before Judges a Cause betwixt a Father and his Son Most Reverend Judges Plaintiff against the Father HEre is the Son which ought to be his Fathers Heir whom for Marryig against his Fathers Consent his Father hath Dis-inherited which is against all Law or Right both of God Nature and Man Defendant Most Reverend Judges Disobedient Children ought to have no Part nor Parcel of their Parents Estate as Lands Goods or whatsoever for it the Parents have no Duty nor Obedience from their Child their Child can challenge no Part of their Parents Estate and since he hath Married Disobediently he ought to Live Poorly or to get his Living by his Own Labour or Industry Plaintiff Most Reverend Judges There is no Reason nor Law that if one man Commit a Fault to an other that man should Commit an other to be quit with him and put the Case the Son were unnaturally Disobedient must the Father be unnaturally Cruel to be Revenged of him Defendant Most Reverend Judges Parents are the Fittest Judges of their Childrens Faults and Crimes committed against them But howsoever Parents cannot be thought Cruel or Unnatural to Punish the Crimes of their Children no more than God can be said to be Cruel or Unjust to Punish Sinners for God who Made Creatures may do what he Pleases with them for being his own Work he may Dispose or Order them as he Thinks best or as he Pleaseth So Parents that Begot their Children may do the like in things concerning themselves Plaintiff But God is Mercifull wherefore Parents ought to be Natural Defendant God is Just and therefore Children ought to be Dutifull Plaintiff But if God Should Punish his Creatures according to their Desert no man would be Saved Defendant And if Children should do what they List there would be no Government for Parents would be made Slaves and their Children Masters so if God should not Punish Some of his Creatures All would be Damned and to make up the Fulness of their Sins they would Despise his Love and not Fear his Power and so they would neither Love nor Fear God so Children would have neither Duty nor Obedience to their Parents But to prove it a Clear cause his Estate is free from all Intails and wholly in his own Power to Dispose of it as he Pleases and to Give it to whom he will and therefore his Son can Challenge nothing by Law or Right SPEECHES TO The KING in Council PART V. A Privy-Counsellours Speech to His Soveraign Dread Soveraign HEre are many of your Noble Subjects chosen out to be I can not say Privy-Counsellours by reason there be too many to keep Secrets of State which shews we are rather Counsellours for Form than for Business Counsellours in Name rather than Counsellours in Nature Wherefore we shall not need to trouble your Majesty or our Selves the one to Hear the other to Speak long Orations or tedious Speeches for should we Speak we should rather speak like Fools than Wise men by reason we are not acquainted with your Majesties Cabinet Designs or Intrigues and so being your Majesties General and not Particular Counsellours must needs speak at Randome Wherefore we beseech your Majesty not to Censure our Judgements but our Ignorances in not knowing your Majesties most Private as Cabinet Desires Designs and Intrigues A Petition and Plea at the Council-Table before the King and his Council concerning two Brothers Condemned by the Laws to Dye May it Please your Most Sacred Majesty I Am come here to your Majesties Council-Table to Plead the Cause of two Brothers whose Cause hath been Heard Judged Cast and Condemned by the Judges of the Laws of this Land and must suffer Death unless your Majesty acquit or Pardon them Indeed their cause is Hard for they were Forced either to Offend the Laws of Government or the Laws of Honour the Laws of Government threatned Bodily Death the Laws of Honour threatned Infamy and being Worthy Persons they chose rather to Venture Life than to Live Dishonourably But their Crime or it may rather be called their Justice which the Laws of the Land have Condemned them for is for Killing or rather Punishing their Sister for the Impurity Immodesty Dishonesty and Dishonour of Inchastity which was an Offence to the Gods a Reproach to her Life a Disgrace to her Race a Dishonour to her Kindred and an Infamy to her Family As for the Sin they past that by to be Judged of by the Gods her own Reproach they regarded not the Disgrace of her Race they indeavoured to obscure But as for the Dishonour to her Kindred and Infamy to her Family her Brothers were resolv'd to Wash off the Dishonour with her Blood and to Rub out the Black spot of Infamy with her Death which Resolution they put in Execution forcing a Surgeon to open an Artery Vein through which she Bled to Death Besides had they let her have Liv'd the Laws of the Land would have Punished her which would have been a Double Dishonour and a Recorded Infamy receiving as much Dishonour by her Public Punishment as her Private Crime Wherefore to prevent as well as to take off all Disgrace they were her Executioners by forcing the Surgeon to strike an Artery a very Easie Death for so Great an Offender but the Natural Affections from Brothers to a Sister did desire she might Dye with as Little Pain as might be Now Dead she is and they Condemned to Dye for her Death unless your Majesty will Pardon them and it will be a Gracious Act to pardon VVorthy Men such men as preferr'd Honour before Life A Speech of one of the Privy-Counsellours which is an Answer to the former Plea and Petition May it Please your Majesty TO give me leave as One of your Council to Answer this man As for Parents to Kill their Children for Children to Kill their Parents for Brethren to Kill each other and Sisters their Brothers or Brothers their Sisters or Neeces or Nephews their Uncles or Aunts or Uncles and Aunts to Kill their Nephews or Neeces or Cousin Germans is Unnatural or to be the Cause of their Death is Unnatural I may say a Great Sin in Nature VVherefore these two Brothers that were the Cause indeed the Actors in effect of their Sisters Death have Sinned against the Gods Nature and the Laws of good Government for which they Deserve Punishment both in this VVorld and in the VVorld after this Life And as for that which is called Honour it is but the Opinion of some men a meer Fancy not any Real Good only a Name to perswade men to do Evil Actions as to Fight Duells to make VVarrs to Murder Friends nay to Murder Themselves all which is against Gods Mens and Natures Laws which is Inhuman Uncharitable Unnatural and Impious The Petitioners Reply Most Dread Soveraign SInce your Majesty is pleased to hear the Sutes of Humble Petitioners and the Causes of Pleaders and the Defences of Condemned Persons as
VVise men and Head to Tail is Disproportionable but it may be that this Disproportion may make them Unactive by which they become less Dangerous VVherefore I am not of the former Orators opinion as to have all such Books as treat of State-affairs Burnt for the Burning of such Books may advance their Authors Fame but not advance the Publick Good neither do such Books Publick Hurt by reason none but some few Private Persons read them for the Generality delights not in such Studies so as they will partly Dye in Oblivion especially if you take no notice of them An Oration against those that lay an Aspersion upon the Retirement of Noble men Noble Citizens VVE have some Ill-natured people amongst us that indeavour to turn all other mens Actions but their own to the worst Sense or Construction as for Example some of our Nobles retire to their Country Habitations for which those Ill-natured or Foolish persons Exclame against them both in Books and Speeches as that they Retire through Pride Ambition and Revenge being Discontented they are not the Chief Ministers of State Rulers in Government or Counsellers for Advices also they would make their harmless Country Recreations as Hunting Hawking Racing and the like Sports as also Hospitality Dangerous Designs which is unjustly Censured and wickedly Wrested to pull out the Right and Truth to place Falshood when as it may be easily known that most of our Nobles which Retire out of this Metropolitan City to their Country Houses Retire either for Pleasure Profit Quiet or Health or all for it is manifest that in a very Great and Populous City there is nothing but Trouble Expenses Noise and oftentimes Malignant Diseases all which some Ill-natured men and Pretending Politicians would have theem suffer rather than to avoid But those men that are so Wise to choose the Best are not Afraid of a Bawling Pen or Tongue and seldom Consider or Regard what they Write or Speak and if they do they only give such Find-faults Pity or a Scorn But put the Case Noble Citizens that some Noble men did Retire out of some just Discontent as for Example imagine this Kingdome or Monarchy had been in a long Civil Warr and some Noble men had not only been so Loyal as never to Adhere to the Rebels but had Serv'd their Prince to the last of their Power Ventured their Lives Lost their Estates and had Indured great misery in a long Banishment and after an Agreement of Peace and the Proof of their Honesty and Loyalty should be Neglected or Affronted instead of Reward and Favour if these Forsaken and Ruined although Honest Persons should Retire from Court and City into the Country to bewail their Misfortunes in solitary Groans or to pick up their scattered Goods broken Inheritance and tattered States or to restore their Half-dying Posterity to some time of Life should they be Rail'd and Exclamed against can Heaven Bless a State or Kingdom that will suffer such Uncharitableness and Inhumanity or can Nature suffer her most Noble-minded Creatures to stay in the presence of Publick Affronts Disgraces and Neglects and not humbly turn their Faces from them or Honestly indeavour not to Trouble those that have a desire to Please and if by their Wise Prudence those Retired Persons can afford themselves some Harmless Recreations to mix and temper their Over-carefull and Industrious Labours they ought not to be Condemned for it for God and Nature mixes Good and Evil and the greatest Grief hath some Refreshment of Ease and the hardest Labours some Rest but only these Find-faults are Restless through Envy and Ambition hoping by their Busie Heads Restless Pens and Abusive Exclamations to rise to Promotion and Preferment and though they pretend to Discover Seditions they are the only Authors of Factions and Seditions Wherefore it would be very fit Noble Citizens that our Ministers of State and Magistrates should Silence such bold Persons that dare Censure our Nobles private and particular Actions for if they should have that Liberty they would in time Censure this Government and our Governours of State and Common-wealth and who can fore-see but that the Common Rout or People might take their Factions or Ill-natured or Medling Dispositions for Wisdome An Oration for Liberty of Conscience Fellow Citizens IT is very probable we shall fall into a Civil Warr through the Divers Opinions in One and the same Religion for what hath been the cause of this Hash in Religion but the Suffering of Theological Disputations in Schools Colleges Churches and Chambers as also Books of Controversies all which ought not to have been Suffered but Prohibited by making Laws of Restraint but since that Freedome hath been given the Inconveniency cannot be Avoided unless the Magistrates will give or at least not oppose a Free Liberty to all for if the People of this Nation is so Foolish or Wilfull or Factious or Irreligious as not to Agree in One Opinion and to Unite in One Religion but will be of Divers Opinions if not of Divers Religions the Governours must Yield or they will Consume the Civil Government with the Fire of their Zeal indeed they will Consume themselves at last in their own Confusion Wherefore the best remedy to prevent their Own ruine with the ruine of the Common-wealth is to let them have Liberty of Conscience Conditionally that they do not meddle with Civil Government or Governours and for Security that they Shall not there must be a Law made and Inacted that whosoever doth Preach Dispute or Talk against the Government or Governours not only in This but of any Other Nation shall be Punished either with Death Banishment or Fine also for the quiet and Peace of this Kingdome there ought to be a strict Law that no Governour or Magistrate shall in any kind Infringe our Just Rights our Civil or Common Laws nor our Ancient Customs for if the One Law should be made and not the Other the People would be Slaves and the Governours their Tyrants An Oration against Liberty of Conscience Fellow Citizens I Am not of the former Orators opinion for if you give Liberty in the Church you must give Liberty in the State and so let every one do what they will which will be a Strange Government or rather I may say no Government for if there be no Rules their can be no Laws and if there be no Laws there can be no Justice and if no Justice no Safety and if no Safety no Propriety neither of Goods Wives Children nor Lives and if there be no Propriety there will be no Husbandry and the Lands will lye Unmanured also there will be neither Trade nor Traffick all which will cause Famine Warr and Ruine and such a Confusion as the Kingdome will be like a Chaos which the Gods keep us from An Oration proposing a Mean betwixt the two former Opinions Fellow Citizens I Am not of the two former Orators opinions neither for an Absolute Liberty nor a Forced
Delightfull Safe and Profitable Also one thing more I must advise you that you provide a Practick Judicious man to Instruct the Players to Act well for as they must have a Poet to make their Playes so they must have a Tutor to teach them to Act those Playes unless the Poet will take the pains to teach them himself as to Humour the Passions and to Express the Humours Naturally and not to Act after the French Fashion with High strained Voices Constrained Motions Violent Actions and such Transportation as is neither Gracefull Becoming nor Natural but they must make Love Soberly Implore Favour Humbly Complain Seriously Lament Sadly and not Affectedly Fantastically Constraintly Ragingly Furiously and the like all which in my Opinion they do Senselesly Foolishly and Madly for all Feignings must be done as Naturally as may be that they may seem as Real Truths SEVERAL CAUSES PLEADED IN SEVERAL COURTS OF JUDICATURE PART IV. Accusing and Pleading at the Barr before the Judges for and against a Woman that hath kill'd her Husband Most Reverend Judges The Plaintiff THis Woman who is Accused not only for Killing a Man but her Husband we have for this Grievous and Horrid Fact brought before your Honours to be Judged according to the Laws delivering her to your Justice and Judgement Defendant Most Reverend and Just Judges 'T is true that this Unhappy Woman hath unfortunately Kill'd her Husband but Heaven knows it was Against her Will and as I may say Against her Knowledge for her Husband and She being Lovingly together not Mistrusting any Danger on a sudden came a Man who as it seems was her Husbands Enemy for he assaulted her Husband with a drawn Sword this Woman seeing her Husband in Danger as being Unarmed and Defenceless was so afrighted as she knew not what she did Wherefore she having got a Dagger which lay in the Room they were in and thinking to thrust it into her Husbands Enemy Unawares thrust it into her Husbands Body wherewith he fell down and immediately Died which when she saw and perceived the mistake she was as Distracted and at last fell into a Trance but being Recovered out of that faint Fit she hath since remain'd a most Sorrowfull and Lamenting Widdow I Express her Sorrow to prove her Innocence from all Evil Constructions for the Death of her Husband was not Designed or Intended by her but by Fate and Fortune and it is the Duty of a Loving Wife to defend her Husbands Honour Person and Life with all her Indeavours and if the success of her Honest Loyal and Loving indeavours falls out unfortunately She ought not to be Punished for her Misfortune for Misfortune is no Crime but rather to be Pitied and Comforted either can Justice make Misfortune a Law to Condemn to Dye and shall Duty and Loyalty be made Traitors shall Honest Love be Punished with Torments and Death No Most Reverend Judges Love and Loyalty ought to be Honoured with Praise and Respect and not with Torments and Death and the Death of this VVomans Husband was caused by a maskered Fear proceeding from an Extraordinary Love Thus his Death was a Chance not an Intended Murder Plaintiff Most Reverend Judges there can be no Witness of the Intention but her own Knowledge and Conscience which are Invisible and not Proveable and therefore Insufficient to Acquit Her but that which is a Sufficient VVitness against her Intention and may lawfully Condemn her is her indeavour to Resist the Judgement and Sentence of Death for all Good Loyal and Loving VVives ought nay desire to Live and Dye with their Husbands when as they be free from all Suspect wherefore much more ought they to accompany their Husbands in Death who are liable to be Judged and Condemned for Treason and Murder for as it is Unlawfull and Irreligious for to Act her own Death so it is Dishonourable and Impious to Indeavour to resist the Judgement of Death by Lawfull Authority Pleading by her Lawyers most shamefully for Life Defendant Most Reverend Judges It is not that she Desires to Live but not to Dye Infamously as to Dye as a Murderer of her Husband for though her Husband was Kill'd by her Hand yet he was not Kill'd by her Intention but by Chance which misfortune makes her Life a Torment to her for being so unhappy as Unwittingly to Destroy him which her Life did most Delight with but yet she would if she could rather Live Miserably than Dye Dishonourably for in her Dishonourable Death both She and her Husband doth doubly Dye Plaintiff Most Reverend Judges It were better Two Persons should Dye Four times over than such a Crime should be Once Pardoned for the Example will be more Dangerous than to have an Innocent Condemned would be Grievous But it is most probable She is Guilty A Cause of Adultery Pleaded at the Barr before Judges Most Reverend Judges Plaintiff HEre is a Man and a Woman that were Taken in Adultery and brought hither to be judged that they may Suffer according to the Law which is Death Defendant Most Reverend Judges This Adulteress and Adulterer for so in truth they are although the Woman is ashamed to confess in Words only in silent Tears yet the man confesseth his fault publickly and asks pardon only he says it is a Natural fault for the desire of Procreation is Born and Bred in all Nature's Animal Creatures it is an Orginal Appetite but whether it be an Original Sin he says he doth not know yet if it be it may more justly be Pardoned than Gluttony which was the cause of Mans Fall witness Eve and the forbidden Fruit and that Damnable Sin Gluttony that destroyes many Lives through Surfeits the Law takes no notice of but Procreation that begets and makes Life is Punish'd by the Law which seems strange to Reason that Cursed Gluttony should be Advanced and Loving Adultery Hang'd Indeed it is a great Injustice at least a grievous Law and surely our Forefathers that made that Law were Defective either in Bodies or Minds or at least in Judgement and though I confess it is not fit we should break or dissolve those Laws howsoever Erroneous they are that our Predecessors made yet we their Posterities and Successors may Sweeten or Qualifie the Extreme Rigor of their Laws as in this Case of Adultery to Punish the Bodies but to Spare their Lives or to Fine their Estates and Spare their Bodies for if the Rigor of the Law should be put in Execution in all Cases and to all Persons there would no man be Free either in his Estate Person or Life but howsoever this Male-offender my Client sayes that if he must Dye yet he shall not Dye Basely or Dishonourably by reason he shall Dye Loves Martyr As for the Femal offender She sayes that she was seduced by Nature as Eve by the Devil and Women being of Soft and Tender Dispositions do easily yield to an Inticing Appetite besides men being Eloquent in Perswading Prevalent
in Flattering Free in Protesting and Earnest in Vows and Promises all which hath such force with Females who are Credulous and Believing Creatures as she had no Power to deny him his Desire But both these Lovers desire these Most Noble and Just Judges to Consider their Crime is not caused through Spite Envy Malice Revenge Scorn Pride Hate or the like Sins but through Love Kindness Friendship Charity Generosity Humility and such like Vertues which caused this Crime namely Adultery so that it is the only Sin that is Built upon Vertues besides this Sin namely Adultery hath a Well-pleased Countenance a Courtly Behaviour and an Eloquent Speech which is the cause most Men and Women are in Love with this Sin the Gods forgive them for it for this Sin doth not appear with Terrible and Horrid Aspect as Murder as to cause the very Soul as much as the Senses to be Maskered with Fear not it doth not appear of so Foul an Aspect as Gluttony and Drunkenness as to cause Hate or Aversion but it hath so Amiable an Aspect as to cause Love and so Fruitfull an Effect as to cause Life and Living Creatures They implore Mercy and beg your Favourable Sentence and since it is a Natural effect for Males and Females to be Adulterers at least Lovers you may as soon destroy all Animal Creatures as this Sin if it be one and if there be some Men and Women purely chast those are of Divine Compositions and not Perfect Naturals their Souls and Bodies having more of the Purity of the Gods than the gross Corporality of Nature but these two Offendants confess they have proved themselves Nature's Creatures and the Woman says she is Eve's Daughter but if you will Spare her Life she hopes to be as great a Saint as Mary Magdalen for she will beg Pardon by Repentance and wash out her Sin with her Tears Plaintiff Most Reverend Judges This Pleader ought to be Condemned not only for a Corrupt Lawyer but a Wicked Man and may very well be believed to be Guilty of the same Crime he Pleads so well for for if he were not Guilty of the Crime he would not Plead for a Pardon Defendant Most Reverend Judges I am no more Guilty of the Sin than the Interceding Saints in Heaven for Sinners on Earth but if the Pleader should be Condemned for the Cause of his Client neither Truth would be Heard nor Right Decided so that all Justice would be Overthrown with Malicious Accusers and False Witnesses But howsoever Most Reverend Judges I am not to Decide the Cause though I Plead in the behalf of my Clients and it is the Profession of a Lawyer to speak for his Clients and not Against them whatsoever their Cause be for this is the part of their Opposites and I am not to fling the first Stone Plaintiff Most Reverend Judges Howsoever he be Affected whether evil or not yet the Cause he Pleads is a Wicked Cause and the Offenders ought to be severely Punished according to the Punishing Laws for such Offences and Offenders and if Adultery should be suffered Propriety and the Right of Inheritance would be lost in the Obscurity of hidden Adultery or in the Uncertainty of the Right Children or Fathers A Cause Pleaded at the Barr before Judges concerning Theft Most Reverend and Just Judges Plaintiff HEre is a man which is Accused for Stealing privately and Robbing openly against all Law and Right the Goods of his Neighbours for which we have brought him before your Honours appealing to the Laws for satisfaction of the Injuries Wrongs and Loffes leaving him to your Justice and Judgement Defendant Most Reverend Judges I am come here to Plead for this poor man my Client who is Accused for Stealing which is a silent obscure way of taking the Goods of other men for his own use also this Poor man for so I may say he is having nothing of his own to Live on but what he is Necessitated to take from other men is accused for Robbery which is to take away the Goods of other men in a Visible way and Forcible manner All which he confesseth as that the Accusation against him is true for he did both Steal and Rob for his own Livelihood and Maintenance of his Old 〈…〉 Past Labouring and for his Young Children 〈…〉 are not Able to help themselves and for his Weak Sick Wife that Labours in Child Birth For which he appeals to Nature who made all things in Common She made not some men to be Rich and other men Poor some to Surfeit with overmuch Plenty and others to be Starved for Want for when she made the World and the Creatures in it She did not divide the Earth nor the rest of the Elements but gave the use generally amongst them all But when Governmental Laws were devised by some Usurping Men who were the greatest Thieves and Robbers for they Robbed the rest of Mankind of their Natural Liberties and Inheritances which is to be Equal Possessors of the World these Grand and Original Thieves and Robbers which are call'd Moral Philosophers or Common-wealth makers were not only Thieves and Tyrants to the Generality of Mankind but they were Rebels against Nature Imprisoning Nature within the Jail of Restraint Keeping her to the spare Diet of Temperance Binding her with Laws and Inslaving her with Propriety whereas all is in Common with Nature Wherefore being against Nature's Laws for any man to Possess more of the World or the Goods of the World than an other man those that have more Wealth or Power than other men ought to be Punished as Usurpers and Robbers and not those that are Poor and Powerless Therefore if you be Just Judges of Nature and not of Art Judges for Right and not for Wrong if you be Judges of the most Ancient Laws and not Usurping Tyrants you will not only quit this Poor man and set him free from his Accusers which are His and such Poor men's Abusers but you will cause his Accusers who are Rich to Divide their Wealth Equally with Him and all his Family for which Judgement you will gain Natures favour which is the Empress of Mankind Her Government is the Ancientest Noblest Generousest Heroickest and Royalest and her Laws are not only the Ancientest for there are no Records before Nature's Laws so that they are the Fundamental Laws of the Universe and the most Common Laws extending to all Creatures but they are the Wisest Laws and yet the Freest also Nature is the most Justest Judge both for Rewards and Punishments for She Rewards her Creatures that Observe her Laws as they ought to do with Delight and Pleasure but those that Break or abuse her Laws as in destroying their fellow Creatures by untimely Deaths or unnatural Torments or do Riot and oppress her with Excess She Punishes them with Grief Pains and Sicknesses and if you will avoid the Punishment of Remorse Grief and Repentance Save this Poor necessitated man from
to Live on Also they do Rob the Subjects in General and your Majesty in Particular for though they take away Much from Us yet they pay your Majesty but Little in Comparison of what they take and they Use or rather Abuse your Majesties Name to the Ruine of your Subjects for they Extort by your Majesties Name and when we hear your Majesties Name we humbly Submit and Yield to all they Demand for not only your Person but your Name is Sacred to us But give us leave to tell your Majesty that they are so Unsatiably Covetous as all the VVealth of your other Subjects will not Satisfie them and their Covetousness makes them so Unbelieving and Hard-hearted as when they have taken All from us they put us in Prison because we have Nothing left to Give them and if we be not put in Prison we are put to Slavery and many times our VVives and our Children are Abused And this is the Lamentable Condition of your Poor Subjects for which we implore your Majesties Redress knowing it is not your Majesties Pleasure we should suffer so miserably A Kings Speech to his Rebellious rout Beloved Subjects VVHat is the Reason or Cause you gather together in such Rebellious Tumults Is it for fear of your Lives or Liberties which you have no cause to Fear for I am not your Enemy but your Gracious King or is it that you are my Enemies and throng to Dethrone me or is it that you would have the Absolute Power amongst you which Absolute Power cannot be Divided amongst Many for if every one hath Liberty to do what he list not any man will have Power to do what he would for Liberty will be lost if every man will take upon him to Rule and Confusion will take place of Government Thus striving for Liberty you will thrust your selves into Slavery and out of Ambition to Rule you will lose all Government and out of Covetousness to be Rich you 'l make your selves Miserably Poor for if there be no Government there can be no Order if there be no Order there can be no Justice and if no Justice there can be no Safety if no Safety no Peace if no Peace no Trade and if no Trade there will be no Riches VVherefore your best way is to Submit and Obey to be Content to be Ruled and not seek to Govern to injoy your Rights and to revenge your VVrongs by Law and Justice and not to make VVarr and Confusion to destroy your selves A Kings Speech to Rebellious Subjects I May call you Well-beloved Subjects but I cannot call you Loving Subjects for although I have been Carefull Watchfull Prudent and Just for your Safeties Peace Prosperities and Rights yet you regard not my Safety my Peace nor my Rights Neither can I call you Good for you are Factious Complaining and full of Malice nay it may be a question whether I may call you Subjects for you Disobey all Authority Resist the Laws and will Obey no Command unless you be Forced and though you have not Actually Rebell'd yet you are in the Way to it for you Dispute my Power and would if you could take away my Prerogatives but will not quit any of your Privileges which shews your Unconscionableness Ungratefulness and Unkindness to me your Soveraign Besides you are so Unreasonable and so Evil as you murmur at my Harmless and Lawfull Pleasures but will abate none of your own Vanities Vices and Wickednesses The truth of it is I have done like an Over-fond Father who through extreme Love and Tenderness to his Children hath given them their Wills and Liberties So much as they forget their Duties and become Disobedient through VVantonness but had I used Severity instead of Clemency and had Rigorously kept you in Fear and had Exacted More from you and had Yielded Less to you and had I Curbed your Liberties you had been more Obedient which would have been more Happy both for Me and for You for then you would have been Govern'd Easily and Obey'd Willingly by which we should have Lived Peaceably whereas now we are like to Ruine each other with Civil VVarrs unless Heaven open your Eyes of Understanding to see your Faults Errors and Dangers you are like to fall into but I hope Heaven will give you Grace to Reform your Lives and Conform your Manners to Live Peaceably A Kings Speech to Discontented Subjects Beloved Subjects I Perceive Frowning Countenances amongst my people which doth portend a Storm but let me advise you from raising a Storm lest you Ship-wrack the whole Kingdome and be Drown'd your selves in the VVaves of Rebellion The truth of it is Raging Men are worse than Raging Billows and worse more Devouring than the Sea Yet if you are resolve'd to make VVarr rather make VVarr in Forein Nations than in your Own Country and on Strangers rather than on your Friends for to make VVarr on Me your King and your Soveraign is against the Laws of God to make VVarr on the Protector of your Liberties and Father of your Country is Unnatural to spill your Friends Blood is Ungratefull and Inhuman to Ruine your Native Country is Barbarous by which Actions you will become worse than Beasts and as bad as Devils but if you be so possest with Fury as no Intreaties will dispossess you you must be Scourged with Misery the truth is you seem by your Rebellious Actions to be Mad and then there is no Cure for you but to be Let Blood in the Discontented Veins and I will be your Surgeon on whom I 'l try my Skil and Power to bring you into a Perfect Obedience besides I will Bind you with Bonds of Slavery and Whip you with Rods of Afflictions unless you presently Conform your selves to Peace Law and Government and humbly crave Pardon for your Faults A Kings Speech to his Rebellious Subjects PRoud Presumptuous Subjects for so you are that Dare bring your Soveraigns Prerogatives in question and to Dispute his Power but who Gave you that Authority not my Ancestors nor your Own for my Ancestors Conquered your Ancestors and made them Slaves in which Slavery you ought to have been Kept and not to have such Liberty as now you have in so much as to come so Near and so High in your Demands as to Justle me in my Throne only you cast a Veil of Pretence over your Wicked Designs the Pretence is your Rights and Privileges but what Rights had you when you were Conquered and what Privileges have you but what the Conquerour gave he gave you not the Privilege to Dispute my Power or to Bring my Prerogatives in Question neither have you Privilege to Disobey my Command to Resist my Authority or to Break my Laws and know rather than I will quit my Rights my Birth or my Power I will Die first but my Death will not serve your turn for I have Successors and though your Idle thoughts and Vain hopes perswade you you shall get more
will Punish you for your Inconstancy But pardon this my Jealousie for Doubts proceed from Love and your Virtue is the Anchor of my Hopes and Haven of Security in which my Love lives safe Farewell A Sons Dying Speech to his Father FAther I have been an Unprofitable Son for I shall Die a Batchelour and so leave you no Posterity to keep alive your Name and Family which is a Double Grief both to your Self and Me indeed to Me it is a Treble Grief because the Fault is only Mine loving Vain Pleasures and Liberty so much as made me unwilling to be Bound in Wedlock Bonds believing that a Wife would be a Hinderance to those Delights that Pleas'd me besides I trusted to my Youth and Health thinking I had time Enough to Marry and Increase also I thought that very Young men's Children would prove but Weak and Sickly in Body and Mind thus did I bring many Arguments to Live a Batchelour untill such time as I had more Maturity of Years and then I did intend to Choose a VVife with your Consent or else Consent to Marry whom you Pleas'd but Death will alter that Design and you and I must both Submit to Heavens Decree Yet have I this to Comfort me that you did never Command me to Marry wherefore my Fault was not a Fault of Disobedience for I never Disobey'd you all my Life which makes me Die in Peace Farewell A Young Virgins Dying Speech Dear Friends I Do Perceive that Holy Angels hover about my Soul to Bear it to the Gods when parted from my Body a Virgin 's Soul it is Cloth'd with white Innocency and so fitter for their Company as also for the Robe of Glory which the Gods will give me As for my Body though it be Young yet is it only fit for Death as being Due to him for that was made of Earth and Death is Lord of all the Earth doth Form Breed and Bring forth but Souls being of an other Nature those that are Celestial Proceeding from the Gods do to the Gods Return whereas Wicked Souls that are Damned and Proceed not from the Gods but from the Damned Spirits Return to the Damned crew again for all is Good that doth Proceed from God and though the Best of Souls doth Sin yet God doth give them Purging Grace that Cleanses them from Evil which Grace hath Purified my Soul and made it Fit for Heaven where I do wish all Souls may come Farewell A Husbands Dying Speech to his Wife VVIfe Farewell for Death will Break our Marriage knot and will Divorce our Persons but not Dissolve our Love unless you be Inconstant for Death hath not that Power to Disunite our Souls for they may Live and Love Eternally but if you Marry a Second Husband you separate our Loves as Death will separate our Bodies for in that Marriage-bed you will Bury all Remembrance of me and so shall I doubly Die and doubly be Buried for your second Husband will be my second Death but if you Live a Widdow you will keep me stil Alive both in your Name and Memory where I desire to Live untill your Body Dies and then our Souls will meet with Joy Delight and Happiness till then Farewell A common Courtisans Dying Speech KInd Friends and Wanton Lovers when I was in Health you came to view my Beauty to hear my Voice and to Injoy my Person in Amorous Imbraces and all for your own Pleasures and Delights but I did Entertain such Visitors more for the Lucre of Profit than for the Pleasures of Love more for your Presents than your Persons the truth is I was more Covetous of Wealth than Amorously Affected not but that I took Pleasure in seeing my Beauty Admired and hearing my Wit Prais'd and took delight to insnare mens Affections with my Attractive Graces and was Proud of the Power I had by Nature's Favour yet that Power I only imploy'd to Inrich my Self that I might Live Bravely and Luxuriously or to Hord up to maintain me when I was Old But O those Covetous desires and Vain delights have Ruined both my Body and Soul in Grievous Pains I Live and should Despairing Die but that the Gods are Mercifull and Pardon Penitent Sinners for if I were to Live I would not Live that Life I have done not only for my Souls sake but for my Bodies for had I thought of Death or could imagine the Pains that now I feel the Pocky rotting Pains that Torture my weak Body I should have been less Covetous of Wealth and more Carefull of Health I should not have made my Beauty Wit and becoming Graces and Adornments to intice Customers to buy Sinfull Pleasures or had I thought of the Joys in Heaven I should have Despised all worldly Delights or had I fear'd the Torments of Hell I should have Spent my time in Prayers and not in Courtships But Life is almost Past with me for Death hath strucken me with his VVand so that I cannot Live to Mend but Die to be Forgiven for I do truly and unfeignedly Repent Farewell A Vain young Ladies Dying Speech Dear Friends YOu are Charitable in Visiting the Sick a Charity that I did seldome Practise for when I was in Health I was so taken up with Vanities and worldly Pleasures as I could never Spare so much time as to Visit a sick Friend neither was I Charitable to the Poor as to help to Relieve their Wants for I spent so much on my Braveries as I left not any thing to give unto the Poor indeed I did shun Visiting the Sick because they put thoughts of Death in my Mind which thoughts did disturb my Mind and obstruct my Delights but if I had thought of Death more and had Visited the Sick oftner I had never Liv'd so Idlely nor Spent my time so Unprofitably nor had been so Foolishly Vain as I have been for I regarded nothing but Beauty Fashions Dressing Dancing Feasting Courtships and Bravery I never thought of Heaven nor Read holy Books of Divinity but only lying Romances and my Contemplation was all of Wanton Love 'T is true I went Often to Church but not to Pray but to be Pray'd to not as a Saint but as a Mistress I may say as a Sinner for I went not to Church for Instruction but for Destruction more for to Shew my Beauty than to Reform my Life more to get VVanton Lovers than to get Saving Grace I listned not to what the Preachers taught but look'd which of the Gallants eyed me Thus did I increase and multiply Sins under the Veil of Devotion for which I deserve great and grievous Punishments but the Gods are mercifull and will Forgive me for now I do more Hate Vanities than ever I did Love them and all my Evil thoughts are Banished from my mind indeed Death hath frighted all such thoughts away and Pious thoughts do take their place and as the Gods come neer the VVorld shrinks from me as Guilty of these Sins
therein As for Moral Philosophy he knew well how to Compose Common-wealths and to Settle and Govern them also he knew well the Natures Humours Passions and Appetites amongst Mankind as also to Divide and Distinguish them and to Order Form and Reform them As for Natural Philosophy he did not only Study the Outward Forms of several Creatures but their Inward Natures In truth his Conception was so Subtil and Peircing his Observation so Dilative his Reason so Strong his Wit so Agil his Judgement so Solid his Understanding so Clear and his Thoughts so Industrious as they went to the First Cause of several Effects and he did not only Converse with the Body but the Soul of Nature indeed he was Nature's Platonick Lover and She rewarded him in Discovering to him her most Hidden and Obscure Secrets by which he begot Great Wisdome and Everlasting Fame for though his Body be Dead yet his Good Laws VVise Sciences Profitable Arts VVitty Experiences Graces Vertues and Eloquence will Live for the Benefit and Delight of Living men in all Nations and Ages and though we have great reason to Mourn for his Bodily Death yet we have more reason to Rejoyce for his Glorious Fame but leaving his Merits to Life and his Body to Death let us lay him into the Grave to Transmigrate as Nature pleases A Funeral Oration of a Dead Lady Spoken by a Living Lady Dearly Beloved Sisters in God VVE are met as Sorrowfull Mourners to attend this Dead Ladies Corps to the Grave She was in her Life the Rule of our Actions and will be in her Fame the Honour of our Sex She was Favoured of Nature the Gods and Fortune Nature gave her Wit and Beauty the Gods gave her Piety and Charity and Fortune gave her Wealth and Education She was Adorned by the Graces Beloved by the Muses and Attended by the Arts She was Sociable in her Conversation Just in her Promises and Generous in her Gifts She was Industrious in all Good Actions Helpfull to all Distress'd Persons and Gratefull for all sorts of Courtisies She was Humble in her Own Prosperities and full of Magnanimity in her Own Adversities her Mind had no Passage for any Evil nor no Obstruction against any Good But to repeat or summ up the Number of this Ladies Merits is beyond my Rhetorick or Arithmetick for certainly she was Composed of the Purest Effence of Nature and the Divinest Spirits of Heaven She had the Piety of Saints the Chastity of Angels and the Love of the Gods in which Love let us leave her Soul and lay her Body in the Grave till the time of Glorification A Foreiners or Strangers Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren YOu shew your Charity and Humanity and that they are not Bound up to Particulars or to your Friends and Country-men but that they Extend to Strangers in coming to see this Stranger who Died out of his Native Country Decently to be Buried in a Forein Land I mean Forein as from his Native Country although the truth is that all the World is Common to Mankind for Nature hath not assigned Men to any Particular place or Part of the World but hath given All the World freely to them as if she made the World and all other Creatures only for Man's sake for all other Creatures are not so generally Disperst or rather so Spreading and Branching throughout the World as Mankind is by reason they Belong Breed Prosper or Increase in Particular Climates as some in Cold and others in Hot and some in one Part of the World and some in Another for some Creatures will be so farr from Increasing in some Particular Climates as they cannot Live in them but in all Parts of the World that are Habitable there be Men. 'T is true Different Climates may cause men to be of Different Complexions but what Complexions soever they have they are all of the same kind as Mankind and of the same sort of Animals for though all Beasts are of Beast-kind yet a Fox and an Ass is not one and the same sort or kind of Beast but there is no such different sort amongst Mankind for there is no difference of men in their Natural Shapes Proprieties Qualities Abilities Capacities Entities or the like unless some Defects to some Particulars which is nothing to the Generality for all the kind of Mandkind is all alike both in Body and Mind as in their Shapes Senses Appetites Speech Frowning Laughing Weeping and the like as also alike in their Rational Parts as Judging Understanding Conceiving Remembring Apprehending Considering Imagining Desiring Joying Grieving Loving Hating Fearing Doubting Hoping Believing and the like And therefore since not any man can be accounted as a Stranger in any Part of the World because he hath by Nature a Right as a Natural Inheritance to Inhabit what part or place of the World he will But all Mankind are as Brethren not only by Kind but by Inheritance as being General Sharers and Possessors of the World so this Dead man ought not to be accounted as a Stranger but a Brother VVherefore let us Mourn as we ought to do for a Dead Brother and Accompany his Hearse to the Grave with Religious Ceremony there leaving it in Rest and Peace A Post-Riders Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren YOu have Exprest your Humanity and Charity in coming to this Poor Unfortunate man's Burial which though he was a Poor man yet he was an Honest man and therefore is much the more Worthy to be Praised for Poverty and Necessity is a great Temptation to Knavery as much as Riches is a Temptation to Foolery which is Vanity nay Riches is not only Guilty of Vanity but Vice as Luxnry Pride and Wantonness whereas Knavery is Cheating Coosening Stealing and the like of all which this Poor man was Free And as he was an Honest man so he was a Laborious man for his Profession of Life was a Post-Rider an Unfortunate Profession for him for he Riding fast upon a Stumbling Jade fell down and Broke his Neck Thus we see that Misfortunes as well as Sicknesses bring many to their Lives ends and many times to a Miserable end for Misfortunes take Life away Unawares and sometimes Unprepar'd to Dye so this man did not Think when he got on the Horses back he should Ride Post to Death for had he thought so he would have Chosen to Run a-Foot a Safer though a Slower pace But could his Soul Ride Post on Death to Heaven as his Body Rid Post on a Horse to Death he might Out-strip many a Soul that is gone before him for though his Soul as all Souls are Light and of no Weight yet Death is no nimble Runner being Cold and Numb and nothing but Bare Bones a Hard Seat for a Tender Soul Besides the way to Heaven is so Narrow and Steep as Death cannot Get up for should he Venture his Soul would be in Danger to be Overthrown and cast into Hell which is a Deep Dark
Miseries do not we see Courts Balls Masks Beauties Playes and Pastimes do not we see Musical Instruments and hear Harmonious Musick and Several Tunes Notes Airs Words Voices distinctly do not we see Feasts and Bankets and do not we Taste the several Meats distinctly not only Fish Flesh and Fowls but distinctly every Sort and Particular Taste of every Part also the Ingrediences of the Sauces and their Particulars in them and do not we Taste Bitter Salt Sour Sharp and Sweet distinctly in Dreams and the several Sorts of them and do not we Smell the several Perfumes that are by Art and Nature made as also the several Stinks in Dreams as Awake And for Desires and Ambitions would we have our Dead Friends Living have we not them in Dreams or can we See and Converse with Them or they to Us as if they were Alive but in Dreams nay in Dreams we may Rejoyce with Them Feast with Them Sport and Play with Them Ask their Advice or Give them Advice and the like would we have a Beautifull Mistress or many several Mistresses of different Beauties Behaviours Births Fortunes Wits and Humours have not we them in Dreams would we Injoy a Mistress do not we so in Dreams would we be Rich Noble Generous Valiant are not we so in Dreams would we see the Ruine of our Enemies do not we so in Dreams would we have our Enemies Dye or be Kill'd do not they Dye or are Slain in Dreams would we have Stately Palaces have not we so in Dreams would we Feed Luxuriously do not we so in Dreams would we Live Riotously do not we so in Dreams would we View our Selves as to see our Faces and Bodies do not we so in Dreams would we Ride Race Hunt Hawk and have the like Pastimes and Exercises do not we so in Dreams would we Win at Carts do not we so in Dreams would we Fight Duells and Battels and have Victory have not we Victory in Dreams would we Conquer all the VVorld do not we so in Dreams would we be Emperour to Rule and Govern all the World do not we so in Dreams But as I said that there are Pleasing and Delightfull Dreams so there are Displeasing and Fearfull Dreams and there is as much Trouble Disorder and Opposition in the Sleepy or Drowsie World and as much Discontent Faction Detraction Defamation Troubles and the like in this Dreaming Life as there is Method Order Agreement Praise Trust and the like therein yet for all that this Drowsie World and Dreaming Life is the Best of the three for can there be greater Pleasure in the Material World and Active Life than Rest to the VVeary Limbs and Sleep to the Tired Senses which have been Over-power'd with Gross Objects which have Laid Heavy Burthens on them or can we Injoy any thing so Easily Freely Suddenly without Actual Trouble as we do in Dreams or can we be Quit of all Sorts and Kinds of Trouble and Labour but by Sleep Wherefore if Dreams were but more Constant and of Longer Continuance and that we should alwayes Dream Pleasing Dreams the Greatest Happiness Next to the Blessed Life in Heaven were to Sleep and Dream for it would be much more Pleasant than the Elyfian Fields The Next VVorld and Life that were to be Preferr'd were the Poetical World and Contemplative Life but all the Senses are not Sensible in the Contemplative Life whereas all the Senses are as Sensible in the Dreaming Life as Awake the truth is the Poetical VVorld and Contemplative Life is rather a VVorld for the Thoughts and a Life for the Mind than the Senses yet if the Senses were as Sensible in Contemplation as in Dreams it would be the Best Life of all because it might make the Life what it Would and the Pleasures of that Life to Continue as Long and to Vary as Oft as it Thought Good and for the Poetical World or rather Worlds they would be a Delight to View as well as to Live in A Waking Oration of the former Sleepy Discourse Fellow Students OUr Brother in Learning or rather Dreaming hath Commended that which is an Enemy to Study viz. Sleeping and Dreaming wherefore in the Drowsie World and Dreaming Life there be no Scholars for they cannot Sleep to Study nor Dream so much as to be very Learn'd neither are there Poets for Poets Live altogether in their Own Poetical World and Contemplative Life neither are there Eloquent Orators for Dreams will be Faded before an Oration is half Spoken or else the Subject of their Oration will be Lost in the Variousness of Dreams neither can there be Pleaders at the Barr nor Preachers in the Pulpit for their Text and Cases may be altered in a moment of Time from Gospel to a Romancy from Law to Riot neither can there be Justice on Life and Death for by the Alteration of Dreams the Thief may Escape and the Honest man Hang or the Judge may Hang Himself neither can there be a Setled Government in Dreams for the Government may End in a Piece of a Dream or instead of a Common-wealth of Men be a Forest of Wild Beast neither can there be Wise Counsellours or Grave States-men for their Gray Faces and Gray Beards may be Chang'd into Monkies Faces and Goats-Beards and the Wise Counsellours in the midst of their Serious Advices may on a sudden Sing a Wanton Song or else there may Suddenly appear a Tumultuous Monster or a Monstrous Tumult where in a great Fright they will Run from their Council-Bord or Senate-House and as for School Arguments and Disputations they are quite Banished and for Lovers a Hundred to One that when a Dreaming Lover is Imbracing a Young Fair Lady she Suddenly turns into an Old Ill-favoured VVitch or for a Plump Smooth Smiling Venetian Courtisan he Chances to Imbrace Grim Death's Bare Ratling Bones which will Fright a Lover more than a Fair Mistress can Delight him And as for Dancing Balls and French Fiddles when the Gallants in Dreams are Dancing in Smooth Measures and with Fair Ladies and the Musick keeping Tune to the Dancing Time on a Sudden the Courtly Dancers or Dancing Courtiers turn Topsie Turvy Dancing with their Heads Downward and Heels Upward a very Unbecoming Posture for Fair-faced Ladies and as for the Musick that is quite out of Tune and the Fiddle-strings Broken and the Musicians as Mad as March-hares and many other such like Disorders Confusions and Extravagancies as Asses Heads or Bulls Horns set on Mens Bodies or a Wood-cocks Head to an Asses Tail as also Men turn'd to Beasts Birds and Fish also walking Woods and Trees but set aside the Extravagancies Deformities and Monstrosities in Dreams yet there are more Bad Dreams than Good more Fearfull than Delightfull more Troublesome than Quiet more Painfull than Easie Wherefore the Dreaming Life is a worse Life than any and the Drowsie or Sleepy World is only good for Dull Lasie Unprofitable Creatures and as the Dreaming Life is
and millions of other Sins besides but Death will stay no longer for Blessed Angels bear away my Soul Farewell A Fathers Speech to his Son on his Death-Bed Son I Have Lived a Long time so Long that were not you a Good Son you would have Wished my Death before Nature had Ordained me to Die but as Heaven hath blest me with Long Life so with a Good Loving and Dutifull Son which hath been a Help and Comfort to my Old Age and as Heaven hath given you Grace and Nature a Good Disposition to Love and Obey your Father so Heaven and Nature hath given you Health and Ability to beget Posterity in which I shall Live in Name and Fame though I Die in Body But Son as you have been a Helpfull and Dutifull Son so I have been a Loving and Carefull Father for I have been more Prudent for my Sons Good than Vain for my Own Pleasure I have been more Industrions to Advance and Inrich my Son than to Please or Delight my Self and I have thought my Self Happier in my Sons Life than I have done in my Own Thus Son I have and do Love You better than my Self and all the Desire and Request I have to you is that as I have been a Father to You so you to be a Father to Yours and so I Pray the Gods to Bless you Fortune to Favour you Wisdome to Help you Nature to Strengthen you Time to Prolong you and when your Time comes to Die that we may meet in the other World with Joy and Happiness The Gods have Mercy of Me and Bless You. Farewell FUNERAL ORATIONS PART VIII An Oration to the People concerning the Death of their Soveraign Dear Country-men and Loyal Mourners WE may see our Loss by our Love and our Love by our Grief and our Grief by our Tears but we have reason for our General Mourning and Sorrow in every Heart that our Dread Soveraign is Taken from us He was our Earthly God as our Protector Defender Assister Subsister Ruler and Governour he Protected us with his Justice Defended us with his Arms Assisted us with his Prudence Subsisted us with his Love Ruled us with his Power and Govern'd us by his Laws and such a Prince he was as he was Dreadfull to his Enemies Helpfull to his Friends and Carefull of his Subjects he hath Inlarged his Dominions with the Sword and Inriched his People with the Spoils and hath Increas'd his Power both by Sea and Land and so Strengthned and Fortified his Kingdomes as his Subjects have no cause to Fear any Forein Invasion but may safely sit with Pleasure under their own Vines And so Wise and Good a Prince he was that though he be Gone yet he hath left Peace and Plenty amongst his People and Power Dominion and Strength to his Successors with which Heaven grant they may Inherit his Wisdome Moral Vertues Divine Graces Heroick Spirit Good Fortunes and Great Fame that though our Old Soveraign is gone to the Gods above yet our New Soveraign may be as a God to us here for which let us pray to our Soveraign Saint to intercede for us to the Gods on High to indue their Deputy on Earth with Divine Influences and Humane Wisdome to Govern and Rule us as he did A young Noble man's Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren VVE are met together as Funeral Guests to a Dead man who died in the Flower of his Age and whilst he Lived was Favoured of Nature Birth Breeding and Fortune for he was Handsome of Body Understanding in Mind Noble of Birth Knowing in Learning and Rich in Wealth He was Generous Valiant and Courtly he had a Pleasant Speech and a Gracefull Behaviour He was Beloved of the Muses Admired by the Sciences and Attended by the Arts he was Entertained with the Pleasures of the World and Feasted with the Varieties of Pleasures yet all could not Save him from Death Indeed Death appears more Cruel to Youth than to Age because it takes Youth from the most Flourishing time of their Life although Youth Fears Death less than Age not that Youth hath more Courage but Youth doth not Think of Death so often as Age doth for if Youth had Death in their Mind they would Fear Death more than Age doth by so much more as they are Younger and know the World less but Youth thinks Death a Long time off from them although to many he is so Near as ready to Seize on them Wherefore if those that are Young did think they should Die Soon they would not be so Eager and Fond of the World as they are nor be so Vain and Intemperate as many Young Persons be the brave Gallants would take little Pleasure in New Modes Gay Cloaths and Fair Mistresses a Young Gallant would be but a Dull Courtier a Melancholy Lover not Melancholy for his Mistress disfavour but at Death's approach not for Love but for Life neither would he take Pleasure in Musick or Dancing for the thoughts of Death would make him Dance false and put his Hearing out of Tune and the Musick would Sound to his Ears as his Passing Bell neither would he Eye Beauty but if he did the Freshest Beauty would appear Faded In truth all his Senses would be as Rough and troubled VVaters disturbed by the Storms of Fear raised in his Mind for the most Valiant minds are somewhat Disturbed with the thoughts of Death by reason the Terrors of Death are Natural to all mankind not so much to Feel as to Think of not only for the Parting of Soul and Body and the dark Oblivion in Death but for the Uncertain condition after Death for though Death is not Sensible of Life yet Life is Sensible of Death so that it is the Thoughts of Death that are Fearfull and not Death it self that is so Terrible as being neither Painfull to Feel nor Dreadfull to Behold because Invisible and Insensible having neither Shape Sound Sent Tast nor Touch But this Noble Person is past Thinking and therefore past Fearing also past Wishing for he doth not Desire to live in this VVorld again he Thinks not of the World or of any thing in the World he is free from all Trouble of Mind or Body in which Happiness let us lay him in the Tomb with his Forefathers there to rest in Peace and Ease A Generals Funeral Oration Beloved Friends THis Noble Person that lies here Dead was once our General a Valiant man he was a Skilfull Souldier a Wise Commander and a Generous Giver he Loved his Souldiers more than Spoil and Fame more than Life he was full of Clemency and Mercy he would give his Enemies their Lives Freely when he had Overcome them Valiantly and he was so Carefull of his Own Souldiers Lives as he would never Adventure or put them to the Hazard but when he saw great Probability of Victory Yet this Gallant man this Excellent Souldier whom his Enemies could never Overcome Death hath Taken Prisoner with whom