Sword did rule and keep them all in aw No Prayers offer'd to the Gods on high All Ceremony in the Dust did lye Nothing was done in Order Truth and Right Nought govern'd then but Malice Spleen Spight But mark how justly Gods do punish Men To make them humble and to bow to them Though they had Plenty and thereof did eat They relish'd not that good and savoury Meat Because their Conscience did them so torment For all their Plenty they were discontent They took no rest Cares so oppress'd their Mind No Joy nor Comfort in the World could find When drowsie sleep upon their Eyes did set Then fearful Visions in their Dreams they met In Life no pleasure take yet fear to dye No Mercy can they hope from Gods on high O serve the Gods and then the Mind will be Always in peace and sweet tranquillity A Woman said A Tale I mean to tell That in those Warrs unto a Cross befell AN ancient Cross liv'd in our Father's time With as much Fame as did the Worthies nine No harm it did or injury to none But dwelt in peace and quietly alone On Times or Government did not complain But stood Stone-still not stirr'd in no King's Reign Both Winter's Snow and Summer's scorching Sun It did endure and Urin'd was upon Yet peaceful Nature nor yet humble Mind Shall not avoid rude Ignorance that 's blind That superstitiously beats down all things Which smell but of Antiquity or springs From Noble Deeds nor love nor take delight In Laws or Justice hating Truth and Right But Innovations love for that seems fine And what is new adore they as Divine That makes them so neglect the Gods above For Time doth waste both their respect and love And so this Cross poor Cross all in a rage They pull'd down quite the fault was only Age. Had it been gilded gloriously and brave They Vanity for an excuse might have But it was poor its Mortar all off worn Which Time had eaten as when Dogs have torn The Flesh from Bones of Hares or harmless Sheep Or like to Skeletons that Scholars keep If they had pious been it might have stood To mollifie the Minds of Men to good But they were wicked hating every thing That by example might to goodness bring Then down they pull'd it leaving not one stone Upon another for it to be known To after-ages for the Ground lies bare And none can know that once the Cross stood there Then said a Man I can this Tale well fit For I a Tale can tell that 's like to it IN old times when Devotion false did reign A Church was built although to use prophane Was Consecrated as Diana's right Who was their Goddess of the Moon-shine bright But afterwards when Truth with Zeal did flame It Christned was and bore Jove's mighty Name And dedicated to the Sun above Then married was became his Spouse and Love Long did she live in Duty Peace and Zeal Became an Honour to the Commonweal Was curiously adorn'd within without The Quoire all hung with Hangings rich about With Marble Tombs and Statues carv'd and cut Wherein the Bodies of good Saints were put There polish'd Pillars long the Iles did stand And Arched Roofs built by a skilful hand With Painted Windows plac'd on either side At every end were Gates large open wide And all the inside was most bravely gilt As all the outside with Free-stone were built There Choristers did sing each several Note And Organs loud did answer ev'ry throat And Priests there taught Men how to pray and live Rewards and Punishments which Jove did give But mark this Temple was destroy'd by sin Since they did leave to worship Jove therein Because this Church profan'd by sinful Men Was made a Stable and for Thieves a Den. No surer mark of Wrath when Gods do frown Then to give leave to pull their Temples down A Lady said these VVarrs her Soul did shake And the remembrance made her heart to ake My Brother then was murther'd in cold-blood Incircled round with Enemies he stood Where he like to a fixed Starr shin'd bright They like to black and pitchy Clouds of Night He like the Sun his Courage like that Heat Their Envy like bad Vapours strove to beat His Light of Honour out but pow'rful Fame Did throw their spight back on their heads with shame And though they struck his Body not his Mind For that in Death through all their Malice shin'd He valiant was his Spirits knew no fear They never chill'd when they in Battel were And strove to give more blows than safety sought His Limbs most vigour had when most he fought He spoke not loud nor sung his fear to hide With silence march'd and quietly did ride Viewing the Armies with a watchful Eye And careful was advantages to spye If that his Soldiers chanc'd to run away He ran not after them to make them stay As some Commanders which will call and run After the Soldiers when the Flight's begun But when once gone seldom return again But with their Soldiers they will safe remain But he amongst his Foes like Earth was fix'd Or like to Fire himself was intermix'd And their great solid Bodies did divide Pulling their Fabrick down on either side Until his Mercy did for Favour pray Unto his Courage so to run away He made them know he was a Soldier good Train'd up in Warrs which Art he understood Besides his Genius was prompt thereunto Wit Skill Invention knew what best to do Which made the Foe more fierce his Life to take For fear that he their ruin soon would make For they so soon as he was in their pow'r Like greedy Vulturs did his Life devour He stood their Rage his Courage knew no fear Nor on grim Death with terror did he stare But did embrace her with a Generous Mind VVith Noble Thoughts and Kisses that were kind Vollies of Shot did all his Body tear VVhere his blood 's spilt the Earth no Grass will abear As if for to revenge his Death the Earth VVas curs'd with barrenness ev'n from her birth And though his Body in the Grave doth lye His Fame doth live and will eternally His Soul 's Immortal and so is his Fame His Soul in Heav'n doth live and here his Name The next time had a Man his turn to speak Who said That Civil-Warrs made Rich men break Populous Kingdoms that do flourish well In Peace and Plenty then to ruin fell WHen I with grief unto remembrance bring The blessed time men liv'd with a goodKing To think at first how happy such do raign And in what Peace such Kingdoms do remain VVhere Magistrates do sit in Justice Throne Few Crimes committed Punishments scarce known The Nobles liv'd in state and high degree All happy even to the Peasantry Where easie Laws no Tax to make them poor All live Plenty full is every Store They Customs have to recreate the Mind Not barbarous but civil gentle kind
be dead So in two or three days all Contracts were confirmed and the Match was concluded with the approbation of all Friends of either side married they were and in a short time after he carried her to his House there made her Mistress of his Estate and whilst he governed his outward Affairs she governed the Family at home where they lived plentifully pleasantly and peaceably not extravagantly vain-gloriously and luxuriously they lived neat and cleanly they loved passionately thrived moderately and happily they lived and piously dyed The She-Anchoret THERE was a Widower who had but one Child and she a Daughter which Daughter he bred with Pious Devotions Moral Instructions and Wise Advertisements but he falling sick to death called his Daugher unto him and thus spake to her Farewell my dearest Child for dye I must My Soul must flye my Body turn to dust My only care is that I leave thee young To wander in the World Mankind among Few of them charitable are or kind Nor bear they in their Breast a Noble Mind To help the Fatherless or pity Youth Protect the Innocent maintain the Truth But all their time 's spent with laborious toil For to pervert to ruin and to spoil Flatter thy Beauty and thy Youth betray To give thy Heart and Virgin-flower away They will profess love vow to be thy Friend Marriage will promise yet they will pretend Their Friends will angry be or else they 'l say Their Land 's engag'd they first their Debts must pay Or else that they during some time of life Have made a Vow Not yet to take a Wife And twenty such Excuses they will find For to deceive the simple Female-Kind And if you marry Troubles you will find Pains Griefs and Cares to vex a quiet Mind But here I charge you lying in Death's Arms That you do stop your Ears against their Charms Live chast and holy serve the Gods above They will protect thee for thy zealous Love Daughter I will obey whatever you command Although you dye your will shall fixed stand Father Next I do charge thee Not to grieve nor mourn Since no redress will from the Grave return Daughter O do not so said she But give Grief leave to flow out of my Eyes For if it be supprest the Body dyes Whilst now you live great wrong y'uld think you have If I should sit and laugh upon your Grave Or with neglect should I your Grave pass by And ne're take notice where your Ashes lye Father You cannot hinder Destiny's Decree Daughter O no! but Nature Nature still will be Nature created Love within the Mind The Object dead the Passion still is kind Had I as many Lives as Nature make I 'de lay them on Death's Altar for your sake That single one I have O Heavens me hear Exchange it for my Father's Life so dear But when her Father found that Death drew on He bid her lay her Hand his Eyes upon Father Close up my Eyes said he and then receive Upon thy Lips my last Breath let me breathe When he was dead sh' amaz'd long time sate still At last bethought her of her Father's Will Then up she rose his Body did entomb And how she spent her Life rehearse I 'le soon The Description of her Life in Prose AFTER she had interred her Father's Corps although she had rich honourable and importunate Suiters yet she resolved to live like a kind of an Anchoret's Life living encloistered by her self alone vowing Chastity and a Single-life but gave leave for any to speak to her through a Grate When she went first into her solitary Habitation she thus spake Virtues are several Pathes which lead to Heaven And they which tread these Pathes have Graces given Repentant tears allay the Dust of Pride And pious Sighs doth blow vain Thoughts aside Sorrow and Grief which in the Heart doth lye Doth cloud the Mind as Thunder doth the Skie But when in Thundring-groans it breaketh out The Mind grows clear the Sun of Joy peeps out This pious Life I now resolve to lead Will in my Soul both Joy and Comfort breed She had not been long enclosed but she grew as famous as Diogenes in his Tub all sorts of people resorted to her to hear her speak and not only to hear her speak but to get knowledg and to learn wisdom for she argued rationally instructed judiciously admonished prudently and perswaded piously applying and directing her Discourse according to the several Studies Professions Grandeurs Ages and Humours of her Auditory The first that came to her were Natural Philosophers who asked her Opinion of Man's Soul of which she discoursed in this manner She said Man hath three different Natures or Faculties A Sensitive Body Animal Spirits and a Soul This Soul is a kind of Deity in it self to direct and guide those things that are far above it and to create by Invention and though it hath not an absolute Power over it self yet it is an harmonious and absolute thing in it self and though the Sensitive Body hath a relation to it yet no other ways than Jove's Mansion hath unto Jove for the Body is only the residing-place and the Animal Spirits are as the Angels of the Soul which are Messengers and Intelligencers All Animal Creatures have not this Soul but only Man for Beasts have none nor every Man for most Men are Beasts and have only a Sensitive Body and Animal Spirits as Beasts have but none know when this Soul is out or in the Body but the Gods and not only other Bodies and Spirits cannot know but the Body where it resides and the attending-spirits are ignorant thereof for this Soul is as invisible to the Body and the Animal Spirits as the Gods to Men for though this kind of Soul knows and hath intelligence by the Senses and by the Animal Spirits yet the Senses nor Animal Spirits have none from the Soul for as Gods know Men but Men know not Gods so this Soul knows the Senses and Animal Spirits but the Senses nor Animal Spirits know not this Soul Then they asked her Whether Souls were Immortal She answered That only the Life was Immortal from whence all Souls are derived Then they asked her What Deities she thought there were She answered She thought but one which was the Father of all Creatures and Nature the Mother he being the Life and Nature the only Matter which Life and Matter produceth Motion and Figure various Successions Creations and Dissolutions Then they asked her What she thought Time was She said Time was only the Variation and Alteration of Nature for Time is only in respect to Creations Alterations and Dissolutions Then they asked her What Eternal was She answered An endless Succession Then they asked her What Infinite was She said A Numberless Succession but said she Eternal is in respect to Infinite as Infinite to Eternal Then they asked her Whether she thought there were fixt Decrees or all were governed by
play In th' Evening with the Bats doth dance the Hay Or at the setting of the Sun doth flye With Swallows swift to keep them Company But if she 's cross'd she straight malicious grows And in a fury Plagues on Men she throws Or other Sickness and makes Beasts to dye And cause the Marrow in the bones to fry But Creatures that with long time are grown old Or such as are of Constitution cold She nourishes and Life she doth restore In Flyes Bats Swallows many Creatures more For some do say these Birds in Winter dye And in Summer revive again to flye Of all the Four Seasons of the Year This Season doth most full and fat appear Her blood is hot and flowing as full Tide She 's only fit to be Apollo's Bride But she as all young Ladies in their prime Doth fade and wither with old Father Time And all their beauty which they much admire Doth vanish soon and quickly doth expire Just so the Summer dries withers away No powerful Art can make sweet Beauty stay The Autumn though she 's in her fading years And sober yet she pleasantly appears Her Garments are not deck'd with Flowers gay Nor are they green like to the Month of May But of the colour are of dapple Deer Or Hares that to a sandy ground appear Yet she is rich with Plenty doth abound All the encrease of Earth is with her found Most Creatures Nourishment to them doth give And by her bounty Men Beasts Birds do live Besides the grieved Heart with Joy doth fill When from the plump Grapes Wine she doth distill And gathers Fruits which lasting are and sound Her brows about with Sheaves of Corn are crown'd In those are Seeds whereof Man makes some Bread With which the Poor and Rich are nourished Yet 't is not Bounty can hinder Nature's course For constantly she change in one source For though the Matter may be still the same Yet she doth change the Figure and the Frame And though in Principles she constant be And keeps to certain Rules which well agree To a wise Government yet doth not stay But as one comes another glides away So doth the Autumn leave our Hemisphere To Winter cold at which Trees shake for fear And in that Passion all their Leaves do shed And all their Sap back to the Root is fled Like to the Blood which from the Face doth run To keep the Heart lest Death should seize thereon Then comes the Winter with a lowring brow No pleasant Recreations doth allow Her skin is wrinkled and her blood is cold Her Flesh is numb her Hands can nothing hold Her Face is swarthy and her Eyes are red Her Lips are blew with Palsie shakes her Head She often coughs and 's very rheumatick Her Nose doth drop and often doth she spit Her Humour 's Melancholy as Cold and Dry Yet often she in show'ring Rain doth cry And blustring Storms as in a Passion sent Which on the Earth and on the Water vent As Rheums congeal to Flegm the Waters so By thickning Cold congeal to Ice Hail Snow Which she spits forth upon the Earth they lye In lumps and heaps which makes the Plants to dye She 's poor and barren little hath to give For in this Season all things hardly live But often those who 're at the worst estate By change of Times do grow more fortunate So when the Winter 's past then comes the Spring And Plenty doth restore to every thing A Poet in the Company Said to his Lady YOur Fingers are Minerva's Loom with which Your Sense in Letters weave No knots or snarls you leave Work Fancy's Thread in Golden Numbers rich Your Breasts are Helicon which Poets fits For though they do not drink If thereon they do think Their Brains are fill'd with high and sparkling Wits Your Tongue 's Parnassus Hill on high it stands Her Muses sit and sing Or dance in Fayrie's Ring Crown'd with your Rosie Lips and sweet Garlands Your Eyes Diana's Arrows and no doubt Your arched Brow her Bow Like Ebony black doth show From whence sweet gentle Modesty shoots out Your Hairs are fatal Threads Lovers hang by Your Brain is Vulcan's Net Fine Fancies for to get Which like to winged Birds aspiring flye The next a Man of Scholarship profest He in his turn this Tale told to the rest An Expression of the Doubts and Curiosity of Man's Mind THere was a Man which much desir'd to know When he was dead whither his Soul should go Whether to Heaven high or down to Hell Or the Elyzium Fields where Lovers dwell Or whether in the air to flie about Or whether it like to a Light goes out At last the Thoughts the Servants to the Mind Which dwell in Contemplation to find The truth they said No pains that they would spare To travel every where and thus prepare Each Thought did clothe it self with Language fit For to enquire and to dispute for it And Reason they did take to be their Guide Then straight unto a Colledg they did ride Where Scholars dwell and learned Books are read The living Works of the most Wise who 're dead There they enquired the truth for to know And every one was ready for to show Though every sev'ral Work and sev'ral Head And sev'ral Tongue a sev'ral path still lead Where the Thoughts were scattering several ways Some tedious long others like short Essays But Reason which they took to be their Guide With rest and silence quietly did ' bide Till their return who ragged and all torn Came back as naked as when they were born For in their travels hard disputes had past Yet all were forc'd for to return at last But when Reason saw their poor condition Naked of Sense their Words and Expedition And Expectation too and seeming sad But some were frantick and despairing mad She told them They might wander all about But she did fear the Truth would ne're find out Which when they heard with rage they angry grew And straight from Reason they themselves withdrew Then all agreed they to the Court would go In hopes the Courtiers then the truth might know The Courtiers laugh'd and said they could not tell They thought the Soul in Sensual Pleasures dwell And that it had no other Heaven or Hell The Soul they slight but wish the Body well This answer made the Thoughts not long to stay Among the Courtiers but soon went their way Then to the Army straight they did repair Hoping the Truth of Souls they should find there And of the Chief Commander they enquire Who willing was to answer their desire They said for certain that all Souls did dye But those that liv'd in Fame or Infamy Those that Infamous were without all doubt Were damn'd and from reproach should ne'r get out But such whose Fame their Noble Deeds did raise Their Souls were blest with an Eternal Praise And those that dy'd and never mention'd were They thought their Souls breath'd out to
nought but Air. With that the Thoughts were very much perplext Then did resolve the Chymists should be next Which they would ask so unto them they go To be resolv'd If they of Souls did know They said unto the Thoughts When Bodies dye Souls are th' Elixir and pure Chymistry For Gold said they can never wasted be Nor can it alter from its purity Eternal 't is and shall for ever last And as pure Gold so Souls do never wast Souls are the Essence and pure Spirits of Gold Which never change but shall for ever hold And as Fire doth the pure from dross divide So Souls in Death are cleans'd and purifi'd From grosser parts of Body and no doubt The Soul as Spirits Death exhaleth out It is the Essence of great Nature's store All Matter hath this Essence less or more After the Thoughts had mused long In fine Said they we think the Soul is more Divine Than from a Metal'd Earth for to proceed Well known it is all Metals Earth doth breed And though of purest Earth the true Gold be Being refin'd by Heat to that degree Of pureness by which it long doth last Yet may long time and labour make it wast To shew 't is not Eternal and perchance Some slight Experience may that work advance Which Man hath not yet found but Time said they May Chymists teach and so they went away But travelling about they weary grew To rest a while they for a time withdrew The search of Truth into a Cottage went Where liv'd an aged Cottage well content A Man and Wife which pious were and old To them the Thoughts their tedious Journeys told And what they went to seek the Truth to find Concerning Souls to tell unto the Mind For we desire said they the truth to know From whence the Soul proceeds or where 't will go When parted from the Body The Old Man said Of such Employment he should be afraid Lest Nature or the Gods should angry be For his Presumption and Curiosity If it be Nature's work there is no doubt But it doth transmigrate all things about And who can follow Nature's steps and pace And all the subtil ways that she doth trace Her various Forms which curious Motion makes Or what Ingredients for those Forms she takes Who knows said he the Cause of any thing Or what the Matter is whence all doth spring Or who at first did Matter make to move So wisely and in order none can prove Nor the Decrease nor Destinies can find VVhich are the Laws that every thing do bind But who can tell that Nature is not VVife To mighty Jove and he begets the life Of every Creature which she breeds and brings Forth several Forms each Figure from her springs Thus Souls and Bodies joined in one Gin Though Bodies mortal be the Soul 's divine As being first begot by Jove and so The purest part of Life 's the Soul we know For th' animated part from Jove proceeds The grosser part from Nature self she breeds And what 's more Animated than Mankind Unless his Soul which is of higher Kind Thus ev'ry Creature to Jove and Nature are As Sons and Daughters and their Off-spring fair And as their Parents of them do take care So they as Children ought not for to fear How they dispose of them but to submit Obediently to all that they think fit Not to dispute on idle Questions still But shew obedience to their Maker's will Man asketh blessing of his Father Jove And Jove doth seem Mankind the best to love And Nature she her blessing doth bestow When she gives Health makes Plenty for to flow The blessings which Jove gives unto Mankind Are peaceful Thoughts and a still quiet Mind And Jove is pleas'd when that we serve his VVife Our Mother Nature with a Virtuous Life For Moral Virtues are the Ground whereon All Jove's Commands and Laws are built upon Thoughts trouble not your selves said he which way The Soul shall go to Jove and Nature pay For Temperance wherein the Life is blest That Temperance doth please the Life the best Intemperance doth torture Life with pain And what 's superfluous to us is vain Therefore return and temper well the Mind For you the truth of Souls shall never find At last came Reason which had been their Guide And brought them Faith in her they did confide Taking their leave away with Faith they ride And Faith e're since doth with the Mind reside A Lady which all Vanities had left Since she of Youth and Beauty was bereft She said That Pride in Youth was a great sin Of which a Tale did tell thus entring in A Description of the Fall of foolish and self-conceited Pride THere was a Lady rich that sate in state And round about her did her Servants wait Where every Tongue did walk still in their turn But in the ways of Flattery they run You are said one the finest drest to day A Heavenly Creature did another say Your Skin is purer far than Lillies white And yet is clear and glassy as the Light And from your Eyes such splendrous rays do spread That they seem like a Glory round your Head Your Wit is such 't is supernatural And all that hear you speak straight Lovers fall The sound but of your Voice charms every Ear And when you speak your breath perfumes the air Thus by these flatteries most proud she grew And scornful looks on every Object threw All Men she scorn'd that did to her address And laugh'd at all did love to her profess Her Senses for to please she was so nice That nothing serv'd but what was of great price Thus did she live in Lux'ry Pride and Ease And all her Thoughts were still her self to please She never pray'd unto the Gods on high For she did think her self a Deity That all Mankind was made her to admire And ought her Favours most for to desire That every knee that bow'd not to her low Or whose demeanors did not reverence show She thought them Beasts that did not Merit know Or that her Frowns should work their overthrow Her Smiles and Frowns she thought such power had As Destiny to work both good and bad At last the Gods that always have an eye Upon the Earth who all things do descry Amongst poor Mortals they this Lady spy'd Whose heart was swell'd and thoughts were big with pride Begot by Pluto's Wealth and Nature's Paint Bred in the Soul which makes it sick and faint But Pride is nurs'd still by the Senses five VVhat from each Sense it sucks it keeps alive But if no Nourishment it gets from those As Touch Taste Sound sweet pleasant scent orshows It faints and pines a way as starv'd so dyes And in a Grave of Melancholy lyes But as I said when Gods poor Mortals view'd They for their sins with Punishment pursu'd Then with this Lady they did first begin Many ill accidents at her they fling First they did set her
Fool a Wise man And though it doth not always work wise Effects by reason some Fools are beyond all improvement yet it never fails where any improvement is to be made Why said the first what wise Effects does it work The second said it composes the mind it busies the thoughts represents several Objects to the mind's view settles and stays the Senses clears the Understanding strengthens the Judgment spies out Errors evaporates Follies heats Ambition comforts Sorrow abates Passions excites to Noble Actions digests Conceptions enlarges Knowledg elevates Imaginations creates Fancies quickens Wit and makes Reason Pleader and Truth Judg in all Disputes or Controversies betwixt Right and Wrong The first said It makes the Breath stink You mistake said the second it will make a stinking Breath sweet It is a Beastly Smell said the first Said the second Civet is a Beastly Smell and that you will thrust your Nose to although it be an Excrement and for any thing we know so is Ambergreece when Tobacco is a sweet and pleasant wholsome and medicinable Herb. The School-Quarrels or Scholars-Battels A MAN travelling and being very weary seeing a large House a-lighted and went to the Gates which he found open for any to pass without opposition Entring in he came into a large paved Court and walking about it he heard a noise as of a great Wind which made him look up towards the Clouds and seeing the Air not much agitated he wondred at it At last he looked in at a Door that was open but there was such a Mist that he could see no further than the entrance yet going in he perceived a long Gallery wherein were Books placed in long rows and Men in old tatter'd Gowns reading them and turning their leaves which shewed him his error to think he heard a Wind for it was the shuffling of the Leaves of the numerous Books that were turned over by those many men But desiring to instruct himself of their several Studies he went softly to observe them The first man he took notice of was one that as he read did beat his hands upon the Desk whereon his Book lay and looking over his shoulder he perceived he was studying the Laws and acted against he pleaded at the Barr. Then he went to the next who was counting on his Fingers and looking in his Book by which he saw he was studying Arithmetick A third was with a Celestial Globe and a pair of Compasses very busie studying of Astronomy measuring of the Planets and their distance The fourth was with a Terrestrial Globe before his Book and one while he would read then view the Globe and then read again studying Geography On the other side he saw one very serious in his study and he was reading Moral Philosophy Another he saw reading who would often lay his hand upon his Breast and cast up the black of his Eyes and he was studying Theology Then there were others who as they read would often scratch their Heads and they were Natural Philosophers But one amongst the rest looked very merrily and he was studying the old Poets Likewise there were very many more as Historians Grammarians Logicians Geometricians Physicians and the like At last a little Bell rung whereupon they all left off their studying and began to walk about discoursing to each other of their several Studies So the Grammarians and the Logicians began to dispute one for the Words or rather for the Letters the other for the Sense Subject and matter of Discourse the one troubling himself with Derivations the other about Quantities and Qualities Then fell into dispute two Divines about the Controversies of Theology but they grew so hot with zeal that their discourse flamed up high and their fiery words flew above all Respects or Civility calling one another Heretick and Beelzebub and the Whore of Babylon and the like terms that the rest of the Scholars had much ado to appease them But amongst the rest there were two Historians the one a Grecian the other a Roman who talking of Caesar and Alexander the Roman Historian said There was no comparison between those two Worthies for said he Alexander was only a Darling of Fortune whose Favour gave him a free passage without opposition and had no occasion to shew his Courage Skill Conduct or Industry and said he Fools Cowards and Slothful persons have had good Fortune sometimes At this Discourse the Grecian grew very angry saying That Alexander was born from a Warrier and bred a Soldier and was a Valiant Wise Commander and that Caesar was only a Man of Fortune Traiterous Desperate and whatsoever he got was all by Chance In this Dispute one defending Alexander the other Caesar they fell from words to blows and like two School boys to Cuffs they went and such notable thumping-blows they gave each other that either had a bloody-nose whereupon the rest of the Scholars began to side in Factions some taking one part some another that at last they were all together by the ears and so fierce in fight they were that the Drums and the Trumpets of their several Clamours arrived to the Master of the Colledg's hearing at which noise he went running up to inform himself of the Cause But when he came his Questions could not be heard nor his Commands obeyed for all the Scholars were divided so equally as if it had been a pitched-Battel for all the Scepticks were against the Mathematicians the Natural Philosophers against the Divines the severe Moralists against the Poets and in the like opposition were all the rest But at last they grew out of all order and there became such a confusion that they cared not whom they did strike so they did fight although 't were their own Parties Whereupon the Master of the Colledg hollow'd so loud and bestirr'd himself so prudently that he appeased them and after their Fury was quenched at least abated they began to consider and finding their Quarrels needless they were ashamed and feeling their received blows painful they did repent But howsoever it was a strange sight to behold them some having black and blew Eyes others swelled Foreheads like Camels backs others scratched Faces some blowing blood out of their Nostrils others spitting blood out of their Mouths and some their Teeth also and all the Hair both of their Heads and Beards was in a ruffled and affrighted posture and the poor Library was like a Ship after a storm at Sea in great disorder for there was strewed about pieces of Papers rent from Books and old Patches of Cloth and Stuff torn from Gowns Slippers kick'd from their feet Caps flown from their Heads handfuls of Hairs pulled from their Crowns and Pens and Ink sans nombre The man that came by chance was crept into a hole and was in such an agony and fear to see this distraction that he had not power to come forth but at last when they were all gone out of the Library to Supper or Prayers
who did nothing but sing Sonnets The Melancholy were Tragedians The Envious were Satyrists who describe the World a Hell and the Men therein Devils The Amorous run all into Blank-Verses putting them into such Numbers as to raise the Voice to a passionate whining folding their Arms fixing their Eyes But a Grave Moral Philosopher walking that way seeing a Company together out of a Curiosity went to them The first that he saw was blind Homer acting of Paris who hearing one come towards him imagined straight it was a Woman because his desire would have it so and would have him act the part of Helen The Philosopher told him He was not fit to make a Courtezan Why said Homer Pythagoras was one in his Transmigrations Whereat the Philosopher was very angry and left him and went to see who the rest were The next he met was Virgil acting of AEneas who as soon as saw the Philosopher would needs take him up for his Father Anchises The Philosopher desired to be excused for though said he I am old enough to be thy Father yet I love not the few remainder of my days so well as to have them be a cause to burthen my Son nor am I so uncharitable as he was to his Daughter-in-law to expose her to danger and so to be lost whilst he rid lazily upon his Son's Shoulders The third Person he saw was Ovid transforming Gods Men and Beasts As soon as he saw the Philosopher he would needs have him Europa and himself Jupiter and lay tumbling upon the Grass feigning himself like a Bull and would have him get upon him as Europa did and bid him lay hold upon his Horns The Philosopher said He thought them all Horn'd-mad and so left him The fourth he met was Lucan describing the Battel between Caesar and Pompey and when he saw the Philosopher he would have him stand for Pompey whilst he represented Caesar and so would have had them fight But the Philosopher told him He was a Man of Peace and not for Warr my study said he is To conquer unsatiable Ambition and not to fight and kill for Power and Authority by Usurpation The fifth he met was Martial who was writing Epigrams and would needs write one of the Philosopher But he prayed him to forbear for said he my ways are so dull and sober that they will not produce such Fancies as must go to the making of Jestings-Epigrams The sixth he met was Horace who was describing in his Discourse a Countrey-Life and would needs have the Philosopher a Countrey-Lass he would have had him sit down upon a Bank by him that he might make love to him by repeating of Amorous Poems But after much strugling the Philosopher got from him and growing weary of their Company left them to their vain Fantasms and Fantastical Humours LOVE's CURE THERE was a Man Amorous by nature and of a Courtly Behaviour who made love to a young Lady and she returned him Affection for his kind Professions but after a while he forsook her and made love to another of whom he had also the good fortune to be beloved as oft-times Amorous Men have by reason they address their Suits to Credulous Women who are self-conceited and opinionated easily believe and soon perswade themselves That Men's Praises and Promises Vows and Protestations are real and that their Affections are unalterably fix'd when they address themselves as Suitors and Servants But this Gallant left her as he did the other and made love to a third for it is the nature of Amorous Persons to love variety and seek for change being soon weary of one and the same Object Whereupon these two forsaken-Ladies became very melancholy and though they were Enemies whilst he made love to either yet now became dear Friends since he made love to neither and every day they would visit one another to condole and bewail their Misfortunate Loves But the second forsaken-Lady having been some time in the Countrey and returning thence went to visit her Friend with a Face clothed in a sad Countenance and veiled with dull Eyes and seeing her Friend who had wont to have as mourning a Face as she to have now a merry Countenance a lively Behaviour and a healthful Complexion began to be jealous thinking her unconstant Lover had renewed his Love-suit to her for Friendships made by Loss dissolve when either get what they before did lose and think they had a right to or at least a share in it But to be resolved she asked her the reason she seemed so well disposed to be pleasant for when she parted from her last she seemed to be like one newly raised from the dead or like a Statue made of Stone that had no Life nor Motion Truly said she my Mind is in such peace that my Thoughts take a harmless freedom to sport and play and it gives also my Body leave to nourish Life The second Lady said Would my Mind could find the same tranquillity The first said Truly if your Mind be troubled still and finds no rest I pity you by what I have felt my self for when my Mind was troubled there was a Civil-Warr amongst my Passions such Factions Side-takings and Disputations with Anger Spight Spleen and Malice against Love Hope and Jealousie that it caused many Tears to be shed and Groans to be sent forth But how came you to be cured said she I tell you answered she After a long Civil-Warr amongst my Passions my Body became almost wasted to skin and bone for want of rest and nourishment for my Passions had devoured Sleep and banished Appetite whereby my Mind began to be infected with a Feverish Distemper which Reason perceiving came to the rescue bringing an Army of Arguments of which Understanding and Truth were chief Commanders and after many Skirmishes those Passions being often foiled and put to a rout they grew weak and so dispersed several ways But after these Warrs a dark Melancholy cover'd my Mind like a Cloud which eclipsed all the Light of Comfort and made it murmur against the Gods Decree and complain against Nature's Works and curse Fortune's Instability at which poor Virtue whom Education had put to be my Governess was very angry and said The Gods had been too merciful Nature too bountiful and Fortune too favourable unless I were more thankful Yet she commanded Patience and Charity who were two of her Handmaids to stand by me But as my Mind was musing in came my grave and sober Companions the Sciences and seeing me in that posture began to counsel me perswading me to follow their Studies for said they nothing can compose and settle the Mind more than we do My Mind bowing to them gave them thanks for their advice But as soon as they were gone in came my Domestick Acquaintance the Arts who offered me all their Industry and Ingenuity to do me service But I told them I was past the cure of any Art Whereupon they very
will be commanded too but in the mean time I hope you will be ruled by me and here is a great Match propounded to me for you the like I could not have hoped for which is the Vice-Roy he is rich Yet said she he may be a Fool. O he is Wise and Discreet said he I have heard said she he is ill-natured and froward Her Unkle answered He is in great Power and Authority He may be said she never the Honester for that He is said he in great Favour with the King Sir said she Princes and Monarchs do not always favour the most deserving nor do they always advance Men for Merit but most commonly otherwise the unworthiest are advanced highest besides Bribery Partiality and Flattery rule Princes and States Her Unkle said Let me advise you not to use Rhetorick against your self and overthrow a good Fortune in refusing such a Husband as shall advance your place above that false Duke's Duchess and his Estate with yours joined to it will be greater than his with which you shall be served nobly attended with numbers of Servants live plentifully adorned richly have all the Delights and Pleasures your Soul can desire and he being in years will dote on you besides he having had experience of vain Debaucheries is become staid and sage Sir said she His Age will be the means to barr me of all these Braveries Pleasures and Delights you propound for he being old and I young will become so jealous that I shall be in restraint like a Prisoner nay he will be jealous of the Light and of my own Thoughts and will enclose me in Darkness and disturb the Peace of my Mind with his Discontents for Jealousie I have heard is never at quiet with it self nor to those that live near it Come come said he you talk you know not what I perceive you would marry some young fan'tastical prodigal Fellow who will give you only Diseases and spend your Estate and his own too amongst his Whores Bawds and Sycophants whilst you sit mourning at home he will be revelling abroad and then disturb your rest coming home at unseasonable times and if you must suffer you had better suffer by those that love than those that care not for you for Jealousie is only an overflow of Love Wherefore be ruled and let not all my Pains Care and Cost and the Comfort of my Labour be lost through your disobedience Sir said she I am bound in Gratitude and Duty to obey your Will were it to sacrifice my Life or the Tranquillity of my Mind on the Altar of your Commands In the mean time the Duke was so discontented and melancholy that he excluded himself from all Company suffering neither his Duchess nor any Friend to visit him nor come near him only one old Servant to wait upon him all former Delights Pleasures and Recreations were hateful to him even in the remembrance as if his Soul and Body had taken a Surfeit thereof At last he resolved she should know what Torment he suffered for her sake and since he could not see nor speak to her he would send her a Letter He called for Pen Ink and Paper and wrote after this manner Madam THE Wrath of the Gods is not only pacified and they do not only pardon the greatest sins that can be committed against them taking to mercy the Contrite Heart but give Blessings for Repentant tears and I hope you will not be more severe than they Let not your Justice be too rigid lest you become cruel I confess the sins committed against you were great and deserve great punishment but if all your Mercies did flye from me yet if you did but know the Torments I suffer you could not chuse but pity me and my Sorrows are of that weight that they will press away my Life unless your Favours take off the heavy Burthen But bomsoever pray let your Charity give me a Line or two of your own writing though they strangle me with Death then will my Soul lye quiet in the Grave because I dyed by your hand and when I am dead let not the worst of my Actions live in your Memory but cast them into Oblivion where I wish they may for ever remain The Gods protect you Sealing this Letter he gave it to his Man to carry with all the secrefie he could bidding him to enquire which of her Women was most in her favour and to pray her to deliver it to her Mistress when she was all alone and to tell the Maid He would be in the Street to wait her Command The Man found such access as he could wish and the Letter was delivered to the Lady which when she had read and found from whom it came her Passions were so mix'd that she knew not whether to joy or grieve she joy'd to live in his Thoughts yet griev'd to live without him having no hopes to make him lawfully hers nor so much as to see or speak to him her Unkle was so averse against him and the greatest grief was to think she must be forced to become anothers when she had rather be his though once forsaken by him than to be beloved by another with Constancy Then musing with her self for some time considering whether it was fit to answer his Letter or no If my Unkle should come to know said she I write to him without his leave which leave I am sure he will never give I shall utterly lose his Affection and I had rather lose my Life than lose his Love but if I do not write I shall seem as if I were of a malicious nature which will beget an evil construction of my Disposition in that Mind in whose good Opinion I desire to live If I believe as Charity and Love perswades me that he speaks truth I shall endanger his Life and I would be loth to murther him with nice scruples when I am neither forbid by Honour nor Modesty Religion nor Laws to save him Well I will adventure and ask my Unkle pardon when I have done My Unkle is not of a Tyger's nature he is gentle and a Pardon may be gotten but Life when once it is gone will return no more Then taking Pen Ink and Paper writ to him after this manner SIR I Am obedient as being once tied to you until you did cut me off and throw me away as a worthless piece only fit to be trodden under the feet of Disgrace and certainly had perished with shame and been left destitute had not my Unkle own'd me And though you are pleased to cast some thoughts back upon me yet it is difficult for me to believe that you that did once scorn me should humbly come to sue to me and I fear you do this for sport angling with the Bait of Deceit to catch my innocent youth But I am not the first of my Sex nor I fear shall not be the last that has been and will be deceived by Men who glory
by rage confirms it by melancholy destroys it by desperate fury as self-murther Likewise as the Sun doth not only contract and dilatate it self but contracts and dilatates the several Creatures on and in the Earth the same doth the Mind the several parts of the Body it dilatates the Body into several actions postures and behaviours to strike to kick to stretch out the Body to spread out the Arms to fling out the Legs to stare to call or cry out to hoop to hollow and it will contract the Body into a silent musing close the lips shut up the eyes fold in the arms bow or bend in the legs and as it were wind up the Body by fear grief anger melancholy joy wonder admiration and the like and as the Sun doth suck and draw from the Earth and dissolve and expel the Creatures therein so do the Passions the Humours of the Body for as some Sun-beams suck moisture from the several Springs that rise in the Earth so divers Passions suck out moisture from the several Veins that run in the Body or as such Beams which pierce the Earth make the face thereof wither and pale so will some sorts of Passions and as some other sorts of Sunny-beams for all work not the like effect draw Sulphureous Vapours from the Bowels of the Earth towards the Middle-Region which flash out in Lightning so do the Passions draw from the Heart a flushing-colour to the Face which flushes in hot blushes And as the Sun-beams draw Salt Vapours from the Sea which fall in pouring showers so do the Passions draw Salt Vapours from the Bowels which fall in trickling tears for the Passions are the beams of the Mind and have as great an influence and power over the Body as the Sun-beams have upon the Earth and as the Sun 's bright Rays cause the Elements to appear clear and light so doth the Mind's tranquility cause the countenance to look cheerful and fair Then they asked her of the Four Cardinal Virtues She said That Prudence and Temperance were two Virtues which belonged more to the Wise than the Heroick Men for Prudence barrs Generosity and Magnanimity and doth not only forewarn dangers but restrains from dangerous actions when Heroick Honour is got in Danger more than Safety and Courage is made known thereby likewise Temperance forbids Magnificence but Fortitude and Justice belongs most to Heroick Men. Then they asked her If she thought Beasts had a Rational Soul She answered That if there could be no Sense without some Reason nor Reason without the Sense Beasts were as Rational as Men unless said she Reason be a particular Gift either from Nature or the God of Nature to Man and not to other Creatures if so said she Nature or the God of Nature would prove partial or finite As for Nature in her self she seems unconfined and for the God of Nature he can have no Biass he ruling every thing by the straight Line of Justice and what Justice nay what Injustice would it not be for Mankind to be supream over all other Animal-Kind or some Animal-Kind over any other Kind Then they asked her Why no Creature was so shiftless at his birth as Man She answered There were other Creatures as shiftless as Man as for example Birds are as shiftless before their Wings are fledged For as Infants want strength in Arms to feed themselves and Legs to go so Birds want strength of Bills to feed themselves and Feathers in Wings to flye Then they asked her Whether she thought there were a Heaven and a Hell She answered That in Nature there was a Hell and a Heaven a God and a Devil good Angels and bad Salvation and Damnation for said she Pain and Trouble is a Hell the one to torment the Body the other the Mind Likewise said she Health and Pleasure is a Heaven which gives the body rest and the mind Tranquility also said she the natural God is Truth the natural Devil Falshood the one seeks to save the other to deceive the good Angels are Peace and Plenty the evil are Warrs and Famine Light is the Beatifical Vision Darkness the natural Dungeon Death is the Damnation Life the Salvation and Moral Virtue is the natural Religion and Moral Philosophers are Nature's Priests which preach and seem to practise a good life Then they asked What Government for a Commonwealth was best She answered Monarchical for as one Sun is sufficient to give Light and Heat to all the several Creatures in the World so one Governour is sufficient to give Laws and Rules to the several Members of a Commonwealth Besides said she no good Government can be without Union and Union is in Singularity not in Plurality for Union is drawn to a Point when Numbers make Division Extraction Substraction which often-times brings Distraction and Distraction Confusions Then they asked her Whether she was of that Opinion That those that had good Understandings had weak Imaginations She said She was not of that Opinion for said she from the pureness and cleerness of the Understanding proceeds the subtilty and the variety of their Imaginations and the Understanding is the foundation of Imagination for as Faith is built upon Reason so is Imagination upon Understanding Then they asked her If the Faculties of the Mind or Soul had their uses or proceeded from the temper of the Brain and Heart She answered That the uses and faculties of the Mind proceeded from the Motions of the Vital and Animal Spirits which I call said she the Sensitive and Rational Spirits which is the Life and Soul and from the regular motions and full quantity thereof proceeds a perfect Memory a clear Understanding and a sound Judgment from the quick motions proceed a ready Wit and from the various and regular motions proceed probable Imaginations or Opinions from the scarcity proceeds dulness and stupidity or insensibility from the irregularity proceeds Extravagancies or Madness and where the Scarcity and Irregularity meets it produceth a stupid dull Madness The Fourth sort that visited her were Scholars that studied Theology and they asked her Whether she was of opinion that Man hath Free will She answered That she was not so proud nor so presumptuous as to think that Man had Free-will for said she if Jove had given Men Free-will he had given the use of one of his Attributes to Man as free Power which said she Jove cannot do for that were to lessen himself To let any Creature have free power to do what he will for Free-will is an Absolute Power although of the narrowest limits and to have an Absolute Power is to be a God and to think Man had it only and no other Creature were to think Jove partial but said she Man's Ambition hath bred this and the like Opinions But said they Jove might permit Man or suffer Man to do some things She said That was as ill or a worse Opinion for to think Jove permits Man to cross his
Throat into the Stomack to feed the Body to maintain the life thereof and the natural Capacities digest those several Objects and Subjects into Knowledg and Understanding as the natural heat into Flesh and Blood And the Brain is like the Body sometimes more strong and sometimes more weak which makes the Understanding sometimes more sick and sometimes more healthy and sometimes also the Brain will be stuft with Fancy as the Body with Humours But some Brains are like an unhealthy Body that will never thrive and others like Stomacks that are nourish'd but with some particular sort of Meat when Variety will corrupt but never digest And others are like Stomacks that the more Varieties are received the better Concoction where particulars would cause a Surfeit Likewise said she young Brains are like tender Slips not grown to bear Fruit but length of time brings them to maturity And some Brains are like barren Grounds that will not bring Seed or Fruit forth unless it be well manured with the Wit which is rak'd from other Writers or Speakers Others are like unplowed ground for the Senses which are as the Husband-man either neglect through laziness or are so poor that they have not a sufficient stock of Objects or Subjects or Matter or Form to work with or sow in the Brain Others are like foolish Husband-men that either sow or reap too soon or too late that know not how to sett and graft to prune or to cherish which makes the Brain unprofitable Others like ill Husbands run wandring about unconstantly and never regard their Affairs but let the Brain run to Weeds which with good Husbandry might bear fruitful Corps And some are so rich and fertil that if they be not plowed nor sett yet they will be fat Meadows and rich Pasture wherein grow wild Cowslips Prim-roses Violets Dazies and sweet Thyme Marjoram Succory and the like Then they asked her How they should govern their Servants She answered With Employment for said she idle Servants like idle Subjects grow factious and so rebellious for want of good Employments to busie their heads with Then they asked her How Masters ought to use Servants She answered As good Princes do their Subjects with a Fatherly care for their well-being well-doing and subsisting they must have a Protector 's regard for their safety be just Judges for their Rights and Priviledges for their Condemnations and Punishments honest Friends to advise them wise Tutors to instruct them prudent Governours to order them powerful Generals to command them bountiful Gods to reward their painful Labours their dutiful Obediences their honest Services their faithful Trust and their constant Fidelity Then the Wives asked her If it might not be as lawful for Wives to receive and entertain Love's Courtships as for Husbands to make Love-Courtships She said No for said she unconstant Women are the ruin of a Commonwealth For first It decays Breed for though many be barren by Nature yet there are more become barren through Wildness Secondly It corrupts Breed mingling the Issues of several Men. Thirdly It decays Industry for a Man that doubts the Children be none of his will never take pains to provide for them or at least not to enrich them Fourthly It makes dangerous and deadly quarrels for the Cuckold and the Cuckold-maker can never agree Then they asked her What they should do in case their Husbands did kiss their Maids or their Neighbour's Maids Daughters or Wives She said To take as little notice of it as they could to give them as much liberty as they would have to praise their Mistresses more than they deserved and to cause them to be as jealous of them as they could be First said she To take no notice makes them to live quiet and makes their Husbands to be more shye lest they should perceive it otherwise said she there will not only be quarrels but she will receive often affronts and disgraces by himself and Whores Secondly said she To give them liberty will glut their Appetites surfeit the Humour and quench their Affections Thirdly said she A superlative Praise will abate the Truth and out-reach the Admiration Lastly said she To make them jealous by discoursing That no Woman is to be trusted or relied upon for their constancies in Love when they have forsaken their own Honour their Modest Nature their Honest Birth their Lawful Rites their Civil Customs and their Pious Zeal to Heaven for Jealousie saith she turns Love into Hate Then they asked her What they should do if their Husbands Whores did enslave them by being as Mistresses to command and they as Drudges and Slaves to obey making them as Bawds or Witnesses to their Lascivious Acts She said There was nothing for that but parting for said she a Noble Mind cannot play the Bawd nor live with impudent Vices But said they if the Wife have Children how shall they part then 'T is better said she to part with the Goods of the Body than the Goods of the Soul wherefore it were better to part from Children or Life than with Honour and Virtue for though Virtue said she may wink at an Infirmity and Honour may excuse a Fault yet not be made as a Party or brought to the publick view or be made a Slave thereto Then they asked her What was the best way to keep their Husband's Love and cause them to be constant She said The best way to keep their Husband's love was to be honestly modest cleanly patient prudent and discreet but said she a man may love dearly and tenderly his Wife and yet desire to kiss his Maid wherefore to keep him constant said she a Wife must act the Arts of a Courtizan to him which is very lawful since it is to an honest End for the Arts honest and lawful but the Design and End is wicked but said she to learn those Arts you must be instructed by such as have practised or seen them for I have not nor cannot guess or devise Arts. The Twelfth sort were Nurses with their Nurse-Children And they asked her How Children should be ordered She said Young Children should be handled gently watched carefully used kindly and attended prudently The gentle handling said she is most requisite for Children have rather Grissles than Bones more Jelly than Flesh whereby the least oppression or wrenching or turning may deform them causing some Members to be deformed that otherwise would be in perfection and by reason Nurses handle not Children tenderly there is so many lame and crooked as they are Likewise Nurses should give their Limbs liberty not swaddle nor tye them too hard or to suffer their Coats to be too little or their Shooes or Stockings too short nor to pin too many Pins about them lest they should prick them Likewise not to toss nor tumble them nor to dance nor rock them too violently for a weak motion may displace an unknit Grissle-Joint and what Pains soever they feel or Hurts they get
of their own Bowels which is the Mind for the Mind is the Bowels or Womb of Thoughts and though some think the Mind would be like an empty House if it were not furnished by the Senses and outward Objects yet some Minds are so largely curiously and sumptuously built by Nature and with such excellent rich and strong Materials that they need not the Senses The several Objects that the Senses bring in do but incumber it and lumber it hiding the curious Architecture and shadowing the light thereof but howsoever to please or delight the Mind by the Senses Age must hear sweet charming Musick view delightful Objects smell comfortable Scents taste savoury Meats drink delicious Drinks be lapt in soft Silks or warm Furr Likewise they must converse with and pleasant Company and so recreate themselves in what they most delight for Wise and Noble Age cannot delight in any thing but what is Honourable Allowable and Commendable and whosoever lives temperately prudently soberly easily peaceably and pleasantly lives sagely but said she Wise Age Majestick seems like Gods above Their Countenance is Mercy join'd with Love Their Silver Hairs are like to glorious Rays Their Eyes like Monarch's Scepter Power sways Their Life is Justice Seat where Judgment 's set Their Tongue is the sharp Sword which Truth doth whet Their grave Behaviour the Balance which poise The Scales of Thoughts and Actions without noise Merit 's the Grains which makes them even weight Honesty the steddy hand that holds them streight The Eighteenth sort were Soldiers And they asked What sort of Men were fit to be Generals She said Those that could command themselves were wise enough to command others Then they asked her What sort of Men were best for other Commanders and Military Officers She said Those that had learnt to obey for from their Obedience they could well Command Then they asked her Of what age Men should be chosen for Soldiers She said That Men of Twenty were desperate and Men of Thirty were couragious and from Thirty they were valiant for Courage said she is not so furious as Desperateness nor Valour so rash as Courage and Beasts said she are furious and couragious but none but Men are Valiant but said she of necessity there must be Men of all ages that are able to bear arms or else there will not be Men enough to make up a Number for though said she Fury is soon spent by violent Force and Courage is weaker by rash Follies yet if none should be chosen but those that are rightly Valiant there would not be a Troop where there should be an Army for true Valour said she is such an equal temper and mixture of Capacities Qualities and Virtues compounded as Justice Prudence Temperance Patience Judgment Understanding Resolution Audacity Circumspection and the like to make Valour that there are few Valiant Men to be found whenas of Men of Courage whole Armies are full for Courage is only a Passion without any mixture of Fear or rather it is an Appetite to Adventures Then they asked her What Assaulting-arms were best She said The Sword for said she Cannons Muskets Carbines Pistols or the like are fitter to fight with Walls than Men Besides said she there is no assaulting-arms that stands at a distance but seem cowardly as Bows Slings Pistols Guns and the like which make Men seem as if they were afraid to meet and encounter Body to Body when a Sword or the like Weapon seems as it is Heroick and Manly Then they asked her Whether an Army were better to intrench or lye in Garrison Towns She said To intrench for said she the Soldiers will be careful to defend their Walls of Mudd which are Trenches but when they lye in Garrisons they become negligent as thinking the Walls of Stone Should defend them Then they asked her How they should begin the Onset of a Battel She said Closely Coldly and Temperately lest their force should waste in their fury and disorders should grow by the violence thereof Then they asked her How they should behave themselves in a Victory She said Humbly and Mercifully Then they asked her How they should behave themselves when they lost She said Patiently and Cheerfully to shew their Spirits were not dejected with their ill fortune The last sort that visited her were Historians They asked her Whether it were worth the taking pains to write an History She said There was no pains worth the taking but for the cause of Truth for Right sake and for the advancement of Good As for an History said she it cannot be exactly true because there are so many several Intentions interwoven with several Accidents and several Actions divided into so many several Parties and several Places and so many several Reporters of several Opinions Partialities Understandings Judgments and Memorials which give such various relations of one and the same Action that an Historian being but one Man cannot possibly know the truth which makes them write so falsly whereby Right is injured and degraded of that Honour which is due unto its Merit or else that Honour is given where there is not Merits to deserve it Neither doth History add Good to an Human Life or Peace to a Disordered State or Zeal to a Pious Soul for it instructs the present Life with the Vices Follies and Ambitions Rapines Cruelties Craft Subtilties and Factions of former Ages which makes the present Age more bold to do the like and desirous to follow their fore-fathers steps which rather inflames the Distempers than gives Peace to a Commonwealth indeed it distempers a peaceable Commonwealth and oft-times brings it to ruin over-heating the Youth and hardning the Aged neither doth it add Zeal for reading in History the several Religions and many Gods that Wise Men held and prayed to in every Age weakens their Faith with doubt of the right not knowing what to chuse Also Historians are for the most part Detractors for they oftner blurr Men's Reputations than glorifie them and the World is apt to believe the worst part for one Pen may blurr a Reputation but one Pen will hardly glorifie a Reputation for Glory requireth many Pens many Witnesses or else the World will not believe it when one Accusing-Pen shall serve to condem the most Noble Persons and Heroick Actions so unjust the World is They are also contrary one to another writing according to their Opinions Judgment and Belief not often to the Truth for some praise those Men and Actions that others dispraise causing doubts to the Readers who know not which to believe besides they are so partial to Sides and Factions that to the adverse Party they note things to their disadvantage or aggravate their Errors or Imperfections and leave out some things that are of high worth and worthy the remembrance or else lessen them in their Relations But to those they adhere to they do the contrary they either obscure or excuse their Errors Imperfections and Crimes and