Hell Can no bounds be put to luxurious Ambition nor any Limit to the impudent Impostor who has not considered the Body sometimes diseased and how Death stands ready to blot out the Character of Life so that if ill Symptoms but happen to invade us the Grave immediately stands gaping to devour us Nor can our Limbs any sooner be touched with the Cold and icie Finger of Death but our vital Fires begin all to extinguish and the glorious shining Sparks of Life look languid and dim and so by degrees lose their sparkling Lustre Then it is that the natural Artifice of Men and Means suddenly forsake us and the secret Subtilties of our deceitful Hearts basely and cowardly renounce and desert us And then it is that our truckling Faith prostrates a false Heart on the cold and frozen Altar of Despair which formerly was the common Factorage and Receptable of impure Flames where we used to offer up adulterated Sacrifices with impious Adorations as the Athenians did to unknown Gods prophetically Prognosticating our merited Destruction So that now in a Clod or lump of Clay the lustre of Life is silently sealed up and secretly conveyed to the Sepulchres of Death and because translated from the beauteous Creation is made to cease from a natural State and embrace Corruption and the putrid Grave in eternal silence where we shall never see Light nor Day any more nor with Sorrow or Reluctancy look back upon the anguish and anxiety of those we formerly persecuted by unjust Sentences when as Judges we sat and perverted Judgment yet would seem to appear as Angels of Light But strip'd and stark naked the World now inspects us and all those Graces that naturally adorn'd us discover themselves but personal Deformities So that Disease finds as little difficulty to attempt us as Death to encounter and overcome us For have not our sensual Guards all declin'd us and the Arguments of Sense and Reason revolted from us Every Instrument and Organ has reclaim'd its natural Function whereby we perceive our selves deserted by the active shining Motions of Life and doom'd to Death by the Law of Sin we subscribe to the fatal Decrees of Mortality O fatal flattering Impiety where 's all those specious Pretences of Purity that link'd and intail'd our suborn'd Inclinations to the gaudy Temptations of luxurious Honour What if every Man had the Wealth of a Monarch and as great as Alexander in Empire and Dominion and suppose his Domesticks as numerous as the World yet Death would arrest him and send him Summons to appear before Heaven's high Tribunal where he must answer for himself and not another for him whilst Conscience as a bold and daring Accuser will accuse him for the Deeds done here in the Body So that as our Work was here upon Earth such also will be our Reward in Heaven But how sad will it be when to behold the Portals of the New Ierusalem firmly bolted and barrocaded against us when to hear the dreadful and irrevocable Sentence of eternal Excommunication pass upon us to be utterly secluded Society with the Saints and denied Community with the blessed Angels that perpetually triumph with Seraphick Hallelujahs as the Seraphims and Cherubims with heavenly Ejaculations whilst we are made to grope in Darkness unutterable and to lament there the Impiety of Life and debar'd Repentance after Death because to reject it when proffred unto us for in the Grave there 's no Contrition nor after Judgment is there any Revocation This is a sad and deplorable Sentence beyond the reach of Sorrow to contemplate for if but to consider the Janglings in Hell and the murmuring Complaints of the Damned in Torments that belch out Blasphemies to confirm their Impieties and by spiritual Pride prophane the Beauty of Holiness and would if possible corrupt the Creation prostituting to Idols and the Ides of Time and as much as in them lies pervert and poison the Sacred Oracles of Judgment and Justice But what Tongue can express the glorious Raptures and beatifical Visions the Saints enjoy with the Seraphick Harmony of the blessed Hierarchy whilst Penitents pass by the Gates of Hell to the heavenly triumphant Joys of Eternity O what Love so convincing and stupendously manifest as a Saviour to die for unregenerate Sinners to affix himself to the Cross of Death to fasten our Souls to Eternal Life to load his Body with the Burden of Sin to purchase for Sinners the Seal of Redemption This is that great and sublime Elixir that transmutes our Nature into Divinity Time into Eternity and our Souls into Himself from which supereminent Heavenly State there 's no relaxation but an intire Unity and Community with God for ever and ever to all Eternity For as Light is inseparable from it self nor can Darkness co-mingle or incorporate with it such is the Soul that is truly sanctified and sprinkled with the Blood of this Miracle of Mercy that never for the future can be separated from its Saviour but as Sin hates the Light because the Light discovers its Darkness so Light because it 's the Standard of Truth not only discovers but dissipates the Darkness The Lamb of God is the Light of the World that for ever shines and for ever frees the penitent Soul from the Shades of Darkness How great therefore must that Light be that enlightneth the World and every Man that cometh into the World Now the true State of Felicity is only attainable by Faith in Christ and Faith directs to the Portals of Humility Humility to Piety and Piety leads on to the Duties of Charity by a religious resignation of our inglorious Will to the Glory of his Will that bore our Burden of Sin on the Cross. Here let us sigh down if possible the Sins of the Age as Christ by the virtue of his pure Divinity depress'd those Mountains of Sin in the World then in obedience to this great Example let us cruciate our selves the better to enable us to triumph over Death for to conquer Self forceth the Devil to recoil and to render the Vanities of this World contemptible is to lead Hell and Captivity captive which none but Christ can do and has done yet ought we to imitate our Leader as true Volunteers of the Cross if we hope to imbrace the Royal Sanctions of him that bore his Cross in a bloody Shower for the Redemption of Mankind This I recommend to the Christian Reader that follows the Lamb the Captain of our Salvation Th. By this most excellent Description of Man he labours I perceive under great Anxiety till Christ affix him by his Sovereign Ray of Light whereby to illuminate and sublime his immortal Soul into the everlasting Arms of himself the glorious Being of his all-glorious Father where Time shall be no more for Time is but the Child of Eternity as is Generation the Child of Time Generation therefore devolves in Time and Time results in the Arms of Eternity But Eternity is the Beam
Undergraduate in the Art Nor have I confidence to raise my Ambitions higher than to superscribe my self an Admirer of the Rod and a Lover of silent and solitary Streams Let my Writings therefore remonstrate my Experiments and my Experiments manifest my Zeal for Solitudes and my natural affection to the Place of my Nativity which can never be wanting whilst I 'm in a capacity to speak or write my Name Philanthropus A Dedication to the Gentlemen Piscatorians Inhabiting in or near the sweet Situations of Nottingham North of Trent GENTELMEN IF to violate Faith though but with Infidels we forfeit not only our Reason but Religion so not to dedicate some part of my Experiments to your Ingenious Society might justly prohibit me the freedom of tracing your flourishing Fields and fragrant Meadows inamel'd with Flowers that perfume the beautiful Suburbs of Trent upon whose delightful Banks I formerly used to spend some solitary Hours in pursuit of the scaly Fry and where the Plenty and sweet Situations invited me not only to contemplate but improve this mystical Art of Angling though it 's true the Rudiments in the minority of Youth were laid in Cam yet Silver Trent's orient Streams graduated my juniour Experiments by unfolding her Meanders and making obvious the Intrigues of her rapid Fords replenished with variety nay so great variety of Fish that only to express it would almost bring Truth into Suspicion when from the more profound and solitary Deeps the Artist if expert may summons up Lucit and the generous Race of Salmon But Gentlemen I am not Angling now I 'm only telling you those original Motives to this solitary and Piscatorian Science that grew up with me when an Adult for then I courted the shady Streams of Cam but Trent as I told you above gave me Education To Trent therefore and the Place of my Nativity I direct my Influences let Malice do its worst nor are they extravagant Notions nor broken Fragments collected from Foreign nor Domestick Authority but lineal and practical Experiments and Demonstrations drawn up and cultivated by the Mediums of Art and the exact Methods of Observation which without vanity I dedicate to your Society inhabiting the flourishing Ports of Nottingham which I doubt not you 'l accept of though not much to inrich you however you may taste of those solitary Hours laboriously spent in Great-Britain's Hellespont the famous Trent where I used to refresh my self and ramble up and down her delightful Fords to gratify and satisfy others as well as my self with the Fruits of Experience So that should I call Sea and Land Elizium it 's not altogether improper so to do since Earth and Water compleat but one Globe In those florid Fields near the Fords of Trent I frequently wandred up and down to crop the Buds of Experience yet I plundred no Man's Orchard to enrich my Arbory nor borrowed I other Mens Labours to adorn my Discoveries the Bounty of Heaven that always blest me with benevolent Success restrained me from rifling the Records of my Ancestors when to put a Rod in my Hand and place a River before me so that I should offer Violence to Reason and Art if now to consult the Authority of others when such a large and legible Folio to write by as the great and stupendous Volume of the Creation which to contemplate interprets the Divine Practice of Solitudes and becomes not only contributary to the present but the future Generations To study Contemplation is the high way to Heaven where the Suburbs consist of a Divine Composition and where you may read by those Oracles the Stars the beautiful Order of Celestial Bodies and the great and lesser World all Harmony for Heaven and Earth are Correlates which duly to contemplate poises our Passion and baffles our Pride which necessarily pursues the Foot-steps of Generation as naturally as Rust follows Copper which without dispute is the Death of the Compound consequently Tradition if penitentially admitted and Ignorance opposed to the Mediums of Art there uncultivated Arts present no Dispondencies nor need a Man solicite Reality in Practicks But this I oppose and confidently assert he that licks up the fabulous Fiction of slippery Authority to confirm his false and untenable Position brings unsound Arguments to prop and support the slender Faith his Opinion leans on whereby he exposes himself to Clamour and Reproach and the Censure of every judicious Examinant Give me leave therefore to remonstrate my Resolution since the Arguments and Allegations in my Book are my own Yet had I rob'd Virgil to adorn my Muse peradventure my Fancy had been more fruitful but take it as it is since so freely dedicated to the Virtuosos of the Rod from whom in modesty I may reasonably expect some charitable Censures of this my Sober and Contemplative Angler advising them to direct to the Gnomen of Practicks omitting Theory and the useless Prescriptions of the Antients Then shall no Man need to grope the Invention of others but manifest every Truth by plain Demonstration Thus far I may safely sail under the Angler's Protection but should I write Marginal Notes and place them to the Test of unpractical Anglers beyond dispute I should split on a Rock and wanting a Pilot to bring me off I might live without Hope and die in Despair which I resolve against whilst capable to write my Name Philanthropus THE PREFACE Courteous Reader LET me manuduct you through the slender Margin of my uncultivated Book to contemplate the Evangelical Sweets of Reason and Religion two requisite and necessary Priniciples for a Christian. For since it hath pleased God through infinite Mercy to breathe into Man a rational Soul whereby he was made Lord of all the Creation to govern and conduct the Creatures committed to his Charge with respect of Duty to his Sovereign Creator this capacitates Man to act prudentially for imprudent Actions proceed from Rashness and the inconsiderate poize of Reason So to be religious it 's the Christian 's Corona that enables him to contemplate his present State and future Felicity Which to accomplish he must cruciate himself with his Thoughts and his Lusts and strip himself of all imaginary Vanities to ruminate how the certain uncertain State of Mortality in a Moment breaks up and terminates in Death And it 's requisite it be so since the Body's Solution displays the Soul's glorious Ascension out of this elementary Tabernacle of Earth and Clay whereby with more vivacity she may elevate her self on the Wing of Faith by Divine Attraction to those glorious and invisible Exaltations which beatifical Vision no mortal Tongue can well express nor can Mortality conceive nor enjoy here save only by a Divine Faith and a Holy and Heavenly Speculation Now how necessary is the study and practice of Christianity the true noble and the heavenly Birth For a Christian is such by Regeneration and to be regenerate is a Child of God and a Child of God is a Saint here
Lordship not unlike the Prodigal that hates to out-live his Estate and Patrimony The Angler therefore that would civilly treat him ought to bring him what he loves and that you know is but requisite and reasonable and where-ever you find him it 's a hundred to one that the whole Armado is not far from him since for the most part they move all in a Body One would think them Mutineers because all of a Piece for if you hang but one all the rest are in danger Nor will they revolt or retreat from their Diet since every one resolves to eat till he die I fancy them somewhat of the Nature of Negroes that expect after Death to return back to the Goldcoast for if you bring him but a Brandlin or a well-purg'd Gild-tail he shall shew you his Face and leap into the Pannier The Ruff or Pope inhabits little Holes Betwixt the Artick and Antartick Poles Who seldom quarels yet can't well dispense With an Affront who arms for his defence GVDGEON As the Gudgeon is a most delicious Fish so ought he to be most delicately drest and because the Angler's and every one's Entertainment therefore he 's preferr'd before many other Fish that make not so fine a show in the Platter It 's true there 's no fear to surfeit of a Diet that 's so naturally nutricious and converts all into Nourishment without the Law of Physick This piece of curiosity is a curious admirer of limpid clear and cristalline Streams more especially when surrounded with gentle turns in Rivers and Rivulets that have sandy Bottoms and if paved with Gravel it 's never the worse who almost to a Miracle affects Cleanliness in eating and as he loves his Life loves that his Meat should always be well washed before he eats it This fresh-water Smelt seldom or never roves abroad as other Fish do to recreate himself with Insects and Flies but contents himself at home with a Gentle rather than to ramble abroad for Varieties for to speak plain English his Life is in danger and Sentence of Death pronounced at the sight almost of every master-Fish But the Brandlin he adores as his select Modicum and the Gild-tail sweetens all his Diversions so that if either be brought him to sport and play with he would have it vivid but not livid and sweetned and adorned with an odoriferous Perfume Now some Anglers have been pleased to write various Encomiums on this little curious piece of Mortality and they do him right for he is a Fish that not only entertains the Angler with the Rod but as if there were a familiarity betwixt them nibbles at his Toes whilst he muddles in the Streams diverting not the Angler only but the Salmon also Besides the Perch admires him and the Eel and the Burbolt adore him So do many other Fish but the Pike above all Fish no sooner sees him but his Teeth water till he taste of the Dainty The Gudgeon loves the Water sweet and clear In freshest Streams and smallest Turns he 's there Lock till you find him then you find your Wish If for a Banquet or a Bait for Fish BLEAK The Bleak or Whitlin is the Summer Intelligencer and more of a Masculine than a Feminine Nature that conceals himself Ladylike all the Winter till long Days and a warm Sun invites him forth to purchase Flies which are sold him sometimes at the rate of his Life This Fresh-water Sprat is of most accurate Motion and feeds not much unlike the Swallow partaking very much of his Nature and Quality as near as Fish and Fowl can do or as near as Fish and Flesh can have and that 's as near as the Elements can admit of which certainly is a Secret yet very observable if the Angler but consider their coming in which is in the Vernon Ingress their natural Food and their going out together in the Autumnal Equinox You must also remember that he loves not a Stream yet would he by no means dwell far from it and bites aloft at the Race of Flies yet gratifies himself with the Soil of the Earth At Mid-water if you seek him he 's solicitous after Gentles and if at the Bottom he desires a Brandlin but he that would court him to death with a Dainty must bring him a parcel of Ant-flies The Bleak or Whitlin floats in silent Deeps In Summer-time but all the Winter sleeps For then he 's seldom seen this curious Dish Implicit Walton calls the Swallow-Fish MINEW The Minew or Penk is in my Opinion but a very small Banquet for Fish or Fisher. But a little discourse shall serve for this little Fish that is no ways difficult to find nor is he over-curious to catch provided the Artist but come where he is and that 's almost every where nor need you search him in rapid Streams for there he is not yet dwells not far from them but in Rills and Rivulets in their small Turns of Water with a bit of a Worm or a Brandlin if you please you may turn him out as soon as with any thing The Minue lives I need not tell you how Examine Trent and there you 'l find enow The Salmon Trout and Perch sliely he 'l cheat Them of their Lives and yet 's their daily Meat Th. And must this be our Exercise to trample the beautiful Banks and the florid Meadows of famous Trent to rifle her Fords for Diversion and sweeten our Senses with fragrant Odorates that perfume the Air blest beyond expectation to imprint on her silver Sands the lively Character of the Angler's Footsteps whilst we flourish our Artillery over the trembling Streams as they silently glide through the redolent Fields with a soft but sweet and murmuring Noise Ar. Thus we may divert our selves with the Streams of Trent until the radiant Zenith strike us with Heat and then consult Umbrage under the shady Oaks where not to be idle we may there form Flies and keep out of Sun-shine where the Rocks and the Woods will invite us to contemplate the imbellished Creation the variety of Creatures and the All-glorious Creator Th. This I confess is Sovereign Advice and if I mistake not the shady Trees of Sherwood will conduce to moderate the fiery Strokes of the Sun whilst Phaeton with his Chariot careers to the Western Fountains Ar. Nor till then is it needful to return to our Exercise and make inrodes with our Art and artificial Artillery for to practise the Ground-bait in the Heat of the Day is a piece of Industry without any Ingenuity since the true knowledg and disquisitions of the Ground-bait if sedulously consulted will sufficiently compensate the Toil of the Artist because when to afford him a due poize of Profit with solitary Pleasure Moreover it 's less difficult to calculate the constant Commons that Fish themselves frequently acquire than to enumerate the various and multiform Classes of Emmits Insects Worms and Flies Th. I believe no less Ar. Then cast back your
me otherwise the Prejudicate will conclude me ignorant or affected with paucity but I shall prevent that Suspicion by publishing to the World this Treatise of Angling wherein the Practicks are manifestly divulged though the Contemplative be but in part express'd And what hinders I pray you to withdraw sometimes from the trembling Streams of Trent to dedicate your vacant Hours to the Shrines of Solitudes to sit upon Rocks or in shady Groves there to contemplate the beautiful Creation and meditate our present and eternal furture State so with a holy and reverentical Fear call to mind the Creator and Original of all Things through whose Wisdom Kings rule and Princes decree Iustice But doubting some may want other moral Inducements to such I have brought a Glass of Morality wherein they may view the World's state of Inconstancy but to the more religious and contemplative Angler a Model of Piety Jacob will struggle hard for a Blessing where be may see the inamour'd and Seraphick Soul surmount the Aether whilst Earth-worms like-Otters prey below upon Fish Now to such as love Travel I have brought them History but to such others as love Fish and pleasant Waters my Treatise for the studious Geographer here are Cities and Countries but for the active Engineer Castles and Citadels Should thy Fancy be mean here are shallow Brooks deep Rivers require the skilful Art of Swimming Thus my Book seems a Mart where a Man may trade for Trifles or merchandise for things of greater Value The World is all Purchase and Death the Pay-master Think not therefore to naturalize Earth into Heaven since every thing adheres and partakes of its own Nature I advise therefore the Lovers of a solitary Life to study Sobriety Temperance Patience and Chastity for these Divine Blessings are the Gift of God So is Contemplation which never shines so clearly as when retired from the World and worldly Incumbrances Woods Rocks Grotta's Groves Rivers and Rivulets are Places pick'd out for Contemplation where you may consider Creational Work and melt with the warbling Notes of Philomel and the innocent Harmony of musical Birds that deliciate the Air and delight the Attention Or you may proportion your Meditations with the Pulse of the Ocean or the soft and murmuring Complaints of purling Streams that imprint their Passions as they pass along when melting the smiling florid Banks Nature consults no Artificer to imbellish and adorn her illaborate Works and shall the God of Heaven the great Creator draw his Lines from the faint Shadows of Nature Pray but consider who makes the Sea keep her regular Motion the Constellations their Rotations and the erratick Stars roll in their several Orbs Are not all the Reins of Government in the Divine Hand of him that made them Is not the Christian's Diadem and the Purchase of the Cross there Liberty and Freedom there the sweet Tranquillity of Peace there the blessed Society of Saints and Angels there Iustice and Mercy there the results also of Life and Death there And where shall we be found if not there in those everlasting Arms of Beatitude that exert our Souls by the Divine Ray of Contemplation Study Patience practise Humility and let Repentance be our daily Exercise since these with other Vertues are Duties incumbent Then may we sing Hallelujahs at an Angelical pitch and that 's a strain above the World's Ela. These and such like Divine Impressions we ought to imprint on our immortal Minds when with impatieney we pursue our Exercise either to the River or solitary Lough For the Taper burns and the Thread of Life because lap'd up in this fine tiffany Web of Mortality like a Meteor terminates sometimes in a Blaze Too late then to confer with Reason or think of Religion So farewel and be happy in the Rules of Friendship but happier to live in the amiable Arms of Vertue ever honoured and admired by thy Friend Philanthropus To my Book GO tell those Men that bait their Hook with Gain That plow the Hellespont and cross the Main To fish for Gold in ev'ry muddy Pit And hourly wait for ev'ry paltry Bit That make their Shops the Fishponds and the Fry Knacks of all sorts to catch the Standers-by That trole with silver Hook but use no Rod And freely strike perchance the Line but nod That use no other Links than such as are Compos'd of golden Threads not Stone-horse-hair Such mudling Anglers all the Baits they lay Tempt nothing more than Arguments of Clay Not well consid'ring all this while they paddle In Craesus wealthy Ponds their Eggs prove addle For when they come to scale their Fry and Cook Ev'ry surprize reach'd them with silver Hook They must conclude more Fin than Fish was caught 'Cause ev'ry Action proves an empty Thought Come trace the Angler's footsteps he will lead Thy Genius to some Grove or Rock there feed Thy thoughts with Contemplation whilst most Men Think such retirements but a Cave or Den And I 'll assure thee when thou com'st to know Those Vertues that from Contemplation flow Thou surely wilt conclude the whole Creation Was made for Man Man but for Contemplation Philanthropus To my Honoured Friend Capt. Richard Franck upon his Contemplative Angler I Am no Fisher But a Well-wisher to the Game And as oft as I look And read in your Book so oft I blame My Minutes spent with frothy Recreation Whilst others live aloft by Contemplation It s true sometimes I read In Cambden and Speed and sometimes Mercator Yet in them I can't spy How the scaly Fry floats in the Water We grant those Anglers were elaborate To fish the World but you the Anglers State John Richards To my Worthy and Honoured Friend Capt. R. F. on his Contemplative Angler SIR you have taught the Angler that good Fashion Not to catch Fish with Oaths but Contemplation No Man that 's Wise but out of good Intention Will hug your Plot and well-contriv'd Invention To take the Fowl and Fowler let alone That 's not the killing two Birds with one Stone But he that catches Fish and Fisher too Has done as much as Man or Art can do Honour 's the Bait for one but silly Flies Are mortal Engines for the scaly Fries And he that thinks to scape the present Danger Fastens himself thinking to noose the Stranger For one or other's still catch'd in the Net When Politicians have the Pool beset And haling to and fro to fill their Dish Lites on a Chub perchance or some such Fish That dies without Redemption unless be Amphibion-like can live by Land or Sea But in the Calms of silver silent Trent There 's no such danger in the Turnament For you may fish till Sun-set nay all Night Find but your Gamesters a fresh Appetite And that a Bait will do when you would court Your Game ashore that dies to see the Sport Mercurius Hermon To my Honour'd Friend Capt. R. F. Author of the Contemplative Angler I Know Ingenious Sir that Sol's
as if there were no Death in dying Such Men as these think the Sun shines Blessings no where but in their Chimney-corners that build their Habitation upon a sandy Foundation that judg and pre-judg both Moralist and Heathen that rather deserves their Pity and Charity and censure all the World when they themselves cann't live without it Arnold What crazy Props such Men lean upon that exchange their Profession for Profit If Christ be our Foundation let 's believe as Christians not barely to honour the Appellation of Christianity but live the Life and Practice of Christians otherwise we build on a sandy Foundation that sinks beneath the Surface or tumbles down in the Storm We daily observe the Earth a fix'd Body yet it bears not the Heavens nor it self neither because it hangs by Poize of its own and the Providence of God supports it For our blessed Saviour that made the World is the Support of the World for none less than he that made the World had Power to redeem Man and save the World This is the Water of Life that 's drawn from the inexhaustible Fountain of Christ our Redeemer This is the true Physician of Life that blots out the dismal Characters of Death Thus whilst the formal Christian draws Streams from the muddy Cisterns of the ambignous World his Devotion reaches no higher than himself and the gaudy Titles of Ambition and Hypocrisy Theoph. Shall I oblige Arnoldus to entertain us with a Contemplation of Seraphick Joys whilst the silent Night passes away and the blazing Torch of the Sun appears that causes an early Blush in Aurora Arnold Every Day has a new Birth but Time and the World had but one Beginning The Night was made to shadow the Day but the Sun to light and illuminate the Universe and this was ordain'd by the Wisdom of him that stuck the Stars in this beautiful Order before whose triumphant Throne the devout Penitent prostrates his Devotion and pours forth his Orizons and sweet Adorations in the Presence of that great and ineffable Good that made the glittering spangled Orbs and is himself the Light of the World before whom every Nation and Kingdom must bow or break whose Mercy infinitely excels all his Works and whose Justice and Judgment who shall dispute Theoph. O ArnolduS pray goon Arnold The Elements nay the Heavens contain him not nor is he comprehended within the circular Globe of the Spherical Orbs. These luminous Bodies of Sun Moon and Stars were ordained by him to light the Creation for he that made them gave them a Being and dignified them also with prolifick Virtue adapting them Parents of Vegetation Procreation and Prolongation of Life whereby to regulate and reform Times and Seasons as also to distinguish betwixt Summer and Winter The greater Light he made to govern the Day but the Moon he made to patrole the Night and that they have Influence upon secondary Causes no Man is so irrational I hope as to question it Theoph. For my part I do not pray proceed Arnold Thus the Stars and Constellations have Divine Order and Influence and the Celestial Powers and Principalities as Angels and Arch-angels Thrones and Vertues have Dominion also over humane Frailties And where the Patriarchs and the Prophets are with the Apostles and Evangelists with the whole Quire of Saints Cherubims and Seraphims perpetually singing Praises and Glory to him that sits on the Throne and rides triumphant on the Wings of the Wind. O let the silent Deeps and the ponderous Mountains with every thing that has Breath praise the Lord For the Earth is his and the Fulness thereof by whose Wisdom the World was made and Time begot and by whose infinite Power the separated Elements live still in Harmony who form'd the Fetus of Earth and made the Firmament its Swadling-band and in the vast Circumference of Heaven he hung up the glorious Creature the Sun whereby to illuminate and illustrate the World whose Centre nor Circumference contains him not nor the Excellency of his Glory that superexcels all Creatures and Creations from whom the deplorable Sons of Men wail for Deliverance and Redemption from Sin And now let 's contemplate the nocturnal Muses Sleep first presents us with an Emblem of Death yet is it the poor Man's Solace tho the rich Man's Terror A Repose and Recreation to the wearied Limbs but a Disease of Inquietude to the voracious Mind the Body's Requiem and Death's Effigies Now Death is the desired Hope of him that truly conteMplates the State of Immortality And as Mortality is the End of Sorrow so by Consequence it 's the Beginning of Joy A Period of Misery but the Trophy of Victory The Resurrection of Life and the Bloomings of Eternity For as the barren Ground thirsts after Rain so does the Oppressed seek Deliverance in Death Great and good is our glorious Creator whose Divine Excellencies superexcel the Creation whose infinite Wisdom display'd it self before Time and the World had as yet a Beginning Pardon my Presumption most sovereign Power when to prostrate my Humilities before thy sacred Shrines that with a holy Reverence and divine Piety all my Devotions may be acceptable to thee We are but finite but Thou art infinite Infinite in Power to create the World and infinite in Wisdom and Providence to uphold it Thy Government is in Heaven yet thou rulest upon Earth but thy Habitation here is the Tabernacle in Man O sacred Divinest direct us in thy Paths of Wisdom to lead us the ready way to thy self for thou rewardest every Man answerable to his Works and our Works as Paul saith do certainly follow us then will they as certainly be an Orb to environ us and because an Object continually before us we can neither evade nor shake them off whereby they 'll delight or be a Terror unto us As the Tree falls so it lies and in the Grave there is no Repentance therefore seek the Lord early in a Spirit of Meekness for the Meek are said to inherit the Earth whilst the Proud that exalts himself shall be abased Thy powerful Arm has often reached Deliverance the Righteous therefore shall rejoice in thy Salvation and all that sollicit thy Paths of Peace shall be found in their Duty as by Wisdom directed but Destruction as a Judgment is prepared for the Scornful Therefore let the Pious rejoice in his Hope for the End of the Wicked shall be an Abomination Lord when we contemplate our mortal State below and those invisible immortal Powers above blest for ever to behold the Glory of thy Majesty it brings us to consider the Beginnings of Time and to ruminate where we were when the Foundations of the World were laid and stretch'd out and who but thy self by Infinite Power fastened the Ends thereof and lifted up the Curtains of Heaven's glorious Canopy and caused the Face of the Firmament to shine Who but thy admirable Arm could separate Light from Darkness the Sea from dry Land
abominates Sycophants that fawn and flatter and seem to adore the rising Sun yet with Impatience longs to see it set Not but that no Sun shines without some Cloud nor any Court is kept without some Flatterers till that time comes and I hope is at hand that Vertue shall naturally flow from the Streams of Piety and not from Imitation which spontaneously spring from the Celestial Fountains of pure Christianity Theoph. When Democrasians dagger the Crown then the perplex'd Native stands a tiptoe every minute expecting some fatal Event and so it is when Insolency justles Justice then the Magistrate suffers Affronts in his Legal Justiciary Proceeds Such Scorpions as these wound and infect the Body Politick Ar. From thence I observe whenever Pride is most predominant there of necessity a Nursery of War is planted that in time will murder the Blessings of Peace We have learn'd by Experience that Fulness of Bread without a Blessing perverts into Wantonness so into a Curse that by degrees grows up into such a Vice that murders all it meets with and kills without Care it 's a Vertue therefore to shun its Acquaintance Th. Come Arnoldus let us enter this solitary Grove here we may dwell among Rocks consort with the Creation and keep time with the Pulse of the fluctuating Ocean Here we may refresh our Ears with the relishing Notes of tunable Birds and astonish our Eyes with the beautiful Model of Heaven Where whilst we gaze on those glittering Orbs our Hearts as inspired may breath forth Flames Ar. A solitary Life I always approv'd of to trace the polite Sands to sit down under the Shades of Woods and Rocks and accost the Rivers and Rivulets for Diversion as now we do and trample on the beautiful Banks and florid Medows beautified with Greens that will not only refresh our Senses with their redolent Perfumes but enamour us beyond express when to see their Banks bath'd by such Silver Streams Come and let 's pitch our Tents in these delightful Plains where every shady Grove as an Vmbrella will shelter us from the scorching fiery Beams of the Sun till the Earth sends forth her sweet Aroma's over which the burnish'd and beautiful Firmament of Heaven surrounds all the Earth and the blessed Creation with Melody like Birds and murmuring Streams I fancy it a kind of Counter-Paradise for Mortal Content And how sweet and sublime is that Contemplation that surmounts Angels for Divine Associates Observe Theophilus that little rowling Rivulet where every Eye may evidence Fish in those purling Streams courting the Sun as if naturally enamoured with Stars and Celestials Such Observations flow from our present State let us therefore consider both the Author and the End Th. If Ends and Beginnings have a like Fate and Period as indisputably they have then Time and our latter End contemplates Eternity our future Hope so that a retired Life of all Lives in my Opinion will be most agreeable to our present Condition for I like not the Aspect of our Friend Agrippa Ar. Nor I neither but be it what it will be the Rocks and the Woods if I calculate right shall contribute to Arnoldus any Man may read in legible Characters a discontented Frown on his Martial Brow Th. What if it be it won't make new Breaches in our Loyal Breasts Ar. Nor cement old ones for here 's a Breast ready to receive the Charge of Danger tho Death be Conduct I value not the Swellings of my Adversaries were every one of them as great as Goliah as deep-mouth'd as the Cyclops that roar in Mount Aetna or as formidable as Thunder that cleaves the Cedars and the sturdy Oaks yet the Shrubs may escape and live in hope to see a Purgation of such eminent Contenders Th. If ill Omens presage fatal Conclusions I like not Agrippa's Aspect Ar. Nor I that Resolution that only endeavours Self-security Th. Would you have me turn the Point upon my self Ar. No nor your Friend neither by turgid Repetitions come what will come let 's talk no more on 't high Tides have their low Ebbs and the higher any Man rises the greater is his Fall expected I know the World is such an inviting Morsel that attempting to swallow it some have been choaked Alexander of all Men bid fairest for the World yet when he went out of it a Sepulchre of six Foot serv'd to inter him Th. It 's just so now have not we a sort of Senators that impatient of Destruction pull down the House upon their own Heads to noose other Folks in the same Snickle Ar. There 's nothing can stand against the rapid Torrent of a giddy Multitude it 's good to stand clear of Male-contents that justle Superiors and call Parliaments Pick-locks and Robbers of the People under the pretence of publick Faith Th. Such Furioso's I must confess are of an odd Kidney that can silence Justice and sentence the Laws that sit uneasy under Governments tho of their own contrivings that are angry with any thing that 's uppermost nay they shall arraign themselves if no Superior to contend with Such Men I question not will condemn us for Victims tho without Breach of Law or Affront to good Manners Ar. That can never be done by any except such as exchange their Loyalty for Luxury that degenerate from Native English Men and renounce their Oath in Baptism that swear they do not swear and be Religious to boot But the great Acts of former famous Men will live upon Record on the Stage of the World whilst the World has a Being more especially such great Actions as drew Life from Vertue Such Heroes we have had but asleep now whose Memories still blossom and after Death smell sweet in the Dust. Th. What then must we despair of our selves as poor silly Birds do that are seiz'd in a Gin and wait Deliverance from the wretched Fowler as if Death would solace our captivated Fears and refer them and us to the Grave for Reconciliation Ar. I am not ignorant that the Rape of a Sword results in a SCar and amputates sometimes to the loss of a Limb lest peradventure the whole Body be hurried into a Fever For the Sword you must know is Death's cold Harbinger that depopulates Kingdoms and lays Countries in waste sucking the Lives of the Subjects and Treasure of the Nation till at last like a Cripple it creeps to its Grave Th. But what if the Banks overflow with Plenty and the Nation superabound with luxurious Inhabitants may not a War in such case be thought requisite to purge the Kingdom of superfluous Vagrants Ar. Where Excess and Intemperance extend the Veins by Surfeit or Pleurisy beyond their natural Bounds it 's better to bleed than blow up a Kingdom Th. I 'm of your Opinion in that matter in all acute Distempers there ought to be adequate and expeditious Expedients but without Offence may I ask you one Question Ar. Two if you please if I can answer them Th.
no Trimming nor Neutrality left amongst ' em Agrip. Yes there 's enough of that and Solicitations for Peace among sober Men and Mechanicks Ar. But what say the People as to Church-Government Is one Religion or more in fashion Agrip. Religion is made a meer Stalking-Horse to answer the Ends of every Design and worn so threadbare that there 's nothing left to cover it save only the Name on 't It 's true there 's some small Alteration in the Church so is there in the State by a late Purgation the Army also is decimated and it 's thought the Mystery of Law will be made legible to speak our Modern Dialect but the Priest paramount is the bravest Fellow because Presbyter Iohn struts a Horse-back whilst the Proselyte like a Pensioner holds the Bridle but to speak plain English most hold the Stirrup Ar. What say Mercurius and Publicus Anglicus Agrip. You have them both and the National Diary to boot where you may read the various Products of Men frequent Tumults in every Corner general Discontents in Families Heatings but no Healings in their grand Consults Th. What do they vary for Agrip. Something superlative but the Generality cry Tempora mutantur Th. By this I perceive some dig deep to hide their Counsels Ar. Deep or shallow it 's a Tiffany Plot any Man with half an Eye may easily see through it Who is it cries up Peace only those Men whom the Times court and the Constitution flatters such Men as these may cry up for Peace while others sollicit an every day 's Novel No Theophilus there 's nothing pleasant every thing seems in a hurly burly and France and Spain at Sword 's Point Th. O but then what becomes of our Force in Flanders and what Prospect have we of the Sweeds Expedition Ar. The Sweed you may read looks asquint on the Dane the Portugal in Trouble the Venetian unsafe and the Turk infested with intestine War Poor Europe who can but pity thee more especially our Native Country Albion where every Politician expects to be made a Monarch and where every ambitious Clown aspires to the Eminency of a Crown Th. Now for a Book and a Brook to contemplate and recreate this rises to the Standard of the Philosophers Solitudes Rocks and Rivers with Hermetick Groves shadowed with Myrtles and purling Streams will for ought I know better answer our present Occasion than a Foreign Hope can insure us Accommodation Ar. These Elementary Bodies the beautiful Rags of Flesh and Blood what present they but moving Shadows that vanish in a moment at Death's Appearance Th. And do not some Men undermine themselves by supporting themselves on the Crutch of Mortality But the Arm that shakes the Foundation cannot that Arm shelter us from the Storm Ar. Yes sure since he that made the World gives it Nutrition who by his Act of Providence makes Provision for its Continuation Yet there 's nothing that had a Beginning but has its Period and in Conclusion melts into Invisibility Th. That 's certainly true for the Wages of Sin is Death all Men therefore must die so must that proud Tyrant of France whose Sins above knee-deep have sunk him up almost to the Chin so that whoever comes within compass of his Steerage he splits the Vessel or inevitably oversets her exposing his Natives and others to a malicious Fate Therefore how difficult is it to sail betwixt Sylla and Charibdis Ar. And as difficult almost to weather the Times at home for whenever a State stands a tiptoe the common People are threatned Exiles Th. I would not be thought so rash to preanticipate before trial nor would I truckle to uneven Tempers of Men and Times by a supine Complacency so to be coaks'd out of my Life by the sugared Temptation of Designers Ar. Unthinking Men whilst the Storm is yet rising rise before it so fool away their Lives He that falls in with a discontented Family propounds to build on another Man's Ruin The Divine Powers shake the Arm of Flesh and what is too difficult for God to do He that made the World can throw it down and dash it in pieces Th. Yes sure and us too if we stand within distance I mean in his way of Justice against Impenitents O my Friend let 's remove further off Ar. What Star must direct us and whither must we go Th. Into the solitary Shades of Scotland for every Eye will trace us out here Ar. What! so unjust to our selves to fly without an Offence so condemn our selves before trial when our own Innocency I should think were enough not only to clear us but also to protect us Th. Time's sandy Glass slides swiftly into Eternity and so may some of these eminent Contenders slip into their Graves That Wind blows high that makes our Fortunes stagger Ar. Nor could Thunder shake the Courage and Constancy of David to Ionathan Here we have for Precedent two of the Worthies in that Age the one no less than a King and a Prophet and the other no less than the Son of a King Come let 's stand the Charge there 's no Man knows what a Day may bring forth Th. Yes I 'm so prophetick to foresee a Stone Doublet or something worse why then to contribute such Advantages to Men of no Faith Nay I wrong 'em not to say faithless to themselves Ar. On the other hand who would harbour or engender Fear which lively prefigurates a faint Repulse that never got Honour by Inches so that I resolve against preparing for Flight and alike resolve not to think of Fear Th. Such Resolutions will stem the Tide and struggle with Death but who can withstand the Torrent of Invaders or stifle a Mutiny that invades the Camp Ar. I should forfeit both my Reason and Discretion to foresee Danger approach and run head-long into Ruin want of Foresight not to foresee argues to me but a purblind Sight And that Resolution I always approv'd of that 's best understood by a constant Courage the Morals of Equity justify a Cause and the Justness of a Cause puts a Period to doubts Th. The Supreamest gives Wisdom and Man a Capacity to choose it which if he refuses it argues an irreverend Neglect both of the Donor and the Gift Ar. Do we not see Nature commissioned from the Divinest to dress up and beautify this stupendous Creation and how Wisdom and Providence give a Blessing to preserve it And do we act our Reason to throw both away Wisdom that made us and Providence that preserves us Th. It 's true the Limit and Bound of Nature is by the sacred Decrees of Providence and Wisdom has no Limitation because essentially from the Creator himself Ar. Art imitates Nature and Necessity is the Mother of Invention Science also invites to Study and Practicks but Theory gives the Prospect and Operation finishes the Project From whence it follows that Arts are sold to Ingenuities and the Reward of Labour and Industry to
with Trout and Salmon but the Access lies too open more especially amongst her pleasant gliding Streams where the Angler if Lord of his Exercise may expect incredible Entertainments whose Foundations are laid in gravelly Sand and interchangably mix'd with shining Stones that look not unlike to golden Granulaes but were they such I should fancy Tagus but a Toy to it Because to imprint in the Angler's Memory those remarkable Characters of shining Rocks glittering Sands and falls of Water which 'tis morally impossible he should ever forget Not far from this dingy Castle of Glorret stands delectable Kilsieth in whose martial Fields Marquess Montross defeated his Country-Men North-West from thence we must top those burdened Mountains of Compsy whose weeping Rocks moisten the Air representing the Spouts and are a lively Emblem of the Cataracts of Nile From whence we descend to the Kirk of Compsy near to which Kirk runs the memorable Anderwick a rapid River of strong and stiff Streams whose fertil Banks refresh the Borderer and whose Fords if well examined are Arguments sufficient to convince the Angler of Trout as are her Deeps when consulted the noble Race and Treasure of Salmon or remonstrate his Ignorance in the Art of Angling Besides this Anderwick there are many other small Rivulets that glide up and down these solitary Parts omitted in this Paragraph because not having time to insert them Th. This travelling State Arnoldus reminds me of the old Proverb viz. A rolling Stone gathers no Moss nor we any Money which runs somewhat parallel But it 's all one in time for time must be untim'd in the Cusp of Eternity then shall we be found in an Eternal state and as Eternity is infinite in it self so is it the Ray of the Majesty of God who created the Heavens the Elements and Orbs and gave unto them perpetual Motion and Rotation predestinated to the Ends of Time unmeasurable by any except himself Whilst thus contemplating what 's Sacred and Divine we trace along the gliding Streams of Anderwick guarded with Trees and knotty Rocks as delightful and pleasant for ought I know as were the myrtle Groves so sonneted by Poets Ar. As I am of your Opinion in that so I suppose you 'r of mine in this that though Sin untune the Strings of the Soul yet Sin cannot unstring the Soul the Faculties are left still though in such disorder that all the Wit of Man can no more tune them than the Strings of an untun'd Lute can dispose themselves for Harmony without a skilful Musician's Hand By this we know God governs the World who also rules in the Heart of Man and makes it a Temple for the Holy Ghost So let us pass on with our travelling Design by the House of Cardrus to the Ports of Sterling where stands a beautiful and imbellished Castle elevated on the Precipice of an impregnable Rock that commands the Vallies as well as the Town and all those habitable Parts about it those are the Turrets that present before us let us enter her Ports both strong and spacious whose incircling Arms surround a City but not a great one that 's built all with Stone so is her Castle and situated close by the River Firth as above explain'd upon lofty craggy and mountanous Rocks almost inaccessable More Southward yet the City spreads it self into many sweet Situations that invigorate the Inhabitants and accommodate the Low-land Merchant rather than the Mariner with profitable Returns from the Hills by the Highlander The Firth runs here that washeth and melts the Foundations of the City but relieves the Country with her plenty of Salmon where the Burgo-masters as in many other parts of Scotland are compell'd to reinforce an ancient Statute that commands all Masters and others not to force nor compel any Servant or an Apprentice to feed upon Salmon more than thrice a Week Th. Is there such a Law in force now Ar. Yes sure for ought I know it remains to this Day and the Reason of it is as I conceive from the plenty of Salmon in these Northern Parts that should the Inhabitants daily feed upon them they would inevitably endanger their Health if not their Lives by Surfeiting for the abundance of Salmon hereabouts in these Parts is hardly to be credited And the Reader I fancy will be of my Perswasion when he comes to consider that the price of a Salmon formerly exceeded the value of Sixpence Sterling which I suppose no English Man will grudg nor think it unreasonable to give at any time so that the Danger in my Opinion lies most in the Diet for as Salmon is a Fish very apt to surfeit more especially fresh Salmon when only boiled which if too frequently fed on relaxes the Belly and makes the Passages so slippery that the retentive Faculties become debilitated so suffers the Body to be hurried into a Flux and sometimes into a Fever as pernicious as Death Which is much better prevented by Abstinency than to stand the Test of uncorrected Physick This famous Firth is the most portable River in Scotland whose Streams because meandring make it deep and torpid so fit it for Navigation for below Bridg there are neither Streams nor Sharps but above Bridg there 's enough more especially towards the flourishing Fields of Montieth which I rather prefer than Alan and Althrwery for the Anglers Diversion except Frith and Koak the one for Pearl but the other for Trout Th. What Town is this Ar. Dirty Dumblain let us pass by it and not cumber our Discourse with so inconsiderable a Corporation our itch after Mockeny puts a Spur to quicken our Expectation for who knows but the various alteration of Weather may in some measure frustrate those Expectations we may have of those admirable Streams to answer our Designs Th. Do what you please Ar. Truly I think it but Time lost to survey the Reliques of a ruinous heap of Stones that lean o're the Verge of a River facing the Mountains The Houses it's true are built with Stone but then to consider them low and little it plainly demonstrates there 's nothing eminent but narrow Streets and dirty Houses a convincing Argument there 's no Scavengers amongst them And for their Houswifery let that alone for if you touch it you sully your Fingers There is a Market-place such an one as it is but as for Merchants there 's no such thing in Nature But a Palace there is and a Cathedral too otherwise Dumblain had nothing to boast of But there is one thing remarkable and that 's the House of Domine Caudwel a formal Pedagogue that absolv'd the Thief and conceal'd the Theft so lost his Breeches for you must know the good Woman his Wife was a notable Comer one of the first Magnitude who with two more of her Consorts as I was told at a Four-hours drinking guzled down as much Ale and Brandy Wine and strong Waters as amounted to the Sum of forty Pound Scots But wanting Money
push too hard upon me and I 'll tell you this new way of Navigation When Cloudy Mists arise that darken the face of the Firmament and threaten danger without any Disturbance you shall then see the Seamen stuff the Stern with Straw as now they do with little Trusses which they successively expose one at a time and so supply it time after time from the Stern of the Vessel till at length they arrive at the desired Shoar as now we do And thus have I past and repast from Dundee Nor is there any difficulty nor danger to any Man more than hazarding his Carcase in Timber Now welcome ashore to the Fields in Fife where we must exchange our Navigable Horses for Hackneys Th. What must we call the name of this Town Ar. Cooper in Fife it 's a Corporation Th. And what other Town is that yet more Eastward that seems to lean on the Skirts of the Ocean Ar. That 's Antient Saint Andrews their Metropolitan University Upon the same Coast lie Creel and Petenweems More Southerly yet lie cockly Carcawdy facing the Ocean and the Frontiers of Leith we shall only take a view of the Palace of Faulkland though her fair Imbellishments outlustre Dumfermling Th. What 's our next Stage Ar. Brunt-Island But I must remind you of the Magnificent Palace of Scoon forgot as we past by the Ports of Saint Iohnstons near whose elevated Turrets there stands a Kirk that stands upon all the Land in Scotland which Kirk is immur'd with a fair stone Wall and in that Kirk they Crown their Kings and perform the Formalities of all other Royal Duties which Regalia are the Sword Spurs Purse Crown Globe Scepter and Bible Now he 's a Dunce that knows not this duty because it's incumbent on all the Kingdom of Scotland Th. But how stands the Kirk upon all the Kingdom Ar. There 's not a Royalty in the Kingdom of Scotland but has sent some part of Earth from every Angle to this place called Scoon which Earth was dispersed by Laborious Industry upon which the Foundations of the Kirk were laid So that now you are to consider this Variety of Mould represents but one Uniform and Compact Body of Earth Which Earth represent the great Volume of Scotland in a Breviat or as I may term it a little Compendium Thus our Discourse of the Kirk of Scoon has accompanied us to a view of pleasant Carcawdy a little pretty Maritime Town built all with Stone that stands in the face of the Ocean and the Frontiers of Fife But the time and our occasion constrains us to pass by Carcawdy where the Inhabitants live more upon Fish than Flesh from whose slender Ports we must hasten to Brunt-Island otherwise we endanger losing our Tide which will much incommode us nor can we stay there to examine their Curiosities Th. What 's this that so naturally represents the Ocean And what are those Ships under Sail Or must I fancy them a Landskip of moveable Mountains Ar. If you fancy them Ships fluctuating to and fro on those solid Deeps to attempt that Harbour you are not much mistaken Th. Is there any Town on those rocky Foundations Ar. Yes surely there is for we now discover the pleasant Shores of Beautiful Brunt-Island guarded with Rocks that front the Harbour and the Pier of Leith over whose rubified Sands we must plough the Ocean to those delectable flourishing Ports provided the Vessel be tite and unleaky as questionless this is design'd for our passage Th. However I 'll remind you of our hazardous passage from Innerbrachy to the famous Ness as at another time our personal hazard when fording over Forres and the rapid Trespey besides other great Rivers and Rivulets in our march of very swift and violent motion which we often discharg'd without the Artifice of Boats and yet I cannot help that natural Antipathy and Aversion that I find against Timber Fortifications nor can I think them such soveraign Security but that sometimes they are accompani'd with difficulties and danger It 's true I grant that no Man has an infallible Protection for Life nor a Pre-knowledg of Sickness nor sudden Solution Ar. Well then if so transplant those Fears into Foreign Parts for we must certainly and that suddenly expose our selves to the Mercy of the Sea by the Providence of God Nor is the Danger more than Imagination for the fear of Death to some Men is more dreadful and terrible than Death it self which great Sea we must all sail through before we cast Anchor in the Port of Eternity Th. You have sodred the Breach and salv'd the Wound that now I itch to be floating on the Ocean However before we embark for Leith let us give Nature a Philip in the Arms of Brunt-Island Ar. All this we may do and view the Situations too which stands on a flat and flourishing Level back'd by Fife and the Mountains of Mirt whose Foundations are laid in Rocky Stone and beautified with the Regularities of Art where there 's a small but secure Harbour to rescue the retreats of the terrified Passenger when pursued with the furious Hostility of Neptune whose Waves storm the Shores insinuating themselves into every Creek But the Beauty of Brunt-Island lies most in her Market-place which serves for an Exchange fronting the Harbour and facing the Ocean where all or most of her Merchants Houses stand gazing on the beautiful Pier of Leith Th. Is this the Vessel design'd for our passage I fancy the Waves begin to work for my Belly I 'm sure begins to wamble See how the wrack of Clouds thicken the Air and the unlimited Winds rend the Sky Who can judg the result of these surly beginnings or hope a good issue in the Conclusion The very body of the Sea divides and opens like a Sepulchre to swallow up the Rocks in whose Concealments lie the Terrors of Death The Deeps to my fancy are broke up for my nauseating Stomach ebbs and flows with as strong irritations as the Ebulitions of the Ocean Ar. Those Tides I confess must run violently swift that are hurried along by such furious Agitations but for two Tides to meet in one Sea together one would think them enough to make an Inundation Yet how soon these lofty Winds are supprest by a Calm and every Mortal preserv'd to a Miracle So that the results of this impetuous Storm proves only a Fresh and Flourishing Gale occasioned by the Conflict of Winds and Water which forceth the Sea in some measure to be sick and compels her to vomit as now she does those neuseous Ejectments which for ought I know constrains your stomach to lower and strike Sail so keep time it may be with the trepidating Ocean whose irritations quickened by the Universal Motion measure proportion with the rest of the Creation So that this kind of Physick if I calculate right may protract your tampering with Physicians in the fall Th. Of what I 'm assur'd there 's no need
come to fee her Arbours and Aviaries so naturally dress'd up in the Shades of the Forest and perfum'd with Fragrancies from the redolent Meadows of Trent besides the pleasant Prospect it has into the cultivated Fields in the fruitful Vale of Belvoir then would you say that Nottingham is the Magazine for Cheshire and Lancashire and the daily supply of those Mountainous Parts in the Peak of Derby-shire These are those Ports where the Angler and Ingenious never yet entred without sober Accommodation let us therefore first consult the Virtuoso's of the Rod afterwards sweeten our Ears with Rhetorique from Apollo Th. As you have given us a fair and large Character of Nottingham so have you been as copious in your practical Experiments of Angling and brought to Test the undeniable Assertions of Truth not imaginary Fragments nor Romantick Fictions stoln or suggested by plundring Plagiaries Now every one knows that Ignorance emulates Art and Impiety above all things abominates Devotion Tradition also that truckles under Forms and Hypocrisy and Flattery are Time's Apostates But Science and Experience are the confirmation of Eye-sight and Truth the Standard of Divine Speculation By these we proportion the Measures of Vertue which is found by him that treads the Tracks of Wisdom and wades through the profound Depths of Patience for as he that devotes himself to a solitary Life lives a Life most congruous to Devotion so he that devotes himself to Piety lives a Life analogous to Contemplation For what signifies the Court but to remonstrate the Prince his Magnificence and the Palace but to heighten his Enjoyments On the other hand where Humility is celebrated to Piety there Content dwells every-where in an humble Breast and Humility and Penitency like Links concatinate content themselves with the garb of a Cottage Thus we may read the State of the World but that which I always approved of as the best State was to seek the Blessings of Content in every Condition Then welcome Woods Rocks Rivers Groves Rivulets nay it 's possible the very Shades of a Forest in some measure answer to the Comforts of Life and Life answers to the Ends of the great Creator Consider therefore that the Soul 's great Diadem is Christ and Christ by Wisdom and Sanctification every Christian knows is God And who but God created this stupendous Creation and drest up this imbelish'd Fabrick of Heaven and Earth when he made the Majesty of his Invisibility visible and placed Man in this sublunar Orb to conduct and manage his Fellow-creatures But Man imprudently transgressing in not answering the glorious Ends of his Divine Creation in Obedience to the Commands of the Sovereign Decrees of God the Almighty discharged him the Soveraignty of Government so exil'd him from the glorious Sun-shine of Paradise Of whom if you please let us have an account But I wonder at one thing to me it 's a Paradox Ar. What 's that Th. You writ your Book in 58 and spread the Net to 85. Ar. What if I do I lived in the Reign of five Kings and in the Time of four great Worthies Th. Was O. P. one Ar. I leave that Bone for you to pick. But this I assert that great English Hero was exemplary in Piety eminent in Policy prudent in Conduct magnanimous in Courage indefatigable in Vigilancy industriously laborious in Watchings Heroick in Enterprize constant in Resolution successful in War one that never wanted a Presence of Mind in the greatest Difficulties all the World owns him for a great General that influenced all Europe gave Laws to all neighbouring Nations and disciplined France with English Arms. Th. These are great Encomiums Was the Lord R. one Ar. That great Man of Worth and Honour was truly Vertuous the Patriot of his Country and the Glory of the Court beloved of the People and a lover of Piety who left Legacies of Love to the surviving Natives when he sealed his Death with noble English Blood Th. Was Col. A. S. one Ar. That great Soul was too great for the World whose Life in a manner was a continued Death signified by those Trophies of War he carried about him He died but to teach his Country-men the easy Methods of honourable Dying to the astonishment of Mankind and foreign Ambassadors Th. Was Alderman C. one Ar. That brave and worthy Citizen to his eternal Praise sealed London's Magna Chart a with a Christian Exit and a Voice from Heaven Therefore put no more questions for the Aenigma is explained but begin where you left off so let us conclude Th. Then I 'le only desire a Description of Man Arnoldus his Meditation Ar. Adam as an Angel in the Shades of Paradise typified his Creator then it was that this mortal State seemed Immortal and Man because a Signature of this admirable Creation was made to live by that Life that made him for it was the Will of the Supreamest that made him to shine a Ray of the Majesty upon him and generate in him the glorious beauteous Ray of Himself But this was done when the Divine Majesty made Man absolute Lord and commissioned him Conduct over all the Creatures So that Adam was now a Divine Substitute because the Divinity had divinely inspired him and stamp'd the Impress of his Royal Signet upon him the lively Emblem and Character of Himself whereby to demonstrate in him a Sovereign Power over all the Families of Creatures that God had made and by Wisdom bless'd in this stupendous Creation So that you may read Adam was made in the Likeness of his Maker but he begot in his own Likeness This was once the blessed State of Adam and a regenerate State to be born again in Spirit is the same with us now for Primitive Purity can never be blotted out by National Impiety Nor shall Age nor Time nor Death it self vacate the Lustre and Glory of Christianity for as the Donation of Purity is the Royal Act of him that 's pure and lives for ever so the Piety of Christianity shall out-live all Ages to the utmost Limit and Period of Time Where note the Primitive Times have liv'd till now and that that begot Time in the Bosom of Eternity is Christ in us the Hope of Glory Why then do Christians violate their Faith Does it become us to enslave it by Lust A proud Faith is as great a Contradiction as an humble Devil The glorious Hope we have of Paradise incites and invites Believers to the Duty of Repentance and Repentance leads on to a humble Submission to cruciate our selves and this temporal State that naturally resigns upon every Assault of Death for all complicated Elements melt into Obscurity Shall the Clay rebel against the Potter that moulds it Shall Man resist his Maker that made him Shall the Vice of the Times vote against Heaven and Impiety provoke us to mutiny against the Deity Must we learn no Language but Oaths and Imprecations and denounce no Dialect but the Rhetorick of
though formented by the Sons of Zoilus shall never darken it so as totally to deface it but will shine forth a Light to discover their Shame with the Vice of the Times and Exorbitancy of Life I write to the Intelligent and not to Alphabet Anglers that wander up and down besides themselves to lick up the spumous Froth of Fiction and rally the Records of fabulous Pamphleteers to swell their impoverished empty Volumes on purpose spread abroad to amuze the unwary but this I resolve against by exhorting Ingenuity to consult Experience notwithstanding my Rudiments and laborious Directions for without due observation in the Exercise of Angling besides Speculation in the Progress of Theory in this or indeed in any other Art no Man shall level a right Foundation Th. Such signal Remonstrations like a ingressive Spirit strike deep Impressions into my thoughtful Breast It must be a Master and what Masteâ— but Experience must we have to induct us iâ—â—â— the Methods Mediums and Regularities of Science Does Experience any more obliterate Theory than Rudiments rip up the Foundation of Art which they do not nor cannot then ought the Rules of Practicks to be the solicitation of every Artist which Analysis of necessity I cannot but comply with or let the surviving Ages engrave on my Tomb-stone Post est occasio calva Ar. To compleat a Scholar therefore we are to consider that every Pedagogue that initiates his Novice into the Rudiments of Grammar gives him Literature first After the same manner and not altering my Methods I have laid down the Rules and Hypotheses of the Ground-bait Where note I prefer the Worm for the Angler's Exercise if artificially scoured as a general Bait before any other and upon all Occasions inordinate Seasons excepted if purposing thereby to consult the Bottom as also the innumerable families of Fish and so farewel for it 's almost Sun-set Theophilus What tho the Night 's dark Scenes and Shades display The bright Sun's absence can't the Stars make Day Arnoldus Can those obscurer Tapers light the World Whose Lights are from the Sun 's bright Furnace hurl'd Motion they have it 's true that causes wonder But God that join'd their Rays takes them asunder Theophilus From what bright Influence then do Comets borrow Their radiant Beam Arnoldus The Stars they strike them thorow Theophilus Must we conclude the World all Vegetation Humane Race excepted by Generation Arnoldus The slippery Womb of Earth in time sent out A thing uncapable to walk about Till God in love out of a pure Compassion Made Man the Margin of this great Creation Theophilus Why then do Mortals fight against Superiours And pull down Angels to advance Inferiours Arnoldus Man may attempt it but his slender Arm Has hardly warmth in 't for to keep him warm Theophilus No why then presumes he by force to raise His Fires so high to make the Heavens blaze Arnoldus That 's a mistake Man 's but a Minute's Breath Blown out of Doors but with one puff of Death Theophilus And yet immortal too strange Prodigy That Man the Lord of all should live to die Arnoldus 'T is true a Star fell on a Shrine of Earth That touch'd Mortality and gave it Birth Conduct and Reason and a Soul immortal Lit by the Lamp of Heaven's glorious Portal Made all Miraculous yet this won't please Heaven must die to cure the World's Disease And yet this mortal Wonder we call Man Is still averse e're since the World began Theophilus Vngrateful Creature who by Heaven's Decree Was made to live and had the Sov'raignty Of the Creation What to say I know not Nor what to think for Thoughts are things that do not Arnoldus Since Days and Nights all terminate in one And Stars made Emblems of their Sovereign Sun Then to be Loyal each a Star must be But to be Royal claims the Sov'raigntie The Gordian Knot 's so knit none can unty But he that made the World's great Harmony For God with Nature such sublime things blended That Man nor Dev'ls Angels themselves can't find it We can but climb the gradual Steps of Sense And they 'r but Motives to Intelligence But those sweet melting Cords in a Saint's Brest That lives by Faith of things yet unexprest Invigorate the Soul and lends her Eyes to see That Earth and Heaven all 's but Harmony Theophilus Then Rocks are Organs and the ambient Air But the harsh sound of Heaven's softer Quire Waters make Musick so all things by Art Where Nature freely her free Gifts impart Speak Harmony and divinely shows That from another Fountain this thing flows Arnoldus Consider but the Chaos in Creation When the Divinest made a Separation How that the Earth stood still whilst he rais'd higher The Sun's bright Torch or all had been on Fire Theophilus Amazing Wonder see Aurora now Strips off the Sables from Night's shady Brow That Sol no sooner peeps to gild the Skies But all the Mists before his Presence flies Arnoldus 'T is true they do and he that sees their flight Sees Darkness gradually transform'd to Light Yet let him not mistake himself for Day Is but Time's Copy-Book cast that away And what presents Death more obscure than Night Through whose dark Pilgrimage we creep to Light LAUS DEO FINIS ADVERTISEMENT RABBI MOSES or A Philosophical Treatise of the Original and Production of Things Writ in America in a Time of Solitudes By R. Franck. And are to be sold by the Author at his House in Barbican See Ludlow's Reply to Hollingworth