falls having a sufficient Vent like Showers of Rain where some run through the Pipes of the Nostrils othersome through the Gutter of the Throat and some fall streight down on the Stomack as the Earth for as it is the Nature of Vapour to spread and to ascend as being Light and Thin so it is the Nature of Water to descend or to run streight forth by reason it is more Solid and Weightier likewise Likewise Coughs are Followers and Attendants of Rheums which by tickling those Parts where it falls or trickles along causeth a straining and so a coughing though many times Wind produceth the same Effect by a tickling touch Also Sneezing is an Attendant to Rheum and Wind and causing a tickling on the Brain or in the Nose for indeed Sneezing is nothing but a Cough through the Nose as through the Throat Likewise Tooth-aches are caused by Rheums for the Rheum falling thereon rots the Bones or makes Holes therein like as Water continually dropping on a hard Stone works a Passage thorow Also Soar Throats are caused by Rheums but that is when the Rheum is sharp or salt Then Winter is subject to cause Apoplexies Lethargies numb Palsies and Gangrenes that are caused by the stoppage of the Pores which as I said are not only drawn closer by Cold which makes the Skin thicker and harder but by the gross and thin Air which is contracted into a more Solid Body by Cold. Thus the breathing Passages of the Body being stopp'd there flyes up so much grosser Vapours to the Head as choaks the Brain and smothers the Vital Spirits there and the Body having less Vent in Winter than in Summer grows so full of Humours as obstructs the Nerves and Muscles with cold clammy or hard baked Flegm as they cannot stir with a sensible Motion for in the Nerves and Muscles doth the Sense of Touching live and where they cease from moving those Parts are dead and numm'd Gangrenes are produc'd by the benumming of the Spirits as when the Spirits are congeal'd to Ice which causeth in very cold Countryes as Russia or the like to have their Noses and Fingers fall off from their Faces and Hands Likewise if the Spirits are quenched out with too much Moysture or their Motions hindered by some Obstruction or as it were corrupted by some Blow Bruise or Wound those Parts for want of Lifes Motion gangrene and so rot off Likewise Fistaloes are subject to this Season because this Season being subject to breed Rheums of all Sorts and Natures according as the Humours are in the Body so it breeds that sharp Rheum which makes Fistaloes for that Humour is as sharp as Vitriol or Aqua fortis and it doth in the Body as Vitriol and Aqua fortis doth on Metal running about and eating holes quite thorow Also this Season is subject to hard white Swellings bred by cold clammy or tough Humours The Stone and the Gout reign in every Season but not in every Age for though Children have the Stone many times yet seldome or never the Got But the Gout although it s not the Stone in the Toe yet it is an Humour which is of the Nature of Lime which is somewhat of a Brimstony Hard Dry Bitumenous Humour Of Cold and Hot Diseases A Cold Disease is apter for Cure than a Hot for Cold Diseases are like Raw Flesh that the Frost hath gotten hold of and makes it unlike it self by reason of the Ice hardning of it but Warmness dissolves it and then it comes to it self again but by Excessive Heat it is as if one should boyl or rost a piece of Flesh for when a piece of Flesh is boyled rosted baked or the like one shall never make it as it was which is to be raw again Of Apoplexies and the like AN Apoplexy is a dead Palsie in the Brain and a Lethargy a numb Palsie in the Brain And the reason many times why dead and numb Palsies when it takes them on one Side ruin the Legs or Arms and yet live is because it hath not touched the Vital Parts which is caused by some Obstruction in the Veins or some of the Nerves which either is by gross and thick Blood or hard and crusted Flegm or cold and clammy Flegm But if it be in the Head which we call Apoplexies it is either caused by a Cold Humour in the Brain which doth as it were congeal and freez up the Spirits or by a Malignant Vapour proceeding from the Stomack or Bowels which Vapour choaks or smothers up the Spirits And indeed the greatest Enemy to the Brain is the Vapour that proceeds from the Ill-affected Bowels or Stomack for Vapour being Smoke ascends upward to the Head which is the Chimney of the Body where the Smoke vents out for the Bowels may be compared to the Hearth the Stomack to the Pot or Furnace the Meat to the Fuel the Heart to the Fire or Flame which is fed by the Liver or Oily Substance the Lungs the Bollows to keep it alive the Head as I said the Chimney to gather up the Smoke the Nose Mouth and Ears the Tunnels from whence it issues out for if the Nose and Mouth be stopped the Fire of Life goeth out and not having Reviving Air it is choked with its own Smoke for though the Pores of the Body do evaporate some of the Smoke yet that is onely the thin and subtiller Part but if the Pores of the Body be stopped by a Cold the Body shall grow Feaverish with it so that many times it sets the House on Fire and when the Head is Idle and Frantick it is because the Head which is the Chimney-top is set on Fire by the Feaver but the Vapour that ascends to the Head is either a great Friend or Enemy to the Wit for a Gross Vapour chokes the Wit a Thin Sharp Vapour quickens it a Cold Vapour congeals it a Hot Vapour inflames it and several sorts of Vapour make variety of Wit and the several Figures and Works and Forms that that Vapour which is a Smoke raiseth up cause several Imaginations and Fancies by giveng several Motions to the Brain Of a Feaver A Feaver is like a Stack of Hay that is laid up half wet and half dry This Moysture and Drought being met together strive for Preheminency the Drought would drink up the Moysture and the Moysture would dissolve the Drought and if their Strength be equal and the Strife be without intermission the Stack is set on Fire caused by an equal swift continuated Motion which consumes all if it be not quenched out by a fresh Recruit of Moysture for Drought takes the part of Fire being the Child of Heat which Heat is the Child of Fire and so is the Grandmother of Drought Thus a Feaver is caused by the Humours of the Body which being not well tempered sets the Barn which is the Body on Fire by the Corruption therein for Heat and Moysture are the Parents to
set the Body on Fire or melts it as Metal in a Furnace producing an Unnatural Heat in the Arteries and inflames the Vital Spirits therein which produceth incurable Hectick Feavers The Effects of Sickness SIckness will destroy that in one Week that Time will not do in twenty Years for Sickness will make Youth look Old and Decrepid when Health makes Age look Young and Spritly Sickness burns up the Body Time wears out the Body and Riot tears out the Body Of the Senses AS all Objects and Sounds that go through the Eye and Ear must first strike and make such a Motion in the Brain before the Mind is sensible thereof so any thing that toucheth the Body goeth first thorow the Pores of the Skin and Flesh and strikes upon the Nerves which Nerves are little Strings or Pipes full of Brain those spread all over the Body and when those are moved as the Brain is in the Skull then the Body is sensible And that is the reason that when the Flesh is bound or press'd up hard close it is numb and hath no feeling because those Pores where it was bound or press'd are stopped and are no more sensible of touch than the Eye or Ear or Nose when they are stopped are sensible of Outward Objects or Sound or Sent. Thus stoppinig the Pores of the Body is as it were Blind or Deaf Sensless and Tastless and this is the reason that when any one is sick or distempered they cannot eat their Meat because the Pores of the Spungie Tongue are stopped either by Weakness Cold or Drought The Senses of the Body equalized with the Senses of the Soul AS the Body hath five Senses Seeing Hearing Smelling Tasting and Touching so hath the Soul for Knowledge is as the Sense of Touch Memory as the Sense of Sight Reason as the Sense of Hearing Understanding as the Sense of Tast and Imagination as the Sense of Smelling as being the most Acry Sense Of Objects THere are three Imperfections in Sight as the Dimness of Age or Weakness Purblind and Squint Age makes all things look misty as if there were a Veil before their Eyes and Purblind makes all things look level or plain without the distinction of Parts a Squint makes all things look double But to look perfect and clear is that the two Eyes make a Triangular Point upon the Object or else the Eyes are like Burning-Glasses which draw all the Lines of Objects to a Point making themselves the Center Of Touch. ALL Pleasure and Pain is Touch and every several part of the Body hath a several Touch for not onely the various Outward Causes give several Touches but every several part receives a several Touch and as the General Sense throughout the whole Body is Touch so every Particular Sense as all Objects touch the Eyes all Sounds touch the Ears all Sent toucheth the Nose all Meat toucheth the Tongue and all those strike and move and so touch the Brain And though all Touches are Motions yet all are several Motions according to the several Parts for all Pain comes by cross and perturbant Motions all Pleasure by even and regular Motions and every particular Sense may receive Pleasure or Pain without affecting or disaffecting or indeed a notice to the rest of the Senses for the particular Senses take no notice of each other And as I said every several part of an Animal hath a several Touch and a several Tast the Loyn doth not tast like the Breast nor the Breast like the Loyn nor the Shoulder like the Breast nor the Neck like the Shoulder nor the Head like the Neck So in Vegetables the Fruit not like the Leaves nor the Leaves like the Rind Thus the Objects as well as the Senses are different Of Pleasure and Pain THere are onely two General Pleasures and two General Pains all the rest are according to Delectation or Reluctation the two General Pleasures are Quiet in the Mind and Ease in the Body the two General Maladies are Trouble in Mind and Pain in the Body But Slavery can be no Bondage if the Mind can be content withall yet the Mind cannot be pleased if the Body be in Pain it may be Patient but not Content for Content is when the Mind desires not change of the Condition of the Life The Cause of Tears and Laughter ANY Extraordinary Motion in the Spirits causeth Tears for all Motions heat according to their Degrees and Heat doth rarifie and separate the thinnest Substance from the thickest as Chymists know right well and all very thin Bodies are fluent and as I may say agil and all that are fluent and agil seek passage and vent So as a Man in this may be similiz'd to a Still as the Atteries for the Furnace of the Still where the Fire which is Motion is put in the Heart the Pan of the Still where the several Passions as several Herbs are put in the Head the Cover of the Still where the Vapour of herby Passions ascends the Eyes the Spout where it runs or drops forth Laughter is produced as Tears are by Extraordinary Motions by which Extreme Laughter will cause Tears Of Tears SOme say Tears are the Juice of the Mind pressed with Grief But Tears proceed from Joy as well as from Sorrow and they are increased by the Moysture of the Brain in some the Spring is dryed But all Passions are apt to pump out Tears as Extreme Sorrow which contracts and congeals by drawing all inward and the reason why Tears be salt is because the Head is a Limbeck which extracts the thinner part from the thicker which thicker is purged by the Nose and Mouth But Tears which are the Essence of Spirits become a kind of a Vitriol Of Musicians being sometimes Mad. THE reason why Musicians are so often Mad is not alwaies Pride bred by the conceit of their rare Art and Skill but by the Motion of the Musick which is swifter than the ordinary Motion of the Brain and by that reason distempers the Brain by increasing the Motion of the Brain to the Motion of the Fiddle which puts the Brain so out of tune as it is very seldom tuneable again and as a Ship is swallowed by a Whirlpit in the Sea so is Reason drown'd in the Whirlpit of the Brain Comparing the Spleen to a Loadstone THE Spleen is like a Loadstone which draws Steel unto it and as the Loadstone is as it were nourished by Steel so the Spleen is opened and clensed Of Physick THE reason why most Men are addicted to the taking of much Physick is out of love to Life thinking that Physick prolongs it I Am about to publish an Additional Part to joyn with my Book of Philosophical Fancies which by reason some part treats of Diseases I recommend to Physicians I mean not Empiricks or Mountebanks such as take the Name and never studied the Science whose Practice is rather to kill than to cure which disgraceth that Noble Profession But
chiefly in the head so their like and dislike to most things proceeds from thence for the brain will be so weary with one and the same motion as the leggs with running and the violenter the senses are the sooner tired they be but there are two chief sortes of pleasure the one wholy dwelling in the senses which is fading the other lasts as long as life and hath a desire to last longer these are those things or thoughts as lie not wholy in the senses but onely found out by them and kept and nourished by the minde in this the senses follow the minde and where the minde leades the senses it walkes them with so moderate a pace and rules them with so equal motions as they are never weary But when the senses lead and rule the minde it is alwayes out of order and is tired in following the uneven strange and violent wayes not knowing where to rest but the reason why displeasure lasts longer then pleasure is because displeasure is of the nature of death For though motion doth not cease as in death yet it is slow and dull and pleasure which is of the nature of life is full of motion bot and violent the one is like a long and tedious sicknes the other like a hot and burning fever that destroyes soon The nature of Man IT is the nature of mankinde to run into extreams for their mindes are as their bodies are for most commonly there is a predominate passion in the one as a predominat humor in the other so that dispositions of men are governed more by passion then by reason as the body is governed more by appetite then by conveniencies The Power of the Senses THe body hath power over the will for the appetite of the five senses draws the will forcibly although reason helps to defend it The appetite is more delighted by degrees then with a full gust But one would think that every several sense did strike but upon one string or nerve for the minde is often moved to one and the same passion by the several senses and again one would think that every several object or subject did strike upon a several nerve although to the pleasure or pain but of one sense and the minde receives several pleasures or griefes from those varieties The happy Farmer THe Farmer and his wife sons daughters and servants are happier then the Kings Nobles or Gentry for a king hath more cares to govern his kingdom then he receives pleasure in the enjoyment The Farmers care is onely to pay his rent which he must have a very hard bargain or be a very ill husband if he cannot do it he takes more pleasure in his labour then the Nobility in their ease his labour gets a good stomack digests his meat provokes sleep quickens his spirits maintains health prolongs life and grows rich into the bargain The Nobility or Gentry their disease of idlenesse deads their stomacks decayes their health shortens their lives besides makes them of inconstant natures and empty purses and their queasy bodies make them desirevariety of wines meats and women and idlenesse wearieth their spirits which makes them wander to several places company games or sports yet ease and riots make finer wits for riots make many vapours and idlenesse breeds thoughts which heates the braine and heat is active and so refines the wit and fires the spirits and hot spirits make ambition ambition wel disposeth mindes produceth worthy actions and honourable reports and not onely fills them with courage but gives them curiosity civility justice and the like but ambition to depraved mindes makes them slaves to base actions as flattering cheating or betraying or any unworthinesse to compasse their ends The vastness of desires THere are few but desires to be absolute in the world as to be the singular work of nature and to have the power over all her other workes although they may be more happy with lesse but nature hath given men those vast desires as they can keep in no limits yet they begin low and humble as for example a man that is very poor and in great wants desires onely to have so much as will serve meer necessity and when he hath that then he desireth conveniences then for decency after for curiosity and so for glory state reputation and fame and though desire runs several wayes yet they aym all at one end If any end there were which is to imbrace all but some say the minde is the measure of happinesse which is impossible unlesse the minde were reasonable for the minde is not satisfied though it had all but requires more so the minde is like eternity alwayes running but never comes to an end Of the Vain Uselesse and unprofitable Wishes I Perceive if men could have their wish of nature or fortune they would wish that which was admired and esteemed by others and not what he received for man seems to build his happinesse in the opinion of others as the chiefest injoyment of pleasure in himself Of desires and fears SOme say that it is a miserable state of minde to have few things to desire and many things to fear but surely the misery lieth onely in the many feares not in the few desires and if desires are pleasing in the birth yet it puts the minde in great pain when they are strangled with the string of impossibilities or at least made sick and faint with improbabilities for if hopes give them life despair gives them death and where one desires enjoyes a possession many thousands are beaten back for desire seldom keeps rank but flies beyond compasse yet many times desires are helped by their grateful servants patience and industry For industry is a kinde of witch-craft for wise industry will bring that to passe as one would think it were impossible but without all doubt that minde that hath the ferest wishes is in the happiest condition for it is as if it had a fruition of all things What desires a man may have to make him happy THe desires for happines are not in the favour of Princes nor in being Princes to have favourites or to be popular nor in the conquering of many nations and men nor in having vast possessions or to be Emperours of the whole world or in the revenge of enemies or to enjoy their beloved or to have many Lovers nor in beauty art wit nor strength but to have health so as to enjoy life and peace to guard it to be praised and not flattered admired but not lusted after to be envyed but not hated to be beloved without ends to love without jealousie to learn without labour to have wise experience without losse to live quietly without fear to be an enemy to none to have pleasure without pain honour and riches without trouble and time to wait on them which every prudent man makes it to do but these are not easily to be had so that the best way to be happy is
or the like or if the Eyes should be placed in the Breast in the Neck or Mouth or the Ears in the Breast or Belly or behind in the Head or if the Arms should be where the Legs are or the Legs where the Arms are set or that an Arm or Hand Leg or Foot should grow out of the Head or if a Man should be in some kind like a Beast and many the like Examples might be given this being against the nature of the kind and not according to the natural shape may be called a Monster Thus there are both ugly Creatures and Monsters the one being a Defect of Nature the other a Fault of Nature or as I may say a Vice in Nature But a right shap'd Toad may be of an ill favour'd kind as not being so handsom a kind as Mankind or many other kinds of Animals for I never heard any Poetical high Expressions of the Commendation of a Toad as to say that is a most beautifull amiable sweet lovely Toad Of Upright Shape THat which makes Man seem so Excellent a Creature above other Animal Creatures is nothing but the Straitness and Uprightness of his Shape for being strait breasted and his Throat so equal to his Breast and his Mouth so equal to his Throat makes him apt for Speech which other Creatures have not for either their Legs Belly or Neck Mouth and Head are uneven or unequally set And this Shape doth not onely make Man fit for Speech but for all sorts of Motion or Action which gives him more Knowledge by the Experience thereof from the Accidents thereby than all other Animals were they joyned together Thus Speech and Shape make Men Gods or Rulers over other Creatures Memory is Atoms in the Brain set on fire SOme say Memory is the folding of the Brain like Leaves of a Book or like Scales of Fishes which by motion of Wind or Vapours are caused by outward Objects which heave up their Folds wherein the Letters or Print of such things as have been represented to it and those things that have been lost in the Memory is either by the reason those Folds have never been opened after they were printed or that the Prints have been worn out as not being engraven deep enough But I think it is as likely that the Brains should be full of little Substances no bigger than Atomes set on fire by Motion and so the Fire should go out and in according as the Motion is slackned or increased either by outward Objects or inward Vapours and when things are lost in the Memory it is when the Fire of those Atomes is gone out and never kindled again and that sometimes the Memory is not so quick as at other times is because some Vapours damp and smother the Fire or quench it out But Memory is the light and life of Man and those that have the most of those kindled Feabers or Atomes are the greatest Wits and the best Poets having the clearest Sparks Now the Substances are plain and not figured in new born Children nor clearly kindled but take Figures as they receive Objects and when they see their Nurse which is the first thing they take notice of then one of those small Substances turns into the Figure of the Nurse yet that Figure being not kindled presently because the moysture of the Brain hinders that Motion that kindles the Fire and the Figure doth no good unless it be thorowly kindled and the brighter it is the perfecter is the Memory And the reason why Children have not so much Knowledge is because they have not so much Heat nor so many Figures in their Brains nor those Substances so clear for Wood that is newly set on fire is not so bright a Fire as when it is half burnt out for Men we see in their middle age have the perfectest Understanding and the reason why Old Men become as Children is because Children are as a Fire that is first kindled and Old Men as Fire that is burnt out Now there are not onely those Figures that the Senses have brought in but new Figures that former Figures have made which are those Fictions which Poets call Fancy and the reason why all Men are not so good Wits as some is because their Fuel is too wet or too dry which are those Atomes and the reason why some Men are not so wise as they might be is because Objects come not in time enough for though they take the Prints yet they take not the Fire Now those Prints or Forms are like Glasses or several Forms of Pots of Earth for though they are formed and figured yet they are not hardned or perfected untill they have been in the Fire so that the Form may be there although not kindled but when they are kindled they are Thoughts which are Memory Remembrance Imagination Conception Fancy and the like Of Reason SOme say Reason is born with a Man as well as Passion but surely we may more certainly say that it is bred with a Man than born with a Man for we see many times that Men are born which have never the use of Reason as those we call Changelings or Naturals but we never saw any Man born without Passion for Passion seizeth the Body as soon as Life and they are inseparable and no more to be separated than Motion and Life for as soon as the Body receives Life it receives Like and Dislike as Pain grieves it and Ease pleaseth it so that Passion is the Sense of Life and Reason the Child of Time But Reason is like the stone or kernel of Fruit-trees which if it be well set with the help of the Sun and Earth may come to be a Tree but yet it is not a Tree whilst it is a Kernel so we may say Man is born with Reason because in time he is capable of Reason but yet he is not a reasonable Creature untill he can distinguish between Good and Evil for himself but as Life begets Sense so Sense begets Reason Thus Reason is a second or third Cause of Nature for Nature works producingly as one thing produceth another and that other a third But Natures first Work and principal Material is Life and Life is Motion and Motion is Nature and Nature is the Servant of God for Art is the Invention of Man and Man the Invention of Nature Of Imagination of Man and Beast ONE Man may know what Imagination another Man hath by the relation of Discourse but Man cannot know what Imaginations Beasts have because they can give no relation to Mans Understanding for want of Discourse wherefore Beasts may have for all any Man knows as strange and as fantastical Humours Imaginations and Opinions as Men and as clear Speculations and Beasts are as busy and as full of Action as Men although not in useless Actions yet it is in the prudent part for the subsistence of Life for themselves and their Young being provident and iudustrious thereunto
are cold and moyst as the Effects of the Sun are hot and dry for we must guess of the Quality or Cause by the Effects besides the Light shews it Water for when the Sun shines upon the Seas the Reflexion casts a Pale Light so the Moon gives a Silver Light Of the Prospect of Water WE cannot see with a Perspective glass the several Drops of the Sea as we see the several Parts in a Heap of Sand for if we look into the Sea it only shews a shining Body but look on the Sand and every little Grain will seem a little Stone and so a small Heap seems like a Rock and the Perspective shews perfectly what it is because it lyes in distinct Parts which may be magnified But we cannot magnifie the Drops of Water because it is a Liquid Body where every part mingles into one another or cleaves so close as it becomes one entire Body so as there are no distinct Parts visible Of Perspectives JUST as a Perspective glass carries the sight afar off so a Trunk or Pipe conveys the sound and voyce to the Ear at a great distance Thus we may perceive that the Figure of a round Circle hath the nature to gather up and to draw to a Point all Species whatsoever for they do not onely gather these from the Brain but those that come from outward Objects and the more round Circles there are the straiter and further the several Species go and the sharper is the Point as being bound not having Liberty to stray forth That is the reason that the longer the Perspective is or the Pipe or Trunk the clearer and perfecter we see and hear for a Pipe or a hollow Trunk gathers up the several Letters and Words as a Perspective gathers up the several Objects Besides the Eye and the Ear are much of the nature of a Burning-glass which gathers all the loose and scattered Beams of the Sun to a Point becoming there so strong being united as the Reflexion strike upon all Bodies it meets and peirceth into whatsoever is Porous Just so the Reflexions of what the Senses have gathered together strike upon the Optick Nerve and peirce into the Brain and if the Species of Sense were so material as those Species which are drawn from grosser Bodies the Nose would see a Sent and the Ear see a Sound as well as the Eyes see a grosser Object which is presented to it But the Matter being Thin and Aery the Objects cannot be so soild and substantial as to make a Figurative Body to last so long as for our gross Senses to see Of going about the World IT is said that Drake and Cavendish went round the World and others because they set out of one place and went till they came to the same place again without turning But yet in my conceit it doth not prove they went round the whole World for suppose there should be round Circle of a large Extent and within this Circle many other Circles and likewise without so that if one of these inward or outward Circles be compass'd shall we say it was the Circumference Circle when it may be it was the Center Circle But it may easily deceive the Understanding since we can truly judge but according to what we sind and not to what we know not But surely the World is bigger than Mens Compass of Embracing and Man may make a Globe of what he knows but he cannot make a Globe of what he knows not so that the World may be bigger than Man can make Globes for any thing he knoweth perfectly This Globe Man makes for the whole World is but an inward Circle and that there may be many of them which we do not know because not found out as yet although Ships are good Scouts to bring Intelligence Of Nature WE find that Nature is stinted her self as well as Man is stinted by her for she cannot go beyond such Rules and Principles which shews there is something more powerfull than Nature as to govern her as she governs the World for if she were not limited there might be new Worlds perpetually and not a Repetition in this course of one and the same Motion Matter and Form which makes it very probable that Nature hath wrought to the height of her Invention and that she hath plowed and sowed to the length of her Limits and hath reaped the plentifullest Crops or at least as plentifull as she can which makes it very Unlikely or indeed Impossible that there should be better and quicker Wits or sounder Judgements or deeper Understandings or exacter Beauties or purer Virtues or clearer Truths than have been in former Ages and we find by her Acts past that all was begot from the first-grounded Principles Variation indeed there may be but not any thing entirely new And that there have been as good if not better in the same kind before Neither can we rationally think but the very same Patterns of all her Principles have been before in the Generality of her Works although not made known in the Particulars of every of her Works But every Age are apt to flatter themselves out of a Natural Self-love that Nature hath out-wrough her former Works which if so there must be no Perfection because no End of Increasing for nothing can be Perfect that hath a Superiour or which is not finished and done or that Nature being Imperfect cannot finish what she hath begun or that her Principles are Imperfect which she works upon But we find that Nature hath a constant and setled course in all she doth and whatsoever she works are but Patterns from her old Samplers But the several Stiches which are the several Motions are the same and the Stuff which she worketh upon which is the Matter is the same and the Figures she makes are after the same kind and we find through many ages since that it is the same as Salomon saith Nothing is new c. Of Augury BY the Sympathy and Antipathy of Matter or at least in the several Forms of all so in the Motion of Nature if Man the chief Work of Nature would observe we might foreknow Effects to come by past Effects and present Effects if we would but study the Art which in former times those that were called Augures were learned in and certainly did foretell many things truly well and without the help of a Devil but by Natural Observations of Natural Effects though unknown Causes And why may not this Learning be as well as Astronomy which by Observations of Effects hath found out the Reason of Eclipses and can foretell their times and many other things concerning all the Planets and fixed Stars And why not as well as Physicians that have found out the Effects of Vegetables and Minerals and the Diseases by which kind and waies of applying hath produced a Cure which is not onely a Restauration but a kind of Creation and can foretell whether such kind of Diseases are
surely invention is easier then imitation because invention comes from nature and imitation from paintul and troublesome inquirie and if he goeth not just the path that hath been trod before him he is out of the way which is adouble pain at first to know the path and then to tread it out but invention takes his own wayes besides invention is easie because it is born in the brain Where imitation is wrought and put into the brain by force EPISTLE SOme say as I heare that my book of Poemes and my book of Philosophical Fancies was not my own and that I had gathered my opinions from several Philosophers To answer the first I do protest upon the grounds of Honour honesty and Religion they are my own that is my head was the forge my thoughts the anvil to beat them out and my industry shaped them and sent them forth to the use of the world if any use may be made thereof but my Lord was the Master and I the Prentice for gathering them from Philosophers I never converst in discourse with any an hour at one time in my life And I may swear on my conscience I never had a familiar acquaintance or constant conversation with any prosest Scholar in my life or a familiar acquaintance with any man so as to learn by them but those that I have neer relation to as my Husband and Brothers it is true I have had the honour sometime to receive visits of civility from my Noble and Honorable acquaintance wherein we talk of the general news of the times and the like discourse for my company is too dull to entertain and too barren of wit to afford variety of discourse wherefore I bend my self to study nature and though nature is too specious to be known yet she is so free as to teach for every straw or grain of dust is a natural tutor to instruct my sense and reason and every particular rational creature is a sufficient School to study in and our own passions and affections appetites and desires are moral Doctors to learn us and the evil that follows excesse teaches us what is bad and by moderation we finde and do so learn what is good and how we ought to live and moderate them by reason and discourse them in the minde and there is few that have not so much natural capacity and understanding but may know if not finde out what is needful for life without artificial education for nature is the chief master art and education but the under ushers in the School of life for natural objections may be applied without the help of arts and natural rules of life may lead us safe and easy wayes to our journeys end and questionlesse nature was the first guide before art came to the knowledge and if it were not for nature art many times would lose her followers yet let nature do what she can art oft times will go out of the right way but many will say it is the nature of man that invents and the nature of man to erre that is t is the nature of man to be so ambitious as to strive to be wiser then nature her self but if nature hath given men ambition yet nature hath given men humilitie to allay that fiery appetite and though nature hath given men ignorance yet nature hath given men undestanding to bring them out of that darknesse into the light of knowledge and though nature hath obscured the secrets of the natural cause yet he hath given men nature to observe her effects and imaginations to conjecture of her wayes and reason to discourse of her works and understanding to sinde some out and these gifts are general to mankinde wherefore I finde no reason but my readers may allow me to have natural imagination understanding and inquiries as well as other Philosophers and to divulge them as they have done if that they beleeve that I am produced by nature and not by artifices hand cut out like a stone-statue but if my readers will not allow my opinions and fancies to be my own yet truth will but there is a natural education to all which comes without pains taking not tormenting the body with hard labour not the minde with perturb'd study but comes easy and free through the senses and grows familiar and sociable with the understanding pleasant and delightful to the contemplation for there is no subject that the sense can bring into the minde but is a natural in structour to produce the breeding of rational opinions and understanding truthes besides imaginary fancies if they will give their minde time as to think but most spend their time in talk rather then in thought but there is a wise saying think first and speak after and an old saying that many speak first and think after and doubtlesse many if not most do so for we do not alwayes think of our words we speak for most commonly words flow out of the mouth rather customarily then premeditately just like actions of our walking for we go by custome force and strength without a constant notice or observation for though we designe our wayes yet we do not ordinarily think of our pace nor take notice of every several step just so most commonly we talk for we seldom think of our words we speak nor many times the sense they tend to unlesse it be some affected person that would speak in fine phrases and though speech is very necessary to the course of mans life yet it is very obstructive to the rational part of mans minde for it imployes the minde with such busy and unprofitable maters as all method is run out of breath and gives not contemplation leave to search and enquire after truth nor understanding leave to examine what is truth nor judgment how to distinguish truth from falshood nor imagination leave to be ingenious nor ingenuity leave to finde invention nor wit leave to spin out the fine and curious threed of fancy but onely to play with words on the tongue as balls with rackets Besides a multiplicity of words consounds the solid sense and rational understanding the subject in the discourse yet to think very much and speak yery seldom makes speeed uneasy and the tongue apt to faulter when it is to deliver sense of the matter they have and want of uncustomary speaking makes the Orator to seek for words to declare the sense of his meaning or the meaning of his sense besides want of eloquence many times loseth not onely rational opinions but conceals truth it self for want of perswading rhetorick to raise up belief or to get understanding so that a contemplatory person hath the disadvantage of words although most commonly they have the advantage of thoughts which brings knowledge but life being short those that speak much have not time to think much that is not time to study and contemplate wherefore it is a great losse of time to speak idle word that is words that are
to perswade themselves to be content with that they have and to desire no more then honest industry may easily purchase Of the minde and the body THe minde and the body must be married together but so as the minde must be the husband to govern and command and the body the wife to obey and reason which is the judge of the minde must keep the senses in awe for as reason is the property of the minde so the senses are the property of the body but there is no judge more corrupted then reason or takes more bribes and the senses are the bribers for the eye corcupts it with beauty the ear with melodious sounds and so the sent taste and touch which makes false reason gives false judgment so as the minde may be an over-fond husband that would be a wise man were he not perswaded from it by the follies of his wife Of Riches and Poverty Necessity and poverty teacheth to dissemble flatter and shark for their advantage and lively-hood and long custom makes it a habit and habit is a second nature for what Poverty breeds many times proveth base and unworthy being necessitated to quit honour or life where most commonly life is chosen first besides poverty wants means to learn what is best for the poorer sort generally never standeth upon the honour of speaking the truth or keeping their word for they lie at the watch to steal what they can get when a rich-man vaving no wants to necessitate him but lives at plenty which keeps him not onely from that which is base but perswades to things that are Noble Riches make a man ambitious of Honourable Fame which desires make them rule their Actions to the length of good opinions but poverty is ambitious of nothing but riches and thinks it no dishonour to come to it any any way Thus poverty is ambitious of riches and riches of honours Riches as a Golden father beget a bastard gentry and poverty is the death and burial of it but the pure and true born gentry comes from merit from whence proceeds all noble and Heroick Actions it is nourished in the Court of Fame taught in the schooles of honour lives in the monarchical Goverment of justice Of Robbers or factious men THere be three sorts of Robbers as first those those that take away our goods as plate money jewels corn cattle and and the like The second are murtherers that take away life The third are factious persons which are not onely the cause of the taking away our goods which we call movable and our lives but our religion our frends our laws our liberties and peace For a factious man makes a commotion which commotion raiseth civil wars and civil war is a division in the bowels or heart of the State as to divide commands from obedience obedience from commands rending and breaking affections raising of passions so as a factious man is a humane Devil seeking whom he can devour insinuating himself into favour with every man that he may the better stir up their spirits to fury presenting them with grievances to catch in discontent speaking alwayes in Cyphers and characters as if it were a dangerous time and that they lived under a Tyrannioal government when they may speak as freely as they can live and live as freely as they think with free dom of thoughts which nothing but death can cut off but if they did live under a Tyrannical Government they ought not to reform by their passion nor to disobey with their grivances but it is both wise and honest to be a time-server so they go not through dishonourable actions for he that runs against the times is a disturber of the peace and so becomes factious which is the track of evil nature There is a difference betwixt a Rogue a dishonest man and a Knave THe Rogue is one that will act any villanie as murther sacriledge rapin or any horrid act the dishonest man is one that is ungrateful that will receive all curtesies but will return none though he be able and a breaker of his word as for example if a man should promise another man out of a sudden fondnesse and without witnesse a hundred pounds a yeer and after repenting of it should break his promise yet it is a dishonest part though they take nothing from the man that he could challenge for his own for he gave but a word of promise and a word is nothing unlesse had witnesse to make it an act by law And again if a man goeth to a Fair and seeth a horse that he likes and prayeth his neighbour to buy him that horse he goeth and likes him and buyeth the horse for himself so though he takes nothing from his neighbour by the reason the horse was none of his yet it is a dishonest part beacause his neighbour trusted him in it and many other wayes which would be too tedious to write but the Knave is not onelyone that wil break his word or neglect his trust but he will betray his trust and although he will not actually act murther yet for gain he will betray a life and though he will not break open houses and commit Robberies or any thing against the law yet he wil cozen where the law cannot take hold of him or do any thing that is not absolute against the laws and a knave takes more pleasure in his close wayes of deceiving then in the profit though that is sweet for many do not cozen for the various delights for the senses but delights himself in the various wayes of deceiving Nor is he wiser then the honest man though he think he be nor is it that he thinks himself wiser then an honest man for a wise honest man may be cozened by a crafty knave for wisdom goeth upon honest grounds and takes truth to be her guide but craft upon dishonest grounds and takes falshood to be her guide but some will say that a wise man will not trust a knave but how shall a wise man know a knave not by his face for a knave is not known by his face but by his acts nor by his report for report is a great Cozner Of Knaves THere are three sorts of knaves the foolish the crafty and the wicked knave the foolish and wicked knave most commonly comes under the lash of the laws but the crafty knave is too hard for the laws that they can get no hold of him and many times he makes them bawds for his Adulterate wayes yet it is better for a master to have an industrious knave to his servant then a negligent fool for an industrious knave although he steal one peny for himself he will gain at least another for his master not onely to hide his theft by it but because he would be imployed and keep his service but fooles lose in both For a man to be honest to himself MAny think that honesty is bound onely to the regard of others and not
some Writers and others For some Ages are like old Nestor wise others like Ulysses eloquent some like Achilles valiant others like Paris amorous and effeminate some like Hercules striving to suppress Vice others like wicked Nero that alwaies strive to tyrannize over Vertue making War and Faction some like Orpheus Harp that charmes the spirits with Peace And as the Starrs have an Influence over every particular so they take their turns to govern and are predominant over every Age But I find I live in a Carping age for some sind fault with my former Writings because they are not Grammar nor good Orthography and that all the last words are not matched with Rime and that the Feet are not in just Numbers As for the Orthography the Printer should have rectisied that for I think it is against Nature for a Woman to spell right for my part I confess I cannot and as for the Rimes and Numbers although it is like I have erred in many yet not so much as by the negligence of those that were to oversee it for by the false printing they have not only done my Book wrong in that but in many places the very Sense is altered as for surfets sercutts wanting wanton like slaming sire to burn they have printed a sire Gunn and many other words they have left out besides and there is above a hundred of those faults so that my Book is lamed by an ill Midwife and a Nurse the Printer and Overseer but as for the Grammar part I confess I am no Scholar and therefore understand it not but that little I have heard of it is enough for me to renounce it for if I have any wit it is so little that it would be lost in scholastical Rules besides it were worse to be a pedantick woman than a pedantick man yet so ill it is in man that it doth as is were degrade him from being Magnanimous and Heroick for one shall seldome sind a generous and valiant Heart and a pedantical Brain created or bred in one Body but those that are nobly bred have no Rules but Honour and Honesty and learn in the School of Wisdom to understand Sense and to express themselves sensibly and freely with a gracefull negligence not to be hide-bound with nice and strict words and set Phrases as if the Wit were created in the Inkhorn and not in the Brain besides say some should onebring up a new way of speaking then were the former Grammar of no effect besides I do perceive no strong reason to contradict but that every one may be his own Grammarian if by his natural Gramar he can make his Hearers understand his sense for though there must be Rules in a language to make it sociable yet those Rules may be strictor than need to be and to be too strict makes them to be too unpleasant and uneasy But Language should be like Garments for though every particular Garment hath a general Cut yet their Trimmings may be different and not go out of the fashion so Wit may place Words to its own becoming delight and advantage and not alter Langage nor obstruct the Sense for the more liberty we have of Words the clearer is Sense delivered As for Wit it is wilde and fantastical and therefore must have no set Rules for Rules Curb and Shackle it and in that Bondage it dies The Worlds Olio LIB II. PART I. The Vulgar Part of Mankind Allegory MOST Mens Minds are Insipid having no Balsamical Virtue therein they are as the Terra Damnata of Nature And their Brains most commonly are like Barren Grounds which bear nothing but Mossy Ignorance no Flowers of Wit The Course of their Lives are like those that dig in a Coal-pit their Actions as the Coals therein by which they are smucht and blackt with Infamy or else their Actions are like a Sexton which digs a Grave to bury the Life in Oblivion Allegory 1. THE Mind is like a Commonwealth and the Thoughts as the Citizens therein or the Thoughts are like Houshold-servants who are busily imployed about the Minds Affairs who is the Master Allegory 2. Quick busy Thoughts suck Vapour from the Stomach to the Head as Water through a Straw sucked by the Mouth But strong working Thoughts draw Vapours up as Water is drawn with Buckets out of a Well Allegory 3. THE Brain of a man is the Globe of the Earth and Knowledge is the Sun that gives the light therein Understanding is the Moon that changeth according as it receivs light from the Sun of Knowledge Ignorance is the Shadow that causeth an Eclipse the four Quarters are Infancy Youth Manhood and Age for Experience makes the full Moon Or Knowledge is the Brain and Understanding the Eyes of the Brain where all eyes do not see clearly some are purblind those can only perceive but not with perfect distinctions some Squint and to those all Objects seem double like a Fanus face some are weak either by Sickness or by Age and they see all as in a Mist thick and obscure some are starck blind and they see nothing at all Thus they that have clear eyes of Understanding in the brain of Knowledge have a good and solid Judgement the Purblinde is to be obstinate in an Opinion making no distinction of Reason a Squint is to be doubtfull which makes double Objects as whether it be or be not a weak Eye is to have a narrow Capacity to be blind is to be a very Fool. Allegory 4. THE World is the Ground whereon the Mind draws and designs with the Pencils of Appetite the actions of Life mixing the Colours of several Objects together with the Oil of Thoughts and Dislikes are the Dark Colours which shaddow the Light of pleasures Allegory 5. THE Mind is a Garden where all manner of Seeds be sown Prosperities are the fine painted Tulips Innocency the white Lillies the four Vertues are the sweet Gilliflowers Roses Violets and Prim-roses Learning is the tastable and savoury Herbs Afflictions are Rue Wormwood Rubarb which are bitter to the Taste but yet wholsome and beneficial to the curing the sick and distempered Soul purging the superfluous vanity thereof and serve as Antidotes against Vice as Pride Ambition Extortion Covetousness and the like which are Night-shade and Helebore Poppy is Stupidity Sloth and Ignorance are Weeds which serve for no use Allegory 6. THE Thoughts are like Stars in the Firmament where some are fix'd others like the wandring Planers others again are only like Meteors which when their Substance is wasted their Light goeth out their Understanding is like the Sun which gives Light to all the rest of the Thoughts Memory is like the Moon which hath its New its Full and its Wain Allegory 7. MAN is like the Globe of the World and his Head as the highest Region wherein Knowledge as the Sun runs in the Ecliptick Line of Reason and gives light of Understanding to all the rest of the Thoughts as
thousand A Wicked Mans Heart is like a Snake of Wier put up round in a Box that when it is opened by base or cruel Actions it flyes in the Face of those that stand by it Of the Thoughts Allegory 42. THE Thoughts of Men are like the Pulses of Men the well-temper'd Pulse beats even strong and slow but a hot Constitution beats even strong and quick a feaverish Pulse beats double and quick but in a high Feaver the Pulse beats treble and sometimes seems to stand still and in a cold Constitution the Pulse beats slow and dull so the Thoughts of those that have slow strong and even Thoughts are Wise and Judicious those that are even strong and quick are Witty and Ingenious those that are double and quick have ready Wits but no Judgements those that have treble Thoughts and sometimes seem to stand still are Mad but have strong Fancies and those that are slow and dull have neither Wit nor Judgement There is no way to clear Thoughts but by Words Of Melancholy Allegory 43. MElancholy persons are never in the Mean but alwaies in Extremes as to be sometimes in an humour of extreme Laughter other times possest with high Fears passionate Weeping violent Anger or Rage and so with stupid Dulness and know not why and yet Rational Persons and therefore it is not alwaies Outward Objects but Inward Dispositions as the working of the Spirits or the motion of the Body for Melancholly Persons have thick gross heavy Humours when the Humour is rarified it moves Laughter when heated Anger when moved with desperate Fear the Smoke which is the breathing of it distils into Tears when setled and cold Stupid so this one Humour brings several Passions 44. WOrds of Commendations mixt with the Flowers of Rhetorick make a sweet Posie of Joy when they are bound up with the Beams of Pleasant Eyes But words of Reproach bound up with the Wrinkles of Frowns make a Rod to whip an Offender 45. THey that take Self-Love for their Guide ride in the Waies of Partiality on the Horse of Flattery to the Judge of Falshood and they that take Reason for their Guide ride in the Way of Probability on a Horse of Prudence towards the End of Truth 46. SPight creeps like a Snake out of the Bank of base Thoughts to sting the name of good Fame 47. THE Animal Figure of Mankind I will similize to an Island the Blood as the Sea that runs about the Mouth as the Haven which receive the Ships of Provision which are Meat Drinke or Mrechandice of Luxurious and Superfluous Meats and Drinks which cause many times the ruin of the Island like as a Rebellious Pride so the Humours of the Body swelling with malignity ruinate the Body by a sudden Usurpation as dead Palsies Apoplexies or the like but the exterior Senses are the Forts and the vital parts are like the Magazine which as long as they are secured and that there are Provisions they are safe but if once they are taken the Island is utterly lost and ruinated besides the Island is in great danger to be over-flowed for the Blood which is as the Sea being alwaies in perpetual motion running about Ebbing and Flowing through the narrow Veins and large Arteries if by chance it break through the Arteries or over-flow the small Veins it drowns the Island wherefore Chyrurgions which are like Drayners should cut Sluces to let it out 48. A Married life is an Olio Podrido of several Troubles and Vexations mixt together and say the chief Meat should be Turtle Doves though they are most commonly Scolding Daws yet Jealousie is the Sauce and Broth thereto Sickness and pain in Breeding and Bearing of Children are the Limmons and Oranges that are mixed therin On this Dish a Married life feeds which produceth no good Nourishment but breeds raw indigested cholerick and melancholy Humours but a single Solitariness is a Dish which is made with Ingredients of Peace Happiness Pleasure and Delight This Dish produceth good Nourishment and the Life oft-times invites the Muses to feed thereon 49. LIfe is like the Shell of a Nut and Reputation like the Kernell therein which if the Teeth of Time crack gently the Kernell comes out whole but if it crack it too rustly or hard it breaks the Shell and bruises the Kernel or champs it all in pieces 50. FRiendship is like to two Convex Glasses where the Species come forth and meet each other 51. THE Mind is like Nature and the several Thoughts are the several Creatures it doth create Forgetfulness is the Death and Remembrance the Life 52. JUstice should be a mans Governour Prudence his Counsellor Temperance his Friend Fortitude his Champion Hope his Food Charity his House Faith his Porter to keep out all Falshood and to let in none but Truth Wit his Companion Love his Bedfellow Patience his Mistris or HandMaid Reason his Secretary and Judgement his Steward 53. PRudence through the ground of Misery cuts a River of Patience where the Mind Swims in Boats of Tranquillity along the Streams of Life untill it come to the Shore of Death where all Streams meet 54. A Child's Brain is like ground uncultivated and Time the Husbandman with the several Senses which are as Plows throwing up the Furrows of Conception and soweth Seeds of Thoughts from whence sprout up several Opinions and Fancies 55. OR a Child's Brain is like an Island uninhabited and the Blood in the Veins is the Sea that doth surround it but Time the great Navigator plants it with Strength which causeth the Spirits as Merchants to traffique thereto by which it becomes populated with Thoughts and builds Towers of Imaginations the Magistrates which are Opinions dwell therin but the Castles of Fancie are for the Muses who attend the Queen of Wit but all Brains are not fertile alike but are like Islands that are neer the Poles which are inhabited with nothing but Wild Beasts as Ruff and Rude Bears others though they be neerer the Sun yet are Incipid and Barren being full of Heaths bearing nothing but Mossy Ignorance or else Moorish being full of Boggs of Sloth where Lives are swallowed up sinking insensibly and some other Brains have rich Soils but want the manuring of Education whereby the Thoughts which are the people grow lazy and live brutishly but those Brains that have rich Soils moderatly peopled well manured having not more peopled Thoughts than work for their Industry or so few as not to manage or imploy every part therein these Brains are fortified with Understanding Governed by Judgment Civilized by Reason Manured by Experience whereby they reape the plenty of Wisdome and live in peacefull Tranquillity and being inriched with Invention grow pleasant with Recreations making Gardens of Pleasure wherein grow Flowers of Delight and planting Orchards of various Objects which the several Senses bring in these grow tall Trees of Contemplations whereon the Birds of Poetry sit and sing and peck at the Fruit
them for an Opinion is but a guesse of what may be a Truth but men should be as free to Opinions as Opinions to them to let them come and go at pleasure The Opinions of some Philosophers Essay 128. IF it be as some say that the First Matter was from all Eternity it is a Deity and God the Order of Nature from all Eternity For what had no begining sure is a Deity Thus Philosophers by their Arguments make three Deities although they hold but one Of Power Essay 129. THose have not an absolute Power that Oportunity can break but he that hath assurance of a Continuancy wherefore Fear gives not so much assurance as Love for Fear is jealous and therefore would be ready to break all Bonds of Authority But Duty and Love are constant and carefull to keep Unity which is Peace Love gives Obedience with Joy Fear gives Obedience with Murmure and Murmure is a Forerunner of Rebellion wherefore he that hath most Love hath most Power Of Love Essay 130. Pure and true Affection is not to be measured by the length of Years nor weighed by the Wealth nor compassed by the Life for neither Measures Scales nor Compasses can take the Weight the Breadth the Height the Depth nor compass the Circumference Of the Senses Essay 131. AND those that have their Senses perfect and much imployed with Varieties must needs know more than those that have them defective or not practised yet the Senses make not the Understanding but the Brain and not the Brain only but such a tempered Brain or such a moved Brain But some Brains move like Pulses some being distempered as beating either too slow or too quick but when the Brain moves even and strong it shews a healthfull Understanding when it moves even strong and quick it shews there is much spirit of Fancy or blood of Invention Of Melancholy Essay 132. MElancholy of all other Humours is the Activest busying the Mind of Man with vain Imaginations shuffling the Thoughts cutting the Passions Cozening themselves and losing the Judgement this Humour proceeds from the ill-affected Body rather than from an ill-affected Mind It only lives and is cherished in the Mind but is bred by a weak Stomach and is born from an ill Spleen but Grief Sorrow and Sadness are bred in the Mind begot by an outward effect So Melancholy Men may be said to be Idle or Musing but not Sorrowfull or Sad for they take more pleasure in their Melancholy than others in their Mirth but those that are Melancholy are as great a Punishment to their Friends as a sweet Happiness to themselves Of a dull or Melancholy Disposition proceeding from the Body and the Melancholy proceeding from the Soul Essay 133. I Cannot call it Melancholy but rather a dull Disposition which is caused by a heavy black Humour or a cold thick humour or a slimy glassie humour or a sharp Vitreolbred in the Body which penetrates the Body as it were or stupifies the Senses and quenches the Natural Heat Thus the Body like Stone Walls up or imprisons the Soul or Mind wherein it can neither be Active nor Free this causeth a dull and sad Disposition which kind of Disposition hath few Desires and reguards not any thing nor takes pleasure in Life but lives as if it lived not Where true Melancholy is a serious Consideration it examines the Worth and Nature of every thing it seeks after Knowledge and desires Understanding it observes strictly and most commonly distinguisheth judiciously applyeth aptly acteth with ingenuosity useth Time wisely lives honestly dies contentedly and leaves a Fame behind it Where a dull Disposition is lasy and idle neither considers nor observes but lives like a carved Statue dies like a Beast that cares for no Monumental Remembrance The variety of Wit Essay 134. MErcury is feigned the Patron of Theeves because Mercury is Eloquent and Eloquence steals away the Hearts of men by consenting to follow after the perswasions of Rhetorick so he is feigned to be the most talkative God because the chief part of Rhetorick lies in the use of the Tongue Wit is the God of Fancy a world of Arts a Recreation to time a Disposer of Passions it sweetens Melancholy dresses Joy it quenches Fears raiseth Hopes easeth Pains an Orator of Love and a Denier of Lust It mourns with Sorrow mends Faults it moves Compassion begs Pardon a Perswader to Virtue an Adornment to Beauty a Veil to Imperfection the Delight of Life Musick to the Ears a Charm to the Senses it is a Child of the Brain it is begot by Experience and fed with Heat Wit is like Proteus in several Forms as the Arms of Mars Joves Thunderbolt Neptunes Trident Plutes Cerberus Vulcans Net Pallass Lance Apollos Harp Circes Wand Minervas Loom Mercuries Rod Venus Doves Pans Pipe Cupids Arrow the Center of the Earth it is Boreas to Raise Storms it is Zephyrus to refresh it is Revenges Sword and Deaths Sith Glories Throne Beauties Pencil Oblivions Resurrection the Worlds Delight Lifes Guide Loves Fire Fames Trumpet and the Mother of Nature So he that hath a true-born Wit hath all Of Poets Essay 135. POets do somtimes like Painters that draw an excellent Beauty but give it such a Dress that it neither becomes it nor will it last in fashion in all places or times so Poets may have excellent Fancies but clothe them in such harsh andvulgar accustomed Language as they become Deformed There are three sorts of things go to a good Poet Viz. Fancy Number and Rhime To converse with Poets sweetens the Nature not softens it to make it Facile but civiliseth it making it Curteous Affable and Conversable Inspiring the Mind with High and Noble Fictions Disguisement by Description Essay 136. AS ill Painters in setting out the Beauty of the External do oft leave to Posterity of well form'd Faces a deform'd Memory so weak Writers in describing of the Virtue of the Internal and the gallant Actions of a Life either by their mean Rhetorick or weak Judgement the most Perfect and Princely men are described with a defective Representation Of Passionate Expressions Essay 137. PAssionate Verses or Speeches must not be read in a Treble Note but in a Tenor and somtimes full as low as a Base especialy when the Passion is high ad elevately exprest for then the Voice must be sad or solemn which moves in Descending not Raised Notes which are Light and Acry raising their Tone to a whyning Tune that is like a squeaking Fiddle or a squeaking Voice but a serious Speech a Solemn Note and a Sober Countenance must be joyn'd together to express a sad Passion to the life besides the words must be spoke Soft and Gentle and not prest and struck too hard against the Lips or Teeth or Tongue but they must be pronounced Swiftly and Harmoniously to move the Heart to pity the Eyes to be filled with Tears and to draw the Soul as it were through the Ears to
all the rest are begot or derived Also there are but two Parent-Dispositions in the Body the one good the other bad from whence Dispositions are begot or derived A good Disposition is caused by an equal Temper of the Constitution of the Body and an orderly Habit belonging thereunto also when the Humours therein be fresh sweet clear and thin A bad Disposition is caused from an unequal Temper of the Body and a disorderly Habit belonging thereunto also when the Humour is gross muddy corrupt and full of malignity But Love and Hate are created in the Mind increased and abated by Imaginations Conceptions Opinions Reason Understanding and Will But those two Parent-Passions and Dispositions do so resemble one another as they are often times mistaken being taken one for another When the inbred Humours of the Body produce one kind and the Nature of the Mind another Of a Hating Disposition or a Passionate Hate THere is a difference betwixt a Hating Disposition and a Passionate Hate A Hating Disposition is produced from a Weak Constitution of Body and an overflowing of Malignant Humours which rise like a High Tide which cause an Aversion Loathing or Nauseousness to their Object or Subject From this Disposition proceeds Frights and Fears Soundings and Faintings as at the sight of what they hate but when it is against their own kind it produceth Malicious Thoughts Slandering Words and Mischievous Actions But Passionate Hate makes open War and onely pursueth that which it thinks is Evil and is the Champion of Virtue the Sword of Justice the Guard and Protector of Innocents and the Pillar of Commonwealths Of Loving Dispositions and Passionate Love THere is a Loving Disposition and the Passion of Love This Loving Disposition proceeds from Moyst Humours and a Sanguine Constitution which makes the Disposition facile or pitiful tender-hearted as we say and Amorously kind From this Disposition Tears flow often through the Eyes large Professions and Protestations fond Embracements kind Words and dear Friendships as long as it lasts but dissolved upon every small Occasion and never fails to break all to pieces and those pieces to rise up as Enemies if any Misfortune comes But Passionate Love professeth but a Little and promiseth Nothing but will endure all Torments and dye Millions of several waies if it had so many Lives to give for what is loves Of Amorous Love AMorous Dispositions are a Mullet and an Extravagancy of Nature got betwixt the Humours of the Body and the Passions of the Mind for the Passions of the Mind and the Dispositions of the Body although they be taken by the Ignorant for one and the same having some resemblance as a Horse and an Ass yet they are of two several kinds and different Natures the one being Industrious Couragious Generous Noble and Free the other Slothfull Fearfull and fit for Slavery But the Passions of the Mind are Rational the Humours of the Body Bestial for Lust is the Natural Breed of a Sluggish Body Pure Love the Natural Breed of a Rational Soul But Amorosity is begot betwixt both being not so foul as Lust nor so pure as Love but is of a mixt nature and like Mules that produce no Creature so Amorosity neither produceth a Noble Of-spring from the Mind nor seldome any Issue from the Body for it is rather a whining Contemplation than a real Act. Of a Cholerick Disposition and a Cholerick Passion THere is a difference betwixt a Cholerick Disposition and a Cholerick Passion A Cholerick Disposition proceeds from a dry hot Constitution and a bitter or salt Humour that is bred in the Body either by an evil habit of the Liver and Stomack or an unwholsome Diet This produceth a froward Disposition being alwaies a Disquiet to it self which causes the Words to be cross the Voyce to be loud the Countenance to be stern and the Behaviour ruff and rude But a Cholerick Passion is the Fire of the Mind giving Heat to the Thoughts which raiseth Ambition and gives Courage to the Active Vigour to the Strong Quickness to the Words Confidence to the Countenance with a Resolved Behaviour c. The Sympathy of the Spirits THere are Sympathies of Sensitive Spirits and Rational Spirits the one proceeds from the Body the other from the Mind or Soul the one is Fondness the other is Love this makes Fondness last no longer than the Senses are filled which every Sense is not onely capable of a Satisfaction of every particular Object but an overflowing even to a Surfet and Dislike but an Affection that is made by the Sympathy of the Rational Spirits which is Love dwels in the Soul and is never satisfied but the more it receives the more it desires so that this Sympathy is the Infinite of Loves Eternity Of the offering up of Life THere are few that will freely offer up their Lives to take a certain Death yet there be three sorts that are the likeliest to do it as the Ambitious the Consciencious and Lovers the Ambitious Fame perswades them the Consciencious Fear and Hope perswades them Lovers Love perswades them Ambition seeks Fame Fame seeks Applause Applause seeks Action Action seeks Honour Honour seeks Danger Danger seeks Death Fear and Hope seek Religion Religion seeks Faith Faith seeks Martyrdome Martyrdome seeks Death Love seeks Ease Ease seeks Peace Peace seeks Rest Rest seeks Death Those that dye for unlawfull Desires or in desperate Fury or the like these deserve Pity and Tears of Sorrow because their Death was their Dishonour but to dye for their Country their Religion Friends or Chastity there Tears should be wiped from all Eyes and Acclamations of Joy should ring for the Renown of such Constant Virtue as to seal it with Voluntary Death where Life was onely a Cover to hide it besides the Spirits they beget by example they give but this kind of Valour hath few Companions The yielding up Life A Valiant Man will not wilfully part with his Life nor yet unjustly keep it but if his God his Country or his Friend require it he willingly offers it up as a Sacrifice upon the Altar of Honour when Desperateness throws his Life into the Jaws of Death for a Vainglorious Fame The Difference of killing themselves and yielding up of Life THere are more kill themselves than willingly offer up their Lives because those that offer up their Lives are as a Sacrifice or Atonement for the good of one another more than themselves and would rather live than dye could they keep their Life with Honour but their Death being a Rescue to something as they think which is more worthy than their Life they willingly yield it up where those that kill themselves do it out of Fear of a Miserable Life for those do deliver up their Lives Freely and Nobly that give it not to avoyd worse Inconveniencies to themselves as out of Poverty Pain Fear or Disgrace or the like but those that leave Health Wealth Strength Honours Friends and all
Nature should perfectly understand and absolutely know her self because she is Infinite much less can any of her Works know her yet it doth not follow that nothing can be known As for example There are several parts of the World discovered yet it is most likely not all nor may be never shall be yet most think that all the World is found because Drake and Cavendish went in a Circular Line untill they came to that place from whence they set out at first and I am confident that most of all Writers thought all the World was known unto them before the West-Indies were discovered and the Man that discovered it in his Brain before he travelled on the Navigable Sea and offered it to King Henry the Seventh was slighted by him as a Foolish Fellow nor his Intelligence believ'd and no question there were many that laugh'd at him as a Vain Fool others pity'd him as thinking him Mad and others scorned him as a Cheating Fellow that would have cosened the King of England of a Sum of Money but the Spanish Queen being then wiser than the rest imployed him and adventured a great Sum of Money to set him forth in his Voyage which when the Success was according to the Mans Ingenious Brain and he had brought the Queen the discovery of the Golden and Silver Mines for the Spanish Pistols Then other Nations envyed the King of Spain and like a Company of Dogs which fought for a Bone went together by the Ears to share with him So the Bishop that declared his opinion of the Antipodes was not onely cryed down and exclaimed against by the Vulgar which hate all Ingenuity but Learned Sages stood up against him and the Great and Grave Magistrates condemned him as an Atheist for that Opinion and for that reason put him from his Bishoprick and thought he had Favour in that his Life was spared which Opinion hath since been found true by Navigators But the Ignorant Unpracticed Brains think all Impossible that is not known unto them But put the Case that many went to find that which can never be found as they say Natural Philosophy is yet they might find in the search that they did not seek nor expect which might prove very beneficial to them Or put the case ten thousand should go so many waies to seek for a Cabinet of pretious Jewels and all should miss of it but one shall that one be scorn'd and laugh'd at for his Good Fortune or Industry this were a great Injustice But Ignorance and Envy strive to take off the gloss of Truth if they cannot wholly overthrow it But I and those that write must arm our selves with Negligence against Censure for my part I do for I verily believe that Ignorance and present Envy will slight my Book yet I make no question when Envy is worn out by Time but Understanding will remember me in after Ages when I am changed from this Life But I had rather live in a General Remembrance than in a Particular Life The Worlds Olio LIB III. PART II. Of Philosophy THere have been of all Nations that have troubled their Heads and spent the whole time of their Lives in the study of Philosophy as Natural and Moral the first is of little or no use onely to exercise their Opinions at the guessing at the Causes of Things for know them they cannot the last is a Rule to a strict Life which is soon learned but not so soon practiced as they have made it in the dividing it into so many and numerous parts having but four chief Principles as Justice Prudence or Providence Fortitude and Temperance Justice is but to consider what one would willingly have another to do to him the same to do to another which is the beginning of a Commonwealth Prudence or Providence is to observe the Effect of Things and to compare the past with the present as to guess and so to provide for the Future Fortitude is to suffer with as little Grief as one can and to act with as little Fear Now Temperance is something harder as to abate the Appetites and moderate our Passions for though there are but two principal ones as Love and Hate yet there are abstracted from them so many as would take up a Long Life to know them after the strict Rules of Temperance But indeed it is as impossible to be justly Temperate as to know the first Causes of all Things as for example A Man loseth a Friend and the Loser must grieve so much as the merit of the Loss deserves and yet no more than will stand with his Constitution which in many is impossible For some their Constitution is so weak that the least Grief destroys them so that of Necessity he must needs be Intemperate one way either for the not sufficient Grief for the merit of his Friend or too little care for himself So for Anger a Man must be no more angry than the Affront or any Cause of his Anger doth deserve and who shall be Judge since there is no Cause or Act that hath not some Partiality on its side and so in all Passions and Appetites there may be said the like Therefore he that can keep himself from Extravagancy is temperate enough But there are none that are more intemperate than Philosophers first in their vain Imaginations of Nature next in the difficult and nice Rules of Morality So that this kind of Study kils all the Industrious Inventions that are beneficial and Easy for the Life of Man and makes one sit onely to dye and not to live But this kind of Study is not wholly to be neglected but used so much as to ballance a Man though not to fix him for Natural Philosophy is to be used as a Delight and Recreation in Mens Studies as Poetry is since they are both but Fictions and not a Labour in Mans Life But many Men make their Study their Graves and bury themselves before they are dead As for Moral Philosophy I mean onely that part that belongs to every particular Person not the Politick that goeth to the framing of Commonwealths as to make one Man live by another in Peace without which no Man can enjoy any thing or call any thing his own for they would run into Hostility though Community of Men will close into a Commonwealth for the Safety of each as Bees and other Creatures do that understand not Moral Philosophy nor have they Grave and Learned Heads to frame their Commonwealths NAture is the great Chymist of the World drawing out of the Chaos several Forms and extracted Substances the gross and thicker part goeth to the forming of Solid Bodies the Fume to Air and Water the thinnest part to Fire and Light the Sense or Spirits to Life Of Naturalists NAturalists that search and seek for hidden Causes are like Chymists that search for the Philosophers Stone wherein they find many excellent and profitable Medicines but not the Elixar So Naturalists
Corruption But there is a Natural Heat and Moysture which produceth Legitimate Issues and there is also an Adulterate Heat and Moysture from whence proceed Bastardly Diseases which are as Numerous as Natural Children Of Feavers in the Blood BUT in Feavers where onely the Heat causeth the Blood to boyl and so to become scalding hot when the Feaver is taken away that is when the bitter and sharp Humours are cast out of the Body by some Evacuation or that the Fire is quenched out with some cooling Julips the Blood will be the same again without any alteration as Water is onely in the boyling the Blood may wast and evaporate forth of the Body through the Pores as Water doth forth of the Vessel it is boyling in But if the Blood be corrupted or mix'd with Humours as Water is often with Mud there is no way but letting it forth drawing it out of the Veins that the Heart and the Liver as the Springs may send in more which may be Fresh and Clear into the Veins again unless those Springs be corrupted and then there is no Remedy for then Death will alter the Course of Life in that Body Sleeping and Waking SLeeping and Waking are the flowing and ebbing of Vapour for when Vapour flows to the Extreme Parts it causeth Sleep as it were for a time Or filling up all the Outward Senses as Water doth a Pipe or a Vessel or as Wind doth a Bladder where nothing can be received therein untill they be empty so no Outward Objects can enter in at the Five Senses untill the Vapour wherewith they are filled be dispers'd or falling back by contracting into a Lesser Compass which when they are contracted or dispers'd they wake so that Vapour in the Body is as necessary for Life as Food And indeed Food is the chief Cause of Vapour for Heat and Moysture make Vapour and like as Food received into the Body doth either distemper or nourish it so doth Vapour that slows in the Body make Sleep sound and easy or trouble some and unquiet for Malignant and Corrupted Vapours are like Malignant and Corrupted Humours for as Malignant Humours cause the Body to be sick or painfull so Malignant Vapours cause Sleeps to be full of Dreams Startlings and often Wakings though many times Dreams are caused by Rarified Vapours like a Wind which blows upon the Brain causing many Motions therein or rather furrows the Grosser Vapours causing them to role in Billows and Waves hindring them from flowing easy and smooth which Tempestuous Winds beat the Vapours backward as it were or drive them from the utmost Extent which hinders the Senses from being thorowly fill'd which causeth not so sound Sleeps for when the Senses are not fill'd the Vapours are like Water in a Vessel not half full which when it is quite full there is little or no Motion though the Vessel be moved the Water stirs not much but when it is but half full or three parts when the Vessel is stirred it flashes and sprinkles about Of not Sleeping in Feavers THE reason those that are in great Feavers or the like hot Disease cannot sleep is that the Heat being too strong for the Moysture it rarifies it so thin as it is like the forementioned Wind which instead of stopping causeth Waking Dreams that is Frantick Fancies for there is as Natural a Degree of this Vapour as there is a Natural Temper proper to every Animal Body Or else it burns the Body and dryes up the Natural Moysture so much as there can arise no Vapour therefrom for it is to be observed that the dryest Constitution sleeps the least and those sleeps they have are short One and the same Cause differs in the same Effect of Sleep SOme and the same things or Acts will cause Sleep or put by Sleep as for the Passions sometimes Grief Joy Anger and the like will cause Sleep othertimes hinder it the reason is according as the Passions work inwards or extend outwards for when the Passions settle or move most inwards they draw all the Vapours backwards and when they flow outwards they carry Vapours with them and as Passions many times carry out Vapours so Vapours many times carry out Passions as we may observe by the Effects as Sighing Groaning and Weeping as Railing Threatning Cursing Fighting Laughing Hooping Hollowing Praising Singing and Dancing which are all Exteriour Motions But where they work inward the Heart beats or works and the Brain thinks stronglyer than the Natural Constitution requires which Motion causeth Unnatural Heat which drinks up the Vapours or else the Brain or the Heart are so strongly bound to an Object and holding as it were so fast thereon as it draws all the Powers of Life to assist therein This causeth Deep Musing Heart-griping fix'd Eyes and slow Pulses which draws the Vapours so much inward as almost extinguisheth the Fire of Life and smothers the Understanding starves the Body and makes the Senses unusefull and many times the Slow Motions congeal the Vapours like Ice making them unapt to slow As for Exteriour Action much Labour or Exercise causeth them to flow or produceth Sleep to those that have Gross Bodies and too Thick Vapours for the Vapours may be too Thick as well as too Thin for the use of Rest in these Bodies and Constitutions much exerciseth and rarifieth the Vapours to such a Degree as makes a General Aptness to flow to the Extreme Parts wherewith the Senses are stopp'd as being full which otherwise would not be so apt to slow but to Lean Bodies and Dry Constitutions much Labour and Exercise either contracts the Vapour into so Gross a Body as it cannot slow or rarifies that little Vapour they have so thin as it evaporates out by Insensible Inspirations or the Unnatural Drought and Heat drinks it up so as there is no Vapour to fill the Senses to a Repose Of Agues AGues are half Sisters to Feavers which are like Fuel half dry set on Fire by Accidental Motions and not kindled by a Natural Course This Fuel half dry is Humour half concocted the other part raw and undigested which is like Hay or the like not dryed enough by the Sun so Digestion wants Natural Heat to dry which is to concoct the Superfluous Moysture for when the Moysture is too much for the Heat although it be not sufficient to quench it out yet it doth damp and smother in the Heat staying the Quickness of the Motion blunting the Edge and Sharpness allaying the Penetrating Faculty and the Heat being not strong enough to drink up the Superfluous Moysture at once but onely hath so much strength as to rarify it into Vapour which Vapour is Smoke which Smoke is thinner and thicker according to the quantity and quality of the Moysture or as the Heat and Moysture doth predominate for when the Heat is Master the Vapour is so thin as it flashes into a Flame as Lightning from a Cloud which is an Intermixing Feaver