a successory regiment there weake-braind ryotous tyrannicall and lewd princes haue been admitted to their dignities without contradiction And doth not the bloud of common heires answere to a Kings priuiledge in the Title of Legitimate Why then shall wee protect such vniust partialitie If children should receiue no more thē they deserue or if they shold claime interest of loue no longer then merits make a full proportion how should the liberality of parents and the prerogatiue of children appeare or what thankes and filiall loue may Fathers expect from such Children more then from good Apprentices Cimon could intombe his Mares when they purchased credite in the swift races of Olimpiades Xanthippus could bewaile his dogges death which had followed his Maister from Calamina Alexander could erect a Citty in the honor of Bucephalus when hee had long bene defended by him in the dangerous attempts of many fortunate battailes The Asse may well among the Heathen be adorned with Lillies Violets and Garlands when their Goddesse Vesta by an Asses voyce auoyded the rape of Priapus If merits therefore should onely challenge the loue of parents nothing might make a difference betwixt sonnes and bond-slaues Seeing bare Humanity and the Law of Nations hath accounted the honours of One worthy to be honored nothing but equall and necessary thankes Nay in all ages so bountifull and respectiue hath authority beene to true merites as euen the desertlesse children haue met with dignitie to remunerate the fathers worthinesse Thus did the Athenians bestow great wages vpon Lysimachus to gratifie the seruice of Aristides And thus the Romans preferred the cause of Marcus Brutus because his Ancestors had tooke the Countries quarrell against tyrants Shall fathers then esteeme it such irregular custome to dignifie their owne begotten issue though desertlesse seeing strangers haue done this to congratulate good fathers Two examples there bee antient and moderne worth our memory that shew the practise of our Theame in question and affoords singular obseruation The first is euident in the raigne of Agis a Lacedemonian King In whose principall Citie of Sparta the custome had prohibited alienations that preiudice the heire The custome grew to bee a confirmed Law After continuance there fell a difference betwixt one of the highest Magistrates and his eldest sonne The father was so actually prouoked that hee exhibites a Decree to licence Disinheritance the Decree was established And afterward saith Plutarch couetousnesse became publick From hence my obseruation is double First the originall cause of disinheritance was fury Secondly the commodity was ranke couetousnesse Lastly it is apparant by the Tower-rowles that during the raigne of Edward the fourth one Thomas Burdet an Englishman being somewhat innocently condemned to death about captions tearmes ignorantly vttered in his way to death espied his eldest sonne whom before hee disinherited him therefore hee penitently receiued and hauing now confessed seriously that hee felt Gods wrath vpon him onely to punish that vnnaturall sinne Hee humbly beg'd forgiuenesse of God and of his sonne The application of such a paenitent remorse is easy Hauing now marshald vp this troope of Arguments which I thinke are approueable some questionlesse will account them white-liuerd souldiers drest vp onely with a Rhetoricall habite But censure is no lesse infinite then oftentimes odious Tryall therefore shall discharge the integrity of these whilst I proceed briefly to muster one troope more whose courage is enough animated by their aduersaries weaknes if not impossibility of appearance For if the birth-right which intitles an heire be inseparate then the prerogatiue is also inseparate for inheritance depends vpon priority which being vnremoueable the adiunct essentiall cannot perish without the subiect Relations therefore be so congruous that we may sooner affirme the Sonne and Father not to be then heires and inheritance not to bee correlatiues and by the consequent as lawfully may wee depriue both of Beeing as we may permit the one without the other * * * *** ESSAY VI. Of Poetry POETRY is called the worke of nature I rather thinke it a Diuine alacrity entertained by the fitnesse of nature for if in generall a cheerefull spirit partakes of a Diuine influence then this being spiritually maintained with a desire to communicate and expresse such quickning inventions can bee no other being the soule of alacrity then an inuisible Diuine worke which doth transport nature whilst nature meruailes at the cause Philosophie hath diuided our soules faculty and makes the Intelligent part our principall essence that cannot perish Poetry depends on that and a sublime fancie they being the helpes of our dispofall or to speake truely a Poet vseth euery function of the soule Depending vpon which hee must reiect Nature for Nature perisheth the Soule cannot Nature is then the Hand-maide but an Infusiue worthinesse the soule of Poetry Conceiue but this and Nature will disclaime Nature imparts her Faculties by Generation excluding study and custome A Poet neuer is engendred so further then a naturall Logician therefore he exceeds Nature We may obserue a sweete concordance in this mighty Fabricke All things are coupled with an allusiue vnion Life is a flash of immortality Sleepe of death middle age of Summer Arts also and ages past haue a similitude with things inferiour and signifie things future Language is likened to a Casket Logicke to an Artificers Instrument Rhetoricke to a pretious Colour And Poetry likewise hath a fit resemblance with Prophecy both bee an vnutterable rapture both bee a boundlesse large capacitie both bee a vniversall tractate both bee confined within a small number both bee discredited with false pretenders both bee dispersed among men originally obscure both bee alike neglected both generally contemned alike Poetry is made the conveyance of amorous delights and certainely it doth bestow much sweetnesse in apparrelling loue-accents This onely might discover it for a supreme donatiue seeing the musicke in heaven is an agreement of soules Ierome Savanarola the Monkish Phylosopher makes Poetry a part of reasonable Philosophy maintaining this against naturall pretenders of Poetry I will not meddle with his arguments they are elaborate and learned the truth is evident without serious proofe Verse and Rime bee things naturall for they be onely colour and appearance but if you value the Phrase and the Materials after the same proportion as thinking your conceit able to furnish a poeme you shall indeed perceiue it likewise naturall that is naked vnpolished nay the scorne of Poetry A quicke contriving head may vtter laudably but never was a braine so sudden as to compose well without the president of others in the like kinde nay take the most illiterate Writers who propound experience and familiar allusions they haue a time to Meditate to compare to dispose This Art of Poetry cannot proue eminent vnlesse the writer hath a reioycing heart an apprehensiue head and a disclouded memory It is impossible therefore for one deiected by calamity or one perplexed with questions of another Science to get
safely therefore allow indulgence then austerity because it approcheth neerer to true loue For though indulgence hath made children loftie in behauiour towards others yet I obserue it breeds a true and vndiuorced affection towards the originall cause It is therefore an excellent rule for children to receiue instruction of strangers and by the consequent to bee any way restrain'd without the parents knowledge or at least their taking notice whereby Nature cannot grudge against Nature nor yet want reprehension For howsoeuer Marcus Cato said well That he had rather vnrewarded for doing well then vnpunished for offences yet we haue naturally a secret spleene against the Iudge though wee account him righteous and impartiall It must bee expected then that children doe know a difference betwixt Fathers and Maisters which makes them the more implacable when they see Nature impartiall From hence Sertorius a politicke Captaine would not himselfe represse the impudence of his Souldiers least howsoeuer they deserued ill yet his correction might take away their louing dutie which respect made him suffer the enemies incursions rather to scourge their insolence whilst they out of a hare-brained lunasie desired battaile And thus the sacred decree of Correction may bee kept vnviolate and the loue of Children vnblemished For I am vnanswerably perswaded that parents wrath diminisheth the Childes loue making him seruile or else refractorie to the doctrine of themselues and others because they cannot vndertake with delight so long as frownes and feare bee crept into their fancie But affable parents beget truely affectionate children who may endure another mans reproofe to mitigate the name of Cosset and yet louingly adore the father because hee was alwayes louing So then the Fathers diligent loue and a Tutors modest instruction may make a seldome-seene heire affect his Fathers life without hypocrisie and proue a venerable wise man Without which loue apparant or oftentimes indulgence I see an eldest sonne instead of the Fathers blessing render backe sweating curses I see another inclining onely to the mother and a third slippe into his disinherited Fortune The Comaedian therefore saith ingenuously touching a fathers dutie I ouer-passe expences I call not euery thing to a strict account and that which other sonnes labour to keepe secret I do not bitterly condemne in mine lest many things should bee concealed for hee that through a rugged vsage depriues his father by false excuses of youthfull accidents will soone deceiue others It is more availeable then to governe by liberalitie not base compulsion for hee that thus becomes obedient expects onely till hee may want the witnesse of his actions Now for the dangerous effect of parents changeable loue it having beene propounded that want of loue breedes disinheritance I will demonstrate how horrible vnlawful impossible disinheritance maybe iudiciously accounted The diuorce of mariage is a weighty case much forbidden much controverted because marriage it selfe is made a strict vnion so farre as Husbands seeme incorporate with their Wiues being both to bee taken as one flesh But this vnion admits many exceptions neither may any thinke their being made one extends further then the rhetoricall aggravation of vnitie to insinuate how difficult a thing Diuorce will be betwixt two so narrowly vnited but children haue a more exquisite property of indiuorceable because they really partake with parents by existence deriving a particular true strength of body from the parents abilitie And therefore it seemes the matter of disinheritance is a thing so odious as being held improbable to be acted among the Iewes or any Nation no Law of Scripture contradicts it Indeed rebellious sonnes are by the verdict of Divine iniunction to suffer death if they shall strike the parents or rise vp against them But for the matter of Disinheritance which farre transcends the punishment of death as shall appeare I haue read no sillable which may giue the toleration of Divinitie Death indeed comparatiuely respected may bee thought the best wages of a rebellious sonne for the act includes his full sentence because to smite his parent is to seeke the destruction of his efficient cause which act keepes within it so much ingratitude as heauenly Iustice can doe no lesse then remoue him who durst remoue his begetter it beeing an inseparable part of holinesse to pay offenders with their owne coyne But disinheritance so much exceeds death as it approches to a continued torment Death is so faâ—re from misery whâ—re men expiate offences as it rather affoords felicity because it giues a present satisfaction and a present hope to enioy a good portion if penitence and a satisfactory mind be companions But disinheriritance or abdication doth not onely enforce death but makes the circumstance tyrannicall A violent death is but an abridgement of nature but disinheritance doth often bring a violent death and enlarge the wickednesse of nature I see no difference betwixt them in the conclusion for death is an effect commonly of disinheritance but no death more excludes all humanitie The case is palpable I giue directions to a traveller hee arrogantly contemnes my counsell which doth so much provoke mee as to amend the matter I draw him by compulsion to an apparant ambush in which after many sustained abuses horrible vexations and desperate incounters hee concludes his life with infamie or perhaps blasphemy So currish and cruell parents by disinheritance deales every way answerable to this similitude The horâ—or of which barbarisme is the more amplified by so much as naturall affinitie claimes a more humane president then strangers Banishment or abiuration is tolerable for it takes originall by publicke decree superior counsell and authority of those from whom I can chalenge nothing but iustice wheras disinheritance a National banishment transcending forraine exile in the Cause and Manner proceedes from priuate occurrences which cannot reach so high an affliction because the nature of it is equall to nay aboue publicke iustice Now it may well bee esteemed humane when parents punish with rigor where the Law condemnes not because in every offence highly punishable the Law is open if that condemnes the Parents loue may a little bee excused though hee doth not excuse his sonnes accusation but where himselfe exceedes the Lawes rigor when the Law is silent and becomes Accuser Iudge and Executioner wee may discouer a damnable flintie heart apt enough for massacre seeing hee first plaies the tyrant with his owne Image Parents therefore cannot argue and say except Disinheritance they haue no remedie for disobedience seeing there is no crime which may deserue so great satisfaction but the Law is all-sufficient to render Iustice and saue them vnpreiudiced in the aspersion of Vnnaturall which the Title Disinheritance drawes with it inseparate For if wee take a view of those impulsiue causes which breede occasion wee shall perceiue how accessary Parents bee to all their Childrens vices and by the consequent how culpable they are to punish that so strictly of which themselues bee Authors
to conceiue the matter So he approues nature as the motiue not the foundation or structure of his worthinesse His workes doe every way pronounce both nourishment delight and admiration to the readers soule which makes him neither rough effeminate nor windy for by a sweet contemperament of Tune and Ditty hee entices others to goodnesse and shewes himselfe perfect in the lesson Hee never writes vpon a full stomacke and an empty head or a full head and an emptie stomacke For he cannot make so Diuine a receptacle stoope to the sordid folly of gall or enuy without strength or strength of braine stoope and debase it selfe with hunting out the bodies succour Hee is not so impartiall as to condemne every new fashion or taxe idle circumstance nor so easie as to allow vices and account them generous humours So hee neither seekes to enlarge his credit of bitternesse by a snarling severitie nor to augment his substance by insinuating courtshippe Hee hath more debttors in knowledge among the present Writers then Creditors among the ancient Poets Hee is possessed with an innocent libertie which excludes him from the slavish labour and meanes of setting a glosse vppon fraile commodities Whatsoever therefore proceeds from him proceedes without a meaning to supply the worth when the worke is ended by the addition of preparatiue verses at the beginning or the dispersed hire of acquaintance to extoll things indifferent He does not therefore passionatly affect high patronage or any further then hee may giue freely and so receiue back honest thankes The dangerous name and the contempt of Poets sprung from their multitude of corruptions proues no disaduantage or terrour to him for such be his antidotes that he can walke vntouched euen through the worst infection He is no miserable selfe-louer nor no vnbounded prodigall for he can communicate himselfe wisely to auoide dull reseruednesse but not make euery thought common to maintaine his market It must be imputed to his perfect eye-sight that he can see error and auoide it without the hazard of a new one As in Poems so in proiects by an easie coniecture Hee cannot flatter nor bee flattered If hee giues Desert hee giues no more and leaues Hyperbole in such a matter of importance As for himselfe he is so well knowne vnto himselfe that neither publicke fame nor yet his owne conceite can make him ouervalued in himselfe Hee is an enemy to Atheists for he is no Fatist nor Naturalist hee therefore excludes Lucke and Rime from the acceptance of his Poems scorning to acknowledge the one as an efficient the other as an essence of his Muses fauour Hee paies back all his imitation with interest whilst his Authors if reuiued would confesse their chiefe credit was to bee such a patterne otherwise for the most part he proues himselfe the patterne and the proiect in hand Siluer onely and sound mettall comprehends his nature rubbing motion and customary vsage makes the brightnesse of both more eminent No meruaile though he be Immortall seeing he conuerts poyson into nourishment euen the worst obiects and societies to a worthy vse When he is lastly silent for he cannot die hee findes a Monument prepared at others cost and remembrance whilst his former actions bee a liuing Epitaph CHARACT VII An honest Lawyer IS a precious Diamond set in pure gold or one truely honest and a compleate Lawyer The one giues glory to the other and being diuided they be lesse valuable Diuinity and a corrected nature make him habituall in the first but studious labor a discursiue braine make him equal if not absolute in the last he knows Law to be the Mris of man yet hee makes Honesty the Mris of Law The first therefore may exceed the last but the last neuer hath predomināce in him without the other He is too diuine to be tempted with feare fauor Minerals or Possessions and too diuine not to be tempted with perfect knowledge a pittifull cōplaint he hath as much leasure to conferre with conscience in the most busy Terme as in the deadest Vacation And he is alwaies more diligent to maintain wronged pouerty then attentiue to allow iniurious Greatnesse hee can as freely refuse a prodigall or enforced bounty as hee can accept or demand due recompence He resorts to London with a more full braine then empty bags and at his returne he purses vp more full comfort then yellow coine He cannot bee so cōfident as to persist in error nor so ignorāt as to erre by weaknes When therefore through an aboundance some knowledge is confounded his errour onely proues a doubtfull question and serues to reduce scattered remnants into methode The multitude of contentions make not him reioice in the number but in the difficulty that truth may appeare manifest to our progeny He railes not against the vices of his profession but makes his profession commendable by his owne practise of vertue his Clients disease of being suspēded touches him like his own sicknes hee dares not giue a dangerous purgation to dispatch him nor by negligence and delay let the euill grow inward and incorporate to strengthen it selfe or consume the patient He is therefore exquisit in preseruatiues against the consumption though perhaps he may faile in restoratiues to support weakenesse Hee may well bee a president to the best Physitians for he vndertakes no cure when he perceiues it inclining to bee desperate So hee makes the cause and not his Client the obiect of his labour If hee hath fauour enough to make truth be currant he lookes no further which he needs not to patch businesse nor would he willingly pursue it if truth were not often discountenanced Hee doth therefore at a Iudges death lament the death of his learning not his owne priuate lucre Hee can ride the circuit and scorne to be circular He hath no leasure to protract time or saue his Clients opinion with iests premeditated or windy inferences His modesty was neuer below his courage in a good cause nor his courage inclining to impudence though hee were still honored with a prosperous euent He owes so much worship to desert and innocence that hee can as faithfully applaud sufficient worth as not insult ouer or exclaime against dull ignorance He is miraculously preserued against incantations the strongest spell cannot charme him silent nor the most tempting spirit prouoke him to a vaine pleading He dares know and professe in spight of potency he dares be rich and honest in despight of custome And if he doth not grow from a good man to a reuerend Title hee scornes to bee a Traytor and blame tyranny but he descends below his owne vnworthinesse Briefly he is a pretious vessell he indures the rest and the defiance of time hee is a sound commodity which neuer failes the Customer and doth heartily confesse that whosoeuer swarues from this patterne swarues from honesty though he be deepely learned Howsoeuer he thinkes a Lawyer deepely learned cannot chuse but be honest except