did but brandle or haesitat in his Religion hee would have his breast ripped up and those thoughts plucked out of him nay he would gather stickes himselfe to burne him The cause of the so earely fall of that Prince is a riddle to this houre but one time in a gay humour he wished in the hearing of his Sire hee had Elaiana's Crowne upon his head but onely one day And this extravagant wish as 't was thought did him no good for not long after he was transplanted into the other World by an immature Fate Another Argument or rather Monument of the Pietie of this Platonique Prince was that Worke of Wonder that glorious Structure which with expence of eight Millions of Treasure and twentie three yeares of Time he himselfe enjoying the contentment of it twelve whole yeares after it was finishd he causd to be erected in memorie of that famous Battaile he got against Ampelona being then in Leoncia And not as much in honour of the day as of the Martyr whose day it was proportioning the Fabrique to the shape of that Instrument he suffered upon The Handle of it makes a Magnificent Royall Palace the Body an huge Assembly of Cloysters which make up a Convent and an Academie And so intentive were his thoughts upon this Piece of Pietie that when the long-longd for tidings were poasted to him of the miscarriage of the fore-mentioned Fleet which sayld at first with the wings of such confidence against Druina he then having his eyes fixd upon a Mason who was fitting a Corner-Stone he would neither aske heare or reade one syllable untill he saw that Stone settled Such a vast Pile was never reard up by Scaffold and I subscribe to them that hold the World hath not the like in one entire Piece And built it is with that unusuall solidnesse and moderate height that it seemes in his first thoughts he intended to make a Sacrifice of it to perpetuitie and to contest with the Iron Teeth of Time It hath a Quadrangle for every Moneth in the Yeare and whosoever will take an exact survey of it must goe above 30000 paces forward about and backward within the circumference of the Walls and the very keyes of this huge Edifice poise above 1000 weight This great Magus being seizd upon by the hand of Death he sayd none should carry him to his owne Sepulcher meaning that mightie Monument but himselfe Where he was no sooner come but this huge Olive which flourishd so long though shaken with many shrewd stormes fell as they say of vermiculation being all worme-eaten within The succeeding Princely Olive though in profound reaches of Policie he came short of him yet in Pietie he rather exceeded him He relyed more upon the Spirituall power then the Temporall holding it the safest course And indeed it was one of the Cardinall instructions his expiring Sire left him and the other was that he might warre with all the world if he were in peace with DRUINA A little after he yeelded to treat with the Itelians as with Free-States from which words they ever since derive their independencie though Elaiana denie that she ever pronounc'd them positively free but retorts the argument upon them For if she condescended to treat with them as with Free-States the Hypothesis must be that they were not free for the Topique Axiome is Nullum simile est idem but whether it will hold in Policie I will not determine OF RHENVSIVM AND BOMBYCINA ABout these times there arrived in Druina a Rhenusian Prince Altapinus and Rhenasium abounds with Princes yet they are from the beginning but branches fallen from the Imperiall Cedar whereof some are growne up single other are multiplied into a great number of Groves Huge is that extent of ground which belongs to the perambulation of this large Forrest which were shee entirely subject to the Cedar would prove formidable both to the Vine the Olive and the Oke with all other and would bee able of her selfe to make head against that huge Giantesse Alcarona But Rhenusium being divided betweene so many absolute Princes and they of about equall puissance as a great River cut into many Channells growes weaker and shallower Rhenusium strives onely to counterpoize her selfe Her Trees are well timbred tall and beutifull they are all commonly of the nature of the Plane or Hortensius his graffs which love to bee watred with wine but they use not onely to bee watred therewith but to bee overwhelmd and drownd therein for they drinke often passively which made one ascribe unto them these two properties To understand more then they can utter And drinke more then they can carry And the universality of this vice seemes to take away the infancy of it so that whosoever is temperat there must needs bee more temperat then any where else for he must bee so per antiperistasin being surrounded and besiegd as it were about with the contrary habit The time was that the Cedar stretched forth his Imperiall branches as farre as the Mountaines of the Moone and that the King of Birds nested within his leaves thicke featherd and with fullsummd wings fastning his Talents East and West but now I know not by what fate or fortune t is come to passe the Eagle is become halfe naked and the Cedar very thinne leavd so that for many Ages it hath bin a kinde of continuall Autumne with him In so much that whosoever will undertake now the Imperiall diademe must have of his owne wherewith to support and protect it which I beleeve is one of the reasons that it hath continued these two Ages and more yeares in that stemme which is now so much spoken of and envyed in the World And this reason of State sounds well why the Septemvirate lets it continue there so long because this Race having its hereditary territories as Ramparts upon those regions that the huge Easterne Bramble Tyrannizeth over is best able to preserve Rhenusium from his Fury But to know the true cause why the Cedar hath so long warped and fallen to this decay I must lead you over the hills to Bombycina that great Magazin of wits and Minion of Nature where some places acknowledge no other season but the spring and they who abstract Paradise from the Earthly Globe would have it to bee in that part of the Heavens which is her Canopie Petropolis is the City which once awed not onely all Bombycina but signorizd over most parts of the habitable earth so farre that her tropheys and territories were sayd to know no frontires yet at first the circuit of her walls was hardly a mile and her pomerium and perquisits adjoyning where they stretched furthest scarce six and the first number of her plants about 3000. Yet with time and fortune she so swelled up that she became 50. miles about and her Dominions above 3000. miles long And the number of Graffs which sprang at one time in and about her walls in a famous cense that was made
whose fruit is to cause in the eaters an oblivion of all other soyles and indeed the lotus of all other Trees hath most affinity with the Oke There is no place upon the habitable earth where the muses have two such dainty Groves of Laurels so choice and rich seates which both for plentifull exhibitions and sumptuous edifices of that kind are unparalleld They perpetually produce hopefull young cions which germinat with all kind of knowledge and come by degrees to a perfect maturity whereby she is alwaies furnished with nurseries of scientificall graffes which she disperseth up and downe to unfold the sacred Oracles for which she is now as renowned as some times she was for her Druyds And for a cumble of all felicity piety shines here in her genuine true lustre neither adulterated with any forc'd colours to set a specious glosse upon her by any phantasticke forme of outward ceremony Nor is she bereavd of such decent robes and rites whereof some fanaticke spirits would strip her starke naked that may make her appeare in a venerable and comely garb This stately Forrest hath multitudes of gentle lodges and strong retraites amongst which the great Emporiall Tamisond is the prime which take all her dimensions together for she hath not the advantage of the circular figure with her suburbian and conterminent fabrickes may well compare in magnitude and number of soules with the greatest assembly of houses in the lower world For wealth and an ubiquitary commerce none can exceed her And for government diurnall and nocturnall with a grave rich and magnificent magistracy ther 's not her fellow The proud River which makes her bed at her feet is arched over with such a curious pile of stones that considering the rapid course of the deepe streame that roares under it may well take place amongst the wonders of the world The Nereian goddesse comes twice every naturall day fourescore thousand paces off to visit her to render her thankes as it were for the rich tribute she useth to pay her Here is the Imperiall chamber of Druinas Monarque the prime rendevous of Nobles and Gentry the sole staple of the Marchant all the prime tribunalls of justice and equity and no where is the criminall part thereof so cautiously executed or the life of the meanest shrub more valued I could wish the civill part were answerable in point of expedition and that Iohn an Okes had not so many turnings and windings in this Forrest In summe this is the epitome of all Druina so that some have askd abroad whether Druina bee in Tamisond or Tamisond in Druina And herein and that not undeservedly Druina is taxd abroad of a solaecisme in her government that she should suffer to run into one Grove that sap which should go to vegetat the whole Forrest so that some have compard Tamisond to the spleene in the naturall body by whose swelling the other members become ill affected whereas her forren neighbours by a wholesome distribution appropriat some staple commodity or peculiar charter of commerce to severall places whereby they equally flourish grow populous potent and opulent A CHARACTER OF CARDENIA TOwards the septentrionall corners of Druina there stands another Forrest which serves her for a shelter as t' were against blustering Boreas well set but nothing so thick with stout and tough Trees though growne somewhat knobby of late of a different plantation and policy which hath beene but lately co-afforested with her at that time when she threw the fortunat cast of sice-ace and when to her three former Lions there was a fourth added for her defence which made Druina verifie that which all former ages held for a Paradox and take for the burthen of her song and I hope there will be never cause to the contrary Omne bonum nobis ex Aquilone venit An ancient Forrest she is for she pretends to shew a continued uninterrupted succession of above one hundred Kings As at other times so specially this last halfe century of yeares she hath produced many ventrous and martiall spirits who for their prowesse in the North east parts have purchas'd a great esteeme A long time the royall Vine made use of her Trees as of matches to set Druina a fire whensoever she attempted any thing against him puzling her with unlucky diversions therefore the Vine reserves to this day a row of them about him for his safety This caus'd many of the Martiall Okes to make sundry shrewd inrodes into Cardenia so far as to bring away her Kings Captive and make some of them breath their last in battaile But now for the greater glory of Druina they are both ingrafted upon one stocke into one body politicke and receive mutuall benefit from each other the one sappe the other strength For by this conjunction I hope Druina may rest secure that the Lillies shall never hereafter make use of the Thistle against her Roses And so shee may prove Carduus Benedictus unto her A CHARACTER OF MONTICOLIA TOwards the hilly corners of Druina remaine yet her very Aborigenes and ancient Indigenae the first nursery of Plants that sprouted out of her fatally thrust amongst an Assembly of mountaines They long time wrastled and strenuously tug'd for their libertie and that with a no lesse magnanimous then constant pertinacity yea when they were reducd to a handfull hem'd in betweene those hills they did notable feates At last being over set with multitudes which hath beene the fortune of the bravest spirits upon earth they chose to bow a little rather then breake Yet with this proviso that the Princely spray which should be their toppe Tree should spring forth from amongst themselves So prevalent is the instinct of nature and energie of fancy they beare to their owne soyle And very remarkable it is that after the revolution of above one thousand yeares and so many turmoyles and changes of governments and masters Druina having foure times yeelded to the fury of forren force the just hand of providence should bring the royall Oke to sprout againe out of this ancient stocke and that Druina should resume and be knowne againe by her primitive denomination A race of resolute stout Trees they are much valuing the antiquitie of their growth and so abounding with mettall and heat that they quickly take fire and become touch-wood they often clash their branches one against the other and very sensible they are of parting with the least drop of sappe The Trident-bearing God hath not such secure and commodious inlets or rather a Gallerie of Clossets to court and imbosome himselfe into our Grandame Earth in all the vast expanded Ocean The prime of the nine Hero's whom beside that which is fabulous there is truth enough to make famous was a plant of this growth by whose conquests Druina may lay just clayme though she had no other not only to Lurana but other dominions also nay if first discovery may entitle a right to Columbina also which as some
conveyances le ts in the Sea and sends it back fresh her Bowels serving as it were for a Lymbique So that wee see hereby there is a punctuall retribution and a kind of mutuall compensation betweene them which doubtlesse tends to the propagation and encrease of all compounded Bodies amongst which there is also a perpetuall and restlesse succession of Individuals to keepe the whole from fayling For as a Shippe as one made a very apposite comparison riding at anchor tosseth and tumbleth up and downe perpetually yet cannot goe beyond the length of the Cable to which shee is tyed and so in this turbulent motion sheweth a constancie so is it with the Vniverse wherein all things hang by the Plummets of Providence Therefore I cannot subscribe to their speculation that thinke the World hath beene long since in a Hectique Feaver and so drawing on to a Consumption That neither Vegetable Sensitive nor Rationall Creatures are in that height of perfection as in former times That Vertue shines not with so strong a lustre That Invention is farre shallower and Age shorter That the Moderne World compard with the Ancient is as a Dwarfe upon a Gyants shoulders or as Noone shadowes compard to the Mornings I must confesse Antiquitie is venerable which makes us extenuate things present and extoll things passd and make it still the Burden of our Song VVell fare the old Times implying thereby a palpable decay or dotage in all things Yet we find that the two great Luminaries of Heaven and the rest of the Celestiall Bodies have still the same vertue and operation without the least imaginarie diminution all Elementarie Bodies receive vigour and strength from their influence Therefore I doe not see how the present can be so farre inferiour in point of perfection to them of former Ages considering the virtuall Causes remaine still in the same strength and as for Invention Wisedome and Learning I doe not see but the second thoughts of latter Ages may be as wise as those of elder Times I know the time must come that Heaven and Earth shall passe away and that there will be a finall Dissolution though no Annihilation of the Matter but a destruction of the Old Forme and introduction of a New And of late yeares some would be so foole-hardie as to presume to be more of the Cabinet Counsell of God Almightie then the Angels themselves by whose ministerie some say he created the World as to point at the precise Time of this Dissolution amongst other arguments they fetch downe one from Heaven it selfe which is that the Polar Starre which is in the tayle of the lesser Beare was in Ptolomey's time twelve Degrees from the Pole of the Equator this Starre hath insensibly still crept nearer the Pole so that now 't is but three Degrees off when it comes to touch or make the nearest approach that can be to the Pole which may well come to passe in 500 yeares Nature her selfe they say must expire or some notable Period But I have beene carryed away too farre by this Speculation causd by Adriana which of any Politicall Body may be producd for an instance against a generall decay and impairing of the Moderne World Though some which repine at the Myrtles prosperitie say That those stout and ventrous Trees wherewith she was usd to be fencd are lately degenerated in point of valour to weake Reeds for their Pusillanimitie and too much Caution when they come to any Warlike encounter And now it is high time for me to shake hands with Adriana and Bombycina also whereof I must not forget to tell you that the Olive now occupyeth foure parts of seven if she were so divided And to his Greatnesse and the apprehension of feares and jealousies they have that he would fish in troubled waters may be ascribd the Concord and Calme of Bombycina's Princes who as once the Mice would have hung a Bell at the Cats Neck but after consultation could not agree who should venture first to put it on would plot something still against the Olive Adde hereunto that besides this Peace there is plentie of Treasure that comes to Bombycina by the Olive who makes one of her proudest Cities his Scale for remitting his Moneyes to Leoncia But that Citie in respect of him may be sayd to be as a Partridge under a Faulcons wings who can seize upon her at pleasure but doth not for politique respects Bombycina was usd to be most under the Mulberry the wisest of all Trees for he never puts forth his Buds till all the cold weather be passd And so indeed the Plants Bombycina produceth are accounted the wisest politiquest and most reserved and cautious of all other 'T is a Rule amongst them That he cannot be essentially wise who openeth all the Boxes of his Brest to any They are for the most part of a speculative complexion And he is accounted little lesse then a foole who is not melancholy once a day They are onely bountifull to their betters from whom they hope to receive a greater benefit To others the Purse is closest shut when the Mouth opens widest nor are you like to get a piece of Cake there unlesse yours be knowne to be in the Oven Yet are they the greatest embracers of Pleasure of any other upon Earth and they esteeme of Pearles as Pebbles so they may satisfie their gust in point of Pleasure or Revenge Here you shall find Love and Hatred Vertue and Vice Atheisme and Religion in their Extremes for the greatest Wits depravd are the most dangerous Corruptio optimi est pessima Yet the Character one lately gave of them seemes to savour too much of the Satyre viz. That the Bombycinian is unnaturall in his Lust irreconcilable in his Hatred and unfoordable in his thoughts That with one breath hee bloweth hot and cold and to compasse his owne ends he will light a Candle to the Devill I know there is no Countrey without her Nick. As Ampelona to be a great Bedlam Bombycina a great Bordell Rhenusium a huge Brew-house Elaiana Natures Sweating-Tub Druina a Stage of Mimiques Lurana a Fripperie of Bankrupts Monticolia a Conventicle of Hills Cardenia the Vrinall of the Planets And Itelia the Suburbs of Hell being situated lowest of any other upon the Earthly Globe For my owne particular were I to associate with a stranger I would single out a Bombycinian before any other for my conversation for of those twelve severall sorts of Forreners I have had occasion to converse withall I never knew any yet symbolizing so much with them of Druina or complying more with their humour OF THE ARRIVALL OF Prince ALTAPINVS in DRVINA BVt it is high time for mee to returne now to my Rhenusian Prince Altapinus newly arrivd in Druina upon a high designe of love and no lesse then to the fairest branch of the Royall Oke that Mirror of all perfections The Itelians and the old Fox of Ardennes with Druinas greatest Arch-Flamin did mainely advance
the worke together with the Princely Orenge and the Willowes but the Royall Firre of Elatena and that great Queene from which she sprang gave but cold consent thereunto and it was thought it lessened some part of her naturall affection towards her ever after Yet Altapinus was admitted a Suitor and as he was in hot pursuite of this brave attempt of love behold a most mournefull accident of fate intervenes the fall of that brave Standell which should have immediatly succeeded the Royall Oke in all his Dominions This strucke an Earthquake into all hearts for the present which were affected with various passions of griefe feare amazement and darke suspitions that in regard his fall was so immature and sudden it could not bee without some sinister practise of violent meanes nor can some bee wean'd from that conceit to this day imputing the cause of it to a precocitie of Spirit and valour in him and that therefore some infectious Southerne Aire did blast him But this is certaine that there was intelligence of it in Elaianas Court amongst the Luranian Loyolists a prety while before his fall This incomparable Prince was so lamented that all kind of Trees throughout the whole Forrest hung downe their heads and seemd to be turnd to Cypresses for the time which being expird the nuptialls of Prince Altapinus were consummated and when the conjugall knot was a tying the Princely Bride was observd to bee possessd with a sudden apprehension and eruptions of joy which as the iron decree of fate would have it turnd after into many pangs God wot of anguish and sorrow For being but a few yeares settled in Rhenusium during which time all the neighbouring Princes envied their high felicity Behold the Cedar by the instigation of the Loyolists fell out with the Homebians who had elected him to be their King provided that he would keepe their priviledges inviolable but they alleadging hee had infringed them they would continue no longer under the shelter of his boughs but shooke him off tore his Seales and resumd liberty to choose another King Hereupon they made a proffer of their Crowne I cannot say it was the mayden proffer to Pr Altapinus who consulting upon it though not so maturely as the disastrous events shewd afterwards accepted it Many there were which animated him thereunto and amongst other motives of incitement they usd one was that if he had courage enough to adventure upon the fairest branch and sole of that kind of Druinas Royall Oke he might very well venture upon a Crowne when it was tendred him Thus he went triumphantly to Homebia where hee was inaugurated and crown'd king with many high expressions of joy and triumph About these times behold a fatall torch appeared in the Heavens placed there by the great Architect of the world to forewarne Mortals of their miseries And the direfullst effects it produc'd were under that clime Those blazing lampes which in this latter age had appeared in the asterismes of Cassiopaeia the Serpent and Swan brought not forth such horrid events as this in the VIRGIN signe It were to digresse from the scope of this discourse to make disquisition whether these unusuall lights be hospites or Indigenae new-come guests or old Inhabitants in Heaven or whether they bee meere meteorologicall impressions not transcending the upper Region or whether to bee rank'd amongst celestiall bodies I leave the indagation of this high cause to the Disciples of Iohannes de sacro bosco of Iohn of holy bush it being not the subject of my Trees at this time But these hairie lampes have beene noted to have been alwaies the fatall Vshers of calamity and alterations in states And as upon earth prodigious births portend no good so these new engendred monsters above point alwaies at some sad events to follow either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 warres pestilence or famine all which have most miserably rag'd through poore Rhenusium ever since and cease not to this very houre and that with such fury that in many places the bed cannot priviledge the sick nor the cradle the suckling nor the great belly the Embryo nor the Tribunall the Magistrate nor the Altar the Priest The chiefe grounds of all which was imputed to this revolt of the Homebians from the Cedar For the heavens bright eye had scarce run one whole carreere through the Zodiake but towards that season of greatest mirth throughout the whole yeare The Cedar had capitulated with the Elder who from that time forward fell sicke of the gall a disease incident to old trees against Altapinus though he was the principall branch of his stock to muster up certaine military forces to his use for the expence of which service he engag'd part of his Country to him with which forces though fewer in number and tyred with long marches he suddenly assailed Altapinus his royall army and got the day The Elder pursued his victory to the very walls where Altapinus with the Princely Carbasilis raignd and being surpriz'd were constrain'd to flye in confusd manner with halfe bag and baggage Thus the Inconstant goddesse turnd her wheele about and for this shadowy Crown made him loose the substance viz. his Princely inheritance the brave territories of Baccharia Some there are which thought it much that Altapinus appeard not himselfe in the field the day of this battaile in regard his newly worne Crowne stood upon the fortune of it And that having good store of treasure in cash hee suffered his Souldiers to bee heartlesse and ready to mutiny for pay most of that treasure falling afterwards a bootie to the enemy The infortunate Altapinus traversing up and down Rhenusium came at last with the Princely Carbasilis to Itelia where the martiall Orenge well-comd her with high demonstrations of joy and his first congratulation was that if she had beene the Masculine Plant Homebias Crowne had never beene lost so slightly And good reason they had to be welcome to Itelia for it is more than conjecturd that t' was she who put Prince Altapinus upon this fatall enterprise to advance her owne ends For the truce with Elaiana being then upon point of expiring she had no hope to draw Druinas Monarke whose genius was so strongly bent for peace but by these meanes into military engagements that so part of Elaianas strength might fall upon him but Itelia reckond without her host in this point For the first tydings being brought him of that undertaking Hee calls his sages together and in a profound sence of sorrow and a kind of propheticke spirit and the Oke of all other Trees is only fatidicall told them what a fearefull infortunate businesse this would prove And that the youngest there amongst them should not see the end of it which by sad experience hath provd too true yet continueth Moreover he was usd to say that the Homebians made use of Altapinus as the Fox did of the Catts foot to pull the Apple out of
is carelesse of his owne life is master of another's But Heaven forbid that this custome which hath such a vogue in other parts should take footing in DRVINA This tragedie being acted the Royall Oke pursueth his designe for supporting of Petrina with the Eusebians in Ampelona but this disaster as it bred confusion for the time so it causd a stand in the procedure of that great action which gave the Vine respit to finish those stupendous circumvallations and barricadoes hee had reard up by sea and land to begirt Petrina In so much that when another noble Elme was sent with strength sufficient to have achievd a greater exploit he found her passd cure This some say went to the very heart of Elaiana who in regard of that notable advantage and addition of united power the Vine got hereby would have found some way or other to have relievd Petrina had she thought Druina would have missd it The great Assembly aforesaid rejoynd and mett againe in one body and now he that was supposd to be the cause of the tempest being throwne overboard there were great hopes a calme should ensue but the storme continued as furious as ever and unlucky passions blustred as much if not more than they had done formerly in Villerios time They flew a fresh upon other great Officers and questiond a duty that for garding of the seas and common defence of the realme had beene indisputably granted to so many preceding Kings for a bene esse which they made difficulty to affoord the Royall Oke regnant unles he would first renounce alright to it and so receive it meerely from them Thus they choppd logicke with Soveraigne Majesty who movd with these traverses resolvd though to his unutterable griefe to dismisse this great Counsell but upon the point when this was to be done in forme the lower assembly in a strange tumultuary manner adjournd themselves before they had receivd his royall pleasure They denied him his Officers at armes violated the prolocutor being twise sent for delayed to let in his messenger and discontentments turning thus to a strange kind of disobedience they broake up in confusion Adde hereunto that notwithstanding there was another peculiar Assembly of Reverend Yewes of purpose for the regulating and sweeping cleane of the house of the Almighty yet the poplars must make it their office to tamper with the constitution of holy things And indeed this is one of the greatest scandals and brands that not only Petropolis but other Forreners who have with her forsaken Petropolis cast upon Druina viz. that her Ecclesiasticall Ordinances are the commands and injunctions of this secular power and members of this Assembly who not only confirme which may become them well enough and is necessary for a generall obedience but take upon them to be Iudges herein So that one being askd what they did in that lower great Assembly hee was answerd pleasantly That they were making of a new Creed Another was over-heard to say that hee could not bee quiet in his Conscience untill the holy text should be confirmd by an Act of theirs Whence may bee inferrd that some of them beleeve it belongs to them to make sanctions as well as statutes This inducd the Royall Oke though he be responsible to none for an account of his actions but to the high Majestie of Heaven to publish an open protest unto the world for the satisfaction of his better sort of subjects of the causes of these disorders declaring that while Villerio liv'd hee was intitled to all the distempers and ill events of former assemblies therefore much endeavour was usd to demolish him as the only wall of separation twixt their Soveraigne and them but he now being cut off no alteration was found amongst them at all or calmenesse in their proceedings He was pleasd to declare further that he imputed not these commotions to the whole Assembly knowing that there were amongst them many religious grave and well minded Patriotts but the sincerer and better part of them being over-borne by the clamours and practises of others who carelesse of their duties and taking advantage of the times and his necessities constraind him to breake off that meeting which had it beene answerd with like duties on their parts as love on his might have prov'd happie to all Druina These fatall distempers as they did much hurt to the body politicke at home for they were like humours stirrd in the naturall body without evacuation so did they produce disadvantagious effects abroad and better had it been that the Raysers and fomenters of them had never sprang up in Druina The Royall Firre had engagd himselfe in the quarrell of Altapinus against the Cedar and he had proceeded so far as to the imminent and actuall danger of his owne person And expecting from Druina those monthly supplies which were promised by capitulation partly for want of them the one halfe of his territories being already over-runne and plundred hee was constraind to shuffle up a peace with the Cedar without Druinas privity And it was high time for him for whereas the Firre was usd to bee a dwelling for the stork the Eagle was like to build his nest there The foresaid great expedition to relieve Petrina did also suffer hereby and indeed the whole party of the Eusebians every where up and downe the world who had their eyes fixd upon Druinas Monarke their defendor Who so much labouring to take the old wonted great trodden way for supplies towards the support of such publike designes was constraind at last to take the higher roade by having recourse to his Soveraigne prerogative to ballast the common purse of the state And a kingdome is like a Shippe at Sea whose ballast should be the Princes Coffers which if they be light and emptie she will do nought but tumble up and downe nor can she be made to run a direct and steddy Course About this time fell one of the noblest Elmes in the whole Forrest extracted of the ancient stocke of the Monticolians that bore the smallest yet chiefest staffe of office and command in Druinas Court And his fall was the more remarkable because the night immediately before he was discoursing of and slighting the art of those foolish Astrologers and Genethliacall Ephemerists that use to pry into the horoscope of Nativities whereof one had much tampred with his and positively affirmd he should not reach 51. yeares And now said hee I have liv'd thankes bee to Heaven fiftie one yeares and a day compleat But the next morning hee was taken with an Apoplexie whereof he presently died much lamented hee was for his noblenes and mervailous candor of disposition and other brave endowments and therefore generally belov'd in Citie Court and Country And being a long time averse to the match with Elaiana Mordogan put a shrewd pernicious complement upon him For being at a private audience in discourse with Druinas Monarke hee fell to magnifie the greatnesse loyalty and wealth
necessity of armes Preventive Warres have beene practised by the best policied states they rid the Forrest oftentimes of superfluous plants and are as a purge for the body politicke And in all ages it hath beene held a maine part of providence to have an eye That their confining neighbours should neither by too neare an approach or encrease of territory or enfeebling of confederates nor by ingrossing of trade or stopping of passage receive any addition of strength And in point of wealth to beare up still in equall proportion upon the enhancement of the rates of coyne excrescence of demeanes or imposition of tolls This makes the Vine so Salt his subject and the Olive pepper his so much The lawfulnesse of warre in the generall was never questiond so it have a Soveraigne head not otherwise For the Almighty is the God of Hosts and armes as well as of peace And warres well grounded are nought else but sutes of appeale to the consistory of heaven when there is no superior on earth to determine the cause And besides the lawfulnesse hereof there seemes to bee a kinde of inevitablenesse and necessitie in it Some Philosophers were of opinion that the world doth subsist by a perpetuall strife in some part or other I goe not above the concave of the Moone where the celestiall bodies though in relation to us poore mortals they seeme to strange and have their contrary motions eclipses and oppositions yet amongst themselves they are in a most regular and constant sweet course of concord But for the elementary world all things are in a kind of restlesse conflict The Elements themselves which are the primitive ingredients of all bodies are in perpetuall combat they still encroach one upon another and labour to repell each other but amongst the rest the fire is most vigorous and ravenous the earth hath frequent fits of the Palsie the Sea is never still the aire is agitated with winds and new monsters and meteorologicall impressions are hourely engendred so in humane bodies composd of this stuffe there is an incessant warfare amongst the humours for predominancy and while this naturall war lasteth the earth cannot be without civill and politicall preliations the mind following most commonly the temper of the body But a madde tenet it was of the Candian in that divine and high soaring Philosopher that peace is but a naked and empty name a kinde of Chymera and that every state expects but its advantage to set upon the skirts of the other whence hee concludes that there is alwayes a kinde of fermentation of warre and no kinde of reall love and league betweene Princes but only an impuissance or inconveniencie to doe hurt An age there was and t' was the last when Druina Ampelona and Elaiana were so circumspect and Eagle eyed that scarce an acre of ground could bee gotten by either of the three but the other two would bee sure to doe their best to set the scales even again And the like diligence hath beene practised in diverse other Regions and it seemes is now by Ampelona by reason of the late new acquests the Olive and his race in Rhenusium have made which induceth her to sticke more close then ever to Itelia as also to the Bumelians who else I beleeve had gone neere to have quite disbanded long before now The Princely Sycomore which stood as a screene twixt Ampelona and Rhenusium hath smarted for this being fallen just under the same fatall predicament as Altapinus both exulating from their owne patrimoniall Territories But a hard case it seemes to bee that the Princely spray which was of the selfe same ancient stocke with the Sycomore being branches of the same Tree should in the verdantst season of her virginity bee coupled according to the true rites of sacred law with Ampelonas apparant heire and then poore Lady to bee abandoned without the least imaginary fault of hers And more strange it seemes to the world that Ampelona specially that now her prime Minister of state is of a holy function should goe about to preferre a particular temporary custome of hers viz that her Heire apparent should not any wayes dispose of himselfe to marriage without the privity and consent of the State to the prejudice and flat breach of the eternall law of the Almighty And so to attempt the nullifying of that act and loosning of that knot which by divine Ordinance should bee indissoluble And so make a kinde of medlar of that Princely Sycomore shee being every way superior to his first Consort It is true policy is warrantable yet but as a hand-maid to divinity and absurd it is to make the Mistresse stoope and give place to the servant Policy is like the Apocrypha which is allowed to be digested into one volume and read with the sacred Text but when it thwarts any thing that is Canonicall away with it The ravishing of the Sycomore's Country hapned in an unlucky time for young Altapinus for I beleeve it rendred the Treaty for a restitution of Baccharia more knotty and difficult In so much that some think they must be put in Counter-scales hereafter and move both upon one hinge A much famed statist Elaiana had halfe an age since was usd to say that if Ampelona had three things favourable she were eternall viz. Petropolis the Sea and Counsell Touching the first Melissanus who now swayes the great Archflaminship is mightily devoted to her having beene so long rooted in her that it seemes he naturally affects her soyle and plants And oftentimes we finde that nature her selfe yeelds to custome that great Giant who is so prevalent that oftentimes wee shape the discourse of reason and course of nature to the inbred notions and preconceptions it hath imprinted in our minds besides habituall frequency of conversation is one of the greatest loadstones of love For the Sea Itelia serves her for her docke and Arsenall nor was shee ever so improv'd and potent that way And I wish Itelia may never have cause to rue the time she did it For Counsell she hath lighted upon an Instrument of a mervailous contriving and sedulous spirit as solid as hee is subtile which is rare under that Clime In so much that some have termd him the prodigie of prudence others have soard higher and calld him the grand Genius and tutelar Angell of Ampelona others flie yet higher and call him the supreme Intelligence the spirit that moves the heavens and the starres the Phoenix of the earth and such like superlatives and Hyperbole's He is so strongly rooted in the opinion of the Royall Vine that hee post-poseth filiall and fraternall love to his favour towards him Some give other Characters of him and call him the Incendiary of Ampelona that his mind is of the colour of his habit sanguine That he is indued with the same spirit that sometimes a famous Archflamin in Elaiana was who said that Gunpowder in the field gave as sweet a perfume as Incense at the