own mind by defying the Conquerour And here Sir I confess he has driven me upon one of the tenderest points in the world which is the speaking concerning the fame of a great Man while he is living But I entreat you to lay before your eyes the many powerfull arguments by which I am mov'd at least to give a true testimony though not a long elogie concerning him My Lord Chancellor is a man through whose hands the greatest part of all the publique and private businesses of our Countrey do passâ— And it will be most dishonourable for us to suffer his name to be revil'd in this manner while he is scarce at leisure to look to its defence himself by reason of his eternal Labors for the publique Justice and Safety And besides this Sir I can for my own particular allege another motive of nearer concernment For I am to consider my self as a Member of the Royal Society and the Vniversity of Oxford and the Earl of Clarendon as Protector of one them and Chancellor of the other These Sir are some of his true Titles however Monsieur de Sorbiere is pleas'd to pass them over and give him worse in their stead First of all he says that he is a Presbyterian At this ridiculous scandall I assure you Sir I am not much griev'd I was to tell you true in a terrible affright when I read what he reports that almost all the City of London are Presbyterians But now this passage has compos'd my mind again For it is like to be a very exact computation which he has made of that Sect when the first man that he names for a Presbyterian is my Lord Chancellor He next tells us that he is a man of the Law a shamefull disgrace the Lord Chancellor of Englandâ— whose Office it is to govern and moderate the Law is a Lawyer As if I should endeavour to lessen the credit of Monsieur de Vaubrun and prove him unfit to be Governour of Philippe Ville and Colonel of Light-horse by objecting that he is a Souldier or of Monsieur de Sorbiere to be Historiographer Royal by saying that he is skill'd in Historie But he is a Lawyer and Statesman at once Can this be any more disparagement to him then it is to the whole Body of Lawyers in France who in all times have manag'd the greatest Imployments of that State Could he not have recollected before he writ this that Monsieur de Segnier the present Chancellor of France is a Gentleman of the Long Robe You see Sir what a good Satyrist we have here got who would undertake to abuse an English Statesman with such an argument which must at the same time reflect as much upon his own Countreymen his chief Friends and Patronsâ— to whom he directs his Speech But the worst is still behind My Lord Chancellor is utterly ignorant of the Belles Lettres This accusation is as decent as all the former He dislikes our Carriers for not bâ—ing Courtly our Souldiers for not putting off their Hatts well our Bishops for their Gravity and our States-men for not being Grammarians and Criticks But I will prove to him by his own confession that My Lord Chancellor deserves not this reprehension and that he is a man skillful in all Polite Learning He himself allows him to be a great Politician and a very Eloquent Man I have obtain'd Sir what I desir'd You see how easy it is to justify the Earl of Clarendon seeing the very man that vilifies him does at the same time gainsay himself and suggest to me his prayses without my interposing any word in his commendation If we should graunt that a man may chance to be a great dealer in Politicks without understanding any thing else which yâ—t nothing but Monsieur de Sorbiereâ—s own example in this place can perswade us to be possible yet how can he be thought to attain to a perfect Eloquence without any skill in the Civil Arts Where now is his Polite Learning whence did he fetch this Idea of Eloquence Let him produce his Notes out of Aristotle Tully Quintilian Seneca or any of the Rhetoricians of Antiquity And then let him tell me whether they do not all with one voyce consent that an Orator must of necessity be acquainted with all sorts of useful knowledg But because he is so free in his reproof of my Lord Chancellors unskillfulness in the Belles Lettres I pray Sir what signs has this great Aristarchus himself given of his own proficience in them Where do we find in him any footsteps of the True Spirit of the Grecian or Roman Wit What reason have we to envy his judgment in the Classical Authors when all the proof that he has given in this Book of his being conversant in them are only three or four pedantical Quotations of which the chief is Os Homini sublime dedit Thus farr Sir in reply to him But more is to be added concerning the Honourable Person of whom he speaks in such mean terms My Lord Chancellor is a Gentleman of a very antient Family of which Mr Cambden makes mention in his Britannia His Education and first years were spent in a strict familiarity with many of the most Famous Men not only of that Age but perhaps of any other of whom to pass by some Reverend and Learned Church-men that are living it is enough to name Mr Chillingsworth and the Lord Falkland His first application to the Affairs of his Countrey was in a time wherein extraordinary fidelity and sufficience were requir'd His Services to the late King were requited by the committing of many eminent Businesses to his management and by a very high share in his Majesties Favour of which there are indelible proofs in many places of that Excellent Prince's Letters Under him he was Chancellor of the Exchequer Privy Counsellor and design'd Secretary of State Since that time hâ— was Extraordinary Embassador into Spain and attended his present Master in his Misfortunes which was undoubtedly the most glorious Scene of Honour in the world By these several degrees of Great Imployments he ascended to that illustrious Station which he now enjoyes And as for the Qualifications of his Minde if it be needfull to adde any thing to the Votes of the Royal Society and the Vniversity of Oxford I will declare that of all the men of great worth who have possess'd that High Office since Learning and the Civill Arts came amongst us there was never any man that has so much resembled Sir Thomas More and the Lord Bacon in their several Excellencies as the Earl of Clarendon There might Sir much more be answer'd against all his false Insinuations concerning the Political Condition of England But I have seen a Book of Monsieur de Sorbiere's Discourses and Letters whereof many were written to the late Cardinal Mazarini and they are so full of gross flatteries that they have wholly turn'd my stomach from speaking any more of
OBSERVATIONS ON Monsieur de Sorbier's VOYAGE INTO ENGLAND Written to Dr. WREN Professor of Astronomy in Oxford BY THOMAS SPRAT â—ellow of the Royal Society LONDON â—rinted for Iohn Martyn and Iames Allestry Printers to the Royal Society 1665. A LETTER Containing some Observations On MONSIEVR de SORBIERE'S Voyage into ENGLAND Written to Doctor WREN Professor of ASTRONOMY in OXFORD By Tho. SPRAT Sed poterat tutior esse Domi. SIR I Here send You the Account which Monsieur de Sorbiere has giâ—en of his Voyage into Enggland And though it be an insolent Libel on our Nation yet I doubt not but you will peruse it with delight For when you have beheld how many errors and falshoods he has committed in this small Relation you cannot but be well pleas'd to find that whoever undertakes to defame your Country he must at the same time forfeit his Wit and his Understanding as well as his good Manners The King of France haâ— already given him an effeâ—ctual Answer And it became the justice of so great a Monarch while he was defending the Interest of the Christian Faith with his arms to punish a pragmatical Reviler of one of the most powerful Kingdoms in Christendome and while he was exacting satisfaction from the Pope himself for an affront offer'd to his Embassador to take care that none of his own Subjects should presume to injure the reputation of his neighbors and neerest Allies This just Reply which has been publiquely made to this rude Satyr was the cause that it has not bin hitherto confuted by an English Gentleman of your acquaintance who had undertaken it whose Wit wee might have oppos'd against him if he had still flourish't at Paris with the Title of Historiographer Royal though all his mighty boasts of his own abilities had been true But however though he is now below our excellent Friends consideration yet I think my self ingag'd to see him corrected For having now under my hands the History of the Royal Society it will be in vain for mee to try to represent its design to be advantageous to the glory of England if my Countrymen shall know that one who calls himself a member of that Assembly has escap'd unanswer'd in the publique disgraces which he has cast on our whole Nation I will therefore Sir briefly take him into a calm examination And that you may understand how I intend to proceed with him I do here in the beginning profess that I will not vindicate the honor of the English by making reflexions on the French I will not indeavour to repair our own fame on the ruines of others I will have no contention but with himself I will only put together and compare the mistakes the incoherences the vanities of his Book And to confess a secret to you Sir I am resolv'd to take this course in answering him not only because I abhor the sordid way of Wit of abusing whole Nations but also because I am not much inamor'd of the glory of his punishment For I cannot think that it is worth a mans while that can live quietly here at London to have the honour of making three or four ill-natur'd jests on a whole Kingdom with the hazard of being justly baniâ—ht into Flint or Denbigh for ones labour I must confess Sir I came at first to read him with some expectations I had before seen what he had written in praise of those two great Men the Ornaments of France Gassendus and De Marcu the Arch-Bishop of Paris And I had some good hope that the familiarity which he pretended to have had with them had taught him some of their good Qualities that from the first he had taken that candour and modesty which the world admires in his writings and from the other he had learn'd with what respect he ought to treat the fame of whole Nations Churches and Soveraign Princes by that admirable defence which he has made of the Gallican priviledges Besides this Sir I took his Book into my hands with the greaâ—er good-will because I had some knowledg of his person I had seen him at the Royal Society I had been a witness with what civility he had been there entertain'd I had been inform'd what kindness he had receiv'd at Oxford I had heard what favour the King had shewn him by admitting him to private discourses with him in his Cabinet And from all this I was incouraged to beleive that he had given an honourable or at least a just description of England But I quickly perceiv'd how much I was disappointed I presently saw what difference there is between scribling fine Harangues on vertuous Men and real vertue it self I strait found that instead of the good intentions which he says he never wants the greatest part of his Treatise consists of ill-grounded reproches that he has ventur'd on many things whereof it was impossible he should receive an account that where he might be suppos'd to have some tolerable knowledge his malice has perverted his understanding and that through the whole course of his Observations he has by his own example made good that character which he often in this Book bestows on humane Nature in general that mankind is most pleas'd with trifles and that we are all credulous and Lyars In his Epistle Dedicatory he assures the most Christian King that the principal motive of his journey was a desire to advance his Majesties glory The Design was commendable and worthy an Historiographer Royal. But what course did he take to increase his renown he says that he travellâ—d abroad on purpose to spread throughout the world the fame of his Majesties munificence to himself I beseech you Sir how long will your English modesty overwhelm you how much reason have You real Philosophers and Mathematicians to have high thoughts of your selves if it shall be allow'd to a man who has onely got some name by creeping into your companies to beleive himself so considerable that his Masters liberality to him ought to make to all mankind admire his Magnificence The Christian world has better signs of the greatness of the King of France's mind his armies and money have been honorably imploy'd against Algiers and Constantinople Amidst all these glorious expences what a mighty sound does it make that the famous Monsieur de Sorbiere did receive a small stipend out of his Treasury But that you may the better understand who this great man is that can either exalt or diminish the honor of Princes with a word of his mouth I intreat you to hear his own description of himself I will onely repeat in his own words the praises which in the compass of a few leaves he has given his own merits by which you may ghess how uniustly he has misplac't the titles of proud and arrogant when he bestow'd them on one of the best Natured and bashfullest Nations in the world He brags that he has spent all his life in advancing
the reputation and sustainiâ—g the interests of the Sciences that he has always push't on and incourag'd the great Masters of Knowledge to labour that he has made a noyse wherever he came that he has got a discretion how to judge of good things that he has mingled himself in the intrigues of the Muses that he has been so happy as to be heard by them and to get some credit amongst them that he holds a constant commerce with the chief heads of Parnassus that he has either been acquainted with all the learned men of the Age or has had certain information concerning them that his King did not favour him without understanding him â—ell Now Sir would not any man that reads this conclude that Monsieur de Sorbiere is his own Historian more then the King of France's Is this conformable to his own Rule which he sayes he prescribes to himself not to make Elogies on any man Before he had daâ—'d to have said so much of himself ought he not to have exceeded Iulius Scaliger in his Learning and his nobility as well as he has done in his spite to our Country whereas the plain and the true story of Monsieur de Sorbier's life is only this he was borne at Orange and for a long time profess'd the Protestant Religion all or the greatest part of his Writings have been only some feâ—â— Letters a small Panegyricâ— or two a translation of Mrâ— Hobbes's de Cive into French this Description of England and another of Holland Hiâ— first imployment was to teach a younger Son of the Count de la Suze then he was made Usher to a Schole in his Native City Both these places he lost upon suspicion of some heterodox opinions in the fundamentals of Christianity In this discontent he came to Paris renounc't his Religion and turn'd Papist And at last by many insinuations and flatteries he obtained to have the profits of a small Canonship of Avignon settled upon him This Sir is all the Bruit that Monsieur de Sorbiere has made in the world And this Confident of the Muses this Darling of Parnassus this Favorite of Cardinals this Compâ—nion of Governors of Provinces this Censurer of Nations this Judge of Kings though he strove to advanâ—e himself by 〈◊〉 Religions in the one did never rise to a higher office then of a Peâ—dâ—nt in the other never goâ— a greater preferment then â— pitiful Sinâ— Cure of two hundred crowns a â—ear And yet you have no reason to think that he has been wanting to himself all this while seeing in this very Epistle you find him in plain terms beseeching his Majesty that he would employ him 'T is a modest request But what other place is that which he can desire he sayes that he has already been glorifi'd with the title of Trumpeter After this whither would his Ambition lead him In this Warfaâ— of Letters give me leave to prosecutâ— his own Metaphor the name of Trumpeter best becomeâ— him For according to his Brother Trumpeter's defence of himself in the Fable it is never requir'd of â—uch officers that they should ingage in the fight or do any Real Service but they are onely us'd for a shew and to make a noyse As for his other Qualification of Historiographer Royal I will shew you in one instance how he deservs it He tells his Kingâ— that he has reported in every Country where he came the prodigious benefits that heaven haâ— heap'd upon him that to the Statesmen he has proclaym'd his Industry in business and the strength of his Iudgement to the Souldiers his Valour to the Friends of the Church of Rome his Piety to the Grandees the Pomp of his Court and to the Fair Sex his good Meen These Sir are all Brave words and he had a glorious subject whereon to amplifie But let us consider the authority of his testimony For Monsieur de Sorbiere the Kings Historiographer when he might have had so much better intelligenceâ— when he might have alleg'd the witness of all the brave men in France does yet openly declare that he receiv'd the image of his own Prince's vertues from the Report of Madam Fiennes a Lady whom he met with accidentally at Calais Upon the very entrance into his journey as soon as he sets forth from Paris he gives evident proofs of the lightness and vanity of his mind From what he had said before in his own commendation I began to fancy in my thoughts a grave Philosopher going forth with the intent to survey all civil States that he might bring back their profitable Arts and inrich his Native Country with them I call'd to mind the Examples of Pythagoras Solon Thales Plato and almost all the first wise men amongst the Greciansâ— who were wont to make long voyages into Egypt and the East for such honourable purposes And upon this thought I was inclin'd to forgive him all his former Boastings and to look on them onely as pardonable imperfections which sometimes accompany great Wits And hence Sir you may think how much I was surpris'd when I saw that the first fruits of his travels were â—n account of the pleasant company that he had on the way of certain Polacks that spoke Latine that could play on the Violin and that gave him a daunce twice a day But hold Sir I will not give him this occasion to confirm the sentence which he has past upon us that the English are of a gloomy extravagant fanatick melancholy humour I am content to allow him these divertisements It was fit that he who went forth to civilize barbarous Nations should be attended as they were of old with harmony Yet you cannot but be delighted when you observe the choice that he made that he who undertook to censure and refine manners and to promote inventions he who talks of nothing less then intrigues with the Muses should find nothing worth mentioning in his journy from Paris to Calais but the Musick and the dauncing of Poland Seeing his skill is so good in one of the Artsâ— seeing he was so well satisfi'd in France it self with a Fiddle of Cracaw or Warshaw I wonder he would come into England to â—earch for Philosophy and had not rather gone to the famous Vniversity of Mosco And yet Sir to speak the Truth I can easily pardon Monsieur de Sâ—rbier's affection to a Polish Iyg. This is not the worst thing in which he hâ—s eâ—pres'â— his inclination to that Countryâ— He was turn'd out of his Schole aâ— Orange for being a Socinian And therefore we may well allow him to be an Hereâ—ick in their Mâ—sick seeing he was â—o iâ— their Divinity In this Jolly posture he arrives at Calais In the same Iâ—â—e lay Madam â—ienâ—es She was invited the next day to dinnner by Mounsieâ—â— de Courtebonne Monsieur de Sorbiere waits upon her thither The entertainment pleas'd him For this he commends
to use such Liberty because Milton was allow'd by the Rump to write a Villanous Book against the late King of Blessed Memory This weak excuse therefore Sir that he makes for his Barbarous way of handling Us shall not serve his turn He is so far from having receiv'd incouragement from the English that I can shew him several Volumes of the Voyages of some of our Countrymen into Russia Persia Egypt the Turkish-Empire the East-Indies and America which have given a more advantageous account of those Infidels and Barbarians then he has done of one of the most polite Countries in Europe The English have describ'd and illustrated all parts of the Earth by their Writings many they have discover'd they have visited all And I dare assure him that they have been always most tender of the Reputation of forein States which they have gone to visit as they have been most merciful in sparing the Natives blood in those Countries which they discover'd Let us now behold how Monsieur de Sorbiere has conform'd himself to this generous English Spirit I will give you in a short view some of the good terms that he has bestow'd on our Nation in General He says That we have skimm'd all the vices and disdain'd the virtues of other Countries that we contemn all the rest of the World that we esteem all mankind besides miserable that we scorn to look on them or to speak to them when they travel hither that we frequently menace and insult over our neighbours that it is very hard to know how to get our good will that we have a strong union amongst our selves against strangers that we regard the prosperity of others with an evil eye that we have a natural inclination to idleness to presumption to a certain extravagance of thoughts which is to be found in our most excellent writings that almost all the English are guilty of these faults because they proceed from our Soyl that our humour is too free and arrogant that we are voracious and luxurious that we submit to any that will fill our Bellies let us rayl and will not disturb our slothfulness that we are scoffers and malicious speakers that we are very irregular and suspicious that we are filld with dark thoughts that we are fierce and capricious that we have a melancholy peculiar to us that if we once get necessaries to support life our idleness makes us careless of any more that there are every where Doe-littles proud and Fanatick Persons to be met with that there is nothing so crouching as an English man if once you can find the means to make him afraid that if you take away their Insolence you take away their courage and that they make but one leap from the greatest â—uffe of pride into the basest cowardize He has wearied me Sir and I can follow him no further in heaping up such ignominious Trash He acknowledges that England is better known then any other part of the World by the Britannia of the most Learned Mr. Cambden And it is happy for us that it is so For if Foreiners should have nothing else to direct them cencerning us but this fair Idea which he has here given I suppose they would travel hither with the same caution as we do into Greenland to fish for Whales they would only touch upon our shores and stand upon their guard at every noyse least the wilde Bears should surprize them unawares I intreat you to recall into your mind the description which Caesar makes of the salvage manners of this Island at the time that he conquered Gaul and Britain together you will find that Monsieur de Sorbiere is less milde in his expressions on us now then that great Conqueror was on the untaught and original Inhabitants that liv'd in Forrests and painted their Bodies to make them appeare more dreadfull Whatever reflections had been made on our Imperfections we might perhaps have patiently receiv'd them from the hands of the Master of Rome that had civiliz'd us and it may be too from one of his Trumpeters so he had been a Roman But we cannot from a Schole-Master of Orange from a Trumpeter of Little Britain from a man that came hither to pick up Presents of Gloves and Ribbands and as he himself confesses to collect some certain debts that were here owing to his Friends When I first Sir beheld all this good language which he has given us I did presently cast about and examine what might be the cause of his Rage And at last I had from one of his acquaintance intimation enough to ghess why he was pleased to be thus incens'd When he return'd from his second visit to the King this Gentleman ask'd him How his Majesty had receiv'd him he reply'd Kindly enough but he expected he would have presented him with some Medall This Sir was the Provocation And this was the occasion that made him lay about him so terribly What Indignation can be great enough against such baseness Are these Writers of Letters and Flatteries and Romances such dangerous men Must the King of England deal with them as some petty Bordâ—ring Princes are forc'd to do with thâ— Turk Must he buy them off and pay tribute to them lest they should invade his Territories at their pleasure Monsieur de Sorbiere Sir is a man of ripe Age he pretends to have been familiar with Embassadors Generalls and Nuntio's he lays claim to the title of Philosopher and to the most generous Sect of Philosophy he tells us he is a Sceptick But did he ever yet hear of an Example of a Philosopher that preferr'd a petty gift before the sweetness and the obligation of so Great and so Magnanimous a Prince's conversation It has indeed been told us that some Philosophers of old have transgress'd on the contrary and have refused the Bounty of Monarchs that they might preserve the liberty of their minds But in all History there can be no such instance shewn that a man should forfeit his Truth and Honesty for the want of a Medall unless it be of him that first renounc'd his Conscience and chang'd his Religion to obtain a Pension In answer to these calumnies with which he has aspersed us I will onely in plain and simple terms say as much as may confute his reproaches But I will not set upon a long and a solemn Panegyrick of our Nation For it is not my business here to paint but only to wash The first Slander of which I shall take notice he pretends to be a Proverbial-Speech that we have despis'd all the good and skimm'd all the bad of other people As for the first part of it whether we have scorn'd all the good qualities of others I am content to have try'd by his own words He graunts that in very many things we imitate the magnanimous Spirit of the Antient Romans And if we
whence he took his conjecture I am likewise inclin'd to think that he has discretion enough to determine upon the English sluggishness from the private way of living of our Scholars It must be so For every where else he beheld many marks of diligence In his Journey to London he confesses It was admirable to see what an infinite number of Seamen and Shipwrights were at work on the Banks of the Thames In London it self he reports that there are more Shops and better beautified then in any Citty in the World He found every where in England men busie about Natural Experiments from whose labours he is confident mankind may expect prodigious Inventions And are all these the signs of an overgrown slothfulness But besides these Sir he never saw any of the cheif Seats of the English Industry he beheld not the Cole-pits of New Castle the Clothworks of the West and the North the Lead Mines of Derby the Orchards of Hereford the Plough-lands of Devon the New Rivers of the Fenns the Tinn Mines of Cornwall These and many more he should have view'd he should thence have passed into our Western Colonies he should have considered the Sugar works of the Barbadoes the Tobacco Plantations of Virginia the Silk Trade that is begun there and the Vast Mole which goes on at Tangier that pittifull place as he terms it after all these surveys he might have been a fitter Judge of the English labours This exactness of Information might have been expected from an Historiographer Royal. But he has been as carefull in this as in most of the rest of his Intelligence For as soon as ever he sets his foot on the English shore he strait positively condemns all the whole Nation of laziness from the first Posthorse that he saw gallop His last disgrace is the English cowardize And the occasion from whence he takes this Observation is very remarkable He saw an Oxford Scholar affronted by a Frenchman that had been seven years the Protectors soldier And thence He passes sentence on the baseness of our Nation What Sir will the Dutch and the Spaniards think of this The one when they remember the Battels of Portland and the North forland and the other when they call to mind Tenariff and the sandy hills of Dunkirk Will they not take it very ill at his hands that he should reckon all those for Cowards whom Cromwells Soldiers had defeated But if our late civil Warrs have not given an unconfutable evidence of the English valour if the magnanimous Deaths of so many Martyrs for the Royall Cause do not prove it If Eighty Eight if the Immortal Sir Richard Greenvill if our Conquests of Ireland and Scotland be forgotten if the joynt Testimony of almost all the Historical Writers for these last six hundred years be of no account yet to say no more I could never have believ'd that any French Historiographer would have given it under his hand that the English are Cowards And now Sir having laid all these Ignominies together would you not have ghess'd that he would never have dar'd to pronounce so boldly upon us unless he had convers'd all his Life time with us unless he had throughly studied our Temper and deeply pierc'd by a long search into the Compoâ—ition of our Nature But when I find that as soon as ever he was call'd Monsieur by the Children of Dover he strait makes Conclusion of our general Inhospitality and of our Insolence from the next Carrier that he employ'd and of our Abusiveness from a silly Zealander that was his fellow-Traveller and of our want of Courage from a pitiful Fray between a naked scholar and an armed French Souldier at Beaconsfield This puts me in mind of the Judgment which one of the greatest men that ever liv'd did passe on the Antient Gaules It was the experience of Caesar himself of their trifling and changeable Humour that in their most solemn Councils they determin'd on the weightiest Affairs upon the Authority of any slender Report of the next wandring Pedlar This I hope I may repeat without offending the present French Nation For I do not say as Monsieur de Sorbiere of us That it came from the Nature of their Soyl and that therefore it must needs descend on all that are born on the same Earth But I only affirm that I know a certain French Trumpeter that has made good this Observation of Caesars This Sir being the Form which he has fanci'd in his Brain of the wild Manners of the English it is easie to ghess what thoughts he has of their Religion And the Truth is having represented us as such Monsters in our Civil Customs and Behaviour he could do no other then paint us out to be as bad as Infidels in â—ur Spiritual Condition For whosoever are Barbarous in their Lives can never be good Christians in their Hearts It is the peculiar glory of the True Christianity that it does not onely Save but Civilize its Reall Professours We shall therefore find that his reproaches are proportionable concerning our Religion And by the Irreverence of the Language which he uses towards it you may perceive that he did not only learn from the Trooper that was his Companion to Oxford that the English are Insolent and Cowards But that he also furnish'd him with this Intelligence of Church For this account which he has here set down could have been given by no man Living so properly as by one that had been a Soldier in Cromwells Army To pass by the friendly names of Schismaticks and Hereticks which he as freely bestows upon us as if they were our National Titles he has ventur'd to say that We separated from the Church of Rome for shameful causes that are known to all the World that the people has an universal Aversion from the Religion establish'd by Law that there is a probability that all our Sects may shortly unite to destroy it that our solemn Publique Prayers are only a Morsel of a Liturgy that the King did the most hazardous thing he could undertake when he restor'd Episcopacy that our Ecclesiastical Government is nothing else but the Shaddow and the Corruption of the true Hierarchy that the Introduction of our Church-Service into Scotland was the cause of the shedding of so much Blood in the three Nations that our chief Clergy men who have Pluralities of Benefices make their Grooms their Curats that our Bishops do horribly abuse their Iurisdiction in their Excommunications and Impositions that they are so haughty that none of the Inferiour Priests dare speak to them that they rob the Church by letting its Leases for thirty years getting all the Money into their own Pockets and leaving only a small Revenue to their Successours that England is a Country where no man is afraid of committing Simony This Sir is his Judgment of our Church And you may be pleas'd to
Notwithstanding all which impudent Disgraces there remains this one comfort to the Church of England that the same man who now vilifies Her so basely had once as mean thoughts of the God-Head of Her blessed Founder Himself But it is easie to conjecture at the Cause of this his harsh Usage of our Church He had but lately Apostatiz'd from the Reformed Religion in France he was but just enter'd into the Romish Communion And he suspected that there might be some doubts still remaining on mens minds of the Reality of his Conversion which might turn to the prejudice not onely of his Spiritual but of his Temporal Estate he had given himself out for a great Philosopher and he understood well enough that few Philosophers are thought to alter their minds that have once been Protestants He was therefore resolv'd to give an Unquestionable proof of his Establishment in the Faith by reviling the Church of England And in performing this I confess Sir he has Counterfeited the Zealot very well he has prosecuted Us with all the Violence and Bigottry which commonly accompanies new Converts But yet I beleive this will hardly do his business Even in this very Book he gives Evidence enough that Calvinism and Heresie are not wholy rooted out of his Heart He grosly abuses the most devoted Children of the Church of Rome the English Roman Catholiques He complains of them that they have no mind to disturb the Peace of their Country tomards the restoration of their Religion which is indeed spoken to their Honour though he intends it to their Shame He says that they are not so zealous in their Way as forein Papists the quite contrary to which is true he makes as if they never saw the True Mass perform'd he affirms that they are all born in Servitude and debases so many Antient Rich and Honourable Families to the condition and the minds of Slaves In all these Speeches he does not express any certain mark of a True Proselyte But above all he has set down such a determination of his Faith that if he had made it in Italy or Spain he had undoubtedly fallen into the Inquisition He boldly pronounces that Transubstantiation Purgatory the Merit of Works Invocation of Saints the Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome the authority of Councils and the Infallibility of the Pope are none of them Fundamental Doctrines What greater Apology could be made for the Church of England which he has so much defam'd seeing these are the onely shameful Causes for which we dissented from Rome But I leave him to be corrected by the Pope's Sentence for these Heresies which perhaps the Holy Father has reason to think do more shake the Holy Chair then the five points of Iansenius that he condemn'd which Monsieur de Sorbiere says did raise a dispute about a matter of Nothing From our Religion Let us follow him of our Government And here Sir I was at first a little at a stand how to deal with him But I have heard of the Magnanimous resolution of the late Duke of Buckingham who would never permit any Apology to be written for him And I consider that it is almost as great an arrogance for one obscure Writer to undertake to defend the Actions of Great Princes as it is for another to defame them I will not therefore inlarge my Speech in the praises of the present happiness of England or in paying all the acknowledgements which are due to our Sovereign for the blessings of His Reign That is a Subject ficter for a more elaborate Volum then a single Letter and for a far more elegant Pen then mine I will onely here shew the Vanity of our Historiographers groundless suggestions And as an Introduction to what he says concerning the Political condition of this Nation I will first observe how he deals with some others of the cheif Crown'd Heads in Europe You will perhaps Sir be very hardly induc'd to beleive that he can be guilty of disrespect to Monarchy or Sovereign Princes when you behold him so Panegyrically given towards that Government as to take the pains to go five or six thousand miles to find out a Race of Kings to commend For he here speaks very zealously in praise of the most vertuous and most religious Kings of China This Sir I cannot but applaud in him and to shew how much this one testimony of his good manners has wrought with me I will not be harsh upon him in this place I will not call in question the credit of his Intelligence from the farthest East which you see is so false about a Country that lies only seven Leagues distant from his own Nay I will not so much as inquire whether ever he met with any Chinese Madam Fiennes to give him this Information I will graunt that the Kings of China have been great Menders of Bridges and Planters of Orchards But I will only now softly put him in mind that while his Pen did overflow with sweet words upon the Kings of China he has handled the Kings of Sweden and Denmark more cruelly then Dionysius the Tyrant would have done when he was a King much less when he was a Schole-Master Of the two last Kings of Sweden he affirms that their Glory is almost wholy vanish'd and that all moderate men must needs read the Desolations which they caus'd with Horror You see Sir what an excellent occasion he has here given me of Triumphing over him You know very well how many great and irresistable arguments this matter might suggest to me what might not be said of that Victorious Nation how copious might I be in extolling the indefatigable Industry the Conduct the Good Fortune the Generosity of those Kings What Passions might here be rais'd in appealing to all Mankind and in aggravating the common misery of all Great Commanders of Armies if it shall be permitted to every small Pamphleteer to invade their Lives and to arraign their Ashes when he pleases But there is no need of going so powerfully to work or of imploying against him any of the Lofty and Tragical Forces of Eloquence It will suffice if I recall to his Memory the Title in which he boasts so much I will only ask him how the Historiographer of France can assert the Wars of Gustavus Adolphus to have been horrible Divastations without casting some share of the Dishonor on the Crown of France it self For if we will believe all the French Writers of that time there was a strict Confederacy and a real Union of Interests between those Two mighty Monarchs I give him leave to use the Fame of the Kings of Sweden as he pleases Let them in his account pass for Theives and Oppressors They deserve so to be us'd for they were mortal Enemies to that belov'd Country with whose Muâ—ick and Latin and Dancing he was before so much ravish'd I only bid him look back on the relation which Lewis
that are ingag'd in Traffick that there have been farr more incouragements for Merchants and more vigorous attempts for the advancement of Commerce within these four years and half then in many ages before I might for a proof of this allege the Royal Council that is particularly set up for that purpose I might instance in the increase of the Customes which from thirty or forty thousand pounds in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's Reign do now amount to almost four hundred thousand a year I might urge all the Proclamations for the prohibiting of foreign Manufactures and for the improvement of our own I might reckon up the many new Statutes for the repairing of Havens the mending of High-waies and the cutting of Rivers But it is enough only to mention the Institution of the Royal Fishing and the Royal Company In both which our King has prosperously begun a Designe which will infallibly make the English the Masters of the Trade of the world and that is the bringing in of our Gentry and Nobility to contribute towards it When this shall be brought about not all the little Crafts of the Hollanders which he magnifies so much will serve their turn But the English will outgo them in Industry and Stock as much as they do already in Shoars in Ports in Ships in Valour in Vertue This Sir we shall undoubtedly live to see accomplish'd â—eeing the Gentlemen of England have so great an Example before them of a King who does not only make the Arts of Commerce and Navigation his business and his interest but his very delight and recreation What he says of our Treasure is most impudently objected against that Prince who has retrench'd himself in those expences which his Predecessors maintain'd when the Revenue of the Crown was farr less And he chose a very unseasonable time to proclaim that the Blood-suckers of the Court devour the people when those Blood-suckers have parted with their very Food and the antient Dues of their Offices to lessen the charge of the Publique But his loudest outcrie concerns the loss of our Dominion at Sea And here he most invidiously compares the times of the Rump with our present Naval Power First of all he might have understood that the Fleets which were then set forth against the Dutch did mainly consist of the late Kings Ships and also that the whole Estates of the Crown the Clergy most of the Nobility and Gentry and indeed well nigh of the whole Nation were then at the Vsurpers disposal From hence he might have concluded that even the Glory of their Victories is not so much to be given to the Riches and Interest of Scott Hasilrig or Vane as to the Treasures of the King and the Royal Party But besides this Sir What will he be able to answer me when I shall tell him that our King has made our Sea-provisions far stronger then ever they were in any Age or Countrey before and that too only by the help of a Revenue bounded by Law and limited to the strict Rules of Justice of the truth of this he might speedily have been convinc't if he had visited any one of our Royal Stores instead of describing Smithfield Bedford Garden the Conduits of London Morefields Hatfield Fishponds and St Catharines College in Oxford Never was there a greater abundance of Materialls in readiness Never more skillfull Builders Never more formidable Preparations Never more expert Seamen Never more valiant Commanders and in one word to perfect all never a Braver Admiral An Admiral of whose undaunted courage unwearied diligence and fortunate Conduct all the Nations round about us have beheld so many unquestionable proofs even from the very first years of his youth And if I thought that all the men of Honor wherewith France now abounds were not yet satisfied how little Monsieur de Sorbiere deserves to be Historiographer Royal I would desire no other instance to prove it then only this that when he declares he came into England to content his curiosity to see all the rare things and men amongst us yet he scarce mentions the Duke of York I will admit that hitherto he has only recited the extravagancies of the Rabble let us now Sir come to that place wherein he has chiefly exercised the profoundness of his skill his own speculations on the defects of our Monarchy and the Factions of our Court. And that you may know how conversant he has been in all intrigues of State as well as those of the Muses I will give you his positive determination of one of the gravest points of Policy that ever was debated at a Council Table and it shall be in his own words to his intimate Friend Monsieur de Vaubrun To you Monsieur de Vaubrun says he being my Bosome Friend a man that esteems me much and one whom I honour infinitely being also a Gentleman that loves justice as well as fighting I will reveal the bottom of my heart and tell you the most secret of all my thoughts What weighty matter does he introduce with this solemne Preface He complains that the learned men of the English are not enough communicative Certainly we shall find him of a better temper No doubt he will now unfold some new Principle of Policy and of the Laws of Humane Society which he has discover'd that is not yet ripe for the publique and only fit to be committed to the trust of a particular confident It proves so indeed The Oracle which he immediately pronounces is this That Man was not made by Nature to fight with Man but rather to injoy the Benefits of peace that God has not given us horns hoofs or claws but Os homini sublime dedit This Sir is all the mighty Mystery of which he discharges his breast with so much Ceremony And in which is he now more ridiculous his History or his Policy His History in speaking so many false reproaches aloud his Policy in whispering such trifles with so much caution I beseech you Sir let us allow him the reputation of this new invention intire Though he did not think fit to name the famous Author of the Lunar Globe which he saw in the Kings Closet Yet I intend to be juster to him And I will propose this Epitaph to be grav'd on his Tomb Hic jacet primus Author hujus sententiae Pax Bello Potior This Sir is one tryal of his Contemplative you shall have more of his Practical Politicks He has ventur'd to declare the Queen Mothers thoughts about her most private and Domestick concernments which were so near to her that it was impossible for a thousand Madame Fiennes to have given him any instruction about them And in this he had no reverence for the greatest and the most vertuous Princess of this Age for the Mother of our King nor for the Daughter of Henry the Great He has made a disadvantageous Character on my Lord St. Albans to
with the same Objects and so they make the Doctrine of the Scene to be more lively and diverting then the precepts of Philosophers or the grave delight of Heroick Poetry which the French Tragedies do resemble Nor is it sufficient to object against this that it is undecent to thrust in men of mean condition amongst the actions of Princes For why should that misbecome the Stage which is always found to be acted on the True Theatre of the World There being no Court which only consists of Kings and Queens and Counsellors of State Upon these accounts Sir in my weak judgment the French Drama ought to give place to the English in the Tragical and lofty part of it And now having obtain'd this I suppose they will of their own accord resigne the other excellence and confess that we have far exceeded them in the representation of different Humors The Truth is the French have alwaies seem'd almost asham'd of the true Comedy making it not much more then the subject of their Farses whereas the English Stage has so much abounded with it that perhaps there is scarce any sort of extravagance of which the minds of men are capable but they have in some measure express'd It is in Comedies and not in Solemn Histories that the English use to relate the Speeches of Waggoners of Fencers and of Common Souldiers And this I dare assure Monsieur de Sorbiere that if he had understood our Language he might have seen himself in all his shapes as a vain Traveller an empty Politician an insolent Pedant and an idle pretender to Learning But though he was not in a condition of taking advice from our Stage for the correcting of his own Vices yet methinks he might thereby have rectify'd his judgment about ours he might well have concluded that the English temper is not so universally heavy and dumpish when he beheld their Theatres to be the gayest and merriest in Europe Concerning the English Eloquence he bravely declares that all their Sermons in the Pulpit and Pleadings at the Bar consist of nothing but mean pedantry The censure is bold especially from a man that was so far from understanding our language that he scarce knew Whether we move our lips or no when we speak But to shew him that we can better judge of Monsieur de Sorbier's Eloquence I must tell him that the Muses and Parnassus are almost whip't out of our very Scholes That there are many hundreds of Lawyers and Preachers in England who have long known how to contemn such delicacies of his stile I will only give one instance for all I believe he could scarce have Brib'd any Scriveners Clerk to describe Hatfield as he has done and so to conclude That the Fishes in the Ponds did often leap out of the water into the air to behold and to delight themselves with the beauties of that place I will not attempt to defend the Ornaments or the Copiousnesse of our Language against one that is utterly ignorant of it But to shew how plentifull it is I will only repeat an observation which the Earl of Clarendon has made That there is scarce any Language in the world which can properly signify one English expression and that is Good Nature Though Monsieur de Sorbiere will not allow the Noble Author of this Note to have any skill in Grammar Learning Yet he must pardon me if I still believe the observation to be true At least I assure you Sir that after all my search I cannot find any one word in his Book which might incline me to think otherwise But I will be content to lay the whole authority of his judgement in matters of Wit and Elegance upon what he sayes concerning the English Books He affirms That they are only impudent thefts out of others without citing their Authors and that they contain nothing but ill Rhapsodies of matter worse put together And here Sir I will for once do him a courtesie I will suppose him not to have taken this one character of us from the Soldier the Zealander the Puritans or the Rabble of the Streets I will grant he might have taken an ill conceit of our writings before he came over from the usuall judgement which the Southern wits of the world are wont to passe on the wit of all Northern Countries 'T is true indeed I think the French and the Italians would scarce be so unneighbourly as to assert that all our Authors are Theivish Pedants That is Monsieur de Sorbier's own addition but yet they generally agree that there is scarce anything of late written that is worth looking upon but in their own Languages The Italians did at first indeavour to have it thought that all matters of Elegance had never yet pass'd over the Alps but being soon overwhelm'd by Number they were content to admit the French and the Spaniards into some share of the hoâ—nour But they all three still maintain this united opinion that all wit is to be sought for no where but amongst themselves It is their establish'd Rule that good sence has alwayes kept neer the warm Sun and scarce ever yet dar'd to come farther then the forty ninth degree Northward This Sir is a pretty imagination of theirs to think they have confin'd all Art to a Geographicall Circle and to fancy that it is there so charm'd as not to be able to go out of the bounds which they have set it It were certainly an easy and a pleasant work to confute this arrogant conception by particular examples It might quickly be shewn that England Germany Holland nay even Denmark and Scotland have produc'd veâ—y many men who may justly come into competition with the best of these Southern wits in the Advancement of the true Arts of life in all the works of solid reason nay even in the lighter studies of ornament and humanity And to speak particularly of England there might be a whole Volume compos'd in comparing the Chastity the newnesse the vigour of many of our English Fancies with the corrupt and the swelling Metaphors wherewith some of our Neighbors who most admire themselves do still adorn their Books But this Sir will require a larger discourse then I intend to bestow on Monsieur de Sorbiere I am able to dispatch him in â—ewer wordsâ— For I wonder how of all men living it could enter into his thoughts To condemn in grosse the English Writings when the best course that he has taken to make himself consider'd as a writer was the Translation of an English Author But I beg your leave Sir that I may briefly add That in the first Restoration of Learning the English began to write well as soon as any the Italians only excepted and that if we may ghesse by what we see of the Italians at this day the English have continued to write well longer then they Sir Thomas Moore was contemporary with Erasmus and though he was a man of
account of his Voyage like a true Trumpeter for Trumpeters when they are sent into forein armies or countries are alwayes blinded on purpose that they might not be able to give any certain intelligence of the places through which they pass'd And now Sir having dismiss'd the Historiographer Royal that I may speedily put an end to your trouble I will only in few words apply my speech to your self You may perhaps remember that we have sometimes debated together what place and time of all the past or present we would have chosen to live in if our fates had bin at our own disposal and in that discourse insteed of desiring to have bin born in China we both agreed that Rome in the Reign of Augustus was to be preferr'd before all others The prerogatives of that time were very many That City was then become the establish'd seat of the Empire of the world that Emperour had the good fortune to succeed a long civil war the minds of all men were easily compos'd into obedience by the remembrance of their past misfortunes the arts of Wit Reason and delight were in their highest perfection the Court was the place of resort for all the Lovers of generous knowledge and such was the freedome of their manners that Virgil Horace and Varius were admitted into the privacies and friendship of Agrippa Mecaenas and Augustus Beyond this we could fancy nothing pleasanter to a Philosophical mind which was resolv'd to live according to the convenience and Rules of Nature seeing it might there have injoy'd at once all the varieties of an active life and all the quiet and peace of a Retir'd This Sir was then our opinion But it was before the Kings Return For since that blessed time the condition of our owne Countrey appears to me to be such that we need not search into antient History for a reall Idea of happinesse 'T is true that England is not the seat of the Empire of the world But it may be of that which confines the world it self the Ocean To this Dominion our Nation is invited by the Scituation of our shores the inclination of our people and the Genius of a vigorous and skilfull Prince The time wherein we live is upon the recovery of an Universal peace a peace establish'd on the two surest foundations of Fear and Love a peace that was accomplish'd without proscriptions and even without the ruine of those that resisted it a peace that was produc'd by peaceful Arts though it was by the conduct of an Army The footsteps of the late dreadfull war are not only vanish'd from our eies but now almost from our thoughts If any thing of it still remains it is only the good effect which it had on our countrey the industry that was excited by it and the wisdome which such wofull experience has taught us The Government which we injoy is justly compos'd of a sufficient liberty and restraint And though it may be suspected in a querulous and discontented Age a little to incline the people to disobedience yet in a calme and a secure time such as this at present it serves admirably well to breed a generous an honourable and invincible spirit The temper of the English is free Modest Sincere Kind hard to be provok'd if they are not so talkative as others yet they are more carefull of what they speak if they are thought by some of their neighbours to be a little defective in the gentleness and the pliableness of their humour yet that want is abundantly supplyed by their firme and their Masculine virtues and perhaps the same observation may be found true in men which is in Mettals that those of the strongest and the Noblest substance are hardest to be polisht The Arts that now prevail amongst us are not only all the usefull Sciences of Antiquity but most especially all the late discoveries of this Age in the reall knowledge of mankind and nature For the improvement of this kind of light the English disposition is of all others the fittest And an universal zeal towards the advancement of such designs has not only overspread our Court and Vniversities but the Shops of our Mechanicks the fields of our Gentlemen the Cottages of our Farmers and the Ships of our Merchants To all this Sir may be added the Profession of such a Religion and the Discipline of such a Church which an impartial Philosopher would chuse which by falling with the Throne and by rising with it again has given evident signe how consistent it is with the Laws of humane society and how neerly its interest is united with the prosperity of our Country 'T is true indeed that after all these advantages there may be some room still left for future amendments in the union of our minds the smoothness of our manners and the Beauty of our Buildings This last was the peculiar honour of Augustus who is said to have found Rome of Brick and to have left it of Marble In this kind too we every day behold a wonderful progress by the powerfull influence of a Royal Example so that I may in generall affirm that never any Nation in the world has proceeded by swifter degrees to excell in Convenience and Magnificence But whatever is to be added in this or any other such way we can never receive it from the petulant corrections of such vain Observers as this whom I have here consider'd No Sir we are to expect it from the many Noble and practicall English Wits of this Age and chiefly from your self For you must give me leave Sir to presage that to you your Country is to owe very much of its Ornament as well as experimental knowledge its reputation and indeed all the living and Beneficial Arts the enlargement of their Bounds This Sir I know will offend your modesty but he is an ill English-man who would not have said as much as this when your name was mentioned which if I had omitted I had bin almost as injurious to our Nation as this very Traveller whom I censure for as he was unâ—ust in aggravating the faults so I my selfe had been in concealing one of the principall glories of England I beg of you now Sir only to permit me to conclude with some Apology for my self You may perhaps wonder all this while to see me undertake such an argument and to prosecute it in a manner which may appear perhaps a little too sharp for your eye or my pen. You know Sir that I am enemy to all manner of controversies that I hate contention though in matters of the greatest concernment and that I had much rather defend then accuse To this I can therefore only reply for my excuse that this Letter may not so properly be call'd an Accusation as a Defence For though I have confuted the sawciness of one particular Man yet I have pleaded for a Great a Valiant and a vertuous people Sir I am London August 1 1664. Your most Humble and Affectionate Servant THO. SPRAT Pref. P. 188. P. 133. E. Ded. E. Ded. P. 201. E. Ded. E. Ded. E. Ded. Pref. E. Ded. P. 93. P. 201. E. Ded. P. 201. E. Ded. E. Ded. E. Ded. P. 8. P. 6. P. 6,7 P. 94. P. 100. P. 14. P. 17. P. 14. P. 14. P. 12. P. 15. P. 15 E. Ded. P. 9. P. 18. P. 42. P. 18. P. 26 27. P. 22. P. 22 23 24. P. 29. P. 29. P. 32. P. 37. P. 10. P. 11. P. 21. P. 20. P. 12. P. 112. P. 112. P. 153. P. 113. P. 12. P. 133. P. 11. P. 11. P. 12. P. 151. P. 122 123. P. 19. P. 112. P. 113. P. 19. P. 11. P. 21. P. 21. P. 161 162. P. 12. P. 12. P. 172. Pref. P. 16 17. P. 13. P. 40. P. 80. P. 175. P. 10. P. 21. P. 21. P. 45. P. 43. P. 44. P. 43. P. 44. P 44. P. 45. P. 53. P. 52. P. 53. P. 62 63. P. 63. P. 45. P. 100. P. 44. P. 58. P. 122. P. 130. P. 99. P. 64. P. 64. P. 64. P. 64. P. 48. P. 60. P. 117 118. P. 118. P. 116. P. 123. P. 120. P. 124. P. 130. P. 130. P. 130. P. 151 152 153. P. 132. P. 130. Praef. P. 116 117. P. 93. P. 171. P. 127. P. 128. P. 129. P. 121. P. 132. P. 148. P. 133 to 143. P. 137. P. 141 142 143. P. 58. P. 47. P. 126 127. P. 127 128 129. P. 21. P. 126. P. 129. P. 125. P. 127. P. 125. P. 126. P. 184. P. 186. Pref. Pref. Ep. De. Ep. De. P. 96. P. 94 95. P. 100. P. 100. P. 101. P. 94. P. 94. P. 206. P. 188. P. 102. P. 103. P. 105. P. 102. P. 103. P. 104 105. P. 65. P. 66. P. 97. P. 97. P. 99. From P. 177. to 199. P. 97. P. 97. P. 97 98. P. 86. P. 88 89 90. P. 92. P. 87 88. P. 167. P. 167. P. 168. P. 168. P. 169. P. 168 169. P. 168 169. P. 169. P. 158. P. 168 169. P. 185 186. Ep. De.