upon ones tail or muffling the face in the Hat or thrusting it in soâ—… hole or covering it with ones hand but with bended knee and an open confident face I fix my Eyes on the East part of the Church and Heaven I endeavour to apply evry tirâ—…le of the Service to my own Conscience and Occasions and I believe the want of this with the huddling up and careless reading of som Ministers with the commoness of it is the greatest cause that many do undervalue and take a Surfet of our public Service For the reading and singing Psalmes wheras most of them are either Petitions or Eucharisticall ejaculations I listen to them more attentively and make them mine own When I stand at the creed I think upon the custom they have in Poland and else-where for Gentlemen to draw their Swords all the while intimating therby that they will defend it with their lives and bloud And for the Decalog wheras others use to rise and sit I ever kneel at it in the humblest and trembling'st posture of all to crave remission for the breaches pass'd of any of Gods holy Commandments specially the week before and future grace to observe them I love a holy devout Sermon that first checks and then cheers the Conscience that begins with the Law and ends with the Gospell but I never prejudicat or censure any Preacher â—…aking him as I find him And now that we are not only Adulted but ancient Christians I beleeve the most acceptable Sacrifice we can send up to Heaven is prayer and praise and that Sermons are not so essentiall as either of them to the tru practice of devotion The rest of the holy Sabbath I sequester my body and mind as much as I can from worldly affairs Upon Monday morn as soon as the Cinq-ports are open I have a particular prayer of thanks that I am reprieved to the beginning of that week and evry day following I knock thrice at Heavens gate in the Morning in the Evening and at Night besides Prayers at Meals and som other occasionall ejaculations as upon the putting on of a clean Shirt washing my hands and at lighting of Candles which because they are sudden I do in the third person Tuesday morning I rise Winter and Summer as soon as I awake and send up a more particular sacrifice for som reasons and as I am dispos'd or have busines I go to bed again Upon Wensday night I always fast and perform also som extraordinary acts of Devotion as also upon Friday night and Saturday morning as soon as my senses are unlock'd I get up And in the Summer time I am oftentimes abroad in som privat field to attend the Sun-rising And as I pray thrice evry day so I fast thrice evry week at least I eat but one meal upon Wensdays Fridays and Saturdays in regard I am jealous with my self to have more infirmities to answer for than other Before I go to bed I make a scrutiny what peccant humors have reign'd in me that day and so I reconcile my self to my Creator and strike a tally in the Exchequer of Heaven for my quieâ—…us est ere I close my eyes and leave no burden upon my Conscience Before I presume to take the Holy Sacrament I use som extraordinary acts of Humiliation to prepare my self som days before and by doing som deeds of Charity and commonly I compose som new Prayers and divers of them written in my own bloud I use not to rush rashly into prayer without a trembling precedent Meditation and if any odd thoughts intervene and grow upon me I check my self and recommence and this is incident to long prayers which are more subject to mans weaknes and the devils malice I thank God I have this fruit of my forrain Travels that I can pray unto him evry day of the week in a severall Language and upon Sunday in seven which in Orisons of my own I punctually perform in my privat Pomeridian devotions Et sic aeternam contendo attingere vitam By these steps I strive to clime up to heaven and my soul prompts me I shall thither for ther is no object in the world delights me more than to cast up my eyes that way specially in a Star-light night and if my mind be overcast with any odd clouds of melancholly when I look up and behold that glorious Fabric which I hope shall be my Countrey heerafter ther are new spirits begot in me presently which make me scorn the World and the pleasures thereof considering the vanity of the one and the inanity of the other Thus my soul still moves East-ward as all the Heavenly bodies doe but I must tell you that as those bodies are over-master'd and snatch'd away to the West raptu primi mobilis by the generall motion of the tenth sphere so by those Epidemicall infirmities which are incident to man I am often snatch'd away a clean contrary cours yet my soul persists still in our own proper motion I am often at variance and angry with my self nor do I hold this anger to be any breach of charity when I consider That wheras my Creator intended this body of mine though â—… lump of Clay to be a Temple of his holy Spirit my affections should turn it often to a Brothell-house my passions to a Bedlam and my excesses to an Hospitall Being of a Lay profession I humbly conform to the Constitutions of the Church and my spirituall Superiors and I hold this obedience to be an acceptable Sacrifice to God Difference in opinion may work a disaffection in me but not a detestation I rather pity than hate Turk or Insidell for they are of the same metall and bear the same stamp as I do though the Inscriptions differ If I hate any 't is those Scismatics that puzzle the sweet peace of our Church so that I could bee content to see an Anabaptist go to Hell on a Brownists back Noble Knight now that I have thus eviscerated my self and dealt so clearly with you I desire by way of correspondence that you would tell me what way you take in your journey to Heaven for if my Brest lie so open to you 't is not sitting yours should bee shut up to mee therfore I pray let me hear from you when it may stand with your Convenience So I wish you your hearts desire here and Heaven hereafter because I am Yours in no vulgar way of friendship J. H. London 25 Iuly 1635. XXXIII To Simon Digby Esquire at Mosco the Emperor of Russia's Court. SIR I Received one of yours by Mr. Pickhurst and I am glad to find that the rough clime of Russia agrees so well with you so well as you write as the Catholic ayr of Madrid or the Imperiall ayr of Vienna where you had such honorable employments The greatest News we have heer is that we have a Bishop Lord Tresurer and 't is News indeed in these times though 't was no news you know in
you lately did to a kinsman of mine Mr. Vaughan and for divers other which I defer till I return to that Court and that I hope will not be long Touching the procedure of matters here you shall understand that my Lord Aston had speciall audience lately of the King of Spain and afterwards presented a Memorial wherin ther was a high complaint against the miscarriage of the two Spanish Ambassadors now in England the Marquis of Inopifa and Don Carlos Coloma the substance of it was that the said Ambassadors in a privat audience his Majesty of great Britain had given them informd him of a pernicions plot against his Person and royall authority which was that at the beginning of your now Parliament the Duke of Buckingham with others his complices often met and consulted in a clandestin way how to break the treatie both of Match and Palatinat and in case his Majesty was unwilling therunto he should have a Countrey house or two to retire unto for his recreation and health in regard the Prince is now of years judgment fit to govern His Majesty so resented this that the next day he sent them many thanks for the care they had of him and desird them to perfect the work and now that they had detected the treason to discover also the traitors but they were shy in that point the King sent again desiring them to send him the names of the Conspirators in a paper seald up by one of their own confidents which he would receive with his own hands and no soul should see it els advising them withall that they should not prefer this discovery before their own honors to be accounted false Accusers they replied that they had don enough already by instancing in the Duke of Buckingham and it might easily be guest who were his Confidents and Creatures Hereupon his Majesty put those whom he had any grounds to suspect to their oaths And afterward sent my Lord Conway and Sir Francis Cotington to tell the Ambassadors that he had left no means unassaid to discover the Conspiration that he had sound upon oath such a clearness of ingenuity in the Duke of Buckingham thâ—… satisfied him of his innocency Therfore he had just cause to conceive that this information of theirs proceeded rather from malice and som politicall ends then from truth and in regard they would not produce the Authors of so dangerous a Treason they made themselves to be justly thought the Authors of it And therfore though he might by his own royall justice and the law of nations punish this excesse and insolence of theirs and high wrong they had done to his best servants yea to the Prince his Son for through the sides of the Duke they wounded him in regard it was impossible that such a design should be attempted without his privity yet he would not be his own Judge herein but would refer them to the King their Master whom he conceiv'd to be so just that hee doubted not but he would see him satisfied and therfore hee would send an express unto him hereabouts to demand Justice and reparation this busines is now in agitation but we know not what will become of it We are all here in a sad disconsolat condition and the Merchants shake their heads up and down out of an apprehension of som fearfull war to follow so I most affectionatly kiss your hands and rest Madrid Aug. 26 1623. Your very humble and ready Servitor J. H. XXIX To Sir Kenelme Digby Knight SIR YOu have had knowledge none better of the progression and growings of the Spanish match from time to time I must acquaint you now with the rupture and utter dissolution of it which was not long a doing for it was done in one audience that my Lord of Bristoll had lately at Court whence it may be inferr'd that 't is far more easie to pull down than reare up for that structure which was so many years a rearing was dasht as it were in a trice Dissolution goeth a faster pace than Composition And it may be said that the civill actions of men specially great affairs of Monarchs as this was have much Analogie in degrees of progression with the naturall production of man To make man there are many acts must procede first a meeting and copulation of the Sexes then Conception which requires a well-disposed womb to retain the prolificall seed by the constriction and occlusion of the orifice of the Matrix which seed being first bloud and afterwards cream is by a gentle ebullition coagulated and turnd to a crudded lump which the womb by vertue of its naturall heat prepares to be capable to receive form and to be organiz'd wherupon Nature falls a working to delineat all the members beginning with those that are most noble as the Heart the Brain the Liver wherof Galen would have the Liver which is the shop and source of the bloud and Aristotle the Heart to be the first fram'd in regard 't is primùm vivens ultimùm moriens Nature continues in this labor untill a perfect shape be introduc'd and this is call'd Formation which is the third act and is a production of an organicall body out of the spermatic substance caus'd by the plastic vertue of the vitall spirits and somtimes this act is finisht thirty days after the Conception somtimes fifty but most commonly in forty two or forty five and is sooner don in the male This being done the Embryon is animated with three souls the first with that of Plants call'd the vegetable soul then with a sensitive which all brute Animals have and lastly the Rationall soul is infus'd and these three in man are like Trigonus in Tetragono the two first are generated ex Traduce from the seed of the Parents but the last is by immediat infusion from God and 't is controverted 'twixt Philosophers and Divines when this infusion is made This is the fourth act that goeth to make man and is called Animation and as the Naturalists allow Animation double the time that Formation had from the Conception so they allow to the ripening of the Embryo in the womb and to the birth therof treble the time that Animation had which hapneth somtimes in nine somtimes in ten months This Grand busines of the Spanish match may be said to have had such degrees of progression first there was a meeting and coupling on both sides for a Iunta in in Spain and som select Counsellors of State were appointed in England After this Conjunction the busines was conceiv'd then it receiv'd form then life though the quickning was slow but having had nere upon ten years in lieu of ten months to be perfected it was infortunately strangled when it was ripe and ready for birth and I would they had never been born that did it for it is like to be out of my way 30 ol And as the Embryo in the womb is wrapt in three membranes or tunicles so this
at one blow fell to pull out the hair one by one And touching this particular humor from which I disswade you it hath rag'd in me too often by contingent fits but I thank God for it I find it much abated and purg'd Now the only Physic I us'd was a precedent fast and recours to the holy Sacrament the next day of purpose to implore pardon for what was pass'd and power for the future to quell those exorbitant motions those ravings and feavourish fits of the soul in regard ther are no infirmities more dangerous for at the same instant they have being they becom impieties And the greatest symptom of amendment I find in mee is because whensoever I hear the holy name of God blasphem'd by any other it makes my heart to tremble within my brest Now it is a penitentiall Rule that if sins present do not please thee sins pass'd will never hurt thee All other sins have for their object either pleasure or profit or some ayme and satisfaction to body or mind but this hath none at all therfore fie upon 't my dear Captain tâ—…e whether you can make a conquest of your self in subduing this execrable custom Alexander subdued the World Caesar his Enemies Hercules Monsters but he that oâ—…ecomes himself is the true valiant Captain I have herewith sent you a Hymn consonant to this subject because I know you are Musicall and a good Poet. A gradual Hymn of a double cadence tending to the Honor of the Holy Name of GOD. 1. LEt the vast universe And therein ev'ry thing The mighty acts rehearse Of their immortall King His Name extoll what to Nadir from Zenith stir Twixt Pole and Pole 2. Yee Elements that move And alter every hower Yet herein constant prove And symbolize all sower His praise to tell mix all in one for aire and tone To sound this peale 3. Earth which the center art And only standest still Yet move and bear thy part Resound with ecchos shrill Thy Mines of gold with precious stones and unions His fame uphold 4. Let all thy fragrant flowers Grow sweeter by this 〈◊〉 Thy tallest trees and bowers Bud forth and blossom sair Beasts wild and tame whom lodgings yield House dens or field Collaud his Name 5. Yet Seas with Earth that make One globe flow high and swell Exalt your Makers name In deep his wonders tell Leviathan and what doth swim neer bank or brim His glory fcan 6. Yet airy Regions all Ioyn in a sweet concent Blow such a Madrigall May reach the Firmament Winds hail Ice snow and perly drops that hang on crops His wonders show 7. Pure element of fire With holy sparks inflame This sublunary quire That all one Consort frame Their spirits raise to trumpet forth their Makers worth And sound his praise 8. Yee glorious Lamps that roulâ—… In your celestiall Sphears All under his controule Who you on poles up bears Him magnifie yet Planets bright and fixed lights That deck the skie 9. O Heaven Chrystalline which by thy watry but Do'st temper and refine the rest in azurd blue His glory sound thou first Mobile which makst all wâ—â—â—el In circle round 10. Yee glorious souls who raign In sempiternall joy Free from those cares and pain which here did you annoy And him behold in whom all bliss concentred is His laud unfold 11. Blest maid which dost surmount all Saints and Seraphins And raignst as Paramount And chief of Cherubins Chant out his praise who in thy womb nine months took room Though crownd with rayes 12. Oh let my soul and heart my mind and memory Bear in this Hymn a part and joyn with earth and sky Let every wight the whole world ore là ud and adore The Lord of light All your friends heer are well Tom Young excepted who I fear hath not long to live amongst us so I rest York the 1 of Aug. 1628. Your true friend J. H. XIII To Will Austin Esqr. SIR I Have many thanks to give you for that excellent Poem you sent me upon the Passion of Christ surely you wer possess'd with a very strong spirit when you penn'd it you wer becom a true Enthusiasist for Iet me despair if I lye unto you all the while I was perusing it it committed holy rapes upon my soul me â—…ought I felt my heart melting within my brest and my thoughts transported to a true Elysium all the while ther were such flexanimous strong ravishing strains throughout it To deal plainly with you it wer an injury to the public good not to expose to open light such divine raptures for they have an edifying power in them and may be tearm'd the very quintessence of devotion you discover in them what a rich talent you have which should not be buried within the walls of a privat study or pass through a few particular hands but appear in public view and to the sight of the world to the enriching of others as they did me in reading them Therfore I shall long to see them pass from the Bankside to Pauls Churchyard with other precious peeces of yours which you have pleas'd to impart unto me Oxford 20 Augâ—… 1628. Your most affectionate Servitoâ—… J. H. XIV To Sir I. S. Knight SIR YOu writ to me lately for a Footman and I think this bearer will fit you I know he can run well for he hath run away twice from me but he knew the way back again yet though he hath a running head as well as running heels and who will expect a footman to be a stayed man I would not part with him were I not to go â—…ost to the North. Ther be som things in him that answer for his waggeries he will com when you call him go when you bid him and shut the door after him he is faithfull and stout and a lover of his Master He is a great enemy to all doggs if they bark at him in his running for I have seen him confront a huge mastif and knock him down When you go a Countrey journey or have him run with you a hunting you must spirit him with liquor you must allow him also somthing extraordinary for socks els you must not have him to wait at your table for when his grease melts in running hard t is subject to fall into his toes I send him you but for tryall if he be not for your turn turn him over to me again when I com back The best news I can send you at this time is that we are like to have peace both with France and Spain so that Harwich men your Neighbours shall not hereafter need to fear the name of Spinola who struck such an apprehension into them lately that I understand they begin to fortifie I pray present my most humble service to my good Lady and at my return from the North I will be hold to kiss her hands and yours so I am London 25 of May. 1628. Your much obliged Servitoâ—… J. H. XV. To my Father SIR
subject to starving to diseases to the inclemency of the weather and to be far longer liv'd I then spyed a great stone and sitting a while upon 't I fell to weigh in my thoughts that that stone was in a happier condition in som respects than either those sensitive creatures or vegetables I saw before in regard that that stone which propagates by assimilation as the Philosophers say needed neither grass nor hay or any aliment for restauration of nature nor water to refresh its roots or the heat of the Sun to attract the moisture upwards to encrease growth as the other did As I directed my pace homeward I spyed a Kite soaâ—…ing high in the ayr and gently gliding up and down the clear Region so far above my head I fell to envy the Bird extremely and â—…epine at his happines that hee should have a privilege to make a nearer approach to heaven than I. Excuse me that I trouble you thus with these rambling meditations they are to correspond with you in som part for those accurat fancies of yours you lately sent me So I rest Holborn 17 Mar. 1639. Your entire and true Servitor J. H LII To master Sergeant D. at Lincolns Inn. SIR I Understand with a deep sense of sorrow of the indisposition of your son I fear he hath too much mind for his body and that he superabounds with fancy which brings him to these fits of distemper proceeding from the black humor of Melancholy Moreover I have observed that hee is too much given to his study and self-society specially to convers with dead men I mean Books you know any thing in excess is naught Now Sir wer I worthy to give you advice I could wish he wer well married and it may wean him from that bookish and thoughtfull humor women wer created for the comfort of men and I have known that to som they have prov'd the best Heleborum against Melancholy As this course may beget new spirits in him so it must needs ad also to your comfort I am thus bold with you because I love the Gentleman dearly well and honor you as being West 13 Iune 1632. Your humble obliged servant J. H. LIII To my noble Lady the Lady M. A. Madame THer is not any thing wherin I take more pleasure than in the accomplishment of your commands nor had ever any Queen more power o're her Vassalls than you have o're my intellectualls I find by my inclinations that it is as naturall for me to do your will as it is for fire to fly upward or any body els to rend to his center but touching the last command your Ladiship was pleased to lay upon me which is the following Hymne if I answer not the fulness of your expectation it must be imputed to the suddennes of the command and the shortnes of time A Hymne to the Blessed Trinity To the First Person To thee dread Soveraign and dear Lord Which out of nought didst me afford Essence and life who mad'st me man And oh much more a Christian Lo from the centre of my heart All laud and glory I impart Hallelujah To the Second To thee blessed Saviour who didst free My soul from Satans tyrannie And mad'st her capable to be An Angel of thy Hierarchy From the same centre I do raise All honor and immortall praise Hallelujah To the Third To thee sweet Spirit I return That love wherwith my heart doth burn And these bless'd notions of my brain I now breath up to thee again O let them redescend and still My soul with holy raptures fill Hallelujah They are of the same measure cadence and ayr as was that angelicall Hymne your Ladiship pleased to touch upon your instrument which as it so enchanted me then that my soul was ready to com out at my ears so your voice took such impressions in mee that me thinks the sound still remains fresh with Westm. 1 Apr. 1637. Your Ladiships most devoted Servitor J. H. XLIV To Master P. W. at Westminster SIR THe fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom and the Love of God is the end of the Law the former saying was spoke by no meaner man than Solomon but the latter hath no meaner Author than our Savior himself Touching this beginning and this end ther is a near relation between them so near that the one begets the tother a harsh mother may bring forth somtimes a mild daughter so fear begets love but it begets knowledg first for Ignâ—…ti nulla cupido we cannot love God unless we know him before both fear and love are necessary to bring us to heaven the one is the fruit of the Law the other of the Gospell when the clouds of fear are vanish'd the beams of love then begin to glance upon the heart and of all the members of the body which are in a maner numberless this is that which God desires because 't is the centre of Love the source of our affections and the cistern that holds the most illustrious bloud and in a sweet and well devoted harmonious soul cor is no other than Camera Omnipotentis Regis 't is one of Gods closets and indeed nothing can fill the heart of man whose desires are infinite but God who is infinity itself Love therfore must be a necessary attendant to bring us to him but besides Love ther must be two other guides that are requir'd in this journey which are Faith and Hope now that fear which the Law enjoyns us turns to faith in the Gospell and knowledg is the scope and subject of both yet these last two bring us onely towards the haven but love goes along with us to heaven and so remains an inseparable sempiternall companion of of the soul Love therfore is the most acceptable Sacrifice which we can offer our Creator and he who doth not study the Theory of it heer is never like to com to the Practise of it heerafter It was a high hyper physicall expression of St. Austustine when he fell into this rapture that if hee wer King of Heaven and God Almighty Bishop of Hippo he would exchange places with him because he lov'd him so well This Vote did so take me that I have turn'd it to a paraphrasticall Hymn which I send you for your Violl having observed often that you have a harmonious soul within you The Vote Oh God who can those passions tell Wherwith my heart to thee doth swell I cannot better them declare Than by the wish made by that rare Auâ—…elian Bishop who of old Thy Oracâ—…es in Hippo told If I were Thou and thou wert I I would resign the Deity Thou shouldst be God I would be man Is 't possible that love more can Oh pardon that my soul hath tane So high a flight and grows prophane For my self my dear Phil because I love you so dearly well I will display my very intrinsecalls to you in this point when I exmine the motions of my heart I find that I
dayes in the yeer in a Silk-Stockin and Sattin-Slippers without soiling them not can the Steets of Paris be so foul as these are fair This beutious Maid hath bin often attempted to be vitiated som have courted her som brib'd her som would have forc'd her yet she hath still preserv'd her chastity intire and though she hath liv'd so many Ages and pass'd so many shrew'd brunts yet she continueth fresh to this very day without the least wrinkle of old Age or any symptomes of decay wherunto political bodies as well as naturall use to be liable Besides the hath wrestled with the greatest Potentats upon Earth The Emperour the King of France and most of the other Princes of Christendome in that famous league of Cambray would have sunk her but she bore up still within her Lakes and broke that league to peeces by her wit The gran Turk hath bin often at her and though he could not have his will of her yet he took away the richest Jewell she wore in her Cornet and put it in his Turban I mean the Kingdom of Cypres the onely Royall Gem she had he hath set upon her skirts often since and though she clos'd with him somtimes yet she came off still with her Maiden-head though some that envy her happines would brand her to be of late times a kind of Concubin to him and that she gives him ready money once a yeer to lie with her which she minceth by the name of present though it 〈◊〉 indeed rather a tribut I would I had you here with a wish and you would not desire in haste to be at Grayes-Inne though I hold your walks to be the pleasant'st place about London and that you have there the choicest society I pray present my kind commendations to all there and my service at Bishops-gate-street and let me hear from you by the next Post So I am Ven 5. Iun. 1621. Intirely yours J. H. XXXI To Dr. Fr. Mansell from Venice GIve me leave to salute you first in these Sapphics Inâ—â—â—â—â— tendens iter ad Britannam Châ—â—ta te paucis volo 〈◊〉 gressum Verba Mansello bene noscis illum talia perfer Finibus longè patriis Hoellus Di 〈…〉 quantis Venetium superbâ— Civitas 〈◊〉 distat ab urbe Plurimam mentis tibi vult salutem Plurimum cordis tibi vult vigorem Plurimum sortis tibi vult favorem Regis Aulae These wishes com to you from Venice a place wher ther is nothing wanting that heart can wish Renowned Venice the admiredst City in the World a City that all Europ is bound unto for she is her greatest Ram part against that huge Eastern Tyrant the Turk by Sea else I beleeve he had over-run all Christendoâ—… by this time Against him this City hath perform'd notable exploits and not only against him but divers other She hath restor'd Emperours to their Throne and Popes to their Chairs and with her Gallies often preserv'd Saint Peters Bark from sinking for which by way of reward one of his Suceessors espoâ—…s'd her to the Sea which marriage is solemnly renew'd evry yeer in solemn Profession by the Doge and all the Clarissunos and a Gold Ring cast into the Sea out of the great Galeasse call'd the 〈◊〉 wherin the first Ceremony was perform'd by the Pope himself above three hundred yeers since and they say it is the self-same Vessell still though often put upon the Carine and trim'd This made me think on that famous ship at Athens nay I fell upon 〈◊〉 abstracted notion in Philosophy and a speculation touching the body of man which being in perpetuall Flux and a kind of succession of decayes and consequently requiring ever and anon a restauration of what it loseth of the vertue of the former alimâ—…nt and what was converted after the third concoction into bloud and fleshy substance which as in all other sublunary bodies that have internall principles of heat useth to transpire breath out and wast away through invisible Pores by exercise motion and sleep to make room still for a supply of new nourriture I fell I say to consider whither our bodies may be said to be of like condition with this Bucentore which though it be reputed still the same Vessell yet I beleeve ther 's not a foot of that Timber remaining which it had upon the first Dock having bin as they tell me so often plank'd and ribb'd caulk'd and peec'd In like manner our bodies may be said to be daily repaired by new sustenance which begets new bloud and consequently new spirits new humours and I may say new flesh the old by continuall deperdition and insensible transpirations evaporating still out of us and giving way to fresh so that I make a question whither by reason of these perpetuall reparations and accretions the body of man may be said to be the same numericall body in his old age that he had in his manhood or the same in his manhood that he had in his youth the same in his youth that he carried about him in his childhood or the same in his childhood which he wore first in the Womb I make a doubt whither I had the same identicall individually numericall body when I carried a Calf-Leather Sachell to School in Hereford as when I woar a Lamskin Hood in Oxford or whither I have the same masse of bloud in my Veins and the same Flesh now in Venice which I carried about me three yeers since up and down London streets having in lieu of Beer and Alâ—… drunk Wine all this while and fed upon different Viands now the stomach is like a crusible for it hath a chymicall kind of vertue to transmute one body into another to transubstantiat Fish and Fruits into Flesh within and about us but though it be questionable whither I wear the same Flesh which is fluxible I am sure my Hair is not the same for you may remember I went flaxen-hair'd out â—…of England but you shall find me return'd with a very dark Brown which I impute not onely to the heat and ayr of those hot Countries I have eat my bread in but to the quality and difference of food but you will say that hair is but an excrementitious thing and makes not to this purpose moreover me thinks I hear yon say that this may be true onely in the bloud and spirits or such fluid parts not in the solid and heterogeneall parts But I will presse no further at this time this Philosophical notion which the â—…ght of Bucentorâ—… infus'd into me for it hath already made me exceed the bounds of a Letter and I fear me to trespasse too much upon your patience I leave the further disquisition of this point to your own contemplations who are a far riper Philosopher then I and have waded deeper into and drunk more of Aristotles Well but to conclude though it be doubtfull whither I carry about me the same body or no in all points that I had in
OUr two younger brothers which you sent hither are disposed of my brother Doctor hath placed the elder of the two with Mr. Hawes a Mercer in Cheapside and he took much paines in 't and I had plac'd my brother Ned with Mr. Barrington a Silk man in the same street but afterwards for som inconveniences I remov'd him to one Mr. Smith at the Flower-de-Luce in Lumbard-street a Mercer also Their Masters are both of them very wel to pass and of good repute I think it will prove som advantage to them hereafter to be both of one trade because when they are out of their time they may joyn sâ—…ocks together So that I hope sir they are wel plac'd as any two youths in London but you must not use to send them such large tokens in money for that may corrupt them When I went to bind my brother Ned apprentice in Drapers Hall casting my eyes upon the Chimney peece of the great room I might spy a picture of an ancient Gentleman and underneath Thomas Howell I asked the Clerk about him and he told me that he had bin a Spanish Merchant in Henry the eighths time and coming home rich and dying a Bachelor he gave that Hall to the Company of Drapers with other things so that he is accounted one of their chiefest Benefactors I told the Clerk that one of the sons of Thomas Howell came now thither to be bound he answered that if he be a right Howell he may have when he is free three hundred pounds to help to set up and pay no interest for five yeers It may be hereafter wee may make use of this He told me also that any Maid that can prove her Father to be a true Howell may com and demand fifty pounds towards her portion of the said Hall I am to goe post towards Yorke to morrow to my charge but hope God willing to be here againe the next Terme So with my love to my brother Howell and my sister his wife I rest London 30 Sept. 1629. Your dutifull Son I. H. XVI To my brother Dr. Howell at Iesus College in Oxon. BRother I have sent you here inclosed Warrants for four brace of Bucks and a Stag the last Sir Arthur Manwaring procur'd of the King for you towards the keeping of your Act I have sent you also a Warrant for a brace of Bucks out of Waddon Chace besides you shall receive by this Carrier a great Wicker Hamper with two Geoules of Sturgeon six barrells of pickled Oysters three barrells of Bologna Olives with som other Spanish comodities My Lord President of the North hath lately made me Patron of a living hard by Henley call'd Hambledon it is worth five hundred pounds a year communibus onnis and the now Incumbent Dr. Pilkington is very aged valetudinary and corpulent My Lord by legall instrument hath transmitted the next Advouson to me for satisfaction of som arrerages Dr. Dommlaw and two or three more have bin with me about it but I alwayes intended to make the first proffer to you therfore I pray think of it a sum of money must be had but you shall be at no trouble for that if you only will secure it and desire one more who I know will do it for you and it shall appear unto you that you have it upon far better tâ—…rms than any other It is as finely situated as any Rectory can be for it is about the mid-way twixt Oxford and London it lies upon the Thames and the Glebe-land house is very large and fair and not dilapidated so that considering all things it is as good as som Bishopricks I know his Majesty is gracious unto you and you may well expect som preferment that way but such livings as these are not to be had every where I thank you for inviting me to your Act I will â—…e with you the next week God willing and hope to find my Father there So with my kind love to Dr. Mansell Mr. Watkins Mr. Madocks and Mr. Napier at Allsoules I rest London 20 Iune 1628. Your loving Brother J. H. XVII To my Father Mr. Ben Johnson FAther Ben. Nullum fit magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiâ—… ther 's no great wit without som mixture of madnes so saith the Philosopher nor was he a fool who answered nec parvum sine mixtura stultitiâ—… nor small wit without som allay of foolishnâ—… Touching the first it is verified in you for I find that you have bin oftentimes mad you were mad when you writ your Fox and madder when you writ your Alchymist you were mad when you writ Catilin and stark mad when you writ Sejâ—…us but when you writ your Epigrammes and the Magnetic Lady you were not so mad Insomuch that I perceive ther be degrees of madnes in you Excuse me that I am so free with you The madnes I mean is that divine fury that heating and heighning Spirit which Ovid speaks of Est Deus in nobis agitante calescimus illo that true enthusiasm which transports and elevates the souls of Poets above the middle Region of vulgar conceptions and makes them soar up to Heaven to touch the starrs with their laurelld heads to walk in the Zodiac with Apollo himself and command Mercury upon their errand I cannot yet light upon Doctor Davies his Welsh Grammer before Christmas I am promiss'd one So desiring you to look better hereafter to your charcole fire and chimney which I am glad to be one that preserv'd from burning this being the second time that Vulcaâ—… hath threatned you it may be because you have spoken ill of his wise and bin too busy with his hornes I rest Westminster 27 Iune 1629. Your Son and contiguous Neighbour J. H. XVIII To Sir Arthur Ingram at his House in York SIR I Have sent you herewith a hamper of Melons the best I could find in any of Tothillfield gardens and with them my very humble service and thanks for all favors and lately for inviting me to your new noble House at Temple Newsam when I return to Yorkshire To this I may answer you as my Lord Coke was answerd by a Nâ—…folk Countryman who had a sute depending in the Kings-Bench against som neighbours touching a River that us'd to annoy him and Sir Edward Coke asking how he call'd the River he answerd my Lord I need not call her for she is forward enough to com of her self So I may say that you need not call me to any house of yours for I am forward enough to com without calling My Lord President is still indispos'd at Dr. Nappiers yet he writ to me lately that he hopes to be at the next sitting in York So with a tender of my most humble service to my noble good Lady I rest London 25 Iul. 1629. Your much obliged servant J. H. XIX To R. S. Esq. SIR I Am one of them who value not a curtesie that hangs long betwixt the fingers I love not those viscosa
forth-coming till som Papers of mine were perus'd and Mr. Corbet was appointed to do it Som days after I came to Mr. Corbet and he told me he had perus'd them and could find nothing that might give offence heerupon I desir'd him to make a report to the House accordingly which as I was told he did very fairly yet such was my hard hap that I was committed to the Fleet wher I am now under close restraint and as far as I see I must lye â—…t dead anchor in this Fleet a long time unless som gentle gale blow thence to make me laâ—…nce out Gods will be don and amend the times and make up these ruptures which threaten so much calamity So I am Fleet. Nov. 20. 1643. Your Lopps most faithfull though now afflicted Servitor J. H. XLVIII To Sir Bevis Thelwall Knight Petri ad vincula at Peter House in London SIR THough we are not in the same prison yet are we in the same predicament of suffrance therfore I presume you are subject to the like fits of melancholly as I The fruition of liberty is not so pleasing as a conceit of the want of it is irksom specially to one of such free-born thoughts as you Melancholly is a black noxious humor and much annoys the whol inward man if you would know what cordiall I use against it in this my sad condition I le tell you I pore somtimes on a Book and so I make the dead my companions and this is one of my chiefest solaces If the humor work upon mee stronger I rouze my spirits and raise them up towards Heaven my future Countrey and one may be on his journy thither though shut up in Prison and happly go a straighter way than if hee wer abroad I consider that my soul while shee is coop'd up within these walls of flesh is but in a kind of perpetuall prison And now my body corresponds with her in the same condition my body is the prison of the one and these brick-walls the prison of the other And let the English peeple flatter themselves as long as they will that they are free yet are they in effect but prisoners as all other Islanders are for being surrounded and clos'd about with Salt-water as I am with these Walls they cannot go where they list unless they ask the Winds leave first and Neptun must give them a pass God Almighty amend the times and compose these wofull divisions which menace nothing but public ruin the thoughts wherof drown in me the sense of mine own privat affliction So wishing you courage wherof you have enough if you put it in practise and patience in this sad sad condition I rest From the Fleet Aug. 2 1643. Your true Servant and Compatriot J. H. LIX To Mr. E. P. SIR I Saw such prodigious things daily don these few yeers that I had resolv'd with my self to give over wondering at any thing yet a passage happen'd this week that forc'd me to wonder once more because it is without parallel It was that som odd fellows went skulking up and down London-streets and with Figs and Reasons allur'd little Children and so pourloyn'd them away from their Parents and carried them a Ship-board for beyond Sea where by cutting their hair and other devises they so disguis'd them that their Parents could not know them This made me think upon that miraculous passage in Hamelen a Town in Germans which I hop'd to have pass'd through when I was in Hamburgh had we return'd by Holland which was thus nor would I relate it unto you wer ther not som ground of truth for it The said Town of Hamelen was annoyed with Rats and Mice and it chanc'd that a Pied-coated Piper came thither who covenanted with the chief Burgers for such a reward if he could free them quite from the said Vermin nor would he demand it till a twelve-month and a day after The agreement being made he began to play on his Pipes and all the Rats and the Mice followed him to a great Lough hard by where they all perish'd so the Town was infected no more At the end of the yeer the Pied-Piper return'd for his reward the Burgers put him off with slightings and neglect offring him som small matter which he refusing and staying som dayes in the Town on Sunday morning at High Mass when most peeple were at Church he fell to play on his Pipes and all the children up and down follow'd him out of the Town to a great Hill not far off which rent in two and opened and let him and the children in and so clos'd up again This happen'd a matter of two hundred and fifty yeers since and in that Town they date their Bills and Bonds and other Instruments in Law to this day from the yeer of the going out of their children Besides there is a great piller of stone at the foot of the said Hill wheron this story is ingraven No more now for this is enough in conscience for one time So I am Fleet. 1 Octo. 1643. Your most affectionat Servitor J. H. L. To my Lord G. D. My Lord THer be two weighty sayings in Seneca Nihil est infaelicius â—…o cui nil unquam contigit adversi Ther is nothing more unhappy than he who never felt any adversity The other is Nullum est majus malum quà m non posse ferre malum Ther is no greater cross than not to be able to bear a cross Touching the first I am not capable of that kind of unhappiness for I have had my share of adversity I have bin hammer'd and dilated upon the Anvill as our Countrey-man Breakspear Adrian the fourth said of himself I have bâ—…n strain'd through the limbic of affliction Touching the second I am also free of that cross for I thank God for it I have that portion of Grace and so much Philosophy as to be able to endure and confront any misery T is not so tedious to me as to others to be thus immur'd because I have bin inur'd and habituated to troubles That which sinks deepest into me is the sense I have of the common calamities of this Nation ther is a strange Spirit hath got in amongst us which makes the Idaea of holines the formality of good and the very facultie of reason to be quite differing from what it was I remember to have read a tale of the Ape in Paris who having got a child out of the cradle carried him up to the top of the tiles and there sat with him upon the ridg The parents beholding this ruthfull spectacle gave the Ape fair and smooth language so he gently brought the child down again and replac'd him in the cradle Our Countrey is in the same case this child was in and I hope ther will be sweet and gentle means us'd to preserve it from precipitation The City of London sticks constantly to the Parlement and the Common-Councell swayes much insomuch that I beleeve if the
by the next shipping besides she entreats you to send her a pot of the best mithridate and so much of treacle All your frends here are well and joviall T. T. drank your health yesternight and wish'd you could send him a handsome Venetiaâ—… Courâ—…isan inclos'd in a letter he would willingly be at the charge of the postage which he thinks would not be much for such a light commodity Farewell my dear Tom have a care of your courses and continue to love him who is Westmin 15 Ian. 1635. Yours to the altar J. H. XVIII To Mr. T. Jackson at Madrid SIR THough a great sea severs â—…s now yet 't is not all the water of the Ocean can drowne the remembrance of you in me but that it floats and flows daily in my brain I must confess for 't is impossible the mind of man should fix it self alwaies upon one object it hath somtimes its ebbs in me but 't is to rise up again with greater force At the writing heerof 't was floud 't was spring-tide which sweld so high that the thoughts of you overwhelm'd all others within me they ingross'd all my intellectualls for the time You write to me fearfull news â—…ouching the revolt of the Catalan from Castillia of the tragicall murthering of the Viceroy and the burning of his House Those mountaneers are mad Lads I fear the sparkles of this fire will fly further either to Portugall or to Sicilia and Italy all which Countries I observ'd the Spaniard holds as one would do a Woolf by the â—…ar fearing they should run aâ—…ay ever and anon from him The newes here is that Lambeth House beares all the sway at White-Hall and the Lord Deputy Kings it notably in Ireland som that love them best could wish them a little more moderation I pray buy Suarez works for me of the last edition Mr. William Pawley to whom I desire my most hearty commends may be presented will see it safely sent by way of Bilâ—…ao your frends here are all well as is thanks be to God Holborn 3 Mar. 1638. Your true friend to serve you J. H. XXIX To Sir Edward Sa. Knight Sir Edward I Had a shrewd disease hung lately upon mâ—… proceeding as the Physicians told me from this long reclused life and close restraint which had much wasted my spirits and brought me low when the Crisis was past I began to grow doubtfull that I had but a short time to breath in this elementary world my feaver still encreasing and finding my soule weary of this muddy mansion and me thought more weary of this prison of flesh than this flesh was of this prison of the Fleet. Therfore after som gentle slumbers and unusuall dreames about the dawnings of the day I had a lucid intervall and so I fell a thinking how to put my little house in order and to make my last will Heerupon my thoughts ran upon Grunnius sophista's last Testament who having nothing else to dispose of but his body he bequeathed all the parts therof in Legacies as his skin to the Tanners his bones to the Dice makers his guts to the Musitians his fingers to the Scriveners his toung to his fellow sophisters which were the Lawyers of those times and so forth as he thus dissected his body so I thought to divide my mind into legacies having as you know little of the outward pelf and gifts of fortune to dispose of for never any was less beholden to that blind baggage In the highest degree of Theoricall contemplation I made an entire sacrifice of my soul to her maker who by infusing created her and by creating infused her to actuate this small bulk of flâ—…sh with an unshakeâ—… confidence of the redemption of both in my Saviour and consequently of the salvation of the one and resurrection of the other my thoughts then reflected upon divers of my noble frends and I â—…ell to proportion unto them what Legacies I held most proper I thought to bequeath unto my Lord of Cherbery and Sir K. Digâ—…y that little Philosophy and knowledg I have in the Mathematicks My historicall observations and criticall researches I made into antiquity I thought to bequeath unto Dr. Vsher Lord Primate of Ireland My observations abroad and inspection into forrein States I thought to leave to my Lord G. D. My poetry such as it is to Mistress A. K. who I know is a great minion of the Muses School languages I thought to bequeath unto my dear mother the Vniversity of Oxford My Spanish to Sir Lewis Dives and Master Endimion Porter for though they are great masters of that language yet it may stead them somthing when they read la picara Iustina My Italian to the worthy company of Turky and Levantine Merchants from divers of whom I have received many noble favours My French to my most honoured lady the Lady Cor and it may help her somthing to understand Rablais The little smattering I have in the Dutch British and my English I did not esteem worth the bequeathing My love I had bequeathed to be dufâ—…'d among all my dear frends specially those that have stuck unto me this my long affliction My best naturall â—…ffections betwixt the Lord B of Br. my brother Howell my three dear Sisters to be transferr'd by them to my cousins their children This little sackfull of bones I thought to bequeath to Westminster Abbey to be interred in the cloyster within the Southside of the Garden close to the wall wher I would have desired Sir H. F. my dear Frend to have inlayed a small peece of black marble and caus'd this motto to have bin insculp'd upon it Huc usque peregrinus heic domi or this which I would have left to his choice Huc usque Erraticus beie fixus and instead of strewing my grave with flowers I would have desired him to have grafted theron som little Tree of what sort he pleas'd that might have taken root downward to my dust because I have bin alwaies naturally affected to woods and groves and those kind of vegetables insomuch that if ther wer any such thing as a Pythagorean Metempsuchosis I think my soul would transmigrat into som Tree when she bids this body farewell By these extravagancies and od Chimera's of my brain you may well perceive that I was notwell but distemper'd specially in my intellectualls according to the Spanish proverb siempre desvarios 〈◊〉 la calentura fevers have alwaies their fits of dotage Among those to whom I had bequeath'd my dearest love you wer one to whom I had intended a large proportion and that love which I would have left you then in legacy I send you now in this letter for it hath pleased God to reprieve me for a longer time to creep upon this earth and to see better daies I hope when this black dismall cloud is dispell'd but com foul or fair weather I shall be as formerly Fleet 26 Mar. 1643. Your most constant faithfull Servitor J.
shewn me am very covetous of the improvement of this acquaintance for I do not remember at home or abroad to have seen in the person of any a Gentleman and a Merchant so equally met as in your which makes me stile my self Fleet 3 May 1645. Your most affectionat frend to serve you J. H. XLIX To Dr. D. Featley SIR I Received your answer to that futilous pamphlet with your desire of my opinion touching it Truly Sir I must tell you that never poor Curr was toss'd in a blanquet as you have toss'd that poor coxcomb in the sheet you pleas'd to send me For wheras 〈◊〉 fillip might have fell'd him you have knock'd him down with a kind of Herculean club sans resource These times more 's the pitty labour with the same disease that France did during the Ligue 〈◊〉 a famous Author hath it prurigâ—… scripturiâ—…ntium erat scabies tempâ—…rum The itching of scriblers was the scab of the time It iâ—… just so now that any triobolary pasquiller evry trâ—…ssis agasâ—… any sterquilinious raskall is licenc'd to throw dirt in the faces 〈◊〉 Soveraign Pâ—…inces in open printed language But I hope tâ—… times will mend and your man also if he hath any grace you haâ—… so well corrected him So I rest Fleet 1 Aug. 1644. Yours to serve and reverence you J. H. L. To Captain T. L. in Westchester Captain L. I Could wish that I had the same advantage of speed to send unto you at this time that they have in Alexandreâ—…ia now call'd Scanderoon when upon the arrivall of any ships into the Bay or any other important occasion they use to send their Letters by Pigeons trained up purposely for that use to Aleppo and other places such an airy Messenger such a volatil postillon would I desire now to acquaint you with the sicknes of your mother in law who I beleeve will be in another world and I wish it may be heaven before this paper comes to your hands for the Physicians have forsaken her and Doctor Burton told me 't is a miracle if she lasts a naturall day to an end therfore you shall do well to post up as soon as you can to look to your own affairs for I beleeve you will be no more sick of the Mother Master Davies in the mean time told me he will be very carefull and circumspect that you be not wrong'd I receiv'd yours of the tenth current and I return a thousand thanks for the warm and melting sweet expressions you make of your respects unto me All that I can say at present in answer is that I extremely please my self in loving you and I like my own affections the better because they tell me that I am Westm. 10 Decem. 1631. Your entirely devoted frend J. H. LI. To my Honorable frend Sir C. C. SIR I Was upon point of going abroad to steal a solitary walk when yours of the twelfth current came to hand the high researches and choice abstracted Notions I found therin seem'd to heighten my Spirits and make my fancy fitter for my intended retirement and meditation ad heerunto that the countenance of the weather invited me for it was a still evening it was also a clear open sky not a speck or the least wrinkle appeard in the whole face of heaven 't was such a pure deep azur all the Hemisphere over that I wondred what was becom of the three Regions of the ayr with their Meteors So having got into a close field I cast my face upward and tell to consider what a rare prerogative the optic vertue of the eye hath much more the intutitive vertue of the thought that the one in a moment can reach heaven and the other go beyond it Therfore sure that Philosopher was but a kind of frantic fool that would have pluck'd out both his eys because they wer a hinderance to his speculations Moreover I began to contemplat as I was in this posture the vast magnitude of the Univers and what proportion this poor globe of earth might bear with it for if those numberless bodies which stick in the vast roof of heaven though they appear to us but as spangles be som of them thousands of times bigger than the earth take the sea with it to boot for they both make but one Sphear surely the Astronomers had reason to tearm this sphear an indivisible point and a thing of no dimension at all being compar'd to the whole world I fell then to think that at the second generall destruction it is no more for God Almighty to fire this earth than for us to blow up a small Squibb or rather one grain of Gun-powder As I was musing thus I spyed a swarm of Gnats waving up and down the ayr about me which I knew to be part of the Univers as well as I and me thought it was a strange opinion of our Aristotle to hold that the least of those small insected ephemerans should be more noble than the Sun because it had a sensitive soul in it I fell to think that the same proportion which those animalillios bore with me in point of bignes the same I held with those glorious Spirits which are near the Throne of the Almighty what then should we thinke of the magnitude of the Creator himself doubtles t is beyond the reach of any human immagination to conceive it In my privat devotions I presume to compare him to a great mountain of light and my soul seems to discern som glorious form therin but suddenly as she would fix her eyes upon the object her sight is presently dazled and disgregated with the â—…efulgency and coruscations therof Walking a little further I spyed a young boysterous Bull breaking over hedge and ditch to a heard of kine in the next pasture which made me think that if that fierce strong Animal with others of that kind knew their own strength they world never suffer man to be their Master Then looking upon them quietly grasing up and down I fell to consider that the flesh which is daily dish'd upon our Tables is but concocted grass which is recarnified in our stomacks and transmuted to another flesh I fell also to think what advantage those innocent Animalls had of man who as soon as nature casts them into the world find their meat dress'd the cloth laid and the table cover'd they find their drink brew'd and the buttery open their beds made and their cloaths ready And though man hath the faculty of reason to make him a compensation for the want of these advantages yet this reason brings with it a thousand perturbations of mind and perplexities of spirit griping cares and anguishes of thought which those harmles silly creatures were exempted from Going on I came to repose my self upon the trunk of a tree and I fell to consider further what advantage that dull vegetable had of those feeding Animalls as not to be so troublesom and beholding to nature nor to be so
LXXVI To Sir R. Gr. Knight and Bar. Noble Sir I Had yours upon Maunday Thursday late and the reason that I suspended my answer till now was that the season engaged me to sequester my thoughts from my wonted negotiations to contemplat the great work of mans Redemption so great that wer it cast in counterballance with his creation it would out-poyze it far I summond all my intellectuals to meditat upon those passions upon those pangs upon that despicable and most dolorous death upon that cross wheron my Saviour suffer'd which was the first Christian altar that ever was and I doubt that he will never have benefit of the sacrifice who hates the harmeles resemblance of the altar wheron it was offer'd I applied my memory to fasten upon 't my understanding to comprehend it my will to embrace it from these three faculties me thought I found by the mediation of the fancy som beames of love gently gliding down from the head to the heart and inflaming all my affections If the human soul had far more powers than the Philosophers afford her if she had as many faculties within the head as ther be hairs without the speculation of this mystery would find work enough for them all Truly the more I scrue up my spirits to reach it the more I am swallowed in a gulf of admiration and of a thousand imperfect notions which makes me ever and anon to quarrell my soul that she cannot lay hold on her Saviour much more my heart that my purest affections cannot hug him as much as I would They have a custom beyond the Seas and I could wish it wer the worst custom they had that during the passion week divers of their greatest Princes and Ladies will betake themselves to som covent or reclus'd house to wean themselves from all worldly encombrances and convers only with heaven with performance of som kind of penances all the week long A worthy Gentleman that came lately from Italy told me that the Count of Byren now Marshall of France having bin long persecuted by Cardinall Richelieu put himself so into a Monastery and the next day news was brought him of the Cardinalls death which I believe made him spend the rest of the week with the more devotion in that way France braggs that our Saviour had his face turnd towards her when he was upon the Cross ther is more cause to think that it was towards this Island in regard the rays of Christianity first reverberated upon her her King being Christian 400 yeers before him of France as all Historians concur notwithstanding that he arrogates to himself the title of the first Son of the Church Let this serve for part of my Apologie The day following my Saviour being in the grave I had no list to look much abroad but continued my retirednes ther was another reason also why because I intended to take the holy Sacrament the Sunday ensuing which is an act of the greatest consolation and consequence that possibly a Christian can be capable of it imports him so much that he is made or marr'd by it it tends to his damnation or salvation to help him up to heaven or tumble him down headlong to hell Therfore it behoves a man to prepare and recollect himself to winnow his thoughts from the chaff and tares of the world beforehand This then took up a good part of that day to provide my self a wedding garment that I might be a fit guest at so precious a banquet so precious that manna and angels food are but cours viands in comparison of it I hope that this excuse will be of such validity that it may procure my pardon for not corresponding with you this last week I am now as freely as formerly Fleet 30. Aprill 1647. Your most ready and humble Servitor J. H. LXXVII To Mr. R. Howard SIR THer is a saying that carrieth with it a great deal of caution from him whom I trust God defend me for from him whom I trust not I will defend my self Ther be sundry sorts of musts but that of a secret is one of the greatest I trusted T. P. with a weighty one conjuring him that it should not take air and go abroad which was not don according to the rules and religion of frendship but it went out of him the very next day Though the inconvenience may be mine yet the reproach is his nor would I exchange my dammage for his disgrace I would wish you take heed of him for he is such as the Comic Poet speaks of plenus rimarum he is full of Chinks he can hold nothing you know a secret is too much for one too little for three and enough for two but Tom must be none of those two unless ther wer a trick to sodder up his mouth If he had committed a secret to me and injoynd me silence and I had promis'd it though I had bin shut up in Perillus brasen Bull I should not have bellowed it out I find it now true that he who discovers his secrets to another sells him his Liberty and becoms his slave well I shall be warier heerafter and learn more wit In the interim the best satisfaction I can give my self is to expunge him quite ex albâ—… amicorum to raze him out of the catalogue of my frends though I cannot of my acquaintance wher your name is inserted in great golden Characters I will endeavour to lose the memory of him and that my thoughts may never run more upon the fashion of his face which you know he hath no cause to brag of I hate such blatâ—…roons Odi illos seu claustra Erebi I thought good to give you this little mot of advice because the times are ticklish of committing secrets to any though not to From the Fleet 14. Febr. 1647. Your most affectionat frend to serve you J. H. LXVIII To my Hon. frend Mr. E. P. at Paris SIR LEt me never sally hence from among these disconâ—…olat Walls if the literall correspondence you please to hold so punctually with me be not one of the greatest solaces I have had in this sad condition for I find so much salt such indearments and flourishes such a gallantry and neaâ—…nes in your lines that you may give the law of lettering to all the world I had this week a twin of yours of the 10 and 15 current I am sorry to hear of your achaques and so often indisposition there it may be very well as you say that the air of that dirty Town doth not agree with you because you speak Spanish which language you know is us'd to be breath'd out under a clearer clyme I am sure it agrees not with the sweet breezes of peace for 't is you there that would keep poor Christendom in perpetuall whirle-winds of war but I fear that while France sets all wheels a going and stirres all the Cacodaemons of hell to pull down the house of Austria shee may chance at last to
Fancy drew on another towards the Evening as followeth As to the Pole the Lilly bends In a Sea-compas and still tends By a Magnetic Mystery Unto the Artic point in sky Wherby the wandring Piloteer His cours in gloomy nights doth steer So the small Needle of my heart Mov's to her Maker who doth dart Atomes of love and so attracks All my Affections which like Sparks Fly up and guid my soul by this To the tru centre of her bliss As one Taper lightneth another so were my spirits enlightned and heated by your late Meditations in this kind and well faâ—…e your soul with all her faculties for them I find you have a great care of her and of the main chance Prae quo quisquiliae caetera You shall hear further from me within a few days in the interim be pleas'd to reserve still in your thoughts som little room for Your most entirely affectionat Servitor J. H. From the Fleet 10 of Decemb 1647. V. To Mr. T. W. at P. Castle My precious Tom HEE is the happy man who can square his mind to his means and fit his fancy to his â—…ortune He who hath a competency 〈◊〉 live in the port of a gentleman and as he is free from being a 〈◊〉 Constable so he cares not for being a Justice of Peace or 〈◊〉 He who is before hand with the world and when he â—…oms to London can whet his knife at the Counter gate and needs â—…ot trudg either to a Lawyers stâ—…dy or Scriveners shop to pay fee 〈◊〉 squeez was 'T is conceit chiefly that gives contentment and 〈◊〉 is happy who thinks himself so in any condition though he have 〈◊〉 enough to keep the Wolf from the door Opinion is that great â—…ady which sways the world and according to the impressions 〈◊〉 makes in the mind renders one contented or discontented Now touching opinion so various are the intellectualls of human â—…reatures that one can hardly find out two who jump pat in â—…ne Witnes that Monster in Scotland in Iames the 4ths reign â—…ith two heads one opposit to the other and having but one bulk 〈◊〉 body throughout these two heads would often fall into alterâ—…ations pro con one with the other and seldom were they of one opinion but they would knock one against the other in eager disputes which shews that the judgement is seated in the animall parts not in the vitall which are lodg'd in the heart We are still in a turbulent sea of distractions nor as far as I see is ther yet any sight of shore M. T. M. hath had a great loss at sea lately which I fear will light heavily upon him when I consider his case I may say that as the Philosopher made a question whether the Marineâ—… be to be ranked among the number of the living or dead being but four inches distant from drowning only the thicknes of a plank so 't is a doubt whether the Merchant Adventurer be to be numbred twixt the rich or the poor his estate being in the mercy of that devouring element the Sea which hath so good a stomack that he seldom casts up what he hath once swallowed This City hath bred of late yeers men of monstrous strange opinions that as all other rich places besides she may be compar'd to a fat cheese which is most subject to engender 〈◊〉 gots God amend all and me first who am Fleet this St. Tho. day Yours most faithfully to serve you J. H. VI. To Mr. W Blois My worthy esteemed Nephew I Received thâ—…se rich nuptial favours you appointed me foâ—… hands and hat which I wear with very much contentment anâ—… respect most heartily wishing that this late double condition mâ—… multiply new blessings upon you that it may usher in fair and goâ—…den daies according to the colour and substance of your bridaâ—… riband that those daies may be perfum'd with delight and pleâ—…sure as the rich sented gloves I wear for your sake May sucâ—… benedictions attend you both as the Epithalamiums of Stellâ—… iâ—… Statius and Iulia in Catullus speak of I hope also to be marrieâ—… shortly to a lady whom I have wooed above these five years but â—… have found her â—…oy and dainty hitherto yet I am now like 〈◊〉 get her good will in part I mean the lady liberty When you see my N. Brownrigg I pray tell him that I did not think Suffolk waters had such a lethaean quality in them as to cause such an amnestia in him of his frends heer upon the Thames among whom for reality and seriousnes I may march among the foremost but I impute it to som new task that his Muse might haply impose upon him which hath ingross'd all his speculations I pray present my cordiall kind respects unto him So praying that a thousand blisses may attend this confarreation I rest my dear Nephew From the Fleet this 20 of March 1647. Yours most affectionately to love and serve you J. H. VII To Henry Hopkins Esq â—…IR TO usher in again old Ianus I send you a parcell of Indian perfume which the Spaniard calls the Holy â—…erb in regard â—… the various virtues it hath but we call it Tobacco I will not â—…y it grew under the King of Spains window but I am told it â—…as gather'd neer his Gold-mines of Potosi where they report â—…hat in som places ther is more of that oar than earth therfore it â—…ust needs be precious stuff If moderately and seasonably taâ—…en as I find you alwaies do 't is good for many things it helps digeâ—…ion taken a while after meat it makes one void â—…heum break â—…ind it keeps the body open A leaf or two being steept ore-nighâ—…â—…n a little white wine is a vomit that never fails in its operation â—…t is a good companion to one that converseth with dead â—…en for â—…f one hath bin poring long upon a book or is toild with the pen â—…nd stupified with study it quickneth him and dispels those clouds that usually oreset the brain The smoak of it is one of the wholesomest sents that is against all contagious airâ—… for it oremasters all other smells as King Iames they say found true when being once a hunting a showr of rain drave him into a pigstie for shelter wher he caus'd a pipe full to be taken of purpose It cannot endure a Spider or a flea with such like vermin and if your Hawk be troubled with any such being blown into his feathers it frees him It is good to fortifie and preserve the fight the smoak being let in round about the balls of the eyes once a week and frees them from all â—…heums driving them back by way of repercussion being taken backward t is excellent good against the cholique and taken into the stomack 't will heac and cleanse it for I could instance in a great Lord my Lord of Sunderland President of York who told me that he taking it downward into his stomack it made him cast up an