the power to keep a Friendship for there was never any of our Senses that could constantly be unwearied of any one Subject or Object having naturally a various quality which makes them great Admirers but uncertain Lovers and Friends neither is it altogether the Strength of Love but the Length that makes a perfect Friendship Friendship of Kings SOme say that Kings are unhappy because they cannot have a Bosome-friend for there must be some Equality for True Friendship and a Prince makes himself a Subject or his Subject as great as himself in making particular Friendships which may cause Danger to his Person and State But a King that hath Loyal Subjects wants no Friend But say they a Friend is to open and disburthen the Thoughts from his Heart of all Joys Griefs and Secrets which are not so convenient or satisfactory to be published to all his Loyal Subjects To all which may be answered that his Privy Council is a Secret Friend where he may and ought to disburthen his Mind being an united Body or should be so which will increase his Joys with their Joys and ease his Griefs with their Counsel which is the part of a Friend So as a Privy Council to Kings is as a Private Friend to another Man Friendship of Parents and Children IT is said Parents and Children cannot have Friendship for they must have no tyes of Nature but be Voluntary and Free where in Parents it is rather a Self love or Self-interest than a clear Friendship Where I answer that there can be no Friendship but proceeds from Self-love and Interest for their delight is in their Friend and to dye for a Friend is because they cannot live without him Besides say they there is a Bar that hinders the Friendship of Parents and Children which is the Duty and Respect which ought to be in the Child towards the Parent and a Reservedness of the Father to the Child But to my thinking it is a strange Reason that Duty and Respect should hinder Friendship as if Friendship were built upon an open Rudeness But certainly True Love which is that which makes Dear Friendships takes more pleasure to be Commanded and to Obey those they love than to Command and be Obeyed Besides Respect hinders not the disclosing or the receiving into the Mind or helping with their Bodies or Estates or parting with Life which are the Acts of Friendship For I take Duty and Obedience to be from the Mind as consenting to their Desires and respect as towards the Body by an humble presenting of it self But a Reservedness of the Parent to the Child is rather a proud Insulting and Love of Authority than out of Love or Consideration for their good or to keep their Natural Affection for it must be a very Ill Nature that sweet and kind Perswasions free and open Relations seasonable and secret Counsellings willing and reasonable Actions shall not onely keep the Natural Love as from the Child to the Parent but tye a perfect Friendship as from Man to Man unless you will say there can be no perfect Friendship except there be an equality of their Ages which indeed a Child and a Parent can never be even in But Parents are so far from making of Friendship with their Children as they know less and are more unacquainted with them than with Strangers by their reserved Formalities or else they are so rudely Familiar with their Children as makes their Children rudely Familiar with them in which kind of Natures and Humours can be no tyes of Friendship neither with their own nor Strangers Of Madness in general THere are more that run Mad for the loss of Hope than for the loss of what they have Enjoyed as for example How many have run Mad for the loss of their Servant or Mistress which are called Lovers but few or none for their Husbands or Wives every Town or Kingdome at least may be an Example of the first but few in the whole World to be heard of the last And how many Parents have run Mad for the loss of their Children because they have lost the hopes of their Perfections or Excellencies which Time might have brought forth that might have been an Honour to their Name and Posterity which by Death were cut off So as it is not so much for the present Comfort they lost in their Child for few Parents make their Children their onely or chief Society but the expectation of the Future being lost is that they most commonly run Mad for for there are none that wish not themselves in a good Condition and there are very few that not onely wish themselves in a better Condition though they have no cause to complain but hope to be so and where the Hopes are cut off and the Desires remain they must needs grow Impatient and Impatiency grows Extravagant and Extravagancy is Madness But how seldome is it heard that Children run Mad for their Parents the reason is because there is little hopes from them but of their Estates or Titles if they have any for Men never consider so much what is past as what is to come unless it be to compare the past time with the present that they might guess at the Future So that there is nothing to hope from Parents because all things are past from them for Men joy more in looking forward through their Posterity than in looking back upon their Ancestors the one is a Contemplation of Life the other but a Contemplation of Death and though they are sometimes proud of their Forefathers worthy Actions yet they take more delight in the hopes of their own Posterity And when Men grow Mad for the loss of their Estates it is not for what they have enjoyed but for what they would or might have enjoyed had not Ill Fortune been but now they cannot And when Men fall Mad through Despair it is because they have no hopes of Heaven So that Hope is the Life of Mans Thoughts and the Ground of his Actions it makes Piety in the Church and Industry in the Common-wealth where the want of it is a Death in Life An Epistle to the Unbelieving Readers in Natural Philosophy MANY say That in Natural Philosophy nothing is to be known not the Cause of any one thing which I cannot perswade my self is Truth for if we know Effects we must needs know Causes by reason Effects are the Causes of Effects and if we can know but one Effect it is a hundred to one but we shall know how to produce more Effects thereby Secondly That Natural Philosophy is an endless Study without any profitable Advantage but I may answer That there is no Art nor Science but is produced thereby if we will without Partiality consider from whence they were derived Thirdly That it is impossible that any thing should be known in Natural Philosophy by reason it is so obscure and hid from the knowledge of Mankind I answer That it is impossible that
Nature should perfectly understand and absolutely know her self because she is Infinite much less can any of her Works know her yet it doth not follow that nothing can be known As for example There are several parts of the World discovered yet it is most likely not all nor may be never shall be yet most think that all the World is found because Drake and Cavendish went in a Circular Line untill they came to that place from whence they set out at first and I am confident that most of all Writers thought all the World was known unto them before the West-Indies were discovered and the Man that discovered it in his Brain before he travelled on the Navigable Sea and offered it to King Henry the Seventh was slighted by him as a Foolish Fellow nor his Intelligence believ'd and no question there were many that laugh'd at him as a Vain Fool others pity'd him as thinking him Mad and others scorned him as a Cheating Fellow that would have cosened the King of England of a Sum of Money but the Spanish Queen being then wiser than the rest imployed him and adventured a great Sum of Money to set him forth in his Voyage which when the Success was according to the Mans Ingenious Brain and he had brought the Queen the discovery of the Golden and Silver Mines for the Spanish Pistols Then other Nations envyed the King of Spain and like a Company of Dogs which fought for a Bone went together by the Ears to share with him So the Bishop that declared his opinion of the Antipodes was not onely cryed down and exclaimed against by the Vulgar which hate all Ingenuity but Learned Sages stood up against him and the Great and Grave Magistrates condemned him as an Atheist for that Opinion and for that reason put him from his Bishoprick and thought he had Favour in that his Life was spared which Opinion hath since been found true by Navigators But the Ignorant Unpracticed Brains think all Impossible that is not known unto them But put the Case that many went to find that which can never be found as they say Natural Philosophy is yet they might find in the search that they did not seek nor expect which might prove very beneficial to them Or put the case ten thousand should go so many waies to seek for a Cabinet of pretious Jewels and all should miss of it but one shall that one be scorn'd and laugh'd at for his Good Fortune or Industry this were a great Injustice But Ignorance and Envy strive to take off the gloss of Truth if they cannot wholly overthrow it But I and those that write must arm our selves with Negligence against Censure for my part I do for I verily believe that Ignorance and present Envy will slight my Book yet I make no question when Envy is worn out by Time but Understanding will remember me in after Ages when I am changed from this Life But I had rather live in a General Remembrance than in a Particular Life The Worlds Olio LIB III. PART II. Of Philosophy THere have been of all Nations that have troubled their Heads and spent the whole time of their Lives in the study of Philosophy as Natural and Moral the first is of little or no use onely to exercise their Opinions at the guessing at the Causes of Things for know them they cannot the last is a Rule to a strict Life which is soon learned but not so soon practiced as they have made it in the dividing it into so many and numerous parts having but four chief Principles as Justice Prudence or Providence Fortitude and Temperance Justice is but to consider what one would willingly have another to do to him the same to do to another which is the beginning of a Commonwealth Prudence or Providence is to observe the Effect of Things and to compare the past with the present as to guess and so to provide for the Future Fortitude is to suffer with as little Grief as one can and to act with as little Fear Now Temperance is something harder as to abate the Appetites and moderate our Passions for though there are but two principal ones as Love and Hate yet there are abstracted from them so many as would take up a Long Life to know them after the strict Rules of Temperance But indeed it is as impossible to be justly Temperate as to know the first Causes of all Things as for example A Man loseth a Friend and the Loser must grieve so much as the merit of the Loss deserves and yet no more than will stand with his Constitution which in many is impossible For some their Constitution is so weak that the least Grief destroys them so that of Necessity he must needs be Intemperate one way either for the not sufficient Grief for the merit of his Friend or too little care for himself So for Anger a Man must be no more angry than the Affront or any Cause of his Anger doth deserve and who shall be Judge since there is no Cause or Act that hath not some Partiality on its side and so in all Passions and Appetites there may be said the like Therefore he that can keep himself from Extravagancy is temperate enough But there are none that are more intemperate than Philosophers first in their vain Imaginations of Nature next in the difficult and nice Rules of Morality So that this kind of Study kils all the Industrious Inventions that are beneficial and Easy for the Life of Man and makes one sit onely to dye and not to live But this kind of Study is not wholly to be neglected but used so much as to ballance a Man though not to fix him for Natural Philosophy is to be used as a Delight and Recreation in Mens Studies as Poetry is since they are both but Fictions and not a Labour in Mans Life But many Men make their Study their Graves and bury themselves before they are dead As for Moral Philosophy I mean onely that part that belongs to every particular Person not the Politick that goeth to the framing of Commonwealths as to make one Man live by another in Peace without which no Man can enjoy any thing or call any thing his own for they would run into Hostility though Community of Men will close into a Commonwealth for the Safety of each as Bees and other Creatures do that understand not Moral Philosophy nor have they Grave and Learned Heads to frame their Commonwealths NAture is the great Chymist of the World drawing out of the Chaos several Forms and extracted Substances the gross and thicker part goeth to the forming of Solid Bodies the Fume to Air and Water the thinnest part to Fire and Light the Sense or Spirits to Life Of Naturalists NAturalists that search and seek for hidden Causes are like Chymists that search for the Philosophers Stone wherein they find many excellent and profitable Medicines but not the Elixar So Naturalists
to perswade themselves to be content with that they have and to desire no more then honest industry may easily purchase Of the minde and the body THe minde and the body must be married together but so as the minde must be the husband to govern and command and the body the wife to obey and reason which is the judge of the minde must keep the senses in awe for as reason is the property of the minde so the senses are the property of the body but there is no judge more corrupted then reason or takes more bribes and the senses are the bribers for the eye corcupts it with beauty the ear with melodious sounds and so the sent taste and touch which makes false reason gives false judgment so as the minde may be an over-fond husband that would be a wise man were he not perswaded from it by the follies of his wife Of Riches and Poverty Necessity and poverty teacheth to dissemble flatter and shark for their advantage and lively-hood and long custom makes it a habit and habit is a second nature for what Poverty breeds many times proveth base and unworthy being necessitated to quit honour or life where most commonly life is chosen first besides poverty wants means to learn what is best for the poorer sort generally never standeth upon the honour of speaking the truth or keeping their word for they lie at the watch to steal what they can get when a rich-man vaving no wants to necessitate him but lives at plenty which keeps him not onely from that which is base but perswades to things that are Noble Riches make a man ambitious of Honourable Fame which desires make them rule their Actions to the length of good opinions but poverty is ambitious of nothing but riches and thinks it no dishonour to come to it any any way Thus poverty is ambitious of riches and riches of honours Riches as a Golden father beget a bastard gentry and poverty is the death and burial of it but the pure and true born gentry comes from merit from whence proceeds all noble and Heroick Actions it is nourished in the Court of Fame taught in the schooles of honour lives in the monarchical Goverment of justice Of Robbers or factious men THere be three sorts of Robbers as first those those that take away our goods as plate money jewels corn cattle and and the like The second are murtherers that take away life The third are factious persons which are not onely the cause of the taking away our goods which we call movable and our lives but our religion our frends our laws our liberties and peace For a factious man makes a commotion which commotion raiseth civil wars and civil war is a division in the bowels or heart of the State as to divide commands from obedience obedience from commands rending and breaking affections raising of passions so as a factious man is a humane Devil seeking whom he can devour insinuating himself into favour with every man that he may the better stir up their spirits to fury presenting them with grievances to catch in discontent speaking alwayes in Cyphers and characters as if it were a dangerous time and that they lived under a Tyrannioal government when they may speak as freely as they can live and live as freely as they think with free dom of thoughts which nothing but death can cut off but if they did live under a Tyrannical Government they ought not to reform by their passion nor to disobey with their grivances but it is both wise and honest to be a time-server so they go not through dishonourable actions for he that runs against the times is a disturber of the peace and so becomes factious which is the track of evil nature There is a difference betwixt a Rogue a dishonest man and a Knave THe Rogue is one that will act any villanie as murther sacriledge rapin or any horrid act the dishonest man is one that is ungrateful that will receive all curtesies but will return none though he be able and a breaker of his word as for example if a man should promise another man out of a sudden fondnesse and without witnesse a hundred pounds a yeer and after repenting of it should break his promise yet it is a dishonest part though they take nothing from the man that he could challenge for his own for he gave but a word of promise and a word is nothing unlesse had witnesse to make it an act by law And again if a man goeth to a Fair and seeth a horse that he likes and prayeth his neighbour to buy him that horse he goeth and likes him and buyeth the horse for himself so though he takes nothing from his neighbour by the reason the horse was none of his yet it is a dishonest part beacause his neighbour trusted him in it and many other wayes which would be too tedious to write but the Knave is not onelyone that wil break his word or neglect his trust but he will betray his trust and although he will not actually act murther yet for gain he will betray a life and though he will not break open houses and commit Robberies or any thing against the law yet he wil cozen where the law cannot take hold of him or do any thing that is not absolute against the laws and a knave takes more pleasure in his close wayes of deceiving then in the profit though that is sweet for many do not cozen for the various delights for the senses but delights himself in the various wayes of deceiving Nor is he wiser then the honest man though he think he be nor is it that he thinks himself wiser then an honest man for a wise honest man may be cozened by a crafty knave for wisdom goeth upon honest grounds and takes truth to be her guide but craft upon dishonest grounds and takes falshood to be her guide but some will say that a wise man will not trust a knave but how shall a wise man know a knave not by his face for a knave is not known by his face but by his acts nor by his report for report is a great Cozner Of Knaves THere are three sorts of knaves the foolish the crafty and the wicked knave the foolish and wicked knave most commonly comes under the lash of the laws but the crafty knave is too hard for the laws that they can get no hold of him and many times he makes them bawds for his Adulterate wayes yet it is better for a master to have an industrious knave to his servant then a negligent fool for an industrious knave although he steal one peny for himself he will gain at least another for his master not onely to hide his theft by it but because he would be imployed and keep his service but fooles lose in both For a man to be honest to himself MAny think that honesty is bound onely to the regard of others and not
abroad whereof they have better at home and the unsatiable Desire of Mankind makes them search for what is never to be found But where Nature gives a Satisfactory Mind she gives a Happy Life and what can we imagin the Joys of Heaven but a stint to our wandring Desires therefore those that are most fixt are nearer Heaven and he is the Wisest that is nearest to Unity and those that are most united are likest to a God But where Discord happens Hell is resemb'ed and harsh haughty and not insulting Natures are composed like Devils and Caesar shewed himself a Fool in nothing but in quitting his Guard and not hearkning to his Wife which was to shew his Courage and to let the World see he durst go unarmed singly alone as it were and his freedom from the chains of fond Affection thus quitting Prudence and Love he dyed too violent a Death And Seianus quitting the Affection towards his Wife and placing it upon Julian raised such a Jealousie in Tyberius as it cost him his Life otherwise he might have ruled the Empire and so the most part of the World Thus Anthony's leaving his Wife for the love of Cleopatra lost him the third part of the World Neither are the Counsels of a Wife alwaies to be despised if all were honest nor to be lockt from the private Affairs of her Husband Portia was able to keep a Secret and was of Brutus her Husbands Confedenacy though not Actually yet Concealing And if Caesar had condescended to his Wives Perswasion he had not gone to the Senate that day and who knows but the next might have discovered the Conspiracy and numberless of the like Examples might be given Besides it is to be observed where the Husband and Wife disagree their Family is in disorder their Estates go to decay Jealousies arise which cause Discords from whence proceeds a discontented and unhappy Life And where the Husband and Wife are united in Minds as well as in Body all prospers and most commonly Ease and Plenty crown that Family Industry is their Recreation Peace is their Joy Love is their Happiness for a kind Husband makes an obedient Wife dutifull Children faithfull Servants for a Wise Man rules his Family with gentle kind and seasonable Perswasions with honest and sincere Actions with gratefull and just Rewards and Kindness and Constant Natures work hard and obeisant Natures to be more pliant and facile for Kindness melts hardest Hearts and makes them flexible to form them as they please where Cruelty or Severity hardens them so much as they will rather break than bend And if the Rational part of the World would but consider what Felicity there is in peacefull Prosperity they would never wander so much out of the way Of Men and Women SOme say a Man is a Nobler Creature than a Woman because our Saviour took upon him the Body of Man and another that Man was made first But these two Reasons are weak for the Holy Spirit took upon him the shape of a Dove which Creature is of less esteem than Mankind and for the Preheminency in Creation the Devil was made before Man Nature in the Composure of Men and Women IT is not so great a Fault in Nature for a Woman to be Masculine as for a Man to be Effeminat for it is a Defect in Nature to decline as to see Men like Women but to see a Masculine Woman is but onely as if Nature had mistook and had placed a Mans Spirit in a Womans Body but Nature hath both her Mistakes and Weaknesses but when she works perfectly she gives Man a gentle and sweet Disposition a generous Mind a valiant Heart a wife Head a voluble Tongue a healthfull Body and strong and active Limbs To Woman she gives a chast Mind a sober Disposition a silent Tongue a fair and modest Face a neat Shape and a gracefull Motion The Nature of Man MAN is more apt to take Dislikes at all things than to delight in any thing but Nature hath given us no Pleasure but what ends in Pain for the end of Pleasure is Grief for Cruel Nature curbs us in with Fear and yet spurs us on with Desires for she hath made Mans mind to hunt more after Varieties by Desire than she hath made Varieties to satisfie the Desires Of Painting THere be some that condemn the Art of Painting in Women others that defend it for say they as Nature hath made one World so Art another and that Art is become the Mistris of Nature neither is it against Nature to help the Defects Besides those that find out new Arts are esteemed so that they become as Petty Gods whether they become Advantageous to Man or no as the Memory of those that found out the Art of Gunpowder Guns Swords and all Engins of War for Mischief and shall they be more praised and commended than those that find out Arts and Adornments as Painting Curling and other Dressings for the one destroyes Mankind this increaseth it the one brings Love the other begets Hate But some will say those Arts defend their Lives but where they once use them to defend their Lives they use them ten times to destroy Life and though it is no Fault in the Inventer but in the User no more is Painting when it is used for a good intent as to keep or increase lawfull Affection But say they it is a dissembling to make that appear otherwise than it is ' Tisanswer'd No more than to keep warm in Winter for Cold is Natural so is the sense of it in Winter but Clothes to keep it out are Artificial and the true use of the Art of Painting is to keep warm a Lawfull Affection Besides If we must use no more than what Nature hath given us we must go naked and those that have a bald Head must not wear a Peruick or Cap to cover it and those that are born with one Leg shorter than the other must not wear a high Shoe to make them even nor indeed wear any Shoes at all especially with Heels because they make them seem higher but go with the Feet bare and those that are Crooked must wear no Bombast and many such Examples may be brought But say some it is a Bawd to entice in begetting evil Desires It is answered No more a Bawd than Nature is in making a handsome Creature but if they must do nothing for fear of Enticing then Mankind must neither cut their Hair nor pare their Nails nor shave their Beards nor wash their selves which would be very slovenly for fear they should appear so handsome as they may perswade and entice the Lookers on to evil Desires which if so let them be like Swine and wallow in Mire but it is to be feared that the Mire will be too hard for the evil Desires so as there may be more brought in defence of Painting than can be said against it Wherefore say they it is lawfull both in Maids and
Wives the one to get a good Husband the other to keep her Husband from coveting his Neighbours Wife for it is an Honour for Maids to get good Husbands because it is a kind of Reproach to live unmarried for Marriage is Honourable and gives a Respect to Women unless they be incloystered which all Constitutions will not agree withall and an honest Wifes care is to please her Husband if she can when she hath him for Marriage is the end of an honest Mind to all but Widows for they when they marry again do as it were Cuckold their dead Husband and their living Besides if they have Children they make a Distraction and Division in their Families and most commonly to the ruine of the first Husbands Estate having so great a share and so much power according to our Laws And though they should not marther themselves as the Custome hath been in other Countryes but contrary rather to preserve their Health and to dry their Eyes after a while of those Obsequies of Tears which are Sacrifices to the Dead yet to live a retired Life to shew their unalterable Affections for though it be fit for a Widow to put off her violent Passion of Sorrow as well as she can yet there is no Humour becomes that Condition better than Sadness for Sadness which is a moderate Grief looks full of Fortitude and is Humble Modest Gracefull and so far from dis composing any part as it gives a setled and majestical Face So Painting is most disallowable in Widows for they should take the example of Judith where it is said when she went to Holofernes she anointed her self as she did usually in her Husband Manassas time which it seems she used not after he was dead before this time for as they have none to Displease so ought they not to Allure But some will say that their Poverty is such as they know not how to live and they may be presented to such a Fortune as may make them live happy and free from the Misery that Poverty compels them to It is answered that Nature is satisfied with a little if their Ambition be not great but if not they must make use of the old Proverb which is that Necessity hath no Law in case they present not their Necessity to be greater than it is But to return to Beauty it is pleasing either Natural or Artificial and both to be admired for if Art be Commendable why not in the Face as well as in the Feet in dancing Measures or as in the Hand upon Musick Instruments or in the Voyce or in the Art of Oratory and Poetry which will sooner increase Desires yet this is allowed of in all places and times not onely in Temporal Society but in Spiritual Unions where David the Beloved of God was a great Master in the Knowledge and Practice of them And if these Arts be Commendable and are Graces to all parts of the Body shall it be condemned onely for Colour in the Face And as Beauty is the Adornment of Nature so is Art the Adornment of Beauty and this saith the Defendant against the Plaintiff But all Opinions have or most of them Sides and Factions but my Opinion is so far with the Defendant as I believe all Adotnments of Beauty are lawfull for Women if the Intention be good Yet I am utterly against the Art of Painting out of three respects The first is Dangerous for most Paintings are mixed with Mercury wherein is much Quicksilver which is of so subtil a malignant nature as it will fall from the Head to the Lungs and cause Consumptions and is the Cause of swelling about the Neck and Throat The next is that it is so far from Adorning as it Dis-figures for it will rot the Teeth dim the Eyes and take away both the Life and Youth of a Face which is the grea'est Beauty Thirdly and lastly the Sluttishness of it and especially in the Preparatives as Masks of Sear-Clothes which are not onely horrid to look upon in that they seem as Dead Bodies embowelled or embalmed but the Stink is Offensive Then the Pomatum and Pultis which are very uneasy to lye in wet and greasy and very unsavoury for all the while they have it on it presents to their Nose a Chandlers Shop or a greasy Dripping-pan so as all the time they fry as it were in Grease neither will their Perfumes mend it and their Oils And though I cannot say they live in Purgatory because they shun all hot places for they cannot have the comfortable heat of the Fire and shun the Natural heat of the Sun as they must live alwaies as if they were at the North Pole for fear the Heat should melt away their Oil and Oily Drops can be no grace to their Face Dry Painting shrivels up the Skin so as it imprints Age in their Face in filling it full of Wrinkles wherefore Paintings are both Dangerous Ill-favoured and Sluttish besides the troublesome pains But for other Adornments in Women they are to be commended as Curling Powdring Powncing Cloathing and all the Varieties of Accoutrement in that they have none of the said former Qualities but give a gracefull advantage to the Person Besides Dressing is the Poetry of Women in shewing the Fancyes and is the cause of imploying the greater part of a Commonwealth for in four parts three of them are in the Arts of Adornments for it is not onely Tailers Imbroyderers Perfumers Milleners Feather-makers Jewellers Mercers Silkmen Semsters Shoemakers Tiremen and many many more but every one of these Trades have many Trades belong to them as for example How many Trades belong from the Silk-worm to the Ladies Gown and from the Golden Mine to the Lace that is laid upon it and so in order to all other things which is the cause of keeping a Commonwealth in Union in busying and imploying their Minds which keeps them from Factious Thoughts and Designs Besides it distributes and spreads the Maintenance of the Kingdome for without particular Commerce and Trasick a Commonwealth cannot stand and subsist for though many a Commonwealth may subsist without the help of their Neighbours yet it cannot live without their own Imployment and Dividement among themselves for as some share in Lands so others in Offices and the rest in Trades wherein all trasick from the one to the other so that every Man lives by his Neighbour and not altogether upon himself Of Paleness and Blushing WHen a sudden Paleness seizeth the Face it shews a Guiltiness or some great Fear but a Blush will come into the Face many times when there is no occasion to raise it for it oftner proceeds from the Constitution of the Body than from a Guiltiness of the Mind for when the Blood is thin and the Spirits are hot they are apt to run up to the Face without the Minds consent or knowledge but when Blushing is raised by the Mind it is commonly from a Noble Suspicion that is
not so much the Wisdome of Henry the Seventh that gave him the Crown as his Good Fortune in having a Tyrant Opposer on which the Peoples fear was above their feeling for they did apprehend more Tyrannie than they found in the time that Richard did reign for he made more good Laws in the time of his Reign than had been made in the Reign of many Kings before or after him But the Peoples mistrust cannot be satisfied with any Act let it be never so just or profitable but by their absence which they never think far enough untill they go to the Shades of Death and many times that which they believe will prove the best for them proves the worst because they follow not Reason but Will For Henry the Seventh whom they thought to be most happy under proved but a Tyrant in his Acts although a Saint in his Words for he brought by the means of Projecting and Informing Knaves the greatest or indeed all Estates to be Forfeited and so to be Compounded for by which he raised great Sums of Money to the ruining of many Antient Families yet he reigned peaceably most part of all his time which many a better and juster Prince had not the fortune to do Of the Emperors MOST commonly it may be said of Kings or Governors as they say of March It comes in like a Lion it goeth out like a Lamb and when it comes in like a Lamb it goeth out like a lion But when a Man desires to raise an Empire or himself to be an Emperor he flatters the People but when he is once become Emperor he makes the People flatter him Caesar might have proved a good Emperor but he had not time to be an ill one Augustus Caesar was a wise Prince he knew there was no way to settle the new-born Empire and to enjoy it peaceably but by gaining the Love of the People not by the base servile way of Flattery but by executing Justice and making wise and good Laws Tiberius was a good Prince whilst the memory of Augustus lasted in the Minds of the People and a wise Prince that he could dissemble his Humour so well and so long and none was so fit as Ascianus to bring him to bed of his great belly'd Cruelty Tiberius was of a lazy disposition as we may know by his solitary and luxurious life Nero came too soon to the Empire to reign well Vanities the Rulers of Youth despise Prudence and Temperance the Companions of Age his Vanities bred Vices his Vices bred Fear Fear bred Jealousie Jealousie bred Tyrannie Tyrannie bred Conspiracy and Conspiracy Destruction in brief he had not Age enough to poyse him he killed himself more out of Fear than Courage Both the Neroes the Uncles and the Cosen were much of a humour Nero Germanicus his Son he was Proud Cowardly Effeminat Envious Vainglorious Covetous to get Prodigal to spend Cruel without Craft and Mad he was not wise enough to rule his Empire nor temperate enough to govern his Vanities nor couragious enough to dissemble his Fears or be a good Prince As for Claudius the Emperour he was more learned than wise and he had more good Nature than Constancy and whatsoever ill he did he was seduced to do it by those he loved True it is he was of an easy Disposition but that proceeds more from a good Disposition in Nature than an evil one and it rather comes from Love than Hate although the Effects be all one for he that is easily perswaded and suddenly believes commits more Cruelty by his Credulity than distributes Justice by his good Nature As for Galba he had too narrow a Soul for so great an Empire for the Vices of Age and Covetousness had got hold of him he was Old and Crazy he had no Generosity to entice nor Sweet Behaviour to win nor Oratory to perswade nor Industry to order nor Faith to perform and whatsoever Man hath these Faults must needs get more Enemies than Friends As for Otho he had not Patience to try his Fortune neither lived he so long as any one could judge of his Government he was better beloved of his Souldiers than fortunate in their Successes besides he was beloved more of the People after he was dead than when he was living but whether he killed himself for the grief of those Souldiers that were lost or fear of the loss of the rest or for fear of himself it is doubtfull Vitelius was cruel gluttonous and of an unworthy nature For Vespasian he was very greedy of Gain to the height of Covetousness and yet he was very Generous for whatsoever he got though ill yet he bestowed it well he was a very mercifull Prince and very few Faults to be found in him He sprung from a Family of no great growth Titus Flavius Son to Vespasian he was so good there cannot enough be said in praise of him he was a Wise Prince and a Just Prince a Mercifull Prince and a Loving Temperate Carefull and Religious Prince he seemed to have more Goodness in him than were waies or means to express it he was Valiant Learned Mild Patient Industrious Skilfull in all Arts and Majestical Flavius Domitianus was Cruel and Vainglorious he followed not the steps of his Father nor Brother I observe Ill-born Natures cannot be bettered by Good Examples nor warned by Ill Examples for all the Cruel Emperors came to Untimely Deaths Of Pompey with Caesar. SOme praise Pompey and say He was a faithfull and loving Citizen of Rome a Father in defending the Laws and Liberties and a Martyr in dying in the Cause Others dispraise him and say It was Envy to Caesar that brought him out against him more than for the Publick Good and that if Pompey had had but the same Fortune he would have taken upon him the same Command Others again praise Caesar and say that he was forced to use his Power and Arms against the Senate out of necessity the one being much in Debt having exhausted his Estate the other in defence of his Life knowing the Senate would accuse him instead of rewarding him for his good Service and that Rational Men may judge by the succession of Story that he was necessitated and that Fortune being on his side gave him greater Hopes and higher Designs which he thought not at first on and that he had Reason though he had not been necessitated for though the Roman Government began from a Low and Mean Beginning yet it came to be the most Powerfull and Famous whilst Mediocrity ruled amongst them for at first their Poverty made them Just not daring to do Wrong and Prudent in providing the best waies and means to keep and raise themselves and Valiant and Industrious to defend themselves and to increase their Dominions Thus Virtues begot their Strength and raised their Fame But their good Fortune brought Plenty and Plenty Pride the one runs into Luxury the other into Ambition and Ambition begot Factions
or the like or if the Eyes should be placed in the Breast in the Neck or Mouth or the Ears in the Breast or Belly or behind in the Head or if the Arms should be where the Legs are or the Legs where the Arms are set or that an Arm or Hand Leg or Foot should grow out of the Head or if a Man should be in some kind like a Beast and many the like Examples might be given this being against the nature of the kind and not according to the natural shape may be called a Monster Thus there are both ugly Creatures and Monsters the one being a Defect of Nature the other a Fault of Nature or as I may say a Vice in Nature But a right shap'd Toad may be of an ill favour'd kind as not being so handsom a kind as Mankind or many other kinds of Animals for I never heard any Poetical high Expressions of the Commendation of a Toad as to say that is a most beautifull amiable sweet lovely Toad Of Upright Shape THat which makes Man seem so Excellent a Creature above other Animal Creatures is nothing but the Straitness and Uprightness of his Shape for being strait breasted and his Throat so equal to his Breast and his Mouth so equal to his Throat makes him apt for Speech which other Creatures have not for either their Legs Belly or Neck Mouth and Head are uneven or unequally set And this Shape doth not onely make Man fit for Speech but for all sorts of Motion or Action which gives him more Knowledge by the Experience thereof from the Accidents thereby than all other Animals were they joyned together Thus Speech and Shape make Men Gods or Rulers over other Creatures Memory is Atoms in the Brain set on fire SOme say Memory is the folding of the Brain like Leaves of a Book or like Scales of Fishes which by motion of Wind or Vapours are caused by outward Objects which heave up their Folds wherein the Letters or Print of such things as have been represented to it and those things that have been lost in the Memory is either by the reason those Folds have never been opened after they were printed or that the Prints have been worn out as not being engraven deep enough But I think it is as likely that the Brains should be full of little Substances no bigger than Atomes set on fire by Motion and so the Fire should go out and in according as the Motion is slackned or increased either by outward Objects or inward Vapours and when things are lost in the Memory it is when the Fire of those Atomes is gone out and never kindled again and that sometimes the Memory is not so quick as at other times is because some Vapours damp and smother the Fire or quench it out But Memory is the light and life of Man and those that have the most of those kindled Feabers or Atomes are the greatest Wits and the best Poets having the clearest Sparks Now the Substances are plain and not figured in new born Children nor clearly kindled but take Figures as they receive Objects and when they see their Nurse which is the first thing they take notice of then one of those small Substances turns into the Figure of the Nurse yet that Figure being not kindled presently because the moysture of the Brain hinders that Motion that kindles the Fire and the Figure doth no good unless it be thorowly kindled and the brighter it is the perfecter is the Memory And the reason why Children have not so much Knowledge is because they have not so much Heat nor so many Figures in their Brains nor those Substances so clear for Wood that is newly set on fire is not so bright a Fire as when it is half burnt out for Men we see in their middle age have the perfectest Understanding and the reason why Old Men become as Children is because Children are as a Fire that is first kindled and Old Men as Fire that is burnt out Now there are not onely those Figures that the Senses have brought in but new Figures that former Figures have made which are those Fictions which Poets call Fancy and the reason why all Men are not so good Wits as some is because their Fuel is too wet or too dry which are those Atomes and the reason why some Men are not so wise as they might be is because Objects come not in time enough for though they take the Prints yet they take not the Fire Now those Prints or Forms are like Glasses or several Forms of Pots of Earth for though they are formed and figured yet they are not hardned or perfected untill they have been in the Fire so that the Form may be there although not kindled but when they are kindled they are Thoughts which are Memory Remembrance Imagination Conception Fancy and the like Of Reason SOme say Reason is born with a Man as well as Passion but surely we may more certainly say that it is bred with a Man than born with a Man for we see many times that Men are born which have never the use of Reason as those we call Changelings or Naturals but we never saw any Man born without Passion for Passion seizeth the Body as soon as Life and they are inseparable and no more to be separated than Motion and Life for as soon as the Body receives Life it receives Like and Dislike as Pain grieves it and Ease pleaseth it so that Passion is the Sense of Life and Reason the Child of Time But Reason is like the stone or kernel of Fruit-trees which if it be well set with the help of the Sun and Earth may come to be a Tree but yet it is not a Tree whilst it is a Kernel so we may say Man is born with Reason because in time he is capable of Reason but yet he is not a reasonable Creature untill he can distinguish between Good and Evil for himself but as Life begets Sense so Sense begets Reason Thus Reason is a second or third Cause of Nature for Nature works producingly as one thing produceth another and that other a third But Natures first Work and principal Material is Life and Life is Motion and Motion is Nature and Nature is the Servant of God for Art is the Invention of Man and Man the Invention of Nature Of Imagination of Man and Beast ONE Man may know what Imagination another Man hath by the relation of Discourse but Man cannot know what Imaginations Beasts have because they can give no relation to Mans Understanding for want of Discourse wherefore Beasts may have for all any Man knows as strange and as fantastical Humours Imaginations and Opinions as Men and as clear Speculations and Beasts are as busy and as full of Action as Men although not in useless Actions yet it is in the prudent part for the subsistence of Life for themselves and their Young being provident and iudustrious thereunto
were carried many hundred miles let them be but loose and at their Liberty and they will return to their first Habitation wherefore they are forced to muffle many Creatures that they may not see which way they go because they should not know how to return Then that they are not Sociable nor delight in Society but we see they will play and sport with one another and Sheep love Company so well that they will not thrive nor grow but where there are great Flocks of them together Then that they have not Fancy but we see that Nightingales have great Fancy in the variety of their Tones and Notes and their Invention in many things beyond the Invention of Man Thus there is no Virtue nor Vice as Men call them but may be found in other Creatures as well as man but only we give our Knowledge proper Names and those none Again they say there is no War nor Tyranny in other Creatures or Animals but man yet certain there are many other Animals more Tyrannical Cruell even to their own kind than man and will take as heavy a Revenge one upon another and love Superiority and Power will not the Cocks fight as fiercely and cruelly one with another for Preheminency as men so Bulls against Bulls They say men have Command over Beasts but it is as some men have Command over others that is when they have more Power as Strength of Body or advantage of help either of Numbers Place or Time The Actions of Beasts THough Beasts be apter for some Actions than Men yet they are not made capable to exercise all in general as Running Leaping Jumping Drawing Driving Heaving Holding Staying Darting Digging Striking Grasping Cutting Peircing Diving Rowling Wreathing or Twisting Backwards Forwards Sideway Upward Downward turning their Joints any way as man can do Besides what curious Motions can Man move his Fingers to and what subtill Measures his Feer which no other Creature can do the like Thus every Member of Man is prompt ready and fitted for Action which makes him so industrious and inventive as he becomes so proud thereby that he thinks himself a petty God and yet all his Excellency lies in his Outward Shape which is not compleat but all his Inward is like to Beasts Wherefore Beasts might have been as capable as man if his outward Shape had been according so that one may almost think that the Soul is the outward Figure of a mans Body Of Birds ALL Birds are full of Spirit and have more ingenious Fancies than Beasts as we may see by their curious building of their Nests in providing for their Young in avoiding great Storms in choosing the best Seasons as by shifting their Habitation and in their flying in a pointed Figure which cuts or peirceth the Air which makes the Passage easy and so in many other things of the like Nature But the Reason seems to be because the chief Region they live in which is Air is pure and serene when Beasts live altogether on the Earth where the Air about is more Grosse by reason of continual thick Vapours that issue out but the Region wherein Birds fly is clarified by the Sun which makes the spirits of Birds more refined subtill and more lively or chearfull For all Beasts are heavy and dull in comparison of Birds having not Wings to fly into the serene Air But Beasts seem to have as much solid Judgement as clear Understandings as Birds and as providently carefull of their Subsistence and safty both for their Young and themselves as Birds But Birds have more Curiosity Fancy and Chearfullness than Beasts or indeed than Men for they are alwaies chirping and singing hopping and flying about but Beasts are like Grave Formal and Solid Common-Wealths-men and Birds like elevated Poets Of the Wooing of Beasts and Birds IT is not only the Spring time that makes Birds sing and chatter but it is their Wooing and striving to please their Mistrisses and Lovers for most Creatures keep a Noise and Dance when they Wooe as striving to express their Affections for the Noise of other Creatures is as much as making Verses by Men to their Mistrisses for those Noises are the several Languages to expresse themselves whereby they understand one another as Men. Of Passions THE Passions of the Mind are like the Humours of the Body for all Bodies have Choler Melancholy and Flegm nor could it be nourished without them so the Mind hath many Passions which without would be like a Stone so that there is no Humour of the Body or Passion of the Mind but is good if moderately bounded and properly placed but it is the Excess of the Humours and Passion that destroies the Body and Mind but the equal Ingredients of Humours make a strong Body and an equal Composure of Passions makes a Happy and a Noble Mind Of Appetite and Passion ALL natural Appetites are within Limits and all unnatural Appetites are without Limit and there is nothing more against Nature than Violence wherefore Man is the greatest Enemy to Nature for natural Passion or Action or Appetite are not Violent Violence being Artificial or Extravagant not Natural which is caused by Imagination Opinions Examples and Conversation which perswade Man to those Appetites which Violence doth work upon Of Like and Dislike WEE receive Like and Dislike as soon as we receive our Senses which is Life for when a Child is quick in the Womb Pain grieves it and Ease pleaseth it but Like and Dislike are not perfect Passions for though they are the Foundation of Love and Hate from which all Passions spring by the old Opinions yet are they not perfect Love or Hate Besides there is a difference betwixt Love Liking and Fondness for although Love hath a liking and is fond of what it placeth it self upon yet Liking and Fondness have not alwaies Love for true Love is unalterable when the other two are subject to Variety for true Love is lead by Reason and strengthened by Virtue Of Self-Love SElf love is the ground from whence springs all Indeavours and Industry Noble Qualities Honorable Actions Friendships Charity and Piety and is the cause of all Passions Affections Vices and Virtues for we do nothing or think not of any thing but hath a reference to our selves in one kind or other either in things Divine Humane or Natural for if we part with Life which is the chiefest good to Mankind it is because we think in Death there is lesse Pain than in Life without that we part with Life for and if we endure Torment which is worse than Death for any Thing or Opinion it is because our Delight of what we suffer for is beyond all Pains which Delight proceeds from Self-Love and Self-Love is the strongest Motion of the Mind for it strives to attract all Delight and gathers together like the Sun Beams in one Point as with a Glass wherewith it sets all one fire So Self-Love infires the Mind
find out many excellent and beneficial Arts but not the Cause or Principle Yet we find that Nature works not so curiously upon the Essence of Things as upon the Corporal Substance for Nature is but rude in the Minds of Men and so in other Creatures untill Community and Art have civilized them and Experience and Learning have perfected them Of Nature NAture is more various in the Shapes Thoughts and Colours than in the Substance or Kind of Things yet for Shapes there are but four grounds as High Low Thick and Thin of Quality or Essences she hath but four as Fire Water Air and Earth and for Colours the ground is onely Light and for Life she hath given onely three degrees as the Life of Growth the Life of Sense and the Life of Reason which is a Motion belonging to the Mind the other two Motions belong to the Corporal Part and all Life is but Motion so that Motion is the Life of Natures Work and the Work of Natures Life The Power of Natural Works ALthough Nature hath made every thing Good if it be rightly placed yet she hath given her Works power of misplacing themselves which produceth Evil Effects for that which corrupts Nature as it were is the disordered mixture But of all her Works Man hath entangled her waies the most by his Arts which makes Nature seem Vicious when most commonly Mans Curiosity causeth his Pain But there is nothing that is purely made and orderly set by Nature that hath not a Virtue in it but by her Creatures mis-applyings produceth a Vice Change in Nature NAture hath not onely made Bodies changeable but Minds so to have a Constant Mind is to be Unnatural for our Body changeth from the first beginning to the last end every Minute adds or takes away so by Nature we should change every Minute since Nature hath made nothing to stand at a stay but to alter as fast as Time runs wherefore it is Natural to be in one Mind one minute and in another in the next and yet Men think the Mind Immortal But the Changes of Nature are like the Sleights of a Juggler we see many several Shapes but still but one Matter Of Natural Wars IT seems to me a thing above Nature that Men are not alwaies in War one against the other and that some Estates live in peace somtimes forty or an hundred years nay some above a Thousand as the Venetians without Civil Warrs for the old saying is So many Men so many Minds yet they meet all in Ambitious Desires and naturaly Self-love seeks and strives for Preheminency Command which all cannot have yet submit and obey which is strange But say some it is Love that Makes Unites and Keeps a Common-wealth in Peace no saies another it is Fear and another may say as Tichobrahe the Dane said of the Sun and Earth For Ptolomy saith that the Sun moveth and the Earth stands still Copernicus said that the Earth moved and the Sun stood still Tichobrahe took up the third Opinion to which could be added no more but that they both moved So one may say it is both Love and Fear since those two Passions most commonly accompany one another But say they all things naturally incline to Peace and Unity and that War is unnatural because it tends to Destruction but some may say again that we find Nature hath made nothing but is subject to Preying Ravening and Devouring one thing of another and that most things live upon the spoil of another by the Humours Constitutions and Desires she hath given them for in many things their Lives cannot subsist or be nourished but by the Death of other Creatures So that Men are not only subject to War upon one another but all Creatures that Nature hath made as also the Elements for what is Thunder but a War betwixt Heat and Cold for Nature meeting in Contrarieties must needs Dispute when they meet and are never quieted untill one part get the upper hand and though Numbers make aConsort yet they must have a Sympathy one to another Thus all things are subject to War yet the Causes are different that provoke them to it But Nature would have wanted work if she had made all things to continue and nothing to decay for Death is as natural as Life but it seems to be Natures great Art to make all things subject to War and yet live in Peace as not to make an utter Destruction Of Darkness DArkness is more powerfull than Light for a little dark Cloud will ecclipse the great light of the Sun and there would be more Twilight if there were no Clouds for the Clouds are like a Screen that hides the Light Of the Air. THE Air is Water as well as the Sea So that Men Beasts and Birds are all but kinds of Fishes for we cannot live without Air which is rarified Water but it seems we are of a subtiller Sense than Fishes which makes us require a thinner Element Of Air. THE Air is as all other Animal Creatures are subject to Corruption Putrefaction and Distemper somtimes in a continual Feaver other times in an intermitting Feaver sometimes in a Hectick Feaver other times it hath shaking Agues Wind-Chollcks and oft times Rheumatick and Hydropical and as the Air is so it is apt to infect mens Bodies by reason that Air is so thin and subtil as it enters and intermingles into all things Of the Corruptions of the Air. THE Air is more corrupted in the Spring and the Autumn than in the Winter and Summer for in the Winter it is less corrupted by reason it is more united as being congealed by Cold neither hath the Sun that Force to draw more Vapours than it can digest besides for want of Heat the Pores of the Earth are shut where by less Vapours issue out and in Summer it hath a sufficient heat to concoct what it draws up or at least it contracts it so as to keep it from running into corruption and the Spring at the Suns return opens the Pores of the Earth suoking out Vapour there from which V pour is like the first milk of a Cow or the like Udder'd Creature when they have new cast forth their Birth which Milk is all corrupted with Blood and Matter by reason it hath been so long in the Udder so likewise the Vapour is corrupted when it is first drawn as it were by the returning Sun by reason it wanted Vent and Agitation to purify it and as it is ascending it mingles with those Creatures that live upon the Earth for the Pores of the Creatures that live upon the Earth also open by the springing heat from whence Vapours like wise do issue from their Bodies yet they live by the Air that encompasseth them as Fishes do in Water which if the Water be corrupted the Fishes dye caused by the Malignity they draw in for though they are not smotherd or choaked as in Frosty weather yet could
curable or no. Of Natural Faith THere may be such Sympathy in Nature that if we could believe undoubtedly our own Belief might bring any thing to pass For why may not Faith beget naturally what it requires as well as one Creature beget another But Nature is Wise for she hath mixed Mans Mind with so many Passions and Affections as his Belief cannot be so clear but that there lye alwaies Dregs and Doubts in the bottom of his Mind which if Nature had not ordered so Man might have transformed her Works to his Humour But certainly there is a Natural Sympathy in Curses to produce an Evil Effect The Predestination of Nature THere is a Predestination in Nature that whatsoever she gives Life to she gives Death to she hath also predestinated such Effects from such Causes Of Chymistry THE greatest Chymists are of a strong Opinion that they can enforce Nature as to make her go out of her Natural Pace and to do that by Art in a Furnace as the Elixar in half a Year that Nature cannot in a hundred or a thousand Years and that their Art can do as much as Nature in making her Originals another way than she hath made them as Paracelsus little Man which may be some Dregs gathered together in a Form and then perswaded himself it was like the Shape of a Man as Fancies will form and liken the Vapours that are gathered into Clouds to the Figures of several things Nay they will pretend to do more than ever we saw Nature to do as if they were the God of Nature and not the Work of Nature to return Life into that which is dead as to renew a Flower out of its own Ashes and make that Flower live fresh again which seems strange since we find nothing that Nature hath made that can be more powerfull or more cunning or curious than her self for though the Arts of Men and other Creatures are very fine and profitable yet they are nothing in comparison to Natures works when they are compared Besides it seems impossible to imitate Nature as to do as Nature doth because her Waies and her Originals are utterly unknown for Man can only guess at them or indeed but at some of them But the reason of raising such Imaginations in Man is because they find by practice that they can extract and divide one Quality from another though it may be in question whether they can do it purely or no but so as to deform that Nature hath formed But to compass and make as Nature doth as they imagin they can is such a Difficulty as I believe they have not the power to perform for to divide or substract is to undo and Nature hath given that Faculty to Man to do some things when he will but not in all as he may ruin and destroy that he cannot build or renew though he be an Instrument as all other things are to further Natures Works since she is pleased to work one thing out of another not making new Principles for every thing yet he cannot work as she worketh for though he can extract yet he cannot make for he may extract Fire out of a thing but he cannot make the principle Element of Fire so of Water and Earth no more can he make the Elizar than he can make the Sun Sea or Earth and so it seems as impossible to make a Man as to make a piece of Meat put into a Pot and setting it upon the Fire of what temper or which way he can he shall never turn it into Blood as it doth in the Stomack or make such Excrements as the Bowels cast forth And to make the Essence of a Flower return into the same Flower again seems more strange for first that Motion is ceased and gone that gave it that Form and where they will find that Motion or know what kind moves it or what moved it to that Form I doubt is beyond their skill Besides those Qualities or Substances are evapoured out that gave it that tast or smell or that made it such a thing and though they be never so Industrious to keep those Vapours in yet they are too subtil to be restrained and Insensible to be found again when once they are separated so as it is as hard to gather the dispersed Parts as to make the first Principles which none but the God of Nature can do for it is a hard thing out of the Ashes of a Billet to make a Billet again But Nature hath given such a Presumptuous Self-love to Mankind and filled him with that Credulity of Powerfull Art that he thinks not onely to learn Natures Waies but to know her Means and Abilities and become Lord of Nature as to rule her and bring her under his Subjection But in this Man seems rather to play than work to seek rather than to find for Nature hath infinite Varieties of Motions to form Matters with that Man knows not nor can guess at and such Materials and Ingredients as Mans gross Sense cannot find out insomuch that we scarce see the Shadow of Natures Works but live in Twilight and have not alwaies that but sometimes we are in Utter Darkness where the more we wander the apter we are to break our Heads THE EPISTLE THis Book I doubt will never gain an Applause especially amongst those Students who have spent their time with Antient Authorities who are become so restringent with their Doctrines as the strongest reason of Contradiction cannot move them nor reasonable Truths purge out the Erroneous Dregs And they do not onely make a Laughing Scorn or cast a Deriding Jest on Modern Opinions but they will fly from them as from the Plague without any Examination crying they are Defective out of an Obstinate Belief that none but the Antients were Masters of Knowledge and their Works the onely Guides of Truth which is as Ridiculous as to think that Nature cannot or will not make any thing equal to her former Works or to think Nature confined all Knowledge to some Particular Heads in Antient Times and none but those to trace her Waies or to think that the Curiosity of Nature is so easily found out that the Antients could not be mistaken But the Antients are divided amongst the Scholars or rather the Scholars are divided amongst the Antients where every several Author hath a several Party to fight in his Defence or to usurp an Absolute Power where there is so much Envy and Malicious Factions and Side-takings to maintain or to fling down several Opinions or so much Ignorance blindly to throw at all having no Understanding Eye to make Distinguishment or to see what they are against But I hope none of my Readers will be so blind as to break their Heads against the Candlestick when the Light is set therein and I wish it may burn so clearly and bright as to cast no dark Shadows against the Wall of Ignorance yet I must confess it is but a
prudently justly valiantly or wisely done but shall be thought in the present and published in the future that all was done by the counsel of the Favorite especially if Fortune changes her Countenance from Frowns to Smiles when he is in Favour But a Wise Prince makes his own Breast the Cabinet-chamber his own Thoughts his Privy Counsellers his own Judgement his Particular Favorite and his own Arm his Chief Commander But Good Fortune gives Fame an Applause and Bad Fortune makes Fame go upon Crutches The Inventory of Iudgements Common-wealth the Author cares not in what World it is established THis Commonwealth to be composed of Nobility Gentry Burgesses and Pezants in which are comprized Souldiery Merchantry Artificers Labourers Commanders Officers Masters Servants Magistrates Divines Lawyers c. This Commonwealth to be governed by one Head or Governour as a King for one Head is sufficient for one Body for several Heads breed several Opinions and several Opinions breed Disputations and Disputations Factions and Factions breed Wars and Wars bring Ruin and Desolation for it is more safe to be governed though by a Foolish Head than a Factious Heart Item That this Royal Ruler to swear to the People to be Carefull and Loving as well as the People swear Duty and Fidelity The Contracts betwixt the King and people should be these Item That the Militia be put in the Royal Hand for since Power lyes in the Militia the Militia ought to lye in the Kingly Power for without Power Authority and Justice are as Cyphers which signifie nothing For which the King shall contract by Promise and Oath never to give Honours but to the Meritorious Item That if there should be any Dispute betwixt the Royal Command and the Publick Subjection there should be two Men chosen the one for one side and the other for the other these to be approved of both for their Honesty Wisdome and Courage as neither to fear Power nor Censure to be free from Bribes Self-ends Passions and Partiality Experienced and Known Men in the Kingdome or at least as able as any therein to decide all Differences and conclude all Disputes and present all Grievances to the Royal Power and return his Will Pleasure and Desires to the People for Great Counsels do rather insnarl all Publick Business than rectifie Errours by reason of their Various Opinions and Humoursome Differences with their Covetous Byasses and Popular Ambitions Item That the Royal Ruler shall contract with the People never to give Honours either for Favour or sell them for Gain but to reward the Meritorious and grace the Virtuous which will stop the Mouth of Murmure temper the Spleen of Malice clear the Eyes of Spight and encourage Noble Endeavours Item All those that keep not up the Dignity of their House by the Ceremony of the Titles shall be dishonoured and degraded as base and unworthy thereof in neglecting the Mark of their own or their Ancestors Merits Item All those that speak against Honour or Titles or give them not the due respect shall never be created thereunto Item It shall be Death for any Herald at Arms to give Arms for Price or Favour but to those are worthy thereof as those that have purchased them by their Merits Item All those that speak against their Native Country or tell Defects or Weaknesses or rail or dishonour their Country-men shall be banished therefrom or thereout Item That the Royal Ruler shall have no particular Favorite they being for the most part Expensive Proud Scornfull and Mischievous making difference betwixt the King and People by fomenting Errours untill they make them seem Crimes and creating Jealousies by making doubts of the Peoples Fidelity and Favourites most commonly tread upon the Necks of the Nobility and ride upon the Backs of the Gentry and pick the Purse of the Commonalty justle Justice out by Bribery and many times unthrone Royalty through Envy to them which causeth a hatred to the Prince for perchance perceiving this Favorite neither to have Worth nor Merit onely a Flattering Tongue that inchants a Credulous Prince Therefore a Prince should have no Favorite but Justice no Privy Counseller but his own Breast his Intention never to be disclosed but when he puts it in Execution Item This Royal Ruler to have none of those they call their Cabinets which is a Room filled with all useless curiosities which seems Effeminate and is so Expensive bestowing infinite Sums almost to the impoverishing of a Kingdome only to fill a Room with little cut carved Statues and Models of Stones and Metals as also divers Toyes made of Amber Cornelion Agats Chrystals and divers sorts of Shels and the like which Room might be better imployed and to more use in placing Famous and Learned Authors Works as a Library which the whole Kingdome may draw Knowledge and Understanding from and the Money imployed to more famous Curiosities than Shels or the like As in stately Monuments which shews a Kingdome in a Flourishing Condition and gives it a Noble Grace and makes it a Wonder abroad and a subject of Discourse amongst Strangers inviting curious and inquisitive Travellers from all Nations to view the Structures thereof Besides It makes a Prince seem Effeminate which is a disgrace to the Commonwealth and Forein Nations will despise it when they see or hear that the Prince is so mean a Spirit as to take delight in Toyes spending their time in looking on Shels Beads and Babies For those of Heroick Spirits take Delight to see their Souldiers in Arms to view their Fortifications Forts and Frontiers to behold their Stately Architecture Navigable Rivers their Safe Havens Sailing Ships with their Rich Fraights Likewise They delight in Crowns Scepters and Thrones by which they hold Power and keep up Authority making Obedience Fear and Subjection making it their Pastime to hear Sutes to decide Causes to give Justice And their Sports like the old Olympick Games After these Contracts between the Sovereign and the People there follow the Laws and Decrees in the Commonwealth As first concerning the Clergy Item That those that exercise the Divine Function be not preferred for Learning but for Life as being honest in their Parish or Diocese not exacting more Tythes than their due also Exemplary in their Actions Sober in their Behaviour Item That no Divine shall study Controversy or at least not to dispute but to preach according to the Doctrine that is allowed to be believed and followed for Learned Disputes and Controversies are apt to smother a Lively Faith and quench out a Flaming Zeal Item That no Sermons shall be preached by reason they do more harm than good troubling the Conscience of the Fearfull the Heads of the Ignorant and the Ears of the Wise But there shall be Prayers said in every Parish-Church once a Day and the Moral Laws the Divine Laws and the National Laws with their threatning punishments and promising rewards shall be read and repeated once a Week Item That