Ancestors requires as much true policy as to erect a new Family And to exceed the patterne of heroicke ancestry deserues perpetuall commendations Which purpose cannot prosper well except we preuent or auoid oppositions rather then purchase new addition For men may clime better by troublesome rough and dangerous passages then stand tottering vpon the eminent spire and therfore hath contentious dealing beene the ouer-throw of kingdomes and flourishing Captaines because prosperity is waspish brookes no competition nor almost assistance The Historian therfore saith well None more deafe to counsell then natures vnthwarted none more obtemperate to bee counselled then men destitute As for the ambitious extasie of noble spirits which makes them indirectly consult vpon new addition the Fable doth condemne them perspicuously for like Aesops Dogge they snatch at shadowes and loose the certainty who dote vpon such couetous desires Presumption also and Popularitie be two treacherous confederates the first was neuer good when a Kings fauour is the obiect so long as Mines and Countermines haue beene the Court-deuises The last will neuer be good so long as people do but conduct their fauorites to the Scaffold and cry Alas it is pitty but who can helpe it The first cannot thriue because offences with Kings outweigh merits as also the iealous còceit of safety is a multitude of feares and they threaten the most highly fauoured The last is mortall because hee surfets of one dish nothing but fame serued in like Turkish Rice by infinite waiters And shall wee wonder if it choakes him when he deuoures all The best loue therefore that can be bestowed vpon the people or the best friendship that you can receiue from them is to suffer them in things indifferent or not to shew a currish seuerity for like the Hungarian Heyduckes their wrath is prone to mischiefe and their amity is worth nothing so that indeed to flatter with them and not regard them is a sound proposition For if Coriolanus contemnes their authority they can abhorre his name and banish his person or at least banish him from preuailing in publicke assistance The safest course that I can be acquainted with to confirme and perfectly retaine noble dignities with good approuall is to be immutable honest and no reported Polititian for the very name containes among generall opinions much powder-treason Atheisme curses of inferiours and condemnations of all except their close minions An other thing that doth briefely replenish a noble Spirit must be more example dispatch or quick perfect motion then precepts or doctrines These being the dull laborious obiect of melancholy Artists the other being a Rhetoricall inducement to establish the delight of action In which nothing drawes greater efficacie then speedinesse and fortunate euent though both these relie much vpon a contriuing faculty which is begotten by a frequent practise And therefore it betokens a sluggish feare and priuate weakenesse when wee loath to enterprise For couragious mindes acquire hability through custome equall to desire but when the appetite failes I perceiue no stomack of Nobility It may seeme somewhat controuersiall whether State-knowledge or Militant resolutions be more gracefull to generosity And questionlesse I conceiue few Romane Senators or not any except Cicero was vnsufficient to lead an Army as well as to deliuer his opinion in the Councell-chamber both be so vnseparably annexed as wee may hardly thinke he aduises the Common-wealth louingly who is afraid to iustifie the Common-wealths quarrell when himselfe adiudges it lawfull As for the outward pompe or magnificâ—nce of mighty persons it may become a festiuall day better then common pollicy for this age doth not so soone adiudge the royall minde as the fantasticke humour by expence of needlesse brauery accompting that rather magnificence when we expend our own about the Kingdomes glory which by reflexe produces an apparant loue and feare toward such actiue spirits For all men reuerence him truely who is impartiall and industrious to aduance equity or to confirme goodnesse with goodnesse among a l. And howsoeuer the full stomackes of men will hardly suffer them to commend such worthy ones aliue yet haue their deaths beene alwaies deplorable Whereas polliticke braines with false bottomes haue found a publique curse which was before restrained with Authority I dare not become an Instructor it appertaines to deepe Professours Neither can I reproue it may incurre the name of Malapert I labour onely to proue by demonstratiue reasons which is bare Counsell As for Nobility if it beare the name of Legitimate it will beare a contempt also with Agesilaus to be reproued when paines may happily discharge their function Neither at any time shall high births aspire to hazardous downefals if they esteeme honor as the reward of vertue no vertue in it selfe Of Disinheritance ESSAY V. IT is more impossible for an vnnaturall father to bee a true friend then for an abused sonne to be an obedient sonne because I thinke it is an irrepugnable precept That he who from a diuelish disposition findes a soone-moued contrariety betwixt himselfe and his vndoubted children must of necessity bee a man who refuses all men except aduantage pleades for them seeing he neglects those for whom nature pleades if aduantage bee absent The same may be inferred concerning all degenerate Kinsfolke though in a lesse degree But for the first I haue obserued it generally that he who was apt for disinheritance hath bene a man alwaies of as many affections as there be faces And as prompt to refuse any as to receiue any if hee might saue by the bargain Howsoeuer subiects be now grown so tyrannical that where pretences may accoÌ„plish their malice they cannot thinke there is a God or at least they think God fauours their proceedings For calumnious pretences and aggrauated trisles haue bene the common glosse of parents cruelty in this kind Their president is vulgar for tyrants neuer slew without state-Alchimy or multiplication of pretended treasons neither may Alexander lack occasion so long as he had a meaning to kill Antistenâ—s The hungry woolfe may call the lamb his debtor but a good stomack is the day of payment and the prouerbe is well verified If thou wouldst beate a dog heere is a staffe So that although churlish parents pretend iust causes of disinheritance yet these are quickly found soone allowed as soon amplyfied FroÌ„ whence you may gather that no sparke of naturall affection but only a compulsiue maintenance keeps the reference betwixt such parents and such children For louing nature and affection be flexible of long forbearance much pitty manifest care keepe an establisht forme of affability with which friends or kinsfolk be vnacquainted this prouokes an eminent reflexe of loue whereas rough carriage begets loue in Curres but a conteÌ„ptible scorne in Noble Spirits It is therefore more commendable to follow the extreame of vertue abounding then defectiue The first partakes with mediocritie in the nature but the last is altogether opposite We may more
safely therefore allow indulgence then austerity because it approcheth neerer to true loue For though indulgence hath made children loftie in behauiour towards others yet I obserue it breeds a true and vndiuorced affection towards the originall cause It is therefore an excellent rule for children to receiue instruction of strangers and by the consequent to bee any way restrain'd without the parents knowledge or at least their taking notice whereby Nature cannot grudge against Nature nor yet want reprehension For howsoeuer Marcus Cato said well That he had rather vnrewarded for doing well then vnpunished for offences yet we haue naturally a secret spleene against the Iudge though wee account him righteous and impartiall It must bee expected then that children doe know a difference betwixt Fathers and Maisters which makes them the more implacable when they see Nature impartiall From hence Sertorius a politicke Captaine would not himselfe represse the impudence of his Souldiers least howsoeuer they deserued ill yet his correction might take away their louing dutie which respect made him suffer the enemies incursions rather to scourge their insolence whilst they out of a hare-brained lunasie desired battaile And thus the sacred decree of Correction may bee kept vnviolate and the loue of Children vnblemished For I am vnanswerably perswaded that parents wrath diminisheth the Childes loue making him seruile or else refractorie to the doctrine of themselues and others because they cannot vndertake with delight so long as frownes and feare bee crept into their fancie But affable parents beget truely affectionate children who may endure another mans reproofe to mitigate the name of Cosset and yet louingly adore the father because hee was alwayes louing So then the Fathers diligent loue and a Tutors modest instruction may make a seldome-seene heire affect his Fathers life without hypocrisie and proue a venerable wise man Without which loue apparant or oftentimes indulgence I see an eldest sonne instead of the Fathers blessing render backe sweating curses I see another inclining onely to the mother and a third slippe into his disinherited Fortune The Comaedian therefore saith ingenuously touching a fathers dutie I ouer-passe expences I call not euery thing to a strict account and that which other sonnes labour to keepe secret I do not bitterly condemne in mine lest many things should bee concealed for hee that through a rugged vsage depriues his father by false excuses of youthfull accidents will soone deceiue others It is more availeable then to governe by liberalitie not base compulsion for hee that thus becomes obedient expects onely till hee may want the witnesse of his actions Now for the dangerous effect of parents changeable loue it having beene propounded that want of loue breedes disinheritance I will demonstrate how horrible vnlawful impossible disinheritance maybe iudiciously accounted The diuorce of mariage is a weighty case much forbidden much controverted because marriage it selfe is made a strict vnion so farre as Husbands seeme incorporate with their Wiues being both to bee taken as one flesh But this vnion admits many exceptions neither may any thinke their being made one extends further then the rhetoricall aggravation of vnitie to insinuate how difficult a thing Diuorce will be betwixt two so narrowly vnited but children haue a more exquisite property of indiuorceable because they really partake with parents by existence deriving a particular true strength of body from the parents abilitie And therefore it seemes the matter of disinheritance is a thing so odious as being held improbable to be acted among the Iewes or any Nation no Law of Scripture contradicts it Indeed rebellious sonnes are by the verdict of Divine iniunction to suffer death if they shall strike the parents or rise vp against them But for the matter of Disinheritance which farre transcends the punishment of death as shall appeare I haue read no sillable which may giue the toleration of Divinitie Death indeed comparatiuely respected may bee thought the best wages of a rebellious sonne for the act includes his full sentence because to smite his parent is to seeke the destruction of his efficient cause which act keepes within it so much ingratitude as heauenly Iustice can doe no lesse then remoue him who durst remoue his begetter it beeing an inseparable part of holinesse to pay offenders with their owne coyne But disinheritance so much exceeds death as it approches to a continued torment Death is so faâ—re from misery whâ—re men expiate offences as it rather affoords felicity because it giues a present satisfaction and a present hope to enioy a good portion if penitence and a satisfactory mind be companions But disinheriritance or abdication doth not onely enforce death but makes the circumstance tyrannicall A violent death is but an abridgement of nature but disinheritance doth often bring a violent death and enlarge the wickednesse of nature I see no difference betwixt them in the conclusion for death is an effect commonly of disinheritance but no death more excludes all humanitie The case is palpable I giue directions to a traveller hee arrogantly contemnes my counsell which doth so much provoke mee as to amend the matter I draw him by compulsion to an apparant ambush in which after many sustained abuses horrible vexations and desperate incounters hee concludes his life with infamie or perhaps blasphemy So currish and cruell parents by disinheritance deales every way answerable to this similitude The horâ—or of which barbarisme is the more amplified by so much as naturall affinitie claimes a more humane president then strangers Banishment or abiuration is tolerable for it takes originall by publicke decree superior counsell and authority of those from whom I can chalenge nothing but iustice wheras disinheritance a National banishment transcending forraine exile in the Cause and Manner proceedes from priuate occurrences which cannot reach so high an affliction because the nature of it is equall to nay aboue publicke iustice Now it may well bee esteemed humane when parents punish with rigor where the Law condemnes not because in every offence highly punishable the Law is open if that condemnes the Parents loue may a little bee excused though hee doth not excuse his sonnes accusation but where himselfe exceedes the Lawes rigor when the Law is silent and becomes Accuser Iudge and Executioner wee may discouer a damnable flintie heart apt enough for massacre seeing hee first plaies the tyrant with his owne Image Parents therefore cannot argue and say except Disinheritance they haue no remedie for disobedience seeing there is no crime which may deserue so great satisfaction but the Law is all-sufficient to render Iustice and saue them vnpreiudiced in the aspersion of Vnnaturall which the Title Disinheritance drawes with it inseparate For if wee take a view of those impulsiue causes which breede occasion wee shall perceiue how accessary Parents bee to all their Childrens vices and by the consequent how culpable they are to punish that so strictly of which themselues bee Authors
a successory regiment there weake-braind ryotous tyrannicall and lewd princes haue been admitted to their dignities without contradiction And doth not the bloud of common heires answere to a Kings priuiledge in the Title of Legitimate Why then shall wee protect such vniust partialitie If children should receiue no more thē they deserue or if they shold claime interest of loue no longer then merits make a full proportion how should the liberality of parents and the prerogatiue of children appeare or what thankes and filiall loue may Fathers expect from such Children more then from good Apprentices Cimon could intombe his Mares when they purchased credite in the swift races of Olimpiades Xanthippus could bewaile his dogges death which had followed his Maister from Calamina Alexander could erect a Citty in the honor of Bucephalus when hee had long bene defended by him in the dangerous attempts of many fortunate battailes The Asse may well among the Heathen be adorned with Lillies Violets and Garlands when their Goddesse Vesta by an Asses voyce auoyded the rape of Priapus If merits therefore should onely challenge the loue of parents nothing might make a difference betwixt sonnes and bond-slaues Seeing bare Humanity and the Law of Nations hath accounted the honours of One worthy to be honored nothing but equall and necessary thankes Nay in all ages so bountifull and respectiue hath authority beene to true merites as euen the desertlesse children haue met with dignitie to remunerate the fathers worthinesse Thus did the Athenians bestow great wages vpon Lysimachus to gratifie the seruice of Aristides And thus the Romans preferred the cause of Marcus Brutus because his Ancestors had tooke the Countries quarrell against tyrants Shall fathers then esteeme it such irregular custome to dignifie their owne begotten issue though desertlesse seeing strangers haue done this to congratulate good fathers Two examples there bee antient and moderne worth our memory that shew the practise of our Theame in question and affoords singular obseruation The first is euident in the raigne of Agis a Lacedemonian King In whose principall Citie of Sparta the custome had prohibited alienations that preiudice the heire The custome grew to bee a confirmed Law After continuance there fell a difference betwixt one of the highest Magistrates and his eldest sonne The father was so actually prouoked that hee exhibites a Decree to licence Disinheritance the Decree was established And afterward saith Plutarch couetousnesse became publick From hence my obseruation is double First the originall cause of disinheritance was fury Secondly the commodity was ranke couetousnesse Lastly it is apparant by the Tower-rowles that during the raigne of Edward the fourth one Thomas Burdet an Englishman being somewhat innocently condemned to death about captions tearmes ignorantly vttered in his way to death espied his eldest sonne whom before hee disinherited him therefore hee penitently receiued and hauing now confessed seriously that hee felt Gods wrath vpon him onely to punish that vnnaturall sinne Hee humbly beg'd forgiuenesse of God and of his sonne The application of such a paenitent remorse is easy Hauing now marshald vp this troope of Arguments which I thinke are approueable some questionlesse will account them white-liuerd souldiers drest vp onely with a Rhetoricall habite But censure is no lesse infinite then oftentimes odious Tryall therefore shall discharge the integrity of these whilst I proceed briefly to muster one troope more whose courage is enough animated by their aduersaries weaknes if not impossibility of appearance For if the birth-right which intitles an heire be inseparate then the prerogatiue is also inseparate for inheritance depends vpon priority which being vnremoueable the adiunct essentiall cannot perish without the subiect Relations therefore be so congruous that we may sooner affirme the Sonne and Father not to be then heires and inheritance not to bee correlatiues and by the consequent as lawfully may wee depriue both of Beeing as we may permit the one without the other * * * *** ESSAY VI. Of Poetry POETRY is called the worke of nature I rather thinke it a Diuine alacrity entertained by the fitnesse of nature for if in generall a cheerefull spirit partakes of a Diuine influence then this being spiritually maintained with a desire to communicate and expresse such quickning inventions can bee no other being the soule of alacrity then an inuisible Diuine worke which doth transport nature whilst nature meruailes at the cause Philosophie hath diuided our soules faculty and makes the Intelligent part our principall essence that cannot perish Poetry depends on that and a sublime fancie they being the helpes of our dispofall or to speake truely a Poet vseth euery function of the soule Depending vpon which hee must reiect Nature for Nature perisheth the Soule cannot Nature is then the Hand-maide but an Infusiue worthinesse the soule of Poetry Conceiue but this and Nature will disclaime Nature imparts her Faculties by Generation excluding study and custome A Poet neuer is engendred so further then a naturall Logician therefore he exceeds Nature We may obserue a sweete concordance in this mighty Fabricke All things are coupled with an allusiue vnion Life is a flash of immortality Sleepe of death middle age of Summer Arts also and ages past haue a similitude with things inferiour and signifie things future Language is likened to a Casket Logicke to an Artificers Instrument Rhetoricke to a pretious Colour And Poetry likewise hath a fit resemblance with Prophecy both bee an vnutterable rapture both bee a boundlesse large capacitie both bee a vniversall tractate both bee confined within a small number both bee discredited with false pretenders both bee dispersed among men originally obscure both bee alike neglected both generally contemned alike Poetry is made the conveyance of amorous delights and certainely it doth bestow much sweetnesse in apparrelling loue-accents This onely might discover it for a supreme donatiue seeing the musicke in heaven is an agreement of soules Ierome Savanarola the Monkish Phylosopher makes Poetry a part of reasonable Philosophy maintaining this against naturall pretenders of Poetry I will not meddle with his arguments they are elaborate and learned the truth is evident without serious proofe Verse and Rime bee things naturall for they be onely colour and appearance but if you value the Phrase and the Materials after the same proportion as thinking your conceit able to furnish a poeme you shall indeed perceiue it likewise naturall that is naked vnpolished nay the scorne of Poetry A quicke contriving head may vtter laudably but never was a braine so sudden as to compose well without the president of others in the like kinde nay take the most illiterate Writers who propound experience and familiar allusions they haue a time to Meditate to compare to dispose This Art of Poetry cannot proue eminent vnlesse the writer hath a reioycing heart an apprehensiue head and a disclouded memory It is impossible therefore for one deiected by calamity or one perplexed with questions of another Science to get
perfection in this free knowledge I say perplexed with questions of another Science because a Poet should rather copiously discourse of all by application to a witty purpose rather then be exquisite in a particular Art respecting depth of rule or quidditie Notions coniectures and some of the best passages be more sufficient for him then a praecise certaintie of rules He therfore who propounds excellence must refuse the multitude of questions and the vexation of miseries both bee as clogges and fetters to that aspiring facultie From hence I may conclude the perfection of this Science doth match the straines of right Alchâ—mie it being in both alike impossible to find that man who shall directly promise to attaine perfection because impediments exceede the meanes The nourishment of Poetry is good applause for Poems being made to allure and bewitch the reader in a lesson of moral precept must prosper in their meaning or be discountenanced As all professions be which make mens good opinions the reward of knowledge and therefore hath England affoorded few men accurate in Poetry because opinion hath vouchsafed to ranke her among triviall labours and recreatiue vanities whereas the Italians haue proved singular proficients because saith Rosinus authority hath graced their elegance The reason I thinke which hath wrought in England such a degenerate value of Poems proceeded first from the the professors ignorance generall basenesse but secondly from the stubborn gravity of the best readers who scorne to account the best Poems profitable works because all haue hitherto bin accounted slight composures or at best vnprofitable And we imagine it a weaknesse to recant an error Some haue certainely contemned the worthiest labors even throgh malicious despaire of attempting the like worthily Howsoever the base opinion which Poetry incurs among vs hath bin repaid with iustice that is the discredit of our Nation for our vnder-valuing opinion hath deprived the publicke of more iudicious workes then bee already extant And so the glory of our Nations eminent wit hath beene eclipsed with forraigners As for the private and sensible benefit which any shal conceiue in publishing his labours I see none vertuous but this he may excuse by them his silent nature and bee accounted better as a Melancholy Poet then a speechlesse foole Fame and Eminence savour of a fruitlesse ambition that will now purchase nothing for Poetry by preferment but an opinion that Poetry is his knowledge and it being so that he is fit for nothing else or some perhaps nay the wisest will bestow compassion and say It is pitty such a pregnant wit should eâ—dâ—uour so idly These bee the comforts of beeing famous let Doetrs be ambitious of it The deepest Poets haue neglected verse I meane the polished forme of verse but I would sooner loue such workes in prose and heartily intreate such writers even for their own dispatch-sake and the readers also to abandon Poetry except they can avoyd that crabbed stile and forme which weakens any readers appetite and apprehension The relish of Poetry is a candied barke an elegance so sweetned with apt phrase and illustration as it excludes rough harshnesse and all mystery controversies and Phylosophicall questions bee therefore improper arguments for a Poeticall tractate they cannot be expressed with an inticing libertie Similitudes be the fit interpreters of Poets when I affirme this I doe not approue all similitudes but such as doe interprete which they cannot do except they be more familiar then the thing interpreted This condemnes any who from a depth in learning shall produce the Mathematickes to illustrate Grammer or shall compare things knowne by repetition to an example in Astronomy Poore and Prodigall haue been a Poets Titles these haue been fixt with a contemptiue meaning but I imagine they advance his qualitie for therefore he neglects wealth because he feeles in himselfe a Iewell which can redeeme his bondage in adversitie Freedome of Braine and Body is a Poets musicke Peace and Health preserue and do reviue his fancie When therefore a Reward is motiue it makes the labour like it selfe servile Poetry should therefore being an impartiall free science be vndertaken by the free Professor a man sufficient in estate such a one as need not vse flattery to win reward nor so indite that things may be dispatched quickly and his wants quickly furnished nor so dispatch that hee may rather make things saleable through obscoenitie or scandals then approved labour These mischiefes follow a mercenarie hope and therefore be mercenarie Poets odious such I meane as are provoked by poverty and will exact their wages ESSAY VII Of Discontents PLeasure and Sorrow bee the obiects of vertue but discontents may be thoght rather the obiects of pleasure Vertue moderates the folly of pleasure sorrow but pleasure so moderated remoues discontents I reckon disconteÌ„ts among my private sorrowes which amplifie my owne mis-fortune which feele the same perhaps a greater torment for my friends misery then my owne yes I am better assured of my owne fortitude to contemne sorrowes then of my friends aptnesse to relish my counsels or of his owne freedome to advise himselfe and therefore his vexation he being my selfe afflicts me more iniuriously because I can overcome my owne better then His. I call those properly Dâ—sconteÌ„ted who are busiethoughted who like brainelesse patients are almost desperate if another giues them poyson and yet being recovered they will adventure to poyson themselues for many of this ranke you shall perceiue who having passed the discontents which come by others malice will of their owne accord frame new perplexities They will conceiue things otherwise then they be and so nourish a conceit till they beleeue it reall Opinion is indeed the mediate cause of discontents but then a rectified or false capacitie being an immediate cause of rectified or false opinions begets a true or idle discontent I call that idle which is begotten by an idle fancie such idle discontents are soone expelled they are a causelesse Melancholy begot by alteration dispersed by alteration But Melancholy meeting with a reall cause becomes a setled mischiefe Howsoever nothing though most worth our discontent can bee said His or My discontent vnlesse wee so conceiue it For certainly a carelesse resolution may be freed from conscience and discontent together wheras perhaps a nice examining head may so ensnare it selfe with multitude of thoughts that the confusion may prouoke both but then a carelesse resolution serues worthily to abate such idle and such reall discontents For as in naturall bodies fasting and food destroy nourish so in our daily proiects coÌ„sideratiue thoughts and carelesse negligence fasten remoue The best Philosophers haue left a doubtfull number of mens perturbations some assigne sixe some fiue some foure some eleven They might in my conceit be all reduced vnto a triple number including likewise the very causes of all discontent Imagine therefore they proceed first from iealousies of what kind soever either in being
I meddle with you So that if shame provokes his wealth to invite strangers he hath no bountifull meaning but a resolution to liue by broken meate long after which doth not savour well except it be mouldy that and himselfe therefore should be spent sooner otherwise they grow visibly odious but himselfe more odious then that CHARAC. XIX An Atheist IS no reasonable Man for hee will sooner embrace a superficiall colour in things of momeÌ„t then search into direct causes as for obvious and common accidents he never looks vpon them so much with reason as vpon matters of course In subtilties he is bestiall for hee admits no more then event and he is therfore no reasonable man because no religious man For Heathens and Barbarians haue from the beginning beene worshippers of somwhat If thou canst seeme to bee familiar with him and enter into the extremities of ill fortune or begin to speake of great mens funerals or honest mens persecutions hee will instantly discover what he beleeues being bold enough to speak plainly if thou canst apprehend that vertue innocence and craftie dealing be alike rewarded that wicked and religious men haue no difference but the Name that wrongs may lawfully if without danger apparant bee repelled with worse wrongs and that therefore it argues basenesse of spirit to contemne any opportunity of advantage that expectation of other where ioy is already present were dotage or madnesse and that honesty which exceeds common forme is singularity From which Arguments you may draw the conclusion If he reserues these precepts among strangers his practise will verifie the paterne Take this for a foundation Euery Atheist is an Epicure though the one is not controvettible If he inclines more to Epicurisme then policie this watch-word will be frequent in his cups hoc est vivere hoc est vivere But you may stil obserue that he coÌ„tends to wash away all care with company discourse laughter as if he knew his vsurious creditor a guiltie conscience waited to expostulate with him at an advantage One therefore of this proportion is more liable to the Law but lesse dangerous to the common-wealth Hee brings most villany that feeles the disease inward and confutes his own obiectioÌ„s with falacious doctrines He liues much about the fountain of Iniquitie and therfore he must propound that those streames of custome be tolerable or leaue his profession He hath a natural flourish for super-naturall accidents He turnes Diuinity into colorable inuentions of Philosophy He knows every thing vnder the name of a naturall body hee beleeues Nature to be an invisible power which intended generation for corruption and corruption for generation He distinguishes bodies into simple and compound and makes creation a vulgar proiect obedient to the harmony of elements Then if he knowes the meaning of Homogenea and Hetrogenea of corpus imperfctè mixtuÌ„ and perfectè mixtuÌ„ he remaines largely satisfied As for the causes of terrible events he apprehends the power of Exhalations Meteors Comets the Antiperistasis which very names are able to forbid all further inquisition He goes not therfore beyond himselfe for his authority and he esteemes it more convenient to think there is a reason in nature then to trouble his braine with miracles when they exceed his positions Hee never was taken for a friend in society neither can he bestow loue because cause hee cannot adventure his person If at any time hee intended loue he intended likewise a Physitian and him no further then agreed with his owne humidum radicale which must also be vnderstood if himselfe were no Physitian He is alwayes consident beyond reformation Hee dies with hope betweene his iawes and therefore one may thinke him no desperate slaue but such hope deceiues him because he hopes to liue longer CHARACT XX. A Lyar IS a tame Foxe hunted vp and down often for pleasure often against his will Arithmetick is in him a natural vice or at least the principall parts of the Science for he can both substract multiply with more ease then speake true English He may as well be a Trades-man of any sort by his professioÌ„ â—s a Knight of the post or a man-pleaser He should by his qualities be a good Gamester for the one is iust in league with a voluntary ignorance or any inforced knowledge as much as the other Hee neuer offends this way but he offends double for he cannot with credit or knowledge of the Art Military thinke it sufficient to defend with bare affirmance the wals of circuÌ„uention except his cannoÌ„othes be ready planted and discharged He is not guilty of his own vice alone for seldom doth he auouch it which his confederate wil not iustifie therfore he prouides adherents for security his coÌ„moÌ„ misery is wel known it persecuts him with diuine iustice for all his truth'is extraordinarie winne no beleife because no false-hoods are so frequent Any aduantage accruing to himselfe prouokes his faculty though sometimes a friends loue intices him to strange aduentures If neither the first nor second bee opportune he so labours onely to beget wonderfull narrations Hee is ready enough to ouer-value himselfe his friends and his commodity accounting it a pollitick straine to set an excellent faire glosse on all that hee may purchase the reputation of a large estate Which seemes to argue an innocent vpright course not fearing tyranny But indeed he doth from hence deceiue the world and die a beggar through the foregoing estimation Hee tels no wonder without some preparatiue as namely he admits before hand what may be or he begins thus You may thinke it is a lie or it will seeme strange but I protest before God it is very true or the like But if hee bee one that maintaines Ordinaries and publick meetings he speakes altogether vpon credible report and you shall be the third man partakes of the nouelty for hee hath alwaies talked with one that was an eye-witnesse if hee were not himselfe the agent or beholder He may at his electition be admitted into the Colledge of Iesuites but hee loues not to forsake his Country though he boasts of trauailes and yet he is a meere fugitiue He was originally intended for a Rhetorician and lackes onely a little instruction For hee is more conuersant with Tropes then Figures and yet the figure of repetition is his owne naturall Attention makes thee very much culpable in his reports beliefe makes thee apt to erre in the same kind He is more confident if hee could be vncased in the rare exploits of Rosaclere and Delphoebo Amadis de Gaule or Parismus then the most holy Text of Scripture If hee should striue for Antiquity no English Generation can compare with him And yet hee needes no Herald for hee deriues his Pedigree immediately from the deuill CHARACT XXI A Drunkard IS in Opinion a good fellow in practice a liuing conduit Hee is at all points armed for a Knight errant and cald vpon for aduentures euery way