it will I would present to a Moral Philosopher a Luxurious Drunkard and a Glutton to manage him according to the Rules of his Art and to instill into his Soul the contrary good Habits of Chastity and Temperance by these means reducing him to act with all Moderation and Sobriety without introducing into his Constitution Cold and Driness and without correcting the over-ruling Heat and Moisture there was before let us see how he will go about it Without doubt the first thing he does will be to shew him the Sordidness of Luxury and to lay before him the Train of Evils it draws after it and in what danger his Soul would be if Death should happen to surprize him on a sudden without giving him respite to repent of his Sins After this he gravely admonishes him to Fast Pray and Meditate to Sleep but little to lie hard and without Delicacy to wear Hair Clothes and Discipline himself to fly the Company of Women and to give himself wholly to Pious Works all which are comprized in this fine Aphorism of St. Paul I keep under my Body and bring it into Subjection By means of these Austerities if he practises them long he 'll appear Meager Pale and much Alter'd from what he was insomuch that he who before hunted after Women and that plac'd all his Happiness in the Pleasures of Eating and Drinking will hardly have Patience to hear them spoke of The Moralist beholding the Lewd Man so changed will say and not without reason this Man has now acquired a Habit of Chastity and Temperance But because his Art reaches no further he vainly imagines these two Virtues are come I know not from whence to make him a Visit and to take up their Lodgings in his Rational Soul without having so much as part through his Body Instead of which the discerning Physician who knows whence his loss of Blood and Spirits proceeds and how the Virtues are Begot and the Vices Extinguished will be apt to pronounce that this same Man has now the Habit of Chastity and Temperance inasmuch as by means of these Austerities he has impair'd his Natural Heat in whose stead the Cold is introduc'd For if we reflect a little further we shall clearly see this new way of living is capable of cooling him more the Horror into which the Reprimand he received threw him and the awful consideration of the Pains of Hell prepared for him if he had died in mortal Sin had without doubt mortified and chil'd his Blood Whereupon Aristotle proposed this Question Why those who are in fear falter in their Speech tremble with their Hands and hang their Lips It is says he because this Passion is a defect of Heat which commences from the Parts above Whence comes the Paleness of the Face Abstinence likewise is one of the things which chiefly mortifies the Natural Heat leaving the Man cold For our Nature is supported says Galen by Eating and Drinking in the same manner as the Flame of the Lamp is fed by the Oil and there is so much natural Heat in the Body that has digested Flesh-meats that they afford him Nourishment in proportion to his Heat and if they should yield him less in quantity his Heat would insensibly diminish Which made Hippocrates forbid the letting of Children fast because their natural Heat Evaporated and Wasted for want of being fed The Discipline given if it be dolorous and reach even to the fetching Blood every man knows it extreamly dissipates the vital and animal Spirits and from the loss of Blood the Man soon comes to lose his Hair and natural Heat As for Sleep Galen says it 's one of the things which most fortifies our Heat for by it's means that insinuates into the hidden recesses of our Bodies and Animates the Natural Virtues and much after the same manner our Food is assimilated and turned to our Substance Whereas Waking generates Corruptions and Crudities and the reason is because Sleep warms the inward Parts and cools the outward as on the contrary Waking cools the Stomach Liver and Heart which are the Vitals and inflames the external Parts the less noble and less necessary Hence he that does not Sleep well must needs be subject to many cold Diseases To Lie hard to Eat but once a day and to go Naked Hippocrates said was the utter Ruin of the Flesh and Blood wherein the natural Heat is plac'd And Galen giving the Reason why a hard Bed weakens and wastes the Flesh said That the Body was in pain and suffered deeply for want of Sleep and that by the uneasie changes of motion from side to side it was Harassed in the vain pursuit of restless Nights and how the Natural Heat decays and is dissipated by bodily Labour the same Hippocrates declares teaching how a Man may become Wise In order to be Wise a Man must not be oppressed with too much Flesh for that belongs to a hot Temperament which is the Quality that destroys Wisdom Prayer and Meditation cause the Heat to mount up to the Brains in the absence of which the other Parts of the Body remain cold and if the Intention of Mind be great they soon lose the sense of Feeling which Aristotle affirmed to be necessary to the Being of Animals and that the other Senses in comparison of that served only for Ornament and Well-Being For in effect we might live without Tasting Smelling Seeing and Hearing but the Mind being busied in some high Contemplation fails to dispatch the Natural Faculties to their Posts without which neither the Ears can hear nor the Eyes see nor the Nostrils breath nor the Taste relish nor the Touch feel insomuch as they who Meditate are neither sensible of Cold Heat Hunger Thirst nor any Weariness whatever And Feeling being the Sentinel that discovers to a Man the Good or Ill done to him he cannot be without it So that being Frozen with Cold or Burnt up with Heat or Dying away with Hunger or Thirst he is not sensible of any of these Inconveniencies because he has nothing to report them to him In such a state Hippocrates says the Soul neglects its Charge and whereas its Duty is to Animate the Body and to impart to it Sense and Motion yet nevertheless it leaves it wholly destitute and unprovided of any Succours They who are hurt in any Part of the Body and feel no Pain assuredly are distempered in Mind But the worst Disposition observed among Men of Learning and those that are devoted to Studies is a Weak Stomach because the Natural Heat required for Digestion is wanting that very Heat being usually carried to the Brain which is the cause the Stomach is filled with Crudities and Phlegm For which reason Cornelius Celsus recommends it to the Physicians care to Fortify that Part in Men of Meditation more than any others because Prayer Meditation and hard Study extreamly cool and dry the Body rendering it Melancholy For which reason Aristotle demanded Whence it is
by reason of their excessive Heat and Driness the Melancholic because of their extraordinary Coldness and Driness yet nevertheless all these fail not to live in Health without Pain or Sickness and tho' it be true that they are not so perfectly well as those that are temperate yet they subsist without any considerable Inconvenience and without having recourse to Physic For which reason Physic it self conserves them in their natural Dispositions though Galen said that these were Vitious Intemperances and that they must be treated as Diseases applying to each the Qualities contrary to them to reduce them to that perfect Health in which is no Pain or Infirmity whatever Of this we have plain Proof for Nature in all her Efforts and Inclinations endeavours not the Preservation of him that is of an ill Constitution by things that accord with his Nature but to this end will always rather use those that are most contrary to it as if he really were sick thus we observe the Summer agrees best with the Choleric the Winter worst and that Wine inflames him but Water makes him easier and pleasanter which occasion'd Hippocrates to say That the Good and Welfare of a hot Constitution consisted in drinking Water and in Refreshment But to attain the end I propose there is no necessity to say that this evil Constitution is a Disease as these Antient Physicians have directly maintain'd or an imperfect Health as Galen rather intimates since neither the one nor the other Opinion is to be clearly drawn from what I pretend to prove but the cause of the ill Constitution of Men and their not being in the Purity and Vigour of their Natural Constitution is that they are inclined to quite different Gusts and Appetites not only in what touches the Irascible and Concupiscible Faculty but also in things which regard the Rational Soul Which we may easily observe if we run through all the governing Powers in the Man of ill Constitution He that is Choleric following his Natural Faculties requires cold and moist Meats and he that is Phlegmatic claims hot and dry The Choleric pursuing the generative Virtue is employ'd in quest of Women who are the Aversion of the Phlegmatic The Choleric according to the Irascible Faculty is Ambitious of Honour aspiring to Greatness and Glory to Command and Rule like a Superior and Magisterially The Phlegmatic has more satisfaction in Sleeping soundly than in being Lord of the Universe but now to what end serves this Knowledge of the different Inclinations of Men It is to consider the Diversity there is amongst the same Persons Choleric Phlegmatic Sanguine or Melancholic because of the vast difference between Choler Phlegm Blood and Melancholy in order to understand more clearly that the Variety of Ill Constitutions and Diseases among Men is absolutely the Cause of the Diversity of their Judgments as far as respects the Rational Part it will be convenient to set down here an Instance in the External Faculties because the same thing we observe in them we may also conclude in the others All the Natural Philosophers are agreed that all the Faculties with which an Act of Sensation is performed should be clear and pure from the Tinctures of the sensible Object not to make quite different and absolutely false Reports of the same For Instance let us suppose Four Men defective in the Composition of the Organ of Sight and that in one a drop of Blood should be mixt with the Christallin Humour in the other a drop of Choler in the third one of Phlegm and in the fourth one of Melancholy if these know nothing of their Defects we will lay before their Eyes a piece of Blue Cloath to judge of its true Colour 't is certain the first will say 't is Scarlet the second that it is Yellow the third that it is White and the fourth that it is Black and that each of them would make no difficulty to swear it and to ridicule his Companion upon it as a Fellow that suffers himself to be deceived in a thing so clear And if we should let these four drops of Humour fall down to the Tongue and give to these Four Persons a Glass of Water to drink one would say it was sweet another it was bitter the third it was salt and the last that it was sower Thus you see here Four different Judgments in two Qualities because each has his sensory Organs tinctured not one of them all hitting upon the Truth The same Reason and Proportion is kept by the Internal Faculties in the Place of their Objects and thus it would be should we carry up these Four Humours even to the Brain if they happened to cause an Inflammation there we should see a Thousand sorts of Follies and Extravagances whence comes the Saying That every Man has his blind-side in which he is obstinate Those who are not incommoded with this Distemper'd Excess seem to be of a very sound Judgment and speak and do very Rational Things and yet in effect are Extravagant but do not reflect upon it because of the calm and moderate Temper they possess Physicians have no better a way to know if a Man be sick or well than to reflect on his Actions for if they are Rational and Sound he is in Health but if they are Evil and Deprav'd it is an infallible Indication of his being Indisposed Upon this Argument the great Philosopher Democritus insisted when he proved to Hippocrates that Man from the Day of his Birth to that of his Death as to his Rational Acts was nothing else but a continual Disease Every Man says he from his Birth is but a Disease when he is brought up he is Helpless and wants the Aid of another when he encreases in Strength he becomes Insolent must be Corrected and have a Master when he is at full Strength he is Rash when he declines to Old Age he is Miserable does nothing but Vaunt and Prate of his past Labours at length he drops with his fair Qualities into the Ordeur of his Mother's Belly Which Words were admired by Hippocrates who finding them so true and being convinc'd by them recounted them to his Friend Demagetes And returning to Visit him who relished a Treat of such high Wisdom he ask'd him why he laugh'd without ceasing upon his ridiculing all Mankind To which he returned as follows Don't you see that the whole World is Raving mad in a burning Fever some buy and feed Kenels of Hounds that are to Devour them others run Mad after Hunting-Horses these would command many People and yet know not so much as how to govern themselves those take Wives to drive away Incontinence and yet burn with Love and soon prove as irreconcilable in their Hatred they die with desire to have Children and when these Children are once grown up they turn them out of Doors All these unprofitable transient Cares and Affections what are they but fair Tokens of their Folly Nor do they stop
Conjectures at random Men of Harmonious Constitutions as we shall hereafter prove have in a degree of Mediocrity a Capacity for all Sciences though they will never excell in any but those that are otherwise are fit but for one only which if they happen to hit upon and Study with Care and Application they may be assured to succeed wonderfully in it but if they fail in their Choice and Application they will make but small Advancements in the other Sciences History confirms to us that each Science was discover'd by Men of ill Constitutions If Adam and all his Children had continued in the Terrestrial Paradice they would have had no occasion for Mechanic Arts nor any of the Sciences now taught in the Schools nor would they as yet have been found out or Practised for inasmuch as they went bare-footed and naked they wanted neither Shooe-makers nor Taylors nor Weavers no more than Carpenters or Masons because there was no Rain in this Earthly Garden of Pleasure nor was the Weather too hot or too cold that they needed any Cover or Retreat Nor was there any Scholastic or Positive Divinity much less was it branched out as it is now because Adam not having Sin'd Jesus Christ was not Born of whose Incarnation Life and Death as also of Original Sin and the Remedy thereby obtained this Science consists There had been less of the Knowledge of the Law because the Just have no occasion for Law and Right all things had been in Common there had been no Mine nor Thine which are the cause of Law Suits and Quarrels Physic had likewise been superfluous Man had then been Immortal and free from the Corruptions and Changes attending Diseases all had eat of the Fruit of the Tree of Life which had that Property daily to repair our Radical Moisture Adam no sooner Sin'd but he began to fall upon the Exercising of all the Arts and Sciences as necessary to support his Misery The first Science that appeared in the Earthly Paradice was Skill of the Law by means of which was form'd a Process with the same Order of Justice as at this day observ'd citing the Party and declaring the Crime he was accused of the Accused answering and the Judge pronouncing Arrest of Judgment or Condemnation The second was Divinity for when God said to the Serpent And she shall bruise thy Head Adam understood as he was a Man whose Understanding was full of infus'd Sciences that to repair his Fault the Divine Word was to take Flesh in the Virgin 's Womb who by her happy Delivery should trample under her Feet the Devil and all his Powers by which Faith and Belief he was Saved After Theology soon came the Military-Art because in the way Adam went to eat the Fruit of Life God had placed a Garison and Fort into which he had put an Armed Cherubim to dispute the Passage Next the Art-Military came also Physic because Adam by Sin became Mortal and Corruptible subject to an infinite number of Dolours and Infirmities All these Arts and Sciences were first exercised there receiving afterwards their due Improvement and Perfection each in the temperate Region best adapted to it by means of Men of Wit and Ability every way qualified to invent them Whereupon I conclude Curious Reader frankly confessing my self to be of evil Constitution and Distemper'd and that you may well be so being Born as I was in an intemperate Region and that the same Thing may happen to us as to those Four Men who seeing a Piece of Blue Cloath swore one that it was Scarlet the other White the third Yellow and the fourth Black not one of them speaking true because each had a particular Vitiation in the Organ of Sight A Table of the CHAPTERS and ARTICLES CHAP. I. WHat Wit is and what Differences of it are ordinarily observed among Men. Page 1 Chap. II. The Differences amongst Men unqualified for Sciences Page 22 Chap. III. The Child who has neither Wit nor Ability requisite to the intended Science cannot prove a great Proficient though he have the best Masters many Books and should labour at it all the Days of his Life Page 31 Chap. IV. Nature only qualifies a Man for Learning Page 47 Chap. V. What Power the Temperament has to make a Man Wise and good Natur'd Page 62 Chap. VI. What Part of the Body ought to be well Temper'd that the Child may be Witty Page 91 Chap. VII That the Vegetative Sensitive and Rational Soul are knowing without being directed by Teachers when they meet with a Temperament agreeable to their Operations Page 101 Chap. VIII From these three Qualities alone Heat Moisture and Driness proceed all the Differences of Wit observ'd among Men. Page 129 Chap. IX Some Doubts and Arguments against the Doctrin of the last Chapter with their Answers Page 155 Chap. X. Each Difference of Wit is appropriated to the Science with which it most particularly agrees removing what is Repugnant or Contrary to it Page 112 Chap. XI That Eloquence and Politeness of Speech are not to be found in Men of great Vnderstanding Page 206 Chap. XII That the Theory of Divinity belongs to the Vnderstanding and Preaching which is the Practic to the Imagination Page 214 Chap. XIII That the Theory of the Laws pertains to the Memory Pleading Causes and Judging them which is the Practic to the Vnderstanding and Governing of a Commonwealth to the Imagination Page 244 Chap. XIV That the Theory of Physic belongs part to the Memory and part to the Vnderstanding and the Practic to the Imagination Page 279 Chap. XV. To what Difference of Wit the Art-Military belongs and by what Marks the Man may be known that has it Page 314 Chap. XVI To what Difference of Ability the Office of a King belongs and what Marks he ought to have that has this kind of Wit Page 367 Chap. XVII In what manner Parents may beget Wise Children and of a Wit fit for Learning Page 397 Article I. By what Marks the Degrees of Heat and Driness are to be discover'd in each Man Page 416 Art II. What Women ought to Marry with what Men to have Children Page 422 Art III. What Considerations to be used to get Boys and not Girls Page 426 Art IV. What is to be observ'd that the Children may prove Witty and Wise Page 443 Art V. Rules to be observ'd to preserve Wit in Chidren after they are Born Page 487 Authors made use of in this WORK ABulensis Alex. Aproh Aquinas Aristotle St. Austin Cajetan Celsus Cicero Democritus Demosthenes Donatus Galen Hippocrates Homer Horace Josephus Juvenal Lyra. Nemesius Persius Pindar Plato Pliny Salust Suetonius Tacitus Vegetius Xenocrates ERRATA PAge 14. line 20. read the being p. 26. l. 10. r. Fetters p. 42. l. 17. r. Master p. 93. l. 19. dele is p. 117. l. 4. r. Delirous p. 152. Margin r. Arts p. 158. l. 5. r. Peripatetics p. 174. l. 5. r. which is p. 179. Margin r. XVth p.
190. l. 12. r. Requesens ib. l. 18. r. understood Latin p. 192. l. 19. r. yet owns p. 199. l. 3. r Problems p. 221. l. 4. r. at a loss p. 222. l. 20. r. Alcala p. 223. l. 30. r. repetition p. 241. Margin r. driness p. 252. l. 24. r. le ts p. 253. l. 18. r. Laws p. 315. l. 16. r. Captains p. 334. l. 1. r. haste to go we should p. 345. l. 6. r. Henares p. 353. l. 13. r. it is p. 363. l. 10. r. Physiâ—ian p. 371. l. 19. r. Turk p. 38.6 l. 1. r. his p. 405. l. 18. r. Women's p. 432. l. 25. r. in The Literal and Paginal Mistakes the Reader may please to Correct THE TRYAL OF WITS c. CHAP. I. What Wit is and what Differences of it are ordinarily observ'd among Men. 'T IS one of Plato's Precepts That all who pretend to Write or Teach ought to begin their Doctrin with the Definition of the thing treated of its Nature Difference and Propriety That gives the Learner a true relish and prevents the Writers launching out into needless Questions or flying from those most proper for compleating the Work The reason of this is that the Definition ought to be so close and comprehensive that there should hardly be found any thing either in the handling that Science or in the due method which should not be pointed to in it Therefore if they do not begin thus 't is impossible to observe Order in any sort of Science Seeing then that Wit and Ability in Men is the entire Subject of this Book it will be convenient first to understand the Definition and what it essentially comprehends for when we rightly apprehend that we shall then also find the true method of teaching this New Doctrin and whereas the Name as the same Philosopher observes is as the Instrument by which the Substances of things are taught and distinguish'd We must know this word Ingenio in Spanish and Ingenium in Latin which signifies Wit is derived from one of these three Latin Words Gigno Genero Ingenero as much as to Ingender and it seems rather to come from the last considering the Sound and Number of Letters and Syllables it borrows thence and what we shall hereafter add of its Signification The Reason upon which the first Inventers of this Word built is not trivial in order to know how to find the Names and good Agreement which things lately discover'd require Plato says this only belongs to Heroes and to Men of deep Thought as may be seen in the Invention of this Word Ingenio to find it out there will be required much subtle Speculation and strong Natural Philosophy by which one may discover two generative Powers in Man one common with the Beasts and Plants and the other Participating of Spiritual Substances God and the Angels It is our Province to discourse of the first which is well known there being more difficulty in the second because their Birth and manner of Procreation are not so manifest to all the World Nevertheless speaking according to Natural Philosophers 't is a clear Case that Wit is a Generative Power and if we may so say becomes pregnant and brings forth that has I say Children and moreover as Plato affirms wants a Midwife to deliver her For like as the Plant or Animal in the Generation of the first sort gives a real and substantial Being to what they produce which they have not before Generation even so Wit has the Power and natural Force to produce and bring forth within it self a Son which the Natural Philosophers call Notion or as it has been accounted the Word of the Spirit And not only the aforesaid Philosophers speak of it after this manner maintaining the Understanding to be a Generative Faculty and calling that a Son which it produces but Sacred Writ it self speaking of the Generation of the Eternal Word makes use of the same Terms of Father and Son or Ingender and bring forth When there were no Depths I was brought forth when there were no Fountains abounding with Water before the Mountains were setled before the Hills was I brought forth So also is it certain that the Divine Word had its Eternal Generation from the Prolifick Understanding of the Father My Heart that is to say my Thoughts have indicted a good Word And not only the Divine Word but also all things comprehended in the Universe Visible and Invisible have been produc'd by the self-same Power Whence the Natural Philosophers considering the Fecundity of the Divine Understanding have named it Genius which is by an Excellence as much as the Engenderer And though the rational Soul and other Spiritual Substances may be call'd Genii from being Fruitful in the Production of some Thoughts relating to Science and Wisdom yet they have not always an Intellect of sufficient Force and Power in their Generation to give a real being to what they Ingender as subsisting by its self like as it happens in the Generation of those things which God has made all their Generative Virtue serves to produce an accident in the Memory which after it is produced is in the end but an Idea and Image of what we know and understand very far from that which comes to pass in the Ineffable Generation of the Word Divine where that which is Engender'd is of the same Substance with the Father as the other things which God has produc'd represent him from without by a real and substantial Being which we now see in them but for the Ideas in Man's Understanding if they are such things as relate to Art they don't immediately receive the Being they ought to have However thus much must be done to draw a perfect Idea by which we are to form 'em 't is necessary before-hand to make a thousand strokes in the Air to build many Models and in the end to set our hand to the Work to give them the Being they ought to have and notwithstanding all that they happen for the most part to be defective The same thing falls out in other Conceptions Man forms to understand Natural things and what relates to their being there or the Image the Understanding conceives of 'em by an Admirable Resemblance of the first Thought with something living and to draw a Copy that may come up pretty near the Original 't is requisite to assemble an Infinite Number of Spirits to labour a long time that after all spend themselves in producing only a thousand Extravagancies This Doctrin then being suppos'd we must now understand that the Arts and Sciences Men study are only a sort of Images and Figures begotten by their Minds in their Memory which represent to the Life the Posture and natural Composition of the Subject relating to the intended Science As for Instance Physick was nothing else in Hippocrates and Galen's Heads but a Picture nakedly presenting the Structure of the Body of Man together with the Cause and Cure of his Diseases The
him but the Master that had taught him no better because the Cognizance and Solution of the Motions of Divine Providence as they are Supernatural Acts appertain to the Metaphysicians now a-days called Divines for the Gardener's question was Natural and properly belong'd to the Natural Philosophers those being establish'd and manifest Causes whence such Effects are produc'd For which reason the Philosopher says That the Earth resembled a Mother-in-law that took a particular care of her own Children but starved those of her Husband for we observe hers to be plump and in good liking but the other meager lank and ill coloured The Plants the Earth produces of her self come out of her own Bowels those the Gardener raises are forc'd by Art being the Daughters of another strange Mother void of the Virtue and Nourishment that should make them thrive and what is communicated only to the Plants she her self brings forth Hippocrates confirm'd this in his Visit he made to the great Philosopher Democritus who acquainted him with the false Notions the People had of Physic who as if they were free from all Diseases had nothing in their Mouths but that God had healed them and if it had not pleased him the Physicians Care and Skill had been all employed to no purpose and the like This is the old way of Talking and which has so often been in vain exploded by the Naturalists that it is not worth while to endeavour to silence it Neither is it altogether convenient because the Vulgar who are not acquainted with the particular Causes of any Effect whatever answer better and with more truth from the universal Cause which is God than to run into Impertinences However I have many times consider'd with my self whence it should come that the Vulgar should so readily ascribe all things to God taking no notice at all of Nature and not without some secret Abhorrence of Natural Means I know not well how to divine the true Cause but thus much I find that the Generality of People being ignorant which Effects more immediately to refer to God and which to Nature prate after this manner besides that Men are for the most part impatient and Friends to those that first gratify their Desires And the Process of Nature being slow and requiring length of Time they have not Patience to attend the Event but knowing the Omnipotence of God who in an Instant does what he pleases of which they want not many Instances they either beg at his Hands Health with the Paralitic or Wisdom with Solomon or Riches with Job or Deliverance from their Enemies with David An other Reason is because Men are Opinionative and Conceited most of them wishing in their Hearts that God would distinguish them by some particular Favour not in the common Road and as he makes the Sun to shine upon the Just and the Unjust and the Rain to descend upon all alike Favours being rather the more esteem'd by how much the Rarer they are and more Appropriate to a few Upon which pretence we have seen many Men feign Miraracles in Times and Places of Devotion for which cause People flock about them and pay just Veneration to them as Persons in Favour and Esteem with Heaven and if they are poor they bestow considerable Alms upon them who play the Religious Counterfeits for Interest The third Cause is Men are lovers of their Ease and Natural Causes being in such an Order and Concatenation as requires a great deal of Time and Application to discover their Effects therefore they had rather God should exert his Omnipotence that so they might without the least Pain or Delay obtain their Desires I shall take no notice of the Malice of those who seek for Miracles from God to tempt his Omnipotence to try if he can work them nor of others who to gratify their Revenge call for Fire from Heaven and the like severe Instances of the Divine Vengeance The last Reason is that the Vulgar generally speaking are very Religious and desirous that God should be greatly Honour'd and much Glorified which comes to pass by Miracles rather than Natural Events for the common People are not aware that God is not the Author of all Supernatural and Extraordinary things so much to proclaim his Almighty Power to the Ignorant as to employ them as nobler Arguments to confirm his Doctrin and that unless upon such an Emergency he never works any This is easily understood if we consider that God works not now such Miracles as once in the Old and New Testament and the Reason is because he has already done all that was necessary on his part that Man might not pretend Ignorance but to imagine that he should be ready to employ the same Arguments again and again and work new Miracles to confirm afresh his old Doctrin as in the Instances of raising the Dead giving Sight to the Blind Feet to the Lame and Paralitic is a great mistake for at the same instant as God teaches Men what is convenient he confirms it by Miracles without repeating them every day a-new God spoke once and did not repeat the same a second time The clearest Indication I have to discover a Man that has no Wit propense to Natural Philosophy is when I see him referring all things to Miracles without any distinction As on the other hand there is no need to call in question their Understanding who cannot rest satisfied without discerning the particular Cause of every Effect These are well aware that some Events are to be referred immediately to God as are Miracles and others again to Nature as those that have their immediate Causes from which they ordinarily flow But let us talk at what rate we please God is always understood to be the Author even of the last for when Aristotle said God and Nature make nothing in Vain he never meant that Nature was an Universal Cause having a Power independent upon God but a Name only of that Order and Subordinate Rule appointed by God himself in the Creation of the World to the end that such Effects might duly succeed as were necessary to its Conservation and Continuance in the same state So we say the King and Civil Right can do no Wrong by which manner of speaking no Man takes the Term Right to signifie another Prince of separate Jurisdiction from the King but rather as a Term by its signification importing all the Laws and Ordinances made by the King himself to preserve the State in Peace Like as a King has some peculiar Prerogatives that cannot be Determined by the Law as being Paramount and Extraordinary even so has God reserv'd to himself the Effects of Miracles for the Production of which he has given no Commission or Power to Natural Causes where by the way we may observe that he who takes them for such and can distinguish them from natural Effects must needs be a very acute Natural Philosopher and understand no less
Galen thought the most Important Qualification of all the rest For giving an Indication of the good Composition of the Brain he saies that the sharp Wit shews the Brain to be formed of very subtile and delicate Parts but if the Understanding be Dull it denotes the Brain to be Composed of a Gross Substance where he takes no Notice of the Temperament To the end the Rational Soul might by this means Reason well the Brain ought to have these Qualities But here arises a great Difficulty which is in opening the Head of any Beast whatever we shall find his Brains composed after the self same manner as Man's without being wanting in any of the Conditions mentioned To which it is Answered that in this Man and Brute Beasts agree in having a Temperament of the four first Qualities without which 't would be impossible for them to Subsist so are they composed of the four Elements Fire Air Water and Earth whence spring and proceed Heat Cold Moysture and Dryness In the Actions of the Vegetative Soul they also agree accordingly Nature has given to both alike Organs and Instruments necessary for Nourishment such are the right Fibres traverse and oblique subservient to the four Natural Faculties They also conspire in the Sensitive Soul for so they have Nerves and Sinews alike for the Instruments of Sense In local Motion they also agree no less thus have they both Muscles as fit Instruments directed by Nature to move from place to place They also accord in Memory and Fancy for so have they both Brains as an Instrument subservient to those two Faculties that are alike composed in both The Understanding is the sole Faculty that distinguishes Man from Beast and because the Understanding acts without any corporeal Organ or depends not on the same for it's being or preservation therefore Nature had no need of a new Turn in the composition of man's Brain However the Understanding hath Occasion for other Faculties to operate which Faculties likewise have the Brain for the Instrument of their Operations We add farther that the Brain of Man requires the Conditions we have laid down to the end the Rational Faculty may by means thereof perform Operations every way agreeable and conformable to its Species As to Brute Beasts it is certain they have Memory and Fancy and some other Power that Apes the Understanding even as a Monkey Apes a Man CHAP. VII That the Vegetative Sensitive and Rational Soul are knowing without being directed by Teachers when they meet with a Temperament agreeable to their Operations THE Temperament of the four First Qualities which we have already called Nature hath force sufficient of it self to leave the Plants the Brutes and Man unprovided of nothing wherewith to Act well each according to his Species and to arrive at the highest Perfection each is capable of for without any Teacher the Plants know how to spread and take Root in the Earth to draw Nourishment to keep it to digest it and throw off the Excrementitious Parts and Brute Beasts know as soon as ever they are born into the World what is agreeable to their Nature as well as to avoid what is Evil and Noxious And what most astonishes those that do not understand Natural Philosophy is that Man having a well tempered and disposed Brain suitable to each Science immediately and without being directed by any Teachers speaks concerning that Science of his own accord such elevate and subtle Things as are almost incredible Vulgar Philosophers seeing the admirable Actions performed by Brute Beasts say that there is nothing in them to Surprize us because they act those things by Instinct of Nature which directs each Species what it ought to do They say well for as we have proved already Nature is no other thing but the Temperament of the four First Qualities and that the same is the Master instructing our Souls how to perform their Offices But these Philosophers call Instinct of Nature a certain Heap of things they know not what which they have never been able in the least to Explain or make 〈…〉 ible Those Excellent Philosophers 〈…〉 and Aristotle have referred all these admirable Operations to Heat Cold Moisture and Dryness which they take for the first Principles without going further and being asked who has taught the Brute Beasts to perform such surprizing Actions And Men to Reason Hippocrates replied Nature without any other Teacher or Master as if he would have said the Faculties or the Temperament of which these Faculties consist are all knowing of themselves without the direction of any Master This we shall easily apprehend if we reflect on the Operations of the Vegetative Soul and of all the others which govern Man for if it receives a drop of Human Seed well-tempered well-digested and well-proportioned it frames a Body so regularly Composed so exact and so beautiful as the best Sculptors in the World can but imitate at a distance Galen amaz'd at the sight of so admirable a Structure the Number of it's Parts the Situation the Figure and use of each Part cried out it was Impossible for a Vegetative Soul and Temperament to know how to make so admirable a Work And that God alone was the Author of it or at least some other very wise Intelligence But we have already utterly disallowed this way of Prating for it is unbecoming Natural Philosophers to impute the Effects immediatly to God and overlook second Causes more especially in this Case where we see by Experience that if the Seed of Man be of an Incongruous Substance not having the proper Temperament the Vegetative Soul produces a thousand Extravagances For if the Seed be Colder and Moister than it ought Hippocrates has told us Men would come Eunuchs or Hermaphrodites into the World and if it were too Hot and Dry Aristotle has noted they would prove Hair-Lipped Splay-Footed and Flat-Nosed as the Ethiopians and if too moist says the same Galen they are like to prove unlick't and unshapen Lubbers and if too dry it makes them dwindle to a Dwarfish Stature all which enormous Defects are great Deformities in Mankind for which there is little reason to magnifie Nature or to Esteem her Wise but had God been the Author of these Works each of these forementioned Qualities could not have failed of Perfection Plato saies only the first Men were made by Gods own Hand and all the rest since have been born by the ordinary Course of second Causes which as they are found in order the Vegetative Soul performs her part very well but if she Concurrs not as she ought a thousand Absurdities are produced The good Order for this Effect is that the Vegetative Soul have a right Temperament Otherwise let Galen and all the Philosophers in the World give a Reason why the Vegetative Soul should have more Skill and Ability in the first Age of Man's Life to shape the Body to Nourish and make it
the Past and Prudence of the Future The Dexterity of Wit is what we call in Spanish Agudeza in agibilibus and is in other terms Fineness Wiliness or Cunning and Craft in the things and Intrigues of the World And therefore Cicero said That Prudence was a Skill which had a certain way to make choice of Good and Evil. Men of great Understanding are without this sort of Prudence and Skill because they want Imagination Accordingly we see by Experience that great Scholars as to the things appertaining to the Understanding taken from their Books signify nothing to go and engage in the Affairs of the World Galen said excellently well That this sort of Prudence proceeded from Choler for Hippocrates acquainting his Friend Damagetes with the Condition he found Democritus in when he went to Visit him in order to his Cure writ that he was in the open Field under a Plain-tree bare Leg'd set upon a Stone a Book in his hand and surrounded with Dead and Flead Beasts at which Hippocrates being surpriz'd asked him what he did with those Beasts that were in such a case He Answer'd him that he was in search of the Humor that made Men Fickle Crafty False and Deceitful and that in dissecting those brute Beasts he had found that Choler was the cause of this mischievous Quality and that to be revenged on Men of Gall and Guile he would treat them as he had done the Fox the Serpent and the Ape This kind of Prudence is not only odious to Men but also St. Paul says The Carnal Mind is at Enmity against God And Plato gave the Reason of it saying That Knowledge abstracted from Justice rather merits the name of Craft and Cunning than of Wisdom The Devil always makes use of such Weapons when he would do mischief to Men. This Wisdom said St. James descendeth not from above but is earthy sensual and devilish There is another sort of Wisdom attended with Uprightness and Simplicity by which Men follow that which is good and fly that which is evil Galen says this kind belongs to the Understanding because that Faculty is wholly incapable of Craft or Malice only knowing how Evil is not done but is Upright Just Frank and Innocent The Man who is endow'd with this kind of Wit is called Upright and Simple Accordingly Demosthenes being desirous to win the good Will of the Judges in a Speech he made against Eschines called them Just and Upright having an eye to the Simplicity of their Employment Of whom Cicero said Their Duty is simple and one only Cause of all Good The Coldness and the Driness of Melancholy is a very proper Instrument for this kind of Wisdom but then it must be composed of fine and very delicate Parts We may Answer to the last Doubt That when a Man is engaged in the Contemplation of a truth he would know and does not presently attain it it is because his Brain is deprived of the Temperament convenient to what he desir'd but fixing a while in Contemplation as soon as the Natural Heat that is in the Vital Spirits and Arterial Blood flys to the Head the same causes the Temperament of the Brain to rise always till it arrive at the degree it has occasion for 'T is true that much Plodding does good to some and harm to others for if there be no want in the Brain to attain the due degree of Heat there will be no occasion for deep Meditation and if it pass beyond the point the Understanding is strait disordered by an overflow of too many Vital Spirits by means of which it attains not to the Notice of the Truth it is in search of Whence it comes that we observe many Men speak very well extempore but perform very meanly with premeditation On the contrary others have such a slow Capacity because of their great Coldness or Driness that of necessity the Natural Heat must be a long time in the Head to cause the Temperament to rise to the degree it wants and therefore they quit themselves much better when they have had time to recollect what they have to say than when they are to speak extempore CHAP. X. Each Difference of Wit is appropriated to the Science with which it most particularly agrees removing what is Repugnant or contrary to it ALL the Arts said Cicero are setled upon certain Universal Principles which being learned with Study and Labour the Science at length is acquir'd Only the Art of Poetry has this in peculiar That if God and Nature make not the Man a Poet he will never be enabled by Rules and Precepts to make a Verse which occasion'd him to say The Study and Knowledge of other things depend upon the Precepts of Art but the Poet is so by Nature he is only excited by the force of his Wit and is as it were inspired with a Divine Enthusiasm But Cicero was not in the right because in effect there is no Art or Science invented in the Commonwealth which can be attained by a Man who is Incapable although he labour all his Life time in the Precepts and Rules thereof whereas if he falls upon a Science agreeable to his Natural Inclination we may observe he will make some Progress in the space of few days 'T is the same thing in Poetry for if he who has a proper Talent apply himself to make Verses he will soon acquit himself very well and if not he will always remain a dull Poet. This being so it seems to me there is a time to find out by Art to which Difference of Wit each sort of Science in particular Corresponds to the end that every one may distinctly understand after having first discover'd his own Nature and Temperament to which Art he is most inclined The Arts and Sciences acquired by means of the Memory are these following Grammar Latin and all other Languages whatever the Theory of the Law Positive Divinity Cosmography and Arithmetic Those that belong to the Understanding are School Divinity the Theory of Physic Logic Natural and Moral Philosophy the Practice of the Law which is the Advocates Science From a good Invention spring all the Arts and Sciences whatever that depend upon Figure Correspondence Harmony and Proportion such as are Poetry Rhetoric Music and the Art of Preaching the Practice of Physic the Mathematics Astronomy the Military-Art and that of Governing a Commonwealth to Paint to Design to Write and Read to be Agreeable Gentile Pleasant in Words and happy in Expressions to be Dextrous in the Affairs and Intrigues of Life to have a ready Wit for Machines and all that Artificers pretend to as also an Address admired by the Vulgar which is to dictate several Matters to four Persons at the same time all well digested and in good Order Of all which we can't give evident Demonstration nor prove each thing severally for that was never yet done but we will prove
to the Understanding being Writ in Latin that even such as want a good Memory can Read and Study those Books the Latin Tongue being so repugnant to them by reason of a defective Memory We may solve the first Problem thus There is no better Test to discover if a Man wants Understanding than to note if he be Haughty in Punctilio's of Honour Presumptuous Elated Ambitious and Ceremonious The reason is that all these are the Effects of a Difference of Imagination which requires no more than one Degree of Heat with which the great Moisture requisite to Memory consists well because this Degree of Heat is not of force sufficient to resolve it On the contrary an infallible sign that a Man is naturally humble is when he is observ'd to undervalue himself and whatever comes from him or relates to him and that not only Vaunts not and commends not himself but is offended at and scarce admits the Praises bestow'd on him by others being uneasie and in pain with Punctilio's and in places of Ceremony that Man I say who has these Marks may justly pass for a Man of great Understanding but of little Imagination and Memory I said naturally Humble because if it be by Art it is no certain sign whence it comes that the Grammarians are provided with so great a Memory and uniting with it this difference of Imagination which we just now mentioned they are necessarily deficient in their Understanding and such as the Proverb described To the second Problem may be answer'd That Galen gathering the Wit of Men from the Temperament of the Region they inhabit says That all those who dwell Northerly are defective in Understanding and those Situated between the North and the Torrid Zone are most Prudent which Position answers exactly to our Country and without doubt it is so for Spain is neither so Cold as the Northern Climes nor so Hot as the Torrid Zone Aristotle seems to be of the same Opinion when he Enquires Why those that live in very cold Countries have not so good an Understanding as those Born in very hot In his Answer he treats but coursly the Flemmings Germans English and French saying That the greater part of the Wits of those Nations resembled that of Drunkards for which reason they could not search into or know the Nature of things And the Cause of this is the overflow of Moisture in their Brains and other Parts of their Body which the fairness of their Complexions and the flaxen Colour of their Hair denotes and that it is a wonder to see a German bald and besides that they are all big and of large Stature through the abundance of Moisture which is a dilater of the Body The contrary is discern'd in the Spaniards who are a little Tawny black Hair'd of mean Stature and for the most part Bald which is a disposition affirm'd by Galen proceeding from a hot and dry Brain And if that be true they must of necessity have an ill Memory but a good Understanding and the German a great Memory and little Understanding Accordingly one of them cannot learn Latin and the other learns it readily The reason given by Aristotle to prove the little Understanding of the Northern People is that the great Ambient Cold of the Country forces the Natural Heat inward by an Antiperistasis and hinders it from being dissipated and so they have abundance of Moisture and Heat it is therefore these People are at the same time furnished with a good Memory for the Tongues and with a good Imagination by means of which they make Clocks bring the Water from the River to Toledo invent Machines and very curious Works which the Spaniards cannot make because they want Imagination but if they apply themselves to any point of Logic Philosophy School-Divinty Physic and the Laws a Spaniard without Comparison will speak more sublime and quainter things in his own Tongue and in barbarous Terms than a Stranger can do with all his fine Latin for take these People out of their Elegant and Polite Road of Writing and they perform nothing Extraordinary nor have they any Invention In Proof of this Doctrin Galen says In Scythia which is a Northern Country as a Wonder there arose one Philosopher whereas at Athens they are all such But though Philosophy and the other Sciences by us named are repugnant to these Northern People yet the Mathematics and Astronomy are proper to them because they have an Excellent Imagination The Answer to the third Problem depends on a much agitated Dispute between Plato and Aristotle One affirms that there are Words which naturally signify Things and that much Wit is requir'd to invent them which Opinion is favour'd by Holy Writ telling us that Adam gave to each Creature God set before him the proper Name most suitable to it But Aristotle would not yield that there was in any Tongue any Term or Figure of Speech that naturally signified the thing but that all Words were by Institution according to the Caprice and Fancy of Men. Accordingly it is known by Experience that Wine has more than Threescore Names and Bread as many and each its own in each Tongue nor can it be affirm'd of one that it is more proper and natural than all the rest for if it were all the Men in the World would use that However after all Plato's Opinion is truer For say the first Inventers of Tongues imposed Names according to their Fancy that Fancy was still with Reason as well in consulting the Ear as having regard to the Nature of the thing and observing the Graces of Pronounciation so as that the Words be not too long or too short and that there be no need of distorting the Mouth in Speaking giving the Accent in the proper place and the like Conditions to be observ'd that the Tongue be Eloquent and not Barbarous Of the Opinion of Plato was a Spanish Cavalier who diverted himself with Writing Books of Chivalry because he was furnished with that difference of Imagination which inclines a Man to such Stories and Lyes It is reported of him that being to bring into his Romance a certain fierce Giant he was for several days studying what Name would be most answerable to his Exploits but he could never chop upon it till playing one day at Tables with a Friend of his he heard the Master of the House say Ola Mochacho traquitantos a esta mesa That is to say Holla Boy bring hither some Dice for the Tables The Gentleman no sooner heard the Word Traquitantos but weighing the well sounding Name in his Ears without any longer stay for good Fortune rose up and said Gentlemen I play no longer for I have been a long while Inventing a Name that should agree well with a fierce Giant whom I make use of in certain Fictions I have composed and could not for my Life light upon it till I came to this House where I always received
not so many Expedients to represent the whole Body of the Law to the Understanding yet the Laws are so grounded upon right Reason that the Antients as Plato reports called the Law it self by the Name of Prudence and Reason So that the Judge or Pleader that is furnished with a good Understanding when he is Judging or giving his Opinion though he hath not the Law before him shall yet commit fewer Errors because he hath with him the Instrument made use of by the Emperors in forming the Laws themselves Accordingly we see it often happen that a Judge being a Man of ready Wit pronounces a good Sentence without knowing the Decision of the Law and afterwards finds the same so answered in his Books and this we see happens also to Pleaders when they give their Opinion in a Case without Studying The Laws and the Rules of Right well considered are the Spring and Source whence the Pleaders draw their Arguments and Reasons to prove what they pretend which Work for certain is performed by the Understanding of which Power if the Pleader be unprovided or have it in a very low degree he will never have Skill to form an Argument though he knew all the Law by Rote We see plainly that this befals those that Study the Art of Rhetoric wanting the Ability proper for it that though they learn without Book the Topics of Cicero which are the Fountains whence flow the Arguments that are to prove each Problem by the Affirmative and Negative yet they never know how to raise an Argument And others of greater Wit and Ability there are who without seeing a Book or learning the Topics raise a Thousand Arguments accommodated to the Case in question The same comes to pass in Lawyers of good Memory who can recite the whole Text of the Law very faithfully and yet out of the vast Body of Laws know not how to draw one Argument to ground their Opinion upon On the other hand there are others who never Studied hard at Salamanca and yet without poring on Books or taking their Degrees work Wonders when they come to plead a Cause Hence we understand how much it imports the Common-wealth that there should be a Choice and Trial of Wits fit for the Sciences since there are some who without Art understand what ever they are to do and others with a Cart-load of Precepts and Rules commit a Thousand Absurdities because they have not the Disposition which the Practice requires So then if to Judge and Plead is to be performed by Distinguishing Concluding Arguing and Chusing it stands with Reason that he who applies himself to the Study of the Law should be furnished with a good Understanding since these Works are the Effects of that Power and not of the Memory or Imagination How to find whether the Youth have this Difference of Wit or no is worth knowing but it will be fit before-hand to distinguish the Qualities possest by the Understanding and how many Differences it Embraces to the end we may know more distinctly to which of these Differences the Study of the Law belongs As to the first it is to be noted That though the Understanding be the most Noble Faculty in Man and of the greatest Dignity yet is there not any that is so easily led into Errors about Truth as that Aristotle attempted to prove it affirming That the Sense is ever true but that for the most part the Understanding reasoned ill Which is plainly seen by Experience for were it not so amongst the Divines the Physicians the Lawyers and Philosophers there would not be so many Dissentions so Divers Opinions such Variety of Judgments and Conceits upon every Point there being no more than one Truth Whence it arises that the Senses have so great a Certainty in their Objects and that the Understanding is so easie to be imposed upon on its part is not hard to conceive if it be considered that the Objects of the Five Senses and the Species by which the Objects are known have a real firm and stable being by Nature before they are known but what Truth the Understanding has to Speculate if the Understanding does not give it a Frame and Fashion has no formal Being of its own All lies dispersed and loose in the Materials like a House resolved into Stone Earth Timber and Tiles with which so many Errors may be committed in Building as there are Men that undertake to Re-build it with an ill Imagination The same thing happens in the Building raised by the Understanding in framing of a Truth For all except those that have a good Wit will commit a Thousand Absurdities with the self-same Principles Hence comes that great Diversity of Opinions found among Men concerning the same thing for every one gives it a Form and Figure according to his Understanding From these Errors and Opinions are the Five Senses exempt for neither the Eyes make the Colour nor the Taste the Savours nor the Touch the Tangible Qualities but the whole is ordered and compounded by Nature before any one of the Senses knows its Object Because Men are not well acquainted with this wretched Condition of the Understanding they so confidently give their Opinion without knowing certainly what kind of Wit theirs is whether it forms the Truth well or ill And if it be not so let us ask some Men of Letters who after they have Writ down and Confirmed their Opinion with many Arguments and Reasons and have after changed their Sentiments and Opinions at another time when or how they can be assured that they have found out the Truth at last The first time as they themselves confessed they have failed seeing they unsaid all that they said before And for the second I affirm that they are to be yet more distrustful of their Understandings because they are to suspect that that Power which already once so ill framed the Truth in Confidence of its Arguments and Reasons may yet again slide into Error when it is supported by the same Reason More especially because it is often seen by Experience that the first Opinion is more Probable and the latter they take up with is worse and less Probable They think it a sufficient Token that their Understanding lights upon the Truth when they perceive it enamoured of such a Figure and that there wants not Arguments and Motives to move it to conclude in that sort but in effect this is a Fallacy because there is the same Correspondence between their Understandings and its false Notions as there is in each of the other Inferior Powers with regard to their Objects For if we ask the Physicians What Meat is best and most savory of all in use among Men I believe they would answer There is not any that for Distemper'd Men and weak Stomachs that is absolutely good or bad but that it is such as the Stomach that receives it Since there are Stomachs according to Galen's Saying that
is sufficient But when one Pleader speaks for the Plantiff and another for the Defendant and a third Lawyer fills the Place of a Judge this is like a Fight with drawn Sword and where they cannot speak so at random as when they fight in the Air without an Enemy If the Child advance not much in Grammar it is to be suspected that he has a good Understanding and therefore I say suspected because it does not necessarily follow that he who can't learn Latin hath a great Understanding Seeing we have proved before that Children furnished with a strong Imagination shall never attain any Perfection in that Tongue But that which may best discover this is Logic for this Science bears the same proportion with the Understanding as the Touchstone does with Gold Accordingly it is most certain that if he who makes his Course in Philosophy does not begin in a Month or two to Reason and raise some Objections and if there come not to his mind Arguments and Answers upon the matter treated of he has no Understanding at all but if he prove towardly in this Science it is an infallible sign that he has the right Understanding for the Law so that he may out of Hand apply himself to it without the least scruple Though I should think it better first to run through the Art for Logic is no more to the Understanding as we have already said than the Clogs which are clapt on the Feet of an untrained Mule going with which some time he takes to a more steady and agreeable Pace The same march our Understanding makes in Disputes being bound up by the Rules and Precepts of Logic. But if the Child which we have examined speeds not well in the Latin Tongue nor in Logic as he ought it must be considered if he be not provided with a good Imagination before we take him from the Study of the Laws for herein is found a great Mystery and it is good that the Republic know it it is that there are some Lawyers who being in the Chair work Wonders in Interpreting the Laws and others in Pleading but if you put the Staff of Office in their Hands you shall find them no more able to Govern than if the Laws had never been made for any such thing On the Contrary there are others who with two or three misunderstood-Laws which they learn'd at Salamanca if they should be put into any Command would acquit themselves to Admiration At which effect some Curious Wits are Surprized because they dive not into the Cause from whence it springs For the Reason of it is that to Govern belongs to the Imagination and not to the Understanding or Memory And that this is the Case may be plainly proved considering that the Common-wealth is to be maintained by Order and Consent of Parts every thing being in its due Place so that all joined together falls into a good Figure and Correspondence This we have proved many times before is a Work of the Imagination nor is it much more to the purpose to make a great Lawyer a Magistrate than to make a Deaf Man a Judge of Music This is to be understood ordinarily and not to be taken for a General Rule For we have already proved that Nature may join a great Understanding with a great Imagination so that in such a Case it would not be inconsistent but that the same Person might prove an Excellent Pleader and a famous Governor and we heretofore discovered that Nature being found strong with all the Powers she can have and labouring in a well disposed Matter may produce a Man of great Memory Understanding and Imagination who Studying the Laws may prove a Famous Reader an Accomplished Pleader and no less Admirable a Governor But Nature makes so few such as this cannot well pass for a General Rule CHAP. XIV That the Theory of Physic belongs part to the Memory and part to the Understanding and the Practice to the Imagination AT the time that Arabian Physic flourished there was a Physician highly Celebrated as well for his Reading as Writing Arguing Distinguishing Answering and Concluding of whom it was thought in respect of his great Skill that he was able to Raise the Dead and Cure all kinds of Diseases And yet the contrary came to pass for he never took the Cure of any in Hand but they Miscarried at which being vexed and ashamed he turned Friar complaining of his ill Fortune without being able to understand the true Spring and Cause of it And because the freshest Examples stronglier prove and make most Impression on the Senses it is the Opinion of many Grave Physicians that John Argentier a Modern Physician of our Time has much excelled Galen in reducing the Art of Physic to a better Method and yet notwithstanding 't is reported of him that he was so unsuccessful in his Practice that not one Patient of all his Country or Acquaintance durst venture to take Physic from him so much they apprehended his ill-Success Hereat the People have reason to be surprized being taught by Experience not only in those whom we have just mentioned but in many others also which they see every day that every Physician that is a great Clerk is not the ablest Practitioner Aristotle attemped to give the Reason of it but in my Opinion he has failed He thought the Reason that Physicians of his time were not so Successful in their Practice sprung from their General Notice of Man in common and their Ignorance of the Nature of each Particular Constitution contrary to the Emperics whose Care and Study was to know the Idiosyncracies of particular Men passing over the General Knowledge But he was without Reason for both the one and the other exercised themselves in Particular Cures and laboured what they could to find out the Nature of each Constitution in Particular The Difficulty then is to understand why the most Learned Doctors though they employ all their Lives in the Working of Cures never become Excellent in the Practice whereas others who are but Ignoramus's with three or four Rules of Physic learnt in the Schools can do greater Cures in less time The true Answer to this Doubt is not so easy to be found seeing that Aristotle failed in it though he spoke in a manner something to it But we keeping to the Principles of our Doctrin shall deliver the same more fully You are to know then that the Perfection of a Physician consists in two things which are as necessary to carry him on to the end of his Art as two Legs to go without Halting The first is to know from a right Method the Precepts and Rules of Curing Man in common without descending to Particulars The second is to be long Exercised in the Practice of Physic and to have Visited a great Number of Patients for neither do Men differ so far from one another but that in many things they agree nor are they so like neither
Flesh shew also the Degrees of these two Qualities Great Moisture makes the Flesh soft and smooth and little renders it harsh and hard and the Mean gives the true Temper The Colour of the Face and of the other parts of the Body betoken also more or less the degrees of these two Qualities When a Woman is very White Galen says it is a Sign of much Cold and Moisture and on the contrary she that is Tawny and Swarthy is cold and moist in the first Degree of which two Extreams arises the second Degree and is known by an Union of White and Red. To have much Hair and little of a Beard is an evident Sign to discover the first DeDegree of Cold and Moisture for to know whence the Hair and Beard proceed all the Physitians affirm them to come from Heat and Dryness and if they are Black that denotes abundance of Heat and Dryness The contrary Temperament is betokened when a Woman is very smooth without Down or Hair She that is cold and moist in the se cond Degree has some Hair but the same is Red or Flaxen Fairness and Foulness serve also to distinguish the Degrees of Cold and Moist in a Woman In the first Degree it is a Marvel if a Woman prove fair for the Seed whereof she was form'd being Dry hindred her from being fair The Clay must be moist for the Potter to frame well Vessels for use for if it be Hard and Dry the Vessels will be foul and ill figured Aristotle affirms further that overmuch Cold and Moist makes Women by Nature foul for if the Seed be Cold and very Waterish it takes no good Figure because it wants consistence as we see of Clay over-soft ugly and ill-shaped Vessels are fashioned In the second Degree of Cold and Moist the Woman is very fair because the matter is well-seasoned and pliant to Nature which Sign alone is a clear proof of a Woman's Fruitfulness it being a certainty that Nature has hit well and done her Part. It is then to be received that she has given her the Temperament and necessary Composition to have Children so that she 'l be fit for any Man and desireable to all There is no Faculty in Man that carries not some signs or tokens to discover the Goodness or Malignity of its Object The Stomach is led to discern the quality of the Food by the Tast the Smell and the Sight Whereupon the Holy Text said that Eve saw that the forbidden Fruit was good for Food and that it was pleasant to the Eye The generative Faculty holds for a Sign of fruitfulness a Womans Beauty and if she be ugly abhors her conceiving by this Sign that Nature made a false step and gave her not a fit Temperament for bearing Children Article I. By what Marks the Degrees of Heat and Dryness are to be discovered in each Man MAN hath not his Temperament so limited as Woman For he may be hot and dry which Temperament Aristotle and Galen are of Opinion is that which best agrees with his Sex as also hot and moist and temperate but cold and moist and cold and dry will not be admitted so long as the Man is in Health and not some way amiss so that for the same reason as there is no Woman hot and dry nor hot and moist nor temperate even so there is no Man cold and moist nor cold and dry in comparison of Women unless in a Case as I shall presently shew A Man hot and dry or hot and moist or temperate has as many Degrees in his Temperament as a Woman has of Cold and Moist insomuch that we have need of Tokens to discern what Man is in what Degree to assign him a Wife answerable to him in Proportion You are to know then that from the Principles from which we have collected the Woman's Temperament and her Degrees of Cold and Moist the same we shall make use of to know which Man is Hot and Dry and in what Degree And because we said that from the Wit and Manners of a Man the Temperament of the Testicles may be conjectured we must take notice of an observable Point mentioned by Galen namely to make us understand the great Virtue in the Testicles of Man to give Solidity and Temperament to all the Parts of the Body he affirms that they are of more Importance than the Heart for which he renders this Reason that the Heart is the Principle of Life and no more but the Genitals are the Principles of living well and without Infirmities What damage it is to Man to be deprived of those Parts though small there need not many Reasons to prove seeing we see by Experience that forthwith the Hair and the Beard fall off that his gross and strong Voice grows shril and with these he loses his Vigor and Natural Heat and remains in a far worse and more miserable Condition than if he had been a Woman But what is most observable is that if a Man before castrating had much Wit and Ability from the time he loses his Testicles he loses it all even as if he had received in the Brain some considerable Hurt Which evidently shews that the Genitals both give and take away Temperament from all parts of the Body If it be otherwise let us consider as I have often done that of a thousand Eunuchs that apply themselves to Learning not one succeeds in it and even in Music which is their ordinary Profession we see plainly how blockish they are and the reason of it is that Music is a work of the Imagination which power requires much Heat whereas they are cold and moist It is certain then that from the Wit and Ability we may conjecture the Temperament of the Testicles For which cause the Man that appears towardly in the works of the Imagination will be hot and dry in the third Degree And if a Man be not very Deep it is a Sign that Heat is joyned with much Moisture which ever destroys the Rational part and this is the more confirmed if the Man have a great Memory The ordinary Conditions of Men Hot and Dry in the third Degree are Courage Pride Liberality Audacity Chearfulness and Pleasantness and in what relates to Women they observe no rule or moderation The Men who are hot and moist are Pleasant Merry fond of Diversions fair Conditioned Affable Modest and not much given to Women The Voice and Speech discovers much the Temperament of the Testicles That which is strong and somewhat harsh shews the Man hot and dry in the third Degree but that which is soft amorous and very delicate is a Sign of little Heat and much Moisture as appears in Eunuchs The Man in whom Heat is joyned with Moisture will have a strong Voice yet tunable and loud He that is hot and dry in the third Degree has little Flesh and the same is hard and rough full of Sinews and Arteries and
sowed in a Lake Hippocrates advises such a Woman to lessen her self and take down her Fat and her Flesh before she Marry but then she need not take a Husband hot and dry for such a Temperament would not do nor can she conceive A Woman cold and moist in the second Degree retains a Mean in all the Marks we have mentioned Beauty excepted which she has in excess which is an evident Sign that she will be fruitful and bear Children and prove gay and of a good Grace Such a Woman answers in proportion well near to all Men first to the hot and dry in the second Degree next to the Temperate and then to those that are hot and moist Of all these Combinations and Matches of Men and Women which we have noted wise Children may proceed but more ordinarily from the first for put case that the Man's Seed incline to cold and moist yet the continual Dryness of the Mother and giving her little nourishment corrects and amends the defect of the Father Because this kind of Philosophy has not yet come to light all the natural Philosophers have not been able to answer the Problem that demands Why many Fools have got wise Children To which they Answer That those unthinking Fellows apply themselves passionately to the Venereal Act without engaging in any other consideration but that wise Men on the contrary in the very Embraces are musing upon Matters impertinent to the present Point Whereby they enfeeble their Seed and beget defective Children as well in what respects the rational Powers as in those that are purely Natural But this Answer proceeds from People little skill'd in natural Philosophy In the other Unions care should be taken that the Woman lose her Fat and grow sparer by a ripe Age and Marry not too young for thence arise half Witted and Foolish Children The Seed of young Parents is very moist for it is but a while since they were Born and if a Man be formed of Matter moist in Excess he will of course be a Blockhead Article III. What Considerations to be used to get Boys and not Girls THE Parents that are in quest of the Joy of Wise Children and towardly for Learning should endeavour to have Boys for Girls in respect of the Coldness and Moisture of their Sex can never arrive at a profound Judgment Ony we see they speak with a show of Ability in slight and easy Matters with ordinary Terms though studied But being set to Learning they learn no farther than a little Latin and that because it is a work of the Memory Which Incapacity is not to be charged on them but on the Cold and Moist that made them Women being the Qualities as we have already proved absolutely contrary to Wit and Ability Solomon in Consideration of the great Scarcity of wise Men and that there was not so much as one Woman furnished with Wit and Knowledge speaks thus One Man says he among a Thousand have I found but a Woman among all those have I not found Therefore we are to shun them and apply our Endeavours to get Males since in these alone appears a Wit capable of Learning In which we are first of all to consider what Instruments are ordained by Nature in Man's Body to this End and what Order of Causes is to be observ'd to attain the End we propose You are to know then that amongst many Excrements and Humours that are in a Man's Body Galen says that Nature makes use but of One to prevent the Species of Men being lost Which is a certain Excrement called Serum or Serous Blood generated in the Liver and Veins at the Instant the four Humours Blood Flegm Choler and Melancholy receive what Form and Substance they ought to have Of such a Juice as this Nature makes use for a Vehicle of Food and to transmit it thro' the Veins and narrow Passages to carry Nourishment to all Parts of the Body which Work being done the same Nature has given to us two Reins which have no other Office than to attract to themselves this Serous Humour and make it descend thro' their Passages down into the Bladder and thence out of the Body and this to free Man from the Anoyance that Excrements give him But in Consideration of certain Qualities he has convenient for Generation she has provided us with two Veins to carry part to the Testicles and Spermatic Vessels with a little Blood whence she frames the Seed such as is convenient for our Species accordingly she has planted one Vein on the Right Rein side which terminates in the Rim of the right Testicle and of that same the right Spermatic Vessel is framed The other Vein issues out of the left Rein and terminates in the left Testicle and of that is framed the left Spermatic Vein What Qualities this Excrement has to make convenient Matter for generating of Seed the same Galen has noted that they are certain Acrids and Acids that spring from a Salt which irritates the Spermatic Vessels and strongly moves the Animal without delay to the Work of Generation and therefore lascivious Men are termed in Latin Salaces as much as to say Men that have much Salt in their Seed Besides this Nature has done another thing worthy of Consideration namely that to the right Vein and Testicle she has given much Heat and Dryness and to the left Rein and Testicle much Cold and Moisture so that the Seed prepared by the right Testicle is very hot and dry and that by the left cold and moist What Nature pretends to in this Diversity of Temperaments as well in the Reins as Testicles and Spermatic Vessels is very clear since we are informed by very credible Histories that at the beginning of the World and many Years after the Women were brought to Bed of two Children at a Birth one a Boy and the other a Girl to the end that each Man might have a Wife and each Woman a Husband for the speedier Encrease of Mankind For this Reason then has Nature provided that the right Rein should furnish matter hot and dry to the right Testicle and that the same with its great Heat and Dryness might produce hot and dry Seed for the generating a Male. And the contrary she has ordered for the Formation of the Female that the left Rein should send forth cold and moist Seed to the left Testicle that the same with its Coldness and Moisture might make cold and moist Seed from which a Girl would necessarily be got and not a Boy But after the World was once well Peopled it seems as if Nature had broke off this Order of this double Child-bearing and what is worse for one Boy there are no less than six or seven Girls ordinarily Born from which it may be understood either that Nature is tired out or that some Errour hinders her from acting as she would What the same is we may hereafter declare when we
that the Forbiden-Fruit made his Imagination more lively after the manner we have mention'd and then it represented to him the Nature and Use of the shameful Parts But yet that this Exposition may be veritable enough as we see the common Opinion is that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil received not this Name from it's Nature but only by occasion of the Consequence that attended it Which seems to me most Probable Hens Capons Veal and Spanish Weathers are Meats of a moderate Substance for these are neither Delicate nor Gross I said Spanish Weathers because Galen without making Distinction said That their Flesh is of evil and gross Substance for which there is no Reason For tho' in Italy where he writ this is the worst Flesh of all yet in our Country because of the Goodness of the Pastures it may be reckoned amongst the Meats of moderate Substance The Children engendred from these Aliments shall have a reasonable Understanding Memory and Imagination But they will not penetrate deep into the Sciences or Invent any thing New Of these we have spoke before that they readily receive the Impression of all the Rules and Observations of any Art clear obscure easy and difficult But the Doctrin the Argument the Answer the Doubt the Distinction all these will give them Pains and Trouble Cow-flesh Bacon Bread of Red-wheat Cheese Olives Red-Wine and Water will breed a gross Seed and of an evil Temperament The Boy begot of these will be strong as a Bull but withall fierce and of a Brutish Wit From whence it comes that amongst the Country People it is a marvel to find one of a quick Capacity and towardly for Learning They are all born Dull and Rude being begot of Meats of gross and evil Substance The Contrary befalls amongst Citizens whose Children we find endued with more Wit and Ability But if Parents desired in earnest to beget a Son personable wise and of good Conditions let them for six or seven Days before their Companying eat much Goats Milk that being in the Opinion of all the Physicians the best and most delicate Food that can be used This is to be understood when they are sound and it agrees with us But Galen saith it should be taken with Honey without which it is dangerous and easy to Curdle The Reason of which is that Milk is composed but of three Elements Cheese Whey and Butter Cheese answers to the Earth Whey to Water and Butter to Air. The Fire which tempers the other Elements and preserves them in the Mixture issuing out of the Teats is exhaled because it is very subtile but adding to it a little Honey which is hot and dry in lieu of the Fire the Milk will partake of the four Elements which being mingled and concocted by the Operation of our Natural Heat makes a Seed very delicate and of good Temperament The Boy begot of this will at least be of a great Understanding and want neither Memory or Imagination Aristotle not being of this Opinion came short in answering a Problem he made when he asked For what Cause the young of Brute Beasts draw for the most part the properties and qualities of their Sires and the Children of a Man not And we find this by Experience to be true for of wise Parents are born very foolish Children and of foolish Parents wise Children and of virtuous Parents lewd Children and of lewd Parents virtuous Children of hard favored Parents fair Children and of fair Parents foul Children and of white Fathers swarthy Children and of swarty Fathers clear and well-complexion'd Children And amongst Children of the same Father and Mother one shall be a Fool and the other Witty one Ugly the other Handsom one Good and the other Ill-humor'd one Virtuous and the other Vitious Whereas if a Mare of a generous Race be cover'd with a Horse of the same kind the Colt which is foaled resembles them in Shape and Colour as well as in their Properties Aristotle answer'd very ill to this Problem saying That a Man is carried away with many Imaginations in the Carnal Act and hence the Children prove so unlike but Brute Beasts in the time of Generation being not so distracted nor having so strong Imaginations as Man produce their Young Ones after the same Sort and like to themselves This Answer has hitherto passed for Currant with the Vulgar Philosophers and for Confirmation hereof they alledge the History of Jacob which delivers that he having laid Streaked Rods at the Watering Places of the Flocks caused all the Lambs that were yeaned to be Spotted But it avails little to have recourse to Holy Writ for this Story is reckoned a Miracle wrought by God to hide some Sacrament And Aristotle's Answer is far fetched If not let the Shepherds now attempt the same and they will see if it be a Natural Thing They tell us also in this Country of a certain Lady that was deliver'd of a Son blacker than ordinary by fixing her Imagination upon a Blackmoor painted in the Hangings which I look upon as a Jest and if by chance it were true that she was brought to Bed of such a Son I say that the Father was of the same Colour with the Face represented in the Hangings And to the end it may be plainly known how false the Philosophy of Aristotle and his Followers in this Particular is it must be suppos'd as a thing certain that the Work of Generation belongs to the Vegetative Soul and not to the Sensitive and if we consider a Tree loaden with Fruit we shall find there a greater Variety than in the Children of any Man one Apple will be Green another Red one Little another Great one Round another Ill-figur'd one Sound another Rotten one Sweet another Sower if we compare this years Fruit with the Last we shall see them very Different and Contrary to one another Which cannot be attributed to the Variety of the Imagination because Plants want that Power Aristotle's Error is most manifest by his own Doctrin for he says that it is the Man's Seed not the Womans which makes the Generation and in the Carnal Act the Man has no more to do than to scatter the Seed without Form or Figure as the Husband-man sows the Grain in the Earth And like as a Grain of Corn takes not Root immediately nor forms the Blade or Ear until some Days are past In the same manner says Galen the Child is not formed as soon as the Man's Seed falls into the Womb it must according to his Account have between thirty and fourty Days to accomplish it And if this be so what matter is it if the Father have never so many Imaginations during the Act if the Formation of the Foetus be not till after some Days Especially when the Formation is not effected either by the Father's Soul or the Mother's but by a third thing found in the Seed which being
Coat And the Reason is because those Works belong to the Imagination which encreases and rises to a pitch through the great heat raised from the passion of Love And that Love is a hot Passion is plainly seen in the Courage and Hardiness Lovers are inspir'd with to bear the loss of Appetite and even of Sleep it self If the State had an Eye to these Marks they would expel from the Universities lusty Scholars and great Fighters the Amorous the Poets and the Beaux because these have neither Wit nor Capacity for any kind of Study Aristotle excepts from this Rule the Melancholick by Adustion whose Seed though fruitful hurts not their Wit Finally all the ruling Faculties in Man if they be very potent disturb the Rational Faculty Hence it proceeds that if a Man be very Wise he proves a Coward of small Strength of Body a spare Eater and not very able for Procreation And the cause is the qualities that render him Wise which are Coldness and Dryness are the same that debilitate the other Powers As appears in Old Men who besides their Council and Wisdom have neither Strength nor Courage This Doctrin being suppos'd Galen's opinion is that to have the Generation of any Animal whatever perfectly take effect both Seeds are necessary one of which is to be the Agent and the Form-giver and another which serves for Nourishment for a matter so delicate as Generation cannot strait overcome what is so gross as Blood till the work be accomplished But that the Seed is the right Aliment of the Spermatic Vessels is a point duly received by Hippocrates Plato and Galen For by their Opinion if the Blood be not converted into Seed it is impossible that the Nerves Veins and Arteries can be maintain'd And so says Galen that the difference between the Veins and Testicles is that the Testicles make abundance of Seed immediately and the Veins little in longer time So that Nature has provided for the same an Aliment so similar that with a slight Alteration and without making Excrements may maintain another Seed Which could not be effected if the Nourishment thereof had been made of the Blood The same Provision says Galen is made by Nature in the Generation of Man as in the Production of a Chicken and such other Birds as come of Eggs in which we observe two Substances one of the White and another of the Yolk of one of which the Chicken is form'd and by the other nourished all the time of its formation For the same reason are two Seeds no less necessary in the Generation of Man of one of which the Child may be Made and the other for it's Nourishment during the time of it's formation But Hippocrates mentions a thing worthy of great Consideration which is that it is not resolved by Nature which of the two Seeds is to be the Agent and the Form-giver nor which is to serve for Nourishment For many times the Woman's Seed is of more efficacy than the Man's and when it so happens Hers makes the Generation and the Husband 's serves for the Aliment At other times the Man's is more powerful and prolific and the Woman's serves only for Nourishment This was a Doctrin not understood by Aristotle who could not comprehend what the Woman's Seed served for which made him vent a thousand Impertinencies as that the same was but a little Water without any Generative Virtue or Power If this were so the Woman would never covet the Conversation of the Man or consent thereto but would shun the Carnal Act as being her self naturally Honest and the Sport Unclean and Filthy And so in a short time Mankind would be extinguished and the World remain depriv'd of the most beautiful Creature that ever Nature form'd And therefore Aristotle demands what is the reason that Copulation is the most agreeable Pleasure of all those Nature has invented for the Procreation of Animals To which Problem he answers that Nature having so great a desire to procure the Perpetuating of Mankind placed so much Pleasure in this Work to the end that they being moved by such an Interest might gladly apply themselves to the Business of Generation for if these Incentives were wanting no Man or Woman would Marry the Woman reaping little other Advantage than that of bearing a Burden nine Months in her Belly with so much Pain and Trouble and at the time of her Delivery of running the hazard of her Life so that it would oblige the State to force Women to Marry to prevent the Extirpation of Mankind But as Nature makes every thing with Sweetness she gave to the Woman all the necessary Instruments to make her Seed pricking and prolific that she might take Pleasure in Man and covet his Company Though were it of that quality Aristotle pretends she would rather shun and abhor him than ever love him This Galen proves by an instance drawn from Brute Beasts affirming that after a Sow is Splay'd she never desires the Boar nor will she yield to his Approaches It is the same thing in a Woman that is of a colder Constitution than she ought nothing sounds more disagreeable to her Ear than the name of Marriage to her The same thing attends a Man of a cold Constitution and all for want of fruitful Seed Moreover if a Woman's Seed were such as Aristotle affirms it would not serve for Aliment since to obtain the last Qualities of actual Nutriment it ought to be entirely Similar to what it is to Nourish And if the Seed be not well wrought and assimilated it would not afterwards attain it For if the Seed of Man wanted Instruments and Receptacles such as the Stomach the Liver and Testicles how or where should it concoct or assimilate For which reason Nature has ordered it so that there should be two Seeds in the Generation of the Creature which being incorporated the most Potent should make the Formation and the other serve for Nourishment And that this is true appears plain in this that if a Negro get a White Woman with Child and a White-Man a Negro-Woman from both will be born a Mulatta Child From this Doctrin I gather that to be true which many Authentic Histories affirm that a Dog companying with a Woman she conceived and the like did a Bear with another Maid he found alone in the Fields and an Ape likewise had two young ones by another We read of another who walking by a River side was impregnated by a Fish that leaped out of the Water what is most Difficult in this for the Vulgar to conceive is how it may be that these Women should be delivered of perfect Children and with the use of Reason seeing they were engendred by Brute-Beasts To which is Answered that the Seed of every of these Women was the Agent and Form-giver of the Child as being the more Powerful and therefore it figured them with the Lineaments of Human kind And