd that our whole Life should be spent in nothing else I would first understand my own Language and that of my Neighbours with whom most of my Business and Conversation lies No doubt but Greek and Latin are very great Ornaments and of very great use but we buy them too dear I will here discover one way which also has been experimented in my own Person by which they are to be had better cheap and such may make use of it as will My Father having made the most precise Enquiry that any man could possibly make amongst Men of the greatest Learning and Judgment of an exact method of Education was by them caution'd of the Inconvenience then in use and made to believe that the tedious time we applyed to the learning of the Tongues of them who had them for nothing was the sole cause we could not arrive to that Grandeur of Soul and Perfection of Knowledge with the ancient Greeks and Romans I do not however believe that to be the only Cause but the Expedient my Father found out for this was that in my Infancy and before I began to speak he committed me to the care of a German The Author's Education who since died a famous Physician in France totally ignorant of our Language but very fluent and a great Critick in Latin This Man whom he had fetch'd out of his own Country and whom he entertained with a very great Salary for this only end had me continually in his Arms to whom there were also joyn'd two others of the same Nation but of inferiour Learning to attend me and sometimes to relieve him who all of them entertain'd me with no other Language but Latin As to the rest of his Family it was an inviolable Rule that neither Himself nor my Mother Man nor Maid should speak any thing in my Company but such Latin Words as every one had learnt only to gabble with me It is not to be imagin'd how great an advantage this prov'd to the whole Family my Father and my Mother by this means learning Latin enough to understand it perfectly well and to speak it to such a Degree as was sufficient for any necessary Use as also those of the Servants did who were most frequent with me To be short we did Latin it at such a Rate that it overflowed to all the Neighbouring Villages where there yet remain that have establish'd themselves by Custom several Latin Appellations of Artizans and their Tools As for what concerns my self I was above six years of Age before I understood either French or Perigordin any more than Arabick and without Art Book Grammar or Precept Whipping or the expence of a Tear had by that time learn'd to speak as pure Latin as my Master himself If for Example they were to give me a Theam after the College fashion they gave it to others in French but to me they were of necessity to give it in the worst Latin to turn it into that which was pure and good and Nicholas Grouchi who writ a Book de Comitiis Romanorum William Guirentes who has writ a Comment upon Aristotle George Bucanan that great Scotch Poet and Marcus Antonius Muretus whom both France and Italy have acknowledg'd for the best Orator of his time my domestick Tutors have all of them often told me that I had in my Infancy that Language so very fluent and ready that they were afraid to enter into Discourse with me and particularly Bucanan whom I since saw attending the late Mareschal de Brissac then told me that he was about to write a Treatise of Education the Example of which he intended to take from mine for he was then Tutor to that Count de Brissac who afterwards prov'd so valiant and so brave a Gentleman As to Greek of which I have but a very little Smattering my Father also design'd to have it taught me by a Trick but a new one and by way of sport tossing our Declensions to and fro after the manner of those who by certain Games at Tables and Chess learn Geometry and Arithmetick for he amongst other Rules had been advis'd to make me relish Science and Duty by an unforc'd Will and of my own voluntary motion and to educate my Soul in all Liberty and Delight without any Severity or Constraint Which also he was an Observer of to such a degree even of Superstition if I may say so that some being of Opinion it did trouble and disturb the Brains of Children suddenly to wake them in the Morning and to snatch them violently and over hastily from Sleep wherein they are much more profoundly envolv'd than we he only caus'd me to be wak'd by the Sound of some musical Instrument and was never unprovided of a Musician for that purpose by which Example you may judge of the rest this alone being sufficient to recommend both the Prudence and the Affection of so good a Father who therefore is not to be blam'd if he did not reap Fruits answerable to so exquisite a Culture of which two things were the cause First a steril and improper Soil for tho I was of a strong and healthful Constitution and of a Disposition tolerably sweet and tractable yet I was withal so heavy idle and indispos'd that they could not rouze me from this Stupidity to any Exercise of Recreation nor get me out to play What I saw I saw clearly enough and under this lazy Complexion nourish'd a bold Imagination and Opinions above my Age. I had a slothful Wit that would go no faster than it was led a slow Understanding a languishing Invention and after all incredible defect of Memory so that it is no wonder if from all these nothing considerable can be extracted Secondly like those who impatient of a long and steady cure submit to all sorts of Prescriptions and Receipts the good Man being extreamly timorous of any way failing in a thing he had so wholly set his Heart upon suffer'd himself at last to be over-rul'd by the common Opinion and complying with the method of the time having no more those Persons he had brought out of Italy and who had given him the first Model of Education about him he sent me at six Years of Age to the College of Guienne at that time the best and most flourishing in France And there it was not possible to add any thing to the care he had to provide me the most able Tutors with all other Circumstances of Education reserving also several particular Rules contrary to the College Practice but so it was that wit◠all these
in the spending or laying it up to his other more decent and quiet employments and that are more suitable both to his place and liking Plenty then and indigence depend upon the opinion every one has of them and Riches no more than Glory or Health have no more either Beauty or Pleasure than he is pleas'd to lend them by whom they are possest Every one is well or ill at ease according as he finds himself Not he whom the World believes but he who believes himself to be so is content and in him alone belief gives it self being and reality Fortune does us neither good nor hurt she only presents us the matter and the seed which our Soul more powerfully than she turns and applies as she best pleases being the sole cause and Soveraign Mistress of her own happy or unhappy condition All external accessions receive taste and Colour from the internal constitution as Cloaths warm us not with their Heat but our own which they are fit to cover and keep in and who would cover a cold body would do the same service for the Cold for so Snow and Ice are preserved And after the same manner that Study is a torment to a Truant abstinence from Wine to a good Fellow frugality to the Spend-thrift and exercise to a Lazy tender bred Fellow so it is of all the rest The things are not so painful and difficult of themselves but our weakness or cowardice makes them so To judge of great and high matters requires a suitable Soul otherwise we attribute the Vice to them which is really our own A straight Oar seems crooked in the Water It does not only import that we see the thing but how and after what manner we see it But after all this why amongst so many discourses that by so many arguments perswade Men to despise Death and to endure pain can we not find out one that makes for us And of so many sorts of imaginations as have so prevailed upon others as to perswade them to do so why does not every one apply some one to himself the most suitable to his own humour If he cannot away with a strong working Apozem to eradicate the Evil let him at least take a Lenitive to ease it Opinio est quaedam effeminata ac levis Cicero Tusâ— lib. 2. nec in dolore magis quam eadem in voluptate qua quam liquescimus fluimusque mollitia apis aculeum sine clamore ferre non possumus Totum in eo est ut tibi imperes There is a certain light and effeminate opinion and that not more in pain than it is even in pleasure it self by which whilst we rest and wallow in ease and wantonness we cannot endure so much as the stinging of a Bee without roaring All that lies in it is only this to command thy self As to the rest a Man does not transgress Philosophy by permitting the acrimony of pains and humane frailty to prevail so much above measure for they will at last be reduc'd to these invincible replies If it be ill to live in necessity at least there is no necessity upon a Man to live in necessity No Man continues ill long but by his own fault And who has neither the Courage to Die nor the Heart to Live who will neither resist nor fly what should a Man do to him CHAP. XLI Not to Communicate a Mans Honour OF all the Follies of the World that which is most universally receiv'd is the solicitude of Reputation and Glory which we are fond of to that degree as to abandon Riches Peace Life and Health which are effectual and substantial Goods to pursue this vain Phantome and empty word that has neither Body nor hold to be taken of it Tasso Canto 10. La fama ch' invaghisce a un dolce suono Gli superbi mortali par ' si bella Eun echo un Sogno andzi d'un Sogno un ' ombra Cb ' ad ogni vento si dilegua sgombra Honour that with such an alluring sound Proud Mortals Charms and does appear so fair An Echo Dream shade of a Dream is found Disperst abroad by every breath of Air. And of all the irrational humours of Men it should seem that even the Philosophers themselves have the most ado and do the latest disengage themselves from this as the most resty and obstinate of all humane Follies Quia etiam bene proficientes animos tentare non cessat Aug. de Civit. Dei Because it ceases not to attack even the wisest and best letter'd minds There is not any one Vice of which reason does so clearly accuse the Vanity as of that but it is so deeply rcoted in us that I dare not determine whether any one ever clearly sequestred himself from it or no. After you have said all and believed all has been said to its prejudice it creates so intestine an inclination in opposition to your best Arguments that you have little power and constancy to resist it for as Cicero says even those who most controvert it would yet that the Books they write should visit the light under their own Names and seek to derive Glory from seeming to despise it All other things are communicable and fall into Commerce we lend our Goods and stake our Lives for the necessity and service of our Friends but to Communicate a Man's Honour and to Robe another with a Man 's own Glory is very rarely seen And yet we have some examples of that kind Catulus Luctatius in the Cymbrian War having done all that in him lay to make his flying Souldiers face about upon the Enemy ran himself at last away with the rest and counterfeited the Coward to the end his Men might rather seem to follow their Captain than to fly from the Enemy which was to abandon his own reputation to palliate the shame of others When Charles the Fifth came into Provence in the Year 1537 't is said that Antonio de Leva seeing the Emperour positively resolv'd upon this Expedition and believing it would redound very much to his honour did nevertheless very stiffly oppose it in the Council to the end that the entire glory of that Resolution should be attributed to his Master and that it might be said his own Wisdom and foresight had been such as that contrary to the opinion of all he had brought about so great and so generous an Enterprize which was to do him Honour at his own Expence The Thracian Embassadors coming to comfort Archileonida the Mother of Brasidas upon the death of her Son and commending his to that height as to say he had not left his like behind him she rejected this private and particular commendation to attribute it to the publick Tell me not that said she I know the City of Sparta has several Citizens both greater and of greater Valour than he In the Battel of Cressy the Prince of Wales being then very young had the Vantguard committed to
Opinion espoused to the expence of Life 406 Opinion gives value to things 424 Opinion of Pain 434 Opinions concerning good and Evil. 401 Oracles ceased before the coming of Jesus Christ 57 Osorius Historian 407 Over study spoils good Humour 387 Ovid's Metamorphosis 272 P PAin the last Evil. 410 Pain principally fear'd in Death 412 Pain the worst accident of our being 413 Pain suffer'd with impatience 414 Pain of child bearing 417 Pain endured at the expence of Life Ibid. Pain endured with obstinacy 418 Pain voluntarily endured to get Credit 420 Painting 180 Palate Science 519 Parly's time dangerous 37 Part acted by the Author in a Play 274 Parthians perform all they have to do on Horseback 490 Passions of the Soul steal the Pleasure of external conveniences 448 Peasants and Philosophers 530 Pedants despised 193 Pedant's pleasant answer 260 Pedantry contemptible 191 Peers Ecclesiastical oblig'd to assist the King in War 438 Penitence requires Penance 41 People going always bare-foot 356 Perfumes Exotick 531 Person belov'd preferr'd to the Lover 292 Perturbations how far allowed by the Stoicks to their Philosophers 68 Phalarica what sort of Arms. 493 Philosophers despised 192 Philosophy consists in Practice 258 Philosophy and her Study 92 Philosophy what is according to Plato 227 Philosophy rules humane actions 239 Philosophy despised with Men of understanding 243. Philosophy instructs Infancy 248 Philosophy formatrix of Iudgment and Manners 252 Philosophy banish'd out of the Holy Schools 445 Philosophical Qualities in Youth 233 Pity reputed a vice amongst the Stoicks 3 Place not tenible by the rules of War 72 Place of honour amongst the Ancients 507 Plato true Philosopher 258 Plato Sirnam'd Divine 521 Plato's belief injurious to the Gods 537 Plays acted by Princes 275 Plays of Children 147 Pleasures of Matrimony 310 Pleasures wheedle and caress to Strangle 387 Plenty and Indigence depend upon Opinion 443 Pliny's Judgment 280 Plutarch's Lives 235 Plutarch's Elegy 236 Poesie and its effects 213 Poesie recommended to Youth 255 Poesie above Rules and Reason 364 Poesie of the Ancients 526 Poesie of several Sorâ—â— 530 Poesie Gay 307 Poets and Rhimers 263 Poets Lyricks 249 Poets in greater number than Judges of Poesie 363 Poetick Raptures 180 Politicks of Lypsius 218 Pompey pardons a whole City on the acount of Zeno's Vertue 6 Pompey's Head presented to Caesar 366 Pompey's engagement with Caesar 482 Poor in the midst of Riches 427 Possession what it is 428 Poverty to be fear'd 413 Poverty sought after 4â—4 Praises of great Men. 394 Praises rejected 437 Prayer dictated to us from the mouth of God how to be used by us 536 Prayers in Secret 548 Prayers vain 546 Prayers Religious reconciling of our Selves to God can't enter into an impure Soul Ibid. Prayers and Supplications overcome Men. 4 Preparation to Death Necessary 105 Presumption 279 Princes advantage as common with Men of mean condition 456 Princes ought to despise Silks and Gold 458 Prisoners how used by the Barbarians 328 Prisoners constant resolution 335 Production of all things 323 Profit of one Man a loss to another 142 Prognostications vain and superstitious 60 Prognostications abolish'd by Christian Religion 58 Prophets and Priests punished for their false Saying 327 Psalms of David indiscreet use of them Interdicted 540 Pyrrhus's Head presented to Antigonus 366 Pyrrhus's Ambition 456 Python's great Courage 5 Q QValities required in an Historian 321 Qualities misbecoming Merit and Condition 393 R RAshness in Judgment 277 Reading of History 235 Reason Human. 151 Recommendation from whence proceeds 526 Recreation fit for Youth 253 Regulus ' s Parsimony 522 Relicks of St. Hilary 28 Relicks of Gervase and Protasius Ibid. Religion Christian needs not the Authority of Events 340 Repartee of a French Gentleman 150 Repentance 539 Reproaches against the enemy allowed in a Seige 480 Reputation forsaken 436 Respects due to the Royalty not to the King 454 Resolution and Constancy 65 Revenge against inanimated Creatures 29 Revenge of a King against God Ibid. Revenge of Augustus against Neptunus 30 Revenge of Thraces against Heaven Ibid. Revenge desired 47 Rhetrick a Lying and deceitful Art 517 Rhetrick useless and pernicious 517 Rich Man who is that 424 Riches contempt 157 Riches Illuminated by Prudence 430 Riding good for the Stomach 490 Rivers obnoxious to changes 319 Romances 272 S SAbinus ' s Life 417 Sacrifices of Human Bodies 315 Sadles or Pads 496 Sallets according to their Seasons 519 Sancho King of Navarre Sirnamed Trembling 527 Savages 322 Savage ' s Policy 324 Sawces 519 Scanderbeg Prince of Epirus 2 Scaevola ' s Constancy 418 Scepter heavy Burthen 449 Schools and Classes 254 School-masters how ought to behave themselves in Teaching their Scholars 222 Science softens the Courage 211 Science of a marvellous use 220 Science Steril 388 Scipio's confidence to a Barbarian 184 Scipio's great Acts due in part to Laelius 438 Scythians declining a Battle 66 Secret faithfully kept 41 Self murther 314 Senses judge of Pain 411 Sentiments of Beasts free and natural 415 Servitude voluntary 284 Severity of the Colleges 254 Severity enemy to Education 253 Severus spoke best ex Tempore 56 Shame causes Death 12 Shrine of St. Stephen 281 Silence and Modesty 230 Silk ouâ— of Fashion in France 454 Sire what Title 527 Sirnames glorious amongst the Ancients 521 Sirname of Great to Princes 522 Slings 494 Smell Good and Bad. 532 Smell simple and natural 533 Snows storms in Armenia 358 Snow used to cool Wine 506 Society of bad Men unfortunate 372 Socrates his Daemon 64 Solicitude of Reputation and Glory 435 Solitude what is 376 Solitary Life preferr'd to a voluptuâ—s way of Living 343 Solitude has the best pretence in those that have employed their flourishing Age in the Worldâ— Service 380 Solitude sought after on the Account of Devotion 385 Solitude obnoxious to Miscarriages 391 Sorrow called by the Italians Malignity 8 Sorrow hurtful to Men. Ibid. Sorrow Silences Men. 9 Sorrow proceeding from Love can't be Represented 10 Sorrow strikes Men dumb and Dead 11 Sovereign 524 Soul has not Settled limits 43 Soul looking upon things several ways 370 Soul is where she is busied 374 Souls fit for solitude and Retirement 381 Soul variable into all sorts of Forms 415 Soul the sole cause of her Condition 433 Soul discovered in all Motion 512 Soul colours things as she pleases 313 Soul ought to be pure at Prayer time 537 Sounding from whence proceeds 125 Spanish Body 420 Speaking fine 267 Spectacles profitable to the Society 275 Speech fit for Pleaders 54 Speech fit for Preachers Ibid. Stoick ' s State 69 Stoick's did allow to feed upon Carcases 330 Stories 396 Stratagems in War contrary to the Eldest Senatorâ— Practice 31 Study excessive hinders the Action of the Mind 192 Study and its advantages 226 Subjection Real and Effectual 454 Submission mollifies the Heart 1 Subtilties of Logick abuse 249 Suit of Arms under a Religious habit 421 Surprizes in War 33 Suspicion breeds jealously 183 Sweetness of
yet much greater in Action And as it is said of the Geometrician of Syracusa Archimedes who having been disturb'd from his Contemplation to put some of his Skill in Practice for the Defence of his Country that he suddenly set on foot dreadful and prodigious Engines and that wrought Effects beyond all humane expectation himself notwithstanding disdain'd his own handy-work thinking in this he had play'd the Mechanick and violated the Dignity of his Art of which these Performances of his though so highly cry'd up by the Publick Voice he accounted but trivial Experiments and inferiour Models so they whenever they have been put upon the Proof of Action have been seen to fly to so high a Pitch as made it very well appear their Souls were strangely elevated and enrich'd with the Knowledge of Things But some of them seeing the Reins of Government in the hands of ignorant and unskilful Men have avoided all Places and Interest in the Management of Affairs and he who demanded of Crates How long it was necessary to Philosophize receiv'd this Answer Till our Armies said he are no more commanded by Fools and Coxcombs Heraclitus resign'd the Royalty to his Brother and to the Ephesians who reproach'd him that he spent his time in playing with Boys before the Temple Is it not better said he to do so than to sit at the Helm of Affairs in your Company Others having their Imagination advanc'd above the thoughts of the World and Fortune have look'd upon the Tribunals of Justice and even the Thrones of Kings with an Eye of Contempt and Scorn insomuch that Empedocles refus'd the Royalty that the Agrigentines offer'd to him Thales once inveighing in Discourse against the Pains and Care Men put themselves to to become rich was answer'd by one in the Company that he did like the Fox who found fault with what he could not obtain Whereupon he had a mind for the Jest 's sake to shew them to the contrary and having upon this Occasion for once made a muster of all his Wits wholly to employ them in the Service of profit he set a Traffick on foot which in one Year brought him in so great Riches that the most experienc'd in that Trade could hardly in their whole Lives with all their Industry have rak'd so much together That which Aristotle reports of some who said of him Anaxagoras and others of their Profession that they were wise but not prudent in not applying their Study to more profitable things though I do not well digest this nice Distinction that will not however serve to excuse my Pedantick sort of Men for to see the low and necessitous Fortune wherewith they are content we have rather Reason to pronounce that they are neither wise nor prudent But letting this first Reason alone I think it better to say that this Inconvenience proceeds from their applying themselves the wrong way to the Study of Sciences and that after the manner we are instructed it is no wonder if neither the Scholars nor the Masters become though more learned ever the wiser or more fit for Business In plain Truth the Cares and Expence our Parents are at in out Education point at nothing but to furnish our Heads with Knowledge but not a Word of Judgment and Vertue Cry out of one that passes by to the People O what a Learned and of another O what a good man goes there they will not fail to turn their Eyes and address their Respect to the former There should then be a third Cryer O the Puppies and Coxcombs Men are apâ— presently to enquire Does such a one understand Greek Is he a Critick in Latine Is he a Poet or does he only pretend to Prose But whether he be grown better or more discreet which are Qualities of greater Value and Concern those are never enquir'd into whereas we should rather examine who is better learned than who is more learned We only toil and Labour to stuff the Memory and in the mean time leave the Conscience and the Understanding unfurnish'd and void And like Birds who fly abroad to forage for Grain bring it home in the Beak without tasting it themselves to feed their Young so our Pedants go picking Knowledge here and there out of several Authors and hold it at the Tongues end only to spit it out and distribute it amongst their Pupils And here I cannot but smile to think how I have paid my self in shewing the Foppery of this kind of Learning who my self am so manifest an Example for do I not the same thing throughout almost this whole Treatise I go here and there culling out of several Books the Sentences that best please me not to keep them for I have no Memory to retain them in but to transplant them into this where to say the Truth they are no more mine than in their first Places We are I conceive knowing only in present Knowledge and not at all in what is past no more than in that which is to come But the worst on 't is their Scholars and Pupils are no better nourish'd by this kind of Inspiration nor it makes no deeper Impression upon them than the other but passes from hand to hand only to make a shew to be tolerable Company and to tell pretty Stories like a counterfeit Coyn in Counters of no other use nor value but to reckon with or to set up at Cards Seneca Epist 105. Apud alios loqui didicerunt non ipsi secum Non est loquendum sed gubernandum They have learn'd to speak from others not from themselves Speaking is not so necessary as Governing Nature to shew that there is nothing barbarous where she has the sole Command does ostentimes in Nations where Art has the least to do cause productions of Wit such as may rival the greatest Effects of Art whatever As in relation to what I am now speaking of the Gascon Proverb deriv'd from a Corn-pipe is very quaint and subtle Bouha prou bouha mas a remuda lous dits qu'em You may blow till your Eyes start out but if once you offer to stir your Fingers you will be at the end of your Lesson We can say Cicero says thus that these were the Manners of Plato and that these are the very Words of Aristotle but what do we say our selves that is our own What do we do What do we judge A Parrot would say as much as that And this kind of Talking puts me in mind of that rich Gentleman of Rome who had been sollicitous with very great Expence to procure Men that were excellent in all sorts of Science which he had always attending his Person to the end that when amongst his Friends any occasion fell out of speaking of any Subject whatsoever they might supply his Place and be ready to prompt him one with a Sentence of Seneca another with a Verse of Homer and so forth every one according to his Talent and he fansied this Knowledge to
the score of health and to Inure us to the Injuries of Weather than upon the account of Reverence And since we are now talking of Cold and French men us'd to wear variety of Colours not I my self for I seldom wear other than Black or White in Imitation of my Father let us add another Story of Captain Martin du Bellay who affirms that in the Voyage of Luxemburg he saw so great Frosts that the Ammunition Wine was cut with Hatchets and Wedges was deliver'd out to the Souldiers by Weight and that they carried it away in Baskets and Ovid Ovid. Trist l. 3. El. 12. Nudaque consistunt formam servantia testae Vina nec hausta meri sed data frusta bibunt The Wine Stript of its Cask retains the Figure still Nor do they Draughts but Crusts of Bacchus swill At the Mouth of the Lake Moeotis the Frosts are so very sharp that in the very same place where Mithridates his Lieutenant had Fought the Enemy dry-foot and given them a notable Defeat the Summer following he obtain'd over them a Famous Naval Victory The Romans Fought at a very great disadvantage in the Engagement they had with the Carthaginians near Placentia by reason that they went on to Charge with their Blood fix'd and their Limbs Numb'd with Cold whereas Hannihal had caus'd great Fires to be dispers'd quite through his Camp to warm his Souldiers and Oil to be distributed amongst them to the end that Anointing themselves they might render their Nerves more Supple and Active and sortifie the Pores against the violence of the Air and Freezing Wind that Rag'd in that Season The Retreat the Greeks made from Babylon into their own Country is Famous for the Difficulties and Calamities they had to overcome Of which this was one that being Encounter'd in the Mountains of Armenia with a horrible Storm of Snow they lost all knowledge of the Country and of the ways and being driven up were a Day and a Night without Eating or Drinking most of their Cattel died many of themselves Starved Dead several struck Blind with the driving and the glittering of the Snow many of them Maim'd in their Fingers and Toes and many Stiff and Motionless with the extremity of the Cold who had yet their Understanding entire Alexander saw a Nation where they Bury the Fruit-Trees is Winter to defend them from being destroy'd by the Frost and we also may see the same But concerning Cloaths the King of Mexico chang'd four times a Day his Apparel and never put them on more employing those he left off in his continual Liberalities and Rewards as also neither Pot Dish nor other Utensil of his Kitchen or Table was ever serv'd in Twice CHAP. XXXVI Of Cato the Younger I Am not guilty of the Common Errour of judging another by my self I easily believe that in anothers Humour that is contrary to my own and though I find my self engag'd to one certain Form I do not oblige others to it as many do but believe and apprehend a Thousand ways of Living and contrary to most Men more easily admit of Differences than Uniformity amongst us I as frankly as any one would have me discharge a Man from my Humours and Principles and consider him according to his own particular Model Though I am not continent my self I nevertheless sincerely Love and approve the Continency of the Capuchins and other Religious Orders and highly commend their way of Living I insinuate my self by imagination into their Place and Love and Honour them the more for being other than I am I very much desire that we may be Censur'd every Man by himself and would not be drawn in to the consequence of common Examples My Weakness does nothing alter the Esteem I ought to have of the force and vigour of those who deserve it Sunt qui nihil suadent quam quod se imitari posse confidunt Cicero de Or. ad There are who persuade nothing but what they believe they can imitate themselves Crawling upon the Slime of the Earth I do not for all that cease to Observe up in the Clouds the inimitable height of some Heroick Souls 't is a great deal for me to have my Judgment regular and right if the effects cannot be so and to maintain this Soveraign part at least free from Corruption 't is something to have my Will right and good where my Legs fail me This Age wherein we Live in our part of the World at least is grown so stupid that not only Exercise but the very Imagination of Vertue is defective and seems to be no other but College-Fashion Hâ—race Ep. 6. l. 1. Virtutem verba putant ut Lucum ligna Words finely couch'd these Men for Vertue take As if each Wood a Sacred Grove could make Quam vereri deberent etiam si percipere non possent Which they ought to Reverence Cicero Tus 1. though they cannot Comprehend 'T is a Gew-gaw to hang in a Cabinet or at the end of the Tongue as on the tip of the Ear for Ornament only There is no more Vertuous Actions exstant and those Actions that carry a shew of Vertue have yet nothing of its Essence by reason that Profit Glory Fear and Custom and other such like foreign Causes put us in the way to produce them Our Justice also Valour and good Offices may then be call'd so too in respect to others and according to the face they appear with to the Publick but in the doer it can by no means be Vertue because there is another end propos'd another moving cause Now vertue owns nothing to be hers but what is done by her self and for her self alone In that great Battel of Potidaea that the Greeks under the Command of Pausanias obtain'd against Mardonius and the Persians the Conquerours according to their Custom coming to divide amongst them the Glory of the Exploit they attributed to the Spartan Nation the Preheminence of Valour in this Engagement The Spartans great Judges of Vertue when they came to determine to what particular Man of their Nation the Honour was due of having the best Behav'd himself upon this occasion found that Aristodemus had of all others hazarded his Person with the greatest Bravery but did not however allow him any Prize or Reward by reason that his Vertue had been incited by a desire to clear his Reputation from the Reproach of his Miscarriage at the Business of Thermopylae and with a desire to Die Bravely to wipe off that former Blemish Our Judgments are yet sick and Obey the Humour of our deprav'd Manners I Observe most of the Wits of these Times pretend to Ingenuity by endeavouring to blemish and to darken the Glory of the Bravest and most Generous Actions of former Ages putting one Vile Interpretation or another upon them and forging and supposing vain Causes and Motives for those Noble things they did A mighty subtilty indeed Give me the greatest and most unblemish'd
Manly Ornament The Sages tell us that as to what concerns Knowledge there is nothing but Philosophy and to what concerns effects nothing but vertue that is generally proper to all Degrees and to all orders There is something like this in these two other Philosophers for they also promise Eternity to the Letters they Write to their Friends but 't is after another manner and by accommodating themselves for a good end to the vanity of another for they Write to them that if the concern of making themselves known to future Ages and the Thirst of Glory do yet detain them in the management of publick affairs and make them fear the Solitude and Retirement to which they would persuade them let them never trouble themselves more about it forasmuch as they shall have Credit enough with Posterity to assure them that were there nothing else but the very Letters thus Writ to them those Letters will render their names as known and famous as their own publick actions themselves could do And besides this difference these are not Idle and empty Letters that contain nothing but a fine Gingle of well chosen Words and fine Couch'd Phrases but rather repleat and abounding with Grave and Learn'd Discourses by which a Man may render himself not more Eloquent but more Wise and that instruct us not to speak but to do well A way with that Eloquence that so enchants us with its Harmony that we should more Study it than things Unless you will allow that of Cicero to be of so Supream a perfection as to form a compleat Body of it self And of him I shall further add one Story we read of him to this purpose wherein his nature will much more manifestly be laid open to us He was to make an Oration in publick and found himself a little straitned in time to fit his Words to his Mouth as he had a mind to do when Eros one of his Slaves brought him word that the audience was deferr'd till the next Day at which he was so ravish'd with Joy that he enfranchis'd him for the good news Upon this Subject of Letters I will add this more to what has been already said that it is a kind of Writing wherein my Friends think I can do something and I am willing to confess I should rather have chose to publish my Whimsies that way than any other had I had to whom to Write but I wanted such a settled Corrsepondency as I once had to attract me to it to raise my Fancy and maintain the rest against me For to Traffick with the Wind as some others have done and to Forge vain Names to direct my Letters to in a serious subject I could never do it but in a Dream being a sworn Enemy to all manner of falsification I should have been more diligent and more confidently secure had I had a Judicious and Indulgent Friend to whom to address than thus to expose my self to various judgments of a whole People and I am deceiv'd if I had not succeeded better I have naturally a Comick and familiar Stile but it is a peculiar one and not proper for Publick business but like the Language I speak too Compact Irregular Abrupt and Singular and as to Letters of Ceremony that have no other substance than a fine contexture of courteous and obliging Words I am wholly to seek I have neither faculty nor relish for those tedious offers of Service and Affection I am not good natur'd to that degree and should not forgive my self should I offer more than I intend which is very remote from the present practice for there never was so abject and servile prostitution of tenders of Life Soul Devotion Adoration Vassal Slave and I cannot tell what as now all which expressions are so commonly and so indifferently Posted to and fro by every one and to every one that when they would profess a greater and more respective inclination upon more just occasions they have not where-withal to express it I hate all air of Flattery to Death which is the cause that I naturally fall into a Shy Rough and Crude way of speaking that to such as do not know me may seem a little to relish of disdain I Honour those most to whom I shew the least Honour and Respect and where my Soul moves with the greatest Cheerfulness I easily forget the Ceremonies of Look and Gesture I offer my self Faintly and Bluntly to them whose I effectually am and tender my self the least to him to whom I am the most devoted Methinks they should read it in my Heart and that my expression would but injure the Love I have conceived within To Welcome take Leave give Thanks Accost offer my Service and such verbal Formalities as the Laws of our modern civility enjoyn I know no Man so stupidly unprovided of Language as my self And have never been employ'd in Writing Letters of Favour and Recommendation that he in whose behalf it was did not think my mediation Cold and Imperfect The Italians are great Printers of Letters I do believe I have at least an hundred several Volumes of them of all which those of Hannibal Caro seem to me to be the best If all the Paper I have Scribled to the Ladies all the time when my Hand was really prompted by my Passion were now in being there might Peradventure be found a Page worthy to be communicated to our young enamorato's that are Besotted with that Fury I always Write my Letters Post and so precipitously that though I Write an intolerable ill Hand I rather choose to do it my self than to imploy another for I can find none able to follow me and never transcribe any but have accustomed the great ones that know me to endure my Blots and Dashes and upon Paper without Fold or Margent Those that cost me the most Pains are the worst of mine when I once begin to draw it in by Head and Shoulders 't is a sign that I am not there I fall too without premeditation or design the first word begets the second and so to the end of the Chapter The Letters of this Age consist more in fine Foldings and Prefaces than matter whereas I had rather Write two Letters than Close and Fold up one and always assign that employment to some other as also when the business of my Letter is dispatch'd I would with all my heart transferr it to another Hand to add those long Harangues Offers and Prayers that we place at the Bottom and should be glad that some new custom would discharge us of that unnecessary trouble as also of superscribing them with a long Ribble-row of Qualities and Titles which for fear of mistakes I have several times given over Writing aâ—d especially to Men of the long Robe There are so many innovations of Offices that 't is hard to place so many Titles of Honour in their proper and due order which also being so dearly bought they are neither to be
haunted his House with a little Earth of the Sepulchre of our Lord which Earth being also transported thence into the Church a Paralytick to have there been suddenly cur'd by it A Woman in Procession having touch'd St. Stephen's Shrine with a Nosegay and after rubbing her Eyes with it to have recovered her Sight lost many Years before with several other Miracles of which he professes himself to have been an Eye-Witness Of what shall we accuse him and the two Holy Bishops Aurelius and Maximinus both which he attests to the Truth of these things Shall it be of Ignarance Simplicity and Facility or of Malice and imposture Is any Man now living so impudent as to think himself comparable to them Ciciro 2. de Div. l. 2. either in Virtue Piety Learning Judgment or any kind of Perfection Qui ut Rationem nullam afferent ipsa Authoritate me frangerent Who though they should give me no Reason for what they affirm would yet convince me with their Authority 'T is a Presumption of great Danger and Consequence besides the absurd Temerity it draws after it to contemn what we do not comprehend For after that according to your fine Understanding you have establish'd the Limits of Truth and Error and that afterwards there appears a Necessity upon you of believing stranger things than those you have contradicted you are already oblig'd to quit your hold and to aquiesce That which seems to me so much to disorder our Consciences in the Commotions we are now in concerning Religion is the Catholicks dispensing so much with their Belief they fansie they appear Moderate and Wise when they grant to the Huguenots some of the Articles in Question but besides that they do not discern what advantage it is to those with whom we contend to begin to give Ground and to retire and how much this animates our Enemy to follow his blow these Articles which they insist upon as things indifferent are sometimes of very great importance and dangerous Consequence We are either wholly and absolutely to submit our selves to the Authority of our Ecclesiastical Polity or totally throw off all Obedience to it 'T is not for us to determine what and how much Obedience we owe to it and this I can say as having my self made trial of it that having formerly taken the liberty of my own Swing and Fancy and omitted or neglected certain Rules of the Discipline of our Church which seem'd to me vain and of no Foundation coming afterwards to discourse it with learned Men I have found those very things to be built upon very good and solid Ground and strong Foundation and that nothing but Brutality and Ignorance make us Receive them with less Reverence than the rest Why do we not consider what Contradictions we find in our own Judgments how many things were yesterday Articles of our Faith that to day appear no other than Fables Glory and Curiosity are the Scourges of the Soul of which the last prompts us to thrust our Noses into every thing and the other forbids us to leave any thing doubtful and undecided CHAP. XXVII Of Friendship HAving considered the Fancy of a Painter I have that serves me I had a mind to imitate his way For he chooses the fairest Place and middle of any Wall or pannel of Wainscote wherein to draw a Picture which he finishes with his utmost Care and Art and the vacuity about it he fills with Gratesque which are odd Fantastick Figures without any Grace but what they derive from their variety and the extravagancy of their Shapes And in truth what are these things I scribble other than Grotesques and monstrous Bodies made of dissenting parts without any certain Figure or any other than accidental Order Coherence or Proportion Hor. de Art Poetica Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne That a fair Woman's Face above doth show But in a Fishes Tail doth end below In the second part I go Hand in Hand with my Painter but fall very short of him in the first and the better my power of handling not being such that I dare to offer at a brave piece finely painted and set off according to Art I have therefore thought fit to borrow one of Estienno de Boitic and such a one as shall honour and adorn all the rest of my work namely a Discourse that he called The Voluntary Servitude a piece writ in his younger Years by way of Essay in honour of Liberty against Tyrants and which has since run through the hands of several Men of great Learning and Judgment not without singular and merited commendation for it is finely writ and as full as any thing can possibly be Though a Man may confidently say it is far short of what he was able to do and if in that more mature Age wherein I had the happiness to know him he had taken a design like this of mine to commit his thoughts to writing we should have seen a great many rare things and such as would have gone very near to have rival'd the best Writings of Antiquity For in Natural parts especially I know no man comparable to him But he has left nothing behind him save this Treatise only and that too by chance for I believe he never saw it after it first went out of his hands and some Observations upon that Edict of January made Famous by our Civil Wars which also shall elsewhere peradventure find a place These were all I could recover of his Remains I to whom with so affectionate a remembrance upon his Death-bed he by his last Will bequeath'd his Library and Papers the little Book of his Works only excepted which I committed to the press And this particular obligation I have to this Treatise of his that it was the occasion of my first coming acquainted with him for it was shew'd to me long before I had the good fortune to know him and gave me the first knowledge of his name proving so the first cause and foundation of a Friendship which we afterward improv'd and maintain'd so long as God was pleas'd to continue us together so perfect inviolate and entire that certainly the like is hardly to be found in Story and amongst the Men of this Age there is no sign nor trace of any such thing in use so much concurrence is requir'd to the building of such a one that 't is much if Fortune bring it but once to pass in three Ages There is nothing to which Nature seems so much to have enclin'd us as to Society and Aristotle says that the good Legislators had more respect to Friendship than to Justice Now the most supream point of its perfection is this Perfect Friendship what for generally all those that Pleasure Profit Publick or Private Interest Create and Nourish are so much the less Generous and so much the less Friendships by how much they mix another cause and design than simple and pure Friendship it self Neither
do the four Ancient Kinds Natural Sociable Hospitable and Venerean either separately or jointly make up a true and perfect Friendship That of Children to Parents is rather respect Friendship being nourisht by Communication which cannot by reason of the great disparity be betwixt them but would rather perhaps violate the Duties of Nature for neither are all the secret thoughts of Fathers fit to be communicated to Children lest it beget an indecent familiarity betwixt them neither can the advices and reproofs which is one of the principal offices of Friendship be properly perform'd by the Son to the Father There are some Countries where 't is the Custom for Children to kill their Fathers and others where the Fathers kill'd their Children to avoid being sometimes an impediment to one another in their designs and moreover the Expectation of the one does naturally depend upon the ruine of the other There have been great Philosophers who have made nothing of this tie of Nature as Aristippus for one who being prest home about the affection he ow'd to his Children as being come out of him presently fell to spit saying that that also came out of him and that he did also breed Worms and Lice and that other that Plutarch endeavoured to reconcile to his Brother I make never the more account of him said he for coming out of the same hole This name of Brother does indeed carry with it an amicable and affectionate sound and for that reason he and I call'd Brothers but the complication of interest the division of Estates and that the raising of the one should be the undoing of the other does strangely unnerve and slacken this fraternal tie And Brothers pursuing their Fortune and Advancement by the same Path 't is hardly possible but they must of necessity often justle and hinder one another Besides why is it necessary that the correspondence of Manners Parts and Inclinations which beget these true and perfect Friendships should always meet and concurr in these relations The Father and the Son may be of quite contrary humours and Brothers without any manner of Sympathy in their Natures He is my Son he is my Brother or he and I are Cousin-germans but he is Passionate ill Natur'd or a Fool. And moreover by how much these are Friendships that the Law and Natural Obligation impose upon us so much less is there of our own choice and voluntary freedom Whereas that voluntary liberty of ours has nothing but that of Affection and Friendship properly its own Not that I have not in my own person experimented all can possibly be expected of that kind having had the best and most indulgent Father even to an extream old Age that ever was and who was himself descended from a Family for many Generations Famous and Exemplary for Brotherly Concord Horat. l. 2. Ode 2. Et ipse Notus in fratres animi Paterni And he himself noted the rest above Towards his Brothers for paternal Love We are not here to bring the Love we beat to Women though it be an Act of our own Choice into comparison nor rank it with the others the Fire of which I confess Catullus Neque enim est Dea nescia nostri Quae dulcem curis miscet amaritiem Nor is my Goddess ign'rant what I am Who pleasing Sorrows mixes with my Flame is more active more eager and more sharp but withal 't is more precipitous fickle moving and inconstant a Fever subject to Intermission and Paroxisms that has seiz'd but on one part one corner of the Building whereas in Frindship 't is a general and universal Fire but temperate and equal a constant establish'd heat all easie and smooth without poynancy or roughness Moreover in Love 't is no other than Frantick Desire to that which flies from us Ariosto Canto 10. Com segue la lepre ill cacciatore Al freddo al caldo alla montagna al litto Ne piu l'estima poi che presa vede Et sol dietro a chi fugge affretta il piede Like Hunters that the flying Hare pursue O'er Hill and dale through Heat and Morning Dew Which being ta'en the Quarry they despise Being only pleas'd in following that which flies So soon as ever they enter into terms of Friendship that is to say into a concurrence of Desires it vanishes and iâ— gone fruition destroys it as having only a fleshly end and such a one as is subject to Satiety Friendship on the contrary is enjoy'd proportionably as it is desiâ—'d and only grows up is nourisht and improves by enjoyment as being of it self Spiritual and the Soul growing still more perfect by practice Under and subsellious to this perfect Friendship I cannot deny but that the other vain Affections have in my younger Years found some place in my thoughts that I may say nothing of him who himself confesses but too much in his Verses So that I had both these Passions but always so that I could my self well enough distinguish them and never in any degree of comparison with one another The first maintaining its flight in so lofty and so brave a place as with disdain to look down and see the other flying at a far humbler pitch below As concerning Marriage besides that it is a Covenant the entrance into which is only free but the continuance in it forc'd and compell'd having another dependance than that of our own Free will and a Bargain commonly contracted to other ends there almost always happens a Thousand Intricacies in it to unravel enough to break the Thread and to divert the Current of a lively Affection whereas Friendship has no manner of Business or Traffick with any but it self Moreover to say truth the ordinary Talent of Women is not such as is sufficient to maintain the Conference and Communication required to the support of this Conjugal Tie nor do they appear to be endu'd with Constancy of Mind to endure the pinch of so hard and durable a Knot And doubtless if without this there could be such a free and voluntary familiarity contracted where not only the Souls might have this entire fruition but the Bodies also might share in the Alliance and a Man be engag'd throughout the Friendship would certainly be more full and perfect but it is without example that this Sex could ever arrive at such perfection and by the Ancient Schools is wholly rejected as also that other Grecian Licence is justly abhorr'd by our manners which also foâ— having according to their practice a so necessary disparity of Age and difference of Offices betwixt the Lovers hold no more proportion with the perfect Union and Harmony that we here require than the other Quis est enim iste amor amicitiae 〈◊〉 neque deformem adolescentem Cicero Tus lib. 4. quisquam 〈…〉 formosam senem For what is that Love of Friâ—ndship why does no one Love a deform'd Youth or a comely Old Man Neither will that very Picture that the
of losing the Battel Alexander Caesar and Lucullus lov'd to make themselves known in a Battel by Rich Furnitures and Arms of a particular Lustre and Colour Agis Agesilaus and that great Gilippus on the contrary us'd to Fight obscurely Armed and without any imperial attendance or distinction Amongst other oversights Pompey is charg'd withal at the Battle of Pharsalia he is condemned for making his Army stand still to receive the Enemies Charge by reason that I shall here steal Plutarch's own words that are better than mine he by so doing depriv'd himself of the violent impression the motion of running adds to the first shock of Arms and hindred the justle of the Combatants who were wont to give great impetuosity and fury to the first Encounter especially when this came to rush in with their utmost Vigour their Courages increasing by the Shouts and the Career rendering the Soldiers Animosity and Ardour as a Man may say more reserv'd and cold This is what he says But if Caesar had come by the worse why might it not as well have been urg'd by another that on the contrary the strongest and most steady posture of Fighting is that wherein a Man stands planted firm without motion and that who makes a halt upon their march closing up and reserving their force within themselves for the push of the business have a great advantage against those who are disordered and who have already spent half their breath in running on precipitously to the charge Besides that an Army being a Body made up of so many individual Members it is impossible for it to move in this fury with so exact a motion as not to break the order of Battel and that the best of Foot are not engag'd before their Fellows can come in to relieve them In that unnatural Battel betwixt the two Persian Brothers the Lacedaemonian Clearchus who commanded the Greeks of Cyrus's party led them on softly and without precipitation to the Charge but coming within fifty paces hurried them on full speed hoping in so short a Career both to look to their order to husband their breath and at the same time to give an advantage of violence and impression both to their persons and their missile Arms Others have regulated this question in charging thus if your Enemy come running upon you stand firm to receive him if he stand to receive you run full drive upon him In the Expedition of the Emperour Charles the Fifth into Provence King Francis was put to choose either to go meet him in Italy or to expect him in his own Dominions wherein though he very well considered of how great advantage it was to preserve his own Territories entire and clear from the troubles and inconveniences of the war to the end that being unexhausted of her stores it might continually supply Men and Money at need that the necessity of War requires at every turn to spoil and lay waste the Country before them which cannot very well be done upon ones own to which may be added that the Country people do not so easily digest such a havock by those of their own party as from an Enemy so that Seditions and Commotions might by such means be kindled amongst us that the Licence of Pillage and Plunder which are not to be tolerated at home is a great ease and refreshment against the fatigues and sufferings of War and that he who has no other prospect of gain than his bare pay will hardly be kept from running home being but two steps from his Wife and his own House That he who lays the Cloth is ever at the charge of the Feast That there is more Alacrity in assaulting than defending and that the shock of a Battels loss in our own Bowels is so violent as to endanger the disjointing of the whole Body there being no passion so contagious as that of fear that is so easily believ'd or that so suddenly diffuses its Poison and that the Cities that should hear the Rattle of this Tempest that should take in their Captains and Souldiers yet trembling and out of breath would be in danger in this heat and hurry to precipitate themselves upon some untoward resolution Notwithstanding all this so it was that he chose to recall the Forces he had beyond the Mountains and to suffer the Enemy to come to him For he might on the other side imagine that being at home and amongst his Friends he could not fail of plenty of all manner of conveniences the Rivers and Passes he had at his Devotion would bring him in both Provisions and Money in all security and without the trouble of Convoy that he should find his subjects by so much the more affectionate to him by how much their danger was more near and pressing that having so many Cities and stops to secure him it would be in his power to give the Law of Battel at his own opportunity and best advantage and if it pleas'd him to delay the time that under covert and at his own ease he might see his Enemy founder and defeat himself with the difficulties he was certain to encounter being engag'd in an Enemies Country where before behind and on every side War would be made upon him no means to refresh himself or to enlarge his Quarters should Diseases infest them or to lodge his wounded Men in safety No Money no Victuals but all at the point of the Launce no leisure to repose and take breath no knowledge of the ways or Country to secure him from Ambushes and Surprizes And in case of losing a Battle no possible means of saving the remains Neither is there want of Example in both these cases Scipio thought it much better to go attack his Enemies Territories in Africk than to stay at home to defend his own and to Fight him in Italy and it succeeded well with him But on the contrary Hannibal in the same War ruin'd himself by abandoning the Conquest of a strange Country to go defend his own The Athenians having left the Enemy in their own Dominions to go over into Sicily were not savoured by Fortune in their design but Agathocles King of Syracuse found her favourable to him when he went over into Africk and left the War at home By which Examples and divers others we are wont to conclude and with some reason that events especially in War do for the most part depend upon Fortune who will not be govern'd by nor submit unto humane prudence according to the Poet. Manil. Astron lib. 4. Et male consult is praetium est prudentia fallax Nec fortuna probat causas sequitur que merentes Sed vaga per cunctos nullo discrimine fâ—rtur Scilicet est aliud quod nos cogatque regatque Majus in proprias ducat mortalia leges Prudence deceitful and uncertain is Ill Counsels sometimes hit where good ones miss Nor yet does Fortune the best Cause approve But wildly does without distinction Rove So that some
greater and more constant Cause Rules and Subjects us to more powerful Laws But if things hit right it should seem that our Counsels and Deliberations depend as much upon Fortune as any things else we do and that she engages our very Reason and Arguments in her uncertainty and confusion We Argue rashly and adventurously says Timaeus in Plato by reason that as well as our selves our Discourses have great participation with the Temerity of Chance CHAP. XLVIII Of Horses dress'd to the Menage call'd Destriers I Am now become a Grammarian I who never Learn'd any Language but by Rote and who do not yet know Adjective Conjunction or Ablative I think I have Read that the Romans had a sort of Horses by them call'd Funales or Dextrarios which were either Led-Horses or Horses laid in at several Stages to be taken fresh upon occasion and thence it is that we call our Horses of Service Destriers And our Romances commonly use the Phrase of destrer for accompagner to accompany They also call'd such as were dress'd in such sort that running full speed side by side without Bridle or Saddle the Roman Gentlemen Arm'd at all pieces would shift and throw themselves from the one to the other desutorios equos The Numidian Men at Arms had always a Led-Horse in one Hand besides that they Rode upon to change in the heat of Battel â—iv l. 23. Quibus desultorum in modum binos trahentibus equos inter accerrimam saepe pugnam in recentem equum ex fesso armatis transultare mos erat Tanta velocitas ipsis tamque docile equorum genus Whose use it was leading along two Horses after the manner of the Desultorum Arm'd as they were in the heat of Fight to vault from a tir'd Horse to a fresh one so Active were the Men and the Horses so Docile There are many Horses train'd up to help their Riders so as to run upon any one that appears with a drawn Sword to fall both with Mouth and Heels upon any that front or oppose them But it oft falls out that they do more harm to their Friends than their Enemies considering that you cannot loose them from their hold to reduce them again into order when they are once engag'd and grappled by which means you remain at the Mercy of their senselss Quarrel It hapned very ill to Artibius General of the Persian Army Fighting Man to Man with Onesilus King of Salamis to be Mounted upon a Horse drest after this manner it being the occasion of his Death the Squire of Onesilus cleaving him down with a Scyth betwixt the Shoulders as the Horse was rear'd up upon his Master And what the Italians report that in the Battel of Fornoue King Charles his Horse with Kicks and Plunges disengag'd his Master from the Enemy that prest upon him without which he had been Slain sounds odly and he ran a very great hazard and came strangely off if it be true The Mamalukes made their Boast that they had the most ready Horses of any Cavalry in the World that by nature and custom they were taught to know and distinguish the Enemy they were to fall foul upon with Mouth and Heels according to a Word or Sign given As also to gather up with their Teeth Darts and Launces scatter'd upon the Field and present them to their Riders as they should have occasion to use them 'T is said both of Caesar and Pompey that amongst other excellent Qualities they were Masters of they were both excellent Horsemen and particularly of Caesar that in his Youth being Mounted on the bare Back without Saddle or Bridle he could make him run stop and turn and perform all his Airs with his hands behind him As nature design'd to make of his Person and of Alexander two Miracles of Military Art so one would say she had done her utmost to Arm them after an extraordinary manner For every one knows that Alexander's Horse Bucephalus had a head enclining to the shape of a Bull that he would suffer himself to be Mounted and Govern'd by none but his Master and that he was so Honour'd after his Death as to have a City erected to his Name Caesar had also another who had Fore-feet like the Hands of a Man his Hoof being divided in the form of Fingers who likewise was not to be Ridden by any but Caesar himself who after his Death dedicated his Statue to the Goddess Venus I do not willingly alight when I am once on Horse-back for it is the place where whether well or sick I find my self most a ease Plato recommends it for health as also Pliny says it is good for the Stomach and the Joints We read in Xenophon a Law forbidding any one who was Master of a Horse to Travel on Foot Trogus and Justinus say That the Parthians were wont to perform all Offices and Ceremonies not only in War but also all Affairs whether publick or private make Bargains conferr entertain take the Air and all on Horse-back and that the greatest distinction betwixt Free-men and Slaves amongst them was that the one rode on Horse-back and the other went on Foot An Institution of which King Cyrus was the founder There are several Examples in the Roman History and Suetonius more particularly observes it of Caesar of Captains who in pressing occasions Commanded their Cavalry to alight both by that means to take from them all hopes of Flight as also for the advantage they hop'd for in this sort of Fight Quo haud dubie superat Romanus Wherein the Romans did questionless excel So says Livy Liv. l. 3. however the first thing they did to prevent the Mutinies and Insurrections of Nations of late Conquest was to take from them their Arms and Horses And therefore it is that we so often meet in Caesar Caesars Com. Arma proferri jumenta produci obsides dari jubet He commanded the Arms to be produc'd the Horses brought out and Hostages to be given The Grand Signior to this Day suffers not a Christian or a Jew to keep a Horse of his own throughout his Empire Our Ancestors at the time they had War with the English in all their greatest Engagements and pitch'd Battels fought for the most part on Foot that they might have nothing but their own Force Courage and Constancy to trust to in a Quarrel of so great Concern as Life and Honour You stake whatever Chrysantes in Xenophon says to the contrary your Valour and your Fortune upon that of your Horse his Wound or Death brings your Person into the same danger his Fear or Fury shall make you reputed Rash or Cowardly if he have an ill Mouth or will not answer to the Spur your Honour must answer it And therefore I do not think it strange that those Battels I spoke of before were more firm and furious than those that are Fought on Horse-back Virg. Aeneid lib. 10. Cedebant pariter pariterque ruebant Victores
in my opinion ingeniously order'd a certain number of Bushels of the same Grain to be deliver'd to him that he might not want wherewith to exercise so famous an Art 'T is a strong evidence of a weak Judgment when Man approve of things for their being rare and new or yet for the difficulty where Vertue and Usefulness are not conjoin'd to recommend them I come just now from playing with my own Family at who could find out the most things that had their principal force in their two Extremities as Sire which is a Title given to the greatest person in the Nation the King and also to the Vulgar as Merchants and Mechanicks but never to any degree of Men between The Women of great Quality are call'd Madams inferiour Gentlewomen Mademoiselles and the meanest sort of Women Madams as the first The Canopy of State over Tables are not permitted but in the Palaces of Princes and Taverns Democritus said that Gods and Beasts had a more exact and perfect sense than Men who are of a middle Form The Romans wore the same Habit at Funerals and Feasts and it is most certain that an extream Fear and an extream Ardour of Courage do equally trouble and lax the Belly The Nickname of Trembling with which they Sirnam'd Sancho the XII King of Navarre sufficiently informeth that Valour will cause a trembling in the Limbs as well as Fear The Friends of that King or of some other person who upon the like occasion was wont to be in the same disorder try'd to compose him by representing the danger less he was going to engage himself in You understand me ill said he for could my Flesh know the danger my Courage will presently carry it into it would sink down to the ground The faintness that surprizes us from Frigidity or dislike in the exercises of Venus are also occasioâ—â— by a too violent desire and an immodorâ—â—â— heat Extream Coldness and extream Heâ—â— Boil and Roast Aristotle says that Sows 〈◊〉 Lead will melt and run with Cold and 〈◊〉 extremity of Winter as with a vehemâ—â—â— Heat Desire and Satiety fill all the gradaâ—ons above and below Pleasure with Grief Brutality and Wisdom meet in the same Center of Sentiment and Resolution in the suffering of Humane Accidents the Wise controul and Triumph over ill the others know it not These last are as a Man may say on this side of Accidents the other are beyond them who after having well weigh'd and consider'd their Qualities measur'd and judg'd them what they are by vertue of a vigoroâ—â— Soul leap out of their reach They disdaâ—â— and trample them under foot having a solid and well fortified Soul against which the Darts of Fortune coming to strike they must of necessity rebound and blunt themselves meeting with a Body upon which they can fix no Impression the ordinary and middâ—â— condition of Men are lodg'd betwixt theâ—â— two Extremities consisting of such who pâ—â—ceive Evils feel them and are not able to support them Infancy and Decrepitude meeâ— in the imbecility of the Brain Avarice and Profusion in the same thirst and desire of getting A Man may say with some colour of truth that there is an Abecedarian Ignorance that precedes knowledge and a Doctoral Iâ—norance that comes after it an Ignorance thâ—â— knowledge does create and beget at the same time that she dispatches and destroys the first Of mean understandings little inquisitive and little instructed are made good Christians who by Reverence and Obedience implicitely believe and are constant in their belief In the moderate understandings and the middle sort of capacities the error of Opinions is begot and they have some colour of reason on their side to impute our walking on in the old beaten path to simplicity and brutishness I mean in us who have not inform'd our selves by Study The higher and nobler Souls more solid and clear sighted make up another sort of true believers who by a long and Religious Investigation of truth have obtain'd a clearer and more penetrating light into the Scriptures and have discover'd the Mysterious and Divine secret of our Ecclesiastical Polity And yet we see some who by this middle step are arriv'd to that supream degree with marvellous Fruit and Confirmation as to the utmost limit of Christian intelligence and enjoying their victory with great Spiritual Consolation humble acknowledgment of the Divine Favour exemplary Reformation of Manners and singular Modesty I do not intend with these to rank some others who to clear themselves from all suspicion of their former Errours and to satisfie us that they are sound and firm to us render themselves extream indiscreet and unjust in the carrying on out Cause and by that means blâ—mish it with infinite Reproaches of Violence and oppression The simple Peasants are good People and so are the Philosophers Meâ— of strong and clear Reason and whose Souls are enrich'd with an ample instruction of profitable Sciences The Mongrets who have disdaâ—â—'d the first form of the Ignorance of Letters â—and have not been able to attain to the other â—â—ting betwixt two Stools as I and a great many more of us do are dangerous foolish and importunate these are they that trouble the World And therefore it is that I for my own part retreat as much as I can â—â—wards my first and natural Seation from whence I so vainly attempted to advance The vulgar and purely natural Poesie has 〈◊〉 it certain Proprieties and Graces by whâ—â— she may come into some comparison with 〈◊〉 greatest Beauty of a Poesie perfected by 〈◊〉 As is evident in our Gascon Villanels and 〈◊〉 that are brought us from Nations that have no knowledge of any manner of Science no◠〈◊〉 much as the use of Writing The indifferâ—â— and middle sort of Poesie betwixt these 〈◊〉 is despis'd of no Value Honour or Esteâ— But seeing that the Ice being once broken and a Path laid open to the Fancy I have found as it commonly falls out that what we make choice of for a rare and difficult Subject proves to be nothing so and that after 〈◊〉 invention is once warm it finds out an infinâ—â— number of paralleâ— Examples I shall only 〈◊〉 this one That were these Essays of 〈◊〉 considerable enough to deserve a Censure 〈◊〉 might then I think fall out that they 〈◊〉 not much take with common and vulgaâ— Capacities nor be very acceptable to the singular and excellemt sort of Men for the first would not understand them enough and the last too much and so they might hover in the middle Region CHAP. LV. Of Smells IT has been reported of others as well as of Alexander the Great that their Sweat exhal'd an Odoriferous Smell occasion'd by some rare and extraordinary constitution of which Plutarch and others have been inquisitive into the cause But the ordinary constitution of Humane Bodies is quite otherwise and their best and chiefest Excellency is to be exempt from Smells Nay the sweetness even of the
purest Breaths has nothing in it of greater perfection than to be without any offensive Smell like those of heathful Children which made Plautus say Plaut Molest Art 1. Sce. 3. Mulier tum bene olet ubi nihil olet That Woman we a sweet one call Whose Body breathes no Scent at all And such as make use of these exotick Perfumes are with good reason to be suspected of some Natural Imperfection which they endeavour by these Odours to conceal according to that of Mr. Johnson which without offence to Monsieur de Montaigne I will here presumâ— to insert it being at least as well said as any of those he quotes out of the Ancient Poets Ben. Johnson Still to be Neat still to be Drest As you were going to a Feast Still to be Powder'd still Perfum'd Lady it is to be presum'd Though Arts hid causes are not found All is not sweet all is not sound As may be judg'd by these following Mart. lib. 6. Epig. 55. Rides nos Coracine nil olenteâ— Malo quam bene olere nil olere Because thou Coracinus still dost go With Musk and Ambergrease perfumed so We under thy Contempt forsooth must fall I 'd rather than smell sweet not smell at all And elsewhere Id. lib. a. Ep. 1â— Posthume non bene olet qui bene semper olet He does not Naturally Smell well Who always of Perfumes does Smell I am nevertheless a strange lover of good Smells and as much abominate the ill one which also I reach at a greater distance I think than other Men Hoâ— Ep. 1â— Namque sagacius unus odoror Polypus anâ—gravis hirsutis cubet hircus in alis Quam canis aceâ— ubi lateat sus For I can Smell a Putrid Polypus Or the Rank Arm-pits of a Red-hair'd Fuss As soon as best Nos'd Hound the stinking Sâ—â—e Where the Wild Boar does in the Forest Lie Of Smells the simple and natural seem to be most pleasing Let the Ladies look to that for 't is chiefly their concern In the wildest parts of Barbary the Scythian Women after Bathing were wont to Powder and Crust their Faces and whole Bodies with a certain Odoriferous Drug growing in their own Territories which being cleans'd off when they came to have familiarity with Men they were found Perfum'd and Sleek 'T is not to be believ'd how strangely all sorts of Odours cleave to me and how apt my Skin is to imbibe them He that complains of Nature that she has not furnish'd Mankind with a Vehicle to convey Smells to the Nose had no reason for they will do it themselves especially to me My very Mustachio's perform that Office for if I stroke them but with my Gloves or Handkerchief the Smell will not out a whole Day They will Reproach me where I have been the close luscious devouring and melting Kisses of Youthful Ardour would in my Wanton Age have left a Sweetness upon my Lips for several Hours after And yet I have ever found my self very little subject to Epidemick Diseases that are caught either by conversing with the Sick or bred by the contagion of the Air I have very well escap'd from those of my time of which there has been several Virâ—lent sorts in our Cities and Armies We Read of Socrates that though he never departed from Athens during the frequent Plagues that infested that City he only was never Infected Physicians might I believe if they would extract greater Utility from Odours than they do for I have often observ'd that they cause an alteration in me and work upon my Spirits according to their several Vertues which makes me approve of what is said namely that the use of Incense and Perfumes in Churches so Ancient and so universally receiv'd in all Nations and Religions was intended to chear us and to â—ouse and purifie the Senses the better to fit us for Contemplation I could have been glad the better to judge of it to have tasted the Cuâ—nary Art of those Cooks who had so rare 〈◊〉 way of Seasoning Exotick Odours with the relish of Meats As it was particularly observ'd in the Service of the King of Tuâ—is who in our Days Landed at Naples to have an interview with Charles the Emperour where his Dishes were farc'd with Odoâ—iferous Drugs to that Degree of Expence that the Cookery of one Peacock and two Pheasants amounted to a Hundred Duckets to dress them after their Fashion And when the Carveâ— came to break them up not only the Dining room but all the Appartments of his Palace and the adjoining Streets were fill'd with an Aromatick Vapour which did not presently vanish My chiefest care in chusing my Lodgings is always to avoid a thick and stinking Air and those Beautiful Cities of Venice and Paris have very much lessen'd the Kindness I had for them the one by the offensive Smell of her Marshes and the other of her Dirt. CHAP. LVI Of Prayers I Propose formless and undetermin'd Fancies like those who publish subtle Questions to be after disputed upon in the Schools not to Establish truth but to seek it I submit them to the better Judgments of those whose Office it is to regulate not my Writings and Actions only but moreover my very Thoughts and Opinions Let what I here set down meet with Correction or Applause it shall be of equal welcome and utility to me my self before hand condemning it for Absurd and Impious if any thing shall be found through Ignorance or Inadvertency couch'd in this Rhapsody contrary to the Resolutions and Prescriptions of the Roman Cotholick Church into which I was Born and in which I will Die And yet always submitting to the Authority of their Censure who have an Absolute Power over me I thus Temerariously venture at every thing as upon this present Subject I know not if or no I am deceiv'd but since by a particular favour of the Divine Bounty a certain Form of Prayer has been prescrib'd and dictated to us Word by Word from the Mouth of God himself I have ever been of Opinion that we ought to have it in more frequent use than we yet have and if I were worthy to advise at the sitting down to and rising from our Tables at our rising and going to Bed and in every particular Action wherein Prayer is requir'd I would that Christians always make use of the Lord's Prayer if not alone yet at least always The Church may lengthen or alter Prayers according to the necessity of our Instruction for I know very well that it is always the same in substance and the same thing But yet such a preference ought to be given to that Prayer that the People should have it continually in their Mouths for it is most certain that all necessary Petitions are comprehended in it and that it is infinitely pâ—opeâ— for all Occasions 'T is the only Prayer I use in all Places and Conditions and what I still repeat instead of changing whence it