is a Grave when I 'm dead neither wou'd I 〈◊〉 ' â—is the Bed where my Iris Sleeps exchange it for the Mannor of Sampsil In this I follow the Example of Father Abraham for see how he beginneth to possess the World by no Land â—asture or Arable Lordship the First Thing is a Grave he was so far from coveting this World that he minded nothing but the purchase of a Burying-place and that he might not be disappointed of it he paid down the Money demanded of the Seller currant Money among the Merchants Why I purchased a Grave and woud not exchange it for the Mannor of Sampsil Of an Irish Bp. that woud be buried near the Gallows Most Men says Dr Fuller have been careful for the decent Interment of their 〈◊〉 few are of the Mind of Arbagastus an Irish Saint and Bishop of Spires who wou'd be buried near the Gallows in imitation of our Saviour whose Grave was on Mount Calvary near the place of Execution Yet after all it must be confest to want a Grave is the Cruelty of the Livine not the Misery of the Dead An English Gentleman not long since did lie on his Death-bed in Spain and the Jesuits did flock about him to pervert him to their Religion all was in vain their last Argument was If you will not turn Roman Catholick then your Body shall be unburied then Answer'd he I 'll stink and so turned his Head and died Thus Love if not to the Dead to the Living will make him if not a Grave a Hole and it was the Beggars Epitaph Naked I liv'd but being Dead Now behold I 'm covered Let us be careful to provide rest for our Souls for our Bodies when Dead A Gentleman threatned to be unburied if he woud not turn Roman Catholick The Beggars Epitaph will provide Rest for themselves Having proceeded so far towards my own Funeral as to secure six foot of Ground if the Grave-maker don't cheat me and having shaken Hands with my Friends and this vâ—in World Being approacht thus near towards my End methinks now all my Worldly Cares are drawing to their Period and 'twont be long before I shall reach that happy Shore where Iris is already landed Seing then I am falling towards mine Harbour and for a sight of her who died praying for my Eternal Welfare methinks I e'en long 'till Death has wafted me to those bright Regions where she is If I eâ—t mistaken I cou'd rejoice to see the Bearers that must carry me to her Grave and shou'd triumph cou'd the Dead speak when I 'm tumbled into it It even now sweetens the Thoughts of Heaven to me to think I shall one day see her there which if I do With what Ardours shall we then caress one another with what Transports of Divine Affection shall we mutually embrace Essay on knowning our Friends in Heaven p. 16. and vent those Innocent Flames which had so long lain smoothering in the Grave How passionately Rhetorical and Elegant will our Expressions be when our tender Sentiments which Death had frozen up when he congeal'd our Blood shall now be thaw'd again in the warm Airs of Paradise Like Men that have escaped a common Ship wreck and swim safe to the Shoar shall we there congratulate each other with Joy and Wonder What Extafies I shou'd be in upon seeing Iris again Then how pleas'd am I to think my Ashes will shortly be mingled with herâ— who loved me more than her own Life For it reioiced Iris to think she shou'd die fiâ—st and that she shou'd live in me so long as I liv'd And when we dyed 't was our mutual deâ—te to sleep together in the same Grave where as she exprest it we shall be still happy together if a senseless Happiness can be call'd so My Body can't Death the Journy to her is dark and melan choly fail of being Happy if it sleeps with Iris And for my 〈◊〉 I wish it no other Felicity when she hath shaken off these Raggs of Flesh than to ascend to her and to enjoy the same Bliss Then cast off this ROBE of CLAY my Soul and fly to overtake her 't is true DEATH the Journy to her is Dark and Melancholy but 't is a Comfort to think that the He forgets that he can die who complains of misery first Day of our Jubilee is DEATH He forgets that he can die who complains of Misery And therefore one petitioning NERO that he might be executed his Answer was Man why art thou not dead already when Death is in thy own Power We are in the Power of no Calamity while Death is in our own Death is the Cure of all Diseases Thus Madam you see what Improvement I make of my DEATH and FUNERAL and that I do what I can to secure a GRAVE for why shou'd I be unwilling to go to that Bed which my Blessed Lord hath perfumed with his own Body and is now become the Dormitories of the Saints 1. Then thou-that hast convers'd with God and Death In Speculation shall thy Breath Unwillingly expire into his Hand That comes to fetch it by Command From God that made thee Art thou loth to be Possess'd of thy Felicity Because thy Guide looks pale and must Convey thy Flesh to Dust Though that to Worms converted be What is all this to thee 2. Thou shalt not Feel Death's Sting but instant have Full Ioys and Triumph o're the Grave Where thy long-lov'd Companion flesh shall rest Until it â—e refin'd new drest For thy next Wearing in that Holy Place That Heaven where thou shalt Face to Face With Saints and Angels daily see Thy God and ever be Replenish'd with Celestial Bliss Oh my Soul think still on this when I am in my Grave my own Worms like the false Servants of The Grave is the Dormitories of the Saints some great Men shall devour me yet when my poor Corpse is mixt with common Dust it shall sleep safely with the Dear Eliza. Then grant O Lord that as I am thus laid in my Grave by thy Serjeant Death so I may be raised again by the quickning Power of thy Sons Resurrection and be conducted by one of thy glorious Messengers to the Gates of Heaven In this manner do I ponder on my Death and FUNERAL But whether I consider Why I ought to prepare for a speedy death my own Funeral or the Funeral of others I have Reason to prepare for a speedy DEATH and the Consequence of it 'T was Plato's Opinion That the Wise-man's Life was the Meditation of Death But Man in his Travails often measures his Grave yet is forgetful of His End seven Foot is his Demension yet most Men live in that security as if that small scantling had a perpetual extention But that my DEATH may not seem further off than-indeed it is I will daily expect it ' it were madness to think I shou'd never arrive at that to which I
long the Agitation they give us by degrees grows less till it quite â—ases Nay Zeno was wont to say That the goods of the World did more hurt then good which was the cause that made Crates the Thebane passing one day from his countrey of Athens to follow the studie of Philosophy to throw all the Gold and Silver he had about him into the Sea imagining that Vertue and Riches could never consist together Men of the Greatest Sence have generally dyed Poor Valerius Agrippa c. as also the good Arisâ—ides dyed so poor that they were fain by Alms to be buried Great Butler's Muse the same ill Treatment had Whose Verse shall Live for ever to upbraid Th' ungrateful World that left such Worth unpaid The Bard at summing up his mis spent days Found nothing left but Poverty and Praise Of all his Gain by Verse he could not save Enough to purchase Flannel and a Grave Reduc'd to want he in due time fell sick Was fain to die and be interr'd on Tick. I might also instance in Epaminondas King of Theâ—es in whose Rich House and Palace was found but one poor Straw-bed or base Mattress to put in his Inventory What says St. Chrysostom doth distinguish Angels from Men but that they are not needy as we are And 't is ever observ'd that Mens Desires encrease with their Riches and consequently they that have most are the most needy and therefore the Poor who have the least in the World come nearest to Angels and those are the furthest off who need the most He who needs says this Father in another place many things is a Slave to many things is himself the Servant of his Servants and depends more on them than they on him So that the encrease of worldly Goods and Honours being but the Increase of our slavery and dependance reduces us to a more real and effective misery What hath the Bravest of Mortals to glory in Is it Greatness Who can be Great on so small a Round as this Earth and bounded with so short a course of Time How like is that to Castles built in the Air or to Giants Model'd for a Sport of Snow which at the better Looks of the Sun do melt away But for all this says the ambitious man were I to chuse my Station I 'd be a King at least How full of Charms is it to imitate the Divine Original of Beings to see whole Kingdoms Croutching to me to be encompassed with bare Heads where e're I go to have the power of Exalting one and Debasing another of disposing of Life and Death and in short to be an Earthly God To this I answer There appears to me a greater happiness in an unenvyed Cottage than in the Noisy Crowds of Flatterers Little does the Plebcian know how heavy a Crown weighs how great the Trust is and how hard to be managed 'T is the Court that 's full of Ambition Bribes Treachery c. The Watch must be kept so strictly that there 's no time to act Vertuously But in the retired Solitudes of Poverty one Fourth of our Temptations are lost the uneasiness of the Flesh causes a search after the Quiet of the Mind I mention'd in my last Charles V. Dioclesian and several others who laid by their Scepters for Spades and I might here tell you how happy the change was But 't will be again objected That the Rich have many Friends but few if any caress the Poor I shall therefore be thought to be half mad to write thus in Praise of Poverty which is Universally despised but without any good Reason for abundance of this World is a Clog to the Christian Pilgrim With what difficulty do those that have Riches enter into the Kingdom of Heaven I hear Israel praying in Egypt quarrelling in the Wilderness when they were at their Brick-Kilns they would be at their Devotion and no sooner are they at ease but they are wrangling for their Flesh Pots I dare say many a man had not been so wicked if he had but been Poor It is the saying of a Great Divine That Solomon's Riches did him more hurt than his Wisdom did him good Affliction and Want do that many times which fair means cannot Wealth like Knowledge puffs up when Poverty makes men flock to Christ. 'T is the Poor receive the Gospel then how much better is Poverty than Riches if it carries me to Heaven Who wou'd not be a Lazarus for a Day that he might sit in Abraham's Bosom for ever Poverty is despis'd but 't is the best Physick I know not whether Prosperity have lost or Adversity recovered more None prays so heartily for his daily Bread as he that wants it Misery like Ionah's Fish sends them to their Prayers that never thought of God under their Gourd It is pity fair Weather shou'd do any harm Yet it is often seen Riches makes many forget those Friends which Want wou'd make croâ—h to But Man cannot be so much above Man as that the difference should Legitimate his Scorn Diogenes Tub was a poor House and yet Alexander would come thither to talk with him Then how welcome should that State be which keeps us humble and brings us acquainted with God Who wou'd pursue the World when Poverty makes us happy Alas Madam This World is a Lyar and he will find it so that like you and Philaret does not retreat from it But tho Men wou'd come to Heaven yet they do not like this way they like well of Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom but not at Dives Door But alas Riches like the Rose are sweet but prickly the Honey doth not counter vail the Sting they end in Vexation and like Iudas while they Kiss they Petray Riches like their Master are full of Deceit promise what they have not How many have I seen in London that by much Toil have gotten a vast Estate that at last have envied the Quiet Rest and Merry Meals of their Labourers Diogenes laying his money at his head a Thief was very busie to steal it from him which troubled him so much that he could take no rest so at last rather than he would deprive himself of his sweet sleep he threw it to him saying Take it to thee thou Wretch that I may take my Rest. And I think he was much in the right My Companion in my present Solitude is much of Diogenes Temper for he has parted with all he has and is now being Pâ—or happy in no bodies Opinion but his own There is no True Rich Man but the Contented nor truly Poor but the Covâ—tous If we can but make the best of our own and think our selves well even when others think not so we are happy persons Socrates passing through the Market cries out How much is here I do not need Nature is content with little Grace with less Poverty lies in Opinion The Characterizer of Mr. Pym p. 4. tells us of a Noble Man who once acted the Beggar 's
these unwellcome Tydings there was a great stir within the City the People assembled to the Market Place search was made for the Author of this Rumor Hereupon the Barber was haled before the Body of the People and being examined hereof he knew not so much as the Name of the Party from whom he had heard the News Upon which the whole Assembly were so moved to Anger that they cryed Away with the Villain set the Rascal upon the Rack have him to the Wheel who had devised this Story of his own fingers ends The Wheel of Torture was brought and the Barber was tormented upon it In the mean while there came certain News of that Defeat and thereupon the Assembly broke up leaving the Barber racked out at length upon the Wheel till it was late in the Evening at which time he was let loose yet was no sooner at liberty but he must enquire News of the Executioner what he had heard abroad of the General Nicias and in what manner he was slain So that Men have such a hankering after Novelties that they 'd even die to see something New and this Itch after News is become as General as 't is Fallacious The Poor Taylor that works in a Carret can scarce forbear leaving his Goose to run to a Coffee-house to ask if the Pope be recovered A constant Companion to this House going in all haste for a Midwife or to save the Life of a Friend was dying must call in and drink at least two Dishes of Coffee and smoak his Pipe that he may know how the World goes abroad let it go how it will at home Oh what precious Time do the London Coffee-houses devour and therefore 't is Dr. Wilde tells us News and New Things do the whole World bewitch But by your leave Dr. you may be mistaken for all are not born or live in Athens tho to their shame most are sick of the Athenian Diseâ—se in a desire to hear and seek News which they never find For Doctor I shall prove anon there is no such thing neither do they reflect upon what they hear for they seek only News for News sake and make it their business to go to the Wits * By Covent-Garden C ffee-house to Dicks to Ionathan's to Bridge's to Ioe's to Smith's to pick up News and then to report it to the next they meet and to be sure it loses nothing by carrying But there are some that were never tainted with this Athenian Itch. I have heard my Father often say he never was at a Coffee-house in his whole Life But he 's the only Instance of that kind that I ever knew yet I cant think him a New Instance for doubtless there be Men of the same Principle There be no Humane Actions that we see now a days but what have been practised in times past Yet I must own that before the War the Coffee-house was a place whither people only came after Toping all day to purchase at the expence of their last Penny the Repute of Sober Companions for Coffee is a Sober Liquor but now they are the Congress of Rome Venice Spain Geneva Amsterdam and are flockt to by all as the Mint of Intelligence Hither the Idle Vulgar come and go Carrying a Thousand Rumors to and fro With stale Reports some list'ning Ea s do fill Some coyn fresh Tales in words that vary still Lies mixt with Truth all in the Telling grows And each Relator adds to what he knows All Acts of Heav'n and Earth it boldly views And thro the spacious World enquires for NEWS The Coffee-house where News is so much enquir'd for is no better than a Nursery for training up the smaller Fry of Virtuosi in confident tatling But en't it strange that any shou'd be so mad as to run from Coffee house to Coffee-house to pick up News when in reality there is no such thing For what has the Name of News which like the Athenians of old they so Itch after is no other as my Poem shews than newly augmented Lyes Relations soâ—nd diversly as the Air of Affection carries them and sometimes in a whole Volley of News we shall not find one true Report and therefore 't was the Advice of a Father to his Son Let the greatest part of the News thou hearest be the least part of what thou believest lest the greatest part of what thou believest be the least part of what is true And where Lies are admitted for News the Father of Lies will not easily be excluded Perhaps what they miscall News may have some Ground of Truth for its beginning but being tost from one to another it is buried and lost in the multitude of New Additions and there 's nothing we can warrant for Pure News But then you 'll object Those Additions are New No Madam Terrence tells ye the contrary by saying Nihil est jam Dictum quod non Dictum sit Prius Nothing is spoken now but what has been said in former times And that Philosopher Renaudots tells us our very thoughts tho they be innumerable yet if they were Registered would be all found ancient Thento what purpose do we hunt for News Tis'true those Papers that pretend to News tell us sometimes of a Kings being beheaded and what is King Iames's Abdication but a Parallel Case of an Earl's Cutting his own Throat and then flinging the Razor out of the Window of the penitent Death of some great Lord of a Bloody Fight of a Lover hanging himself of a Virgin Ravisht of a Wise Alderman and now and then of a Woman C ding her Husband c. But these tho Real Truths are no New Things but what we have seen over and over Not but I must own if there were a New Thing under the Sun the Author of the Flying Post wou'd find it out But he 's an honest Gentleman and writes nothing but Truth and Truth is always the same and if his Papers be always the same what News can there be in them Or say his Papers were all Invention which comes neareâ—l to News of any thing that is not so yet still they were void of News for Invention is nothing else for the most part but a Simple Imitation in Deeds or Words So that the Flying Post Post-Man and Post-Boy do Weekly labour in vain for all their Pretence to News is no better than an Old Design to enrich the Bookseller which I don't tell as a Piece of News but as a thing acknowledg'd by ev'ry Hawker But tho we are disappointed of News where we most expect it yet whoever is troubled with Impertinent Fancies or wou'd hear ridiculous Storie â—e need but step to the Coffee-house and here the several Humors of the pretended News-mongers is worth Remark One begins ye the Story of a Sea-Fight and tho he never was so far as Wapping yet having Pyrated the Names of Ships and Captains he tells you Wonders that he waded up to the middle
Earth and your Eyes never satisfied with seeing you should like a Moroco Mounted upon a Barb give a sudden check to your Passionate Love to Rambleng in its highest career and confine your self to a lonely Cell Sure Hope has represenâ—ed to your Fancy some excessive fine Prospect of learning the Art of Living Incognito which must be New for I believe you never was before under such an Inchantment I 'll go no farther therefore for an Instance then your Self to find a proof of something new after all the Pains you take to prove the contrary and yet the method you take to procure this mighty Happiness you expect is to me more new and strange that knowing as you do how easy it is for an Authorwhose Book sells to write on till he ruins the Bookseller you should lay such a Project of writing so many Letters and chuse a Person to help you so proper for such a purpose of ruining the Bookseller especially if I must bepaid too for doing mischief which plainly shews you have some new and Ill design against the World But I 'll take no Pay for such Services and this again is something new so that there needs no more to convince you of your mistaking the sence of Solomon I shall add no more but conclude Your c. From my Cell January 18th 1699. LETTER V. Being a Defence of Speedy Marrying after the Death of a good Wife Madam I Have now made so great a Progress in the Art of Living Incognito as that I Live so now whether I will or no not that I like it the better that I must now do that for my Safety which at first I design'd for my Pleasure but this Necessity added to my Natural Inclination to a Private Life will have that good Effect as to perfect me in the Art of Living Incognito seeing 't is likely Now to be my Daily Study to the End of my Life But for what Reasons I Refer you to my Printed Case and as Dismal as that is seeing I Marryed a Second Time in hopes to be as happy as I was at first the Subject of this Letter shall be Defence of Speedy Marrying after the Death of a good Wife One wou'd think Madam my being Banish'd to a Private Cell shou'd raise in my Breast an Aversion to your Sex by Reason my Dear wou'd not prevent it yet I see nothing can change my nature for the Thoughts of the good Wife I lately Buryed and that kind one I yet hope to find in Valeria fills me with an Extraordinary Opinion of Marriage and truly Madam your Displeasure at this has strangely Mis-lead your Friendship if it makes you angry with me for being such a Loving-Creature Sure Sabina you were not in Earnest when after the Death of my first Wife you reflected on my design of speedy Marrying again That Widdower only loved at first as he ought who Marries again as soon as decently he can 't is a known Truth those love their first Wives best who Marry soonest there 's a Remarkable instance of this now at Hackney neither is it rational to think they 'd run Head-long into a State of Life wherein they had been unfortunate alas Madam a good Wife at first does but whet ones Appetite the more for another and make one e'en languish for a second part to the same Tune A good Wife is but Woman in Body alone and a Woman with a wise Soul is the fittest Companion for Man otherwise God wou'd ha' given him a Friend rather than a Wife but we find even in Paradice twon't good for Man to be alone and that even then a she-Companion was the meetest helper If Man in Innocency needed a Help Solace and Comfort and Marriage was all these how deficient were our now miserable Lives without it For besides that it doubles Ioys and divides Griefs it creates new and unthought-of Contenments So that I admire Marriage is so unfashionable and that you and others are so backwards to 't for it not only includes all the Sweets of Life but he that hath a Wife which Loves him hath two Selfs and possesses all his Faculties double his Hands his Eyes and Mind he can at once leave Faithful at home and carry Faithful abroad Cato was so taken with Marriage that he 'd have no Widower live a month single and he did not stick to maintain that it was more Honourable to be a good Husband then a great Senator Madam when you 're blaming of hasty Matches you quite forget that when Ieptha's Daughter Dyed they mourned for that she Dyed a Maid and the truth is tho' we we find many Enemies to speedy Marriage yet 't is rare to find an Enemy to the use on 't and I don't wonder at this for both Sexes made but Man at first so that Marriage perfects Creation by restoring our lost Rib. Surely He I won't say she was made Imperfect that is not tending to Propagation Now all are concern'd here even Sabina herself if she 's Flesh and Bloood and consequently shou'd Marry as soon as they can for to have an honest Remedy at Hand and yet to seek out forbidden Cures is a Phrensy that deserves more then a Chain and a Dark Room But tho' speedy Marriage be often a Duty yet let generous minds beware in their haste of Marrying Poor for tho' they care the least for Wealth yet they 'l be most gall'd with the want of it for my own share my Flesh is not over Malicious towards sweet meats yet shou'd I lose Valeria I 'd soon Marry again for the defence of a good Custom a great deal of Love and a little Money Nay Madam think what you please of this speedy Marrying to something I must dedicate my self for my Dear in her parting with me seems to take away even the substance of my Soul along with her and certainly I laid up my chief Treasure whatever you may think of my Marrying so hastily in the Frail and Sickly Life of that Tender Wife But now shee 's gone I must not weep as one without hope for she 's as happy as Heaven can make her and I as Earth can make me if Valeria for my sake and her own good wou'd despise the World These were the Reasons why I Marryed so soon after the Death of my first Wife and made me think Time lost 'till I went about it for Madam the Soul is framed of such an active Nature that 't is impossible but it must assume something to it self to delight in we seldom find any without Peculiar Delight in some Peculiar thing and mine consists in carressing a Vertuous Wife But tho' something I must Like and Love yet nothing so Violently as to undo my self with wanting it yet will never love a Wife so little shou'd I Marry 50 as that she shall not Command the All of an honest Man and what wou'd they have more Confess Sabina shou'd not these considerations weigh down all
a God for what is the whole World but the Explanation of a Deity But if nothing reforms you but you 'l still be Atheists that you may sin securely you run your selves into Premunire out of Protection and will be undeceived by the Flames of Hell and perhaps sooner for the Atheist dreads that Deity he does deny We see this verified in that Great Commander Mr. Terry speaks See Terry's Voyage to the East-Indies p. 414. of who was a profest Atheist yet a Man of approved Valour But upon a time he sitting in dalliance with one of his Women she pluckt an Hair from his Breast which grew about his Nipple in Wantonness without the least thought of doing him hurt But the little wound that small Instrument of Death made presently began to Fester and in short-time after became a Canker incurable when he saw that he must dye he uttered these words viz. Who wou'd not have thought but that I who have The dying Spâ—ch of an Atheist been so long bred a Souldier shou'd have dyed in the Face of mine Enemy either by a Sword or a Launce or an Arrow or a Bullet or by some such Instrument of Death But now tho too late I am forc'd to confess that there is a Great God above whose Majesty I have ever despis'd that needs no bigger Launce than an Hair to Kill an Atheist or a despiser of his Majesty and so desiring that those his last Words might be told unto the King his Master died Till Sin into the World had made a Breach Death was not heard of Ever since in Each Poor Human Mortal it doth Couchant lie The Kernel of a Grape kills one a Fly Another choaks by a corrupted Breath of Air one dyes and others have found Death In a small bit of Meat or by a Corn Too closely cut or by a Prick of Thorn When Death comes arm'd with God's Imperial Word An Hair can pierce as deep as sharpest Sword Such Reflections as these I made upon viewing the Sun 〈◊〉 and â—tars c. and when I was weary 〈◊〉 looking upwards as he soon is that lives in a Hurry I would 〈◊〉 a Walk into my Garden to visit Madg I have writ an Essarupon this Owl of near twenty Sheets to which is annext the Elegâ— I writ in Ireland upon the News of his Death 't is the Bird of Athens or to please my senses with the curiousness of the Knots â—or variety of Flowers that were in it God the first Garden made and the first City Cain And indeed where does the VVisdom and Power of God shine in a more bright and sweet Reflexion than in a Garden which Cowly was so in love with that he tells us A small House and a large Garden with moderate Conveniencies join'd to them is all he desires in this VVorld Nor does this Happy Place only dispense Such various Pleasures to the Sense Here Health it selâ— does live That Salt of Life which does to all a Relish give Here fragrant Beauties still are seen 'T is only here an Ever-Green No Man possesses more private Happiness in a Garden than I have done for I was once such a Lover of Gardens that when I cou'd steal time from behind the Counter I made it my business to be well acquainted The Pleasures of a Garden with all the variegated Capesâ—ry of Nature in the several Seasons of the Year But I find no Pleasure is of long continuance with me for I had not applied my self to the Study of Gardens above five Years but I was banisht my little Eden and the Flowers that cost me a great deal are now expos'd to the mercy of Catorpillars Farewell dear Flowers sweetly your Time ye spent Fit while ye liv'd for Smell or Ornament And after Death for Cures I follow streight without Complaint or Grief Since if my Scent be good I care not if It be as short as yours Herbert How uncertain are Worldly Comforts for being banish'd from the Black-Raven the most pleasant House How uncertain are worldly Comforts I ever dwelt in I am now so far from taking Pleasure in GARDENS c. That I 'm like a Man fallen out with the World Fortune has deny'd me something I am fallin out with the World and I take pet and will be miserable in spight In plainer English I 've sent for my Dear Spouse and I shan't be so Rich as my Honoured Mother 'till I have Publish'd the whole Art of Living Incognito she refuses to come 'till I'm as Rich as her Mother which will scarce be 'till I have publisht the whole Art of living Incognito So that nothing pleases me now except some deep Tragedy A Charnel-House cover'd with Sculls A gloomy Vale wrapt with unpleasant Yews Or some dark Cell cut out by Nature's skill and whose Entrance is inviron'd with thick Trees like to that where I now live In a Word I 'm so peevish grown since Nothing pleases me no but some deep Tragedy c. I find I can't Out-rival the Baggs that I can scarce bear to see my own Brother Merry and wonder what Men can find to laugh at for my own share I think I shall never more draw my Lips to a Smile but I en't so I shall never Out-Rival the Baggs morose neither but still I can love a Garden but none pleases me NOW but what 's the vâ—ry Picture of Melancholy My First Garden was a little Eden my Second the very Picture of Melancholy 1. Fain wou'd I have a Plat of Ground Which the Sun shou'd never see Nor by wanton Lover found That alone my Garden be 2 No Curious Flowers would I crave To tempt my smelling or my Eye A little Hearts Ease if I have Place a faâ—ing TULIP by 3. My Counterfeit will best appear In the Violets drooping Head On which a Melancholy Tear The Discontented Morn hath shed 4. MY TIME be wither'd let no ROSE Her perfumed Bosom show And the Sweet-Brier when it blows No imbracing Wood-bine know 5. Weave a pretty Roof of Willow On each side the Black-Thorn Spring Raise a Bank where for my Pillow Wormwood Rue and Poppies bring 6. No Bird sing here unless my Soul Would Hear sad Phyâ—omels Disgrace The TURTLE shall awake the OWL To join her Melancholy BASE 7. Here let no Man find me out Or if CHANCE shall bring out hither I 'll be secure when round about I mote it with my Eyes foul Weather 8. Thus let me Sigh my Heart away At last to one as sad as I. I 'll give my GARDEN that he may By my Example Love and Die And so much for my little EDEN and that Melancholy-Garden where Valeria's Jointure has sent me to digg I shall now proceed to the Observations I made in my cursory view of the Word After I was tyr'd with my Two Gardens except 't was Post-Night or I had some Author to visit I wou'd next take a Turn to
is as much to be deplored as not to be 4000 Years after it we know something what Death is by the Thought of that Time and Estate of our selves which was ' ere we were our Nephews haue the same Reason to â—ex 〈◊〉 yes that they 〈◊〉 not â—ung in our Dayes which we have 〈◊〉 that we shall not be old in theirs they who so re-went us did give place unto us and shall we grieve to give room to them who come after us And I 'm apt to think there 's nothing in Death it self that can afright us 't is only Fancy gives Death those hidious Shapes we think him in 't is the Saying of one I fear not to be dead yet am afraid to dye ' tho I don't see why we should be afraid of Death but as 't is the inlet to What Life is Eternity for Death is no more than a soft and easy Nothing Shouâ—d you ask me then what is Life I 'd answer with Crates who being asked this Question said nothing but turned him round and vanish'd and 't was judged a proper Answer Life's nothing but a dull repetition What Death is a vain fantastick Dream and there 's an end on 't But what ever 't is to live sure I am if you credit Seneca 't is no more to dye T is only Fancygives Death those hideous Shapes we think him in than to be born we felt no pain coming into the World nor shall we in the Act of leaving it Death is but a ceasing to be what we were before we were we are kindled and put out to cease to be and not to begin to be is the same thing I have met with one arguing thus Death which is accounted the most dreadful of all Evils is nothing to us saith he because while we are in being Death is not yet present so that it neither concerns us as living nor dead Epicurus in Gassend Synt. for while we are alive it hath not toucht us when we are dead we are not So that we look upon Death with our Eyes not with our Reason or we shou'd find a certain Sweetness in Mortality for that Essay on knowing our Friends in Heaven p. 87. can be no loss which can never be mist or desired again But let Death be what it will 't is certain 't is less troublesome than Sleep for in Sleep I may have disquieting Pains or Dreams and yet I fear not going to bed For Sleep gives us a sip of Joy but Death the full draught This is my Notion what DEATH is but I can't be sure I ' ent mistaken for my writing of my own Funeral shews I 'm yet alive or were I laid in my Grave I shou'd know as little what Death is as I do now for dying deprives us of knowing what we are doing or what other state we are commenceing T is a leap in the dark not knowing where we shall light as Mr. Hobbs told his inquisitive Friend when he was going to dye But ' tho I know so little what Death is there have been Men that have tried even in Death it self to relish and taste it but as I said before there are none of them come back to tell us the News Canius Julius endeavoured to make Trial what Death was that he might come again to acquaint his Friends with it No one was ever known to make Who once in Death's cold Arms a Nap did take Lucret. Lib. 3. Canius Iulius being condemn'd by that Beast Caligula as he was going to receive the stroke of the Executioner was ask'd by a Philosopher well Canius said he where about is your Soul now what is she doing what are you thinking of Iwas thinking 〈◊〉 and the faculties of my mind setled and fixt to try if in this short and quick instant of Death I cou'd perceive the motion of the Soul when she starts from the Body and what this passage is and whether she has any resentment of the separation that I may afterwards come again to acquaint my Frâ—ends with it But we don't read that Canius after he was put to death ever came to life again to acquaint his Friends what Death was But ' tho he did not there be those that have for my sâ—lf had once the Curiosity to visit two certain Persons one had been hang'd the other drown'd and both of them very miraculously brought to Life again I asked Of two men that came to Life again after they had bin hang'd and drown'd with an account of what they felt in their dying what Thoughts they had and what Pains they were sensible of The Person that was hang'd said He expected some sort of a strange change but knew not what but the pangs of Death were not so intolerable as some sharp Diseases nay he cou'd not be positive whether he felt any other pain than what his fears exacted He added that he grew senseless by little and little and at the first his Eyes represented a brisk shining red sort of Fire which grew paler and paler till at length it turn'd into a black after which he thought no more but insensibly acted the part of one that falls asleep not knowing how nor when The other gave me almost the same Account and both were dead apparently for a considerable Time These Instances are very satisfactory in cases of violent Death and for a natural Death I cannot but think it much easier diseases make a conquest of Life by Essay on knowing our Friends in Heaven p. 88. little and little therefore the strife must be less where the in equality of power is greater However by these instances we see there is a certain way by which some Men make tryal what Death is but I never expect to know it 'till I make the Experiment But I do believe if there be any evil in Death it wou'd appear to be for that Pain and Torment which we apprehend to arise on the breaking of those straight-bands which keep the Soul and Body together But that the Sâ—ght Hearing Smellâ—ng Taste leave us without Pain and unawares we know most certainly and why should we not The Sight Hearing Smâ—lling Taste leave us without Pain and why should we not believe the same of Feeling believe the same of Feeling But ' tho we can have no perfect Notion of Death yet this we are sure that Death is a profound sleep in which Nature lets it self fail insensibly when she is tyr'd with the disquiets of this Life It is a Cessation of all those Services which the Soul renders to the Flesh. This is Death as near as I can judge of it And if Death be no more then this I shan't shed one Tear at the Thoughts of my own Death tho' I have shed many at the Death of others I think the Thracians were much in the right to weep when a Child was born and to rejoyce when it dyed We also read that Lodowick Coâ—tusius a
Some Sicknesses besot others enrage Men some are too swift and others too slow If I could as easily decline Diseases as I could dislike 'em I should be Immortal But away with these Thoughts The Mark must not chuse what Arrow will be shot against it What God sends I must receive May I not be so curious to know what Weapon shall wound me as careful to provide the Plaister of Patience against it And surely I shall need Patience on a Sick Bed for if I 'm seized with a Feaver I fear I shall rave and rage Oh whither What Disease I woud be best contented to die of will my Mind sail when Distempers shall steer it Whither will my Fancy run when Diseases shall ride it My Tongue which of it self is a Fire Jam. 3. 6. sure will be a Wild-Fire when the Furnace of my Mouth is made seven times hotter with a burning Feaver But Lord ' tho I should talk idly to my own shame let me not talk wickedly to thy Dishonour Teach me the Art of Patience whilst I am well and give me the use of it when I am sick Commonly that Sicknes seizes Men which they least suspect In that day either lighten my Burden or strengthen my Back Make me who so often in my Health have discovered my Weakness presuming on my own strength to be strong in sickness when I solely rely on thy assistance But tho I mention a Feaver at 't is a Distemper I most dread yet 't is a great Question whether that Disease be to end 〈◊〉 Days For 't is commonly seen That Sickness seizeth on Men which they least suspect He that expects to be burnt with a Feaver may be drown'd with a Dropsie and she that fears to be Seing there be many Ways out of the World I bless God that I can die but once swell'd with a Tympany may be â—el'd with a Consumption I might mention a thousand other Diseases which unexpectedly may seize upon us Then seeing there be so many Ways out of the World and but one into it I bless my God that 〈◊〉 die but once and once I must know what that CHANGE means For in vain we take Mompâ—er-Air In hopes to leave the Thoughts of 〈◊〉 there And as I must die so If I don't mistake the Disease I shall die of for I expect to die of the Stone my weary Pilgrimage on Earth is almost finished so that my own Funeral is a proper Subject to employ my Thoughts and Men of a stronger My own Funeral is a proper Subject to Employ my Thoughts Body then I â—till they get a Lease of their Lives will do well to consider That they have no continuing City here Then Healâ—hful Man why should'st thou take such care To lengthen out thy Live's short Calendar Each Dropping Season and each Flower doth cry Fool as I fade and wither thou must die The beating of thy Pulse when thou art well Is but the tolling of thy Passing-Bell Night is thy Hearse whose Sable-Canopy Covers alike Deceased Day and thee And all those weeping Dews which nightly fall Are but as Tears shed for thy Funeral Thus you see Madam that Death no more spares the Strong and Heathful then he that is always sicklâ— but that we are all Pilgrims and Strangers oâ— Earth as our Fathers were befâ—re us On this Condition came we into the World that we should leave it again and therefore Anaxagoras having word Bona's saying upon the hearing of a Clock strike brought him his only Son was dead his Answer was I know he was born to die And BONA every time he heard the Clock strike would say Now I have one Hour less to live I can't say Death is so often in my thoughts that I shou'd cry every Hour I am so much nearer the Grave yet I may say aâ— often as I view the Hour-Glass and consider the swiftness of Time that I desire to â—ie Tears with her Grains of Sands that I might daily lament that I 've lived to no better purpose and am so little affected with the Death of others And as the consideration of the Death of others should remind me of my own so I hope a sight of my GRAVE will make Riches and what else I have doted on to appear in their own Nature as things of nothing in comparison of those above and as I go still Riches Plays Beauty c. have their value from our estimation of ' em nearer the nearer they seem unpleasanter the Fashion of this World 〈◊〉 awayâ— And I now perceive that Riches Paintings Iewels Songs Plays Beauty c. had their value to me meerly from mine own Estimation which now I begin to take off and look more intently on them They begin to vanish like Castles in the Clouds which are not there indeed but in our Imagination only And as the Thoughts of my Death shou'd wean me from this World so I perceive that the Egyptians found that the Sight of a Funeral was of great efficacy to this purpose and therefore at Rich-Mens-Banquets one went round about A piece of Timber wrought like the Carcass of a dead Man attended with a Train of Mourners the Table with a piece of Timber wrought like the Carcass of a dead Man attended with a Train of Mourners and he spake thus Oh 〈◊〉 that eat so â—avourly behold this Image for even so shall ye shortly become 'Till we have thus conquer'd the fear of Death every spectacle of Mortality terrifies us into what a Dump did the sight of Cyrusâ— Tomb strike the Mind of the great Alexander But thus to fear Death is always to live in the pangs of Death for most true it is Fear is more Pain than Pain there is no 〈◊〉 in Death it self like those in the Way or Prologue to it Then considering the Miseries of Humane Life I wonder any shou'd be afraid of Death 't is said of 〈◊〉 a Man of great Integrity that he gave one the option of Life or Death who told him he had 〈◊〉 The sight of Cyrus his Tomb terrify'd the Mind of the great Alexander die again than live again and certainly as Frederick the Emperour was wont to say The best thing in the World cou'd happen to a Man is to have a good going out of it I believe he spake as he thought for the wearied Man desires the Bed the languishing Man â—he Grave both wou'd fain be at rest I find this verified in my own Person for being always followed with one Disease or other I am so Zealous for a Passage out of this World that I now take my leave of every Place I depart from and think of nothing but dying I have already purchased a Grave where I intend to be buried and took upon it the only sure Possession I have in this World Of one who being put to his choice would rather die than live World All that I 〈◊〉 of thee living
on our Portion of Eternity nay we even form our Words with the Breath of our Nostrils and we have the less time to live wan't we dead already Eor ev'ry word we speak I say it again wa n't we dead already for Anaxagoras undertook to prove what 〈◊〉 we call Life is actual Death and that what we call Death is Life And as I am dead as dead as I 've here described so if I take a view of my My Father Mother c. and most of my Friends are dead Generation and Friends about me tho I enjoy them a while I find at last they follow the necessity of their Generation and are finally removed some by Age some by Sickness and some by casualty what a Bubble what a nothing What a wink of Life is Man Most of my Friends are gone and all by Death My Father is gone in one Friend my Mother in another Dear Ben in another Daphne the MATCHLESS DAPHNE in another Harris in another Showden in another and S. Darker in another the Delight of mine Eyes the pleasure of my Ears the Fellow of my Bed The Servants of my House my old School-fellows are either all gone or much impair'd Time was their Race but newly was begun Whose Glass is run They on the Troubled Sea were heretofore ' Tho now on Shore And 't is not long before it will be said Of me as 't is of them Alas he 's dead Now when I consider the Diminution I daily suffer in this kind methinks I stand as Aaron once did in the Camp betwixt the Living and the Dead and while I reflect on my self I find I so participate of both that I am indeed but half alive and half dead for half my Body by reason of the Stone c is dead and hath already taken Seizin of the Grave for me And as I hinted before I 'm half alive and half dead Five Parts of my Relations are dead the Companion also and Fellows of my Apprentiship are gone before So that if I wou'd adhere to the greater number as Many so in Factions I must repair to the Dead if I en't with 'em already for my Habitation My own Body moulders apace and the very top and Cover my THATCH above turns Colour grows Gray and withers But tho' my Friends are dead and I 'm dying apace my self yet I am so much My Body moulders apace the same with my Reverend Father which I dare not say of the other Persons I have here mention'd that he cannot die whilst I am alive THE youthful Blood that beat the winding Maze Within your Veins gave length unto my Days The active Heat distil'd a crimson Dew Through those warm Limbecks and made Me of you That to such full proportion I am grown People do still Me for Your Figure own Then since I have deriv'd a part from Thee Thou canst not dye whilst Thou hast part in Me. Thus Sabina having given you some general thoughts on my Death and Funeral I shall next lay my self out for Dead for I 'm now supposing what will I 'm now laying my self out for Dead happen one time or other And now when my Breath is gone my Eyes closed the Bell toll'd and my Body coffin'd up for the Grave where wou'd I have my Soul whether in Heaven or in Hell Sure not in Hell least I shou'd want Lazarus to cool my Tongue but in Heaven where there be Rivers of Pleasures c. I thus descend to a particular Application of Death to my self for the common No fight so terâ—ible as to see a man breathing his last sounds of Death-post's through our Ears without any stop whereas the seeing a Dead Friend the Spectacle thereof by a self Application Inns even in our Hearts Much more then shou'd the Representation of our own Deaths affect us for there 's no sight more Terrible then to see a Man breathing his last but It must be done my Soul tho' 't is a strange A dismal and mysterious change When thou shalt leave this Tenement of Clay And to an unknown Some-where wing away When Time shall be Eternity and thou how Shalt be thou know'st not what and live thou know'st not When Life 's close Knot by Writ from Destiny Disease shall cut or Age untye When after some delays some dying strife The Soul stands shivering on the ridge of Life With what a dreadful curiosity Does she lanch out into the Sea of vast Eternity Norris My Soul and Body Two old Friends being now parting methinks I see how The parting of Soul and Body my Mind wou'd fain utter it self and cannot for Respiration or Breathing is thus perform'd The outward Air is drawn in by the vocal Artery and sent by the mediation of the Midriffe to the Lungs which dilating themselves as a pair of Bellows reciprocally fetch it in and send it out to the Heart to cool it and from thence now being hoâ— convey it again still taking in fresh but How the Body is encoldned to a Fashionable Clay these Organs being now quite disabled the Spirits shrink inward and retire to the vanquish't Heart as if like Sons prest from an Indulgent-Father they wou'd come for a sad Farewell while that in the mean time pants with afrighting pangs and the hands and feet being the most remote from it are by degrees encoldned to a Fashionable Clay as if Death crept in at the Nails and by an insensible surprize suffocated the invirond Heart Curiously didst thou make me saith David in the lowest parts of the Earth but now to see those Elements which compounded made the Body to see them thus divided and the Man dissolved is a rueful fight And now methinks I see all my Friends like conduits dropping Teares about me while I neither know my wants nor they my cure Nay now my very Doctor tho' the most able Physitian I know in London stands as one that gaâ—es at a Comet which he can reach with nothing but his Eye alone To see The Doctor knows not what to prescribe all this happen to one whose Conversation has endear'd him to us is very dreadfull Oh the Pangs I felt when Iris was breathing her last for even then she lay uttering such Expressions as these I 'll love thee as long as I live Thou art a dear Child to me I pray God bless my Dear Yok-fellow and give him Grace I pray thoe give him grace to live so here as he may live What 's meant by a Lightning before Death with thee hereafter And all this she utter'd at the Time when she was actualy dying Which we found to be a Lightning before Death t is observed of sick Persons that a little before they die their Pains leave them and their Understanding and Memory retuns to them as a Candle just before it goes out gives a great Blaze This is what is call'd a Lightning before Death Iris had a kind of
quarrel round his Bed Fight Nurse fight Lads Sirs make a Ring about E'en let 'em have fair Play and Cuff it out Having lain the time I desir'd there 's no fear of my living again as my There 's no fear of my living again My Friends have now leave to bury me Mother did then honest GEORGE Nail me down and bury me for the Mourners are come the Claret is drunk and here stands Azariah Reynholds ready to dress out the funeral Procession and that nothing may be wanting on this sad occasion here 's Weeping Dev'ral my old Servant coming with the Pall the Bier and the six Bearers to carry me to Church and from thence to the Grave Azariah Reynholds stands ready to dress out the Funeral See where my Friends surround my private Urne Where all my kind Relations fondly Mourn And When the solemn Bell does sadly call Weeping Dev'ral comes with the Fall Bier and Bearers The drooping Pomp attends my Funeral Now I from Fortunes store can only have A narrow Coffin and a scanty Grave However I am as Rich in my Coffin as a dead Monarch Death I 'am as Rich in my Coffin as a dead Monarch A small parcel of Earth will contain thâ—se who aspâ—re to the poâ—ession of the whole World makes us equal with Kings In the Grave the Spade may challenge equality with the Scepter A winding Sheet Coffin and Grave is all that the Greatest Possess when they leave the World Philip King of Macedon walking by the Sea-side got a fall and after he was risen perceiving the Impression of his Body upon the Sand Good God! said he what a small parcel of Earth will contain us who aspire to the possession of the whole World This great Monarch after many and great Victories at length he fell not only into his Bed but into his Tomb contented with a small Cossin Peter Alphonsus reports that several Philosophers flock'd together and variously discanted upon the King's Death one there was that said Behold now four Yards of Ground is enough for him whom the spatious Earth could not comprehend before Several Philosophers discanting upon the Death of the great Alexander Another added Yesterday cou'd Alexander save whom he pleas'd from Death to Day he cannot free himself Another viewing the Golden Coffin Yesterday said he Alexander heap'd up a Treasure of Gold now Gold makes a Treasure of Alexander Thus miserable and wretched is Man the very greatest of Men in their last Exit I might prove it by more Instances but for Brevity sake I 'll name no more than the Bier of Ablavius Constantines Speech to Ablavius concerning his Riches who being an insatiable devourer of Gold Constantine the Great takes him by the Hand and said Ablavius Tho' thou hadst all the Riches in the World yet after thou art dead a Place or Chest no bigger than this which I have here mark'd out must contain thee if so large a piece of Ground do come to thy Lot Constantine was a Prophet for Ablavius being cut in bits the Saladine had nothing but a black Shirt to attend him to the Grave next Hour had not a piece left big enough to be bury'd The great Saladine observing this order'd that before his Corps a Black Cloth shou'd be carry'd on the top of a Spear and this proclaimed with sound of Trumpet in the midst of his Army Saladine Conquerour of the East had nothing left him but this black Shirt to attend him to the Grave The Brags of Life are but a Nine Days Wonder And after Death the Fumes that spring From private Bodies make as big a Thunder As those which rise from a huge King Only the Chronicle is lost and yet Better by Worms be all once spent Than to have Hellish Moths still gnaw and fret Most Kings have Died a violent Death Thy Name in Books which may not rent Herbert The highest place is most obnoxious to Variation the Sun is never so near Caesars chair of State was his Death-bed a declension as in the Vertical Meridian May I not say many yea most that have been Scepter'd in the World have been wrapt out of it violently as if they perish'd by Fassination from the many ambitious Eyes that dart Crassus cou'd scarce obtain a Shrow'd to cover his Nakedness upon 'em Iulius Caesar that he may be wofully miserable his Chair of State shall be his Death-Bed where he feels no fewer than 23 Wounds and sees Brutus among the Conspirators Crassus for all his Bags shall be slain and scarce obtain a Shrowd to cover his Nakedness and so shall the valiant Pompey Sirnam'd the Great who tho' he got an old Shirt for a winding-Sheet Deaths of Roman Emperours yet he cou'd not be supply'd with Funeral-fire enough to consume his Body Lamentable was the Death of Mark Anthony and many other Emperours among the Romans Lewis the gentle afflicted with Amurath's Grave 3 Rebel Sons grieves to Death and has now no more to possess than just his length and breadth in the Earth and we find Charles the Great Bajazet had scarce a Coffin to bury him without Love or Honour House or Bread at his End I might name many others if you peruse Turky a little you shall find the mighty Amurath thrown down from the top of Victory and a Grave is now all his Riches You may see the renowned Bajazet who had hovered aloft like a Royal Eagle mewed up in an Iron Cage and the way to Darius and Alexander were both snatch'd away by unnatural Deaths go out of the World was so block'd up to him that he was forc'd to beat out his Brains against the Grates to invent a Death which was followed with so mean a Funeral that he had scarce a Coffin to bury him and but two Persons to carry him to his Grave And what better Fate had Darius and Alexander Heads of the Second and Third Monarchy for see how they knock'd one against another and both snatch'd away unnaturally I. Dunton is as frail and mortal as the greatest King alive and how little do they now possess of those many Kingdoms they were striving for I abound too much in these Examples yet I must not pass by the Monarchs of the World without their due Observance for tho' Kings be no Examples for private Men as they be Kings yet as they are Men they be especially as they are mortal Men and must dye like others Whilst I 'm viewing the Graves of Rich Men I forget that I 'm carrying to my own and therefore I hold it no Presumption to say I am as frail and mortal as the greatest King alive Thus have I prov'd that Death makes us equal with Kings and that I 'm as Rich in my Coffin as a dead Monarch But whilst I 'm viewing the Graves of these great Men I shall forget I 'm going to my own so 't is time now the
Death It is to come to thee that gav'st me Breath And thou art better Lord than Dunghil Earth When shall I come Lord tell me tell me when What must I tarry Threestore Years and Ten My thirsty Soul cannot hold out till then Come dearest Saviour come unlock this Cage Of sinful Flesh lovingly stop the Rage Of my Desires and thou my Pilgrimage Thus have I finish'd the Essay on my own Funeral and have prov'd to I have now finish'd the Essay on my Funeral your Ladyship that my Cell being an Emblem of Death is the fittest place to prepare for Heaven To get ready for Death and the Grave is a matter of great Consequence and no place so fit for it as a Cell where there 's no interruption I don't wonder that ev'ry Man commends Timon for his No place so fit to prepare for Death as a Cell hating of Men for we find so much danger in being in Company that even Adam cou'd not live one Day in it and live Innocent the first News we hear of him after Eve was Associate to him was that he had forfeited his Native Purity for having met with a Female she strait seduc'd him Adam cou'd not live one day in Company live innocent And what follows Why now he must return to that ground out of which he was taken Then being born to dye I love my Cell as 't will transmit me to the Darkness and Oblivion of the Grave and remind me of my own Funeral Neither is this describing my own Funeral without a President for we read of several that have Bury'd themselves in Effigie Being born to dye I love my Cell and have learn'd to dye at their own Funerals The Emperour Adrian entr'd into his Empire by the Port of his Tomb he Celebrates himself his own Funerals and is led in Triumph to his Sepuchre Several that have bury'd themselves in Effigie Now wâ— the Peoples Expectation high For wonted Pomp and glittering Chivalry But lo their Emp'rour doth invite 'em all Not to a Shew but to his Funeral This was self Victory and deserveth more Than all the Conquests he had won before The Emperour Adrian Celebrates himself his own Fun'ral Proud Spirits be ye Spectators of this Funeral Pomp which this great Monarch Adrian Celebrates to Day He invites the Heaven and the Earth to his Exequies since in their view he accompanies his Portraid Skeleton unto the Tomb his Body conducts thither its Shadow the Original the painted Figure Charles the 5th Maximilian the Emperour of the East and several others have done the like till a Metamorphosis be made both of one and the other Oh glorious Action where Garlands of Cypress dispute the Preheminence with Laurel and Palm But Adrian is not the only Person that has been buried in Essigie for Charles the Fifth long before the Resignation of his Empire caus'd a Sepulchre to be made him with all its funeral Furniture which was privately carryed about with him wherever he went Maximilian the Emperour did the same and wou'd often follow his Coffin to the Grave in a Solemn Manner We also read that Iohn Patriarch of Alexandria while he was Living and in Health caus'd his Monument to be Built but not to be Finisht for this Reason that upon solemn Days when he performed Divine-Service he might be put in mind by some of the Clergy in these Words Sir your Monument is yet unfinish'd command it to be finisht for to Morrow you 're to Celebrate your own Funeral When the Emperrour of the East was newly chosen no Person had Liberty to speak to him before the Stone-Cutter had shew'd him several sorts of Marble Genebald Bp of Laudanum lay in a Bed made like a Coffin The Study of Vertue is the best Preparation for Death and ask'd him of which his Majesty wou'd be pleas'd to have his Monument made And many others in perfect Health have thus attended their own Funerals Genebald Bp. of Laudanum lay in a Bed made like a Coffin for 7 Years together and â—da a Woman of great Piety long before her Death caus'd her Coffin to be made which twice a Day she filled with Bread and Meat and gave to the Poor And certainly the Study of Vertue is the best Preparation for Death But we need not look into Ancient Times for Persons that have provided for their own funerals when our present Age abounds with so many Instances of this Nature I shall first Instance in the Reverend Mr. Baxter who Dates most of his Books from the Brink of the Grave Being in Mr. Baxter drew up his own Funeral Sermon my Quarters says this Pious Divine far from home but so extreme Languishing by the sudden loss of about a Gallon of Blood and having no Acquaintance about me nor any Book but my Bible and Living in continual Expectation of Death I bent my Thoughts on my everlasting Rest and because my Memory through extreme Weakness was imperfect I took my Pen In his Book called The Saints everlasting Rest. and began to draw up my own funeral Sermon or some Helps for my own Meditations of Heaven to sweeten both the rest of my Life and my Death I cou'd next tell your Ladyship of a Gentleman who Markt all his Plate with a Death's-head My own Mother would often visit that Grave where she desir'd to the Buried Mr. Thorp being in Debt Other late Instances of Pious-men who have kept their Coffins by ' em retreats to the Mint where he falls to Writing a Poem on himself which he calls a Living-Clegy and invites all his Creditors to his Funeral to lament his Death I have no Reason to do this for I have taken that care that if any come to my Funeral that I 'm oblig'd to they may have Cause rather to lament the loss of my Life than any thing they can lose by me Mr. Stephens of Lothbury kept his Coffin by him several Years Mrs. Parry of Monmouth did the same and so did Mrs. Collins 'till Mr. Thorp's Living-Esegy her Husband was Buryed in it I don't pretend to live up to these Examples but I 've already purchast a â—rave and in these Sheets I 'm following my Hearse to it and I hope this Essay on my Funeral will remind Mr. Stephens kept a Memento of Death in his own House me of Death when I 'm most Tempted to forget it but that I may not I shall ev'ry Day my self make funeral Processions I mean visit in Meditation every Hour my Grave There is no fooling with Life when 't is once turn'd beyond Thirty and therefore I wou'd now Dâ—lly Celebrate my own Funeral and invite to my Exequies Ambition Avarice and all other I would now daily Celebrate my own Funeral Passions wherewith I may be attainted to the end that I may be a Conquerour even by my own proper Defeat For when a Man yields to the Meditation of
Death then Reason commands Sense all obey to this Apprehension of Frailty Pleasures by little and little abandon us the Sweets of Life seem Sowr and we can find no other quiet but in the Hope Before Death and the Funeral no Man is Happy of that glorious Life to come 'T was the Saying of a great Man Before Death and the funeral no Man is happy But that I may Die in Peace 't is requisite that I Die daily Philip of Macedon gave a Boy a Pension ev'ry Morning to say to him Philip remember thou art a Man My Purse won't allow of a Daily Monitor but I hope this Essay on my Why God wou'd have me ignorant of my last Hour funeral will serve me as well to bear Death in Mind as if Philp's-Deaths-Dead were set before me But God wou'd have me ignorant of my last Hour that suspecting it always I might always be ready and where can I get ready if not in a Cell where are few Temptations to Sin and Vanity And therefore I 'll never leave it but like the silly-Grashopper Live and Die and perhaps be Buried in the same Ground But however my Body is dispos'd of I shall still be Your Friend INCOGNITO The Ladys Answer to my Eight Letter Sir I Can easily believe you are the First that ever Writ an Essay upon their own Funeral for our Dissolution is no inviting Subject it has but a Melancholy Aspect even when 't is look'd upon as the only Remedy of the Afflicted But How bitter are the Thoughts of Death to those that Live at Ease Which if you Consider you may well conclude had Valeria's Kindness been such as you would have had it you had ne'er enjoyed the Blessing you do now of Contemplating the Miseries of this Life till in Ransacking your Memory for all that could possibly any more afflict or torment you you light upon Death as the last and most dreadful of all terrible Things which being once fix'd in your Mind sets you out of the reach of all Temptations In this she makes it appear she loves you as well at least if not better than her own Soul that she affords you a Happiness she denies her self and chuses to leave you to the full Enjoyment of it without robbing you of the least Share But if you are Serious in the Thoughts of Death 't will do you more good than all her Smiles however you may prize ' em The Gentleman that thought he was as good as Dead when his Money was gone might have some cause to think himself really Dead tho he walk'd about perceiving the Fear every ones Countenance discover'd at the sight of him the Case of most Persons in his Circumstance therefore never be surpriz'd at his having more Brains than he could be quiet with for were your Case his in one respect it might be so perhaps in the other every one is not able to hear the Contempt of the World Tho' if well consider'd when we answer the Designs of Providence it should be all one to us whether we stand for a Penny or a Crown for in God's Account we are equally as useful and acceptable And I am perswaded there has been many great Saints very little seen or known in the World and whose only Share in it has been but Obscurity and Contempt and truly speaking what are we the better for so large a share of earthly Enjoyments that shall both disorder our Minds and Bodies that we can't discern our true Interest but place our Happiness in catching at departing shadows while we forget we are all born subjects of Death and begin to die from the first moment of our Life And 't is no matter how soon one is discharg'd of a Debt one must certainly pay And were our Life never so long to think in time we should have enough of living is a great mistake for at Fourscore Years and we shall think our lives short and our past Enjoyments extremely imperfect and any one that dies at Twenty can do no more That in general Death is saluted with the same shy Air whenever he claims the debt they are not willing to pay as well those he has long forborn as those he deals with more severely Yet methinks aged Person 's Experience and some sort of good Nature and Compassion might prevail with 'em willingly to make room for others that by their Deaths young Persons to whom they leave their Places may have the opportunity of making the same Experiment they have done of the Emptiness of all humane Ioys which is best known and believed by dear bought Experience and never till then can they be freed from the Tyranny of Vain-hopes and wild Ambition the Disease of Youth I confess I can't but wonder at the vain curiosity of the Philosophers who set themselves so much to know exactly in the last Minute of their Life what Being Death has which is none at all The most that can be seen of Death is by its Operation on our Bodies in this Life our total Dissolution is but the last stroke not much differing from the rest nor perhaps the most painful we know enough of it to make us hate the thoughts of it as of a Molancholy Subject and if ever we are brought to love it 't is certain it must be by looking beyond it For 't is to the consideration of that happy change of Life to which Death brings us that we are obliged for all our Ease and Comfort in this Life and from the hopes that in Death the Soul shall be set at Liberty and be triumphant over that Enemy which had so long insulted and with the sight and feeling of his Tyranny kept it in bondage and slavish fear There 's nothing in this World that is not under his Dominion his Character is stampt on every thing which makes 'em change corrupt and die that we are tir'd with such perpetual Alterations tho'it shou'd sometimes supply the place of a comfort to one that has no better for if a meer change will mend their Condition they are sure of that Relief since nothing remains in the same state all tends to a Dissolution the Heavens wax old as doth a Garment and shall be changed nay Death it self must shortly yield to Destruction and till then the worst it can do is but to change us for the better 'T is much to be admir'd there should be any Pretenders to the making a Divorce between Death and Sin that the same Persons that abhor the Sight oâ— Thoughts of Death shou'd take Sin into their Embraces for what 's so sure to let in Death as Sin For 't is not only the Wages of Sin but it's natural Issue and one may say 't is the only good thing Sin ever brought forth for we have many Advantages by Death since every degree of Death in the Body adds to the Life and Vigour of any Soul that is not already dead in Sin and in the
total Dissolution of the Body the Soul is freed from any more sinning and all the sufferings of this Life a Condition much to be desir'd by all but those that are so blind to take their Misery for their Happiness and dore upon this present Life and such there are and ever was of whom St. Austin in amazement speaks when he says At what cost and labour do Men endeavour to prolong their Labours and by how many frights to fly Death to the end they may be able to fear it for the longer time 'T is true since Death was at first laid on Man as a penalty it must be allow'd to be that which Nature in it self abhors but God whose very Punishments are the effects of his Mercy and Goodness has ordain'd it to be the means to procure our Happiness both to wean our Affections from too much love of this Life and also to bring us to the possession of a better which if truly understood would more than overcome our natural aversion it wou'd make us long to be dissolv'd at least willing to die at our appointed time for those that believe and hope for a glorious Resurrection should they regret in Death the loss of their Bodies 't would look like the impertinent Folly of one that shou'd lament the loss of the Egg that was become a Chicken for sure it is for us to desire to be always what we are is to oppose the perfection of our Natures and speaks us degenerated to the lowest degree of Brutality Could we obtain a true Judgment of our selves we should like the Man you mention think it more Eligible to end than begin our Life again and 't is a great sign we have never labour'd for Heaven and Happiness when we are not weary enough to wish for Rest but like Children that pass their Day in trifling Follies are never weary but must be forced to Bed or else deluded to it by a false hope some such deceits are found for cheating Men as much as Children and often sends 'em to rest before they think on 't tho' were they not as insensible as Death it self can make 'em they cou'd scarce think of any thing else amongst the many Monitors the World affords us but yet I wonder how you can think it an easie matter to humble the preposterous Pride of Man 't is not the sight of a Funeral can do it nor yet your humbling Uerses he carefully secures his Pride from all Assaults while he lives and charges it to carry it to his Grave so dearly he loves it as his best Companion without which all worldly Enjoyments would be insipid and give him more pain than pleasure for Pride is the chief Ingredient in all our Pleasures to make 'em desirable and for that reason they do well to keep the thoughts of Death at an humble distance from their Pride for Death's the greatest Enemy it can encounter which first or last will get the Victory for how many Persons are in Mourning half their Life time for the Death of Pride Those who lament the loss of Youth the loss of Beauty or of Grandeur 't is all but Funeral sorrow for the loss of Pride the dear Companion of Beauty Youth and Grandeur which is gone before 'em but if that will satisfie 'em they shall soon follow This we must needs observe in the Death of our Friends and Relations who once enjoy'd this Life as much as we do yet cou'd not baffle Death but were forc'd to yield to his Summons which are so Arbitrary we have no Rule to take our Measures by to prevent surprize 't is therefore best to be always ready to entertain Death's Harbingers and make every thing our Monitor and almost all we see and converse with are naturally dispos'd to do us that courtesie wou'd we give leave for there is so much truth in what you call an Active Death that more of Death than Life appears in the imperfection of all humane Actions For Example Your ringing your Passing-Bell your laying your self out speaking your last Words describing your Looks and your Spouses Sentiments upon your Death and sight of you are very like the Dream of those that are under the Image and Similitude of Death and probably like Dreams may come to pass by contrarys For the Circumstances of your Death may differ so much from what you make account of that it may not permit you to Pray that Prayer you have prepared for obtaining the blessing to see and know again your Spouse in Heaven but let not this fright you for you may yet have this comfort If it is none of the Joys that belongs to Heaven you 'll be happy without it but if it is the common Blessing belongs to all beatified Spirits you 'll not want it Nor can I see the least reason to count our Death because 't is strange a dismal and mysterious Change for what shou'd we fear since there 's no being unhappy in God's Hands Had he never discover'd to us the Joys of another Life we have tasted so much of his Goodness in this as may well assure us there is nothing to expect but Happiness wherever he sends us for Death Sin and Misery was no portion of his providing 't was of our own procuring by Rebelion therefore 't is no matter what we are nor whether we go if we can leave Sin behind us How Beautiful were we made at first to enjoy an earthly Paradice till Rebellion and Sin changed all into misery and deformity But now how glorious shall we be made at the Resurrection to fit us for a heavenly Life where we are out of all possibility of any change for we are in no danger to forfeit that Life since all the Conditions we hold it by are already fulfilled for us You may well think what a bright and serene Morning the Resurrection will make and long for it at a great rate therefore to be provided for your happy Change is your chief care when you are once about to die you won't stay to be ask'd the least Question about your Funeral or disposing your Estate for you have not only made your Will but order'd every Circumstance of your funeral The Care and Fondness you shew for your Epitaph and the rich Monument you bequeath your self may very justly be imputed to your loving temper for had Iris been still alive you had never had such hot Thoughts and Concern for your cold Grave where you are laid in your Imagination with a Pleasure not inferiour to Kings and to assert your title to that Priviledge can prove your self as frail and mortal as the greatest Monarch alive But tho' you might think it necessary to make some Friendship and Acquaintance with Death before you fall into his Hands I can't see so much use of the Contemplation of your Funeral for to me 't is a care I shall never charge my Thoughts with but as I live and die Incognito so I wou'd
be buried and so wou'd you I 'm perswaded were it not to shew your Friends how much you valu'd a Wife that lov'd you but having such a President as Iacob you can't be thought vain or prodigal if like him you erect a Monument in Memory of your fair Wife and happy Marriage for 't is an imperfect Felicity according to the World that is but little known or talk'd of I am secured from mistaking the Person of your Executor by the Character you give him there are so few comes near that resemblance from whom you may well promise your self a speedy performance of your Will But how sluggish must that Vertue be that such an Encomium as you have made upon the Fidelity of a Friend in that occasion cou'd not animate with Life and Spirits to put every thing in execution for the Love and Honour of his deceased Friend I can't disapprove your Sentiment that 't is the truest Charity to your Presumptive Heir rather to leave him a necessary Instruction to Reflect upon and do him good than your Estate that will do him harm and the Character you give the Person you leave it to will extremely justifie your choice Your other Legacies are very generous and in particular to me who have done nothing for you equal to so kind a Concern but it seems to be your design to exceed all Persons Deserts I wish that be all for your leaving the Athenians and me Mourning looks as if you were resolv'd to engross to your self the sole advantage of living and dying Incognito and had sound out the way to discover us to the World for now we are not known but guess'd at for wherever Wit and Modesty appears in one Person he is presently suspected for one of the Athenians and perhaps some Woman may be supposed to be the honourable Lady if she is once discover'd to abound in her own Sense which are marks so near the Truth there needs no more than putting on Mourning for a Friend when all the Town knows you are dead to make a perfect discovery of those Persons who had liv'd till then unknown but I 'm more enclin'd to impute it to the great â—aste you made to have all your Business and dying Solemnity over thaâ— you might the sooner satisfie your longing desire to be happy with Iâ—is which may very well excuse your oversight of the danger your Kindness expos'd us to But I am to seek for the Reason of your giving so much for the Preaching your Funeral Sermon when you have but two Vertues to be commended and which in reality are none for what Vertue is there in abhorring Covetousness and Backbiting when all your Sufferings are owing to those two Vices 'T is but too Natural and far from a Vertue to hate your Enemies which they both are for the one keeps you from paying your Debts the other makes you pass for a Hypocrite However the Minister is not to deserve his Legacy for the Commendations he gives you but you are satisfied if a Sermon is Preach'd for the Benefit of your surviving Friends which is all it can pretend to when 't is the best perform'd nor is any thing more design'd in the Highest Elogiums that are given to any Persons Vertues 't is but to recommend 'em to our Imitation with the more advantage and as Humble and Modest as it looks in many Persons that decline the having funeral Sermons for fear there should be some mistaken Honour paid to their reputed Vertues I see but little Reason for it If in our Life-time We must let our Light shine that Men may see our good Works notwithstanding the Danger it may prove to our â—ailty then why at our Funerals may not God have the Glory of our good Works and our Friends the Benefit of having our Vertue proposed to their Imitation with all the just Praise it deserves for the better prevailing And as it is the most proper occasion for Instruction 't is pity any Consideration shou'd disappoint it I am of Opinion you might have spar'd your Ring and Inscription to Valeria for should she follow your Counsel it would deprive her of all the Satisfaction she should take in her Iointure when it fell to her for at present 't is only the Hopes of it that makes her cheerfully undergo all the Misfortunes relating to herself and her Dear Spouse whose Absence she is forced to bear having no means to redress this Ill but by a greater for she likes her Iointure just as it is and had rather endure any Misery than ever consent to make it better or worse Knowing this as you do let me tell you 't is a little unkind to order the cutting down the Woods which will not only alter but deform the Beauty of it and she may come to repent all the Sorrows she has endured for the Love of it But perhaps you 'll say you are as scrupulous of paying your Debts aâ— she of not breaking her Vow and she can't in Conscience but commend you for it all this alleged of both sides it seems to put it more in her Power than yours to procure a Remedy and 't is a little strange since She adheres so strictly to her Church as not willing to have a Grave out of their Bosom she should not have the Benefit of their Counsel in that difficult Affair but is left to her self to suffer so much Misery for want of a right Iudgment in the Case of a rash and unlawful Vow therefore you need take no more concern if things remain in the same State they are now till you Die you can't oblige her more than to leave her to her Iointure You are very kind to your Summer friends and give 'em great Gifts were they not accompany'd with so many Reproaches all thing consider'd you have no such Reason 't is possible to make so good a use of their Ingratitude as may turn more 〈◊〉 Advantage than all the Services of your tried Friends for they are 〈◊〉 only Persons can teach us to abhor in our selves what we see so odious 〈◊〉 them for to reflect upon our own Ingratitude to God how humble and modest should it make us in exacting Gratitude to us poor sinful Morâ— who never think how much we are indebted to God's Favour and Gooâ— for all the means he gives us of helping others and we ought to esteeâ— the Services we do 'em as special Blessings Heaven bestows upon us and recâ—on 'em as good Offices which those Persons have done us in procuring us those Favours nor can their want of Ackowledgment do us the least Injury for if you look into your self to see with what Mind you serv'd 'em and find you had no Worldly respects in it but was carried to it by a Châ—itable sense of their Wants and respect to your Duty they then by there Ingratitude turn you over to God for your Reward and how much better is that then the best of their Acknowledgments but if your sole aim had been to 〈◊〉 'em to you that they might repay you in the same Coin how well you deserve to lose so vain a Reward but should it have been a fawning and pretended Affection that deluded you a Misfortune Men of your Loving and Charitable Temper are most liable 〈◊〉 you have ample amends made you by shewing you the World is â—l'd with false Appearanceâ— and 't is a Folly to rely on humane Comâ—ts for Change of fortune changes friends for the most part All you haâ—e to regret is that your Pains and Cost should be so far lost as that the Kindness you intended should be turn'd to an Injury by making 'em Guilty of so black a Crime yet could you once put 'em into possession of the good Qualities you Bequeath 'em many might have cause to thank you and none will ever after be troubled with your 〈◊〉 But what ever your Thoughts are in my Opinion you have less reason to expect all should approve than to be surpriz'd that some should blame the Publishing your private Case who ever appeals to the World must resolve to stand the shock of many a harsh Judgment and tho' it looks like Vindicating our selves the Event makes it quite another thing ' tâ—s much more like a Design to find out an infallible way to be truly humbled for all our Faults and Fraâ—lties they will find so many Chastilers amongst the Rash the Envious and the Impertinent as will make 'em know themselves but if you your self judge you have done well in Publishing your Case as also your Friends who know your Reasons for so doing what need you heed the Judgment of those who can only judge by the Success not knowing but guessing at your Motives for it But if some Persons shall declaim against the Pains you have taken to Bury your self and say 't is a meet Whim they must then look upon the Presidents you have brought of so many great and good Men that have thought it necessary to fortifie 'em against the Fear of Death which the soft Pleasures of their Condition is apt to represent as the greatest of all Evils But this is not your Case you are sick of this Life and are impatient for a Change but for all that in this treacherous and deceitful World you think 't is good to be provided of a funeral Essay to remind you of Death least some tâ—e or other you may be Tâ—mpted to forget it as you see others who are so taken up with observing your Faults after you are Dead and Buried in your Cell which in Charity they ought to cover but true Mortification is insensible which Happiness I wish yoâ— Whâ— aâ— your c. FINIS