Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A26588
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A discourse of wit by David Abercromby ...
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Abercromby, David, d. 1701 or 2.
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1686
(1686)
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Wing A82; ESTC R32691
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73,733
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250
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not only not equally capable of many things at once but what sometimes they can do to admiration they are again within a short time intirely unfit for Thus a mans converse will be often charmingly pleasant and witty whom you shall find at other times dull and heavy Which I may in Second Instance suppose to proceed from a certain necessary or voluntary Wearyness of the Soul For I see no cause why it may not fall weary as well as the Body The difference only is that the latter becomes weary because of the loss of its most lively parts the Spirits the former because of its limited nature and weak faculties or rather through a natural desire of change and variety Thirdly we are not our selves upon all occasions because of our too green and domineering passions whether they be of sorrow envy hatred or anger which turn all our natural sharpness and Vivacity into malicious contrivances and fits of Fury When we have conceived an extream aversion from any person by inveighing against him upon all occasions we show no more Wit than can be expected from a scolding Woman No wonder then if we cease sometimes to be ingenious since we are often over-ruled by our undaunted passions which overthrow yet more the inward temper of our Souls than the outward Texture of our Bodies Nevertheless we must confess that it is not always in our Power either to speak or write wittily at all times or with that accuracy we are really capable of The Great Homer is not always himself but sometimes of a dull and sleepy Humour Quandoque bonus dormità t Homerus but I understand Mankind better than to wonder at such accidental deficiencies in the greatest Men because I am sensible of this common but most true Word Nemo omnibus horis sapit No man has always his Wits about him For as the very change of Weather changeth sometimes the Temper of our Bodies so it does alter that of our Souls We shall then at some Hours of the day both write and speak easily and wittily too good sense At some others we may scratch our heads long enough before we awaken and revive again our almost dead Spirits Which gives me occasion sometimes to think though no just grounds that our Soul is really material and of a very changeable Texture too since it passeth so easily and in such a short time from one extream to another For I would conceive in its suppos'd Spiritual Nature a more constant and durable Temper Yet I apprehend that several things may occasion in us this accidental dulness And first the very Company we converse with either we esteem not enough or too much In the former case we want encouragement to endeavour to show our Wit because we think not those we speak to worth our while or deserving our peculiar application In the latter we are kept in awe by a prudent fear of the Censure and inward slight of such as we have a high Esteem and Veneration for But as I know nothing more prejudicial to Wit than Want and Poverty so I conceive those common Sentences Ingenii largitor venter vexatio dat intellectum c. that Hunger Vexation and Trouble do make men witty to be but meer illusions and vulgar Errors grounded only upon this that the very dullest of Men in great Straits will make odd shifts to rid themselves of the present Necessity We must needs then confess Virtutibus Obstat res augusta domi That a light Purse as the Scots say makes a heavy Heart and very unfit to exert those not ordinary Abilities we are perhaps gifted with Besides such is the Nature of Mankind that without some encouragement or prospect of reward 't is not in our Power to do our utmost endeavours in any enterprize whatsoever 2. I pretend to no extraordinary Skill in Physick yet I know no curable distemper but methinks I could cure provided I want not the necessary encouragements from my Patient which if you look upon as a piece of Covetousness you discover more of a censuring than of a sharp and considering Genius For as it is highly my concern that you recover your Health by my care So I cannot but desire your recovery most earnestly tho' I expected no just salary for my laudable endeavours Whereby I intend only to give this wholsom advice to the Patient as much for his concern as for the Physitians interest that if he fail to do his duty 't is odds if the other how conscientious and skilful soever perform successfully his part not designedly nor through Malice but because such is the natural constitution of Men that they cannot serve God himself but upon the account of some proportionable reward So if you would have your Physitian take notice of every particular circumstance of your distemper to apply usefully his Skill for your recovery it will be a piece of Wit in you not to let him want too long his due For else it will not be in his Power to make use to your advantage of that Wit God has given him because you encourage him not by doing what he justly expects and may lawfully require I doubt not but more Patients have perished through their own narrowness than by either the Ignorance or wilful neglect of their Physitians 3. I know not why some Nations now as the Grecians and others produce scarce a Wit in an Age which formerly were in so great repute throughout the whole World but because they are not awakened out of their Lethargy by that powerful inductive to do great things a proportionable reward which may quicken them into life again those whose Wits seem to be buryed in their Bodies So those Princes that are great promoters of Learning and Learned Men deserve from them an Apotheosis a sort of Divine Honour because they hold of them the very Life of their Souls their Wit by the daily encouragements of their Princely Liberalities I must in this place remember you that the greatest Wits cease sometimes to give light before the years of Dotage either because the Organs without which the perfectest Soul cannot make us sensible of its Abilities are corrupted by our irregularities or perhaps because of the Natural limitation of Humane Capacity which could reach no further 4. As to the wittyest Authors there is not only a difference among them such as is between different Stars But the fame Author is sometimes so unlike unto himself that one would take him to be another I admire the First Six Books of the Aenead and the Sixth above all I meet with nothing in all the rest that deserves my admiration Ovid's Love-Letters are incomparably well done they are penn'd most smoothly and wittily but he neglected himself too much in those he wrote in the place of his banishment There are some excellent pieces in his Metamorphosis such I always fancied his description of the Old Chaos and the Rudiments of the World Pâ—aâ—ton's journey to his Father the
observe no such difference as we may easily take notice of between a Horse and a Lion a Lion an Ape and a Bird c. this Doctrine will raise in our minds a great Respect and Veneration for Men of greater Abilities than we know our selves to be of for we shall conceive their Souls are in a higher order as indeed they are and consequently pay to them a due and proportionable Homage as Angels do Honour and Esteem Archangels and Archangels likewise Powers Thrones c. But I must needs here for your further satisfaction answer some curious inquiries about this matter 1. How comes it to pass that a most perfect Soul is sometimes lodged in a most defectuous Body I answer this happens against the intention of Nature for Nature delights in proportion and reason teacheth us there should be some proportion between the Beauty of the Soul and that of the Body it lodgeth in as the Stateliest Pallaces are ordinarily the dwelling places of the greatest Princes 2. Are not the noblest Souls more ordinarily lodged in beautiful Bodies I answer they are for the reason above mentioned and 't is by accident if perhaps the contrary happeneth But these are the solutions of a meer Naturalist or of one that favours too much Nature I answer then in Second Instance we must search after the true cause of such surprizing contingencies in the first cause of all things I mean in God himself who may do and does sometimes what to our weak Judgements Nature neither seems to desire nor require 3. Doth it never happen that a Soul of the first or second Order that is a most perfect one is so disabled during its stay in a corruptible Body as never to discover its natural abilities I answer 't is not likely that such a case shou'd ever happen or if it does this is as I was saying before against the intention of Nature tho' not of the Author of Nature and a meer chance occasion'd by some considerable defect of our Organs which the Soul how perfect soever is not able to supply because it wants a fit and convenient matter to work upon But hence some that take notice but of few things and consequently are easily mistaken may conclude the contrary of what I intend to assert that the various degrees of Wit depend on the diversity of our Organs which cannot be Lawfully inferred from what I have said for as if we place the most imperfect Soul that is one of the Lowest Order in the most compleat Body can be imagined it shall never for all this transcend its own dull nature and by consequence shall operate but very imperfectly so if we conceive the Noblest Soul that ever God created in a Body most imperfect that is destitute of necessary Organs or having but the Rudiments of true Organs it shall never do what otherwise it had been able to perform because it cannot discover to us its abilities in this Life but by these material instruments nor operate to any perfection they be wanting or notably defective Which argued only Imperfection iâ— the Instruments not in the principaâ— Agent Thus the defects we observâ— in a meer fool are not really in hiâ— Soul but occasioned by the overthrow of those parts of his Body without which he cannot utter himself rationally Whensoever then perceive by all the most visible sign of Health and good Texture twâ— Bodies equally Sound Perfect anâ— Acomplisht and yet a notable difference between the two Persons tâ— whom those Bodies belong a notablâ— difference I say as to their Intellectuals I mean Judgement Sence Sharpness and Wit I conclude instantly without further deliberation anâ— perhaps without Error too that the one hath a Soul of a Lower Rank and the other of a Higher 3. Yet I acknowledge willingly there may be other Inferiour Causes that contribute not a litle to the increase of Wit For how perfect soever we conceive the Soul to be she requires still the help both of Vital and Animal Spirits And if these be but too few or not lively enough you shall find her slow dull and heavy 'T is not then an unwholsome Advice to all such as are sensible they have received from above Animam bonam a not very imperfect Soul to conserve with all possible care the necessary Instruments of her most Spiritual Operations I mean not to consume by excessive Venery excessive Drink or any other kind of Surfeit those Spirits without which their Souls though never so perfect will act but very imperfectly and far below that degree of perfection God hath allowed them Upon this account a sober Dyet or temperate Life is the best Preserver both of Wit and Health for nothing more true than this common Word Vinum moderate sumptum acuit ingenium Wine doth not only strengthen the Stomack but likewise quickens the Spirits if moderately made use of as on the contrary it weakens the Stomack and darkens the Understanding if taken excessively or beyond a proportionable measure 4. There is as yet another greater Promoter of Wit we must not forget which is to converse often and keep Company with those that are really Ingenious and Witty For though your Soul perhaps be of the highest Hierarchy yet it moves not it self easily unless it be first moved it must then be rouz'd up and awakened by the Company of those who can insensibly improve those real Talents God has vouchsafed to bestow upon it For as we may boldly judge of a Mans Temper or good Humour of his good or bad Morals if once we are informed what Company he most frequents so likewise we may guess at his intellectuals by the Capacity and Abilities of such as he is most conversant with For experience has taught us more than once that ingenious Men become at length dull and heavy by frequenting too much the duller sort whereof I think this account may be given without some shew of probability Ingenious Men have need of some considerable encouragement to display those Talents they have received from above Now neither esteeming nor valuing much the Esteem of mean Capacities they fall in a manner in a certain Lethargy and are not able to rouze up their Spirits for want of sufficient inducements And this often happening begets in them a habit they cannot easily be afterwards rid of 5. On the contrary nothing improves us more than a frequent converse with the wittiest sort as daily Experience sheweth and the custome of the Ancient Phylosophers who travelled all the World over to see and hear the Learnedst Men of their times which example is followed in this very age we live in by most Nations of Europe the Scots especially and the Germans and by the English of late who for the most part become not only smoother and more polite by their travelling into Forreign Countries but sharper too and Wittier as every one may easily observe who will be at the pains to compare a meerly home-bread Gentleman with