Mankind is a Demonstration as clear as any in Euclide Thus without the least straining of the Argument we see it naturally follows That nothing is more vain or ridiculous than for a Prince or State to pretend to an uncontrolable Greatness that hath not first laid their Foundation in the Deep And who can be a better instance of this than that Great Emperour Charles the Fifth whose carelessness in his Naval concerns not only broke his own Design as to the Universal Monarchy but likewise terminated in the ruine of his Successor And this oversight or neglect though too late that great Prince was sensible of when he so strictly gave it in Charge to his Son Philip That if either he would be happy at Home or considerable Abroad he should take care to make himself Great at Sea By his Example then let no Prince who aspires to be great slight or neglect this Watry Element since 't is but a jest in Politicks and an Utopian Fancy to think to arrive at the utmost height of Empire without Fleets and Armada's And that Prince who thinks to give Law to Mankind must be sure in the first place to make the Sea his Friend This without a Figure is to build upon a Rock whose Foundation will stand firm and sure And therefore that Spirit of Laziness which makes the Spaniard so much slight this Rule is that which in spight of the Wealth of the West Indies keeps him so poor and beggarly And while he sits idle at home swelling with his own Pride the English and Dutch by their Industry grow Rich by his Spoils and with his Treasure of the West Indies do they carry on the Trade of the East Thus you see the improving of Trade and Commerce is no such slight matter Nor is it to be wonder'd that this does so often prove the Ball of Contention for men may well be allowed to be zealous when their interest is so nearly concern'd and this that Wise and Glorious Princess Queen Elizabeth very well knew when she so narrowly ey'd and observ'd the Dutch whom she was always jealous of lest they should grow too great in Navigation and so by that means might prove our Competitors both by Sea and Land Since then Commerce and Navigation bring such mighty advantages to a Nation 't is no wonder I say that the greatest and wisest States and Governments have been so very sollicitous for the improving it Trade is the very Life and Soul of the Universe which like the Vital Blood in the Body Circulates to the Health and well-being of the whole and when by the failure of Industry there is a stop put to Commerce it often proves as fatal to the Body Politick as the stagnating of the Blood does to the Natural Body What were the World but a rude and dull Indigested Lump a noisome and pestilential Mass did not Commerce like the Sun by its Universal Rays exhale all its malignant and noxious Vapours and by a continual Motion and Transaction render it wholesome and profitable What would become of the Busie Soul of Man had she not found out variety of Imployment for its Exercise And therefore Nature wisely did foresee the many and great Inconveniencies of Idleness how that it would Convert the World into another Chaos making the Earth but as one dull and useless Mass when she hid her Rarities and Treasures in the secret Bowels thereof and buried them in the Watry Deep and lodg'd them at so vast and remote a distance that so their Worth and Value might be a Spur to Labour and Industry to fetch them thence Nay God himself is particularly call'd the God of the Isles as looking on them by Virtue of their skill in Navigation to be the best Factors for the Common Good and as a Blessing upon their Industry we find most Isles and Maritime places exceed all In-land Cities and Countries in Riches and Variety of Plenty We see then 't is not the vastness of Territory but the Convenience of Situation nor the Multitude of Men but their Address and Industry which improve a Nation Now since we have hitherto discours'd of Trade in general and the several Advantages that accrue from thence possibly the Reader may not think it altogether impertinent if we entertain him with an Account of the Original of Trade and shew how and by what steps and Methods Commerce hath advanc'd it self amongst Mankind The first of all Humane Race when they were dispers'd into several Lands were at first sustain'd by the Fruits of the Earth which fell to their share These at first they cherish'd and us'd not by any Rules of Art but by that Natural Sagacity which teaches all Men to endeavour their own Preservation And that they might peaceably enjoy these they thought the best Course they could take was to Associate themselves into Families and to enter into little Leagues and thus begun Civil Government But finding that no Place was so fruitful as to produce all Things necessary for Humane Life this put them upon a Necessity either of taking by force what their Neighbours possess'd or else of Exchanging the several Productions of their respective Soils This then was the way and Method of Trading in the first Ages of Mankind when one had eaten or spent what was his own he repair'd to his Neighbour for more at the same time accommodating him with some other Thing whereof he stood in need by way of Exchange the respective value of the Things being limited according to their estimation of their goodness and scarcity in the first place and then of their Beauty or Comeliness And because Oxen and Sheep afforded them the most Commodities as their skins for Clothing and their Milk and Flesh for Food besides other uses to which they were serviceable they made all their Traffick with Cattle in which their whole wealth consisted But because 't was too troublesome a thing for Man to drive always a Flock of Sheep before him or lead a Cow by the Horn for making of payment the Industry of Men encreasing they cast their Eyes upon that which was in the next degree of most use to them and most durable and finding that nothing was of more general use than Iron and Copper and especially that the latter was the fairest and easiest to be melted and cast into Kettles and other Domestick Utensils they made choice thereof mutually giving and receiving it by weight for other things they needed and divided it by Pounds which word still remains amongst us to signifie Twenty Shillings which is very near the just value that a Pound of Copper had in those days And to save the Labour of weighing this Pound and the parts of it they stamp'd upon one side the Figure of a Ship with the weight and value and on the other side the Picture of one of those Beasts which are design'd by the word Pecus whence Money came to be call'd Pecunia Afterwards the Arms of
soon as we can go alone we take them by the hand we sleep with them in our bosoms and contract an insensible Friendship with them a pleasing Familiarity which takes off all Deformities we love them and we like them and their very Blackness is a Beauty as it is with the African Nations to whom even that which we judge Deformity appears more lovely than the most delicate European Beauty Thus it was truly said of Philo That every Man 's own Religion seem'd to him the best because he judgeth of it not by reason but by affection like those Philosophers of whom Cicero spake who liked no Discipline but their own Hence we find and that the best account many can give of their Faith is that they were bred in it And the most are driven to their Religion by Custom and Education as the Indians are to Baptism that is like a Drove of Cattle to the Water Thus do we judge all things by our anticipations and condemn or applaud them as they differ or agree with our first opinions 'T is on this account that almost every Country censures the Laws Customs and Doctrines of every other as absurd and unreasonable and are confirmed in their own follies beyond possibility of Conviction In a word there is nothing so absurd to which Education cannot form our tender Youth It can turn us into shapes more Monstrous than those of Africk For in our Childhood we are like the melted Wax to the prepared Seal capable of any Impression from the documents of our Teachers The Half-Moon or Cross are indifferent to us and with the same ease can we write on this Rasa Tabula Turk or Christian Hence therefore it is That we find no Religion so irrational but can boast of its Martyrs Nor no Opinion so silly and ridiculous but has had some Philosopher or other to support and defend it And because there is not any thing more strange than the great diversity of Laws and Customs in the World I shall not here think it impertinent to transcribe some of those which are most remarkable as for Instance To account it a most pious and Religious Act to kill their Parents when they come to such an Age and then to eat them In one and the same Nation Virgins go with their Privy Parts uncovered and married Women carefully cover and conceal them Where Children are excluded and Brothers and Nephews only inherit Where Chastity in unmarried Women is in no esteem for such may prostitute themselves to as many as they please and being got with Child may lawfully take Physick to make themselves miscarry but Married Women keep themselves Chast and Faithful to their Husbands Where the Custom was that every Bride should be prostitute to all Comers the first Night and she who had entertain'd most was most honoured Where they have no Marriages and therefore Children only own their Mothers not being able to guess at their Fathers Where Bawdy Houses of Young Men are kept for the Pleasure of Women as there are of Women for the Necessities of Men Where the servile condition of Women is look'd upon with such contempt that they kill all the Native Women and buy Wives of their Neighbours to supply their use Where they boil the bodies of their Dead and afterwards pound them to a pulpe which they mix with their Wine and drink it Where the greatest Oath they take is to Swear by the Name of some Dead Person of Reputation laying their handup on his Tomb Where the ordinary way of Salutation is by putting a finger down to the Earth and then pointing it up towards Heaven Where it is the Fashion to turn their backs upon him they salute and never look upon the Man they intend to honour Where whenever the King spits the greatest Ladies of his Court put out their hands to receive it And where also the most eminent Persons about him stoop to take up his Ordure in a Linnen Cloth Thus have I Collected and Copied out several of those Customs which to me seem the most extravagant and uncouth whereby it plainly appears that there is no Opinion or Imagination so idle or ridiculous which is not established by Laws and Customs in some place or other Thus in a word do we see the mighty power of Custom and Education which is so great that the rankest follies are counted Sacred if Customary And the Fashion is always handsom and agreeable though never so uncouth or ridiculous to an indifferent Beholder In short we are civil or uncivil good or bad foolish or wise or any thing else according to Custom which Erasmus calls the Monosyllable Tyrant because 't is form'd Mos in Latine though Pinder stiles her the Queen and Empress of the World Seneca says That we govern our selves not by Reason but by Custom accounting that most honest which is most practised and Errour serves us for a Law when it is become publick Custom we know is of so great account among Phisicians that according to the great Hippocrates there is no one thing ought more to be regarded Nay says he whatsoever a Man is us'd to altho' it be bad is less harmful than what we are not accustomed to although in it self it be better And among the Lawyers we see there is nothing more esteemed of than Custom Prescription is always counted the best Title and the Common Law which is nothing but several Customs established by time and experience has always the preference of Statute-Law and is esteem'd the Nobler part Again Custom governs our very Affections and we love rather by Custom than by Reason Hence Mothers more tenderly effect their Children with whom they commonly converse more than Fathers do and Nurses more than some Mothers Custom hath likewise such a Power over the Imagination that when we are asleep we often dream of those things which our minds most run upon when we are awake And what a mighty Influence has it upon the outward Sences which may be perceived in those Persons who after they have been for some time kept in a dark place come into a full and open light not being able to bear that luminous Body which by its glaring seems to dazle and offend their sight And hence it is That those who live near the Cataracts of Nile as also those several Tradesmen whose noise displeases us so much and who dwell in Mills and Forges Custom has made it so familiar to them that they are no ways disturbed with this constant clattering but rest and sleep as quietly with noise as others do without it Thus doth Custom sufficiently shew its own Force and Power which is stronger than Nature inasmuch as it both alters and destroys Nature and is so poweful that it cannot be destroyed but by it self To conclude then the Power of Custom is much greater than most men imagine and therefore it is that through mistake we often call that the Law of Nature which really is but the
effect of Custom That affection which we say every Man naturally bears to his own Country whence comes it Is it not from Custom I know indeed some tell us that this love to our Native Soil is by the instinct of Nature as Beasts love their Dens and Birds their Nests But I rather think it is from civil institution as being accustomed to the same Laws the same Ceremonies the same Temples the same Markets and the same Tribunals No wonder then that the Generality of Mankind is so influenced by Custom since that Idea which most Men have of Truth and Reason is no other than what Custom dispenseth to them And hence it is that we often are so strangely deluded and imposed upon For Custom says Montaigne veils from us the true aspect of things Miracles appear to be so according to our ignorance of Nature and not according to the essence of Nature The continually being accustomed to any thing blinds the eye of our Judgment Hence therefore it is That as the Greeks and Romans formerly called all Barbarians who followed not their Laws and Fashions so we still keep up the same humour by judging all those who differ from us in their Customs and Usages to be at least Ridiculous if not Barbarous Though after all the Barbarians are no more a wonder to us than we are to them nor it may be with any more reason Those Americans who kill their old decrepit Parents instead of believing themselves Parricides call us Cruel for letting ours continue so long in the Miseries of old Age And as for that Practice of theirs which to us seems so unnatural of eating their own Parents they think they do thereby give them the most noble sort of Sepulture by burying them in their own Bodies in a manner reviving them again and regenerating them by a kind of Transmutation into their Living Flesh by the means of Digestion and Nourishment And to say the Truth there are many Laws and Customs which seem at the first view to be savage inhumane and contrary to all Reason which if they were without Passion and soberly consider'd though they were not found to be altogether just and good yet at least they might be plausibly defended by some kind of Reason A wise Man therefore ought to suspend his Judgement and not to be over-forward in Censuring and Condemning the Practices and Customs of other Nations which sort of narrowness I find many are subject to and with the Hermite are apt to think the Sun Shines no where but in their Cell and that all the World is darkness but themselves But this certainly is to measure Truth by a wrong Standard and to Circumscribe her by too narrow a Scantling But to proced Since Custom hath so great a sway in all our Actions we may well look upon it as another Nature nay sometimes we see it Conquers Nature Thus by Custom did Mithridates render Poyson so familiar to himself that it lost its noxious Quality and we find whole Nations in India that live upon Toads Lizards and Spiders Custom then is no slight thing it is that which ought in the first place to be regarded since it exercises so absolute dominion over us Plato reproving a Boy for playing at some Childish Game Thou reprovest me says the Boy for a very little thing Custom replyed Plato is no little Thing And says Montaigne He was in the right for I find our greatest Vices derive their first Propensity from our most tender Infancy and that our Princpal Education depends upon the Nurse And therefore since Education carries so great force and Authority along with it how much does it behove such Parents who have any regard to Vertue and Wisdom to give their Children a vertuous and sober Education though indeed this does not always prove successful For Nero notwithstanding his two excellent Tutors Seneca and Burrhas receiv'd but little Improvement Cicero's Son to the stupidity of his Nature added Drunkenness and return'd from Athens and Cratippus as great a Blockhead as he went Marcus Aurelius provided fourteen of the most approved Masters to Educate Commodus yet could not rectifie his froward and Barbarous humour Thus as Sir Henry Wotton observes There is in some Tempers such a natural Barrenness that like the Sands of Arabia they are never to be cultivated or improved And according to the old proverb Ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius There are some â—rab-Stocks of such a nature that all the Ingrafting in the World can never correct or amend But these Monsters of Nature are not often to be met with For we usually observe that the Culture of the mind as of the Earth doth deliver it from the Barrenness of its Nature And that the toughest and most unbended Natures by early and prudent Discipline may be much corrected and improved ESSAY IV. Of the Ancients And the Respect that is due unto them That we should not too much enslave our selves to their Opinions AS we should not be so fondly conceited of our selves and the extraordinary Abilities of the Present Age as to think every thing that is Ancient to be obsolete or as if it must needs be with Opinions as it is with Cloaths where the newest is for the most part best so neither should we be so Superstitiously devoted to Antiquity as to take every thing for Canonical which drops from the Pen of a Father or was approved by the consent of the Ancients Antiquity is ever venerable and justly challenges Honour and Reverence but yet there is difference between Reverence and Superstition We may assent unto them as Ancients but not as Oracles They may have our minds easie and inclinable but there is no reason they should have them Captivated and Fetter'd to their Opinions As I will not distrust all which without manifest Proof they deliver where I cannot convince them of Error so likewise will I suspend my Belief upon probability of their Mistakes and Where I find reason to dissent I will rather respect Truth than Authority As there may be Friendship so there may be Honour with diversity of Opinions nor are we bound therefore to defie Men because we reverence them We wrong our Ancestors more by admiring than opposing them in their Errours and our opinion of them is very dishonourable if we think they had rather have us followers of them than of Truth The greatest respect we can shew the Ancients is by following their Example which was not Supinely and Superstitiously to sit down in fond admiration of the Learning of those that were before them but to examine their Writings to avoid their Mistakes and to use their Discoveries in order to the further Improvement of Knowledge This they did and never any Man took a greater Liberty in censuring and reproving the supposed Errors and Mistakes of the Elder Philosophers than Aristotle himself And therefore I do not see any reason why he should be allow'd greater priviledge than what he