second Dunkirk was taken and spoyled by the English Hugh Spencer Bishop of Norwich being General All Duels are unlawful in that they as it were commit the quarrel to the â—ot for the use of which there is no warrant since the abrogating of the old Law but it is most especially unlawful in the person of a King who being a publike person hath no power therefore to dispose of himself in respect that his preservation or fall the safety or wrack of the whole Common-wealth is necessarily coupled as the body to the head He that enters a Duel loses as much the opinion of Wisdom as he gains the opinion of Daring Great is the force of Duty once conceived even to the most unworthy The Eye and the Ear are the minds Receivers and the Tongue and the Hand the Minds Expenditors Earthly things proffer themselves with importunity Heavenly things must with importunity be sued for The Earth is our Mother that brought us forth our Stage that bears us and our Grave wherein we are intomb'd So she gives us our Original our Harbour and our Sepulchre Gods Elect have three Sutes of Appares viz. Black Mourning Red Persecution White Glorious Natural respects are the most dangerous corrupters of all Elections What hope can there be of worthy Superiors in any free people where nearness of blood carries it from fitness of Disposition In the year 885. Adrian the third being Pope the Emperors of Germany who formerly elected to the Popedom lost their Prerogative In the year 998. in Pope Gregory the fifth's time it was agreed that the Emperors of Germany should be elected by three Bishops viz. Mentz Tryers and Cullein and by three Princes viz. The County Palatine of the Rhine the Duke of Saxony and the Marquess of Brandenburgh and in case the said six cannot agree then the King of Bohemia to have an umpiering Voice The reason why we pray Eastward is because Paradise was there planted from whence we were cast out which is the reason also that we build our Churches East and West yet the Jews had their Priests that in their Sacrifices alwayes turned their faces towards the West Education is another Nature altering the Mind and Wit The beginning midst and end of man's life lyeth onely in vertuous and honest Education which is the very means that is opperative and powerful for the attaining of Vertue and true Happiness There is none in the World so wickedly inclined but a religious Instruction and Education may fashion a-new and reform them nor any so well disposed the Reins being let loose whom the continual fellowship and familiarity and the examples of dissolute men may not corrupt and deform No Element but through mixture hath seperated from its first simplicity When the Ancients contended against each other to perswade people to this or that action Eloquence had then her original Fame with Posterity is the fairest reward of Eloquence Commonly the enmities of nearest Kinsfolks if once they fall out are most despiteful and deadly The difference between Enmity and Emulation is thus Enmity hunteth after destruction and onely rejoiceth in that which bringeth our Adversary to â—uine and utter destruction but Emulation which is a spur to Vertue contendeth only by well-deserving to gain the advantage of another mans Fame that useth the same means to attain the like ends and is alwayes mixed with love in regard of the affinity of their affections and the sympathy of their desires not suffering the overthrow of their Competitor but succouring him in time of danger and calamity that he may still continue to shew the greatness of his worth by the opposition of inferior actions which are as a lesser scantling of desert to measure the estimation of the other humor The causes of the Roman Empire were the Domestick Wars the immoderate greatness of the Princes of the Empire and the Dignity of the Emperor being Elective and not Hereditary It is the dissolution of an Empire if the Revenues be diminished by which it is maintained and if Customs be taken away the abolishing of Tribute wil be demanded In the second year of Henry the 4th the Emperor of Constantinople came into England to request aid against the Turk In the fifth year of Henry the eighth the Emperor of Germany Maximilian served under the Kings Banner and did take pay Boniface the third was the first that was called Pope and he obtained of Phocas the Emperor That the Roman Seat should be called the Head of all Churches At that time three remarkable things happened The decay of the Roman Empire The rising of the Popedom and The springing up of Mahometism Of the ruine of the Empire these two Beasts arose which have much harmed the Church and as the Empire hath decreased these have encreased All Philosophy teacheth us That man desires an end and that there is some end which every man tends to beyond which he cannot think or hope In the 7th year of Henry the fifth by a General Councel holden at Constance it was decreed That England should have the Title of the English Nation and to be taken and reputed one of the five Nations that obeyed the Roman See Common Enemies must first be opposed Domestick more at leisure That which open Enemies dare not attempt they work by false Brethren and are so much the more dangerous as they are more intire A man ought to be jealous of whatsoever an Enemy either by speech or action shall cast upon him however colourable the reasons may be which are alledged to induce him thereunto for it is improbable that an Enemy whose chiefest care is to weaken the Adversary and to bring him to ruine should advise him to any thing that should concern his good unless the profit which he himself shall thereby gather do far exceed that which the contrary part may expect When a man's enemy offereth him that which hath appearance of good let him refuse it God hath created nothing in this World either man or Beast without an Enemy to hold it in fear and humility He that would undertake great Enterprises had of Wisdom and Courage Wisdom to contrive and Courage to execute Wisdom to guide his Courage and Courage to second his Wisdom both which if they meet with a good cause it cannot but succeed Princes that desire to continue friendship ought not to meet and have interviews to avoid suspition but to hold correspondency by wise Councellors Envy hath this good in it that it afflicteth those extreamly that use it Envy proceeds from a base mind Glory follows good deserts Envy follows Glory The envious man feeds upon others evils and hath no other Disease but his Neighbours welfare It is the nature of man and a deeply rooted quality in us streightly to look into the prosperity of others with an envious eye and to require a moderation of Fortune no where so much as in those we have seen in equal degree with our selves It is a thing
incident and almost certain to all mens natures to behold with sore eyes the new grown felicity of others and to exact a sharp account of their Fortunes especially whom they have seen inferior to or equal with themselves Envy is curious and out of the best person or act will raise something to caval at It is a hard thing for a man willingly and gladly to see his Equals lifted over his head Nothing can more try a mans Grace then question of Emulation That man hath true light that can be content to be a Candle before the Lanthorn of others Any Superiority is a mark of Envy Nature in every man is both envious and disdainful and never loves to honor another but where it may be an honor to it self Envy though it take advantages of our weaknesses yet is ever raised upon some grounds of happiness in them whom it emulateth it is ever an ill effect of a good cause The malignity of Envy is thus well answered When it is made the evil Effect of a good Cause Envy when it is once conceived in a malicious heart is like fire in Billets of Juniper which is said to continue more years then one Envy is nothing else but sorrow for other mens good be it present past or to come and joy at other mens harms opposite to mercy which grieves at other mens mischances and mis-affects the body in another kind Every other sin hath some pleasure annexed to it or will admit of an excuse Envy alone wants both Other sins last but a while the gut may be satisfied anger remits hatred hath anend but envy never ceaseth That man is wife and well advised that incurreth the envy of men for matters of greatest weight and importance Envy is nothing else but grief for another man's good and joy for his ill and hath his root from malice Envy like poyson works not where it finds no hurt He whose Fortune or Valour hath made him higher then others let him not repose himself to eyes if he will shun hands otherwise he causeth envy in those who ought to be his Equals because he hath outstript them fear in him who should be his Superior because he equals him Equality is the producer of Envy The mixture of greater and less is good but that of Equals stark naught The continuance of Error doth ingraft depraved Opinions in the hearts of men Error is more tollerable in a Poet then in a Historographer The Errors of one man is a slippery place to cause others to fall Error is commonly join'd with Cruelty If Errors of practise should be stood upon there could be no true Church upon Earth Every Error doth not pollute all Truths No Truth can sanctifie all Errors Errors of judgement are more dangerous then Errors of practise but none so deadly as their's that were once in the Truth Errors are never the elder for their patching Corruption can do the same that age would do We may make age as well as suffer it The best may err but not persist in it When good Natures have offended they are never quiet till they have hastened a satisfaction There be two main defects of Wit Error and Ignorance to which all others are reduced By ignorance we know not things necessary by Error we know them falsly Ignorance is a privation Error is a positive act from Ignorance comes Vice from Error Heresie No man now a-days sheweth an Error and leaveth it man-kind is not so wise The Errors of sloathfulness are best discerned when all diligence is bootless They neglect their own Wisdom who without any judgement approve the invention of those that fore-went them and suffer themselves after the manner of brute Beasts to be led by them It oft times hapneth that an Error being once rashly committed through despair of remission admitteth no true penitence but either draweth on more grievous crimes Scelere scillus luendum est or maintaineth his Error by wilful obstinacy It is an old Rule among Soldiers that a great negligent Error committed by an Enemy is to be suspected as a pretence to Treachery There is no Error but hath some appearance of resembling Truth which when men find out they then publish to the World matter of contention and jangling not doubting but in the variable deformities of mens minds to find out some Protectors or Spectators the better by their help to nurse and cherrish such Libels as their own inventions have begot Pride and Luxury are the attendants of prosperous Estates The smallest Estates are to be governed with the greatest skill as small Barks in the midst of the wide Ocean There is no Estate so pure or ignoble as can keep a man from Fame An Estate gotten by lend means cannot be retained at first with sudden modesty and ancient gravity The worst Estate out of Hell hath either some comfort or at least some mittigation The best Estate requires careful menaging at home To the overthrow of an Estate oftentimes the inconveniences concur unthankful Friends decayed Friends bad Neighbors negligent Servants Casualties Taxes Mults Losses of Stock Enmities Emulations frequent Mutations Losses Surety-ship Sickness Death of Friends and that which is the worst of all Improvidence ill Husbandry Disorder and Confusion by which means we are drenched on sudden in our Estates and unawares precipitated insensibly into an inextrecable Labyrinth of Cares Woes Wants Grief Discontent and Meiancholly Essence is derived ab ipso esse to have a being All things have their value from our own estimationâ— The most precious things that are lose of their worth if they be not suted with our correspondent Natures whose sympathy addeth much more excellence then is discerned when they approve by themselves without such assistance as in the Diamond the Foyle and Gold It is never safe to measure Events by the power of the Instrument nor in the Causes of God to measure others by our selves In matters of judgement to be guided onely by the Event is the way to Error so Falshood may be Truth We commonly measure and censure all actions by the Event One is crowned for that which another man is tormented for as Caesar and Gracchus In future Events men look for help from Time and Fortune It oftentimes happens that a prosperous Event makes foolish Counsel seem wiser then it was The Evil that is ever in motion is not fearful That which both Time and Eternity finds standing where it was is worthy of terror It is a rare Evil that hath not something in it to sweeten it either in sence or in hope Evils and Sicknesses come on Horseback and go away on foot The best things ill used become evil and the worst things used well prove good Good and Evil in the Government of men hath this difference betweeen themselves That Good though it be brought forth by time and though by our studies and industries it be maintained corrupteth notwithstanding by degrees of it self and of it self also extinguisheth
neer bordered upon vice and leaning to it but by the reins of prudence may be restrained and kept in the right way so there is no nature so neer a-kin to vertue but may be corrupted by ill usage Therefore it is good to contemplate the affections of men as they are attended with good or ill and search how far they may be hurtful or valuable least we immoderately praise some and do unjustly undervalue others All living creatures by a secret instigation affect to be most doing of that thing in which they are best able Angels Angels when they appear are conceived to cloath themselves with the Elements Of all Creations that are so near us as Angels be God hath shut up the knowledge of them most from us in Scripture and no man yet hath given a satisfying reason for it Some hold that they be one of the three Invisibles to wit God Angels and the Soul of man all which the eye hath never seen their simple existence Angels are simple and abstract Intelligences and Substances altogether without bodies Antiquity Any man whatsoever may erre in matters of Antiquity The study of Antiquity is a fair knowledge which is most precious for the adoring of humane life and strong at least in pleading for humane oftentation The Order of Dignity is to be respected before the Order of Antiquity Apparel Apparel was first instituted by God for three causes first to hide our nakedness and shameful parts Next to make us more comely And lastly to preserve us from the injuries of heat and cold Apprehension Apprehension gives life to crosses The efficacy of Gods marvellous works is not in the acts themselves but in our apprehension Some are overcome with those motives which others have contemned for weak Appetite Our Appetite must be curbed our passions moderated and so estranged from the World that in the loss of Parents or Children Nature may not forget Grace Whosoever slackens the reins of his sensual appetite will soon grow unfit for the calling of God The concubisciple and irascible appetite are as the two twists of a Rope mutually mixt one with another both twining about the heart both good if they be moderate both pernicious if they be exorbitant If the Appetite will not obey let the moving faculty over-rule her and let her resist and compel her to do otherwise Forms God hath not appointed to every time and place those Forms which are simply best in themselves but those that are best to them to whom they are appointed which we may neither alter till he begin nor recal when he hath altered Apostacy An Apostate is an opposer of the Faith he once professed and is worse then he that opposeth that which he never profest Arts. The Fame of all eminent Arts is stained by the multitude of Artificers and the unskilfulness of them most of them being unable to do what they promise and seeking their commendation onely in the vain name of such an Art Art Military is despised in time of rest and quiet and Peace esteemeth alike of the Coward and the Couragious Practise brings or breeds Art and Art obtaineth Grace Beauty is more beholding to Art then Nature and stronger provocations proceed from outward Ornaments then such as Nature hath provided Art can never attain to Natures perfection imitate it never so near though our esteem prefers it and seeing it gets a little by emulation attribute much more unto it The practise of every Art is referred to the use or profit and thereby judged Art will be discovered if it be often used when that would be made seen which is not it must be curiously done if any good be expected Three things are sought in every Artist that is to say Nature Skill and Practise his Nature to be judged of by his Wits his Skill by his Knowledge and his practise by Use Edward the third brought Artisicers for mahing Cloth from Gaunt The strength of a battel consisteth in the Artillery and Shot Aristoeracy Aristocracy is a form of a Common-Weal wherein the less part of the Citizens with Soveraign Power command over all the rest Unthankful attempts are alwayes rewarded with grief and disgrace Harmless counsels are good for the innocent but in open and manifest villanies there is no hopes of safety but in audacious attempts Foul attempts are begun with danger and sometimes accomplished with reward Changes are the aptest times for greatest attempts delayes then are dangerous and soft quiet dealing draweth more evil then rashly hazarding All but Athiests however they let themselves loose yet in some things find themselves restrained and shew to others that they have a conscience Every thing hath a quantity that it cannot exceed and hath a power to attain to it from the generative causes whereof the thing it self is produced by which power if it be not hindered it dilateth it self gradually in time till it come to the fulness where it either resteth or declineth again as it grew up the manner of Augmentation proceedeth from the qualities that Nature hath infused into every thing and neither from matter or form Evil were as good not seen as not avoided To fore-know and not to avoid evil is but an aggravation of judgement Equal Authority where there is the self same power is commonly pernicious to all actions it being impossible to chuse two minds of so equal a temper that they shall not have some motions of dissenting It is the hard condition of Authority that when the multitude fare will they plaud themselves when ill they repine against their Governors Authority cannot fail of opposition though it be never so mildly swayed Soveraignty abused is a great spur to outrage The conceit of Authority in great Persons many times lies in the way of their own safety whiles it will not let them stoope to the ordinary course of nature There is no passion that doth eclipse the light of reason or sooner corrupt the sincerity of a good judgement then that of anger neither is there any motion that pleaseth it self in its own actions or followeth them with greater heat in the execution and if the truth chance to shew it self and convince a false pretended cause as the author of that passion it often times redoubleth the rage even against truth and innocencie The punishment of banishing offenders was first broght into this Island by Edward the Confessor Liberal modesty is decent but clounish bashfulness is disgraceful That no man should be too much discouraged for the baseness of his propagation even the base son of man may be lawfully begotten of God King Hnery the second was supposed to be begotten of Maud the Emâ—irsse some time before by â—tephen of Bloys before shee was married to Geffery Plantagenek Duke of Anjoy In the fifth year of Henry the eight was a battel fought neer Floddon-Feild between James the fifth King of Scoâ—s and the Kings Leivtenant of the North the Earle of Surrey in which the King