went naked In the Dayes of Old One single Book of Laws and Ordinances was enough for the best Order'd Governments in the world But the Iustice of our Age is trickt up with Bills Parchments Writs and Labels and furnish't with Millions of Codes Digests Pandects Pleadings and Reports And what 's their use but to make wrangling a Science and to Embroil us in seditions Suits and Endless Trouble and Confusion We have had more books publish't this last Twenty years than in a Thousand before and there hardly passes a Term without a New Author in four or five Volumes at least under the Titles of Glosses Commentaries Cases Iudgments c. And the great strife is who writes Most not Best so that the whole Bulk is but a Body without a Soul and fitter for a Church-yard than a Study To say the Truth These Lawyers and Sollicitors are but so many Smoak-Merchants Sellers of Wind and Troublers of the Publick Peace If there were no Atturneys there would be no Suits if no Suits No Cheats No Serjeants No Catchpoles No Prisons If no Prisons no Iudges No Iudges No Passion No Passion No Bribery or Subornation See now what a Train of Mischiefs one wretched Pettyfogger draws after him If you go to him for Counsel he hears your Story Reads your Case and tells you very gravely Sir This is a Nice point and would be well handled Wee 'l see what the Law says And then he runs ye over with his Eye and Finger a matter of a Hundred Volums grumbling all the while like a Cat that Claws in her Play 'twixt jest and Earnest At last down comes the Book he shews ye the Law bids ye leave your Papers and hee 'l study the Question But your Cause is very good sayes he by what I see already and if you 'l come again in the Evening or to morrow morning I 'le tell ye more But pardon me Sir now I think on 't I am so full of Business at present It cannot be till Munday Next and then I 'm for ye When ye are to part and that you come to the Greasing of his Fift The best Thing in the World both for the Wit and Memory Good Lord Sir says he what do ye Mean I beseech you Sir Nay pray'e Sir and if he spyes you drawing back the Paw opens seizes the Guinneys and Good morrow Country man sayst thou me so quoth the good Fellow in the Glas stop me up close again as thou lov'st me then for the very Air of these Rascals will poyson me if ever I put my Head out of this Bottle till the whole Race of them be extinct In the mean time take this for a Rule He that would thrive by Law must fee his Enemies Counsel as well as his own But now ye talk of great Cheats what News of the Venetians Is Venice yet in the World or no In the World do ye say Yes marry Is 't said I and stands just where it did Why then quoth He I prethee give it to the Devil from me as a Token of my Love for 't is a Present equal to the severest Revenge Nothing can ever destroy that Republick but Conscience and then you 'l say 't is like to be Long-liv'd for if every man had his own it would not be left worth a Groat To speak freely 't is an od kind of Common-wealth 'T is the very Arsegut the Drain and Sink of Monarchies both in War and Peace It helps the Turk to Vex the Christians and the Christians to Gall the Turk and maintains it self to torment Both. The Inhabitants are neither Mores nor Christians as appears by a Venetian Captain in a Combat against a Christian Enemy Stand to 't my Masters says he Ye were Venetians before ye were Christians Enough enough of This cry'd the Necromancer and tell me how stand the people affected what Malecontents and Mutiners Mutiny said I is so Universal a Disease that every Kingdom is in Effect but a Great Hospital or rather a Bedlam for all men are mad to entertain the Disaffected There 's no stirring for me then quoth the Necromancer but pray'e commend me however to those busy Fools and tell them that carry what Face they will there 's Vanity and Ambition in the Pad Kings and Princes have in â—heir Nature much of Quick silver They are in perpetual Agitation and without any Repose Press them too hard that is to say beyond the Bounds of Duty and Reason and they are lost Ye may observe that your Guilders and great Dealers in Quick-silver are generally troubled with the Palsy and so should all Subjects Tremble that have to do with Majesty and better to do it at first out of Respect then afterward upon Force and Necessity But before I fall to pieces again as you saw me e'en now for better so than worse I beseech ye One word more and it shall be my Last Who 's King of Spain now You know said I that Phillip the 3d. is Dead Right quoth he A Prince of Incomparable Piety and Vertue or my stars deceive me After him said I came Philip the 4th If it be so quoth he Break break my Bottle immediately and help me out for I am resolv'd to try my Fortune in the world once again under the Reign of that Glorious Prince And with that word he dash't the Glass to pieces against a Rock crept out of his Case and away he ran I had a good mind to have kept him Company but as I was just about to start Let him go let him go cry'd one of the Dead and laid hold of my Arm He has Devillish Heeles and you 'l never overtake him So I staid and what should I see next but a wondrous Old Man whose Name might have been Bucephalus by his Head and the Hair on his Face might very well have stuff'd a Couple of Cushions take him together and you 'l find his Picture in the Map among the Savages I need not tell ye that I stared upon him sufficiently and he taking notice of it came to me and told me Friend says he My Spirit tells me that you are now in Pain to know who I am Understand that my Name is Nostradamus Are you the Author then quoth I of that Gallimaufry of Prophecyes that 's publish't in your Name Gallimaufry say'st thou Impudent and Barbarous Rascal that thou art to despise Misteries that are above thy Reach and to Revile the Secretary of the Stars and the Interpreter of the Destinyes Who is so Brutal as to doubt the Meaning of these Lines From second Causes This I gather Nought shall befal us Good or Ill Either upon the Land or Water But what the Great Disposer will Reprobated and besotted Villains that ye are what greater blessing could betide the world then the Accomplishment of this Prophecy would it not Establish Justice and Holyness and suppress all the vile suggestions and motions of the Devil Men would not then any longer set
She had a Crutch in one hand which serv'd her for a Supporter and a Rosary in t'other of such a length that as she stood stooping over it a man would have thought she had been fishing for Deaths Heads When I had done gaping upon This Epitome of past-ages Hola Grannum quoth I good lustily in her Ear taking for granted that she was deaf what 's your Pleasure with me with that she gave a Grunt and being much in wrath to be called Grannum clapt a fair pair of Spectacles upon her Nose and pinking through them I am quoth she neither Deaf nor Grannum but may be called by my Name as well as my Neighbours giving to understand that Women will take it ill to be called Old even in their very Graves As she spake she came still neerer me with her Eyes dropping and the smell about her perfectly of a Dead Body I beg'd her Pardon for what was past and for the future her Name that I might be sure to keep my self within the Bounds of Respect I am call'd sayes she Doüegna or Madam the Gouvernante How 's that quoth I in a great Amazement Have ye any of those Cattle in this Country Let the Inhabitants pray heartily for Peace then and all little enough to keep them quiet But to see my mistake now I thought the Women had dyed when they came to be Gouvernantes and that for the punishment of a wicked World the Gouvernantes had been Immortal But I am now better inform'd and very glad truly to meet with a Person I have heard so much talk of For with us Who but Madam the Gouvernante at every turn Do ye see that Mumping Hag cryes One Come here ye Damn'd Iade cryes Another That Old Bawd sayes a Third has forgotten I warrant ye that ever she was a Whore and now see if we do not remember ye You do so and I 'm in your debt for your Remembrance The Great Devil be your Pay-masters ye Son of a Whore you Are there no more Gouvernantes than my self Sure there are and ye may have your Choice without Affronting me Well Well said I have a little Patience and at my Return I 'l try if I can put things in better Order But in the mean time what business have you here her Reverence upon this was a little Qualified and told me that she had now been eight hundred years in Hell upon a Design to erect an Order of the Gouvernantes but the right Worshipful the Devil-Commissioners are not as yet come to any Reâ—olution upon the Point For say they if your Gouvernantes should come once to settle here there would need no other Tormentors and we should be but so many Iacks out of Office And besides we should be perpetually at Daggers drawing about the Brands and Candles-Ends which they would still be filching and laying out of the way and for us to have our Fewel to seek would be very Inconvenient I have been in Purgatory too she said uâ—on the same Project but there so soon as ever they set eye on me all the Souls cry'd out Unanimously Libera Nos c. As for Heaven That 's no place for Quarrels Slanders Disquiets Heart-burnings and consequently None for Me. The Dea◠〈◊〉 none of my Friends neither 〈…〉 grumble and bid me let 〈…〉 as they do me and beg 〈…〉 world again if I please and there they tell me I may play the Gouvernante in saecula saeculorum But truly I had rather be here at my Ease than spend my Life crumpling and brooding over a Carpet at a bed-side like a thing of Clouts to secure the Poultry of the Family from strange Cocks which would now and then have a Brush with a Virgin Pullet but for the Care of the Gouvernantes And yet 't is she good woman beares all the blame in Case of any Miscarriage The Gouvernante was presently of the Plot she had a Feeling in the Cause a Finger in the Pye And 't is she in fine that must answer for all Let but a Sock and old Handkercher the Greasy Lining of a Masque or any such Frippery piece of business be missing Ask the Gouvernante for This or for That And in short they take us certainly for so many Storks and Ducks to gather up 〈◊〉 the filth about the house The 〈…〉 look upon us as Spyes and 〈…〉 Cousin forsooth and ' tother 's 〈…〉 not come to the house for 〈…〉 â—ouvernante And indeed I have made many of them Cross themselves that took me for a Ghost Our Masters they curse us too for Embroyling the Family So that I have rather Chosen to take up here betwixt the Dead and the Living than to return again to my Charge of a Doüegna the very sound of the Name being more Terrible than a Gibbet As appears by one that was lately Travailing from Madrid to Vailladolid and asking where he might lodge that night Answer was made at a small Village call'd Doüegnas But is there no other place quoth he within some reasonable Distance either short or beyond it They told him no unless it were at a Gallows That shall be my Quarter then quoth he for a thousand Gibbets are not so bad to me as one Doüegnas Now ye see how we are abus'd quoth the Gouvernante I hope you 'l do us some Right when it lyes in your Power She would have talk't me to Death if I had not given her the slip upon the removing of her Spectacles but I could not scape so neither for looking about me for a Guide to carry me home again I was arrested by one of the Dead a good proper Fellow only he had a pair of Rams-horns on his head and I was about to salute him for Aries in the Zodiac but when I saw him plant himself just before me with his best Leg forward stretching out his Arms Clutching his Fists and looking as Soure as if He would have Eaten me without Mustard Doubtless said I the Devil is Dead and This is He. No No cry'd a by-stander This is a man Why then sayd I he 's Drunk I perceive and Quarrelsome in his Ale for here 's no body has touched him With that as he was just ready to fall on I stood to my Guard and we were arm'd at all points alike only he had the Ods of the Head-piece Now Sirrah says he have at ye slave that you are to make a Trade of Defaming Persons of Honour By the Death that Commands here I 'l ha' my Revenge and turn your skin over your Ears This Insolent Language stir'd my Choler I confess and so I call'd to him Come come on Sirrah A little neerer yet and if ye have a mind to be twice kill'd I 'l do your business who the Devil brought this Cornuto hither to trouble me The word was no sooner out but we were immediately at it Tooth and Nail and if his Horns had not been flatted to his head I might have had the worst on 't
the poor Disconsolate upon a Couch with her Condoling Friends about her It was as Dark as Pitch and so much the Better for the Parts they had to play for there was no discovering of the Horrid Faces and Strains they made to fetch up their Artificial Tears and Lamentations Madam says one Tears are but thrown away and really the Grief to see your Ladyship in this Condition has made me as lost a woman to all thought of Comfort as your self I beseech you Madam chear up â—ryes another with almost as many Sighs as words your Husband 's e'en happy that he is out of this miserable world He was a Good man and now He finds the sweet on 't Patience Patience Dear Madam cryes a Third 'T is the will of Heaven and there 's no Contending Do'st talk of Patience says she and no Contending Wretâ—hed Creature that I am to out-live that Dear man Oh that Dear Husband of Mine Oh that I should ever live to see this Day And then she fell to blubbering Sobbing and Raving a thousand times worse then before Alas Alas who will trouble himself with a poor Widdow I have never a friend left to look after me what shall become of me At this pause came in the Chorus with their Nose-Instruments and there was such Blowing Snobbing Sniveling and throwing Snot about that there was no enduring the House And all this you must know serv'd them to a double purpose that is to say for Physick and for Complement for it past for the Condoling Office and purg'd their Heads of ill Humours all under one I could not chuse but compassionate the poor Widdow a Creature forsaken of all the world and I told my Guide as much and that a Charity as I thought would be well bestow'd upon her The Holy Writ calls them Mutes according to the Import of the Hebrew in regard that they have no body to speak for them And if at any time they take heart to speak for themselves They had e'en as good hold their tongues for no body minds them Is there any thing more frequently given in Charge throughout the whole Bible then to Protect the Fatherless and Defend the Cause of the Widdow as the highest and most Necessary point of Christian Charity in regard that they have neither Power nor Right to defend themselves Does not Iob in the Depth of his Misery and Disgraces make Choice to clear himself toward the Widdow upon his Expostulations with the Almighty If I have caus'd the Eyes of the Widdow to fail or consum'd the Eyes of the Widdow after the Hebrew so that it seems to me beside the general Duty of Charity We are also bound by the Laws of Honour and Generosity to assist them for the poor Souls are fain to plead with their Eyes and Beg with their Eyes for want of Either Hands or Tongues to help themselves Indeed you must pardon me My good Father said I if I cannot hold any longer from bearing a part in this Mournful Consort upon this sad Occasion And is This quoth the old man the fruit of your boasted Divinity to sink into Weakness and Tears when you have the greatest Need of your Resolution and Prudence Have but a little Patience and I 'l unfold you this Mystery though let me tell ye 'T is one of the hardest things in Nature to make any man as wise as he should be that conceits himself wise enough already If this Accident of the Widdow had not happen'd we had had none of the fine things that have been â—tarted upon 't for 't is Occasion that awakens both our Virtue and Philosophy And 't is not enough to know the Mine where the Treasure lyes unless a man has the skill of Drawing it out and making the best of what he has in his Possession What are you the better for all the Advantages of Wit and Learning without the faculty of reducing what you know into apt and proper Applications Observe me now and I will shew you that this Widdow that looks as if she had nothing in her Mouth but The Service for the Dead and only Hallelujahs in her Soul that This Mortify'd â—iece of Formality has green Thoughts unâ—â—r her black-Vail and Imaginationsâ—bout â—bout her in despight of her Calamity â—nd Misfortune The Chamber you see 〈◊〉 dark and their faces are muffled up in â—heir Funeral Dresses And what of all This when the whole Course of their mourning is but a Thorough-Cheat Their Weeping signifies Nothing more then Crying at so much an hour for their Tears are Hackney'd out and when they have wept out their stage they take up and are quiet If you would relieve them leave them to Themselves and as soon as your Back is turn'd you shall have them Singing and Dancing and as merry as Greeks for take away the Spectators their Hypocrisy is at an End and the play is done And now the Confidents Game begins Come Come Madam 'faith we must be Merry cryes one we are to live by the Living and not by the Dead For a Bonny Young Widdow as you are to lye whimpering away your Opportunities and lose so many brave Matches There 's You know who I dare swear has a Months Mind to you By my Troth I would you were in Bed together and I 'd be hang'd if you did not find one warm Bed-fellow worth twenty Cold ones Really Madam cryes a second she gives you good Counsel and if I were in your Place I 'd follow it and make use of my Time 'T is but One Lost and Ten found Pray'e tell me Madam If I may be so bold what 's your Opinion of that Cavalier that was here Yesterday Certainly He has a great Deal of Wit and methinks he 's a very handsome proper Gentleman Well! If that man has not a strange Passion for you I 'l never believe my Eyes again for his sake and in good faith if all parties were agreed I would you were e'en well in his Arms the night before to morrow Were it not a burning shame to let such a Beauty lye fallow This sets the Widdow a Pinking and Simpering like a Frumety-Kettle at length she makes up the pretty little Mouth and sayes 't is somewhat of the soonest to talk of those affairs but let it be as Heaven pleases However Madam I am much beholden to you for your Friendly Advice You have here the very bottom of her Sorrow she has taken a second Husband into her Heart before her first was in his â—rave I should have told you that 〈◊〉 right Widdow Eats and Drinks â—ore the first day of her Widdow-hood â—â—en in any other of her whole life for â—here appears not a Visitant but preâ—ently out comes the Groning Cake a â—old bak'd meat or some Restorative â—orsel or Other to comfort the Afflicted â—nd the Cordial Bottles must not be forgotten neither for Sorrow's Dry. So â—o't they fall and at every Bit or Gulp â—he Lady Relict fetches
ye up a heavy Sigh pretends to chew false and makes â—rotestation that for her part she can â—aste nothing she has quite lost her Digestion and has such an oppression â—n her stomach that she dares not eat â—ny more for fear of over-charging Nature And in truth says she how â—an it be otherwise since Unhappy â—reature that I am He is gone that gave the Relish to all my Enjoyments But there is no Recalling him from the Grave and so no remedy but Patience By this time you see quoth the Old Man whether your Exclamations were â—easonable or no. The wâ—rds were hâ—rdly out of his Mouth when hearing an uproar amonâ— the Rabble in the Street we look't ouâ— to see what was the matter And therâ— we saw a Catchpole without either Hatâ— or Band out of Breath and his face alâ— bloody crying out Help Help in thâ— King's name stop Thief stop Thief and all the while running as hard as he could drive after a Thief that made away from him as if the Devil had been at his Breech After him camâ— an Atturney all dirty a world of papers in his hand an Inkhorn at his Girdle and a Crowd of Nasty people about him and down He sat himself just before us to write somewhat upon his Knee Bless me thought I how a Cause prospers in the Hand of one of these fellows for he had fill'd his Paper in a Trice These Catchpoles said I had need to be well paid for the Hazards they run to secure us in our Lives and Fortunes and indeed they deserve it Look how the poor Wretch is Torn Bruis'd and Batter'd and all this for the Good and Benefit of the Publick Soft and fair quoth the old man I think thou wouldst never leave Talking if I did not stop thy Mouth sometime You must know that He that made the Escape and the Catchpole are a Couple of Ancient Friends and Pot-Companions Now the Catchpole quarrels the Thief for not giving him a snip in the last Booty and the Thief after a great struggle and a good lusty Rubber at Cuffs has made a shift to save himself You 'l say the Rogue had need of Good heels to outrun this Gallows-Beagle for there 's hardly any Beast will outstrip a Bayliff that runs upon the View of a Quarry So that there 's not the least thought of a publick Good in the Catchpoles Action but meerly a prosecution of his own Profit and a spight to see himself Chous'd Now if the Catchpole I confess without any Private Interest had made this Attempt upon the Thief being his Friend to bring him to Iustice It had been well And yet take this along with you It is as Natural to let slip a Sergeant at a Pick-pocket as a Greyhound at a Hare The Whip The Pillory The Axe and the Halter make up the best part of the Catchpole's Revenue These people are of all sorts the most odious to the world and if men in Revenge would resolve to be Virtuous though but for a year or two they might starve them all It is in fine an unlucky Employment and Catchpoles as well the Devils themselves have the Wages of Tormenters I hope said I to my Guide that the Atturneys shall have your good word too Yes yes ye need not doubt it said the old man for your Atturny and your Catchpole always hunt in Couples The Atturny draws the Information and has all his forms ready so that 't is no more then but to fill up the Blanks and away to the Iayl with the Delinquent if there be any thing to be gotten 't is not a half-penny matter whether the party be guilty or Innocent Give but an Atturny Pen Ink and Paper and let him alone for Witnesses In case of an Examination he has the Grace not to insist too much upon plain and Naked Truth but to set down only what makes for his purpose and then when they come to signing to read over in the Deponeâ—ts sense for his Memory is good what he has written in his own And by this Means the Cause goes on as He pleases To prevent this Villany it weâ—e well if the Examiners were as well sworn to write the Truth as the Witnesses are to speak it And yet there are some honest men of all sorts but among the Atturneys the very Calling does by the honest Catchpoles Marshal's men and their Fellows as the Sea by the Dead It may Entertain them for a while but in a very short space it spews them up again The Good man would have proceeded if He had not been taken off by the Ratling of a Guilt-Coach wherein was a Courtier that was blown up as big as Pride and Vanity could make him He sat stiffe and Upright as if He had swallow'd a stake and made it his Glory to shew himself in that posture It would have hurt his Eyes to have exchang'd a Glance with any thing that was Vulgar and therefore He was very sparing of his Looks He had a deep lac'd-band on that was right Spanish which He wore Erect and stiffe starch't that a man would have thought He had Carry'd his Head in a paper-Lanthorn He was a great Studier of Set-faces and much affected with looking Politick and Big But for his Arms and Body He had utterly lost or forgotten the use of them For He could neither Bow nor move his Hat to any man that saluted him No nor so much as turn from One side to the Other but sate as if He had been Box'd up like a Bartlemy-Baby After this Magnificent Statue follow'd a swarm of Gawdy Butterfly-Laquais And his Lordships Company in the Coach was a Buffon and a Parasite Oh blessed Prince said I to live at this rate of Ease and splendor and to have the world at Will What a Glorious Train is that Beyond all doubt there never was a great Fortune better bestow'd With that the old man took me up and told me that the Judgment I had made upon this Occasion from one end to the other was all Dotage and Mistake save only when I said he had the world at Will And in that says he you have reason for what is the World but Labour Vanity and Folly which is likewise the Composition and Entertainment of this Cavalier As for the Train that follows him let it be Examin'd and my Life for yours you shall find more Creditors in 't then Servants There are Banquiers Iewellers Scriveners Brokers Mercers Drapers Taylors Vintners and these are properly the Stayes and Supporters of this Animated Machine The Money Meat Drink Robes Liveries Wages All comes out of their Pockets They have his Honour for their Security and must content themselves with Promises and fair Words for full satisfaction unless they had rather have a Foot-man with a Cudgel for their Pay-master And after all iâ— this Gallant were taken to shrift or that a man could enter into the Secrets of his Conscience I dare undertake it
the multitude had not call'd in others of his Race to the Government which render'd thy fall the very Hydra of the Empire We had had another skirmish upon these words if Lucifer had not commanded Caesar to his Cell again upon pain of Death and there to abide such correction as belong'd to him for slighting the warnings he had of his Disaster Brutus and Cassius too were turn'd over to the politick Fools and the Senators were dispatch'd away to Minos and Rhadamanthus and to sit as Assistants in the Devils Bench. After this I heard a murmuring noise as of people talking at a distance and by degrees I made it out that they were wrangling and disputing still lowder and lowder till at length it was but a word and a blow and the nearer I came the greater was the clamour This made me mend my pace but before I could reach them they were all together by the Ears in a bloudy fray They were persons of great quality all of them as Emperors Magistrates Generals of Armies Lucifer to take up the Quarrel commanded them Peace and Silence and they all obey'd but it vext them to the hearts to be so taken off in the full carriere of their Fury and Revenge The first that open'd his mouth was a fellow so martyr'd with wounds and scars that I took him at first for an indigent Officer but it prov'd to be Clitus as he said himself And one at his Elbow told him he was a saucy Companion for presuming to speak before his time and so desir'd Audience of Lucifer for the high and mighty Alexander the Son of Jupiter and the Emperor and Terror of the World He was going on with his Qualities and Titles but an Officer gave the word Silence and bad Clitus begin which he took very kindly and told his story If it may please your Majesty says he I was the first Favourite of this Emperor who was then Lord of all the known World bare the Title of the King of Kings and Boasted himself for the son of Iupiter Hammon and yet after all this Glory and Conquest he was himself a slave to his Passions He was Rash and Cruel and consequently Incapable either of Counsel or Friendship While I liv'd I was near him and serv'd him faithfully but it seems He did not Entertain me so much for my Fidelity as to augment the Number of his Flatterers But I found my self too honest for a Base Office and still as he ran into any foul Excesses I took a Freedom with all possible Modesty to shew him his Mistakes One day as he was talking slightly of his Father Philip that brave Prince from whom he receiv'd as well his Honour as his Being I told him frankly what I thought of that Ingratitude and Vanity and desired him to treat his Dead Father with more Reverence as a Prince Worthy of Eternal Honour and Respect This Commendation of Philip so enflam'd him that presently he took a Partisan and struck me Dead in the place with his own Hand After this pray'e where was his Divinity when he gave Abdolominus a poor Garden-Weeder the Kingdome of Sidonia which was not as the World would have it out of any Consideration of his Virtue but to Mortify and take down the Pride and Insolence of the Persians Meeting him here just now in Hell I askt him what was become of his Father Iupiter now that he lay so long by 't and whether he were not yet convinc'd that all his Flatterers were a Company of Rascals who with their Incense and Altars would perswade him that He was of Divine Extraction and Heir apparent to the Throne and Thunder of Iupiter This now was the Ground of our Quarrel Invectives apart who but a Tyrant would have put a Loyal Subject to Death only for his Affection and Regards to the Memory of his Dead Father how barbarously did he treat his Favourites Parmenio Philotas Calisthenes Amintas c. so that good or bad is all a case for 't is crime enough to be the Favourite of a Tyrant As in the course of humane life every man dies because he is mortal and the disease is rather the pretext of his death than the cause of it You find now says Satan that Tyrants will shew their people many a Dog-trick when the humour takes them The good they hate for not being wicked and the bad because they are no worse How many Favourites have you ever seen come to a fair and timely end Remember the Emblem of the Sponge and that 's the use that Princes make of their Favourites they let them suck and fill and then squeeze them for their own profit At that word there was heard a lamentable cry and at the same time a venerable old man as pale as if he had no bloud in his veins came up to Lucifer and told him that his Emblem of the Sponge came very pat to his Case For says he I was a great Favourite and a great horder of Treasure a Spaniard by birth the Tutor and Confident of Nero and my name is Seneca Indeed his bounties were to excess he gave me without asking and in taking I was never covetous but obedient It is in the nature of Princes and it befits their quality to be liberal where they take a liking both of Honour and Fortunes and 't is hard for a Subject to refuse without some reflection upon the generosity or discretion of his Master For 't is not the merit or modesty of the Vassal but the glory of the Prince that is in question and he is the best Subject that contributes the most to the splendor and reputation of his Sovereign Nero indeed gave me as much as such a Prince could bestow and I manag'd his liberalities with all the moderation imaginable yet all too little to preserve me from the strokes of envious and malicious tongues which would have it that my philosophizing upon the contempt of the World was nothing else but a meer imposture that with less danger and notice I might feed and entertain my avarice and with the fewer Competitors Finding my credit with my Master declining it stood me upon to provide some way or other for my quiet and to withdraw my self from being the mark of of a publick envy So I went directly to Nero and with all possible respect and humility made him a Present back again of his own â—â—unties The truth is I had so great a pâ—ssion for his service that neither the severity of his Nature nor the debauchery of his Manners could ever deter me from exhorting him to nobler courses and paying him all the duties of a Loyal Subject Especially in cases of cruelty and bloud I laid it perpetually home to his conscience but all to little purpose for he put his mother to death laid the City of Rome in ashes and indeed depopulated the Empire of honest men And this drew on Piso's Conspiracy which was better laid than executed