the Succession of the Cold and Hot Fit WHen the cold Fit first seiz'd me me-thought it was rather melted Snow than Blood that Circulated in my Veins where it mov'd so Inordinately and maintain'd the vital Flame so Penuriously that the greatest Sign which was left to distinguish this Cold from that of Death was its making me shake strong enough to shake the Bed I lay on I call'd for more and more Cloaths only because I needed them not because I found any relief by them I fancy'd the torrid Zone to be of a far more desirable Constitution than that we call the Temperate and as little as I am wont to reverence vulgar Chymists I then envy'd their Laborants whose imployment requires them to attend the Fire But when the Cold Fit was once over it was quickly succeeded by a Hot one which after a while I thought more troublesome than it I threw off the Cloaths much faster than my former importunity had procur'd them to be laid on me and I that could a little before scarce feel all that had been heap'd on me could not now support a single Sheet but thought its weight oppress'd me I envied the Inhabitants of Norway and Iceland far more than those that dwell either in the richest Province of East-India or of the Golden Coast it self And of all Creatures not Rational I thought the Fishes the happiest since they Live in a cool Stream and when they please may Drink as much as they List If then Sophronia the self-same Person may within less than two hours have such different apprehensions of his own Condition as now to complain of that as a sad Grievance which but an hour before he wish'd for as a Relief we may well acknowledge that we frequently mistake in estimating the Hardships and Afflictions we complain of and find them not so uneasie as we make them whilst we not only endure the whole Affliction that troubles us but often increase it by repining at the envied Condition of others An afflicted Man is very apt to fancy that any kind of Sickness that for the present troubles him is far less supportable than if it were exchang'd for another Disease and imagines his case to be so singular that one cannot say to him in Saint Paul's Language No Temptation has befallen you but that which is common to Men 1 Cor. 10. 13. He presumes that he could far more easily support his Crosses if instead of his present Disease he had this or that other though if the Exchange were made he would perchance wish for his first Sickness if not be as much troubled at his own Folly as with the Disease He that is tormented with the Gout is apt to envy any Sick man that is exempted from that Roaring pain and able to VValk about He that is swell'd with the Dropsie fancies all Persons happy whose Diseases allow them Drink to quench their Thirst And the Blind man envies both these and thinks no Persons so miserable in this VVorld as those that cannot see the VVorld Feavers burn us Agues shatter us Dropsies drown us Phrensies unman us the Gout tortures us Convulsions wrack us Epilepsies fell us Collicks tear us and in short there is no considerable Disease that is not very troublesome in it self how ever Religion may sanctifie and sweeten it For as a Fortress whose Defendants are not Treacherous can scarce be taken otherwise than either by Famine or Storm so Life for whose preservation Nature is so faithfully sollicitous cannot be extinguish'd unless either Chronical Diseases do Lingringly destroy or some Acute do hastily snatch it away And indeed if a Disease prove Mortal 't is no more than is to be expected if it tire out the Patient with tedious Languishments or else dispatch him with dismal Symptoms Nor is it in point of Sickness only that we are often more unhappy than we need by Fancying our selves more unhappy than we should be if we were allow'd to exchange that which now troubles us for any thing which does not But there are Evils which though exceeding contrary in appearance and circumstances do yet agree in being extremely troublesome as the possest Wretch our Saviour cured in the Gospel though he were sometimes cast into the Fire and sometimes into the VVater yet in both states was tormented by the same Divel who in variety of Inflictions still express'd the same Malice But we should make a righter Estimate of suffering if we did but consider that much uneasiness is annex'd to an Afflicted condition in general and that therefore which we are sensible of may proceed rather from the general nature of Sicknesses and Crosses than from the particular Kind and Degree of ours And indeed if a Man were permitted to exchange his Disease with those of others he would often find his granted wishes to bring him a variety of Mischiefs rather than an Exemption from them and many of those that we Envy as thinking them far less Sufferers than our selves do look with invidious Eyes on us and do but dissemble their Grievances more handsomely than we not find them more easie than ours And that of Saint Peter may be more generally apply'd than most Men think where he exhorts to constancy upon this consideration That the same Sufferings are accomplish'd upon our Brethren in the World 1 Pet. 5. 9. For 't is all one as to the Efficacy of this Lenity whether our Afflictions be the same with those of others in Kind or not Superiour to them in Degree And I doubt not but we should support many of our Grievances as easily as those for which we wish them exchang'd if the chief account upon which they trouble us were not rather that they are the present ones than the greatest MEDITATION IV. Upon the being let Blood ONe of the most troublesome Symptoms in almost all Feaverish Distempers is wont to be Thirst and in mine it was importunate to a degree that made me very much so in frequently solliciting those that were about me for Drink which in the heat of the Fit seem'd so desirable an Object that it then much lessen'd my wonder at that parch'd King's agreement who urg'd with Thirst sold his Liberty for a full Draught of cold VVater But alas I sadly found that the Liquor I swallow'd so Greedily afforded me but a very transient Relief the latter being gone almost as soon as the former had pass'd thorow my Throat so that not only it did but amuse me not Cure me but which is worse Drinking it self increas'd my Thirst by encreasing the Feaver whose uneasie Symptom that was Wherefore seeing all the cooling Juleps that could be administer'd did free me from nothing but the Expectation of being much reliev'd by such slight and palliative Medicines the Doctor thought himself this Day oblig'd to a quite contrary and yet a more generous Remedy and order'd that instead of giving me Drink they should take away Blood as judging it the best and far the
with an Account of the several attempts that are either made or design'd in foreign Parts to produce Curiosities and improve Knowledge I was suddenly surpris'd with a Chilness and a Shivering that came so unexpected and increas'd so fast that it was heightned into a downright Fit of an Ague before I could satisfie my self what it was But I confess that this unwelcome accident had not amaz'd me as well as troubled me if I had sufficiently consider'd to what a strange number and variety of Distempers these frail Carcasses of ours are Obnoxious for if I had call'd to mind what my Curiosity for Dissections has shown me and remembred how many Bones and Muscles and Veins and Arteries and Grisles and Ligaments and Nerves and Membranes and Juices a humane Body is made up of I could not have been surprised that so curious an Engine that consists of so many pieces whose Harmony is requisite to Health and whereof not any is superfluous nor scarce any insensible should have some or other of them out of order it being no more strange that a Man's Body should be subject to Pain or Sickness than that an Instrument with above a thousand Strings if there were any such should frequently be out of Tune especially since the bare change of Air may as well discompose the Body of a Man as untune some of the Strings of such an Instrument so that ev'n the inimitable Structure of humane Bodies is scarce more admirable than that such curious and elaborate Engines can be so contriv'd as not to be oftner out of order than they are the preservation of so nice and exact a Frame being the next wonder to its Work-man-ship And indeed when I consider further how many outward accidents are able to destroy the Life or at the least the Health ev'n of those that are carefull to preserve them and how easily the Beams of a warm Sun or the Breath of a cold VVind or too much or too little Exercise a Dish of green Fruit or an infectious Vapour or ev'n a sudden Fright or ill News are able to produce Sickness and perhaps Death and when I think too how many evitable Mischiefs our own Appetites or Vices expose us to by acts of Intemperance that necessitate the Creatures to offend us and practices of Sin whereby we provoke the Creator to punish us when I say I consider all this and consequently how many Mischiefs he must escape that arrives at Gray-hairs I confess the commonness of the Sight cannot keep me from thinking it worth some wonder to see an Old man especially if he be any thing Healthy But these kinds of Thoughts Sophronia are seldome entertain'd unless they be excited by some unwelcome Occasions and when we are long accustomed to Health we take it for granted that we shall enjoy it without taking it for a Mercy that we are so we are not sensible enough of our continual need and dependance on the divine Goodness if we long and uninterruptedly enjoy it and by that unthankfull heedlesness we do as it were necessitate Providence to deprive us of its wonted supports to make us sensible that we did enjoy and that we always need them It being but fit that Mercies should cease to be constant which their constancy only that should be their indearment keeps us from entertaining as Mercies I will therefore Sophronia endeavour to derive this advantage from this sudden Fit of Sickness to make me thankfull for Health when God shall be pleas'd to restore it me and to keep me from reckoning confidently upon the lastingness of it For though we are very unapt to take ev'n the Wise man's Counsel where he forbids us to boast our selves of to Morrow because we know not what a Day may bring forth yet by such accidents I find that Solomon spoke much within compass and had not done otherwise if for a Day he had substituted an Hour For so many and so various are the unfore-seen accidents to which we poor Mortals are expos'd that the continuance of our Health or Prosperity do much more merit our thanks than the interruption of them can deserve our wonder And I must confess Sophronia that though my falling Sick may be but my unhappiness my being so much surpris'd at it was my fault MEDITATION II. Upon the immoderate Heat and Cold of the Aguish Fit ONe that not knowing what Ails me should come in and see me in this soft Bed not only cover'd but almost oppress'd with Cloaths would confidently conclude that whether or no I be distress'd by the contrary Quality I cannot at least be troubled with Cold and if he himself were so he will be apt to Envy me And if instead of coming in my Cold fit he should Visit me in my Hot one and see me with my Shoulders and Arms quite uncover'd and nothing but the single Sheet on the rest of my Body he would be apt to think that I must lye very cool But alas in spight of all that lies upon me an internal Frost has so diffus'd it self through every Part that my Teeth chatter and my whole Body does shake strongly enough to made the Bed it self do so and though I still wish for more Cloaths yet those that are heap'd on me can so little controle this praeternatural Cold that a Pile of them might sooner be made great enough to Crush than to VVarm me So that when I Travell'd ev'n in frosty Nights the VVinter had nothing near so strong an Operation on me And as that external Cold was far more supportable whilst it lasted so it was incomparably more easie for me by Exercise and otherwise to deliver my self from it Thus when a Great or Rich Man's mind is distemper'd with Ambition Avarice or any immoderate Affection though the By-standers that see not what disquiets him but see what great store of Accommodations fortune has provided for him may be drawn to Envy his Condition and be kept very far from suspecting that he can want that Contentment the means of which they see him so Richly supply'd with And yet alas as the Colder heat of the external Air is much less troublesome to a Man in Health though furnished with an ordinary proportion of Cloaths than the Cold or Hot fit of an Ague with a pile of Blankets first and then a single Sheet so to a Vigorous and Healthy constitution of mind External inconveniences are much more supportable than any Accommodations can make the condition of a distemper'd Soul Let us not then judge of Men's happiness so much by what they have as by what they are and consider both that Fortune can but give much and it must be the Mind that makes that much enough And that as 't is more easie to endure Winter or the Dog-days in the Air than in the Blood so a Healthfull mind in spight of Outward inconveniences may afford a Man a condition preferrable to all External accommodations without that MEDITATION III. Upon
than the very Swinish Proprietaries of the Feast till at length having guzzl'd and croak'd enough when by hovering over his beloved Dainties he had rais'd himself high enough to prompt me to fire at him my no less unexpected than fatal shot in a moment struck him down and turning the Scene of his Delight into that of his Pangs made him abruptly alter his Note and change his triumphant Chant for a dismal and tragick Noise This Method is not unusual to Divine Justice towards brawny and incorrigible Sinners whose Souls no less Black than this inauspitious Bird's feathers do wear already the Livery of the Prince of Darkness and with Greediness do the works of it whose Delights are furnish'd as the Feasts of Crows are by Carrion by their own filthy lusts or other people's faults and who by the Oaths and Curses wherewith they offend Christian ears whilst they live and by the ill odour they leave behind them when they are dead do but too much justifie my resembling them to these hateful Creatures Such sensual and obdurate Epicures I say God oft-times suffers to run on their long Carier in paths of their own chusing without checking them in the fruition of those Joys which are to be their onely Portion till at length their iniquity filling up the determinate measure he cuts them off in the heighth of their Injoyments and employing oft-times their own sins for their Executioners or at least Instruments of their Destruction precipitates them headlong from the Pinacle of their Delights into the bottomless Pit which one of their Predecessors the rich man in the Parable call'd as he sadly found it the Place of Torment where the luscious sweets of sin are so dearly reckon'd for and afford so much Bitterness in the latter end that their sense sadly convinces them of what their sensuality kept them from believing the folly of gaining any thing at the rate of losing their own Souls Thus the Israelitish Prince found a Nemesis bold enough to violate the Sanctuary even of his Mistress's arms and regardless of its charms enter that lovely Circle their Kindness clos'd him in to snatch him thence and extinguish the lustful flames that lighted him thither with the cold blasts of Death Thus the mutinous Loathers of Manna and lusters after flesh had their wish severely granted for they had indeed Quails serv'd in by fieldsfull but attended with so sudden and sharp a Reckoning that whilst the flesh was yet between their teeth ere it was chew'd Death hindred them to swallow it choak'd them with it and devour'd them as greedily as they did those Birds Thus the insolent Philistins found themselves ill protected by their vainly celebrated God and his much stronger Temple though in the latter there were thousands of them without any other Enemy than one they had sent for to be a friend to their Mirth For in the very midst of all the Triumphs of a solemn Festival which had more properly been kept to Dililah whil'st they were insulting over captive Samson's Blindness they could not see their own approching Destiny though it were then so near that the next fit of Laughter had not time to pass to their Mouths ere an unexpected Vengeance the provok'd Deity lending an Omnipotent Arm to Samson's hand confounded in one Ruine the Idol with the Worshippers and suddenly turn'd the whole Temple into an Altar with which the Priests themselves fell surprized Sacrifices to that tragical Solemnity And thus to hasten from so sad a Theme the revelling Belshazzar in the midst of his Magnificent and Royal Feast saw an intruding hand which by its manner of appearing as well as by what it wrote was able to mar the Supper without impairing the Dainties And that Monarch whom even a Siege could not reduce below a condition of Feasting though he were carouzing in the consecrated Cups had such a Brimmer of trembling put into his hand as both presag'd and perchance began the Destiny approaching him under the Ensigns of the Noble Cyrus whose Conquering Sword guided by Providence and made the Sword of Justice did that very same night let out his Wine and Bloud and Life together Upon the same Subject 'T Is hard on such an occasion to avoid making some Reflection upon the Mutability of worldly Conditions How little did this Crow imagine a quarter of an hour since that in so short a time his Body should be as senseless and as stinking Carrion as that he was wont to feed it with that his feathers should wear so unlucky a kind of Mourning for his Destruction and that I should write his Epitaph with one of his own Quils Sure since a few minutes can turn the healthiest Bodies into breathless Carkases and put those very things into the hands of our Enemies which were they that we principally reli'd on for our safety it were little less than Madness to repose a distrustless Trust in these transitory Possessions or treacherous Advantages which we enjoy but by so fickle a Tenure No we must never venture to wander far from God upon the Presumption that Death is far enough from us but rather in the very height of our Jollities we should endeavour to remember that they who feast themselves to-day may themselves prove Feasts for the Worms tomorrow REFLECTION IV. Upon a Glow-worm that he kept included in a Crystal Viol. IF this unhappy Worm had been as despicable as the other reptils that crept up and down the Hedge whence I took him he might as well as they have been left there still and his own Obscurity as well as that of the Night had preserv'd him from the confinement he now suffers And if as he sometimes for a pretty while withdrew that Luminous Liquor that is as it were the Candle to this small dark Lanthorn he had continued to forbear the disclosing of it he might have deluded my search and escap'd his present Confinement Rare Qualities may sometimes be Prerogatives without being Advantages And though a needless Ostentation of ones Excellencies may be more glorious a modest Concealment of them is usually more safe And an unseasonable disclosure of flashes of Wit may sometimes do a Man no other service than to direct his Adversaries how they may do him a mischief And as though this Worm be lodg'd in a Crystalline Prison through which it has the Honour to be gaz'd at by many Eyes and among them by some that are said to shine far more in the Day than this Creature do's in the Night yet no doubt if he could express a sense of the Condition he is in he would bewail it and think himself unhappy in an excellency which procures him at once Admiration and Captivity by the former of which he does but give others a Pleasure while in the latter he himself resents a Misery This oftentimes is the fate of a great Wit whom the Advantage he has of ordinary Men in Knowledge the Light