Tokens by which this Temperament may be discerned are very evident their Complexion is of a dark Green or Olive their Eyes very red for which Reason he is called a Bloody-Eyed-Man the Head Black and Bald Flesh hard and hairy great Veins are very good Company and affable but Lustful Proud Stately Blasphemers Crafty Double Injurious Friends of ill Doing and Revengeful This is to be understood when Melancholy is kindled for if it be cooled forthwith arise in them the contrary Virtues Chastity Humility Fear and Reverence of God Charity Mercy and deep Acknowledgement of their Sins with Sighs and Tears By reason of which they live in perpetual War and Strife without ever enjoying Ease or Rest Now Vice prevails in them and then Virtue but with all these Faults they are the most ingenious and able for the Service of Preaching and for all sorts of things wherein worldly Wisdom is required because they have a great Understanding to find the Truth and a powerful Imagination to perswade In order to this let us see what God did when he would fashion a Child in his Mother's Womb to the end he might be able to discover to the World the coming of his Son and have the Gift to prove and perswade that Jesus Christ was the Messiah promised under the Law and we shall find that making him of a great Understanding and Imagination it fell of course observing the Order of Nature that he form'd him of this adust and burnt Choler This will appear plain if we consider with what Fire and Fury he persecuted the Church and the pain the Synagogues were in when they saw him Converted in having lost a Man of so great Importance to themselves and of such Advantage to the contrary Party This also appears by the Reparties full of rational Choler with which he spoke and answered the Proconsuls and Judges that apprehended him defending his own Person and the Name of Jesus Christ with such Skill and Dexterity as confounded them all Even though he had an Impediment in his Speech and was not ready in Utterance which Property Aristotle says falls to the Melancholic by Adustion The Vices he confessed himself subject to before his Conversion shew him to have possessed this Temperament He was a Blasphemer and Injurious Persecutor which are the effects of a great Heat But the most evident Token importing that he had that adust Choler may be collected from the continual Conflict which he confessed was within him between the Superior and Inferior part saying I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin To which inward Contention we have prov'd according to the Opinion of Aristotle the Melancholic by Adustion are subject True it is as some Gloss and very well this Conflict arises from the disorder Original Sin has raised between the Flesh and Spirit though nevertheless being so fierce and constant I am of Opinion it proceeded also from the inequality of the Black Choler that remained in his Natural Constitution In effect the Royal Prophet David participated equally of Original Sin yet complained not so much of it as St. Paul but on the contrary affirmed he found the Inferior Part in Consent with Reason when he would rejoice in God My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God And as we shall shew in the last Chapter save one David had the best Temperament Nature could give and according to the Opinions of all the Philosophers the same which Ordinarily inclines a Man to be Virtuous without much Contradiction from the Flesh The Wits then that should be made choice of for Preachers in the first place are those that unite a great Understanding with a great Imagination and Memory whose Tokens we shall treat of in the last Chapter save one For want of such there succeed in their room those that are Melancholic by Adustion who unite a great Understanding with a great Imagination but are wanting in Memory and accordingly have no store of Words nor flow with a full stream before the Auditory In the third Rank are Men of a great Understanding without Imagination and Memory these Preach not gracefully but Preach sound Doctrin The last to whom I would not recommend the Preaching Function are those who join a happy Memory to a vast Imagination but want Understanding These draw all the People after them and hold them well pleased and in suspense but when they dream but a little of it are in a fair way to the Inquisition because By good Words and fair Speeches they deceive the Hearts of the Simple CHAP. XIII That the Theory of the Laws pertains to the Memory Pleading Causes and Judging them which is the Practic to the Understanding and Governing of a Commonwealth to the Imagination IT is not without a Mystery that in the Spanish Tongue this Word Letrado Lettered is a common Term denoting all sorts of Lettered Men as well Divines as Lawyers Physicians Logicians Philosophers Orators Mathematicians and Astrologers nevertheless when it is said Fulano es letrado such a one is Letter'd we all understand with one consent the Skill in the Laws is his Profession as if it were his proper and peculiar Style and of no others Altho' to solve this Doubt be easy nevertheless to do it satisfactorily it is requisite to know first what the Law is and what Obligations they are under who apply themselves to the Study of this Profession to be afterwards made use of in the Employment of Judges or Advocates The Law to take it right is nothing but the reasonable Will of the Legislator by which he sets forth and declares in what manner such Cases shall be determined as are ordinarily emergent in the Commonwealth for conserving the Subjects in Peace and directing them how they are to live and what they are to forbear I said a reasonable Will because it is not sufficient that a King or Emperor who are the efficient Cause of the Law declare their Will at any rate that it may be Law for if the same be not Just and Reasonable neither is it nor can it be called a Law no more than he is a Man who wants a Reasonable Soul And therefore it has been agreed that Kings should enact their Laws with the Advice of very Wise and Understanding Men to the end they should be right equal and good and the Subjects should receive them willingly and be the more oblig'd to keep and observe them The material Cause of the Law is what is done in such Cases as ordinarily happen in the Commonwealth after the Order of Nature and not of utter Impossibilities or of rare Contingencies The Final Cause is to order the Life of Man to teach him what to do and what to forbear that so being conformable to Reason the Commonwealth may be preserv'd in Peace For which end the Laws are appointed to be Written
him but the Master that had taught him no better because the Cognizance and Solution of the Motions of Divine Providence as they are Supernatural Acts appertain to the Metaphysicians now a-days called Divines for the Gardener's question was Natural and properly belong'd to the Natural Philosophers those being establish'd and manifest Causes whence such Effects are produc'd For which reason the Philosopher says That the Earth resembled a Mother-in-law that took a particular care of her own Children but starved those of her Husband for we observe hers to be plump and in good liking but the other meager lank and ill coloured The Plants the Earth produces of her self come out of her own Bowels those the Gardener raises are forc'd by Art being the Daughters of another strange Mother void of the Virtue and Nourishment that should make them thrive and what is communicated only to the Plants she her self brings forth Hippocrates confirm'd this in his Visit he made to the great Philosopher Democritus who acquainted him with the false Notions the People had of Physic who as if they were free from all Diseases had nothing in their Mouths but that God had healed them and if it had not pleased him the Physicians Care and Skill had been all employed to no purpose and the like This is the old way of Talking and which has so often been in vain exploded by the Naturalists that it is not worth while to endeavour to silence it Neither is it altogether convenient because the Vulgar who are not acquainted with the particular Causes of any Effect whatever answer better and with more truth from the universal Cause which is God than to run into Impertinences However I have many times consider'd with my self whence it should come that the Vulgar should so readily ascribe all things to God taking no notice at all of Nature and not without some secret Abhorrence of Natural Means I know not well how to divine the true Cause but thus much I find that the Generality of People being ignorant which Effects more immediately to refer to God and which to Nature prate after this manner besides that Men are for the most part impatient and Friends to those that first gratify their Desires And the Process of Nature being slow and requiring length of Time they have not Patience to attend the Event but knowing the Omnipotence of God who in an Instant does what he pleases of which they want not many Instances they either beg at his Hands Health with the Paralitic or Wisdom with Solomon or Riches with Job or Deliverance from their Enemies with David An other Reason is because Men are Opinionative and Conceited most of them wishing in their Hearts that God would distinguish them by some particular Favour not in the common Road and as he makes the Sun to shine upon the Just and the Unjust and the Rain to descend upon all alike Favours being rather the more esteem'd by how much the Rarer they are and more Appropriate to a few Upon which pretence we have seen many Men feign Miraracles in Times and Places of Devotion for which cause People flock about them and pay just Veneration to them as Persons in Favour and Esteem with Heaven and if they are poor they bestow considerable Alms upon them who play the Religious Counterfeits for Interest The third Cause is Men are lovers of their Ease and Natural Causes being in such an Order and Concatenation as requires a great deal of Time and Application to discover their Effects therefore they had rather God should exert his Omnipotence that so they might without the least Pain or Delay obtain their Desires I shall take no notice of the Malice of those who seek for Miracles from God to tempt his Omnipotence to try if he can work them nor of others who to gratify their Revenge call for Fire from Heaven and the like severe Instances of the Divine Vengeance The last Reason is that the Vulgar generally speaking are very Religious and desirous that God should be greatly Honour'd and much Glorified which comes to pass by Miracles rather than Natural Events for the common People are not aware that God is not the Author of all Supernatural and Extraordinary things so much to proclaim his Almighty Power to the Ignorant as to employ them as nobler Arguments to confirm his Doctrin and that unless upon such an Emergency he never works any This is easily understood if we consider that God works not now such Miracles as once in the Old and New Testament and the Reason is because he has already done all that was necessary on his part that Man might not pretend Ignorance but to imagine that he should be ready to employ the same Arguments again and again and work new Miracles to confirm afresh his old Doctrin as in the Instances of raising the Dead giving Sight to the Blind Feet to the Lame and Paralitic is a great mistake for at the same instant as God teaches Men what is convenient he confirms it by Miracles without repeating them every day a-new God spoke once and did not repeat the same a second time The clearest Indication I have to discover a Man that has no Wit propense to Natural Philosophy is when I see him referring all things to Miracles without any distinction As on the other hand there is no need to call in question their Understanding who cannot rest satisfied without discerning the particular Cause of every Effect These are well aware that some Events are to be referred immediately to God as are Miracles and others again to Nature as those that have their immediate Causes from which they ordinarily flow But let us talk at what rate we please God is always understood to be the Author even of the last for when Aristotle said God and Nature make nothing in Vain he never meant that Nature was an Universal Cause having a Power independent upon God but a Name only of that Order and Subordinate Rule appointed by God himself in the Creation of the World to the end that such Effects might duly succeed as were necessary to its Conservation and Continuance in the same state So we say the King and Civil Right can do no Wrong by which manner of speaking no Man takes the Term Right to signifie another Prince of separate Jurisdiction from the King but rather as a Term by its signification importing all the Laws and Ordinances made by the King himself to preserve the State in Peace Like as a King has some peculiar Prerogatives that cannot be Determined by the Law as being Paramount and Extraordinary even so has God reserv'd to himself the Effects of Miracles for the Production of which he has given no Commission or Power to Natural Causes where by the way we may observe that he who takes them for such and can distinguish them from natural Effects must needs be a very acute Natural Philosopher and understand no less
than every Effect as it springs from its immediate Cause tho' this is not enough neither if the Catholic Church hath never declared them for such for like as Advocates engaged in the Study of the Civil Law have it imprinted in their Memory the better to know and understand the Kings Pleasure in the Determination of each particular Case Even so the Natural Philosophers being Advocates in their Faculty place their whole Study in this to know the Order God establish'd at the instant he created the World the better to discern what Causes produce what Effects and why And as it would be ridiculous for a Lawyer to alledge in his Breviate as a strong Proof that the King commanded such an Arrest in such a Case without shewing the Law and the Rule of Court by which it ought to be decided So the Natural Philosophers laugh at them who pronounce this or that is God's Work without running through the Order and inseparable Connexion of all the particular Causes concern'd in its immediate Production And for the same reason as a King denies to hearken to those that press him to Abrogate and Null a just Law or finally to decide a Case contrary to the standing Rules and Orders of his Ministerial Courts so neither will God likely hearken to those that importune him for Miracles and Signs out of the ordinary Course and Ministry of Nature when there is no Occasion for them For should a King every day null and make Laws and alter the Course of Justice be it for the diversity of Occasions or through the changes in his Councils because Right and Justice are not arrived at all at once yet the Natural Order of the Universe by us called Nature from the Creation to this Day has suffer'd no Change or Alteration in the least for he made it with so much Wisdom and Prudence that not to continue constant in that Order would be tacitly to lay a blame upon his Works But to return to that common Saying of the Antient Philosophers Nature makes able it is to be understood that there is a Wit and Ability bestow'd by God on Men out of the ordinary Course of Nature such was the Wisdom of the Apostles who being rude and illiterate were wonderfully enlightned and fill'd with Wisdom and Knowledge Which sort of Parts and Qualifications verify not that Nature makes able for that is a Work to be attributed immediately to God and not to Nature The like is to be understood of the Wisdom of the Prophets and of all others upon whom God has poured any of his Gifts There is another sort of Wit among Men produced by the Order and Dependence of Causes appointed by God to lead to such an end and of this kind it may be truly said Nature makes able For as we shall prove in the last Chapter of this Work there is a certain Order and Dependence of Natural Causes so that if Parents in the Act of Generation would duly observe it all their Children would be Wise and none of them Otherwise However in this Discourse such a signification of Nature is too loose and confus'd nor is the Understanding content to rest here without tracing every particular Effect up to its Ultimate Cause and therefore there is need to find out another meaning of this Word Nature which may be more accommodate to our purpose Aristotle and all other Natural Philosophers were more Particular calling Nature every substantial Form that gives Being to a thing and is the Principle of all its Operations In which sense our Rational Soul with good Reason is call'd Nature for from thence we receive the Form and Being we have of Men and the same is the Principle of all our Actions for all Rational Souls are of equal Perfection as well the Wise Man 's as the Fool 's and so we may not pronounce that it is Nature in this sense makes a Man witty for if that were true all Men would be equal in Wit and Capacity and thereupon the same Aristotle found out another Signification of Nature importing the Reason and Cause of a Man's being capable or incapable saying that the Temperament of the four first Qualities Heat Cold Moisture and Driness were to be call'd Nature inasmuch as from them proceed all the Abilities of Men all the Virtues and Vices and all the great variety of Wit we discover in the World And he proves it clearly by considering the several Parts of the Age of the wisest Man who in his Childhood is no more than a Brute Beast employing no other Powers than the Irascible and Concupiscible when Youth comes he betrays an admirable Wit which we see continues to a certain Period and no longer for old Age drawing on his Wit every day declines till in the End it is wholly lost Assuredly the diversity of Wit proceeds not from the Rational Soul for that in all Ages is the same without suffering any Alteration in its Vigor or Substance except a Man in the several Stages of his Life changes his Constitution or has a different Disposition and from hence is it that the Soul acts one part in the Childhood another in Youth and yet another in old Age whence may be drawn an evident Argument that seeing the same Soul performs contrary Acts in one and the same Body by having in each Division of Age a different Temperament whensoever of two Boys the one is Witty the other a Dunce the same happens by each having a diverse Temperament from the other which being the Principle of all the Operations of the reasonable Soul is by Physicians and Philosophers call'd Nature in which sense this Saying Nature makes able is properly Verified In confirmation of which Doctrin Galen writ a Book proving that the Operations of the Soul were influenc'd by the Temperament of the Body in which it dwelt and that by reason either of the Heat Cold Moisture and Driness of the Climate where they lived or the Qualities of the Meat they eat and of the Waters they drank and of the Air they breathed in some were Fools and others Wise some Stout and others Cowards some Cruel and others Gentle some Reserv'd and others Open some Lyars and others Speakers of Truth some Traytors and others Loyal some Turbulent and others Calm some Crafty and others Sincere some Sordid and others Generous some Modest and others Impudent some Incredulous and others Credulous in Proof of which he quotes many Places out of Hippocrates Plato and Aristotle asserting that the Diversity of Nations as to the Frame of their Bodies and the Turn of their Soul was owing to this Difference of Temperament Which is found true by Experience how much the Greeks differ from the Scythians the French from the Spaniards the Indians from the Germans and the Ethiopians from the English Neither is this only to be observ'd in Parts so remote from each other but if we consider even the Provinces that surround all
Difficulty against this Doctrin namely seeing God knew all the Wits and Ability in Israel and was well aware that the Temperate Men are possessed of that Prudence and Wisdom of which the Royal Office stands in need for what cause in the first Election that was made God sought not out such a Man as this For even the Text says that Saul was so tall of Stature as he exceeded all the people of Israel by the Head and Shoulders This is an ill sign of Wit not only in Natural Philosophy but God himself as he has pleased to shew us blamed Samuel for having an Eye to the great Stature of Eliab and his forwardness to Anoint him for King But this Doubt sufficiently informs us what Galen has said is true that out of Greece it is a folly to look for a Temperate Man seeing in so great a People as that of Israel God could not find one to choose for King but waited till David was grown up and in the mean while made choice of Saul seeing that as the Text says he was the best of all Israel tho' it seems he had more good nature than Wisdom and that alone was not sufficient to Rule and Govern Teach me goodness discipline and Knowledge says the Royal Prophet David being very sensible that it is to no purpose for a King to be Good and Virtuous if he be not withal at the same time Prudent and Wise It looks as if we had sufficiently confirmed our Opinion in this instance of King David but there arose also another King in Israel of whom it was said Where is he that is born King of the Jews And if we can prove that he was red-Haired well fashioned of middle Stature Virtuous Sound and of great Wisdom and Knowledge it will be no disadvantage to our Cause The Evangelists busy not themselves to relate the Composition of our Lord because it no way conduced to the subject they treated of but the same is a matter very easy to be understood supposing that an exact Temperament is all the Perfection a Man can naturally have and seeing it was the Holy Ghost that formed and Organized him it is certain that as touching the material Cause of which he form'd him it was not the Ill Temperament of Nazareth that could resist him nor cause him to erre in his work as it fares with Natural Agents but that he did what best pleased him because he wanted neither Power Knowledge nor Will to frame a Man most Perfect and without any Defect And the rather for that his Coming as he himself affirms was to endure Travels for Man and to teach him the Truth But this Temperament as we have prov'd before was the best Natural Instrument to effect these two things And therefore I hold for true the Relation that Publius Lentulus the Proconsul writ from Jerusalem to the Senate at Rome after this manner There has been seen in our Time a Man who yet lives of great Virtue call'd Jesus Christ who by the Gentiles is termed the Prophet of Truth and his Disciples say that he is the Son of God He raises the Dead and heals the Sick He is a Man of a middle proportionable Stature and of a very fair Countenance His Look carries such Majesty as procures at once both Love and Respect from all his Beholders His Hair down to his Ears is of the Colour of a Nut full ripe and from his Ears to his Shoulders of the Colour of Wax but brighter He has in the middle of his Forehead a little Lock after the manner of the Nazarens His Forehead is Plain but very Serene His Face without Spot or Wrinkle and of a moderate Colour His Nose and Mouth are not with any reason to be blamed His Beard thick and resembling his Hair not long but forked His Aspect is Gracious and Grave and his Eyes graceful and clear He is Awful in his Reproofs and Charming in his Admonitions He forces Love He is chearful with Gravity He is never seen to Laugh but Weep often He has elegant Hands and Arms In Conversation he is very pleasing but is seldom in Company and when he is very Modest In his Countenance and Mien the loveliest Man that can be imagined In this Relation are comprised three or four Marks of a Temperate Man The first that he had his Hair and Beard of the Colour of a Nut full ripe which if well considered is a brown Abourn which Colour God commanded the Heifer should have that was to be sacrificed in Figure of Jesus Christ And when he Ascended up into Heaven with the Triumph and Majesty due to such a Prince some of the Angels that knew nothing of his Incarnation ask'd Who is this that comes from Edom with his Garments died Red from Bosra As if they had said Who is this that comes from the Red-Land with his Garments died Red with regard to his Hair and Beard and to the Blood he was stained with The Letter also reports him the fairest Man that ever was seen which is the second Mark of a temperate Man Accordingly by this Mark Holy Scripture has distinguish'd him Goodly of Beauty among the Sons of Men and elsewhere it is said That his Eyes shall be Red with Wine and his Teeth White with Milk Which Beauty and Comely Shape of Body was of no small importance to engage the whole World to Love him because there was nothing Terrible about him And so the Letter says That every one was enclined to Love him It reports also That he was of middle Stature not that the Holy Ghost wanted Matter to make him greater if he had so pleased but because in over-charging the Rational Soul with Bones and Flesh the Wit is oppressed as we have prov'd before from the Opinion of Plato and Aristotle The third Mark namely to be Virtuous and of good Conditions is confirmed also from the same Relation and the Jews with all their false Witnesses could never prove the contrary nor answer him when he ask'd them Which of you can reprove me of Sin And Josephus from the credit of his History assures us that he seemed to be more than Man considering his great Goodness and Wisdom There is only long Life that is not verified of our Saviour Jesus Christ because they put him to Death so Young But if the Course of Nature had not been interruptted he might have lived above fourscore Years For it is very probable that he who could live in a Desart fourty Days and fourty Nights without Eating or Drinking and neither be Sick nor Die with it might better have preserv'd himself free from other slighter Accidents that might alter and impair his Temperament Howbeit this Action was reputed a Miracle and a thing that could not happen in the Compass of Nature These two Examples of Kings which we have alledged are sufficient to give to Understand that the Royal Scepter is due
to Temperate Men and that they have the Wit and Wisdom which is required for that Station But there was also another Man made by God's own hand with design that he should be King and Lord of all things Created and he made him also red well-fashioned Virtuous Sound of exceeding long Life and very Wise The Proof of which is no Inconvenience to our Cause Plato held it for a thing impossible for God or Nature to form a Man Temperate in an Intemperate Region and therefore he said that to make the first Man very Wise and Temperate God sought out a place where the Heat of the Air excceeded not the Cold nor the Moist the Dry And Holy Writ whence he drew this Opinion says not that God created Adam in the Terrestrial Paradise which is the most Temperate Place mentioned by Plato but that he plac'd him there after he had made him And the Lord God took the Man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it For as the Power of God is infinite and his Knowledge above measure and his Will inclin'd to give all the Natural Perfection to Man he was capable of in his Kind it is probable that neither the Piece of Earth of which he was fram'd nor the Intemperance of the Country of Damascus where he was created could hinder his coming Temperate out of Gods Hands The Opinion of Plato Aristotle and Galen hath place in the Works of Nature and yet even in Intemperate Regions Nature sometimes chances to produce a Temperate Man Now that Adam had Red Hair and Beard which is the first Mark of a Temperate Man is a thing very clear for in respect of this so notorious a Sign the Name of Adam was given him which is as much as to say as St. Jerom interprets it a red Man Nor can it be deny'd but he was Beautiful and well Fashioned which is the second Mark seeing that after God created him the Text says That he saw every thing which he had made and behold it was very good It is certain then that he issued not out of the Hands of God Foul or ill Shap'd Because all his Works are perfect Insomuch as the Text affirms that the very Trees were fair to Behold What then think you of Adam whom God created for the principal end and to be Lord and Master of the whole World That he was Virtuous Wise and well-Conditioned which are the third and sixth Marks may be collected from these words Let us make Man after our Image and Likeness because according to the Antient Philosophers the foundation of the Resemblance of Man to God was no other than Virtue and Wisdom Which made Plato say that the greatest pleasure God took above in Heaven was to hear a Wise and Virtuous Man praised and admir'd on Earth in as much as such a Man is his most lively Portraiture On the contrary he is displeased when the Foolish and Wicked are in Honour and Esteem because of the Disparity between them and himself That he liv'd Sound and a long while which are the fourth and fifth Marks is not hard to prove seeing that he lived nine hundred and thirty Years compleat So that I may now conclude that he that is Red well-Fashioned of middle Stature Virtuous Sound and of long Life must necessarily be exceeding Wise and have the Wit requisite for the Royal Scepter We have also by the by made out after what manner a great Understanding may be joyn'd with a large Imagination and Memory tho' this may come to pass without the Man's being Temperate But Nature makes so few after this Model that amongst all the Wits I have examined I have not met above two But how a large Understanding a vast Imagination and a good Memory may meet together in a Man not being Temperate is a thing easy to comprehend if we admit the Opinion of some Physitians who affirm that the Imagination lies in the fore-part of the Brain the Memory in the hinder part and the Understanding in the middle which may also be supposed by our Apprehension but it is a work of great labour that the Brain being no bigger than a Pepper-corn at the time Nature begins to form it should have one of the Ventricles of Seed very Hot another of very Moist and that in the middle of very dry tho' after all this is no Impossible Case CHAP. XVII In what manner Parents may beget wise Children and of a Wit fit for Learning 'T IS a thing worthy of great Admiration that Nature being such as we all know Wise Skilful of great Art Knowledge and Power and Man a Work in which she has shew'd so much skill Nevertheless for one person that is Wise and Prudent she produces an infinite Number of half-Witted Of which effect searching into the reason and Natural Causes I have found at length that the fault lay in Parents not applying themselves to the Act of Generation in that Order and with that Concert which Nature has established not knowing the Conditions which are to be observ'd in the begetting Wise and Prudent Children For by the same Reason that in whatever Country it be either Temperate or Intemperate there is born a Man of great Wit with regard to the same Order of Causes there are a thousand begot of a slender Capacity If we can then by Art procure a Remedy for this there will accrue to the Common-Wealth the greatest Benefit it can receive But the Difficulty of this Matter is that we cannot treat of it in Terms so decent and seemly as becomes that Modesty which is so Natural to Men. And if for this reason I should spare the mention of any Part or Action that is necessary it is certain the whole matter will be marred insomuch as it is the Opinion of many grave Philosophers that wise Men ordinarily beget Blockheads because for Modesties sake they abstain in the act of Copulation from some Caresses which are of importance that the Child partake of the Fathers Wit Of the Natural Modesty conceived in the Eyes when the parts of Generation are exposed to view and of the Offence which their Names give to our Ears some antient Philosopers have attempted to find the Reason being surprized to see that Nature had framed these Parts with such Care and Diligence for a Design so important as that of Immortalizing Mankind and yet nevertheless the Wiser and Prudenter a Man is the more he is ashamed to see them or hear them Named Shame and Modesty as Aristotle says is a Passion proper to the Understanding and whosoever is not offended at hearing the Names of the Parts or Actions of Generation it is certain that he is wholly unprovided of this Faculty as we may declare him to be void of the Sense of Feeling that should not feel his Hand burn tho' he held it in the midst of the Fire By this very Token