Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	sir_n	thomas_n	william_n	2,442	5	8.9729	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20965	A wittie encounter betweene Monsieur du Moulin, and Monsieur De Balzac Esteemed two the most elegant pens of their nation. Wherein they deliver things weighty, and important both in religion and state. Faithfully translated out of the french (sic) coppy by A.S. Gent.	Du Moulin, Pierre, 1568-1658.; Stafford, Anthony.; Balzac, Jean-Louis Guez, seigneur de, 1597-1654.	1636 (1636)	STC 7344; ESTC S118665	12,493	132

Imprimatur Tho Weekes Episcop Londinensi Cappellanus domesticus A WITTIE ENCOUNTER Betweene Monsieur du Moulin and Monsieur De BALZAC Esteemed two the most Elegant Pens of their nation Wherein they deliver things weighty and important both in Religion and STATE Faithfully translated out of the french coppy by A. S. Gent. Imprinted at London for B. Fisher and are to be sold at his shop in Aldersgate-streete 1636. TO THE HONORABLE MY MVCH Honour'd Friend Sir WILLIAM HOVVARD Sonne to the Illustrious THOMAS EARLE Of Suffolke Sir I dare adventure to commend to you and the Age these ensuing Letters written by two esteemed great in the Learned Republique Truth cōmands me to answer for them that there is no proportion betweene their bulke and value being defective in nothing but length For the Authors themselues Monsieur du Moulin and Monsieur de Balzac their Pens are justly ranked amongst the most excellent of their Nation The Logicke and many worthy Divine workes of the former have gained him a great name euen amongst his adversaries the latter though of the like abillity hath made himselfe Master of a more glorious Fame but in my judgement Imp'd out with many a false Feather neither his great Cardinall nor Monsieur du Moulin shall with their most cunning Rhetoricke lull me into such a grosse errour as to beleeve him Master of that Eloquence which Antiquity desir'd yet despair'd of O! that any man who hath had the least cast of Cicero's and Livy's flowing or Seneca's distilling Eloquence should give so sinister a judgement Great praise is due to the man and it is by all deservedly paid him but what is in him most elegant you can terme at the best but the Scraps of Cicero's abundant Eloquence whose Zany if wee call him wee doe him a grace if wee introduce him a Corrivall wee doe Cicero an affront I confesse the times are infinitely bound to him and his like for keeping ciuill Language from degenerating into Barbarisme and most men from hackings hewing and enterfaring in their discourse but I will never allow them as Emendators of the Ancients it is enough if as happy Imitators I admit them O Marcus Marcus did thy Ghost now walke amongst us thy bloodlesse face would essay to blush after death to heare thy all-convincing charming Tongue which hath made Guilt tremble and shooke Tyrany it selfe compar'd with the faint Hectick Eloquence of Balzac which now even in its Birth is neare utter extinction whereas thy Rhetoricall Flowers shall budde and florish till fire consumes the World and all Terrestriall Oratory gives way to the Celestiall Nor would thy shame be lesse Anaeus Seneca to have after all the glories thy Penn hath purchas'd such a competitor as Balzac who holds the same place with thee and Cicero that in the Triumvirat with Anthony and Octavius did Lepidus who in the Government of the World stood onely for a Cypher But to justifie my assertion I will take so much paines as to compare their stiles That of Cicero is not compos'd for the Scene onely to delight but for the Sand also and the Fight it is like a Tree which produceth not onely the Foliage as an Ornament but the Fruite too as foode Here you may detect Venus and Minerva kissing in every line With the reading of him the most prostrate groveling witt must needes bee raised the most benummed take fire This is none of those lukewarme Spirits which can infuse no heate into others because they have none themselves for as we cannot light a Taper at another not already lighted so we can not take flame from a wit not already fired The mind of this Writer enflames his Stile his Stile his Reader Now for that of Seneca his words are choise proper and so Significant that at the first view a man would thinke they implyed more then indeede they doe It is peculiar to his Genius alone to comprehend plenty and solidity of sence in parcimony of Speech Perspicuity in Brevity Then his matter is alwaies grave and weighty drawne out from the very Center of History and Phylosophy To come to the Stile of Balzac You may at first sight discover in it not a becomming care and a neate dresse but a vaine affectation and the Fucus it selfe And as his Language is affected so his conceptions are for the most part idle and shallow no way able to satisfie the expectation of a full and knowing man They consist for the most part of Hyperbolicall Complements and malitious Invectives witnesse with mee the supreame Spirit that I taxe him not as a detracting Enemy but an impartiall Examiner Iustice her selfe will warrant me to pull that Palme out of his vsurping hand which Ignorance had there placed I confesse I can not endure to see him borne by the vulgar breath to so high a pitch as to out-soare all Antiquity who hath not written so many Pages as hee hath moderne equals nay Superiours in that persuasive Art The reason of this their so immoderate praise is no other then that their infant knowledge derides the Simplicity of their Ancestours whose Science it should have in admiration My owne indignation and the Printers petition who complaines much of the Bookes brevity have caused me to spin out this Epistle to an unvsuall length My comfort is if this way I deserue censure I am faulty with Seneca and many brave Authors who haue delivered their minds in Letters far more prolixe I am now onely a Petitioner to the Reader for a license to adde so many words onely as will let you know Noblest Sir that I truely honour You and and that I create you who understand well the Originall Iudge of the Translation which hath already beene Honour'd with many great Approbations I am confident that you will make use of your mercy rather then your Iustice towards him who into your hands hath voluntarily put the life of his Reputation in good Letters to him farre far dearer then his Naturall during which he vowes to remaine Sir Your most humble Servant A. S. THE LETTER OF Monsieur de Moulin to Monsieur de Balzac SIR I Received your Booke which it pleased you out of your free grace to send mee assuring you that you could not have bestowed it on any man that more esteem'd or lesse merited the honor for though I number my selfe amongst the most unworthy to obtain even the lowest place in your memory yet I ranke my selfe amongst the formost in praising your vertue by which you have ascended to the summity of elegancy of Phrase and drawing the Bridle after you have left at once Admiration and dispaire to posterity Of the description of eloquence made by the Antients which was reputed no other then an Idaea you have formed a Body and shew'd that there is a Plus ultra in that Art which they never arriv'd at The force and dexterity of your Wit hauing pass'd the limits of their imagination you at once informe