not only not equally capable of many things at once but what sometimes they can do to admiration they are again within a short time intirely unfit for Thus a mans converse will be often charmingly pleasant and witty whom you shall find at other times dull and heavy Which I may in Second Instance suppose to proceed from a certain necessary or voluntary Wearyness of the Soul For I see no cause why it may not fall weary as well as the Body The difference only is that the latter becomes weary because of the loss of its most lively parts the Spirits the former because of its limited nature and weak faculties or rather through a natural desire of change and variety Thirdly we are not our selves upon all occasions because of our too green and domineering passions whether they be of sorrow envy hatred or anger which turn all our natural sharpness and Vivacity into malicious contrivances and fits of Fury When we have conceived an extream aversion from any person by inveighing against him upon all occasions we show no more Wit than can be expected from a scolding Woman No wonder then if we cease sometimes to be ingenious since we are often over-ruled by our undaunted passions which overthrow yet more the inward temper of our Souls than the outward Texture of our Bodies Nevertheless we must confess that it is not always in our Power either to speak or write wittily at all times or with that accuracy we are really capable of The Great Homer is not always himself but sometimes of a dull and sleepy Humour Quandoque bonus dormità t Homerus but I understand Mankind better than to wonder at such accidental deficiencies in the greatest Men because I am sensible of this common but most true Word Nemo omnibus horis sapit No man has always his Wits about him For as the very change of Weather changeth sometimes the Temper of our Bodies so it does alter that of our Souls We shall then at some Hours of the day both write and speak easily and wittily too good sense At some others we may scratch our heads long enough before we awaken and revive again our almost dead Spirits Which gives me occasion sometimes to think though no just grounds that our Soul is really material and of a very changeable Texture too since it passeth so easily and in such a short time from one extream to another For I would conceive in its suppos'd Spiritual Nature a more constant and durable Temper Yet I apprehend that several things may occasion in us this accidental dulness And first the very Company we converse with either we esteem not enough or too much In the former case we want encouragement to endeavour to show our Wit because we think not those we speak to worth our while or deserving our peculiar application In the latter we are kept in awe by a prudent fear of the Censure and inward slight of such as we have a high Esteem and Veneration for But as I know nothing more prejudicial to Wit than Want and Poverty so I conceive those common Sentences Ingenii largitor venter vexatio dat intellectum c. that Hunger Vexation and Trouble do make men witty to be but meer illusions and vulgar Errors grounded only upon this that the very dullest of Men in great Straits will make odd shifts to rid themselves of the present Necessity We must needs then confess Virtutibus Obstat res augusta domi That a light Purse as the Scots say makes a heavy Heart and very unfit to exert those not ordinary Abilities we are perhaps gifted with Besides such is the Nature of Mankind that without some encouragement or prospect of reward 't is not in our Power to do our utmost endeavours in any enterprize whatsoever 2. I pretend to no extraordinary Skill in Physick yet I know no curable distemper but methinks I could cure provided I want not the necessary encouragements from my Patient which if you look upon as a piece of Covetousness you discover more of a censuring than of a sharp and considering Genius For as it is highly my concern that you recover your Health by my care So I cannot but desire your recovery most earnestly tho' I expected no just salary for my laudable endeavours Whereby I intend only to give this wholsom advice to the Patient as much for his concern as for the Physitians interest that if he fail to do his duty 't is odds if the other how conscientious and skilful soever perform successfully his part not designedly nor through Malice but because such is the natural constitution of Men that they cannot serve God himself but upon the account of some proportionable reward So if you would have your Physitian take notice of every particular circumstance of your distemper to apply usefully his Skill for your recovery it will be a piece of Wit in you not to let him want too long his due For else it will not be in his Power to make use to your advantage of that Wit God has given him because you encourage him not by doing what he justly expects and may lawfully require I doubt not but more Patients have perished through their own narrowness than by either the Ignorance or wilful neglect of their Physitians 3. I know not why some Nations now as the Grecians and others produce scarce a Wit in an Age which formerly were in so great repute throughout the whole World but because they are not awakened out of their Lethargy by that powerful inductive to do great things a proportionable reward which may quicken them into life again those whose Wits seem to be buryed in their Bodies So those Princes that are great promoters of Learning and Learned Men deserve from them an Apotheosis a sort of Divine Honour because they hold of them the very Life of their Souls their Wit by the daily encouragements of their Princely Liberalities I must in this place remember you that the greatest Wits cease sometimes to give light before the years of Dotage either because the Organs without which the perfectest Soul cannot make us sensible of its Abilities are corrupted by our irregularities or perhaps because of the Natural limitation of Humane Capacity which could reach no further 4. As to the wittyest Authors there is not only a difference among them such as is between different Stars But the fame Author is sometimes so unlike unto himself that one would take him to be another I admire the First Six Books of the Aenead and the Sixth above all I meet with nothing in all the rest that deserves my admiration Ovid's Love-Letters are incomparably well done they are penn'd most smoothly and wittily but he neglected himself too much in those he wrote in the place of his banishment There are some excellent pieces in his Metamorphosis such I always fancied his description of the Old Chaos and the Rudiments of the World Pâ—aâ—ton's journey to his Father the
one that has either lived abroad or convers'd much with Strangers especially the ingenious sort at home I look upon the former as a meer Clown destitute of that Delicacy of Wit and discerning Faculty you shall find upon occasion in the latter But all this is to be understood cum grano salis in this supposition that you have not a Soul of the lowest Rank but one that may hold in the Hierarchy or imperfect Spirits a place at least of an Archangel I mean that is not in the very lowest Order of Souls for let a Man travel never so far and converse never so much he shall attempt in vain the attainment of that Wit which by reason of the innate Imperfection of his Understanding he is not capable of If then a Father minds to send his Son abroad in Order to improve his Understanding let him consult first with himself and others if he be capable of any considerable improvement for the first and chief Source in us of Wit is the Soul it self which all our indeavours shall not be able to quicken if it be heavy and dull by Nature For as some rough Stones may be smoothed into a bright Diamond because they contain already what ever is most valuable in a Diamond so some others for a contrary Reason can never be changed into so Noble Substance Even so if our Souls be really capable of a further improvement they may be so far improved as to attain to no ordinary Perfection but we lose our Time if we pretend to equalize them at length to those of a higher Order and Superiour to them in Nature For I take the supernatural Order and the Natural to be proportionably answerable to one another As then there is a certain finite number of Blessings wherewith we may if we please work our Salvation which being once granted and infus'd we can obtain no more so likewise there is a certain pitch and measure of Natural Ability beyond which with all our possible endeavours we can never reach If then your Soul be of the Lowest Hierarchy you can no more pretend to the Excellency of a Higher one than an Angel to be an Archangel or an Archangel to be a Power c. SECT III. Different sorts of Wits 1. The great variety of Physiognomy and Humane Bodies not so wonderful as that of Humane Souls 2. Of Habitual and Accidental Wit 3. Of Universal and Singular Wits 4. That some Characters of Wit are inconsistent together 5. Other unusual distinctions of Wit 1. I Never wondred much at the great variety of Physiognomies and Humane Bodies because I am fully perswaded that a perfect resemblance in every particular is either impossible or can be at the most but a work of meer chance by a fortuitous Cohalition of the compounding corpuscles into the same Texture But believing no such Composition or Texture in our Spiritual Souls I ever look't upon them as more deserving pieces of Wonder I was always then extreamly surprized and I am yet that among so many Millions of Rational Souls God hath created since the first Birth of the World there are so few if any at all resembling exactly one another For tho' they fall not under the reach of our Eyes yet we cannot but know infallibly their real discrepancies by the diversity we observe in their respective productions which as I was lately saying spring originally from the Soul though sometimes it may suffer an occasional stop or chance by the Temper of the Body But to be more plain what I say deserved ever my highest admiration was this that let mens Bodies resemble never so much one another their Souls shall never be near of the same temper by which I mean not only the same humour but likewise the same degree of Perfection or Wit Whereof for Methods sake we may consider two sorts The First I call Habitual the Second Accidental An habitual Wit is proper only to all such and only to such as are habitually inclin'd and disposed to think and speak sensefully and to the Purpose on all occasions And this is the true Character of those that are deservedly called Witty Such observe naturally St. Bernard's Judicious Precept Verbum bis Veniat ad Limam quam semel ad Linguam they think twice before they speak once least their words should forerun their thoughts They are wise discreet humble peaceable and the fittest of all Men for the Managment of great Affairs The accidental Wit is the Product in a manner of a meer chance and hazard such as that of most at least of many Women the most talkative but neither the most judicious nor the most thinking part of Mankind They say sometimes things that look like Wit but impetu naturae non judicii meerly by a suddain vehemency of their Nature or rather a certain volubility of their Tongues not by Judgement or a serious reflection what proportion their discourse may have with the Subject in question because they seldom take notice of the Dictates of their discerning Faculty but follow the sudden motions of a mutable and confused Imagination or Fancy â—his is only to be understood of that sort of Women who are to be accounted Witless rather than Witty For this accidental Wit we are now speaking of holds so much of Chance that meer Fools may now and then stumble upon it And I am really of opinion as Nemo omnibus horis sapit No Man hath always his Wits about him so likewise Nemo omnibus horis desipit no mans Brains are so darkn'd but that he may have on certain occasions some Lucid Intervals We must not then judge a Man Witty as some short sighted People do because of his uttering a Witty word or two by chance rather than by judgement 'T is not one or two Conversations nor broken pieces of Discourse that we are to take our measures by for decisions of this nature but after at least some days familiar converse with those whose Reach and Capacity we are curious to know we may become capable of making such discoveries 2. There is a second distinction of Wits worthy our Consideration Some we may call Vniversal Wits other Singular ones which Word I take not in the most obvious Sense as it imports some peculiar pre-eminency but as it may be determined to imply a limitation of Capacity to some particular Subject For 't is most certain that Non omnia possumus omnes as there are many things we cannot overcome with the strength of our Bodies so there are far more beyond the greatest Abilities and longest reach of our Souls Thus a Man may prove an able Mathematician who shall be but an ordinary Divine and on the contrary you shall meet with most subtle School Divines that are simple and dull in all other respects Thus likewise you may meet with some Physitians that can discourse pertinently enough of all Tempers and Distempers yea and prescribe in general twenty different Remedies for the same
else but an inferiour sort of Reason and in some particulars far below that of the more perfect and rational Creatures they were only guilty of a wilful and affected obscurity But if they intended by this harsh Word an entire exclusion of all true reasoning they pretend more than ever they did or could well prove as I could easily demonstrate if it had not been done by others They were in vain afraid already that if they granted once the use of Reason to other Inferiour Creatures they should not be sufficiently distinguished themselves and far enough removed from their Condition as if besides Shape and Speech the different degrees of Reason could not make a separation wide enough between Men and Beasts For though 't is most true that Simia quicquid agat simia erit a Beast at the best will always be but a Beast Yet I never understood why we should deny some share both of Reason and Wit to several of those inferiour Creatures that do things we can neither imitate nor account for without granting them in some measure this reasoning faculty we would feign Monopolize to our selves I would not then stile him an Extravagant who should conceive as much Reason and Wit in an Ape a Dog Fox and Elephant as in some Men though not meer Fools However no man can deny what chiefly I here aim at that Wit is not the Prerogative of Mankind alone A Spiders Web in my conceit is no less if not more ingeniously contrived than the Weaver's I conceive in a Honey Comb with Pleasure and Admiration a very acurate and regular piece of Fortification the wonderful Texture and groundless Foundation of a Swallows Nest do represent to me more art than ever I could be yet sensible of in the structure of the greatest Louvers SECTION II. The Causes of Wit 1. Two different Opinions concerning the diversity of Wit in Men. 2. That it is not occasioned by the respectively greater perfection of the Organs 3. That one Soul is really perfecter than another 4. Some curious enquirys relating to this proposition answered 5. What things may contribute towards the promoting of Wit 6. That we cannot improve our Wit beyond the innate perfection of our Souls 1. WE are taught in the Schools that all diversity of Wit in Men does originally spring from that of their Organs I suck't in this Doctrine in my greener years and beleived it a while as many others of greater moment which I have bid a farewel to since in a riper Age For being naturally curious and not very credulous I began to shake off by degrees a certain implicate Faith I had been for several years too much enslaved to having more than once in my ordinary solitude and retired thoughts Neque enim cum me aut porticus accepit aut lectulus desum mihi called my self to an account upon what grounds I had so long stood up for such a vulgar Error I found them all to be moveable unstable and groundless and first I thought I was neither conformable to reason nor common Sence to think that a Soul free from matter and Mortality as I conceived mine to be should entirely depend upon a Body both material and Mortal especially as to its Chief and most perfect Operarions as undoubtedly those of the Wit are I had another more powerful Inducement not to shake hands with this Opinion and bid it adieu which was that I remembred to have been familiarly acquainted with several both at home and abroad who had no visible defect in the Organs of their Bodies and yet were most deficient as to the endowments of the Mind And on the contrary I have known not a few who if you regard only their out-side may look upon Nature as a cruel Step-mother as having received from her no sensible marks of a Motherly Benevolence yet if taing them by another Byass you consider their Abilities you shall I am perswaded instantly confess that they are more obliged to Nature or God rather than most of those who have received in a larger measure those exteriour Ornaments and Gifts of Beauty For why may we not reckon the sharpness of their Wit and other advantages of their Souls to be more a sufficient Compensation for some outward Imperfections of their Bodies Thus it happens sometimes that Blind Men are clearer sighted than many of those who make use of both their Eyes I had the luck to to be acquainted with one of this Number in Germany whom I judged the most extemporary Wit I ever met with I remember I was once curious to know what he thought of Black Red White and other Colours his answer was he fram'd to himself the same idea of such things that we frame to our selves of occult qualities 2. Thus all things impartially weighed on each side I could not ascribe those differences and manifold degrees of Wit we observe among the generality of Men to any other Cause with a greater appearance of Truth than to the different perfections of their Souls For meditating sometimes upon the grounds of this common Word quantum homo homini praestat how much one man surpasseth another in Vivacity sharpness penitrancy and other intellectual Endowments I was inclined to believe some things among those Imperfect Spirits for such are the Souls of Men as being each of them but a part of the whole Man answerable to what Divinity will needs have us to admit among those perfect Spirits we call Angels I was inclined I say to think that there are different Species or Hierarchies of Souls as well as of other created Spirits For I conceive an Angel and I believe the School Divines will not give me the lye to be farther distant from the perfection of a Cherubim or Seraphim than a Lyon or any other inferiour Creature is from that of a Man Now the reason of this great variety in that superiour Spiritual Nature establisheth the same or not an unlike one in the Souls of Men. The Divines then say that if God had created but one sort of things or one single Species he had not given us so very Illustrious Marks of his Power and Wisdom and consequently had bin less glorifyed by us Undoubtedly then a Specifical variety of Spirits as they speak in the Schools must needs be a greater manifestation of his Glory than to borrow this other Scholastick Expression a meer numerical one We may discourse after the same manner of our Souls For as the great diversity of Bodies furnisheth us with a nobler Idea of Gods Power than if he had created but one kind or all of one Texture so if I suppose different Species and Hierarchies of Souls as of Angels I frame no doubt a higher conceit of his perfections Yet notwithstanding all this you shall not be allowed hence to infer that there are different Species of Men For this Denomination we take from what is most obvious to our Senses that is from the Bodies In which we can
observe no such difference as we may easily take notice of between a Horse and a Lion a Lion an Ape and a Bird c. this Doctrine will raise in our minds a great Respect and Veneration for Men of greater Abilities than we know our selves to be of for we shall conceive their Souls are in a higher order as indeed they are and consequently pay to them a due and proportionable Homage as Angels do Honour and Esteem Archangels and Archangels likewise Powers Thrones c. But I must needs here for your further satisfaction answer some curious inquiries about this matter 1. How comes it to pass that a most perfect Soul is sometimes lodged in a most defectuous Body I answer this happens against the intention of Nature for Nature delights in proportion and reason teacheth us there should be some proportion between the Beauty of the Soul and that of the Body it lodgeth in as the Stateliest Pallaces are ordinarily the dwelling places of the greatest Princes 2. Are not the noblest Souls more ordinarily lodged in beautiful Bodies I answer they are for the reason above mentioned and 't is by accident if perhaps the contrary happeneth But these are the solutions of a meer Naturalist or of one that favours too much Nature I answer then in Second Instance we must search after the true cause of such surprizing contingencies in the first cause of all things I mean in God himself who may do and does sometimes what to our weak Judgements Nature neither seems to desire nor require 3. Doth it never happen that a Soul of the first or second Order that is a most perfect one is so disabled during its stay in a corruptible Body as never to discover its natural abilities I answer 't is not likely that such a case shou'd ever happen or if it does this is as I was saying before against the intention of Nature tho' not of the Author of Nature and a meer chance occasion'd by some considerable defect of our Organs which the Soul how perfect soever is not able to supply because it wants a fit and convenient matter to work upon But hence some that take notice but of few things and consequently are easily mistaken may conclude the contrary of what I intend to assert that the various degrees of Wit depend on the diversity of our Organs which cannot be Lawfully inferred from what I have said for as if we place the most imperfect Soul that is one of the Lowest Order in the most compleat Body can be imagined it shall never for all this transcend its own dull nature and by consequence shall operate but very imperfectly so if we conceive the Noblest Soul that ever God created in a Body most imperfect that is destitute of necessary Organs or having but the Rudiments of true Organs it shall never do what otherwise it had been able to perform because it cannot discover to us its abilities in this Life but by these material instruments nor operate to any perfection they be wanting or notably defective Which argued only Imperfection iâ— the Instruments not in the principaâ— Agent Thus the defects we observâ— in a meer fool are not really in hiâ— Soul but occasioned by the overthrow of those parts of his Body without which he cannot utter himself rationally Whensoever then perceive by all the most visible sign of Health and good Texture twâ— Bodies equally Sound Perfect anâ— Acomplisht and yet a notable difference between the two Persons tâ— whom those Bodies belong a notablâ— difference I say as to their Intellectuals I mean Judgement Sence Sharpness and Wit I conclude instantly without further deliberation anâ— perhaps without Error too that the one hath a Soul of a Lower Rank and the other of a Higher 3. Yet I acknowledge willingly there may be other Inferiour Causes that contribute not a litle to the increase of Wit For how perfect soever we conceive the Soul to be she requires still the help both of Vital and Animal Spirits And if these be but too few or not lively enough you shall find her slow dull and heavy 'T is not then an unwholsome Advice to all such as are sensible they have received from above Animam bonam a not very imperfect Soul to conserve with all possible care the necessary Instruments of her most Spiritual Operations I mean not to consume by excessive Venery excessive Drink or any other kind of Surfeit those Spirits without which their Souls though never so perfect will act but very imperfectly and far below that degree of perfection God hath allowed them Upon this account a sober Dyet or temperate Life is the best Preserver both of Wit and Health for nothing more true than this common Word Vinum moderate sumptum acuit ingenium Wine doth not only strengthen the Stomack but likewise quickens the Spirits if moderately made use of as on the contrary it weakens the Stomack and darkens the Understanding if taken excessively or beyond a proportionable measure 4. There is as yet another greater Promoter of Wit we must not forget which is to converse often and keep Company with those that are really Ingenious and Witty For though your Soul perhaps be of the highest Hierarchy yet it moves not it self easily unless it be first moved it must then be rouz'd up and awakened by the Company of those who can insensibly improve those real Talents God has vouchsafed to bestow upon it For as we may boldly judge of a Mans Temper or good Humour of his good or bad Morals if once we are informed what Company he most frequents so likewise we may guess at his intellectuals by the Capacity and Abilities of such as he is most conversant with For experience has taught us more than once that ingenious Men become at length dull and heavy by frequenting too much the duller sort whereof I think this account may be given without some shew of probability Ingenious Men have need of some considerable encouragement to display those Talents they have received from above Now neither esteeming nor valuing much the Esteem of mean Capacities they fall in a manner in a certain Lethargy and are not able to rouze up their Spirits for want of sufficient inducements And this often happening begets in them a habit they cannot easily be afterwards rid of 5. On the contrary nothing improves us more than a frequent converse with the wittiest sort as daily Experience sheweth and the custome of the Ancient Phylosophers who travelled all the World over to see and hear the Learnedst Men of their times which example is followed in this very age we live in by most Nations of Europe the Scots especially and the Germans and by the English of late who for the most part become not only smoother and more polite by their travelling into Forreign Countries but sharper too and Wittier as every one may easily observe who will be at the pains to compare a meerly home-bread Gentleman with
Wit that thereby it may appear to be no prerogative of the French but common enough to all civilized Nations 4. I have observed then that what they call vn esprit delicat is chiefly known by a smooth easie and Natural expression an acurate and judicious comparison or a senseful Word that may be easily mistaken by a common understanding or taken in a sense it was not intended for That this is a near description of a Delicate Wit I could easily if it were necessary prove by those very Authors they allow most of this Character too I can imagine no other reason why the French mistake themselves so far as to think that other Nations have little or nothing of this forementioned Delicacy then because they write Romances and Love Intrigues which admit and require this smooth way of writing more than any of their Neighbours who generally chosing more solid Subjects have not so often occasion to give Proofs of their being capable to write delicately For it would be easie to show this Character in the Authors of all Nations who have chanc'd to handle Subjects that required it I shall add in the last Instance that those whom we call here Pretenders to Wit are commonly better Spokes-men than Writers or Pen-men They surprize those that have never before convers't with them with an extempory Eloquence and an easie Utterance of their Thoughts upon any obvious Subject by an extraordinary Volubility of their Tongues besides a vehement inclination to be hearkned to in a Publick Conversation as if they were Oracles hence it is that they think their repute lessened if any other in the Company talk more with greater Authority or longer than themselves But it often happens that those same Men who seem to the the Vulgar sort so eloquent in an extemporary debate are at a loss in cold Bloud and when on occasion they must recollect themselves to write their own Thoughts Whereof take this short and rational account Such men being endow'd with a quick Imagination which being stirred up in a Debate furnisheth them with Words enough and with certain extemporary Arguments fitter to dazle the Vulgar sort than to perswade a Solid Wit On the other side their Intellective Faculty being but weak and now left to it self without the help of an unwakened Fancy gives no more Light SECT V. The Signs of Wit 1. That no Nation can Monoplioze Wit to its self 2. That cold Climats are fitter for the producing of great Wits than hot Countries 3. That the English lose much of their Esteem abroad by writing so little in Latine 4. The Chief Writers of Great Brittain 1. I Take this for no certain sign of Wit to be born under Mercury rather than under Jupiter Venus or Mars A Child may prove a witty Man though in the Critical Minute of his conception or birth he be not countenanced by the favourable Aspect of any Planet or Constellation for I am of opinion that the Influences of Heaven the vulgar Heads talk so much of do not so much affect our Bodies as the inconspicuous Effluviums of the Earth we scarce ever take notice of Neither do I take it to be a certain mark of Wit our being born in this Climate rather than in that in a hot Country rather than in a cold in the Subpolar Regions rather than under the Equinoctial Line I cannot but pity and laugh at the simplicity of the Italians French and Spaniards who think themselves wittier than the Northern Nations only because they live in hotter Climats for at this rate they must acknowledge the Moors Negroes and Indians far beyond themselves in Wit which they will not I doubt readily grant It was in my Judgement no piece of Wit in the famous Du Peron to say of the Jesuite Iretster that he was ingenious for a German The occasion of this vulgar Error among Forreigners may be thus rationally accounted for In the hotter Climats because the Bodies are weaker the InhabItants especially if civiliz'd are more given to the exercising of the Mind than of the Body But the Northern Nations take generally more delight in the exercise of their Body than in that of the Mind as being more allured thereunto by their Natural Courage good Temper and not ordinary Strength I see not then what other Influence the coldness of the Air can have upon us than to incline us more to the Improvement of the Natural Endowments of our Bodies than to the promoting those of our Souls But in the main here lies the mistake of those self-conceited Forreigners that seeing perhaps a greater number of Virtuoso's among them than among us they conclude very illegally to our disparagement and to their own advantage that they have more Wit than we whereas they can be allowed to raise from hence no other rational Inference but perhaps this that they have more Wits or rather more Writers for among twenty French Spanish and Italian that busie the Press you shall hardly meet with two or three that deserve to be stiled Witty The Inhabitants then of the Northern parts of the World delighting generally more in Wars or in Warlike Exploits than in Writing No wonder if they trouble not the Press with such a number of useless Books as the hotter Climats do which argues a meer want of Inclination to busie themselves that way but not in any innate disposition to write well For we cannot but know by daily Experience that no People in the World write more wittily than the the Natives of cold Climats if once they betake themselves to the Muses which minds me of a Saying of the famous Barklay a most ingenuous Writer who speaks with a generous freedom the known Ill and Good of all Nations not sparing the Scots his own Country Men wherein he thought them defective or worthy of Reprehension He hath then discoursing of their Aptitude for all kind of Literature these observable Words Litterae nunquam felicius se habuerunt quam cum in Scotos inciderunt I know not how to English this bold Expression But his meaning if I mistake it not was that the Muses were never happier than when after all their Travels they had repaired unto the Scots whereby he seems to insinuate that it was not always the Fate of this Nation no more than of most of the Northern Countries for the reason above mentioned to have lodged those Honourable Gentle profitable Guests but that when they happened to stay any considerable time among the Scots they did them as much Honour if not more than any other People in Europe Whereof we may instance as sufficient prooffs both Barkleys Father and Son the Famous Buchanan the best of Poets since the Primitive Times their undoubted Countryman whatever others may pretend to the contrary Scotus called deservedly in the Schools Doctor Subtilis the Subtile Doctor together with the incomparable Nepier first Inventor of the Logarithmes and several others I conceive those with the Generality
of the Understanding sort to be far beyond any Foreign Writers in the Subject they handle whether French Spanish or Italian but what Barkley saith of the Scots may likewise be said of the Danes Germans and Hollanders Tycobrache is a Star of the first Magnitude Kepler Greiier Clavius Nostradamus are matchless But I think without the offence of any other Nation we may apply more particularly this Sentence to the English Literae nunquam se felicius habuerunt quam cum in Anglos inciderunt For the World is obliged to them for the best and newest discoveries iâ— Natural Philosophy Physick and Anatomy But the pitty is they write so much in their own Tongue that the less knowing sort of Forraigners abroad ask sometimes if there be any Learned Men in England because some Eminent Phisitians excepted few or none of them write in Latine the Universal Language There are several Excellent English Books that would prove a great increase of the publick good and the Honour of this Nation if they were translated into Latine by an accurate Polite Pen. Of this number I reckon the Works of most Divines and whatever the deservedly renowned Boyle has hitherto published the Whole Duty of Man and the Discourses of the Reverend Dr. Tillotson c. 2. I shall say nothing of another incomparable advantage that England has above most Nations of Europe I mean that Learned and Royal Society instituted for the promoting of Real Knowledge and the general Good of Mankind This is one of those Infinite Blessings this Nation received by his late Majesties happy Restauration who was the Head and first of this Assembly not only because of his Royal Prerogative and independency but likewise upon the account of his Princely Wit and Wisdom being not only in the opinion of all Europe a most wise Prince but in the Esteem of all such as have the Honour to approach his Sacred Person a most compleat Gentleman Likewise His Royal Brother our present King besides his Princely Virtues which as all the World knows he possesseth in a most High Degree is likewise deservedly esteemed in other particular respects 'T was observed at Edinburgh that none gave a more rational account than his Majesty of that wonderful Shower of Herrings that happened at the South of Scotland For whereas the most part had recourse to a certain Panspermia or universal seed of every thing spread every where which other necessary conditions concurring together might be improved into a living Creature his Majesty solv'd more rationally this Phaenomenon by certain Spouts of Water that happen sometimes at Sea wherein the small Herring being easily with the Help of a Whirlwind tossed up into the Air and carryed off in a thick Cloud fell down again not far from the Shoar As to the other Members of this Royal Society I think I do them no wrong if I say that the famous Boyle is the Chief Pillar thereof For his Name carries with it such a weight of Authority in Forraign Countries that I have heard some Eminent Men say that whatever he positively affirms in his Books is sure and evident Out of all this discourse we may raise to our purpose this self-evident Inference that Coelum atticum is no more an infallible Cause or Sign of Wit than Caelum Articum I mean that Wit is of all Nations though not perhaps of all Ages since some have bin extreamly dull as the Tenth for Instance and some likewise both fore and after Ages 3. Yea I think it no Paradox to say that the cold Climats are the fittest Soils for the producing of great Wits I conceive but two things necessary for the existency of what generally we understand by a great Wit first a Soul of the first or at least none of the lowest Hierarchy I mean one of a not ordinary perfection whereof I have discours'd at large in the Second Section Secondly A well temper'd Body furnished besides the necessary Organs with a great quantity of brisk and lively Spirits As to the former point I hope you will grant that 't is in the Power of the Almighty to create most perfect Souls in cold Climats as well as in hot Hence then you can pretend no advantage And for the latter 't is evident that that the Bodies in cold Climats are better tempered of a firmer Texture and fuller of brisk and lively Spirits than those of hotter Countries where men are commonly languishing faint and exhausted by a sensible dissipation of those few Spirits they live and move by They are then little acquainted with the World who affirm the purest Air to be the only Element for the subtilest Wits since we know by experience and 't is generally confessed by all Forraigners that the Scotch and the Irish who breath in no very thin Air are far subtiler disputants in Divinity Logick and such like Scholastick and Airy matters than either the Italians or the French I would then have Men to cease from gazing upon the Stars and not look upon the Celestial Influences as the only causes of those various Characters of Wit we observe in the World for there may be some more hidden Sources of acuteness and less reflected on Such I take to be the invisible Effluviums of the Earth For as the Famous Boyle acutely proves 't is most probable that they are the unheaded Causes of many Epidemical Distempers so I think it no less conformable to reason to say that they occasion likewise the good temper of the mind by contributing not a little towards the Health of the Body for since 't is most certain by daily experience that the Inhabitants of this Northern part of the World to whatever they apply themselves entirely become at length most eminent therein and do far exceed the rest of Mankind espceially in Learning Courage and all other Warlike Exploits we must needs confess there may be Corpuscles issuing out from the coldest Soil that mixing themselves thorow the Pores of the Body with the bloud give it such a Texture as is requisite to make it a fit Instrument for the most Spiritual Functions of the Souls I am so far from beleiving the vulgar Error or rather the vain conceit of some ancient Romans that those who are born in or near the cold Zones have few or none of those natural Gifts that make a true Virtuoso I am so far I say from beleiving such a gross and vulgar Error that I hold such to be the fittest men in the World for penetrating Airy and Subtile things and for doing great ones if they will be but at the pains when occasion serves to improve their Natural Talents For besides what I have said are not we beholden to the Northern Nations for the Noblest and best pieces of Art and Wit I mean those various and ingenious Engins relating to shipping lifting weighing c. invented for the Use and Conveniency of Mankind The Gunpowder the Guns and most of the Mathematical Instruments
turn naturally our hand back thither as if we intended to awaken our Memorative Spirits For I doubt not but the Memory is a great help and Promoter too of Sharpness Judgement and Knowledge because it represents faithfully to us all such Circumstances as are necessary for the right framing of our Reflections It then Nature hath deprived us of this back Room we may nevertheless have perhaps some no inconsiderable Talents but none in a very high degree 3. As for the Hair four things may be considered concerning them 1. Their lying flat on the Head 2 ly Their curling 3 ly Their quantity 4 ly their Colour The First signifies Dulness if they be not somewhat curled at the ends because this sheweth a want of Heat The Second some greater sharpness because it supposeth some more heat The Third if very considerable and accompanyed with thickness is a sign of too many Excrementitious Parts and of a too material Substance of the Brains Of the Fourth for Methods sake I shall distinguish but three sorts the black and the fair Colour as two extreams the Chesnut Colour as a middle between them both The Fair is a surer mark of Wit Judgement and good Sence than the Black because 't is originally occasioned by the movement of brisker clearer and more lively Spirits Whereas the Black I mean the deepest sort may sometimes import a Melancholy heavy and dull Temper as being of an exceeding Compact and close Texture yet 't is often produced by the motion of more active Spirits but which are tempered with Terrestial ones And when this happens 't is no ill Omen But the Cheasenut Colour is to be preferr'd before the other two as proceeding not from the Action of meer Terrestrial or of meer airy Corpuscles but from a just mixture of both 4. I had almost forgot the Ears whereof the Bulk only is considerable in relation to Physiognomy because if they be respectively too great or not proportionable to the Head they are reckoned commonly to be a sign of dulness The reason of the Vulgar is because such People resemble long Ear'd Asses But 't is more rational to say that this is occasioned by the weakness of an Imperfect Soul who made one part proportionably larger than the other Because though it aimed indeed as all things do by the impulse of Nature at the most perfect yet it could not reach it as being none of the Highest or of the first Hierarchy of Souls But to turn about now from the Ears to the Eyes they are not only windows through which the Soul looketh out to us but through which likewise we look into it and by their Light discover easily its real perfections and abilities I know but three things in them worthy a Physiognomist's Observation their Bigness their Situation their Colour The black eye represents to us a judicious Soul but none of the sharpest because of the too compact Nature of the Instruments it makes use of I mean of the Spirits The blew grayish is more common and if some other Conditions be not wanting may be a good proof of acuteness and solidity because of a proportionable mixture of massie and airy Corpuscles subservient to the Functions of the Mind The largeness is an equivocal Sign either of Dulness or Wit because the great eyes are not commonly sparkling like the Stars in the Firmament but of a sixt Light like that of most Planets The little Eyes then or of no excessive size but quick and constantly sparkling are reputed to be infallible marks of Sharpness and Wit because of the brightness agility and liveliness of the Spirits they move and shine by The Situation of the Eye makes but little to our purpose Yet may not we be allowed to say that the deep eye sheweth as much weakness in the Soul as vigour in the Sight or Vision it self and on the other side that the prominent Eye which the French call a fleur de peau may discover its good Temper and Strength I explain my self thus Because of the weakness of our visive Faculty we apply a Tellescop or Prospect close to our Eye whereas if it were stronger and more vigorous we could see the Objects through the Prospect removed and at some distance from our Eye Consider then the deep or hollow Eye as a Prospect joyning more closely in a manner to the Soul and the Prominent somewhat more distant and you shall instantly understand why I take the Prominency of the Eye for a mark of greater vigour in the Soul as likewise wherefore I affirm the contrary of a deep Eye which supplyeth in some manner this imperfection of the Soul because gathering closely together the visual Beams it represents to us the Objects at a greater distance but not so well those or not at all that ly at our sides unless we turn about to them I know this comparison is lame in some respects but Omnis comparatio claudicat you know else it would change its Nature 5. As for the other part of the object of Physiognomy which the Latines call Vultus Visage or Face and whereby here I understand not only the conformation of the Face but of the whole Body I shall only say if we take it by the first Byass we shall find nothing observable in it but the Colour and the Shape The Face somewhat inclining to a natural and habitual pale dooâ— in our Clymate promise most because the Spirits seem to be always refining within by serious thoughts attentive speculations or ingenious contrivances The fair Complection likewise because of the clearness of their Spirits shews a well disposed Soul but not always very much acuteness As to the shape more length than breadth is to be most commended for such commonly have the hinder part of the Head very large which as we said lately is a good mark Now if we take the word vultus precisely for mans out-side or outward appearance we may consider two things his Stature and the accidents thereof As to the first the tallest men generally speaking are not always the Wittiest because in such as in High Houses the uppermost Room is commonly the worst furnished their Spirits being too much dispersed to produce any considerable Effect The middle size for the functions of the Mind as well as for those of the Body is the most advantagious I shall say nothing of the adjuncts of the Body save that 't is observable that the crooked lame and blind are ordinarily possessed of not ordinary endowments of the mind whereof I can give no other rational account than by saying that this happens through a peculiar disposition of an universal providence supplying thus abundantly the defects of the Body by imparting to the Nobler part the Soul a peculiar perfection and Beauty Out of all this we may conclude not without a a show of probability that Frons oculi vultus verum persaepe loquuntur Oratio vero saepissime The Front the Eyes the Face speak
constitution turns the best Food not into a good Substance but into pernicious Venom Thus Wit the Noblest of Natural Gifts is made often an Instrument of all kind of Wickedness I conceive it was not said of the Devil only Circuit tanquam Leo rugens querens quam devores That he runs to and fro like a roaring Lyon to prey upon and devour the first he meets with This is likewise the chief and ordinary business of most Men in this corrupted age we live in Some indeed like Roaring Lyons hold the World in a perpetual Stir and Fear by claiming right to whatever they can reach by their Arms. Others again make not an open War like Lyons but more crafty like Foxes lay secret Ambushes to their unthinking Neighbours I would wish there were no Tradesmen in the World if Men could live as well without them I know indeed they are thought necessary for the Good and Benefit of Mankind but the unjust measures they use sometimes for their own private ends under pretence of promoting the Common Good makes me speak thus and wish we could want them For I am of Opinion that to trade with many and to Cheat are much about one I shall not except that Noble and necessary Art I do profess my self wherein I wish the number of able and Conscientious Men did equal that of meer Pretenders and bold Adventurers I doubt not but there are Good Men of all Trades as of all Religions yet I have known some Godly Tradesmen as to their out-side prove at length the greatest Cheats under Heaven They had no doubt read in Scripture this passage Vtilis ad omnia pietas that Piety is useful for everything Whence they concluded that it might be useful for the gaining of Money too the best of things in their Conceit and accordingly thought it a piece of Folly and not of Wit to adventure the cutting of a Purse in the High-way since they could do it with greater security and certainly by long Prayers reformed Looks or by whatever they might gain the esteem of those they deal't withal and could expect any thing from 2. I shall say nothing of the Divers and manifold tricks of Lawyers who become often on a suddain very rich though by the Law yet very unlawfully If men were not mad they would undoubtedly agree among themselves and give them less to do It was not the only sad effect of Original Sin that our Bodies should be obnoxious to the cruel handling of some Physitians and our Souls to the interess'd decisions of fanciful Casuists but likewise that our Goods Substance and Riches should be plunder'd and pillag'd by those very Men who pretend to secure them to us by certain Methods of equity and Justice But this disorder I mean this perpetual reflex upon our own private concerns is not only to be met with in Atrio in the outer Court but 't is got into the very Sanctuary it self into the Church and Pulpit where no such thing should be expected I doubt not but if we could see into the Breasts of several Preachers we shou'd there discover that their greatest Zeal aims either at some Preferment if they have none or a fatter one then that they are possessed of Neither do I fear the guilt of a rash Judgement by speaking thus freely my mind since 't is commonly said though perhaps it be but a meer calumny that Church-Men discourse more together of their Livings than of the means how to amend their own perhaps or other Mens irregular lives Yet I will charitably suppose that this is but the defect of some few particular Men and not of the Generality For I do less wonder to see a debauch't Clergy-Man than a Judas amongst Christ's Apostles Nevertheless I pretend not that Clergy-Men as well as others may not make use of their Wit for their peculiar ends I allow them then to preach either for a Benefice or for a better Benefice provided this be but their Secondary Motive and not the first mover of all their Actions or provided perhaps by being inabled to do more good they pretend to glorifie God more in a Higher Condition than in a lower In all this I conceive nothing Irregular Neither do I deny but that an ingenious Tradesman may and ought to gain by his Ingenuity cheating only and the Art of Circumventing one another I condemn which I observe to be but too usual among 'em For if they have to do with a man that either understands not their Tricks or ingeniously relies upon their Word and Honesty 't is odds but consulting their dearly beloved Interest more than what Justice requires of them they will pretend to have used him kindly as they speak when they have really put a Cheat upon him But as the eclipses of some Stars argue not a general darkness in all the rest what I lately said of Church-Men may likewise be understood of Mechanicks and all Tradesmen whereof several are Conscientious and well meaning Men so well grounded in the Maxims of true Honour and Honesty that they would not for all the World have done a base thing 3. I am satisfyed that men misuse not only these ingenious faculties they have received from God to the Corruption of their Morals but likewise to the intangling and depraving of their Intellectuals I laugh more at than I do pity the unsuccessful attemps of such as pretend to give us a true Notion of the Infinite that is of a thing infinitely above the reach of our conceiving Faculty or to inform the World with Aristotle what or how many parts either time or matter is compounded of Descartes if not so subtile as Aristotle is in my Judgement more prudent for having left untouch't such insolvable and useless Difficulties The Pompous Notions of Eternity as a perpetuum nunc a perpetual Instant instans infinitum an infinite Instant Instans immobile an immoveable moment Vitae interminabilis tota simul ac perfecta possessio a perfect and whole possession all at once of an interminable life are but vain and airy Conceits fitter to embroyl our Understandings than to give them any New or real Light towards the discovery of the Object they propose We may truly say of Eternity what an antient Philosopher said of God the more we think on it the less we know what it is which may be likewise applyed to many other things commonly thought less inconceivable as to time place motion and matter whereof as I have never read any satisfactory Notions so I think it not worth my while to make any new attempts about a Subject which I humbly conceive to be some degrees beyond the reach of my weak Abilities What a strange conceit is it in some to consume whole years and the greatest part of their days in searching a perpetual movement at the same time wholly artificial A French Jesuite spent unsuccessfully a part of his Life and a considerable Sum of Money in this vain
this Law amongst us but sure I am that England would be no more a Purgatory for Men as it is commonly said to be and would not cease neither to be a Paradise for Women if the Salick Law were once established in every private House and Family of this Kingdom SECT XV. The witty Phisitian or the chief Secret of Physick 1. How difficult a thing it is to become a good Physitian 2. What is chiefly required in a good Physitian 3. Why a man may know the whole Materia medica and not be a good Physitian 4. That the unsuccessfulness of or harm done by a remedy is rather to be ascribed to the Physitian than to any defect in the Remedy it self I Conceive no Art so hard to compass as that which makes â— true Physitian Divinity it self â—ompared to it is but a Play For one may be a not insufficient Divine if â—e can but discourse probably of that may be understood in our mymysteries and confess by an humble belief his ignorance of whatever is beyond the reach of his Capacity whereby I mean that the most intricate difficulties and misteries of the Cristian Religion may be easily surmounted by a blind submission of our Understandings unto Gods obscure Revelation But whether I consider the Speculative or practical part of Physick I meet every-where with insupeâ—â—ble difficulties I represent first to my self whatever is contained in the Three Kingdoms not of England Scotland and Ireland only but of Three of a far larger extent the Mineral the Vegetative and the Animal And on a suddain I fall into despair of ever understanding to the botttom the least thing they contain I can scarce fiv in my dull head the very names of Metals Minerals Plants and Animals and far less their infinite Poperties and Medicinal uses Reflecting again upon our corruptibel Bodies my Thoughts are put to a stand when I am prest to give a rational account either of their tempers or distempers Yet if I pretend to be but an ordinary Physitian I must have a sort of comprehensive Knowledge of this Engine our Soul moves and of all its particular Motions which being upon several accounts an insuperable difficulty what wonder if the ablest Physitians mistake not only sometimes a mans distemper but which is of a worse consequence take sometimes one for another Because two different Diseases may have such an affinity in their Symptoms that they can pretend to no infallibility in distinguishing them On the other side when I consider the obscure Origine of most Distempers I am quite out of humour with the Practice of Physick I may but too easily mistake that without the Knowledge of which I cannot cure my Patient the true cause of his disease yea I wonder how any Man dare venture to study Physick if he peruse but a moment Hypocrates his first Aphorism Vita longa ars brevis occasio celeris experimentum difficile judicium periculosum Our life is too short and the Art is of an infinite extent the occasion gives us easily the slip the Experience is hard doubtful and dangerous and it is not easie to discern well either the Remedies or the Distempers We can have then but little certainty of the Cure especially if we take notice of what follows in the same Aphorism Oportet autem non modo seipsum exhibere quae oportet facientem sed etiam aegrum ac praesentes externa that the Patients Recovery depends not only upon the Physitians care and skill but no less upon the Patient himself who must contribute towards his own cure by an exact submission and scrupulous performance of what he is order'd to do take or observe And besides all our endeavours are useless if those that wait upon him do not their Duty or if perchance those things that the Old Man calls external and are without us as wholsom food good air c. be wanting Out of all this discourse I raise the same inference that made my first proposition in the beginning of this Section That there is no small difficulty to become a good Physitian yet on the other part one would think that there is nothing more easie because of the great number of Physitians to be met with every where whom we know in all other respects to be but meer Blockheads If the Knowledge of Physick were a thing so hard to attain to and beyond the common reach could either a Taylor or a Shoemaker and the rest of the unlearned Tribe practice Physick as able and Famous Doctors I confess if there were no more required to be a Physitian than what the less understanding sort or the Mobile conceives to be necessary the whole World might soon be turn'd into a Colledge of Physitians It is not then the Knowledge of a Receit or two not unsuccessful on some or several occasions that give us right to this honourable Tittle nor the art of making up this or that Physical Composition unless we will foolishly reckon up old doting Wives and Apothecaries Prentices with the ablest Doctors Yea I maintain it to be no Paradox to say that a man may comprehend perfectly the whole Materia medica and an hundred good Remedies against every particular Distemper and yet prove a very insignificant and ignorant Physitian too Because the chief Secret of Physick consists not in the goodness of the Remedy but in the due application thereof with regard to time place the Temper of the Patient and other Circumstances Who understands this and no other is a true Physitian as being capable to cure the worst distempers by not very odd nor far fetcht Remedies Whether there be any Panicea's or universal Remedies against all sort of distempers I shall not here examine but sure I am that Opium perhaps for diminishing of pain excepted there are no such found as yet and though there were any of this Latitude I would still look upon them as meer Instruments that may miscarry by the unskilfulness of those that handle them I am then sensible that several are quite mistaken when they complain that such a Remedy did wrong their Bodies or increase their Distempers whereas the Physitian only is to be blamed who tho' he prescribed a thing in it self very good neither understood the critical Minute it was to be given in nor his Patients constitution nor other Circumstances which we must needs take notice of else we may prescribe the best remedies to no purpose A Physitians Wit then lyeth not in framing modish Receits and prescribing a numberless number of Remedies whether Chimical or Galenical but in a certain practical judgement which is not got in the Universities of applying what is fittest for the cure of the Distemper with regard to time place the strength of the Patient and other Circumstances I look therefore upon such as sell Secrets against all sorts of distempers to be meer Cheats because if their Remedies be indeed Panacea's or Universal this Character I allow not to be