house in Smithfield but now all is quiet again God grant our Excise heer have not the same fortune as yours there to becom perpetuall or as that new gabell of Orleans which began in the time of the Ligue which continueth to this day notwithstanding the cause ceas'd about threescore yeers since touching this I remember a pleasant tale that is recorded of Henry the Great who som yeers after peace was established throughout all the whole body of France going to his town of Orleans the Citizens petitioned him that his Majesty would be pleased to abolish that new tax the King asked who had impos'd it upon them they answered Monsieur de la Chatre during the civill Wars of the Ligue who was now dead the King replied Monsieur de la Cha'tre vous a liguè qu'il vous desligue Monsieur dela Chatre ligu'd you let him then unligue you for my part now that we have a kind of peace the goals are full of souldiers and som Gentlemens sons of quality suffer daily the last week Judge Rivâ—…s condemn'd four in your County at Maidstone Assizes but he went out of the world before them though they wer executed four daies after you know the saying in France that la guerre sait les larrons la paix les ameine an gibet War makes thieves and peace brings them to the gallowes I lie still heer in limbo in limbo innocentium though not in limbo infantion and I know not upon what star to cast this misfortune Others are heer for their good conditions but I am heet for my good qualities as your cosin Fortescue geer'd me not long since I know none I have unless it be to love you which I would continue to do though I tug'd at an oar in a Gallie much more as I walk in the Galleries of this Fleet In this resolution I rest Fleet 2 Sept. 1645. Your most affectionat Servitor J. H. LXXI To Mr. W. B. at Grundesburgh Gentle Sir YOurs of the seventh I received yesternight and read ore with no vulgar delight in the perusall of it mee thought to have discern'd a gentle strife 'twixt the fair respects you pleas'd to shew me therin and your ingenuity in expressing them who should have superiority so that I knew not to which of the two I should adjudge the Palm If you continue to wrap up our young acquaintance which you say is but yet in fasciis in such warm choice swadlings it will quickly grow up to maturity and for my part I shall not be wanting to contribute that reciprocall nourishment which is due from me Wheras you please to magnifie som pieces of mine and that you seem to spy the Muses pearching upon my Trees I fear 't is but deceptio visus for they are but Satyrs or happily som of the homelier sort of Wood Nymphs the Muses have choicer walks for their recreation Sir I must thank you for the visit you vouchsafed me in this simple cell and wheras you please to call it the cabinet that holds the jewell of our times you may rather term it a wicker casknet that keeps a jet ring or a horn lantern that holds a small taper of cours wax I hope this taper shall not extinguish heer and if it may afford you any light either from hence or heerafter I should be glad to impart it in a plentifull proportion because I am Sir Fleet 1 Iuly 1646. Your most affectionat frend to serve you J. H. LXXII To I. W. of Grayes Inne Esquire SIR I Was yours before in a high degree of affection but now I am much more yours since I perus'd that parcell of choice Epistles you sent me they discover in you a knowing and a candid cleer soul for familiar letters are the keys of the mind they open all the 〈◊〉 of ones breast all the cells of the brain and truly set forth the inward man nor can the pensill so lively represent the face as the pen 〈◊〉 the Fancy I much thank you that you would please to impart them unto Fleet 1 April 1645. Your most faithfull servitor J. H. LXXIII To Cap. T. P. from Madrid Captain Don Tomas COuld I write my love unto you with a ray of the Sun as once Aurelius the Roman Emperour wish'd to a frend of his you â—…ow this cleer horizon of Spain could afford me plenty which cannot be had so constantly all the seasons of the yeer in your clowdy â—…yme of England Apollo with you makes not himself so common 〈◊〉 keeps more State and doth not shew his face and shoot his â—…ams so frequently as he doth heer where 't is Sunday all the 〈◊〉 I thank you a thousand times for what you sent by Mr Gresâ—… and that you let me know how the pulse of the times bears with you I find you cast not your eyes so much southward as you were us'd to do towards us heer and when you look this way you cast a clowdy countenance with threatning looks which maket me apprehend som fear that it will not be safe for me to be longer under this meridian Before I part I will be carefull to send you those things you writ for by som of my L. Ambassadour Aston's Gentlemen I cannot yet get that Grammar which was made for the Constable of Castile who you know was born dumb wheriâ—… an Art is invented to speak with hands only to carry the Alphabâ—…t upon ones joynts and at his fingers ends which may be learn'd without any great difficulty by any mean capacity and wherby one may discours and deliver the conceptions of his mind withoâ—… ever wagging of his toung provided ther be reciprocall knowledge aud co-understanding of the art 'twixt the parties and it iâ—… a very ingenious piece of invention I thank you for the copie of verses you sent me glancing upon the times I was lately perusing som of the Spanish Poets heer and lighted upon two Epigrams or Epitaphs more properly upon our Henry the eighth and upon his daughter Queen Elizabeth which in requital I thought worth the sending you A Henrique octavo Rey de Ingalatierra Mas de esta losa fria Cubre Henrique tu valor De una Muger el amor Y de un Error la porsia Como cupo en tu grandeza Dezidme enzañado Ingles Querer una muger a lospies Ser de la yglesia cabesa Pros'd thus in English for I had no time to put it on feet O Henry more than this cold pavemeut covers thy worth thâ—… love of a woman and the pertinacy of error How could it subâ—… with thy greatness tell me O cosen'd English man to cast thâ—… self at a womans feet and yet to be head of the Church That upon Queen Elizabeth was this De Isabela Reyna de Ingalatierra Aqui yaze Iesabel Aqui lanueva Athalia Del oro Antartico Harpia Del mar incendio cruel Aqui el ingenio mas dino De loor que ha tenido el suelo Si
LXXVI To Sir R. Gr. Knight and Bar. Noble Sir I Had yours upon Maunday Thursday late and the reason that I suspended my answer till now was that the season engaged me to sequester my thoughts from my wonted negotiations to contemplat the great work of mans Redemption so great that wer it cast in counterballance with his creation it would out-poyze it far I summond all my intellectuals to meditat upon those passions upon those pangs upon that despicable and most dolorous death upon that cross wheron my Saviour suffer'd which was the first Christian altar that ever was and I doubt that he will never have benefit of the sacrifice who hates the harmeles resemblance of the altar wheron it was offer'd I applied my memory to fasten upon 't my understanding to comprehend it my will to embrace it from these three faculties me thought I found by the mediation of the fancy som beames of love gently gliding down from the head to the heart and inflaming all my affections If the human soul had far more powers than the Philosophers afford her if she had as many faculties within the head as ther be hairs without the speculation of this mystery would find work enough for them all Truly the more I scrue up my spirits to reach it the more I am swallowed in a gulf of admiration and of a thousand imperfect notions which makes me ever and anon to quarrell my soul that she cannot lay hold on her Saviour much more my heart that my purest affections cannot hug him as much as I would They have a custom beyond the Seas and I could wish it wer the worst custom they had that during the passion week divers of their greatest Princes and Ladies will betake themselves to som covent or reclus'd house to wean themselves from all worldly encombrances and convers only with heaven with performance of som kind of penances all the week long A worthy Gentleman that came lately from Italy told me that the Count of Byren now Marshall of France having bin long persecuted by Cardinall Richelieu put himself so into a Monastery and the next day news was brought him of the Cardinalls death which I believe made him spend the rest of the week with the more devotion in that way France braggs that our Saviour had his face turnd towards her when he was upon the Cross ther is more cause to think that it was towards this Island in regard the rays of Christianity first reverberated upon her her King being Christian 400 yeers before him of France as all Historians concur notwithstanding that he arrogates to himself the title of the first Son of the Church Let this serve for part of my Apologie The day following my Saviour being in the grave I had no list to look much abroad but continued my retirednes ther was another reason also why because I intended to take the holy Sacrament the Sunday ensuing which is an act of the greatest consolation and consequence that possibly a Christian can be capable of it imports him so much that he is made or marr'd by it it tends to his damnation or salvation to help him up to heaven or tumble him down headlong to hell Therfore it behoves a man to prepare and recollect himself to winnow his thoughts from the chaff and tares of the world beforehand This then took up a good part of that day to provide my self a wedding garment that I might be a fit guest at so precious a banquet so precious that manna and angels food are but cours viands in comparison of it I hope that this excuse will be of such validity that it may procure my pardon for not corresponding with you this last week I am now as freely as formerly Fleet 30. Aprill 1647. Your most ready and humble Servitor J. H. LXXVII To Mr. R. Howard SIR THer is a saying that carrieth with it a great deal of caution from him whom I trust God defend me for from him whom I trust not I will defend my self Ther be sundry sorts of musts but that of a secret is one of the greatest I trusted T. P. with a weighty one conjuring him that it should not take air and go abroad which was not don according to the rules and religion of frendship but it went out of him the very next day Though the inconvenience may be mine yet the reproach is his nor would I exchange my dammage for his disgrace I would wish you take heed of him for he is such as the Comic Poet speaks of plenus rimarum he is full of Chinks he can hold nothing you know a secret is too much for one too little for three and enough for two but Tom must be none of those two unless ther wer a trick to sodder up his mouth If he had committed a secret to me and injoynd me silence and I had promis'd it though I had bin shut up in Perillus brasen Bull I should not have bellowed it out I find it now true that he who discovers his secrets to another sells him his Liberty and becoms his slave well I shall be warier heerafter and learn more wit In the interim the best satisfaction I can give my self is to expunge him quite ex albâ—… amicorum to raze him out of the catalogue of my frends though I cannot of my acquaintance wher your name is inserted in great golden Characters I will endeavour to lose the memory of him and that my thoughts may never run more upon the fashion of his face which you know he hath no cause to brag of I hate such blatâ—…roons Odi illos seu claustra Erebi I thought good to give you this little mot of advice because the times are ticklish of committing secrets to any though not to From the Fleet 14. Febr. 1647. Your most affectionat frend to serve you J. H. LXVIII To my Hon. frend Mr. E. P. at Paris SIR LEt me never sally hence from among these disconâ—…olat Walls if the literall correspondence you please to hold so punctually with me be not one of the greatest solaces I have had in this sad condition for I find so much salt such indearments and flourishes such a gallantry and neaâ—…nes in your lines that you may give the law of lettering to all the world I had this week a twin of yours of the 10 and 15 current I am sorry to hear of your achaques and so often indisposition there it may be very well as you say that the air of that dirty Town doth not agree with you because you speak Spanish which language you know is us'd to be breath'd out under a clearer clyme I am sure it agrees not with the sweet breezes of peace for 't is you there that would keep poor Christendom in perpetuall whirle-winds of war but I fear that while France sets all wheels a going and stirres all the Cacodaemons of hell to pull down the house of Austria shee may chance at last to
could not though much importun'd by Doctor Roseus and other Divines upon his death bed be induc'd to make them legitimat by marying the mother of them for the Law there is That if one hath got children of any Woman though unmaried to her yet if he mary her never so little before his death he makes her honest and them all legitimat but it seems the Prince postpos'd the love he bore to his woman and children to that which he bore to his brother Henry for had he made the children legitimat it had prejudic'd the brother in point of command and fortunes yet he hath provided very plentifully for them and the mother Grave Henry hath succeeded him in all things and is a gallant Gentleman of a French education and temper he charg'd him at his death to marry a young Lady the Count of Solms Daughter attending the Queen of Bohemia whom he had long courted which is thought will take speedy effect When the siege before Breda had grown hot Sir Edward Vere being one day attending Prince Maurice he pointed at a rising place call'd Terbay wher the enemy had built a Fort which might have bin prevented Sir Edward told him he fear'd that Fort would be the cause of the loss of the Town the Grave spatter'd and shook his head saying 't was the greatest error he had committed since he knew what belong'd to a Soldier as also in managing the plot for surprising of the Cittadell of Antwerp for he repented that he had not imployed English and French in lieu of the slow Dutch who aym'd to have the sole honour of it and were not so fit instruments for such a nimble peece of service As soon as Sir Charls Morgan gave up the Town Spinola caus'd a new Gate to be erected with this inscription in great Golden Characters Philippo quarto regnante Clara Eugenia Isabella Gubernante Ambrosio Spinola obsidente Quatuor Regibus contra conantibus Breda capta fuit Idibus c. T is thought Spinola now that he hath recover'd the honor he had lost before Berghen op Zoon three yeers since will not long stay in Flanders but retire No more now but that I am resolv'd to continue ever London Mar. 19. 1626. Your Lordships most humble Servitor J. H. XVI To Mr R. Sc. at York SIR I Sent you one of the third Current but t was not answer'd I sent another of the thirteenth like a second Arrow to find out the first but I know not what 's become of either I send this to find out the other two and if this fail ther shall go no more out of my Quiver If you forget me I have cause to complain and more if you remenber me to forget may proceed from the frailty of memory not to answer me when you minde me is pure neglect and no less than a piacle So I rest Yours easily to be recover'd J. H. Ira furor brevis est brevis est mea littera cogor Ira correptus corripuisse stylum London 19 of Iuly the first of the Dogdaies 1626. XVII To Dr. Field Lord Bishop of Landaff My Lord I Send you my humble thanks for those worthy Hospitable favours you were pleas'd to give me at your lodgings in Westminster I had yours of the fifth of this present by the hands of Mr. Ionathan Field The news which fills every corner of the Town at this time is the sorry and unsuccessfull return that Wimbledons Fleet hath made from Spain It was a Fleet that deserv'd to have had a better destiny considering the strength of it and the huge charge the Crown was at for besides a squadron of sixteen Hollanders wherof Count William one of Prince Maurice's naturall Sons was Admirall ther were above fourscore of ours the greatest joynt navall power of Ships without Gallies that ever spred sail upon Salt-Water which makes the World abroad to stand astonish'd how so huge a Fleet could be so suddenly made ready The sinking of the long Robin with 170 souls in her in the Bay of Biscay erc she had gon half the voyage was no good augury And the Critics of the time say ther were many other things that promis'd no good fortune to this Fleet besides they would point at divers errors committed in the conduct of the main design first the odd choice that was made of the Admirall who was a meer Land-man which made the Sea men much slight him it belonging properly to Sir Robert Mansell Vice-Admirall of England to have gon in case the High-Admirall went not then they speak of the incertainty of the enterprize and that no place was pitch'd upon to be invaded till they came to the height of the South Cape and to sight of shore where the Lord Wimbledon first cal'd a Counsell of War wherin som would be for Malaga others for Saint Mary-Port others for Gibraltar but most for Cales and while they were thus consulting the Countrey had an alarum given them Add hereunto the blazing abroad of this expedition ere the Fleet went out of the Downs for Mercurius Gallobelgicus had it in print that it was for the Streights mouth Now 't is a rule that great designs of State should be mysteries till they com to the very act of performance and then they should turn to exploits Moreover when the locall attempt was resolv'd on ther wer seven ships by the advice of one Captain Love suffer'd to go up the River which might have bin easily taken and being rich 't is thought they would have defrayed well neer the charge of our Fleet which ships did much infest us afterwards with their Ordnance when we had taken the Forr of Puntall Moreover the disorderly carriage and excess of our Land-men wherof ther were 10000 when they were put a shore who broke into the Fryers Caves and other Cellers of Sweet-Wines wher many hundreds of them being surprizd and found dead-drunk the Spaniards came and toar off their Ears and Noses and pluck'd out their Eies And I was told of one merry fellow escaping that kill'd an Asse for a Buck Lastly it is laid to the Admiralls charge that my Lord de la Wares Ship being infected he should give order that the sick men should be scatter'd in o divers ships which dispers'd the contagion exceedingly so that som thousands died before the Fleet return'd which was don in a confus'd manner without any observance of Sea Orders Yet I do not hear of any that will be punish'd for these miscarriages which will make the dishonour fall more fouly upon the State but the most infortunate passage of all was that though we did nothing by Land that was considerable yet if we had stayd but a day or two longer and spent time at sea the whole Fleet of Galeons and Nova Hispania had faln into our mouths which came presently in close along the Coasts of Barbary and in all likelihood we might have had the opportunity to have taken the richest prize that
as wel as to do what pleased them and that all orders edicts letters and the Lawes themselves civill as well as martiall wer publish'd and executed in Latine yet I believe this Latine was spoken no otherwise among those Nations than the Spanish or Castillian Tongue is now in the Netherlands in Sicily Sardinia Naples the two Indies and other Provinciall Countreys which are under that King Nor did the pure Latine Tongue continue long at a stand of perfection in Rome and Latium it self among all sorts of peeple but she receiv'd changes and corruption neither do I beleeve that she was born a perfect Language at first but she receiv'd nutriment and degrees of perfection with time which matures refines and finisheth all things The verses of the Salii compos'd by Numa Pompilius wer scarce intelligible by the Flamins and Judges themselves in the wane of the Roman Common-wealth nor the Laws of the Decemviri And if that Latine wherin were couch'd the capitulations of peace 'twixt Rome and Carthage a little after the expulsion of the Kings which are yet extant upon a pillar in Rome wer compar'd to that which was spoken in Caesars reign 140. after at which time the Latine Tongue was mounted to the Meridian of her perfection she would be found aâ—… differing as Spanish now differeth from the Latine After Caesar and Ciceroes time the Latine Tongue continued in Rome and Italy in her purity four hundred yeers together untill the Goths rush'd into Italy first under Alaric then the Hunns under Attila then the Vâ—…ndalls under Gensericus and the Heruli under Odoacer who was proclaimed King of Italy but the Goths a little after under Theoderic thrust out the Heruli which Theodoric was by Zeno the Emperor formally invested King of Italy who with his successor reign'd there peaceably sixty yeers and upwards so that in all probability the Goâ—…hs cohabiting so long among the Italians must adulterat their language as well as their women The last barbarous peeple that invaded Italy about the year 570 wer the Lombards who having taken firm rooting in the very bowells of the Countrâ—…y above 200 yeers without interruption during the reign of twenty Kings must of necessity alter and deprave the generall speech of the naturall inhabitants and among others one argument may be that the best and midland part of Italy chang'd its name and took its appellation from these last Invaders calling it self Lombardy which name it retains to this day yet before the intrusions of these wandring and warlike peeple into Italy ther may be a precedent cause of som corruption that might creep into the Latine Tongue in point of vulgarity first the incredible confluence of forreners that came dayly far and near from the coloniz'd Provinces to Rome then the infinite number of slaves which surpassed the number of free Citizens might much impair the purity of the Latine Tongue and lastly those inconstancies and humor of novelty which is naturally inherent in man who according to those frail elementary principles and ingredients wherof he is compos'd is subject to insensible alterations and apt to receive impressions of any change Thus my Lord as succinctly as I could digest it into the narrow bounds of an Epistle have I sent your Lordship this small survay of the Latine or first Roman Tongue In my next I shall fall aboard of her three daughters viz. the Italian the Spanish and the French with a diligent investigation what might bee the originall native Languages of those Countreys from the beginning before the Latâ—…ne gave them the Law in the interim I crave a candid interpretation of what is passed and of my â—…udiousnes in executing your Lordships Injunctions so I am West Iul. 16. 1630. My Lord Your most humble obedient Servant J. H. XL. To the right Honble the E R. My Lord MY last was a discourse of the Latin or Primitive Roman tongue which may be said to be expir'd in the markâ—… though living yet in the Schools I mean she may be said to be defunct in point of vulgarity any time these 1000 yeers pass'd Out of her urne have sprung up the Italian the Spanish and the French wherof I am now to treat but I think it not improper to make a research first what the radicall prime mother tongues of these Countreys wer before the Roman Eagle planted her talons upon them Concerning Italy doubtles ther wer divers before the Latin did spread all over that Countrey the Calabrian and Apulian spoke Greek wherof som reliques are to be found to this day but it was an adventitious no mother language to them 't is confess'd that Latium it self and all the territory about Rome had the Latine for its maternall and common first vernacular tongue but Toscany and Ligâ—…ria had others quite discrepant viz. the Hetruscane and Mesapian wherof though ther be som records yet extant yet ther are none alive that can understand them the Oscan the Sabin and Tusculan are thought to be but dialects to these Now the Latine Tongue with the coincidence of the Goths language and other Northern peeple who like waves tumbled off one another did more in Italy then any where else for she utterly abolished upon that part of the continent all other maternall tongues as ancient as her self and therby her eldest daughter the Italian came to be the vulgar universall tongue to the whole Countrey yet the Latine tongue had not the sole hand in doing this but the Goths and other septentrionall Nations who rush'd into the Roman dition had a share in 't as I said before and pegg'd in som words which have been ever since irremovable not only in the Italian but also in her two younger sisters the Spanish and the French who felt also the fury of those peeple Now the Italian is the smoothest and softest running language that is for ther is not a word except som few Monosyllables Conjunctions and Propositions that ends with a Consonant in the whole language nor is ther any vulgar speech which hath more subdialects in so small a tract of ground for Italy it self affords above eight There you have the Romane the Toscane the Venetian the Milâ—…tz the Neapolitanâ—… the Calabresse the Genoevais the Picmonlez you have the Corsican Sycilian with divers other neighbouring Islands and as the cause why from the beginning ther wer so many differing dialects in the Greek tongue was because it was slic'd into so many Islands so the reason why ther be so many subdialects in the Italian is the diversity of governments that the Countrey is squandred into there being in Italy at this day two Kingdomes viz. that of Naples and Calabria Three Republicks viz. Venice Genoa and Luca and divers other absolute Princes Concerning the originall language of Spain it was without any controversie the Bascuence or Cantabrian which tongue and territory neither Roman Goth whence this King hath his pedigree with divers of the Nobles or Moore could ever conquer though