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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32689	A brief discourse concerning the different wits of men written at the request of a gentleman, eminent in virtue, learning, fortune, in the year 1664, and now published with consent of the author.; Brief discourse concerning the different wits of men	Charleton, Walter, 1619-1707.; Gentleman eminent in virtue, learning, fortune.	1669 (1669)	Wing C3663; ESTC R15719	30,537	148

of the treasury of Antiquity Yet if any Man as many such there are naturally addicted to Publick business and fit to serve his Prince and Countrey in quality of a Counsellor be not equally in favour with the Muses nor prosperous in Scholastick speculations I hope Sir You will not stick to allow him to be a Person of a more erect Mind and nobler Parts than a meer Contemplative Book-man who though perhaps skilfull in Languages and Logician enough to unriddle and impose Sophisms and to dispute long and formally about Non-entities is yet too narrow of understanding to measure the vastness of Civil Prudence which is founded upon mature observation and built up of solid Experiences squar'd by exact Judgement and adjusted to present Emergencies in State So that I am apt to believe that Favorinus was in very good earnest though he seemed to jest when he measured the Knowledge of Adrian the Emperour by the greatness of his Power The Story is in short this Adrian not a little ambitious of the fame of extraordinary Learning accidentally meeting Favorinus an eminent Philosopher fell instantly upon him with a whole Volley of Syllogisms and pressed him with Sophistical Arguments to which the wary Philosopher made but sparing and modest answers such as intimated his being overcome and left the Emperour to please himself with his imaginary victory Soon after to his Friends reprehending him for making so weak defence he returned this vindication I were to blame said he if I should not grant him to be the most learned who hath daily twenty Legions at his command Which I understand to be more than a Complement the Regiment of so many Millions being a piece of greater skill and sublimer Science than to manage a disputation with Dialectical subtlety and argue in Mode and Figure Having thus in a short digression endeavoured to refute the Error of such who hold that no Wit however Ample and Happy in its native capacity can yet attain to solid Prudence without the improvement of Scholastick Erudition it follows that we observe briefly both the Vice to which even the Best tempered Wits sometimes are prone and the principal Remedy thereof ART 7. As Pusillanimity or Self-diffidence makes of Narrow Wits Cunning men so self-confidence if immoderate often checks the growth and hinders the fertility of even the Best Wits For some of greatest hopes too soon trusting to the native pregnancy of their Mind and desisting from Lecture Meditation and all other labour of the Brain as not only unnecessary but also burdensome and expensive of time thereby clipp their own wings render themselves unfit for any generous flight and ever after flagg so far from aspiring above others that they come short even of themselves and suffering those igniculi aetherei or Coelestial sparks of Wit by which they were in their Youth actuated to languish and go out for want of industry to fan them degenerate into a barren dulness so much the more difficult to be overcome by how much the longer ere acknowledged Whereas Others conscious of their native imbecillity endeavour with labour and sweat to acquire what the austerity of Nature denyed them and by continual culture of Study and seeds of good Discipline so enrich the field of their Understanding that at length they exceed in fertility of Science not only their former selves but others also to whom Nature hath been much more bountiful By which it is manifest that ART 8. The proper Remedy for this Obstruction that not seldom brings an Atrophy or defect of nourishment upon the best tempered Wit can be no other but constant Study and Meditation by which the Faculties of the Mind are exercised and kept in vigour Not that it is requisite Men of this order should over-curiously search into each punctilio or nicety of the thing they contemplate for though that be the way to attain exactness in some Particulars yet it would at the same time greatly retard their progress in the Main and make it long before they advance so far as to make a liberal and genuine inspection into the whole of that very Science which they so ambitiously affect Besides the same would habituate them to confine their Cogitations within too narrow a compass by impaling their Curiosity upon Notions though perhaps of great subtlety in speculation yet of little use in the occurrents of life nor could they easily let loose their thoughts to other things which though sometimes of an inferiour nature yet may be more necessary to be lookt into To these therefore I am bold to prescribe Study as a daily Exercise not as their sole imployment ART 9. Nor do I condemn those Fine Wits that spend most upon the Stock of Nature because they have this for excuse That all Heads are not equally disposed to patience in Study and diuturnity of labour For the finer and acuter the Wit is by so much the more easily indeed doth it penetrate into things difficult and divide things involved but then again it grows the sooner blunt with length of labour and intention The Reason perhaps is this that Nature doth rarely commit such Fine Wits to the custody of gross and robust Bodies but for the most part chooseth to lodge them in delicate and tender Constitutions such as produce the purest and sublimest spirits which as by their greater Mobility they conduce to quickness of Apprehension so are they for the same cause more prone to Expence or Exhaustion upon continued intention of the Mind nor capable of reparation unless after due repose and pleasant divertisement Again not only the Labour of these Ethereal Wits but even their Relaxation and Leasure is therefore precious because no sooner are their Brains at liberty but they acquire new Vigour and their Acuteness spontaneously ranging abroad brings in fresh Hints and replenishes them with serious reflections and useful cogitations as rich ground when left a while fallow of its own accord puts forth abundance of Excellent Plants in nothing inferiour to the best cultivated Gardens This seems pathetically exprest in that Apothegm of Cosmus de Medicis the Politick Founder of the flourishing Dukedome of Florence When in a morning he had lain long in bed as wholly resigned up to an incurious repose one of his Favourites coming into his Bed-chamber salutes him with this Complement Sir said he where is Cosmus the Great to whose Vigilance as to a Pilot we have all entrusted the conduct of our State are not his eyes open at high noon I have been abroad some hours since and dispatched much business The Duke smartly returns boast not Your diligence thus Sir my very Repose is more profitable than all Your pains and industry ART 10. Nor is this Delicacy of Constitution which hinders the Choicest Wits from undergoing the hardship of constant Study and long watchings so Universal but that some are exempted from it But these are I confess very rare and as the noblest Presents Nature can make

and most curious Age been yet able certainly to inform themselves in what part of the Brain that Coelestial Guest the reasonable Soul keeps her Court of Judicature what part she makes use of in Sensation what in Imagination what for Memory or what for Ratiocination Vesalius I remember the Prince of Anatomists in the last Age expresly nor without derision of those who believed and taught the contrary affirms that the Fabrick of Mans Brain is not in the least different from that of the Brains of Brutes The Text is remarkable the great Authority of the Man considered and therefore I will here transcribe it de Corpor. Human. fabric lib. 7. cap. 1. Qui in Imaginatione Ratiocinatione Cogitatione Memoria Cerebrum suo fungatur munere haudquaquam ex sententia apprehendo neque quicquam insuper ab Anatomico vel Theologorum omnem rationis vim ac totam ferè Principis nobis vocatae Animae facultatem Brutis Animalibus adimentium occasione indagandum puto Quum Cerebri nimirum constructione Simia Canis Equus Felis Quadrupeda quae hactenus vidi omnia Aves etiam universae plurimaque Piscium genera omni propemodum ex parte Homini correspondeant neque ullum secanti occurrat discrimen quod secus de Hominis quàm de illorum Animalium functionibus statuendum esse praescribat To this You 'l answer perhaps that such indeed was the judgement of Vesalius but You are not obliged to acquiesce therein because You have lately not only read a certain Book de Proprietatibus Cerebri Humani wherein the Author observes many considerable Differences betwixt the Humane Brain and those of all other Animals but also with Your own eyes behold those Differences demonstrated by the same Author in some Dissections for that end made by him at the command of the Royal Society and that therefore You hope if Anatomists proceed in their discoveries with the same accurate scrutiny and the like happy success as of late Years they have done some one of them may at length be so fortunate as to find out the true uses of all the several parts of the Brain of Man and so solve all the difficulties that now amuse those who profoundly consider the wonderful Oeconomy thereof I reply therefore that granting Vesalius to have been much mistaken in that his Opinion concerning the Brain and that there really are those Differences betwixt Man and all other Animals which the Book you mention declares Yet Sir what I have here said concerning the abstrusity of the Nature immediate Instruments and wayes of operation of the Intellectual Faculties is nevertheless too true For You cannot but remember that even the Author of that Treatise himself doth in the end of it ingenuously confess that notwithstanding his frequent observation of those Differences he was still as ignorant of the principal seat of the soul and what parts she made use of in her several Functions as before he first entred into the Anatomick Theatre And were it not a Parergon I could collect and here recount many observations recorded by Eminent Physicians of such who retained the use of their Senses Imagination Memory and Reason without any the least defect even to the last minute of life and yet in their Heads opened after death there was found as in most Fishes but very little of Brain and that little altogether confounded and dissolved in Water For a memorable Example of this astonishing Phaenomenon I take liberty to refer You to lib. 1. cap. 24. of the Medical observations of Nich. Tulpius a late learned and judicious Physician and Senator of Amsterdam who relating the various Conjectures of some of his Colleagues thereupon gravely concludes with this free confession of his ignorance Quantum est quod nescimus Velut namque in aliis sic certè credibile est potissimùm nos coecutire in genuino Cerebri regimine cujus opera multo fortassis sunt diviniora quàm quispiam hactenus suo comprehendit captu As for Your expectation of further discoveries from Anatomy that may afford more light to direct the Virtuosi in their researches into this dark Argument I cannot indeed divine what time may bring forth but am of Opinion that there is less reason for Your Hope than for Your Wish for any such discovery the nature of Mans Mind being such that it cannot understand it self Adeò Animo non potest liquere de caeteris rebus ut adhuc ipse se quaerat Senec. Natur. Quaest lib. 7. cap. 24. ART 3. You are not then to wonder if I acknowledge my self unable to define from what various Constitutions of the Brain the Differences of Wit arise as from their proxime Causes All I dare observe to You concerning that Aenigma is only this that for the most part Men of hot and sanguine Constitutions caeteris paribus are more ingenious and acute and those of cold gross and Phlegmatick are more dull and slow of Imagination If for this You require Authority I can alledge that of Hippocrates himself who hath two texts expresly favourable and pertinent to the same one concerning the Sanguine the other the Phlegmatick Temperament The first is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod humidissimum est in igne siccissimum in aqua si in corpore temperamentum acceperint sapientissima sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 1. sect 29. The other this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 porro si in aliqua Anima defectuosiorem vim ignis accipiat quàm aqua eam tardiorem esse necesse est appellantur tales Stolidi Ibidem Sect. 32. If Reason it is obvious that the Blood being the fountain of Natural Heat and in truth the only Calidum innatum by which all parts of the body are perpetually warmed enlivened and invigorated and out of whose purest and agilest parts the Animal Spirits are supposed to be extracted by how much more copious and pure the Blood is by so much more of heat is thence communicated to the Brain and its Appendix of Nerves thereby made more firm and apt both to receive and retain the Images or impressions of external Objects and more pervious to the Animal spirits and a greater supply of Spirits generated out of it for the uses of the Animal Faculties therein residing and thereon depending and è contra Hence doubtless it was that Empedocles held the Blood to be both the seat and cause of Sapience and that Dr. Harvey somewhere in his Book of the Generation of Animals affirms it to be of no small advantage to the Brain that Students and contemplative Men preserve their mass of Blood pure and uncorrupt But I remember that my present task belongs rather to Morals than to Physick and therefore superseding all further enquiry concerning the diversity of constitutions from whence the diversity of Wits may arise and remitting You to the serious consideration of what that Excellent Man Mr. Hobbes hath delivered lib. de Homine cap. 13. concerning the Mutation of

Your eye to the Image of a Third sort which seeming contrary to both and yet more usefull than either may therefore not unfitly be called the SLOW but SURE Wit Some Heads there are of a certain close and reserved Constitution which makes them at first sight to promise as little of the Virtues wherewith they are endowed as the former appear to be above the Imperfections to which they are subject Somewhat Slow they are indeed of both Conception and Expression yet no whit the less comparated to solid Prudence When they are ingaged to speak their Tongue doth not readily interpret the dictates of their Mind so that their Language comes as it were dropping from their lipps even where they are encouraged by familiar entreaties or provoked by the smartness of jests which suddain and nimble Wits have newly darted at them Costive they are also in their Invention so that when they would deliver somewhat solid and remarkable they are long in seeking what is fit and as long in determining in what manner and words to utter it But after a little consideration they penetrate deeply into the substance of things and marrow of business and conceive proper and Emphatick words by which to express their Sentiments Barren they are not but a little Heavy and Retentive Their Gifts lye deep and concealed being furnished with Notions not aëry and umbratil ones borrowed from the Pedantism of the Schools but true and usefull and if they have been manured with good Learning and the habit of exercising their Pen oftentimes they produce many excellent Conceptions worthy to be transmitted to Posterity ART 2. Though they have no reason to accuse Nature of any unkindness to them yet they have just cause to complain of the iniquity of Fortune in this respect that having an Aspect very like to narrow and dull Capacities at first sight most Men take them to be really such and strangers look upon them with the eyes of neglect and contempt Hence it comes that Excellent Parts remaining unknown often want the favour and patronage of Great Persons whereby otherwise they might be redeemed from obscurity and raised to imployments answerable to their Faculties and crowned with honours proportionate to their Merits as the most precious wares seldom invite buyers if kept in darksome corners nor decently exposed and adorned with splendid titles ART 3. The best course therefore for these to overcome that Eclipse which prejudice usually brings upon them is to contend against their own Modesty and either by frequent converse with noble and discerning spirits to enlarge the Windows of their Minds and dispel those clouds of Reservedness that darken the lustre of their Faculties or by Writing on some new and usefull subject to lay open their Talent that so the World may be convinced of their intrinsick value SECT VIII ART 1. IN the middle betwixt the two Opposites too much Heaviness and too much Lightness Nature seems to have placed the most happy Indoles or AMPLE Wit which is seldom out of love with it self yet never too indulgent to it self and often advanceth its possessors to the highest honours and dignities of which Subjects are capable This usually is attended with no more of Eloquence than decency allows or occasion requires and that if cultivated by Erudition or matured by Time is always neat and gracefull even in familiar Conversation neither precipitate nor slow in delivery as guided by a Judgement though not sharp on the suddain yet strong and solid after a little recollection In fine this is the Man most fit to harbour all Virtues as by Natures benignity comparated to great Prudence as well Publick as Private and if toucht with a Temperamental Propensity to some certain Vice yet seldom tainted with any evil Habit. ART 2. Betwixt these Ample Wits and the Narrow ones Nature her self hath a certain Criterion or Character of Distinction easily discernable and it is this The Former being duly conscious of their own dignity do all things with a Bon Mine or good Grace and becoming Freedom far from the vices of Affectation and Constrained Formality as being actuated by Spirits not bold but Generous and Erect alwayes addressed to noble Ends and contemplating somewhat diffusive and above vulgar aims And this is that Semi-divine Temper of the Mind which Aristotle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latins Felicitas ingenit and we an Universal Capacity On the contrary Narrow and Groveling Wits condemn themselves to abject Cogitations and low Counsels never daring to aspire above the common suggestions of their pusillanimous Humility yet in little matters and such as transcend not the Sphere of their Capacity they often proceed with exact diligence and sometimes also with good success there being annexed to them a certain Astutia sinistre or spurious Wisdome called Cunning and Wisdom for ones self such as is common also to weak and timorous Animals which keeps them intent wholly upon their own safety and as we have before deduced it ariseth only from diffidence of sufficiency in themselves than which there can be no greater Enemy to noble and generous Undertakings Besides if they at any time as sometimes puft up with prosperity of their Crafty and undermining designs they will offer at ingenuity it is with so much constraint formality and starch'dness that they expose themselves to the smiles and contempt of Judicious Men. ART 3. This Thau or Mark of difference is well worthy Your observation because these Half-witted or Cunning Men for the most part make advantage of even their Inability building rather upon deceiving others who confide in them than upon any soundness of their own proceedings and because as the Lord Chancellor Bacon most judiciously observes nothing doth more harm in a State than that Cunning men pass for Wise men like Empiricks in Physick they may indeed have a great Collection of Experiments but not knowing the right and seasonable use of them pervert them to base and sinister Ends. Leaving them therefore as unworthy further consideration let us return to our Bon. Esprit and for a few minutes entertain our selves with contemplating the excellency thereof ART 4. There are among the Literati who misled either by too much favour to their own Disciplines or by an immoderate esteem of the advantages of Scholastick Sciences which were never denyed to be very great by any but the Barbarous allow no Wit to be Happy and of Publick use but that which is not only capable of but also naturally addicted to Letters none to have attained to the just height of Prudence that was not advanced thereto by the Scale of various Learning Thus Men eminently fruitful in Publick Virtues and as it were constellated for Politie or the great Art of Governing the Multitude they exclude from the Senate and from true Greatness by a Prejudice more allyed to Envy than to Discretion For ART 5. On the contrary it is much more reasonable to hold that none are so fit