Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	knight_n	sir_n	viscount_n	16,070	5	12.0091	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51725	Discourses upon Cornelius Tacitus written in Italian by the learned Marquesse Virgilio Malvezzi ; dedicated to the Serenissimo Ferdinand the Second, Great Duke of Thuscany ; and translated into English by Sir Richard Baker, Knight.; Discorsi sopra Cornelio Tacito. English	Malvezzi, Virgilio, marchese, 1595-1653.; Baker, Richard, Sir, 1568-1645.	1642 (1642)	Wing M359; ESTC R13322	256,112	410

DISCOVRSES UPON Cornelius Tacitus Written in Italian by the Learned Marquesse Virgilio Malvezzi Dedicated To the Serenissimo Ferdinand the second Great Duke of Thuscany And Translated into English by Sir Richard Baker Knight LONDON Printed by E. G. for R. Whitaker and Tho. Whitaker at the Kings Armes in S. Pauls Church-yard 1642. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM Lord Viscount Say and Seale Master of his Highnesse Court of Wards and Liveries and one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Counsell Most Honoured Lord I Should not have the boldnesse to present this booke unto your Lordship if besides the great service I owe you the Argument of the Booke did not invite me to it for consisting of Politique Discourses and considerations of State it is most fit to be presented to Counsellours of State amongst which I knew not whom better to present it to then to your Lordship and no lesse then the Argument of the Booke the Authour thereof invites me to it for being a learned Lord of Jtaly none more fit to entertaine him then some learned Lord of England of which number this Kingdome affordeth none more eminent then your Lordship I must not speake so much as I think for offending the modesty of your eare but I may boldly speake so much as all the world sees that nature and Art have joyned together to make you perfect in your place which is to be a faithfull Counsellour to the King and a loving Patriot to your Countrey for both which if I should not my selfe acknowledge an obligation to you I might worthily be thought unworthy to be accounted which I specially desire to be Your Lordships humble and devoted servant RICHARD WHITAKER TO THE SERENISSIMO FERDINAND the second great Duke of Thuscany my most gracious Lord. SEeing to nothing I am more bound then to serve your Highnesse I cannot consequently have any greater desire then to be accounted your servant that as the benefits which our House continually receiveth are publikely knowne so the markes of my devotion may publikely appeare which after dedicating my selfe to your Highnesse I cannot better manifest then by offering these Discourses which are so farre unequall to your greatnesse and to what I ow you that it may well appeare to be rather done for confession of my debt then for satisfaction of that obligation which as it can onely receive abatement from your commands so commands comming from so great a Prince will have force againe to make it the greater Vouchsafe then to honour me with commanding me thereby to make me the more obliged and be pleased to accept these weake labours with looking upon the value which your Heroicall Name gives them And upon the weight which my devotion puts upon them with which I wish to your Highnesse all those felicities which as you give manifest proofes to merit so by the divine goodnesse you shall happily obtaine And so I present you the most humble Reverence Of Your Highnesse most devoted servant VIRGILIO MALVEZZI To the Reader That yong men may be good writers in the Politicks and why Cornelius Tacitus gives so great contentment to them that read him IN antiquis est sapientia in multo tempore prudentia If it be true as true indeed it is which the holy Text by the mouth of Job intimates that onely old men are wise certainly it is in nothing more true then in things which belong to action Whereupon the Queene of Saba hearing the most wise Salomon although by the answers he gave to her questions she found he was deeply seene in the secrets of Philosophy and in the mysteries of Divinity yet she made no shew of wondring at it but when she found him endowed with no lesse excellency in things belonging to action then she brake forth into words of astonishment Major est sapientia opera tua quam rumor quem audivi Beati viri tui beati servi tui qui stant coram te semper audiunt sapientia mtuam Shewing thereby that it is no great marvell for a yong man to be excellent in things of contemplation the marvell is if he be excellent in matters of action seeing those require onely sharpnesse of wit which easily growes in verdant spirits these soundnesse of judgement which gets not maturity but by long experience and for this cause Aristotle excluded yong men from active Philosophy and a regard also to this had the Authour of the Tryviall saying That young men may be good Mathematicians but not good Philosophers I therefore may justly be taxed with over-great boldnesse to take upon me to speake in matters of Action being so yong a man as I am when it were fitter I should stand to learne of others then to put my selfe forward to be a Teacher And for this as S. Gregory well observes our Lord Christ in his childhood though he had taught and confounded the Doctours yet by all meanes would have his mother finde him hearkning to them as to learne of them The consideration of this would have stayed me from undertaking such a worke were it not that I detest so much the name of idlenesse that for avoyding of that I rather venture to incurre the blame of too great boldnesse Publishing these my discourses which in one course of the Sunne have had their beginning encrease and finishing and God grant that in the same yeere after the order of nature they have not also their decrease and abolishing and that in comming to the light they beginne not like their Authour from darknesse and then tarry in darknesse still Yet it is true that I have waies enow to desend my selfe from such calumniations And first as to this particular objection that yong men are not fit for action we must know that all action is preceded by contemplation which is the action of the mind and understanding seeing a thing cannot be in the will till it be first in the understanding according to that well knowne rule Nihil volitum quod non sit praecognitum As for example before it be determined to strike battell it is deliberated in counsell which is nothing else but to contemplate whether the action be good or bad And this Sallust sheweth us where he saith Nam priusquam incipias consulto ubi consulueris mature facto opus est And therefore to execute and doe a thing well it is needfull to have gotten a habit in the action which habit growing from many acts often iterated requires an experience which cannot be had without length of time and oftentimes not without a temper in the affections Now for contemplating an action there need not so many things but as he that is to execute a thing cannot doe it well if he have not the habit and the habit he cannot have but by doing many Acts so he that is to contemplate an action that is to be done must necessarily have a knowledge of that action which we may call a habit of the