of Verron which seems to be Bearn I might instance more of this but as I know how little we ought to rely upon likeness of Names to find out Places and Colonies I will only insist upon the word Vtopia which is the name of Grangousier's Kingdom and by which the Author means Navarre of which Gargantua was properly only Titular King the best part of that Kingdom with Pampelune its capital City being in the King of Spain's Hands So that State was as it were no more on Earth as to any benefit he enjoyed by it and 't is what the Word Vtopia from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies viz. that is not found or a place not to be found We have therefore here four Actors in the Pantagruelian Fâ—rce three Kings of Navarre and the Bishop of Valence bred up and rais'd in that House we might add two Personâ— mutae Catherine de Foix Queen of Navarre matried to Iohn d' Albret and she therefore should be Gargamâ—llâ— as Margaret de Valois married to his Son Henry King of Navarre should be Badebec Picrochole is doubtless the King of Spain who depriv'd Iohn d' Albret of that part of Navarre which is on the side of the Pyreneâ—â— Mountains that is next to Spain This appears by the name of Picrochole and by the universal Monarchy of which he thought himself secure The word Picrochole is made up of two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bitter and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 choler bile or gaul to denote the Temper of that King who was nothing but Bitterness and Gaul This doubly fits Charles the Fifth first with Relation to Francis the First against whom â—he conceived an immortal hatred and to Henry d' Albret whose Kingdom he possess'd and whom he lull'd with the hopes of a Restitutition which he never design'd which was one of the chief Causes of the War that was kindled between that Emperor and Charles the Fifth which lasted during both their Reigns Besides Charles the Fifth was troubled from time to time with an overflowing of Bile so that finding himself decaying and not likely to live much longer after he had raised the siege of Mets as he had done that of Marseille before being commonly as unfortunate as his Generals were successful he shut himself up in a 〈◊〉 where that distemper was the chief Cause of his Death The hope of 〈◊〉 Monarchy with which that Emperor flatter'd himself was a Chimaera that possess'd his mind till he resign'd his Crown and which he seem'd to have assign'd with it to Philip the II his Son and Successors This Frenzy which in his Thirst of Empire possessed him wholly is very pleasantly ridicul'd by Rabelais The Duke of Small Thrash The Earl Swaâ—â—â—-Buckler and Captain 〈◊〉 make Picrochole in Rodomontados conquer Tall the Nations in the Universe I suppose that our Satyrist means by these three some Grandees of Spain for their King Picrochole bids them be cover'd After many imaginary Victories they speak of erecting two Pillars to perpetuate his Memory at the Streights of Gibraltar by which he ridicules Charles the V.'s Devise which was two Pillars with plus Vltra for the Moto Then they make him go to 〈◊〉 and Algier which Charles the V. did march to Rome and cause the Pope to dye for Fear whereat Picrochole is pleased because he will not then kiss his Pyantoufle and longs to be at Loretto Accordingly we know that in 1527 his Army had taken Rome by storm plundered it and its Churches ravished the Nuns if any would be ravished and having almost starved the Pope at last took him Prisoner which Actions of a Catholic Kings Army Sandoval a Spanish Author only terms opra non Santa Then Picrochole fancying himself Master already of so many Nations most royally gratifies those who so easily made him Conquer them to this he gives Caramania Suria to that and Palestine to the third till at last a wise old Officer speaks to him much as Cyneas did to Pyrrhuâ— and with as little Success as that Philosopher As it was not our Author's Design to to give us a regular History of all that happened in his Time he did not tye himself up to Chronology and sometimes joyned Events which have but little Relation to each other Many times also the Characters are double as perhaps is that of Picrochole In the Menagiana lately published which is a Collection of Sayings Reparties and Observations by the learned Menage every one of them attested by Men of Leaning and Credit we are told that Messieurs de Sainte Marthe have told him that the Picrochole of Rabelais was their Grand Father who was a Physician at Fronâ—evaut These Mâ—de St. Marthe are the worthy Sons of the famous Samarthanus who gave so high a Character of Rabelais among the most celebrated Men of France and who themselves have honour'd his Letters with large Notes and shew'd all the Marks of the greatest respect for his Memory so that I am apt to believe that they would not fix such a Character on their Grand-father had there not been some Grounds for it Much less would they have said this to Monsieur Menage who doubtless understood Rabelais very well since I find by the Catalogue of his Works in Manuscript that he has written a Book of Observations on Rabelais which I wish were Printed for they must doubtless be very curious no less ought to be expected from that learned Author of the Origines de la Languo Francoise and of the Origini della Lingua Italiana as also of the curious Observations on the Aminta of Tasso not to speak of his Diogenes Laertius and many others As he was most skill'd in Etymologies and a Man of the greatest Reading and Memory in France he had doubâ—less made too many discoveries in our Author to have believ'd what Messieurs Sainte Marthe said to him were there not some Grounds for it We may then suppose that Rabelais had the wit so to describe pleasant incidents that past among Men of Learning or his Neighbours in and near Chinon as that at the same time some great Actiâ—â— in Church or State should be represented or satiriz'd just as Monsieur De Benserade in his Verses for the solemn Masks at the French Court has made his King representing Iupiter say what equally might be said of that Heathen God or of that Monarch Thus the Astrea of the Lord D'urfe which has charm'd all the ingenious of both Sexes and is still the admiration of the most knowing meerly as a Romance has been discover'd long ago by some few to have throughout it a foundation of Truth But as it only contains the private Amours of some Persons of the first quality in that Kingdom and even those of its noble Author he had so disguis'd the Truths which he describes that few had the double pleasure of seeing them reconcil'd to the ouâ—ward Fictions till among the Works of the greatest Orator
'T is likely our Doctor had then a Prospect of the Benefices with which he soon afterwards was gratified by that Cardinal and for that Reason was glad to be eased of the Censures under which he lay which made him uncapable of enjoying any thing The Bishop of Montpellier himself was a Protestant and might have kept always his Bishopric had he written as Mystically as Rabelais The Cardinal Chastillon also was not only a Protestant but Married as well as John de Montluc Bishop of Valence yet as well as many others in those Times who were against the Errors of the Church of Rome in their Hearts they had Benefices in it and favoured the Reformation perhaps more than those who openly professed it So Rabelais seems to me to have passed into Italy only in the quality of a penitent Monk being first obliged to submit to his Abbot and the Orders of the Convent which he had left many Years else had he been then Physician to Cardinal Du Bellay then Embassador to the Pope he would not have Recommended himself to the Alms of his Superior the Bishop of Maillezais as he does in his Letters to that Prelate to whom he writes that the last Money which he had caused him to receive was almost gone tho says he I have put none of it to an ill Use. Neither would he have added that he used constantly to Eat either with Cardinal Du Bellay or the Bishop of Mascon who had succeeded him in the Embassy doubtless upon the other 's Promotion to the Rank of Cardinal but that much Mâ—ney was spent in Dispatches Cloaths and Chamber-Rent which shews also that tho he as a Friend did Eat with one of those two yet he paid for his Lodging elsewhere By these Letters which Messieurs de Sainte Marthe Gentlemen Famous for Learning have not disdain'd to publish with their learned and curious Observatioâ—s of ten times their length We see that Rabelais held also a private Correspondence in Characters with the Bishop of Maillezais to whom they are directed and that the Bishop was far from being bigotted to Popery We also know by them that Rabelais obtained his Absolution of Pope Paul the III. the 17th of January 1536. whereby he had leave given him to return to Maillezais and to practice Physic either at Rome or elsewhere that is without any gain and only by Charity We also find that he had gained the Esteem of Cardinal de Genutiis esteemed the Ornament of the College and Cardinal Simoneâ—ta eminent for Vertue and other worthy Prelates besides that of Du Bellay and the Bishop of Mascon who procured him his Bulls gratis and had ev'n offered him to make use of their King's Name had it been needful 'T is reported That Bishop Du Bellay as King Francis the First 's Embassador when he had Audience of Paul III. having kissed that Pope's Slipper which Ceremony is by some called Adoration all the rest of his Retinue did the same if we except Rabelais who fixed as a Pillar on which he leaned said that if the Embassador who was a very great Lord in France was unworthy to kiss the Pope's Feet they might ev'n let down his Holinesses Breeches and wash'd his A and then he might presume to kiss something about him Another time That Cardinal having brought him with the rest of his Retinue to that Pope that they might beg some Grace of his Holiness Rabelais being bid to make his Demand only beg'd that his Holiness would be pleased to Excommunicate him So strange a Request having caused much surprise he was Ordered to say why he made it Then Addressing himself to that Pope who was doubtless a great Man and had nothing of the Moroseness of many others May it please your Holiness said he I am a French-Man of a little Town called Chinon whose Inhabitants are thought somewhat too subject to be thrown into a sort of unpleasant Bon-Fires and indeed a good Number of honest Men and amongst the rest some of my Relations have been fairly Burn'd there already Now would your Holiness but Excommunicate me I would be sure never to Burn. My reason is that passing through the Tarentese where the Cold was very great in the way to this City with my Lord Cardinal Du Bellay having reach'd a little Hurr where an Old Woman lived we pray'd her to make a Fire to warm us but she burn'd all the Straw of her Bed to kindle a Faggot yet could not make it burn so that at last after many Imprecations she cryed without doubt this Fagot was Excommunicated by the Pope 's own Mouth since it will not burn In short we were obliged to go on without warming our selves Now if it pleased your Holiness buâ— to Excommunicate me thus I might go safely to my Country By this he not only in a jesting manner exposed the Roman Clergy's persecuting Temper but seem'd to allude to the Inefficacy of the former Pope's Excommunications in England and chiefly in Germany where they only served to warn our Henry the VIII and on the other side the Lutherans to secure themselves against the attempts of their Enemies He that would not spare the Pope to his Face was doubtless not less liberal of his biting Iokes to others Insomuch that he was obliged to leave Rome without much preparation not thinking himself safe among the Italians who of all Men love and forgive raillery the least when they are the subject of it So being come as far as Lyons in his way to Paris very indifferently Accoutred and no Mony to proceed whether he had been Robbed or had spent all his Stock he who had a peculiar love for Ease and good Eating and no less Zeal for good Drinking found himself in dismal Circumstances So he had recourse to a Stratagem which might have been of dangerous Consequence to one less known than Rabelais Being Lodg'd at the Tower and Angel a Famous Inn in that City he took some of the Ashes in the Chimney and having wrap'd them up in several little papers on one of them be writ Poyson to kill the King in another Poyson to kill the Queen in a third Poyson to kill the Duke of Orleans and having on the Change met a young Merchant told him That being skill'd in Physiognomy he plainly saw that he had a great desire to get an Estate easily therefore if he would come to his Inn he would put him in a way to gain a Hundred Thousand Crowns the greedy Merchant was very ready So when he had Treated our Doctor he came to the main point that is how to get the Hundred Thousand Crowns Then Rabelais after t'other Bottle or two pretending a great deal of Caution at last shewed him the papers of Powder and proposed to him to make use of them according to their Superscriptions which the other promised and they appointed to meet the next day to take Measures about it but the too Credulous though honest Trader immediately
a Fire-brand with his Mouth on the Turn-spit's Lap may be the hot words which he used to clear himself and with which he charged his Adversaries and his spitting and burning the Turkish Lord may perhaps mean the advantage which he had over them The Spectacles which afterward he wore on his Cap may signify the Caution which he was always oblig'd to take to avoid a surprise and his having a Flea in his Ear in French signifies the same His forbearing to wear any longer his Magnificent Codpiece and clothing himself in four French Ells of a course brown Russet Cloth shows that as he was a Monk he could not weare a Codpiece as was the fashon in those Days for the Laity or perhaps it denotes his affecting to imitate the simplicity of Garb which was observable in Calvinist Preachers This Subaltern Hero of the Farce now found to be the Bishop of Valence by the Circumstances and Qualifications already discovered that cannot properly belong to any other may help us to know not only Pantagruel to whom he had devoted himself but also Gargantua and Grangousier the Father and grand-Father of Pantagruel History assures us that Montluc Bishop of Valence ow'd his advancement to Marguerite Devalois Queen of Navarre and Sister to King Francis the I. She took him out of a Monastery where he was no more than a Iacobin Fryar and sent him to Rome whereby he was raised to the Rank of an Embassador which was the first step to his Advancement Thus Pantagruel should be Anthony de Bourbon Duke of Vendosme King Henry the IV.'s Father and Lewis the XIV's great grand-Father He was married to Ieanne de Albret the only Daughter of the said Queen Margaret and of Henry d' Albret King of Navarre Thus he became their Son and King of Navarre after the Death of the said Henry d' Albret whom I take to be Gargantua consequently his Father Iohn d' Albret King of Navarre excommunicated by Pope Iulius the III. and depriv'd of the best part of his Kingdom by Ferdinand King of of Arragon should be Grangousier The Verses before the third Book discover that Pantagruel is Anthony d' Bourbon afterwards King of Navarre The Author dedicates it to the Soul of the deceas'd Queen of Navarre Margaret Devalois who dy'd in Britany in the Year 1549. She had openly professed the Protestant Religion and in 1534 her Ministers of whom the most famous were Girard Rufly since Bishop of Oleron in Navarre Couraud and Berthaud preach'd publickly at Paris by her direction upon which a fierce Persecution ensued Her Learning and the Agreableness of her Temper were so extraordinary as well as her Vertue that she was stiâ—â—d The Tenth Muse and the fourth Grace she has written several Books Particularly one of Poetry called Marguerite des Marguerites and another in Prose called the Hexameron or Les Nouuelles Noâ—â—elles Of which Novels some might in this Age seem too free to be penned by a Lady but yet the reputation of her Vertue has always been very great which shows that tho in that Age both Sexes were less reserved in their writings than we are generally in this they were not more remiss in their Actions Among many Epitaphs She was honour'd with that which followâ— Quae fui exemplum coelestis nobile formâ—â— In quam tot laudes tot coâ—ere bona Margareta sub hoc tegitur Valesia saxo I nunc atque mori numina posse nega I thought fit to premise this concerning that Princess that the following Verses might be better understood Francois Rabelais A l' Esprit de la Reine de Navarre ESprit abstrait ravy ecstatie Qui frequentant les cieux ton origine As delaissé ton hoste domestic Ton corps concords qui tant se morigine A tes edits en vie peregrine Sans Sentiment et comme en apathie Voudrois point faire quelque sortie De ton manoir divin perpetuel Et ca-bas voir vne tierce partie Des faits joyeux du bon Pantagruel Francis Rabelais To the Soul of the Queen of Navarre ABstracted Spirit rapt with Extasies Soul now familiar in thy native Skies Who did'st thy flight from thy weak Mansion sake And thy kind Mate thy other self forsake Who by thy Rules himself so wisely guides And here as in a foreign World resides From sence of its fantastic Pleasures free Since thou his Soul art fled in Apathy Wouldst thou not leave a while the heav'nly plain And our World with thy Presence grace again To see this Book where a third Part I tell Of the rare Deeds of good Pantagruel This Corps concords this conjugate Body that grows so conformable to that Queen's Rules and leads the Life of a Traveller who only desires to arrive at his Journey 's end being as it were in Apathy What should it be but Henry d' Albret who had surviv'd that Queen his Consort and could love nothing after her in this World Endeavouring at the same time to weaâ— himself from its Vanities to aspire to a better according to that wise Princess's pious Admonitions nor can the good Pantagruel be any other than Anthony de Bourbon whom we have already named To this Proof I add another which admits of no Reply it is That the Language which Pantagruel owns to be that of Vtopia and his Country is the same that is spoken in the Provinces of Bearn and Gascony the first of which was yet enjoy'd by the King of Navarre Panurge having spoke to him in that Language Methinks I understand him said Pantagruel for either it is the Language of my Country of Utopia or it sounds very like it Now those who are acquainted with the different Dialects of the French Tongue need but read to find that Panurge had spoke in that of Gascony Agonou dont oussys vous desdaignez algarou c. Besides Gargantua who is King of Vtopia is said to be born in a State near the Bibarois by which the Author perhaps does not only allude to bibere drinking but to Bigorre a Province which was still possest by the King of Navarre or at least to the Vivarez which may be reckoned among the Provinces that are not far distant from that of Foix which also belonged to that King his Mother being Catherine de Foix. That in which Gargantua was born is Beusse which though it also alludes to drinking yet by the transmutation of B into V generally made by those Nations as well as by many others seems to be the ancient Name of Albret viz. Vasatâ—â— I might add That Grangousier is described as one that was well furnish'd with Hâ—ms of Bayonne Sawsages of Bigorre and Rouargue c. but none of Bolonia for he fear'd the Lombard Bâ—osone or poison'd Bit the Pope being indeed his Enemy We are told that he could not endure the Spaniards and mention is made also by Grangousier of the Wine that grows not says he in Britany but in this good Country
of his time the late Monsieur Patru of the French Academy they had a Key to a part of that incomparable pastoral which he says he had from its Author And none that have known Patru or read his Works or Boileau's will have any reason to doubt of what he says He tells us that the Author of Astrea to make his Truths more agreeable has interwove them with mere fictions which yet are generally only the Veils that hide some Truths which might otherwise not so properly appear in such â— Work sometimes he gives as a part of the chief Intreague of a Person such Actions as that Person transacted at another time or on another occasion and on the other side he sometimes divides one History so that under different Names still he means but one Person thus Diana and Astrea Celadon and Silvander are the same We ought not to forget that Barclay in his Argenis which is the history of France in Henry the IV. 's time does the same Polyarchus and Archombrotus being but one As in Astrea when two Lovers marry the Author only means that they love each other so when in ours Panurge desires to marry and consults about it we may suppose him already married and affraid of being prosecuted about it And if our Author has changed the Places and Order of Times and set before what should go after and that last which should have been first 't is no more than what the judicious Patru allows to his as a thing says he that it always used in all those sorts of Works and thus he makes that last but six Months which held out fifteen Years and with him Chartres in France and Malta are but one Rabelais who had more reason to write mystically than any may then be allowed equal Freedom in his Allegories and without fixing only the Character of Picrochole on Charles the V we may believe that it refers as well to his Predecessor 〈◊〉 King of Arragon and of Casâ—ile my Queen Isabella his Wife that deprived Iohn d' Albret of his kingdom of Navarre for that Spaniard was as bitter an Enemy as cunning and at least as faâ—al to the house of Navarre as his Successor Iohn d' Albret was an open hearted magnificent generous Prince but easie and â—elying wholly on hiâ— Ministers being given to his Pleasures which often consisted in going privately to eat and drink with his Subjects and inviting himself to their Houses howe-ever he lov'd Books and was a great lover of Heraldâ—y nicely observing the Pedigrees Coats and Badges of Honour of Families which perhaps makes Rabelais open his Scene with refering us to the great Pantagruelian Chronicle by which he begins his second Book for the knowledge of that Genealogy and Antiquity of Race by which Gargantua is descended to us how the Giants were born in this World and how from them by a direct Line issued Gargantua then he bids us not take it ill if he for the present passes it by though the Subject be such that the oftner it were remembred the more it will please your Worships by which he exposes that Prince's and some Gentlemen's continual Application to a vain Search into the dark and fabulous Times for Pedigrees as Rabelais says from the Gyants for many would be deriv'd from something greater than Man Then he makes his Kingâ— Gyants because they are so in Power and sometimes what serves the whole Court and attendants is by him applyed wholly to the King as Eating Cloathing Strength And then by that he ridicules the Romances of those days where Giants are always brought in as well as Magicians Witches single Men routing whole Armies and a thousand other such fabulous Stories He has also ridicul'd the variety of doubtful though ancient Originals in the odd discovery of the Manuscript and in the 9. Chap. the distinction of Colours and Liveries which took up that Prince's time due to higher Imployments as worthily as the rest of Heraldry There he tells us that Gargantua's Colours or Liveries were white and blew by which his Father would give to understand that his Son was to him a Heavenly Ioy. Thence with as much Fancy as Judgment he takes an Opportunity to laugh at the lame and punning Devises or Impreses of those Days in which however Paul Iove had already given Rules to make better yet after all I believe that by Gargantua's Colours Rabelais also alludes to K. Henry d' Albret and Marguerite his Queen who were sincerely for a Reformation so the White may signifie Innocence Candor and Sincerity and the Blew Piety or Heavenly Love Perhaps also as Godefroy d Estissac Bishop of Maillezais in his Coat gave paled Argent and Azur of six Pieces he had a mind to celebrate the colours of his Patron The account of Gargantua's youthful Age Chap. 11. agrees very well with that which Historians give us of the way of bringing up Henry IV. of France by his Grand-father Henry d' Albret who is the same with Gargantua That great Monarch was in his tender age inur'd by that old Prince to all sorts of Hardships for he caus'd him to be kept in the Country where he order'd they should let him run among the poor Country Boys which the young Prince did sometimes without Shoos or Hat being fed with the coursest fare so that having by those means contracted a good habit of Body he was afterwards so hardned to Fatigues so Vigilant and active and so easily pleased with the most homely Dier that it did not a little contribute to the advantage which he had over the League whose Chief the Duke de Mayenne was of a Disposition altogether different Now 't is very probable that Henry d' Albert was himself brought up much after the manner which he chose for his Grand-son for we read that he was not only an ingenious and understanding Prince generous and liberal even to Magnificence but also very warlike and hardy The Education of Gargantua by the Sophisters is a Satyr on those Men and the tedious Methods of the Schools shewing the little improvement that was made in Henry d' Albret's Studies as long as he was under Popish Governors and the ill Life that the young Gentlemen of the Roman Church led as on the contrary the benefit of having good Tutors and the difference between the Romans and the Protestants carefully and piously educated at the Dawn of the Reformation for there is no doubt that tho Henry d' Albret did not dare to profess it the People in Navarre being all Papists and there being obstacles enough to the recovery of that Kingdom lost by his Father without raising more yet he heartily hated the Popish Principles and the King of Arragon and Castille who merely on the pretence of Iohn d' Albret's alliance with Lewis XII at the time of his Excommunication had seiz'd his Country and held it by the Pope's Gift so we find that the Reformers no sooner preach'd against Bulls and
and runs on in a long Antithesis to prove that Bells are the signs of the true Church and Guns the mark of the bad all Bells says he sound but all Guns thunder all Bells have a melodious Sound all Guns make a dreadful Noise Bells open Heaven Guns open Hell Bells drive away Clouds and Thunder Guns raise Clouds and mock the Thunder He has a great deal more such Stuff to prove that the Church of Rome is the true Church because forsooth it has Bells which the other had not The taking away the Bells of a Place implys its Conquest and even Towns that have Articled are oblig'd to redeem their Bells perhaps the taking away the great Bells at Paris was the taking away the Privileges of its University or some other for Paris may only be nam'd for a Blind Thus the Master Beggar of the Fryars of St. Anthony coming for some Hog's Purtenance St. Anthony's Hog is always pictur'd with a Bell at its Neck who to be heard afar off and to make the Beacon shake in the very Chimneys had a mind to filch and carry those Bells away privily but was hindered by their weight that Master Beggar I say must be the head of some Monks perhaps of that Order in the Fauxbourg St. Antoine who would have been substituted to those that had been deprived and the Petition of Master Ianotus is the pardon which the University begs perhaps for some affront resented by the Prince for those that escap'd the Flood cry'd we are wash'd Par ris that is for having laugh'd Rabelais en passant there severely inveighs against the grumblers and factious Spirits at Paris Which makes me think that whether the Scene lies there or elsewhere as in Gascoigny some people of which Country were Henry d' Albret's Subjects still this was a remarkable Event In the Prologue to the fourth Book Iupiter busied about the Affairs of Mankind crys Here are the Gascons Cursing Damning and Renouncing demanding the re-establishment of their Bells I suppose that more is meant than Bells or he would not have us'd the word Re-establishment But 't is time to speak of the great strife and debate raised betwixt the Cake-bakers of Lerné and those of Gargantua 's Country whereupon were wag'd great Wars We may easily apply many things concerning these Wars to those of Navarre between the House of d'Albret and King Ferdinand and Charles the fifth Thus Les Truans or as this Translation renders it the Inhabitants of Lerné who by the command of Picrochole their King invaded and plunder'd Vtopia Gargantua's Country are the Spanish Soldiers and Lerné is Spain The word Truand in old French signifies an idle lazy Fellow which hits pretty well the Spaniards Character the Author having made choice of that name of a place near Chinon because it alludes to the Lake Lerna where Hercules destroyed the Lernaean Hydra which did so much hurt in the Country of Argos that thence came the Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Malorum Lerna Thus Spain was a Lerna of Ills to all Europe while like France now it aspir'd to universal Monarchy but it was so more particularly to Navarre in Iuly 1512 when King Iohn d' Albret and Queen Catharine de Foix the lawful Sovereign were dispossess'd by Ferdinand King of Arragon almost without any resistance The said King Iohn desirous of Peace sent Don Alphonso Carillo Constable of Navarre in the quality of his Embassador to Ferdinand to prevent the approaching mischief but he was so ill receiv'd says the History of Navarre Dedicated to King Henry IV. and printed with his Privilege that he was glad to return to his King with speed and related to him that there was no hope left to persuade the King of Arragon to a Peace and that Lewis de Beaumont Earl of Lerins who had forsaken Navarre daily incourag'd Ferdinand to attack that Kingdom So that this Embassie resembles much that of Vlric Gallet to Picrochole who swears by St. Iames the Saint of the Spaniards In November 1512. Francis Duke of Angoulesme afterwards King was sent with King Iohn d' Albret by Lewis XII to recover Navarre having with him several of the greatest Lords in France and a great Army which possess'd it self of many Places but the rigour of the Season oblig'd them to raise the Siege of Pampelune And in 1521. another Army under the Command of Andrew de Foix Lord of Asperault enter'd Navarre and wholly regain'd it but it was lost again soon after by the imprudence of that General and the Avarice of St. Colombe one of his chief Officers Those that will narrowly examin History will find that many particulars of the Wars in the first Book of Rabelais may be reconcil'd to those of Navarre but I believe that he means something more than a Description of the Fights among the Soldiers by the debate rais'd betwixt the Cake-sellers or Fouassiers of Lerné and the Shepherds of Gargantua Those Shepherds or Pastors should be the Lutheran and Calvinist Ministers whom Iohn and Henry d' Albert favour'd being the more dispos'd to adhere to the reviving Gospel which they preach'd by the provoking Remembrance of the Pope's and King of Spain's injurious usage and for that Reason Queen Margarite did not only profess the Protestant Religion but after the Death of Henry d' Albert Queen Iane their Daughter Married to Anthony de Bourbon was a Zealous Defender of it till she dy'd and her Son Henry afterwards rais'd to the Throne of France publickly own'd himself a Protestant till his impatient desire of being peaceably seated on it made him leave the better Party to pacifie the worse The Cake sellers of Lerné are the Priests and other Ecclesiastics of Spain as also all the Missificators of the Church of Rome Rabelais calls them Cake-mongers or Fouassiers by reason of the Host or Sacramental Wafer which is made of Dough between a pair of Irons like the Cakes or Fouasses in Poitou where Rabelais liv'd and is said to be transubstantiated into the Corpus-Christi when consecrated by the Priest The Subject of the Debate as Rabelais terms it between those Cake-sellers and the Shepherds is the first 's refusal to supply the latter with Cakes to eat with the Grapes which they watch'd For as Rabelais observes 'T is a Celestial Food to eat for Break-fast fresh Cakes with Grapes by which he alludes to the way of receiving the Communion among the Protestants who generally take that Celestial Food fasting and always with the juice of the Grape that is with Wine according to the Evangelical Institution Now the Cake-mongers or Popish Priests would not consent to give Cakes that is to say Bread but would only give the accidents of the Cakes or to speak in their own Phrase the accidents of the Bread and it is well known that this was the chief occasion of our separation from the Church of Rome Upon the reasonable request of the Shepherds the Cake-sellers instead of granting
it presently fall to railing and reviling adding after a whole Litany of comical though defamatory Epithetes that course unraung'd Bread or some of the great brown Houshold Loaf was good enough for such Shepherds meaning that the gross Notions of Transubstantiation ought â—o satisfie the Vulgar The Shepherds reply modestly enough and say that the others us'd formerly to let them have Cakes by which must be understood the times that preceded the Doctrin of Transubstantion Then Marquet one of the Cake-Merchants treacherously invites Forgier to come to him for Cakes but instead of them only gives him a swindging Lash with his Whip over-thwart the Legs whereupon he is rewarded by the other with a broken Pate and falls down from his Mare more like a dead then like a living Man wholly unfit to strike another blow These two Combatants are the Controverstists of both parties the Papist immediately begins to rail and abuse his Adversary The Lutheran confounds him in his replys and for a blow with a Whip treacherously given very fairly disables his Enemy This is the Judgment that Rabelais a Man of Wit and Learning impartially passes on the Writers of both Parties If any would seek a greater Mystery in that Grand Debate as Rabelais calls it which term I believe he would hardly have used for a real Fight let them imagin that he there describes the Conference at Reinburgh where Melancthon Bucer and Pistorius debated of Religion against Eccius Iulius Pflug and Iohn Gropper and handled them much as Forgier did Marquet But this Exploit of Forgier being inconsiderable if compared to those of Fryar Ihon des Entomeures or of the Funnels as some corruptly call him we should endeavour to discover who is that brave Monk that makes such rare Work with those that took away the Grapes of the Vineyard By the pretended Key which I think fit to give you after this since it will hardly make up a Page we are told that our Fryar Ihon is the Cardinal of Lorraine Brother to the Duke of Guise but that Conjecture is certainly groundless for though the Princes of his House were generally very brave yet that Cardinal never affected to show his Courage in martial Atchievements and was never seen to girt himself for War or to fight for the Cause which he most espoused besides had he been to have fought it would have been for Picrochole It would be more reasonable to believe that Fryar Ihon is Odet de Coligny Cardinal de Chastillon Archbishop of Tholouse Bishop and Earl of Beauuais Abbot of St. Benign of Dijon of Fleury of Ferrieres and of Vaux de Cernay For that Prelate was a Man of Courage no ways inferior to his Younger Brothers the Admiral and the Lord d' Andelot Besides he was an Enemy to Spain and a Friend to Navarre then he was a Protestant and helped his Brothers doing great Service to those of his Party and was married to Elizabeth de Hauteville Dame de Thoré a Lady of great Quality Pope Pius IV. in a private Consistory deprived him for adhering to his Brothers but he neither valued the Pope nor his Censures he died in England in 1571 and lies interr'd in Canterbury Cathedral having been made a Cardinal by Clement VII at his and Francis I.'s Interview at Marseilles in 1533. I own that what he did for the Protestant Cause was chiefly after the Death of Rabelais and that some have represented him as a Man wholly given to his Ease but Rabelais whose best Friend he was knew his Inclinations even when he composed this Work which made him dedicate the Fourth part of it to him And 't is chiefly to that brave Cardinal that we are obliged for that Book and the last of this mysterious History since without the King's Protection which he obtained for Rabelais he had resolved to write no more as I have already observed And for his being addicted to his Pleasures that exactly answers the Name of his Abbey of Theleme of which those that are Members do what they please according to their only Rule Do what thou wilt and to the Name of the Abbey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Volontas Perhaps Rabelais had also a regard to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which often signifies a Nuptial Chamber to shew that our valiant Monk was married thus the Description of the Abbey shows us a model of a Society free from all the Tyes of others yet more honest by the innate Vertues of its Members therefore its Inscription excludes all Monks and Fryars inviting in all those that expound the holy Gospel faithfully though others murmur against them Indeed I must confess that he makes his Fryar swear very much but this was to expose that Vice which as well as many others reigned among Ecclesiastics in his Age. Besides the Cardinal had been a Souldier and the Men of that Profession were doubtless not more reserv'd then than they are now I will give an instance of it that falls naturally into this Subject and is the more proper being of one who was also a Cardinal a Bishop a Lord an Abbot Married a Soldier a Friend to the House of Navarre engaged in its Wars and who perhaps may come in for his share of Friar Ihon. I speak this of Caesar Borgia the Son of Pope Alexander VI. who having made his escape out of Prison at Medina del Campo came in 1506 to his Brother in Law Iohn d' Albret King of Navarre Being Bishop of Pampeluna its Capital he resign'd it as well as his Cardinal's Cap and other Benefices to lead a Military Life and after many Engagements in other Countries was killed being with King Iohn at the Siege of the Castle of Viane which held for Lewis de Beaumont Earl of Lerins Constable of Navarre who had rebelled against King Iohn That Earl having thrown a Convoy into the Castle Caesar Borgia who desir'd to fight him at the Head of his Men cryed Où est où est ce Câ—mtereau Ie jure Dieu qu'aujourd'huy â—e le feray mourir ou le prendray prisonier Ie ne cesseray â—usques á ce qu'il soit entierement destruit ne pardonneray ny sauveray la vie à aucun des siens Tout passera par l' epeé jusques aux chiens aux chats That is Where is where is this petty Earl By G I will this day kill or take him I will not rest till I have wholly destroyed him Nor will I spare one Creature that is his all to the very Dogs and Cats shall die by the Sword It cannot be supposed that Rabelais drew his Friar Ihon by this Man but 't is not unlikely that he had a mind to bring him in by giving some of his Qualifications to his Monk for there is no doubt that our Author made his Characters double as much as he could as it were stowing three and perhaps five in the place of one for want of Room not altogether like an Actor who
was not King of France when speaking of some superstitious Preachers one of whom had called him Heretic he adds I wonder that your King should suffer them in their Sermons to publish such Scandalous Doctrin in his Dominions Then Fryar-Ihon says to the Pilgrims that while they thus are upon their Pilgrimage the Monks will have a Fling at their Wives After that Grangousier bids them not be so ready to undertake those idle and unprofitable journyes but go home and live as St. Paul directs them and then God will guard them from Evils which they think to avoid by Pilgrimages What has been observed puts it beyond all doubt that our jesting Author was indeed in Earnest when he said that he mystically treated of the most high Sacraments and dreadful secrets in what concerns our Religion I know that immediately after this he passes off with a Banter what he had assur'd very seriously but this was an admirable peice of Prudence and who ever will narrowly examin his writings will find that this Vertue is inseparably joyned with his wit so that his Enemies never could have any advantage over him But not to comment upon several other Places in his first Book that the ingenious may have the pleasure of unriddling the rest of it themselves I will only add that his manner of ending it is a Master peice surpassing the artful evasion which as I have now observed is in its Introduction It is an Enigma as indeed is the whole Work I could only have wished that it had been proper to have put it into a more modish Dress for then doubtless it would have more generally have pleased But I suppose that the Gentleman who revised this Translation thought it not fit to give the Graces of our Modern Enigmas to the Translation of a prophetical Riddle in the style of Merlin Gargantua piously fetches a very deep sigh when he has heard it read and says that he perceives by it that it is not now only that People called to the Faith of the Gospel are persecuted but happy is the Man that shall not be scandalized but shall always continue to the end in aiming at the Mark which God by his dear Son has set before us c. Upon this the Monk asks him what he thought was signified by the Riddle What says Gargantua the Decrease and Propagation of the Divine Truth That is not my Exposition says the Monk it is the style of the Prophet Merlin make as many grave Allegories and Tropes as you will I can conceive no other meaning in it but a description of a Set at Tennis in dark and obscure Terms By this Riddle which he expounds he cunningly seems to insinuate that all the rest of his Book which he has not explained wholly consists of trifles and what is most remarkable is that he illustrates the Truths which he had concealed by the very Passage wherewith he pretends to make them pass for Fables and thus blinds with too much light those Enemies of Truth who would not have failed to have burned him alive in that persecuting Age had he had less Wit and Prudence than they shewed Ignorance and Malice I need not enlarge much on the other Books by reason of the Discoveries made in the first that relate to them The first Chapter of the second gives us Pantagruel's Pedigree from the Giants It has been observed by a Learned Man some Years ago that the word Giant which the Interpreters of the Scripture have set in their Versions stands there for another that means no more then Prince in the Hebrew so perhaps our Author was the more ready to make his Princes Giants tho as I have said his chief design was tacitly to censure in this Iohn d' Albret and such others as like one in Britany that took for his Motto Antequam Abraham esset sum were too proud of an uncertain empty Name His description of the Original of Giants and the story of Hurtali's bestriding the Ark is to mock those in the Thalmud and other Legends of the Rabbins for he tells us that when this happened the Calends were found in the Greek Almanacs and all know that ad Graecas Calendas is as much as to say Never for the Greeks never reckoned by Calends Yet what he tells us of the Earth's Fertility in Medlars after it had been embrued with the Blood of the Just may be Allegorical And those who by feeding on that fair large delicious Fruit became Monstrous may be the converts of that Age who by the Popish World were looked upon as Monsters The Blood of Martyrs which was profusedly spilt in that Age has always been thought Prolific even to a Proverb and the word Mesles in French and Medlars in English equally import Medling thus in French Il se Mesle de nos affaires he medles with our Business so the Medlars may be those who busied themselves most about the Reformation The Great Drought at the Birth of Pantagruel is that almost universal cry of the Layty for the Restitution of the Cup in the Sacrament at the time that Anthony de Bourbon Duke of Vandosme was married to the Heiress of Navarre which was in Octob. 1548 the Council of Trent then sitting For thence we must date his Birth since by that match he afterwards gain'd the Title of King besides Bearn Bigorre Albret and several other Territories and we are told Book 3. Chap. 48. that Pantagruel at the very first Minute of his Birth was no less tall than the Herb Pantagruelion which unquestionably is Hemp and a little before that 't is said that its height is commonly of five or six foot The Death of Queen Margarite his Mother in Law that soon follow'd made our Author say that when Pantagruel was born Gargantua was much perplexed seeing his Wife Dead at which he made many Lamentations Perhaps this also alludes to the Birth of King Edward the Sixth which caus'd the Death of his Mother Queen Iane Seymour King Henry the Eighth is said to have comforted himself with saying that he could get another Wife but was not sure to get another Son Thus here we find Gargantua much griev'd and joyful by fits like Talboy in the Play but at last comforting himself with the thoughts of his Wife's Happiness and his own in having a Son and saying that he must now cast about how to get another Wife and will stay at home and rock his Son In the sixth Chapter we find Pantagruel discoursing with a Limosin who affected to speak in learned Phrase Rabelais had in the foregoing Chapter satiris'd many Persons and given a hint of some abuses in the Universities of France in this he mocks some of the Writers of that Age who to appear learned wholly fill'd their Works with Latin Words to which they gave a French Inflection But this Pedantic Iargon was more particularly affected by one Helisaine of Limoges who as Boileau says of Ronsard en Francois parlant
c. All their Beauty if they can be said to have any consists in their Rich or rather punning Rhimes and truly that Epigram is unworthy of Marot T is probable that as Cretin was then old he was respected by the young Fry who yet outliv'd their Error for never did Man sooner lose after his Death the Fame which he had gained during his Life And the Reason which caused Marot to write to him in such equivocal Rhimes was doubtless because Cretin affected much that way of Writing Here are four of Cretin's Lines which in his Book are follow'd by 122 more such Par ces vins verds Atropos a trop os Des corps humains ruez envers en vers Dont un quidam aspre aux pots apropos A fort blasmé ses tours pervers par vers c. I never saw more Rhime with so little sence For this Reason Rabelais who as Pasquier says had more Iudgment and Learning than all those that wrote French in his time has exposed that riming old Man And to leave us no room to doubt of it the Rondeau which Raminagrobis gives to Panurge upon his irresolution as to his marriage Prenez la ne la prenez pas c. that is Take or not take her off or on c. is taken out of Cretin who had addrest it to Guillaume de Refuge who had ask'd his advice being in the same perplexity However Rabelais makes him dye like a good Protestant and afterwards turns off cunningly what the other had said against the Popish Clergy who would not let him dye in Peace and to shew more plainly that this is said of Cretin Rabelais says at the beginning of the four and twentieth Chapter Laissans là Villaumere that is having left Villaumere which relates to William that Poet's name I ought not to omit a Remark printed in the last Dutch Edition of this Book concerning what Panurge says of Cretin He is by the Vertue of an Ox an arrant Heretic a thorough-pac'd rivitted Heretick I say a rooted Combustible Heretick one as fit to burn as the little wooden Clock at Rochel his Soul goeth to thirty thousand Cart-full of Devils Rabelais there reflects on the Sentence of Death passed on one of the First that owned himself a Protestant at Rochell He was a Watch-maker and had made a Clock all of Wood which was esteemed an admirable Piece but because it was the Work of one condemn'd for Heresy the Judges order'd by the said sentence that the Clock should be burned by the common hangman and it was burned accordingly we must also observe that the adjective Clavelé that is full of Nails or Rivitted is brought in because that Watch-maker who was very famous for his Zeal was named Clavelé In the 24th Chapter Panurge consults Epistemon who perhaps may be Guillaume Ruffy Bishop of Oleron one of Queen Margarite's Ministers who had been sometime in Prison for preaching the Reformation and was afterwards made Bishop in the King of Navarre's Territories having without doubt dissembled like many others Thus his descent into Hell in the second Book may be his Prison I own that he is with Pantagruel in the Wars but so is Panurge and this is done to disguise the Characters I am the more apt to believe him a Clergy Man because he understands Hebrew very well which few among the Layty do and none else in our Author besides Panurge who calls him his dear Gossip then his Name denotes him to be a thinking considering Man and as he was Pantagruel's Pedagogue so probably Ruffy initiated or instructed the Duke in the Doctrine of the new Preachers Enguerrant whom Rabelais taxes with making a tedious and impertinent Digression about a Spaniard is Enguerrant de Monstrelet who wrote La Chronique Annales de France In the same Chapter he speaks of the four Ogygian Islands near the Haven of Sammalo by this he seems to mean Iersey Gernsey Sark and Alderney As Queen Margaret liv'd a while and dy'd in Britanny our Actors may be thought sometimes to stroul thither Calypso was said to live at the Island Ogygia Lucian amongst the rest places her there and Plutarch mentions it in the Book of the Face that appears in the Circle of the Moon Her-Trippa is undoubtedly Henricus Cornelius Agrippa burlesqued Her is Henricus or Herricus or perhaps alludes to Heer because he was a German and Agrippa is turn'd into Trippa to play upon the word Tripe But for a farther Proof we need but look into Agrippa's Book de Occult. Philosoph Lib. 1. Cap. 7. de quatuor elementorum Divinationibus and we shall find the very words us'd by Rabelais of Pyromancy Aeromancy Hydromancy c. Besides Agrippa came to Francis the First whom our Author calls the great King to distinguish him from that of Navarre Fryar Iohn des Entosmures or of the Funnels as he is called in this Translation advises Panurge to marry and whether by that brave Monk we understand Cardinal Chastillon or Martin Luther the Character is kept since both were Married neither was the latter wholly free from Fryar Iohn's swearing Faculty if it be true that being once reproved about it he replyed condonate mihi hoc qui fui monachus Entomeures has doubtless been mistaken for Entonnoir a Funnel but the true Etymology is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cut and make incisions which was our Monk's delight who is described as a mighty Trencher-man In the following Chapters a Theologian Physitian Lawyer and Philosopher are consulted Hippothadeus the Theologian may perhaps be Philip Shwartzerd alias Melancthon for he speaks too much like a Protestant to be the King's Confessor neither could Montluc be supposed to desire his Advice Rondibilis the Physitian is doubtless Gulielmus Rondeletius Thuanus remarks in the thirty eighth Book of his History that Will. Rondelet of Montpellier died 1566 and that though he was a learned Physitian Rabelais had satiris'd him he adds that indeed the Works of Rondelet do not answer the Expectation which the World had of him nor the Reputation which he had gain'd and his Treatise of Fishes which is the best that bears his Name was chiefly the Work of Will. Pelissier Bishop of Montpelier who was cast into Prison for being a Protestant However Rabelais makes him display much Learning in his Discourse to Panurge I am not so certain of the Man whom Trouillogan personates he calls him an Ephectic and Pyrrhonian Philosopher I find that Petrus Ramus or De la Ramée afterwards Massacred at Paris had written a Book against Aristotle and we have also his Logic but as he is mentioned by Iupiter in the Prologue to the fourth Book by the name of Rameau where his dispute with Petrus Galandius and his being nam'd Peter are also mentioned I am in doubt about it Moliere has imitated the Scene between Trouillogan and Panurge in one of his Plays and Mr. Dela Fontaine the story of Hans Carvell and that of the
well as their Authors the name of the best of whom call'd â—ristides hardly survives his Writings He liv'd doubtless before Marius and Syllas's Wars for Sisenna a Roman Historian had Latiniz'd his Fables which were very obscene yet long the delight of the Romans Photius in his Bibliotheque has given an extract of a fabulous Story composed by Antonius Diogenes whom he thinks to have liv'd sometime after Alexander It treats in Prose of the Loves of Dinias and Dercyllis in imitation of Homer's Odysseis and relates many incredible Adventures its Author also makes mention of one Antiphanes who before had written in that Nature and who perhaps may be a Comic Poet whom the Geographer Stephanus says to have writ some such Relations These are thought to have been the modells of what Lucius Lucian Iamblichus Achilles Tatius and Damascius have written in that kind not to speak of Heliodorus Bishop of Tricca who under Arcadius and Honorius wrote the Adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea some passages of which have been copied by Guarini and the Author of Astrea Our Britains about that time have not been behind hand with other Nations in writing such Books Theleisin whom Some place among the Bards because he made some Propheciâ—s in Verse liv'd about the middle of the sixth Century and as well as Melkin wrote fabulous Histories in Welsh of Britain King Arthur Merlin and the Knights of the round Table Those of Ieoffrey of Monmouth have not much more the appearance of Truth and as much may be said of what Gildas a Welsh Monk writ of King Arthur Perceval and Lancelot The French sometime after had also their famous Romance of the Heroic Deeds of Charles the Great and his Paladins said to be the Work of Turpin Archbishop of Rheims but it was written above two Hundred Years after him and was followed by many more as false which yet pleased the people of those times more simple and ignorant yet than those who wrote them Then none endeavouring to get good Memoirs to write true History and Men finding matter more easily in their Fancy Historians degenerated into Romancers and the Latin Tongue fell into as much contempt as Truth had done before Then the Troubadours Comics and Contours of Provence who were the writers that practis'd what is still call'd in the Southern parts of France Le guay Saber or the Gay Science spread all over that Kingdom their Stories and new sort of Poetry of all kinds composed in the Roman Language which was a mixtuâ—e of the Gallic Tentonick and Latin Tongues in which the 〈◊〉 was superior so that to distinguish it from that usually spoken through the other parts of the Gauls it kept the name of Roman The Germans as Tacitus relates us'd to sing the Heroic Deeds of Hercules when they went to fight The ancient Inhabitants of Denmark Sweeden and Norway had fabulous Stories which they engrav'd in old Runic Characters upon large Stones of which some are still to be seen The most usual diversion at their Feasts was to sing in rhiming Verse the brave Deeds of their ancient Giants These Stories us'd to draw Tears from the Eyes of the Company and after that being well warm'd with good Cheer to their Tears succeeded Crys and Howlings till all at last fell in confusion under the Table The Kings and Princes of Denmark Norway and the neighbouring Countries had always their Scaldri thus were call'd their Poets who us'd extempore to make Verses in Rhime embellish'd with Fictions and Allegories upon all Memorable Events and those were immediately learn'd and sung by the People Even some of the Kings and Queens of those Countries were Scaldri As Olaus Wormius tells us The Indians Iapanese and Chinese have an infinite Number of Poets and Fables and the latter esteem almost Rustic any other way than that of Apologues in their Conversation Even the Turks to fit themselves for Love or War have not only the Persian Romances but Fables of their own devising and will tell you that Roland was a Turk whose Sword they still preserve at Bursa with Veneration relating the particulars of his Life and the great things he did in the Levant The Americans are great Lovers of Fables and near Canada the most wild among them after their Feasts generally desire the oldest or the greatest Wit of the Company to invent and relate to them some strange Story Beavers Foxes Racoons and other Animals generally come in for a share in the Fiction and the hearers are very attentive to their Adventures the Relation of which they never interrupt but by their Applause and thus Days and Nights are past with equal satisfaction to the Speaker and the Hearers The People of Florida Cumana and Perou excite themselves to work and to martial exploits by Songs and fabulous Narrations of the great Atchievements of their Predecessors Whatever they relate of their Origin is full of Fictions but in this those of Perou far out-lye the rest and have their Poets to whom they give a Name that answers to that of Inventors Also those of Madagascar have Men who stroul from House to House to recite their Composures and those of Guinea have their tellers of Fables like those of the Northern Parts of America Thus as observes Huetius from whom I have borrowed part of these Historical Observations on Fables no Nation can well attribute to it self the Original of them Since all equally have been addicted to invent some in the most ancient Times there is only this Difference that what was the Fruit of the Ignorance of some Nations even in Europe has been that of the Politeness of the Persians the Ionians and the Greeks When Rabelais lived all the foolish Romances that had been made in the barbarous Ages that preceded his were very much read therefore as he had a design to give a very great latitude to his Satyr he thought he could not do better than to give it the form of those lying Stories the better to secure himself from Danger and at once show their Absurdities also to cause his Book to be the more read having perceived that nothing pleased the People better than such Writings the Wise and Learned being delighted by the Morality under the Allegories and the rest by their odness This was a good Design and it proved as Effectual to make those who had any sence throw away those gross Fables stuffed with wretched Tales of Giants Magicians and Adventurous Knights as Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixot proved in his Country to root out Knight-Errantry Thuâ— Lucian before him in his Story of the Ass enlarged afterwards by the Philosopher Apuleius had ridicul'd Lucius of Patras and to make it the more obvious called that Fable by the name of that Mythologist who had writ a Book of strange Metamorphoses which he foolishly believed to be true Rabelais seems also to have imitated Lucian's true History called so by its Author by Antiphrasis though some have thought that
let him languish in unjust Despair Maim'd in his Thoughts and sp'd of all his Air Nor walk like discontented Ghosts the Town Shun'd by his Friends and to himself scarce known To our raw Youth his Wit might be display'd And 〈◊〉 Mother-Tongue his Sense convey'd 〈…〉 no longer wou'd admire the Chime And Fops find something more than empty Rhyme Lucian expects to wear the English Dress And Rab'lais waits the Leisure of the Press Our Age with Joy may in this Pair behold The modern Wit corrival to the Old Mens Follies both in a true Light display With equal Wit tho' a far diff'rent Way Singly the Greek of Numbers not afraid Does like bold Knights with open Force invade He pulls the snarling Cynic from his Herd And strings his Fiddle-stick with his grave Beard Then to his Jig a medley Crowd advance Kings Tyrants Conqu'rors lead the antic Dance But in warm Bosoms Rab'lais fondly bred Like a tame Snake does unseen Venom shed His wanton Twinings yet such Pleasure bring They hug the Viper tho' they feel his Sting Bitten by this Tarantula they lie In tickling Pain and even laughing die So feeble Dotards scourge the sluggish Part For Provocation and forgive the Art That whets their Letchery although 〈◊〉 smart By this one Author France thou' rt honour'd more Than all thy envy'd Wealth and ravish'd Store His Memory no Time shall ever blot That shall be fresh when all thy Conquests are forgot Thus Spain does still in her Cervantes shine Nor can her Indies boast so rich a Mine On this Translation Rab'lais shall look down Pleas'd with his Wit in all its Graces shown He like a Champion in the Front shall stand While injur'd Authors all with Pen in Hand Defie the snarling Critics of this Land No longer shall lean Poet tamely sit And hear fat Fools profane his darling Wit His Muse shall rouse and in poetic Rage Drive Fops and foppish Critics off the Stage I. DRAKE ON The most diverting WORKS OF THE LEARNED D r. RABELAIS· WHile some in wise Mens Garbs are mad Or gravely dull that 's near as bad Rabelais a Foe to melancholy Is Wisdom in the Garb of Folly Tho' your grave Brutes can never find The Fruit within the prickly Rind But if none else for Wise must pass Sure nothing's wiser than an Ass. As dull by Nature or Disaster When Rhimers laugh 't is like their Master And that 's not often For we hear Apollo laughs but once a Year Scarce can he have so oft occasion So woful is each Wight's Oblation Whence sympathising with their Rhimes They make us duller than the Times But who e'er reads our Doctor 's Chronicle Must laugh though not in sence Ironical Who always reads it will appear To laugh indeed but once a year But that 's as once a day feeds Glutton From Morn to Night till out-flies Button As in kind House by Mob call'd Bawdy Old Sinner crawls to Punk that 's gawdy Whom charitable fat old Woman Has taught to be unkind to no Man He 'd play but cannot till by Flogging Rous'd Limberham keeps briskly jogging Jirk'd by his Hackney beyond Reason Yet pleas'd the more the more she lays on So I who ply'd with Rhime each hour Have Will to laugh but scarce have Power Ev'n I must laugh when I read Rabelais More pleas'd than Cull on whom his Drab lays Pleas'd ev'n to pain as well as he Yet fear lest others laugh at me This Simile you 'll cry 's not good Nor goes on all Four as it should But why on all Four should it go While I its Dad must plod on two What though i' th' midst of Deed of Pravity Like new sworn May'r Cull keeps his Gravity If he laughs not at Face that 's upper Yet Mirth 's at t'other down the Crupper And to please either with a jirk A dose of Rabelais does the work While some Collegiate Farrier's Skill in Curing lies in methodic Killing And indeed rids Men of all Evil If 't is not one to go to th' Devil You pay not only for his Bill Your Pass your Recipe into Hell But must ev'n pay for the damn'd Poyson Which for his Sport your Corps he tries on Well may the Wretches be called Patients Who must endure their Operations But Rabelais learn'd in Kitchin Physic Ne'er lets those who consult him be sick Choice Bills of Fare his only Bills His Potions Wine and Mirth his Pills Playsters of warm Guts gentle Frictions His iatraliptical Prescriptions Reader Wouldst thou have all Quacks to forsake thee And make 'em lean as they would make thee Read Rabelais but lest Laughing hurt thee First leak a while then tightly girt thee Else if thou burst not sure it iâ— Thou wilt at least thy self bepiss PETER MOTTEUX A LIST OF Some of the Names mention'd in the First Second and Third Books of Rabelais explained in the Preface THe Antidoted Conundrums Grangousier Gargamelle Gargantua Badebec Pantagruel Panurge Fryar Iohn of the Funnels Vtopia Beusse Verron Bibarois Pichrocole Lerné Cake-Bakers of Lerné The Cakes Truands of Lerné Philip Marais Viceroy of Popeligosse Theodorus the Physitian for the Brain White and Blew Gargantua's Colours Epistemon Anticyrian Hellebore Vine of Seâ—illé Ianotus de Bragmardo Gargantua's Mare Master Beggar of St. Anthony Vlric Gallet Giants Gargantua's Sheherds The Medlars The Thirstiness of Gargantua and the Drought at Pantagruel's Birth The Limosin Schollar The Catalogue of the Books in St. Victors Library at Paris The Cause between Kiss-Breech and Suck Fizzle Kiss-Breech Suck-Fizzle Thaumast the English Scholar The Dypsodes The City of the Amaurotes The Amaurotes Loup garou The Giants Arm'd with free-Stone King Anarchus made to Cry green Sawse in a Canvas Iacket The Almyrods Pantagruel covering an Army with his Tongue The sickness of Pantagruel The Colony of Vtopians sent into Dypsodiâ— Salmigondin Sybill of Panzoust Raminagrobis Enguerrant The Oxygian Islands Sammalâ— Her-Trippa Hippo-thadeus Rondibilis Trouillogan Triboulet Iudge Bridlegoose Herb Pantagruelion A Satire on the Pope Emperor c. Iohn d' Albret King of Navarre Catharine de Foix Q. of Navarre Henry d' Albret King of Navarre Margaret de Valois his Queen Anthony de Bourbon Montluc Bp. of Valence Cardinal Castillon also Martin Luther Navarre Albret Bearn Vivarez King of Spain Spain The Popish Priests Bread in Communion The Spanish Army Philip Son to the Mareschal of Navar. Berthaud a Protestant Divine Innocence Piety Bp. of Maillezais Colours Ruffy Bp. of Oleron The Holy Scripture Cup in the Eucharist Cenalis Bp. of Avranches Also a head of a College A Lady The Provincial Fath. of that Order Constable of Navar Also Vlric Zuinglius Princes Lutheran Preachers The Reformers The Cry for the Restitution of the Wine in the Eucharist Helisaine a pedantic Auâ—hor A Satire on some Books in that Library now one of the best in France Tryal between the Mother of Fran. I. and Const. Bourbon Poyet Chancellor Monthelon Ld. Keeper Sr. Thomas Moor and Hieronimus