members of the Court and ever ready to defend them and the Catholique profession In the Elections of Popes when all the competitors are worthy of the dignity Strive not to advance one before the other And never use any means indirect unlawfull or unchristian to prefer your friends or creatures to the Chair but look upon it as a sacred action to be left as the election of Mathias in the tent to the disposal of the Holy Ghost The expression of due respects attended with the consideration of your Dominions situate in the midst of Italy and other means in your power as King of so many Countrys and Patron of so many great Ecclesiastical benefices will infallibly procure you the friendship of the greatest and make the best amongst them dependants upon you without loss or hinderance to Princes of your quality though the Pope were elected by the votes of that party who declared for another But let me enjoyn you to prefer alwayes the universal good of Christendom before your private benefit though the Examples of others seem to invert the Counsel I give you As the Dominions of the Church are the center of Italy So if Sienna were recovered they would be surrounded with your Territories to the greater convenience for your designs and most commodious for an influence over the Court of Rome If men of Piety sit in the Chair they will in a religious tenderness of promoting Charity among Christians both court and desire your love if the Popes be worldly minded and study more their pleasures and interest then the duties of their office which God forbid they will be glad to preserve his friendship whom they dare not displease Stick not to powre the treasure of your bounties on that Court in obliging the Cardinals Bishops and other Prelates by dignities and preferments in your several Dominions but especially them who are most intimate with the Pope as most useful in matters of grace and favour to be obtained from the Holy-Chair though you are to rely most on the Justice and equity of your Demands and the affection of his Holiness The impressions of religion are so deep in the hearts of men that nothing can prejudice your affairs more than to leave in their minds an opinion of your being disaffected to the Ministers of God therefore if necessity force you to break with the Pope be sure to clear your self from the imputation of the rupture by making it appear that the cause of unkindness proceeded not from you but from the other side And that the course you take is not voluntary but upon indispensable obligations of security and self preservation In matters relating to a Generall Councel conform your self to the determinations of the Holy-Chair and whatever happens let the world still perceive your Religion is unchangeable As to the Venetians you are sure of Peace with them while you think fit not to break the league by reason of their fearfullness to engage in war though no assistance is to be expected from them for the reasons I have shewed And that jealousie and apprehensions of ill from the increase of power will have greater influence in their counsells than any other considerations Their long neglect of military discipline and disuse of Arms their letting slip so many brave opportunities the distractions of this age afforded them to Aggrandize their estate may invite you to assault them and their custome of making advantage of their weak neighbours miseries may in a manner justifie it A slothfull disposition and moderate prosperity have inclined them to presume their greatness may be maintained by ordinances of peace and sober rules of the Long robe But if you set upon them briskly and pursue your first impression with Celerity to prevent their banding with other Princes their unskilfullness in war the weakness of their state and the confusions that will certainly attend their fear of your Arms will give you opportunity to compass some great exploit before they awake out of sleep or resolve what to spend what friends to trust what Leaders to employ or resume their old discipline for war The convenience they have to attaque you in Naples and the inclinations of that people to prefer their mild and more civil Government and kind usage of the inhabitants before yours will oblige you to get the start of them by carrying the war to their doors and prevent their attempts against your Dominions by forceing them to provide for defence of their own Let it be your care to powre your forces into the center of their state as the way to make your self master of the field it being impossible for them to put Garrisons into their places of strength which they will first secure and at the same time to keep the field And in the mean while the defect of Garrisons Leaders provisions or fortifications the factions and particular discontents of persons interessed will certainly afford you the occasion to possess your self of some of their places of stength which will be a good step to your further progress especially if by your Princely and Gracious deportment you encourage others to submit to your obedience by granting the Burghers Captains and Soldiers reasonable Articles and so good conditions that they will have no just cause to complain of the change of Masters When you are Master of the field all places that are not strong will presently fall into your hands which will force them into the field to endeavour the stopping of your prevailing Arms by battail wherein the greatness of your strength and expert skill of your Soldiers may give you assured hopes of victory over their new trayned troops and raw Companies Let no pretence of friendship or professions of affection from any Prince of Italy move you to permit him to aggrandize his state but be perswaded by my advice to keep them all within their due bounds upon this infallible Ground that they are true only to their interest and will no further adhere to you then while it is for their turn but will appear against you upon any probable hope to better their fortune The divisions and partialities of Italy make it a matter of great difficultie for you to preserve in your obedience the States you enjoy there their designs and most ardent desires being bent to establish a Duke at Millain and a King at Naples which may hold of no superiour but reign Soveraign and Independant as the means to weaken your encroaching power and to free themselves from forraign servitude And because they may upon all occasions treat on even terms with such petty Princes and that the bonds of a common interest which is the surest obligation would ingage a King of Naples and a Duke of Milan in a forreign league of Friendship with them against forreign force as involved in the like danger with other States of Italy of being opprest from abroad whereas the inequallity between them and you is such that they neither dare engage in a war against you for fear of losing the remains of their liberty and making their estates victims to your wrath nor enter into a league to add strength to your power which they desire to see weakned and increase your Authority whereof they are allready jealous The Pope and Venetians are great promoters of the project I have told you but the remedy is obvious to prevent their designes for if you maintain your reputation by a constant Activity in Armes hold good intelligence in every State Imploy able Ministers to the Court of Rome make use of the divisions and factions of those Princes to your advantage prevent combinations amongst them to your prejudice keep out the French King from Italy and when the waters are troubled discreetly use the Golden-hook you may conclude your affairs safe on that side These observations most dear Son I leave with you as Rules for your conduct in Peace and War And though the circumstances of things may vary yet the reason of my advice remaining the same will be useful for direction in most occurrences of State And now by the duty and gratitude you owe me your Father your Prince and Benefactor I charge you strictly and constantly to observe with Reverence the Laws of God and conscience to regard them as the controll of your reasonings and Rules of indispensable obligation in all your actions that no design no act no stratagem can be just or worthy a Prince but what is consonant to them And amidst the Majestick Glories of a mighty Prince forget not your self to be a man and that the prerogative of your Crowns exempts you from the jurisdiction of those tribunals where bribery may corrupt affections blind ignorance mislead fear over-awe or impotence frustrate the judgement given to reserve your cause to the dreadfull examination and sentence of that Judge who is Justice it self and cannot be deceived who for the sins of Princes gives their dominions to whom he pleases without other respects to their Crowns than to aggravate their offence in abusing the priviledges of their State to the contempt of his Justice and presuming to commit such trangressions against his Laws which they would not permit to be done by their Subjects against theirs And remember you are to account to a Judge from whom there is no appeal who inflicts heaviest punishments on wicked Princes as immediate offenders against his Majesty and therefore most fit to be made examples of Just Severity as Good Kings are the immediate objects of his care and providence partake most of his bounty and favours and are in affection no less then in dignity nearer to God than other mortals FINIS
THE ADVICE OF Charles the Fifth Emperor of GERMANY AND KING OF SPAIN To his Son Philip the Second Upon his Resignation of the Crown of SPAIN to his said Son LONDON Printed for H. Mortlock at the Sign of the White Hart in Westminster-Hall 1670. TO THE READER A Long preface to a little book is a Giants head on a Pigmies shoulders This shall be so short as not to spend a line in promising brevity The following discourse really contains Magnum in parvo being of small bulk but treating of the greatest Subject Government to Authorize it I name the Author Charles the fifth Emperour of Germany and King of Spain That he was a person of as exalted reason as quality One Argument pertinent to the matter in hand shall serve instar omnium that in the height of prosperity and flourishing in reputation He resigned his Crowns to enjoy himself That the day after his resignation was the first of his repentance will appear to them who weigh the grandure of his spirit and actions a saying of more sharpness than solid truth and Calculated to the Meridian of their thoughts who admiring Crowns they never possess make their passions the measure of other mens Actions and conclude no man can willingly part with what they so vehemently desire But the Genius of Charles having attained these altitudes others aspire to as the Ne plus ultra of humane happiness quitted them to mount into a higher sphear The Roman Empire ruined as it raised it self and having awed all forreign hostilities into subjection or allyance Employed against it self the strength and reputation of its Arms which had not left in the world an Enemy that deserved the honour of falling by so vast a Power Charles the fifth held it Greater Glory to Conquer himself than the Nations he had subdued and finding no Antagonist worthy his encounter like the Roman State turned his force against himself but with this difference that the Romans by Civil War destroyed their Empire Charles by conquering himself in vanquishing those ambitious passions which reign over Kings and have Emperors their vassals by retyring from the Throne into an Ermitage obtained a Crown more Glorious than that he resigned having divested himself of temporal honours to fit himself for investiture in Caelestial Dignities But admitting that saying as true as 't is smart and piquante and that he quitted his Crowns for fear of losing them it derogates not from the authority of his discourse nor diminishes the reputation of his wisdom For if he had Cause to fear the loss of his Crowns it argues greater prudence by resignation to make an happy Exit in full felicity than to outlive his happiness by seeing his Scepter wrested out of his hand and the glorious day of his splendid triumphs ending in the dismal Storms of War with his Son like a new Phaeton justling his Father out of the throne The Discourse is of Government but presumes not to instruct our Governours and thought it may please the humour of the times where Subjects are more inquisitive into the duties of Soveraigns than careful to practise their own readier to learn what Princes ought to do then to perform what Liegemen are bound to and like the Scribes and Pharises in Moses seat study Law and policy to teach others not themselves 'T is published to do it right as worthy of publick view and for publick advantage For 't is with men in society as with figures in Arithmetique they receive their value from the place they stand in but authority thought it enlargeth the influence doth not change the nature of persons as the figure that signifies a million is the same as when it denotes One the greatest Kingdom is but a Society made up of individuals as the greatest numbers are composed of the Digits and the hugest volumes of the Letters of the Alphabet The Emperour and his Subjects being a grand Corporation as a Major and Commonalty are a lesser which resolves into that of Masters and Families and they consist of particular persons whereof every one is a Corporation in himself as made up of a mind to govern and a body to obey 'T is a maxime in Philosophy Simplicia Compositis priorca And the model of Civil Government was taken from the natural where the Soul is Soveraign to direct and command and the affections and members are subjects to obey and execute Thus private men are Princes and have a harder Prevince than the greatest Soveraigns for those lusts and passions which are private mens Subjects have reigned over Soveraigns and conquered Conquerors who bridled Nations and governed the greatest Communities These are advises to Govern a Kingdom but by the trick of Mutatis Mutandis what was designed only for John at Noke may be fitted for John at Styles and what Charles delivered for a direction to order States may serve you for instruction to govern your self THE ADVICE OF Charles the Fifth Emperour of GERMANY To his Son Philip the Second King of Spain Upon the Resignation of his Hereditary Crowns to his said Son Most dear Son NO Jewels appear so glorious as those that embellish the Crowns of Princes Soveraignty is the Mistress to which the Greatest Spirits devote their Services Making the Universe a Theatre of Heroick Actions to Justifie their Title to the Dignity they Affect This hath made the Regal State an Object of Veneration or Envy to aâ—l Inferiours and given cause to Kings to think the Earth a Stage too narrow whereon to display the Beams of their Majesty and the Prerogatives of that Condition which hath no Equal under the Sun This hath raised Ambition to that height that Men trample on all Rights Civil or Sacred that obstruct their passage to the Throne And even devest themselves of Humanity in offering violence to the Laws of Nature that they may with more security put on and wear the Royal Purple sacrificing the Lives of nearest Relations to the Interest of the Crown Hence it is that the Examples of Quitting Crowns and Resigning Scepters are so rare that succeeding Ages entertain the Relation thereof as Fancies rather than Historical Truths So natural to Man is the thirst of Independant Freedom that the Quitting of that which all desire to enjoy seems a Paradox not to be esteemed true in any Case but Theirs who by their incapacity to use that Excellent Priviledge are unworthy to enjoy it or by pretending a Voluntary Resignation think to palliate their Weakness and hide their Disability to hold that Scepter which if not yielded would be wrested from them Like those vain Sophists who decried Riches not out of a real Contempt of them but because they wanted them and knew not how to gain them The value of Gifts depends much on the Knowledge or Ignorance of the Donor in proportion to which it rises and falls The most magnificent Present from the hand of him that esteems it mean becomes common and lays on the Receiver
an Obligation not answerable to the intrinsique value of the Gift but suitable to the Estimat of the Giver which like the Princes Stamp often makes the same Piece Currant at a higher and lower Rate A Wedge of Gold bestow'd by an American who thinks Glass more precious deserves only the small Acknowledgements due for a Present of Glass not of Gold What I have said of the Excellency of the Regal State infers not an Alteration of my declared Resolution to Refign my Diadems to you but that as you shall receive a Gift of the Greatest Magnitude it comes from my hand who perfectly know the transcendant value of what I give And that you may see your Obligations to me as my Bounty to you equally superlative and read my Excess of Kindness for your Person and high esteem of your Abilities in the Character of that Love which hath engag'd me freely to transfer from my self to you the Supreme Authority to which the Greatest Persons in past Ages have aspired with that Ardency and possessed with that Jealousie that Sons Fathers and Brothers fell Victims to their Passions for Gaining or Keeping the Throne though they if devested of that Soveraign Dignity would have redeemed with their own the Lives of their Relations That no Man Resigns the Royal Power but for Incapacity to manage or Fear to lose it will be henceforth listed in the Catalogue of Vulgar Errours upon the convincing Evidence of my single Instance who can without Vanity call Europe Asia Afrique and America to testifie my Ability to sway and keep the Scepter in my hands having fix'd so many recent Trophies of Conduct and Valour in these parts of the World that the Antipodes must be searched to find out an Enemy who may dare to attaque that Person whose Prudence and Prowess have gain'd him the Honour to be rank'd amongst the greatest Heroes Animals arrived at the years of maturity are naturally inclin'd to preserve their Species by Propagation and delight in the Productions of their kind It is my desire and will be my greatest pleasure to see the exercise of these great Politique Vertues conspicuous in my Actions continued by you and to behold my Qualities and Dignities as well as my Person survive my self in you the Image of my Person the actual Heir of my Dignities and emulous Imitator of my Examples The Sun who in his Meridian Chariot guilds the World with glorious Beams equally admirable as profitable to the Universe withdraws at Night to rest in the Curtains of his beloved Thetis that Mortals who prize good things more by Privation than Fruition of them may be taught by the Darkness that ensues his Retirement to wish for and receive his morning Light with due Respect I am now resolved to confine my self to the Privacies of a Religious House that the sudden Ecclipse of a Person whose Influence hath made this Empire and other States to flourish many years may cause them to fix their Eyes on you as the Rising Sun and with full Acclamations promise themselves from your good Government the continuance of that Happiness they enjoyed under mine And look upon you not as Philip the Son of Charles but as Charles the Fifth revived like a Phoenix out of his own Ashes to renew the course of his youthful Triumphs That you may answer their Expectations before I Resign my Crowns into your hands I shall give you some Directions which you are to esteem as highly as these Diadems which have derived their Majestique Lustre on my Head from the Rules you shall receive more than from those Orient Diamonds that adorn them 'T is not my Intention to mind you here of those Duties of Piety to God Temperance and Magnanimity in your Actions and Justice to your Subjects which are the Basis of Thrones and Pillars of Soveraignty For that I am satisfied by your Practice that you have heartily embraced those Excellent Principles of your Education And that whether you converse with the presēnt or past Ages you cannot want frequent Admonitions by Men or Books to urge the exercise of those Fundamental Vertues My Design is to commend to your Observation some Rules and Maximes which my Experience as Emperour and King of Spain hath confirmed useful in the Government of those States I shall Resign into your Hands When you consider the numerous Dominions you are to succeed in in Spain Flanders Italy and Germany with the different Constitutions and Inclinations of the People the variety of their Laws and Politique Interests you will presently conclude That great Governments are great Burdens and the Prerogatives you enjoy above other Princes are but Intimations and Marks of greater Cares and weightier Duties incumbent on you The Cares of a Pilot are circumscrib'd within the narrow Compass of the Ship he guides but those of an Admiral extend to the whole Fleet The vigilance of other Princes like the single States they Rule is short and narrow yours must be proportionable to your Dominions dilated from East to West and reach even to a New World But that you may not be discouraged at the Troubles that attend your Greatness Remember that as your Government is more Weighty and Large so will your Glory be which will run parallel with your Cares and make you Renowned in those Remote Regions where the Names of other Princes are never heard of To advise a Great Prince to be content with the Dominions he is born to may seem absurd to them who judge Contentment a private Vertue only and extol an Insatiable Ambition as the greatest Glory of a King But those Rules of Justice that prohibit Injuries between private Men do so much the more oblige Princes not to violate the Rights of their weaker Neighbours as the Consequences of their Actions are more generally fatal involving not Families only but Nations in Common Ruine And as Princes who are the Fountains ought also to be the Examples of Justice to other Men. Besides I look on the Empire as swell'd to that Bulk that to adde to it were to cram meat into a full Stomach which will not nourish the Body but oppress the Concoctive Faculty and render it incapable to digest the Aliment it had received before Sure I am it will be more acceptable with God and pleasing to men for you to preserve the Grandeur of your Estates by good Government than by a wilde Ambition of New Conquests to hazard your Hereditary Crowns The Life of a Prince is like the Body of the Sun which draws the Eyes of all Mortals towards him and is as conspicuous as the Rays of Light To think the bad Actions of a Prince can escape discovery is to believe the Sun-Beams invisible 'T is beneath your Dignity to do any thing that may fear the Censure or not abide the Test of the whole World And when you reflect upon the Jurisdiction of Princes that it extends only to the Hands and Tongues but reaches not the Thoughts and
and refer to your Ministers what is harsh and odious Above all see that what is so dearly purchased with the peoples groans and your danger be brought to your Purse and not diverted to the private profit of your Officers Keep Credit with the Merchants protect them in their Trade and secure their Commerce especially those of Genoa whose Loans you will find useful in many Emergencies which may require quicker supplies than can be raised by the ordinary ways of Tax and Impositions The absolute necessity of an able Council is evidently gathered from the impossibility of dispatching the Affairs of State by a single person though of prodigious Abilities And that several Princes of dissolute Lives and weak Capacities have reigned with honour to the State and to the satisfaction of their people meerly by the prudence and faithfulness of their Ministers to whom the greatest Princes owe most of their Glory as the Atlas's of their Government on whose shoulders they are triumphantly carried through the Difficulties of Policy into the Temples of Immortal Honour Your Wisdom cannot appear in any thing more than in the choice of fit persons to serve you in your weighty Affairs by Counsel and Execution And the better to guide your Election think no man worthy employment under you but such whose Wisdom enables them to discharge their Trust to best advantage and secure them from those Inconveniencies wherein men are involved by Ignorance and Imprudence And lest passion or interest should incline them to employ their Talents to your prejudice and study their own more than your Interest and Honour Your next care must be That their Wisdom be attended with a generous Faithfulness to discharge their Trust intire Love for your Person and a vertuous Disposition without which it will be impossible to give the people satisfaction when the scandalous Lives of your Ministers shall give them cause to suspect all their Actions and to presage nothing but Ruine to the State from their Conduct who cannot govern themselves T is an excellent Secret and one of the prime Mysteries in the Art of Government for a Prince incapable to manage Affairs of State to cover his Defects by employing men of Excellent Abilities well-disposed and faithful to his Crown The Glory of their Actions redounds to the Prince and the people never curious to enquire from what hand they receive their Happiness rest so well satified with the Effect that they care not to pry into the Cause but applaud him an Excellent Prince under whom they enjoy peace and plenty though perhaps he contributes little to the Felicity they live in The Advantages of Honour and Profit that attend the service of Princes attract multitudes to seek and press for imployment but you are to remember that most of these men come to serve their ambitious and covetous Humours not the Interest and Honour of the State But as I will not condemn all that catch at employment and offer their services so I advise you to think your best diligence well laid out to find men in all places of your Dominions fit to serve you and having found them to esteem your Treasures of Wealth and Honour never better expended than in encouraging such men by ample Rewards and obliging them more strictly to your person and interest The rather for that the World affords numbers of excellent persons who in private Fortunes have princely Spirits elevated to that pitch that they admire not Riches or Honours but prefer the Liberty of an obscure Retirement before the splendid Servitude of high Employments Yet these men when drawn forth to appear on the Theatre of State have acted their parts with singular Dexterity incomparable Integrity and admired Courage And settle it for a Maxime That in matters of importance a prudent and couragious Counsellor may promote your designs by his sound Advice more than Legions of Souldiers and whole Mountains of Treasure And you may observe that the greatest Princes in all Ages have made choice of and been served by the ablest Ministers whereof Caesar the greatest Prince in my Judgement for Peace and War that ever appeared on the Stage of the World is a sufficient Instance No Age having produced a Prince equal to him or a Princes Ministers comparable to those he employ'd The Reason is obvious Like will to like And a gallant Prince presently discovers the Weakness of a Minister and slights him as a weak Prince comprehends not the Excellencies and therefore seldom uses the Service of an able Officer 'T is useful and necessary to observe the Genius of your Officers and fit them with Employments suitable to their Inclinations and particular Excellencies For a Minister who may perform Excellent Services to your Crown in Spain if employed in Italy may prejudice your Affairs there which are to be carried on with other Maximes and manag'd by persons of tempers different from your Spanish Ministers In the choice of Generals and Captains of Armies this Rule is of singular benefit which may appear by that eminent Example of Hannibal inferiour to none in Conduct or Success in Land-Wars but most unhappy in Naval Engagements So rare a thing is a man absolutely wise that can at all times in all places and on all occasions merit the praise of a dextrous Minister Lest the date of your Happiness expire with the Lives of your able Counsellors fail not to train up others for your service in the life-time and under the tuition of your greatest Ministers to be a Nursery of gallant persons whose eminent Abilities and worthy Actions may perpetuate the Felicity of your Estates Take the Romans for your Example who to prevent the Inconvenience might ensue the leaving the stress of their great Affairs to rely and depend on the Life of a single person in all their Armies made provision of several able Commanders assigned to succeed in the Office of General in case of misadventure to the person actually officiating the Chief Charge Never hazard matters of Importance in a time of danger upon their management who were never employed in Affairs of equal weight In which Cases you are to prefer the experience of your Ancient before the Humours of your younger Counsellors 'T is a common Observation that young men are generally bold and credulous as old men fearful and suspitious therefore in the choice of Counsellors respect chiefly the middle Age as a mean between those Extreams But rely most on their Advice who have given proof of their sufficiency in dangerous occasions and are grown gray with the Cares of Government whose Experience may tune the dissonant Humours of jarring Councils to a perfect Harmony But think not I exclude young or old men from your Councils for the Common Observation like General Rules hath its exceptions in many Instances of young men of ripe Understandings and old ones of flourishing Wits and warm Courage I rather commend to your imitation that Roman Medley where the heat of young men was
tempered by the cool and staid prudence of gray-heads and the quintessence of both concurred in men of middle Age who partaking of the vigorous Heat of the former and sober Wisdom of the latter were excellent both for Counsel and Execution and together made up the Body of a Roman Senate The Ancient Greeks in four famous Examples have intimated to us four special means to attain Wisdom The first by Experience Expressed in the Story of Agamemnon and Menelaus represented as persons grown wise by variety of Business and Observations gathered out of frequent Audiences Treaties and Consultations The second is by Histories and Memories which in small Volumns comprehending the Transactions of many Ages afford Instructions useful in Occurrences of the present Times and furnish the Reader with Examples of all sorts discovering not only the miscarriages of former Times but the Causes of them and shewing those Rocks on which unskilful Pilots have split the Ship of State direct the diligent Observer to steer his Course into a safe Port. This we have figured in Solon and Socrates The third by Travel into forraign Countreys to mark the variety of Laws of Policy which may be useful in Occurrences at home represented in Vlysses The fourth in Nestor by long Life where one Lesson learnt yearly swells at last to a System of Wisdom When all these concur in one person they make his person reverend and his Counsels Oracles Nor will it be unsafe to rely on their Advice who have joyned Historical to Experimental Wisdom And though the length of time supposed necessary to attain these several sorts of Wisdom seem to exclude young men from being Masters of any of them yet a young Prince may soon attain them all by frequent converse by the Eminent in every kind and discreet use of their Counsels The second qualification of a Minister is That he be a Good Man Where the exquisit Arts of Hypocrisie those invisible Deceits and Labyrinths in the hearts of Men have made it almost impossible to pronounce a right Sentence without long and accurate Observation of their Actions for Actions may be good in Substance and Effect yet not denominate the Agent a Good Man because they may be done with a bad intent or ill designs or by accident or may proceed from a wavering mind not out of Love to Vertue but to serve its Interest or gratifie it self with more ease and security in some corrupt Lust or vitious Practice to promote which the same person will by and by act things quite contrary to the good now done He only deserves the Title of a Good Man who having well weigh'd the Pleasures and Profits that court men to Vice makes a deliberate Election and gives the preference to Vertuous Courses being satisfied he hath an absolute Obligation to Truth and Goodness devested of all Secular advantages Acts well out of a Generous Principle That 't is his Duty to do so and improves this Principle by constant Practice into an habitual Goodness This is that fix'd immoveable Man that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who must cease to be before he can deviate from the Rules of Vertue Prefer this qualification in your Minister before Riches Favour and all the Goods of Fortune which if they want let them be furnished by you in reward of their Services the rather for that the meaner his Fortune was whom your Bounty exalts the stronger will the Obligation be and his gratitude greater That favour is most acceptable which is proper and agreeable to the humour of him on whom it is bestowed Therefore you are to dispence your Bounties in Honours Profits and Pleasures as most suitable to their various Inclinations And let not your Favourites or Officers deprive you of any part of that Gratitude which is due to your Bounty which they will certainly do if your favours flow not immediately from your self but are got upon their motion and intreaty or conferr'd by their hands Scorn to be so much your Favourites or Domesticks Servant as to confine your self always to their Advice in what concerns your Family or Person but use your Liberty to take Counsel where your Reason suggests the best may be had and prefer the Considerations of Wisdom and Vertue not onely to those of Riches and Honour but the nearest Relations of Domesticks or Favourites not commended by the same qualities to your special respect Cherish Emulation in your Ministers by giving assured Hopes of Nobler Rewards to the better desert but take heed this Emulation between them proceed not to Jealousie and perpetual Dislikes as very prejudicial to your service in the Clashings of their Counsels and Actions and in the envy that attends the Preferment of the most Meritorious which involves the Inferiour in perpetual Discontents and engages him to level all his Designs more to cross and lessen the others Authority and traduce his Services than to promote your Interest 'T is a common Error in Princes of great Parts not to consult with or to neglect the Advice of their ablest Ministers lest these should claim a share in the Glory of their Actions and rob them of part of that Honour which they would intirely enjoy For since the Advice of Counsellors depends so much on the Resolution of the Prince what reason is there but that the Prince may justly assume the intire Glory of the Action though proceeding from his Ministers Advice which if not actuated by the Prince had remained a formless imperfect Embryon without Beauty or Efficacy As the Architect carries the Honour of the Edifice though the Model was framed with the Advice of a Labourer Besides you may make great advantage of sounding the opinion of your Counsellors without imparting to them the Secret of your Designs What is said of Counsellors will be of use in your choice of Governours of Provinces Towns and Places of strength I will adde onely this That I hold it most secure for the Prince to grant such Offices for some short time only to prevent the danger of making Parties and carrying on disloyal Designs which the Opportunities of a long continuance in Office may tempt ambitious Spirits to Nor can frequent Changes of this kind displease the People who are naturally addicted to Novelty and apt to nauseate things accustomed though never so Good Easie Access and free Audience are great Obligations to the Commons especially when you apply Remedies to the Grievances they complain of and by the same means you will gain great Knowledge and Experience in business and an insight into a thousand Designs which otherwise you had never heard of The like and many other good effects will attend the Progresses you are to make into the several parts of your Dominions but take heed the frequency of them render them not contemptible nor the Charge burdensom to your Subjects As they must not be too long intermitted lest hope of impunity move your Deputies and Magistrates to oppress the People and their hopes