warres in the two voyages of King Lewis to Palestine and thereupon ever since by custome and priviledge the Gentlewomen of Champaigne and Brye ennoble their husbands and give them honour in marrying them how mean soever before Though pleasantly affected she is not transported with Court-delights as in their statelie Masques and Pageants Seeing Princes cares are deeper then the cares of private men it is fit their recreations also should be greater that so their mirth may reach the bottome of their sadnesse yea God allows to Princes a greater latitude of pleasure He is no friend to the tree that strips it of the bark neither do they mean well to Majesty which would deprive it of outward shews and State-solemnities which the servants of Princes may in loyalty and respect present to their Sovereigne however our Lady by degrees is brought from delighting in such Masques onely to be contented to see them and at last perchance could desire to be excused from that also Yet in her reduced thoughts she makes all the sport she hath seen earnest to her self It must be a dry flower indeed out of which this bee sucks no honey they are the best Origens who do allegorise all earthly vanities into heavenly truths When she remembreth how suddenly the Scene in the Masque was altered almost before moment it self could take notice of it she considereth how quickly mutable all things are in this world God ringing the changes on all accidents and making them tunable to his glorie The lively representing of things so curiously that Nature her self might grow jealous of Art in outdoing her minds our Lady to make sure work with her own soul seeing hypocrisie may be so like to sincerity But O what a wealthy exchequer of beauties did she there behold severall faces most different most excellent so great is the variety even in bests what a rich mine of jewells above ground all so brave so costly To give Court-masques their due of all the bubbles in this world they have the greatest variety of fine colours But all is quickly ended this is the spight of the world if ever she affordeth fine ware she alwayes pincheth it in the measure and it lasts not long But oh thinks our Lady how glorious a place is Heaven where there are joyes for evermore If an herd of kine should meet together to phancy and define happinesse they would place it to consist in fine pastures sweet grasse clear water shadowie groves constant summer but if any winter then warm shelter and dainty hay with company after their kind counting these low things the highest happinesse because their conceit can reach no higher Little better do the Heathen Poets describe Heaven paving it with pearl and roofing it with starres filling it with Gods and Goddesses and allowing them to drink as if without it no Poets Paradise Nectar and Ambrosia Heaven indeed being Poetarum dedecus the shame of Poets and the disgrace of all their Hyperboles falling as farre short of truth herein as they go beyond it in other Fables However the sight of such glorious earthly spectacles advantageth our Ladyes conceit by infinite multiplication thereof to consider of Heaven She reades constant lectures to her self of her own mortality To smell to a turf of fresh earth is wholsome for the body no lesse are thoughts of mortality cordiall to the soul. Earth thou art to earth thou shalt return The sight of death when it cometh will neither be so terrible to her nor so strange who hath formerly often beheld it in her serious meditations With Job she saith to the worm Thou art my sister If fair Ladyes scorn to own the worms their kinred in this life their kinred will be bold to challenge them when dead in their graves for when the soul the best perfume of the body is departed from it it becomes so noysome a carcasse that should I make a description of the lothsomnesse thereof some dainty dames would hold their noses in reading it To conclude We reade how Henry a Germain Prince was admonished by revelation to search for a writing in an old wall which should nearly concern him wherein he found onely these two words written POST SEX AFTER SIX Whereupon Henry conceived that his death was foretold which after six dayes should ensue which made him passe those dayes in constant preparation for the same But finding the six dayes past without the effect he expected he successively persevered in his godly resolutions six weeks six moneths six years and on the first day of the seventh yeare the Prophecie was fulfill'd though otherwise then he interpreted it for thereupon he was chosen Emperour of Germany having before gotten such an habit of piety that he persisted in his religious course for ever after Thus our Lady hath so inur'd her self all the dayes of her appointed time to wait till her change cometh that expecting it every houre she is alwayes provided for that then which nothing is more certain or uncertain JANE GRAY proclaimed Queen of England wife to the Lord GILFORD DUDLEY She was beheaded on Tower-hill in London Februarie y e 12. 1553. at 18 yeares of Age. W.M. sculp CHAP. 14. The life of Ladie Jane GREY JAne Grey eldest daughter of Henry Grey Marquesse of Dorset and Duke of Suffolk by Francis Brandon eldest daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and Mary his wife youngest daughter to King Henry the seventh was by her parents bred according to her high birth in Religion and Learning They were no whit indulgent to her in her childhood but extremely severe more then needed to so sweet a temper for what need iron instruments to bow wax But as the sharpest winters correcting the ranknesse of the earth cause the more healthfull and fruitfull summers so the harshnesse of her breeding compacted her soul to the greater patience and pietie so that afterwards she proved the miroir of her age and attained to be an excellent Scholar through the teaching of M r Elmer her Master Once M r Roger Ascham coming to wait on her at Broad-gates in Leicestershire found her in her chamber reading Phoedon-Platonis in Greek with as much delight as some Gentleman would have read a merry tale in Bocchace Whilest the Duke her father with the Dutchesse and all their houshold were hunting in the Park He askt of her how she could lose such pastime who smiling answered I wisse all the sport in the Park is but the shadow of what pleasure I find in this book adding moreover that one of the greatest blessings God ever gave her was in sending her sharp parents and a gentle Schoolmaster which made her take delight in nothing so much as in her studies About this time John Dudley Duke of Northumberland projected for the English Crown But being too low to reach it in his own person having no advantage of royall birth a match was made betwixt Guilford his fourth sonne and this
save that this one action of his is so great and strong it cannot be kept in silence but will be recorded In the cruel battel at Ravenna betwixt the Emperour and the French he not onely bravely fetch'd off the dead bodies of Benedictus and Titus his father and brother but also with his own hands rescued the Eagle the standard Imperiall which was taken by the enemies For which his prowesse Maximilian knighted him and with his own hands put on him the golden spurres and chain the badges of knight-hood Amidst these his Martiall employments he made many a clandestine match with the Muses and whilest he expected the tides and returns of businesse he fill'd up the empty places of leisure with his studies Well did the Poets feigne Pallas Patronesse of arts and armes there being ever good intelligence betwixt the two Professions and as it were but a narrow cut to ferry over out of one into the other At last Scaliger sounded a retreat to himself from the warres and wholly applyed himself to his book especially after his wandring life was fixed by marriage unto the beautifull Andietta Lobeiaca with whom he lived at Agin near Montpeliar in France His Latine was twice refined and most criticall as appears by his own writings and notes on other Authours He was an accurate Grecian yet began to study it when well nigh fourty years old when a mans tongue is too stiff to bow to words What a torture was it to him who flowed with streams of matter then to learn words yea letters drop by drop But nothing was unconquerable to his pains who had a golden wit in an iron body Let his book of Subtilties witnesse his profound skill in Logick and Naturall Philosophy His skill in Physick was as great as his practice therein was happy in so much that he did many strange and admirable cures Heare how a noble and learned pen doth commend him Non hunc fefellit ulla vis recondita Salubris herbae saltibus si quam aviis Celat nivosus Caucasus seu quam procul Riphaea duro contigit rupes gelu Hic jamque spectantes ad orcum non semel Animas repressit victor membris suis Haerere succis compulit felicibus Nigrique avaras Ditis elusit manus On snowy Caucasus there grew no root Of secret power but he was privy to 't On cold Riphean hills no simple grew But he the force thereof and virtue knew Wherewith apply'd by his successefull art Such sullen souls as would this world depart He forc'd still in their bodies to remain And from deaths doore fetch'd others back again As for his skill in Physiognomy it was wonderfull I know some will say that cannot be read in mens faces which was never wrote there and that he that seeks to find the disposition of mens souls in the figures of their bodies looks for letters on the backside of the book Yet is it credibly averred that he never look'd on his infant-sonne Audectus but with grief as sorrow-struck with some sad signe of ill successe he saw in his face which child at last was found stifled in bed with the embraces of his nurce being fast asleep In Mathematicks he was no Archimedes though he shewed his skill therein with the best advantage and stood therein on his tiptoes that his learning might seem the taller But in Poetry his over-measure of skill might make up this defect as is attested by his book de Arte Poetica Yet his own Poems are harsh and unsmooth as if he rather snorted then slept on Parnassus and they sound better to the brain then the eare Indeed his censure in Poetry was incomparable but he was more happy in repairing of Poems then in building them from the ground which speaks his judgement to be better then his invention What shall I speak of his skill in History whose own actions were a sufficient History He was excellently vers'd in the passages of the world both modern and ancient Many modern languages which departed from Babel in a confusion met in his mouth in a method being skilfull in the Sclavonick tongue the Hungarian Dutch Italian Spanish and French But these his excellent parts were attended with prodigious pride and he had much of the humour of the Ottomans in him to kill all his brethren and cry down all his equalls which were corrivalls with him in the honour of arts which was his principall quarrell with Cardan Great was his spight at Erasmus the morning-starre of learning and one by whom Julius himself had profited though afterwards he sought to put out that candle whereat he had lighted his own In the bickering betwixt them Erasmus pluckt Scaliger by the long locks of his immoderate boasting and touched him to the quick a proud man lies pat for a jeering mans hand to hit yea Erasmus was a badger in his jeeres where he did bite he would make his teeth meet Nor came Scaliger behind him in railing However afterward Scaliger repented of his bitternesse and before his death was reconciled unto him Thus his learning being in the circuit of arts spread so wide no wonder if it lay thinne in some places His parts were nimble that starting so late he overtook yea overran his equalls so that we may safely conclude that making abatement for his military avocations and late applying himself to study scarce any one is to be preferred before him for generality of humane learning He died Anno 1558. in the 75. yeare of his age CHAP. 9. The faithfull Minister VVE suppose him not brought up by hand onely in his own countrey studies but that he hath suckt of his Mother University and throughly learnt the arts Not as S. Rumball who is said to have spoken as soon as he was born doth he preach as soon as he is Matriculated Conceive him now a Graduate in arts and entred into orders according to the solemn form of the Church of England and presented by some Patrone to a pastorall charge or place equivalent and then let us see how well he dischargeth his office He endeavours to get the generall love and good will of his parish This he doth not so much to make a benefit of them as a benefit for them that his ministry may be more effectuall otherwise he may preach his own heart out before he preacheth any thing into theirs The good conceit of the Physician is half a cure and his practice will scarce be happy where his person is hated yet he humours them not in his Doctrine to get their love for such a spanniel is worse then a dumbe dog He shall sooner get their good will by walking uprightly then by crouching and creeping If pious living and painfull labouring in his calling will not win their affections he counts it gain to lose them As for those which causelessely hate him he pities and prayes for them and such there will be I should suspect his preaching
voluntary cripples We reade Acts 27.12 of an Haven in Crete which lay towards the South-West and towards the North-West strange that it could have part of two opposite points North and South sure it must be very winding And thus some mens souls are in such intricate postures they lay towards the Papists and towards the Protestants such we count not of a moderate judgement but of an immoderate unsettlednesse Nor is it a lukewarmnesse in those things wherein Gods glory is concernd Herein it 's a true Rule Non amat qui non zelat And they that are thus lukewarm here shall be too hot hereafter in that oven wherein Dow-bak'd cakes shall be burnt But it is a mixture of discretion and charity in ones judgement Discretion puts a difference betwixt things absolutely necessary to salvation to be done and believed and those which are of a second sort and lower form wherein more liberty and latitude is allowed In maintaining whereof the stiffnesse of the judgement is abated and suppled with charity towards his neighbour The lukewarm man eyes onely his own ends and particular profit the moderate man aims at the good of others and unity of the Church Yet such moderate men are commonly crush'd betwixt the extreme parties on both sides But what said Ignatius I am Christs wheat and must be ground with the teeth of beasts that I may be made Gods pure manchet Saints are born to suffer and must take it patiently Besides in this world generally they get the least preferment it faring with them as with the guest that sat in the midst of the table who could reach to neither messe above or beneath him Esuriunt Medii Fines bene sunt saturati Dixerunt stulti Medium tenuere beati Both ends o' th' table furnish'd are with meat Whilst they in middle nothing have to eat They were none of the wisest well I wist Who made blisse in the middle to consist Yet these temporall inconveniences of moderation are abundantly recompenced with other better benefits for 1 A well inform'd judgement in it self is a preferment Potamon began a sect of Philosophers called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who wholly adher'd to no former sect but chose out of all of them what they thought best Surely such Divines who in unimporting controversies extract the probablest opinions from all Professions are best at ease in their minds 2 As the moderate mans temporall hopes are not great so his fears are the lesse He fears not to have the splinters of his party when it breaks flie into his eyes or to be buried under the ruines of his side if supprest He never pinn'd his religion on any mans sleeve no not on the Arme of flesh and therefore is free from all dangerous engagements 3 His conscience is clear from raising Schismes in the Church The Turks did use to wonder much at our English men for pinking or cutting their clothes counting them little better then mad for their pains to make holes in whole cloth which time of it self would tear too soon But grant men may doe with their own garments as their phancy adviseth them yet woe be to such who willingly cut and rend the seamlesse Coat of Christ with dissentions 4 His religion is more constant and durable being here in via in his way to Heaven and jogging on a good Travellers pace he overtakes and out-goes many violent men whose over-hot ill-grounded Zeal was quickly tired 5 In matters of moment indeed none are more Zealous He thriftily treasur'd up his spirits for that time who if he had formerly rent his lungs for every trifle he would have wanted breath in points of importance 6 Once in an age the moderate man is in fashion Each extreme courts him to make them friends and surely he hath a great advantage to be a Peace-maker betwixt opposite parties Now whilest as we have said moderate men are constant to themselves Violent men reel from one extremity to another Who would think that the East and West Indies were so near together whose names speak them at diametricall opposition And yet their extremities are either the same Continent or parted with a very narrow Sea As the world is round so we may observe a circulation in opinions and Violent men turn often round in their tenets Pride is the greatest enemy to Moderation This makes men stickle for their opinions to make them fundamentall Proud men having deeply studied some additionall point in Divinity will strive to make the same necessary to salvation to enhanse the value of their own worth and pains and it must be fundamentall in religion because it is fundamentall to their reputation Yea as love doth descend and men doat most on their Grandchildren so these are indulgent to the deductions of their deductions and consequentiall inferences to the seventh generation making them all of the foundation though scarce of the building of religion Ancient Fathers made the Creed symbolum the shot and totall summe of Faith Since which how many arrearages and after-reckonings have men brought us in to which if we will not pay our belief our souls must be arrested without bail upon pain of damnation Next to Pride popular Applause is the greatest foe Moderation hath and sure they who sail with that wind have their own vain glory for their Haven To close up all Let men on Gods blessing soundly yet wisely whip and lash Lukewarmnesse and Time-serving their thongs will never flie in the face of true Moderation to do it any harm for however men may undervalue it that Father spake most truly Si virtutum finis ille sit maximus qui plurimorum spectat profectum Moderatio prope omnium pulcherrima est CHAP. 21. Of Gravity GRavity is the ballast of the soul which keeps the mind steddy It is either true or counterfeit Naturall dulnesse and heavinesse of temper is sometimes mistaken for true Gravity In such men in whose constitutions one of the tetrarch Elements fire may seem to be omitted These sometimes not onely cover their defects but get praise Saepe latet vitium proximitate boni They do wisely to counterfeit a reservednesse and to keep their chests alwayes lock'd not for fear any should steal treasure thence but lest some should look in and see that there is nothing within them But they who are born Eunuchs deserve no such great commendation for their chastity Wonder not so much that such men are grave but wonder at them if they be not grave Affected Gravity passes often for that which is true I mean with dull eyes for in it self nothing is more ridiculous When one shall use the preface of a mile to bring in a furlong of matter set his face and speech in a frame and to make men believe it is some pretious liquour their words come out drop by drop Such mens visards do sometimes fall from them not without the laughter of the
beholders One was called Gravity for his affected solemnesse who afterwards being catch'd in a light prank was ever after to the day of his death called Gravity-levity True Gravity expresseth it self in Gate Gesture Apparell and Speech Vox quaedam est animi corporis motus As for Speech Gravity enjoyns it 1 Not to be over much In the multitude of words there wanteth not sinne For of necessity many of them must be idle whose best commendation is that they are good for nothing Besides Dum otiosa verba cavere negligimus ad noxia pervenimus And great talkers discharge too thick to take alwayes true aim besides it is odious in a company A man full of words who took himself to be a Grand wit made his brag that he was the leader of the discourse in what company soever he came and None said he dare speak in my presence if I hold my peace No wonder answered one for they are all struck dumbe at the miracle of your silence 2 To be wise and discreet Colossians 4.6 Let your speech be alwayes with grace seasoned with salt Alwayes not onely sometimes in the company of godly men Tindals being in the room hindred a juggler that he could not play his feats A Saints presence stops the devils elbow-room to do his tricks and so some wicked men are awed into good discourse whilest pious people are present But it must be alwayes seasoned with salt which is the primum vivens ultimum moriens at a feast first brought and last taken away and set in the midst as most necessary thereunto With salt that is with wisdome and discretion non salibus sed sale nor yet with smarting jeeres like those whose discourse is fire-salt speaking constant satyrs to the disgrace of others That may be done privately without breach of Gravity which may not be done publickly As when a father makes himself his childs rattle sporting with him till the father hath devour'd the wiseman in him Equitans in arundine longa In stead of stately steed Riding upon a reed Making play unto him that one would think he kill'd his own discretion to bring his child asleep Such cases are no trespasse on Gravity and married men may claim their priviledge to be judged by their Peeres and may herein appeal from the censuring verdict of batchelours Nature in men is sometimes unjustly taxed for a trespasse against Gravity Some have active spirits yea their ordinary pace is a race Others have so scornfull a carriage that he who seeth them once may think them to be all pride whilest he that seeth them often knows them to have none Others have perchance a misbeseeming garb in gesture which they cannot amend that fork needing strong tines wherewith one must thrust away nature A fourth sort are of a merry cheerfull disposition and God forbid all such should be condemned for lightnesse O let not any envious eye disinherit men of that which is their Portion in this life comfortably to enjoy the blessings thereof Yet Gravity must prune though not root out our mirth Gratious deportment may sometimes unjustly be accused of lightnesse Had one seen David dancing before the Ark Eliah in his praying-posture when he put his head betwixt his legs perchance he might have condemn'd them of unfitting behaviour Had he seen Peter and John posting to Christs grave Rhodia running into the house he would have thought they had left their Gravity behind them But let none blame them for their speed untill he knows what were their spurres and what were the motives that urged them to make such haste These their actions were the true conclusions following from some inward premisses in their own souls and that may be a syllogisme in grace which appears a solecisme in manners In some persons Gravity is most necessary Viz. in Magistrates and Ministers One Palevizine an Italian Gentleman and kinsman to Scaliger had in one night all his haire chang'd from black to gray Such an alteration ought there to be in the heads of every one that enters into Holy Orders or Publick Office metamorphos'd from all lightnesse to Gravity God alone is the giver of true Gravity No man wants so much of any grace as he hath to spare and a constant impression of Gods omnipresence is an excellent way to fix mens souls Bishop Andrews ever placed the picture of Mulcaster his Schoolmaster over the doore of his study whereas in all the rest of his house you should scarce see a picture as to be his Tutour and Supervisour Let us constantly apprehend Gods being in presence and this will fright us into staied behaviour CHAP. 22. Of Marriage SOme men have too much decried Marriage as if she the mother were scarce worthy to wait on Virginity her daughter and as if it were an advancement for Marriage to be preferr'd before fornication and praise enough for her to be adjudged lawfull Give this holy estate her due and then we shall find Though batchelours be the strongest stakes married men are the best binders in the hedge of the Commonwealth 'T is the Policy of the Londoners when they send a ship into the Levant or Mediterranean sea to make every marriner therein a merchant each seaman adventuring somewhat of his own which will make him more wary to avoid and more valiant to undergo dangers Thus married men especially if having posterity are the deeper sharers in that state wherein they live which engageth their affections to the greater loyalty It is the worst clandestine marriage when God is not invited to it Wherefore beforehand beg his gratious assistance Marriage shall prove no lottery to thee when the hand of providence chuseth for thee who if drawing a blank can turn it into a prize by sanctifying a bad wife unto thee Deceive not thy self by overexpecting happinesse in the married estate Look not therein for contentment greater then God will give or a creature in this world can receive namely to be free from all inconveniences Marriage is not like the hill Olympus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wholly clear without clouds yea expect both wind and storms sometimes which when blown over the aire is the clearer and wholsomer for it Make account of certain cares and troubles which will attend thee Remember the nightingales which sing onely some moneths in the spring but commonly are silent when they have hatch'd their egges as if their mirth were turned into care for their young ones Yet all the molestations of Marriage are abundantly recompenced with other comforts which God bestoweth on them who make a wise choice of a wife and observe the following rules Let Grace and Goodnesse be the principall loadstone of thy affections For love which hath ends will have an end whereas that which is founded in true virtue will alwayes continue Some hold it unhappy to be married with a diamond ring