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
David fasted and Prayed for his Sick Son that his Life might be prolonged But when he was dead this Consideration comforted him I shall goe to him but he shall not return to me 2 Sam. 12 13. And this likewise shou'd comfort me under the loss of Iris to think she is gone to Heaven and that if I die in Christ I shall goe to her but this she cou'd not do but by dying which makes me the easier forgive Death for the Treasure he has stole from me and my next comfort to her being in Heaven is to think in what a triumphant Iris Triumphant Death is like the putting out of a prefum'd Candle manner she went thither In a painful Sickness of near Forty Weeks she never once repin'd at it but wou'd still say God had dealt tenderly with her and that she was wholly resign'd to his Will Then certainly the Death of such a Good Wife is like the putting out of a Wax-perfum'd Candle she in some measure recompenses the loss of Life with the sweet Odour she leaves behind her All must to their cold Graves But the Religious Actions of the Just Smell sweet in Death and Blossom in the Dust. In a Word Iris both in her Life and Death was like a Rose in June which tho dead and dry preserves a pleasing Sweetness and for that Reason Her Life was a continued Act of Piety was strewed by the Antients upon their Kindred's Graves 'T was but reasonable to think that a Life which was one continu'd Act of Piety shou'd have a joyful and happy ending And as Iris dyed in this Triumphant manner and with uttering such Expressions as I have here mention'd So I desire I may expire with these Words ETernal and everliving God I 'm now drawing near the Gates of Death and which is infinitely more terrible the Bar of thy Judgment oh Lord when I consider this my My last Prayer Flesh trembleth for fear of thee and my Heart is wounded within me But one deep calleth upon another the depth of my misery upon the depth of thy mercy Lord save now or I perish eternally Lord one day is with thee as a Thousand Years oh let thy mighty Spirit work in me now in this my last Hour whatsoever thou seest wanting to fit me for thy Mercy and Acceptance and then tho' I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no Evil. There is but one step between me and Eternity then blessed Jesus have Mercy on me Pardon the Sins of my whole Life O let not my Sun go down upon thy Wrath but seal my Pardon before I go hence and be seen no more Dear Lord I neither desire nor expect of thee Life or Death may it be done unto me according to thy Will But since Death is my passage into thy Presence suffer not the Thoughts of it to be terrible unto me I can't without some Reluctance think of leaving my Friends and Relations and forever shutting my Eyes upon that World where I now live To go into a World where I never was but tho' the Light is pleasant and a joyful thing it is to behold the Sun yet let it abundantly content me oh Lord that whether waking or Sleeping dead or alive I shall be always thine tho' thou shouldst break all my Bones and from Day even till Night with pining Sickness and Aches make an end of me yet let me be dumb and not open my Mouth because it is thy doing suffer me not to whisper to my self what 's the reason the Lord will deal thus with me help me rather to consider what my Sins have deserved and what a poor Derivative thing I am What a meer dependant upon thee Lord I came into the World on thy Errand and I live only upon thy allowance Then let the consideration of thy Majesty and Glory swallow up all those petty Interests of my own which I create to my self and help me oh Lord in every Passage of my Life and Death to say thy will be done If it be thy will I shall dye now receive my Spirit and altho' I come In the Evening at the very last of all grant unto me that I may receive Eternal-Rest Blessed Lord as soon as ever the Chain of my mortality is broke let me take Wing and fly to thee Grant that sincerely reahing my Hands to thee from that Moment which is the upper Step of the Ladder of my Life next to Heaven thou mayest reach forth thy hand and receive me And when my Breath is gone grant oh Lord that I may see and know her again who dyed praying for my Everlasting-Happiness Into thy hand Lord I resign my Body and Soul Blessed Saviour receive my Spirit even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen I shall go to Iris but she shall not return to me I wou'd have these words be my last breath 'till my Lips fail and my Tongue cleaveth to the roof of my Mouth for as the Sun shines brightest at his setting so shou'd Man at his departing It is the evening crowns the day And now the Fatal Hour is come in which I must Resign to Dust This borrow'd Flesh whose Burden tires My Soul as it aspires Oh what a frail and undone Thing Is Man when his best Part is taking Wing But quake not Oh my Soul for Rest thou l't find This Pisgah Mount thy Canaan lies behind Look back and see the Worlds thin gaudy-Toys Look on and see the Crown of all thy Joys For such a Place is worthy to be sought Or were there none yet Heaven 's a pleasant Thought Nor for my bright Conductors will I stay But lead Heavens flaming Ministers the way In their known Passage to Eternal Day Where the blest CLIMES of Light will not seem fair Unless I meet my dear Redeemer there Unless I see my shining Saviours Face And grasp all Heaven in his sweet Embrace When the trembling Soul has Heav'n thus in sight Oh with what Joy and ravishing Delight She spreads her Wings and bids this World good Night Thus have I represented in what manner my Soul will leave that Body where it now dwells And have also considered in the Death of Iris with what tranquility and peace of conscience a Soul sequested from the World taketh her farewell of Earth Whilst thus I musing lay to my Bed side Attir'd in all his Mourning Pride The King of Terrors came Awful his Looks But not deform'd and grim He 's no such Goblin as we fancy him Scarce we our selves so civiliz'd and tame Unknown the Doom assign'd me in this change ' Tho justly I might fear Heavens worse Revenge Yet with my present Griefs redrest With curious Thoughts of unknown Worlds possest Enflam'd with Thirst of Liberty Long lovd but ne'er enjoy'd by me I su'd for leave the fatal Gulf to pass My vital Sand is almost run The Peace of Conscience with which a Soul sequestred from the-World
which he bought for them that were dispos'd to Hang themselves b Plutarch Fabius the Consul was so little for being known that in 70 Years which he lived departed not once from his Village of Regio to go to Messana which was but two Miles off by Water and Apollonius Travel'd o'er three parts of the World to conser with ingenions Men and being returned he gave his Riches to his poor Kindred and lived ever after a Solitary Life Democritus plucked out his Eyes because the pleasures of this World shou'd not draw him from Contemplation St. Bernard got all his knowledge in the Woods and Fields Ierom forsook all the World to live Incognito Croesus after the Death of his Son did the same and so did Hiero a Tyrant of Syracuse Among Even the Mahometans there are many Vetaries they call Dâ—rveeses who relinquish the World and spend all their Days following in solitude and retiredness expecting a Recompence as they say and are very well content to suffer and wait for it in that better Life Those very sharp and very strict Penances which many of this People for the present voluntarily undergo far exceed all those the Romanists boast of for instance there are some who live alone upon the tops of Hills which are clothed or covered with Trees and stand remote from any Company and there spend the whole time of their following lives in Contemplation stirring not at all from the places they first six on but ad requisita naturae crying out continually in these or the like Expressions Alla Achabar c. that is God Almighty look upon me I love thee I love not the World but I love thee and I do all this for thy sake look upon me God Almighty These after they thus retire never suffer the Razor or Scissars to come again upon their Heads and they let their Nails grow like unto Birds Claws as it was written of Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4. When he was driven out from the society of men This People after their retirement will chuse rather to famish than to stir from their Cells and therefore they are relieved by the Charity of others who take care to send them some very mean Covering for their Bodies for it must be such otherwise they will not accept of it when they stand in need thereof and something for their bodily sustenance which must be of their courser Food otherwise they will not take it and no more of that at one time than what is sufficient for the present support of nature Neither is the Incognito Life of the famous Nostedamus less remarkable than the affected solitude of the Derveeses of which take the following account Some Leagues from Aix says the Author of the Historical Voyages stands a Burrough call'd Sallon where Nostredamus so Famous for his Predictions was Born and interr'd in the Church of the Francisâ—an Grey-Fryers his Tomb being half withithe Church and half without The Monk that shewed it us says this Author told us that Nostredamus himself had ordered it to be Erected after that manner for that finding the World to be so corrupt as it is he was desirous to leave it in singular manner For that having rais'd his Tomb to Mans height he caused himself to be enclos'd therein while he was living after he had made Provision of Oil for his Lamp Pens Ink and Paper and pronounced a Curse upon him that shou'd open it before such a time which by the Calculation of the Fryar was to expire at the beginning of the Eighteenth Age. I cannot tell says this Voyager whether Nostredamus repented or no but I am sure he was in an Ill condition if he let his Lamp goe out before he had finished what he had to write We also read that Hyginus after he was made Bishop took such a Fancy to Live Incognito that he retir'd to a Cave where he hid himself 't was here he writ an Epistle touching God and the Inearation of the Son of God But the Men are not Singular in their Love to a Private life for we find some Ladies too as well as the Men have delighted to live Incognito Elizabeth commonly called Ioan-Cromwel the Wife of Oliver Cromwel chose rather to be a great Person Incognito if you 'l believe the Author of her Life then to live in that State and Degree which her Husbands Grandeur allow'd of 'T is true says this Author she kept one Coach but to avoid Pomp her Coachman served her for Caterer Butler Cup Bearer and Gentleman Usher Her Daughter and She often went alone into the Country and there See a further Account of her private Life in the Book called Elizabeth the Wife of the late Usurper wou'd spend whole Days in riding in a Sequestred Caroach so that she seem'd to affect the Seythian Fashion who dwelt in Carts and Wagons and have no other Habitations She was also the same Recluse in her Habit rather Harnessing her self in the Defence of her Cloaths than allowing her self the loose and open Bravery thereof and her Hood till her Face was seen in her Highnesses Glass was â—apt on like a Head Piece without the Arr of â—nsconcing and entrenching it double and single in Redoubts and Horn works In sine she was Cap-a-pe like a Baggage Lady and was out of her Element in her Vieinity to the Court and City She never caâ—'d to be seen and was never easy but when she liv'd Inoogni'o And even of Animals Some live a Solilitary Life as the Hare the Pelican and the Swan the last of which is Merry at her Death So 〈◊〉 the wisest both of Men and Bruits have still preferr'd a Private Life to a Publick and the reason c See my Irish Conversation P. 365. why a Private Life is preferable to all others is because the first Minister of State hath not so much Business in Publick as a Wise Man hath in Private the one hath but part of the affairs of one Nation the other all the Works of God and Nature under his consideration And therefore 't was Scipio was never less alone than when he had no Company Tully when he was thought to be Idle Studied most And Mison the Philosopher that he might Study himself lived altogether a Solitary Life when one by chance met him laughing to himself and demanding the cause why he laughed having no Company Answer'd Even therefore do I laugh because I have no Company with me I might heap up Instances of this Nature but here 's enough to shew I ben't singular in desiring to live unknown certainly Madam the pleasantest and most profitable condiition of Life is to live Incognito This we find further verified in Charles V. Emperor of Germany for after conquering Four Kingdoms he resign'd up all his Pomp to other Hands and betook himself to his Retirement leaving this Testimony behind him concerning the Life he spent in the little time of his retreat from the World That the
impossible for him to taste and understand his happiness so perfectly as one that had experienc'd another way of Living and whose Repentance for his pass'd Follies might equal his Innocence and so exceed his Happiness I am no stranger to the Pleasures of the retired Life you invite to I know and taste it to the full 't is what I have always courted ever since I was at my own dispose and which I now am perfectly possessed of and find in it all those advantages you mention of subliming ones Thoughts and setting them above the World sure all thinking Persons will study to disintangle themselves from those ensnaring Delights as well as from the Cares and Troubles that attend 'em to which Design no Age ever gave so fair Advantage For to love Pleasure and Conversation at this time and in this Town is to dote upon Crimes and Folly and if a retreat from it is Life according to your estimation 't is Death to stay in it according to mine I wonder whether that Learned Divine you speak of has the Art of answering all hard Questions with the same Ease he answered that Lady I wish I knew how she understood him he seemed to me to question what is Life to make answer a young Lady by which I understand he meant his own Chief Good he ought to have added what was Life to the Lady I take the love of Liberty to be taught by Nature and is that which occasions the Sallies Kings and Men of Quality make sometimes for a little ease of the burthen their Place and Quality condemns to whilst Incognito they taste the pleasure of Liberty and may perceive all the Power Honour and Riches and all the Pleasures the World studies for 'em and heaps upon 'em makes up a very imperfect Happiness whilst all their Words and Actions are under such restraint nay their very Thoughts and Affections are tied to Rules and Reasons of State not meerly for the discharge of their Place and Dignity but to please others that others may be pleased with their Greatness all which is a violence to Nature and could never be supported by any that had leisure to think unlesâ— by some great Mind like our present King that willingly sacrifice themselves and all that is dear to 'em for the Blessing and Happiness of more Kingdoms than their own But 't is enough for such ordinary Minds as yours and mine to put our selves into a safe retreat and after the Example of the finest Poets the wisest Philosophers the greatest Saints and Holy Fathers learn to live with and endure ones self and to shew our selves as wise as those that willingly undergo any thing for the purchase of Riches we for the purchase of Time as precious to the full chuse to live Incognito where Time is our own and none either borrows or robs us of it and the only place where we can redeem that Time we have lost or mispent This were enough bating the pleasure to justifie the choice of Solitude but the Testimony of a great and wise Emperor must not be slighted his Mind look'd great that could think nothing less than an Imperial Crown a fit Present for his Son yet could support it self without it And what could look more nise than in his Retirement to set himself to the study of the Christian Religion and so truly and experimentally declare the pleasure he found in it to be that which Courts and the great Pretenders to Pleasure were strangers to and if there needs any thing more to recommend it 't is that the Body may share in the Pleasures of this Retirement while the Fancy and Imagination and all other Senses are entertain'd in Fields and Gardens with more Innocent Objects than in Courts and Cities I know not how your Living in a Private Retreat to learn well how to Die should lessen my Friendship it rather qualifies you better to be my Friend I have no other business in the World but to die and 't is only for that end I value Friendship that one may mutually assist each other in this great â—ork Your Retirement from the World does not lessen you in my esteem therefore in no trial of my Friendship but makes you more worthy of it Nor can I object against Solitude because Man was at first made for Society Since Man is now so fallen from his first Perfection he is scarce a reasonable Creature or sit Company for Brutes and for Women tho' aspiring to the excellency of Angels are arrived no higher than to the state of Evil Spirits to prove Tempters the cause and occasion of all the wickedness the World abounds with all which may well acquit us from the Laws of Society and give us leave to make the best of so sad a Condition and learn the Art of Living Incognito I am Your c. LETTER II. In Praise of Poverty Madam MY Art of Living Incognito having been honour'd with your Approbation I am encourag'd to pursue my Project of writing on a Thousand Subjects for this is to Live Incognito to good purpose and to shew to the World how Solitude may be Improv'd In this Undertaking as I hinted in my first Letter I shall tye my self to no Method so think it needless to make an Apology that my Second Letter is a brief Essay In Praise of Poverty Sir Walter Ranleigh in a Letter to his Wife after his Condemnaâ—ion hath these words If you can Live free from Want care for no more for the rest is but a Vanity A little Meat sufficeth to nourish us a poor Bed without Rich Curtains will serve to repose us and a little Cottage may well defend us both from the extremity of Heat and bitterness of Cold. I cou'd wish with all my heart that ev'ry man would set before the Eyes of his Understanding the Two Principal Extremities of this Life and that he would likewise consider in what Poverty we are born and depart again out of this World Naked we first entred into this vain world and naked must we again leave it Is it not then a Stupendius Folly knowing for certain that we are born very poor and must also die without carrying any thing with us to torment our selves so much for the Loss of our Goods It is observed that there is this noble and magnanimous Spirit in the Eagle that when she is in want and greatly suffers hunger that she scorns to pout and make a noise and a clamour as other Birds will do but rests her self satisfied If I have it not now I shall have it hereafter And none can be unhappy who 'Mongst all his â—lls a Time does know Tho ne'er so ill when he shall not be so The greatest Misfortunes become tolerable in Time the Sentiment we have of them is lost and vanishes away Poverty Shame Diseases the Moral Essays Vol. 1. p. 27. loss of our being abandon'd by Friends Parents Children gives us Blows whose smart lasts not
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
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
the Formalities that a Customary Practice can possibly impose Besides Gather your Rose-Buds whilst you may is an old Song and Nature having denyed me Children those tender Pledges of conjugal Love it cou'd be no Crime in me to prevent the work of Time and Marry as soon as I cou'd for fear of Staying 'till Time were past 'T is true Children are the poorest way of Immortalizing as may be and as Natural to a Beggar as a Prince yet for all that I shall be very Proud of getting an Heir to Sampsill when 't is consistent with doing Justice and of being a Father tho 't were but for one Day Not that I 'm in Post-haste but if pure Love can make a Woman Kind I hope with Valeria's leave to be happy a second time in a Marryed State and can never be so in any other But Valeria sure is Dead for I han't receiv'd a Line from her since we parted in Iewen-street or were she not had I all the World it shou'd be hers for tho I 'm treated with the greatest Indifference methinks I can n'ere be kind enough to those I Love But to digress no longer So much I was pleas'd with my first Marriage and so unlikely to forget that Dear Half that 's Dead that I may truly say all the time I lived without her I was as 't were in a Dream and I don't doubt shou'd I Marry a third time but I shall as I did at first find more Pleasure in Possession than I now do in expectation Then can you blame my hasty Marrying seeing when I Marryed my own Venus was suppos'd and so shee 'l prove at length all that 's excellent in Woman kind for what has the whole Sex more then in one alonâ— that is kind and loving and so I 'le think the Person I Marry were she made of Adamant Then Sabina acknowledge your Errour in Censuring my hasty Marriage You know not what Charms there are in a Virtuous Spouse what a Mine of pleasure what sprightly Life and Vigor did Iris give to all my Thoughts Looks and Actions how many new satisfactions in every thing she did How did I even live in her Dying Breath If you doubt this read her LIFE and you 'l find it so Now whilst I was a Widdower thought I with my self why might not some of these Vertues revive in a second Wife how ever Hit or Miss Luck's all and who 'd not hastily venture for such a Prize except as some have thought all Female Excellence is fled with Iris and I shou'd think so too were Valeria Dead who has Charms enough but her Bags hide 'em I might urge moâ—e in defence of a hasty Marriage as the Inclination of Black Men the Benefit in a Wives going to Market for I never knew nor cou'd Buy a Ioint of Meat The want of a Mistress to rule the Kitchin for I ne're presume to direct there to order about Tarts Puddings Wines and Kickshaws and I had almost forgot the Cream o' th' Iest the pleasure of a warm Bedfellow but I 'le not enlarge as not doubting but what 's said 〈◊〉 has fairly proved that every Widdowerought to Wed as soon as he can and that my Marrying again five Months after my Wife dyed was no slight to her Memory SLIGHT no I assure your Ladyship 't was to fulfill her DYING REQUEST 't was the desire of my Dear her self that after her Death I 'd speedily Marry again such regard had she to my future happiness and I cou'd not deny such a Wife any thing especially her last Request on her Death Bed that was utter'd with a tenderness that will n'ere be equal'd to slâ—ght this Request wou'd be to forget hâ—r which is the Crime you charge me wiâ—h and of which you 'l ever acquit me when you read the following EPITAPH now Ingraâ—'d on the Tomb erected to her Dear Memory viz. Here Lies all that was Mortal of ELIZABETH first Wife of JOHN DUNTON Citizen and Stationer of London who departed this Life May 28th 1697. Sacred Urn with whom we Trust This Dear Pile of Sacred Dust Know thy Charge and safely Guard 'Till Death's Brazen Gate 's Unbarr'd 'Till the Angel biâ—s it Rise And Remove to Paradise A Wife Obliging Tender Wise A Friend to comfort and Advise Vertue Mild as Zephirs Breath Piety which smil'd in Death Such a Wife and such a Friend All Lament and all Commend But with EATING CARES opprest He who knew and loved her best Who her LOYAL HEART did share He who reign'd unrival'd there And no Truce to Sighs will give 'Till he Dye with her to Live a I have desired in my Will to be Buriâ—d in the same Grave Or if more we wou'd comprize a The Name I call'd her by before our Marriage Here intâ—rr'd Fair Iris lyes Thus Madam you see I 'm so far from slighting the Memory of my Dear Iris by my hasty Marrying that to her very Ashes I keep a Body pure and Troth inviolable and that Separation can have no place in our Union which is too great to be exampled and as I owe this respect to the Memory of my first Wife so 't is no more when she proves as kind than I 'll pay to this or if possible a greater Tenderness for I ever thought he never lov'd who ever makes retreat Sabina are you yet reconcil'd to my HASTY MARRIAGE If not I must be forc'd to ' tell ye that no other Amusement but Marriage cou'd ha' sav'd my Life and you ' ent my Friend if you 'd have me dye when there were Remedies at hand Alas I no sooner thought of my Dear Departed and I hardly thought of any thing else 'till I had a NEW Wife to divert the Melancholy but I e'en pind aw'ay but thought I shou'd I get HER LIKENESS AGAIN that then Iris wou'd live with me still tho' but in Effigie and such a RESEMBLANCE of her must save my Life or nothing truly Madam 't was thus with me and I MUST BE SHACKLED AGAIN OR DYE FOR 'T What the success has been you 'l see in my PRINTED CASE but how happy I am yet to be time must discover However shou'd Wife Mother and all my Friends either continue or grow unkind yet I have this comfort left that by A SELF-ABNEGATION and dis-sociation from the World I shall be United to Him who is so much above all I ever had or the World can give as he is all I can wish to have and certainly he only is the DIVINE HERMIT who by not loving the World leaves it whilst he lives in it excluding himself as well from the Sâ—n as the Society of Men and by Acting thus he CONQUERS BY RETREATING and thereby shews he is not altogether beholding to Solitude for the Glory of his Vertue I have only to add That your speedy Answer will be Impatiently desired by Your Obedient Friend and very Humble Servant JOHN DUNTON The LADY's Answer to my Fifth
thus sharp upon their poor Debtors For in the whole Course and Frame of Nature we see that nothing is made for it self but each hath a Bond of Duty of Use or of Service by which it is Indebted to others The SUN by his splendor to enlighten all the World by his warmth and heat iâ— cherish and comfort each living and vegetable Creature Yea even Man the Lord of the Creation is so framed of God that not only his Country his Parents and his Friends claim a share in him but he is also indebted to his Hound and to his Ox the one for Hunting for his pleasure and the other for labouring for his profit and therefore a good Man is merciful to his Beast His Iudgment Wit Discretion he hath them for others as much as for himself and as to his WEALTH he han't a Penny but what he 's accountable for But such is the mystery of this Stewardship where even GOD himself is Debtor and Mail Creditor for is it not said He that hath pity on the Poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will be pay him again Prov. 19. 17. That present payment is the least and worst the Lender oweth more then the Receiver the Poor whose Prayers are heâ—rd bestowing more then he receiveth and his Box is more the Rich Mans Treasury than his own Then wou'd we have a Policy on Heaven of our uncertain Riches we must make the Poor our Insurers Sure I am evâ—ry Man stands in need of this Advice seeing had he the Riches of Solomon whose Wealth was so Great that it wou'd puzzle our Accomplants to find New Names for Sums of all we may say as he said of the Ax Head that fell off to Elijah the Prophet 2. Kings 6. 5. Alas Master it is but borrowed Do â—ou Ouaâ— such a one rich saith Seneca because of his â—ich Sumpter Horse or because he has a Plow going in ev'ry Province or for his large Account-Book oâ— sâ—ch large Possessions near the City When you have said all he is Poor But you will say why Why because â—e oweth all unless you make a difference between borrowing from Men and from Providence Then let not him that has lost an Estate Mourn for another lost it before he had it perchance if he had not lost it now it had lost him for ever and therefore in such a Case as this let us rather think what we have escaped then lost And what we Owe rather than what we are Even Kings owe Protection to their Loyal Subjects and their Subjects of all Ranks owe Allegiance to their Sovereign Lord Our Lands and Lives if we are Loyal are the Kings and nothing can we call our own but Death Then again let us look into our selves and see how our constitutive parts are Debtors each to other The Soul doth quicken and give Life to the Body and the Body like an Automaton as one expresses it doth move and carry it self and the Soul Again if we Survey Man in his parts the Eye sees for the Foot the Foot standeth for the Hand the Hand toucheth for the Mouth the Mouth tasteth for the Stomach the Stomach eateth for the whole Body the Body repayeth again that Nutriment which it hath received to all the parts discharging the Retriments by the Port Esquiline and all this as an Eminent Physician observes in so comely an Order and by a Law so certain and in so due a time as if Nature had rather Man shou'd not have been at all then not to be a Debtor in every part of him The ALCHIMISIS who promise to themselves to turn Tin into Silver and Copper into Gold how will they be transported out of themselves with Joy if they shou'd but see a happy issue of their attempt How much more a Creditor when he shall recover a desperate Debt It is like the Joy of a Father that receives his lost Child Again He that is in Debt hath this great Priviledge above other Men that his Creditors pour out Hearty Prayers for him they wish that he may Live Thrive Prosper and grow Rich and all for their own Advantage They seem to be careful for their Debtors that they may not lose the many Hundreds they owe them Witness those usurers of Rochel who when they heard that the Interest of Money was fallen went and hang'd themselves for Grief and truly Madam I can't altogether blame 'em for most Men owe not only there Learning to their Plenty but likewise their Vertue and their Honesty For how many Thousands live now in the World in great Reputation for their Honest and Just Dealings with all Mankind who if they were put to their Shifts as others as Honestly inclin'd are wou'd soon lose their Reputation â—ea turn Rogues and Knaves too as the Vulgar think and generally ca lt such as are not able to pay their Debts I question not but Want and self Preservation for Hunger will break through Stone Walls wou'd put some of them upon those very hard Shifts they now blame so much in others But for all they are so often put to their Shifts I must say this to the HONOUR OF DEBTORS that they have a great Influence over their Creditors they become in a manner their Land-Lords to whom they Cringe Kneel as if they did owe them all Imaginable Services and are as Ambitious of their Debtors Favours as they who in King Charles's Reign did carress the Royal-Misses to attain the Lives of their Condemn'd Friends or some Place at Court. Without DEBT AND LOAN the Fabrick of the World will be dis-jointed and fall asunder into its first Chaos I might first Instance in what it owes for Drink For as Cowly tells us The Thirsty Earth soaks up the Rain And Drinks and gapes for Drink again The Plants such in the Earth and are The Sea it self which one wou'd think Shou'd have but little need of Drink Drinks Ten Thousand Rivers up So fill'd that they o'er flow the Cup. The busie Sun and one wou'd guess By 's Drunken fiery Face no less Drinks up the Sea and when h 'as done The Moon and Stars drink up the Sun They drink and dance by their own Light They drink and Revel all the Night Nothing in Nature's sober found But an ETERNAL HEALTH goes Round And if the World Runs thus in Debt for Bubb what does it owe for its other Supports Or rather what does it not owe For first the Beauty of the Stars what wou'd it be but Vastness and Deformity if the Sun did not lend 'em Light The Earth wou'd remain unfruitful if it did not borrow Refreshing Dews from the Watery Signs and Planets The Summer is pleasant and promiseth great hopes of Plenty but it is because it taketh up much upon Trust from the Friendly and Seasonable Temperament of the Elements And to say the Truth there is NOTHING GOOD or GREAT in the World but that it BORROWETH something from others to
of the Thousand Letters on as many Uncommon Subjects Written by IOHN DUNTON during his Retreat from the World and sent to that Honourable Lady to whom he address'd His Conversation in Ireland With her Ladyships Answer to each Letter To be continued 'till the whole Correspondence is finish'd Man ere he is aware Hath put together a Solemnity And drest his Hearse while he hath Breath As yet to spare Yet Lord instruct us so to die That all these Dyings may be Life in Death Herbert LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be sold by A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Oxford Arms in Warwick-Lane of whom is to be had the First and Second Parts Price of each 1 s. THE SECOND PART Of the ART of Living Incognito From my Cell April 10. 1700. LETTER VII Of every Thing Madam MY First Part of the Art of living Incognito having met with a kind Reception except from FOPPS who to shew their Wat a See my First Part of the Art of living Incognito p. 2. rail at every thing but the Product of their own Brain This has incourag'd me to Publish a Second Part For seeing ' was Sabina that first inspirâ—d me with the Resolution of living Incognito I now intend to proceed to the writing the Thousand Letters that must go to the perfecting of this ART except your Lady-ship should grow weary of the Correspondence or if you should my Project would be still Incognito for I 'm not so vain as to think that any thing but your Ladyships Remarks cou'd have given my Letters a Reputation in the World and without that tho I shou'd still have studied yet should no longer have Printed the Art of living Incognito But cou'd I doubt of that kind Reception it has met with when your Ladyship was pleased to say b In your Letter dared Ap. 10. That the World is much deluded with Appearances but if you are the Person that has raised their Expectation they 'l not grudge a Shilling to satisfie it but if their Envy is only raised they 'l content themselves with laughing at your presumptuous pretension of writing on a Thousand uncommon Subjects without ever reading it and spend some Wit upon the Lady concerned in it But whoever buyes it with indifference and so reads it will I believe find what 's worth his Money and commend it Soul of my Muse I thank thee and in that A short Poem dedicated to the Honourable Lady I pay the humble Tribute of my Fate How hast thou Crown'd my Head O what Divine Raptures inspir'd beyond the powerful Nine I will not call Rome's Caesars back again To shew their Triumphs one is in my Brain Great as all theirs and circl'd with thy BAYS My thoughts take Empire or'e all Land and Seas 'Gainst subtle Light'ning and fierce Thunder stroke I shall be safer than Augustus OKE With double Guard of Laurel and made free From Age look fresh still as my Daphnian-Tree And Printing still my Son and Heir shall be Criticks shall dread my Looks no Slander dare To approach my Books whilst your Idea's there Great Patroness of Cells I could create New Worlds methinks for thee and in a State As Free as Innocence shame all Poets Wit Could climb no higher than Elyzium yet Where they but build cool Arbors Shades and Groves Teach Brooks to murmur Songs 〈◊〉 please their Loves We will have other Flights erect new Things To call the Envy up of Queens and Kings Museus Homer and the sacred rest VVhom the VVorld thinks in their own Ashes blest Shall live again and only having wrot Our Friendship wish their other Songs forgot And themselves too but that our LETTERS must In spight of Time and Death quicken their Dust What cannot I command VVhat can a Thought Be ambitious of thus wreath'd but shall be brought By Virtue of your Charms I will undo The Year and at our pleasure make one New All Spring is Blooming Paradise but when You List shall with one Frown wither agen Astrologers leave poreing in the Skies Expect all Fate from fair Sabina's Eyes Thus exâ—asy'd with me scorn other Starr Admire and think it Heaven where we two are For he that learns to live Incognito Now lives in Heaven if quitting Earth be so Madam I have dedicated this short Poem to your Ladiship as a Poor Acknowledgment for your generous Remarks on my First Part of the Art of Living Incognito and as a Defiance to all Criticks I was willing the World should know your Opinion of what I A defiance to all Critticks Publish as believing none will presume to dislike what you approve of or if they do I shall not value it soâ— prefer your single Judgment to all others and therefore 't is the Honour of your Friendship is one of those things that I value my self most upon Then seeing the Art of Living Incognito has such an Ingenious and Honourable Lady to Protect and Defend it I shan't doubt but this Second Bart will be as well receiv'd as the FIRST however your consenting to my Printing of it is a sufficient Warrant for its Publication And I don't doubt after treating of every Ching in this Letter but to say something in my next which will be an Essay 〈◊〉 my own Funeral which shall justifie my Resolution to Live and Die in a private Cell Mâ— Resolution to live and die in a private Cell Whilst all the World is in an hurry busied here and there with Vanity and Vexation whilst few or none almost are looking after their Future State whilst most thus mistake their Happiness I shall endeavour to find it in a lonesome Cell which in my next I shall prove an Emblem of Death and I must needs love it as 't is a Place where I have nothing to do but to prepare for Heaven But tho' I live Incognito as I 'm charm'd with a quiet Life and partly as I am oblig'd to Privacy a For the Reasons tention'd 〈◊〉 my last 〈◊〉 Yet I have no such Pique to the World I mean that GREAT WORLD through which I am passing but that I 'm willing to give your Ladyship an Account what I formerly I observ'd in it and I shall think I 'm still advancing in the Art of living Incognito if in this Letter I treat Of every thing I mean every thing that affected me in my Cursory View of the GREAT â—ections 〈◊〉 every â—ing that â—fected me 〈◊〉 my curâ— view of â—e Word WORLD I call it a Cursory View as I hurry'd so fast through it to that private Cell where I now live Perhaps you 'll admire Sabina that the World should now take up my Thoughts when 't is my Happiness and Wish to be freed from it To this I Answer it must be confest That to avoid the Noise and Turbulency of the World the more quietly and undisturb'd to look into our selves has been the Practice of the most Discreet and Eminent Men even the
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
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
am every minute going Every Thought I have is a Sand running out of the Glass of Life Then surely he is dead already that does not look for Death How stupid are we to think so little of DYING when not only the DEATH of men but every thing else dies to shew us the Way Sweet Day so cool so calm so bright The â—ridal of the Earth and Skie The Dew shall weep thy fall to Night For thou must die Sweet Rose whose hue angry and brave Bids the rash Gazer wipe his Bye Thy Root is ever in its Grave And thou must die Sweet Spring full of sweet Days and Roses A Box where Sweets compacted lye My Musick shews ye have your Closes And all must die There may be News of my Funeral before I can finish my Essay upon it Only a sweet and Virtuous Soul Like season'd Timber never gives But tho the whole World turn to Coal Then chiefly lives Herbert Besides the warning I have of my own DEATH in the death of every thing I meet abroad that I might want no warning when I go to SLEEP which is a Death in Scripture is compared to Sleep kind of dying too What is my BED but as it were a Passing-bell to remember me every four and twenty Hours of my Mortality and that the Grave must speedily be my Bed a Clod my Pillow and the Mold and Worms my Covering When I put off my Shirt it puts me in mind of my Winding-sheet and last My Night-Prayer c may be resembl'd to making my Will Shroud that must cover me when I sleep under ground Death in Scripture is compared to Sleep Well then may my Night Prayer be resembled to making my Will I will be careful not to die intestate as also not to defer my Will-making 'till I am not compos mentis 'till the Lethargy of drowsiness seizes upon me but being in perfect Memory I bequeath my Soul to God the rather because I am sure the Devil will accuse me when sleeping Oh the advantage of Spirits above Bodies If our Clay Cottage be not cooled with Rest the Roof falls The Devil will accuse me when sleeping a Fire Satan hath no such need The Night is his fittest time Rev. 12. 10. Thus Mans Vacation is the Terms for the Beasts of the Forest they move most whilst he lies quiet in his Bed Lest therefore whilst sleeping I be Out-lawed for want of appearance to Satans Charge I commit my Cause to him who An Appearance to Satan's Charge Lying along is an improper Posture for Piety neither slumbers nor sleeps Answer for me oh my God I wou'd not by this Expression be so understood as if I might defer my Night Prayer 'till I'm in Bed This lying along is an improper posture for Piety Indeed there is no Contrivance of our Body but some good Man in Scripture hath hanfel'd it with Prayer The Publican standing Iob sitting Hezekiah lying on his Bed Elijah with his Face between his Legs but of all Postures give me St. Paul's For this cause I bow my Knees to the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ. Knees when they may they must be hended I have read a Copy of a grant of liberty from Queen Mary to Henry Ratcliff Earl of Sussex giving him leave to wear a Night Cap or Coif in her Majesties presence counted a great Favour because of his Infirmity Job 18. 1 Kings 28. 42. Eph. 3. 14. Weavers Fun. Mon. p. 63. I know in case of necessity God would graciously accept my Devotion bound down in a sick-dressing but now whilst I am in perfect Health it is inexcusable Christ commanded some to take up their Bed in token of their full Recovery my Laziness may suspect least thus my Bed taking me up prove a presage of my ensuing Sickness Then Blessed Lord pardon the former Idleness of my Night-Devotion and I will never more offend thee in the same kind In case of Necessity God will accept my Devotion bound down in a Sick-Dressing And thus my Bed my Sleep and every thing else proclaims Death is on his March towards me And seeing my Sand runs faster than my Ink your Ladyship may have News of my Funeral before I can finish this Essay upon it How soon doth Man decay When Clothes are taken from a Chest of Sweets To swadle Infants whose young Breath Scarce knows the way Those Clouts are little Winding-sheets Which do consign and send them unto Death When Boys go first to Bed They step into their voluntary Graves Sleep binds them fast only their Breath Makes them not dead Successive Nights like rolling Waves Convey them quickly who are bound for Death When Youth is frank and free And calls for Musick while his Veins do swell All Day exchanging Mirth and Breath In Company That Musick summons to the Knel Which shall befriend him at the House of Death When Man grows staid and wise Getting a House and Home where he may move Within the Circle of his Breath Schooling his Eyes That dumb Inclosure maketh Love Unto the COFFIN that attends his death When Age grows loâ— and weak Marking his Grave and thawing ev'ry Year 'Till all do melt and drown his Breath When he wou'd speak A Chair or Litter shews the Bier Which shall convey him to the House of Death Man e're he is aware Hath put together a Solemnity And drest his Herse while he hath Breath I 'm here ringing my own Passing-Bell That 'T is impossible for a man to write of his own Funeral whilst he 's living As yet to spare Yet Lord instruct us so to die That all these Dyings may be life in Death Herbert Or had I not these Warnings of Death in the several Stages of Life yet I have such a Crazy Body as daily puts me in mind of my Grave and I 'm now by writing an Essay upon my own Funeral as 't were ringing my own Passing-Bell But perhaps you 'll say How can you write of your own Funeral when you are yet alive And were you dead you 'd be less able to handle your Pen as much at you love scribling Why Madam I am dead but don't be frighted that I appear again in this White Sheet For tho I 'm dead 'T is thus dead I was born seemingly dead I was born seemingly dead t was thought I was lugg'd out of my natural CELL into my Grave and I could have been content had I had no more than the Register or Sexton to tell the World that I had ever been However I may venture to say that from the first laying of these Mudd-Walls in my conception they have moldred away and the whole course of Life is but an active Death nay every Meal we eat is as it were a Ransom from one Death and lays up for another and while we think The whole Course of Life is but an active Death a Thought we die for the Clock strikes and reckons
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
ta kes her Farewell of Earth A meditation upon the fight of a Dead-man And Death said I will strike anon Then to dull Life I bid a long Farewell And stretcht for flight But as the last grains fell Death fail'd my flatter'd hopes and turn'd the Glass But tho' my Soul and Body en't yet parted yet I have convers'd too long with the World already so that now I 'll suppose my self a dead Man At the Sight whereof were I living I wou'd thus meditate Teach me O Lord so to number my Days that I may apply my Heart unto Wisdom for I see by this dead Friend here lying before me we soon pass away and are gone All Flesh I see in this Instance is Grass and the Beauty of it as the flower of the Field Thou oh God hast determined the number of my Days which I cannot pass And I see here in my dead Friend what will follow the Separation of my Soul and Body As long as this Tabernacle lodged the Soul of my Friend it was sensible active cou'd hear â—ee speak or move but now that Guest is driven forth there is nothing in it but breeds my abhorence so that I now see all Confidence in Man is vain and that I shall soon become I 've said nothing of the manner of my Dying but what I 've observed in the Death of others as Pale and Wan at this Dead-Corpse which I here behold with Terrour and Amazement And Lord help me to consider that as this Body is dead without the Soul so both Soul and Body without Grace So much for the supposed manner of my Dying and for those useful Thoughts that a Sight of my Dead-Corpse might afford in which I 've advanc'd nothing but what I 've observ'd in the Death of others especially of my dear Iris My Breath being gone I 'll next suppose my self Laid out for â—ead I 'm now Stript and Dress'd in a Shroud and now the Cry of the House is Bury the Dead out of my Sight Being now Stript and Drest in a Shroud great Care is taken by my Executor for I know he 'll be punctual to observe my Will that my Body be kept veiled and secret and not exposed to curious Eyes neither shou'd Cyrus wou'd have no Man stare in his Face after his Death the Dishonours wrought upon the Face by the Changes of Death be star'd upon by impertiâ—ent Persons When Cyrus was Dying he called his Sons and Friends to take their leave of him to touch his Hand to see him the last time and gave in Charge that when he had put his Veil over his Face No Man spou'd uncover it And Epiphanius's Body was resâ—d from inquisitive Eyes by a Miracle But nothing A sight of my Dead-Body shou'd affect my Relations of this will disturb the Dead but a sight of my Dead-Body shou'd affect the Living Then now all my Friends if you ben't dâ—wn'd in Tears come and observe what a Change is here What a Change indeed For my trembling Soul being fled Lo how the Successors Valeria makes a shift to cry for my Death of Sin do trample upon these Mud-walls and demolish my House of Clay This dismal sight one would think shou'd squeeze out a few Tears if not from my Heir who has Sign'd Seal'd and deliver'd and is hasty to Bury me yet surely it will from the Dear Valeria for tho some Wives Bury their Husbands only with a sow'r Visage Mask'd over with Dissimulation contracting like the Ephesian Matron second Marriages before they have worn out their Mourning Garments But Valeria may pass for a better Wife For When her dear Spouse's last Departure's nigh See where this Fubbs has made a shift to cry But I 'm Box'd up the Parli'ment be thanked Whose Act has made my Rime in Woollen Blanket Being laid in my Coffin come hither Valeria and view me a little The Chinesses always before they Bury their Dead if he was a Marryed Man bring him to his Wife that so she might first Kiss him and bid him Farewel when you have done this prithee Valeria gaze upon me see in A good Iointure signifies nothing to a Dead Wife my Dead Phiz what Comfort you will have of your Iointure which you once kept to my Ruin when you come to this For pridâ—ee try the Experiment If you shou'd put a Bâ—g of Guineas into my Hand I shou'd let it fall or cou'd you give me Sampâ— ' twoud be too heavy to carry to the other World for don't you see that my Eyes are closed and I observe nothing Then Valeria view me well uâ—ver my Face again for A Dead Husband is worth observing a dead Husband is worth observing and you 'll find the Luminaries of my Body which us'd to shine with a living Brightness like the Gelly of a slâ—g Meteor lie now â—tombed in Darkness and that ruddy Hue which gave the Name of Flesh to this whited Earth hath either chang'd its Colour or its Place In a Word my Head Arms Body Legs c. have now left their Motion and lie as still as a Wife could wish who loves nothing of her Husband but the Iointure he has left her No wonder then she refused to come when I sent for her but has reserv'd all her Love for my dead Body which perhaps she 'll wash with a Tear or two as it looks kind and will cost her nothing neither need she make any use of an Onion for 't is observ'd of Widows they have Tears at command See where The Treasure of my Bosom doth appear Now coming to my Corpse with her drow'd Eyes For Iointure brings her where her Husband dies To whose pale Relick she devoutly Payes Obedience real as her Love and Brays With many Tears till quite dissolv'd in them She SEEMS contriv'd into a Walking-Sream As Destiny had meant her to descend From Rivers only but to serve this end Next let my Sisters drop their pious-Rain Larkin and Kenswell too will Weep in vain For none can soften my stiff Clay agâ—in Whilst my Eye thus amazedly wonders o'er my Dead Body methinks I In the supposed View of my dead Body I behold other Mens Fate as well as my own view in it other Mens Fate as well as my own Then blessed Lord let me Die daily that when Death shall be swallowed up in Victory and the numberless Atoms of my Dust shall by thy Almighty Power be new moulded into a Body my Soul may make a re-entry and be both glorified together Death we do now behold thee gay and glad As at Dooms-day When Souls shall wear their new Aray And all thy Bones with Beauty shall be clad Therefore we can go Die as Sleep and trust Half that we have Unto an an honest faithful Grave Making our Pillows either Down or Dust Herbert My Corruption belongs to the maintaining of of the Order of the Universe I lie merrily down in my
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
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