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
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
either of their Actions flew out of the handle they were neither according to my measure of Friendship Friends to one another nor to themselves As to the rest this Answer carries no worse sound than mine would do to one that should ask me If your Will should command you to Kill your Daughter would you do it And that I should make Answer that I would for this expresses no consent to such an Act forasmuch as I do not in the least suspect my own Will and as little that of such a Friend 'T is not in the power of all the Eloquence in the World to dispossess me of the certainty I have of the intensions and resolutions of mine nay no one Action of his what face soever it might bear could be presented to me of which I could not presently and at first sight find out the moving cause Our Souls have drawn so unanimously together and we have with so mutual a confidence laid open the very bottom of our hearts to one anothers view that I not only know his as well as my own but should certainly in any concern of mine have trusted my interest much more willingly with him than with my self Let no one therefore rank other common Friendships with such a one as this I have had as much experience of these as another and of the most perfect of their kind but I do not advise that any should confound the Rules of the one and the other for they would then find themselves much deceiv'd In those other ordinary Friendships you are to walk with a Bridle in your hand with Prudence and Circumspection for in them the Knot is not so sure that a Man may not half suspect it will slip Love him said â—â—ilo so as if you were one Day to Hate him and Hate him so as you were one Day to Love him A Precept that though abominable in the Soveraign and perfect Friendship which I intend is nevertheless very sound as to the practice of the ordinary ones now in fashion and to which the saying that Aristotle had so frequent in his Mouth O my Friends there is no Friend may very fitly be apply'd And this glorious Commerce of good Offices Presents and Benefits by which other Friendships are supported and maintainâ—d do not deserve so much as to be mention'd here and is by this concurrence and consent of Wills totally taken away and rendred of no use as the kindness I have for my self receives no increase for any thing I relieve my self withall in time of need whatever the Stoicks say and as I do not find my Self oblig'd to my Self for any Service I do my Self So the Union of such Friends being really perfect deprives them of all acknowledgment of such Duties and makes them loath and banish from their Conversation these words of Diversion Distinction Benefit Obligation Acknowledgment Entreaty Thanks and the like All Things Wills Thoughts Opinions Goods Wives Children Honours and Lives being in effect common betwixt them and that absolute concurrence of Affections being no other than one Soul in two Bodies according to that very proper definition of Aristotle they can neither lend nor give any thing to one another This is the reason why the Law-givers to honour Marriage with some imaginary resemblance of this divine Alliance interdict all Gifts betwixt Man and Wife inferring by that that all should belong to each of them and that they have nothing to divide or to give If in the Friendship of which I speak one could give to the other the receiver of the Benefit would be the Man that oblig'd his Friend for each of them contending and above all things studying how to be useful to one another he that administers the occasion is the liberal Man in giving his Friend the Satisfaction of doing that towards him which above all things he does most desire When the Philosopher Diogenes wanted Money he used to say that he redemanded it of his Friends not that he demanded it and to let you see the effectual practice of this I will here produce an ancient and a rare Example Eudamidas a Corinthian had two Friends Charixenus a Sycionian and Aretheus a Corinthian this Man coming to Die being Poor and his two Friends Rich he made his Will after this manner I bequeath to Aretheus the Maintenance of my Mother to support and provide for her in her old Age and to Charixenus I bequeath the care of marrying my Daughter and to give her as good a Portion as he is able and in case that one of these chance to Die I hereby substitute the Surviver in his Place They who first saw this Will made themselves very merry at the Contents but the Executors being made acquainted with it accepted the Legacies with very great Content and one of them Charixenus dying within five Days after and Aretheus by that means having the Charge of both devolved solely to him he nourisht that old Woman with very great Care and Tenderness and of five Talents he had in Estate he gave two and a half in Marriage with an only Daughter he had of his own and two and a half in Marriage with the Daughter of Eudamidas and in one and the same day solemnized both their Nuptials This Example is very full if one thing were not to be objected namely the multitude of Friends for the perfect Friendship I speak of is indivisible every one gives himself so entirely to his Friend that he has nothing left to distribute to others But on the Contrary is sorry that he is not double treble or quadruple and that he has not many Souls and many Wills to conferr them all upon this one Subject Common Friendships will admit of Division one may love the Beauty of this the good humour of that Person the liberty of a third the paternal Affection of the fourth the fraternal Love of a fifth and so of the rest But this Friendship that possesses the whole Soul and there Rules and sways with an absolute Soveraignty can possibly admit of no Rival If two at the same time should call to you for succour to which of them would you run Should they require of you contrary Offices how could you serve them both Should one commit a thing to your Secrecy that it were of importance to the other to know how would you disingage your self A singular and particular Friendship disunites and dissolves all other Obligations whatsoever The secret I have sworn not to reveal to any other I may withour Perjury communicate to him who is not another but my self 'T is Miracle enough certainly for a Man to double himself and those that talk of tripling talk they know not of what Nothing is extream that has its like and who shall presuppose that of two I love one as much as the other that they Love one another too and love me as much as I love them does multiply in Friendship the most single and united of all
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
also happens that I have no other by Heart but that only It just now comes into my Mind from whence we should derive that Errour of having recourse to God in all our Designs and Enterprises to call him to our Assistance in all sorts of Affairs and in all Places where our Weakness stands in need of support without considering whether the occasion be just or otherwise and to Invoke his Name and Power in what Estate soever we are or Action we are engag'd in how Vicious soever He is indeed our sole and only Protector and can do all things for us But though he is pleas'd to Honour us with his Paternal Care he is not withstanding as Just as he is Good and Mighty and does ofter exercise his Justice than his Power and favours us according to that and not according to our Petitions Plato in his Laws makes Three sorts of Belief Injurious to the Gods That there is none That they concern not themselves about Humane Affairs and that they never reject or deny any thing to our Vows Offerings and Sacrifices The first of these Errours according to his Opinion did never continue rooted in any Man from his Infancy to his Old Age the other two he confesses Men might be Obstinate in God's Justice and his Power are inseparable and therefore in vain we Invoke his Power in an Unjust Cause We are to have our Souls pure and clean at that Moment at least wherein we Pray to him and purified from all Vicious Passions otherwise we ourselves present him the Rods wherewith to Chastise us Instead of repairing any thing we have done amiss we double the Wickedness and the Offence whilst we offer to him to whom we are to sue for Pardon an Affection full of Irreverence and Hatred Which makes me not very apt to applaud those whom I observe to be so frequent on their Knees if the Actions nearest of Kin to Prayer do not give me some Evidence of Reformation Juven Sat. 8. Si Nocturnus adulter Tempora Sanctonico velas adoperta Cucullo With Night-Adulteries if being foul Thou shad'st thy guilty Fore-head with a Cowl And the Practice of a Man that mixes Devotion with an Execrable Life seems in some sort more to be Condemn'd than that of a Man conformable to his own Propension and Dissolute throughout And for that Reason 〈◊〉 is that our Church denies Admittance to and Communion with Men. Obstinate and Incorrigible in any kind of Impiety We Pray only by custom and for fashions sake or rather we read and pronounce our Prayers aloud which is no better than an Hypocritical shew of Devotion And I am scandaliz'd to see a Man Cross himself Thrice at the Benediâ—â—â—â— and as often at anothers saying Grace and the more because it is a Sign I have in great Veneration and constant use upon solemn occasions and to Dedicate all the other Hourâ— of the Day to Acts of Malice Avarice and Injustice One Hour to God the rest to thâ— Devil as if by Commutation and Consent 'T is a wonder to me Actions so various in themselves succeed one another with such 〈◊〉 Uniformity of Method as not to interfere noâ— suffer any alteration even upon the very Confines and Passes from the one to the other what a Prodigious Conscience must that be that can be at Quiet within it self whilst it harbours under the same Roof with so agreeing and so calm a Society both the Crime and the Judge A Man whose whole Meditation is continually working upon nothing but Impurity which he knows to be so Odious to Almighty God what can he say when he comes to speak to him He Reforms but immediately falls into a Relapse If the Object of the Divine Justice and the Presence of his Maker did as he pretends Strike and Chastise his Soul how short soever the Repentance might be the very fear of offending that Infinite Majesty would so often present it self to his imagination that he would soon see himself Master of those Vices that are most Natural and Habitual in him But what shall we say of those who settle their whole course of Life upon the Profit and Emolument of Sins which they know to be Mortal How many Trades of Vocations have we admitted and countenanc'd amongst us whose very Essence is Vicious And he that confessing himself to me voluntarily told me that he had all his Life time professâ—d and practis'd a Religion in his Opinion Damnable and contrary to that he had in his Heart only to preserve his Credit and the Honour of his Employments how could his Courage suffer so Infamous a Confession What can Men say to the Divine Justice upon this subject Their Repentance consisting in a visible and manifest Reformation and Restitution they lose the colour of alledging it both to God and Man Are they so Impudent as to sue for Remission without Satisfaction and without Penitency or Remorse I look upon these as in the same condition with the first But the Obstinacy is not there so easie to be overcome This contrariety and volubility of Opinion so sudden and violent as they pretend is a kind of Miracle to me They present us with the state of an indigestible Anxiety and doubtfulness of Mind It seem'd to me a Fantastick and Ridiculous Imagination in those who these late Years past were wont to Reproach every Man they knew to be of any extraordinary Parts and made profession of the Roman Catholick Religion that it was but outwardly maintaining moreover to do him Honour for sooth that whatever he might pretend to the contrary he could not but in his Heart be of their Reform'd Opinion An untoward Disease that a Man should be so Rivetted to his own Belief as to fansie that others cannot believe otherwise than as he does and yet worse in this that they should entertain so Vicious an Opinion of such parts as to think any Man so Qualified should preferr any present advantage of Fortune before the promises of Eternal Life and the means of Eternal Damnation They may believe me Could any thing have tempted my Youth the Ambition of the danger and difficulties in the late Commotions had not been the least Motives It is not without very good Reason in my Opinion that the Church Interdicts the Promiscuous Indiscreet and Irreverent use of the Holy and Divine Psalms with which the Holy Ghost Inspir'd King David We ought not to mix God in our Actions but with the highest Reverence and Caution That Poesie is too Sacred to be put to no other use than to exercise the Lungs and to delight our Ears It ought to come from the Soul and not from the Tongue It is not fit that a Prentice in his Shop amongst his vain and frivolous Thoughts should be permitted to pass away his time and divert himself with such Sacred things Neither is it decent to see the Holy Bible the Rule of our Worship and Belief tumbled up and down a Hall
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