CCXI. SOCIABLE LETTERS WRITTEN BY THE Thrice Noble Illustrious and Excellent PRINCESS THE LADY MARCHIONESS OF NEWCASTLE LONDON Printed by WILLIAM WILSON Anno Dom. M. DC LXIV TO THE LADY MARCHIONESS OF NEWCASTLE On her Book of EPISTLES VVHen all Epistlers you have read and seek Who writ in Latin English French or Greek Such Woful things as they are only fit To stop Mustard-pots to this Ladie 's Wit Nay were they all Alive I Swear I think They'd Burn their Books and Throw away their Ink Make Pick-Tooths of their Pens and for their Paper Only to light Tobacco and each Taper Y'have Spoil'd Commerce Intelligencers Trade None now dares write a Letter so Afraid To be thought Fools and is the Carriers Curse To find his Empty Budget and Lank Purse Nay the Post-house's Ruin'd and will Complain From their Vast Gettings now they have no Gain All now by Word of Mouth and what is spoken Or Gilded Nutmegs or each Tavern-token Nick'd Sticks for Merchants Why would you Undo Your self at once thus and the whole World too After my Hearty Commendations This The Style of States-men still Applauded is Your Flames of Wit this Age may think a Sin A Proclamation then may call it in VV. NEVVCASTLE TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE LORD MARQUESS OF NEWCASTLE MY LORD IT may be said to me as one said to a Lady VVork Lady VVork let writing Books alone For surely VViser Women ne'r writ one But your Lordship never bid me to Work nor leave Writing except when you would perswade me to spare so much time from my Study as to take the Air for my Health the truth is My Lord I cannot Work I mean such Works as Ladies use to pass their Time withall and if I could the Materials of such Works would cost more than the Work would be worth besides all the Time and Pains bestow'd upon it You may ask me what Works I mean I answer Needle-works Spinning-works Preserving-works as also Baking and Cooking-works as making Cakes Pyes Puddings and the like all which I am Ignorant of and as I am Ignorant in these Imployments so I am Ignorant in Gaming Dancing and Revelling But yet I must ask you leave to say that I am not a Dunce in all Imployments for I Understand the Keeping of Sheep and Ordering of a Grange indifferently well although I do not Busie my self much with it by reason my Scribling takes away the most part of my Time Perchance some may say that if my Understanding be most of Sheep and a Grange it is a Beastly Understanding My answer is I wish Men were as Harmless as most Beasts are then surely the World would be more Quiet and Happy than it is for then there would not be such Pride Vanity Ambition Covetousness Faction Treachery and Treason as is now Indeed one might very well say in his Prayers to God O Lord God I beseech thee of thy Infinite Mercy make Man so and order his Mind Thoughts Passions and Appetites like Beasts that they may be Temperate Sociable Laborious Patient Prudent Provident Brotherly-loving and Neighbourly-kind all which Beasts are but most Men not But leaving most Men to Beasts I return to your Lordship who is one of the Best of men whom God hath fill'd with Heroick Fortitude Noble Generosity Poetical Wit Moral Honesty Natural Love Neighbourly-kindness Great Patience Loyal Duty and Celestial Piety and I pray God as Zealously and Earnestly to Bless you with Perfect Health and Long Life as becomes Your Lordships Honest Wife and Humble Servant M. Newcastle TO ALL PROFESSORS OF Learning and Art Most Famously Learned I Wish I could Write so Wisely Wittily Eloquently and Methodically as might be VVorthy of your Perusal but if any of your Noble Profession should Humble themselves so Low as to Read my VVorks or part of them I pray Consider my Sex and Breeding and they will fully Excuse those Faults which must Unavoidably be found in my VVorks But although I have no Learning yet give me leave to Admire it and to wish I were one of your Society for certainly were I Emperess of the VVorld I would Advance those that have most Learning and VVit by which I believe the Earth would rather be an Heaven since both Men and Government would be as Celestial for I am Confident that VVisdom and for the most part Virtue is Inherent in those that are Masters of Learning and Indued with VVit And to this sort of Persons I do Offer my VVorks although to be Condemned on the Altar of their Censure and rest Satisfied with the Honour that they thought them Worthy to be Iudged Thus whether my VVorks Live or Dye I am Devoted to be Your Servant M. N. THE PREFACE Noble Readers I Hope you will not make the Mistake of a Word a Crime in my Wit as some former Readers have done for in my Poems they found Fault that the Number was not Just nor every Line Matched with a Perfect Rime But I can answer for that Book that there be but some such Errors in it and those as it were by Chance besides in some Languages as Latin and Greek which are accounted the Chief they regard not Rimes in their Poems but only an Exact number of Feet and Measures however Rimes and Numbers are only as the Garments and not as the Body of VVit but I have been more Exact in my other Book call'd Natural Descriptions wherein most Verses are Just both for Number and Rimes As for my VVork The VVorld's Olio they may say some VVords are not Exactly Placed which I confess to be very likely and not only in that but in all the rest of my VVorks there may be such Errors for I was not Bred in an University or a Free-School to Learn the Art of VVords neither do I take it for a Disparagement of my VVorks to have the Forms Terms VVords Numbers or Rymes found Fault with so they do not find Fault with the Variety of the Subjects or the Sense and Reason VVit and Fancy for I leave the Formal or VVorditive part to Fools and the Material or Sensitive part to VVise men Concerning my Philosophical Opinions some did say they were too Obscure and not Plain Enough for their Understanding I must confess I writ that Book at first at the same time when I wrote my Poems but to my Reason it was as Plain as I could write it and if some Readers could not Understand it I am not Nature to give them VVit and Understanding yet have I since not only Over-viewed and Reformed that Book but made a great Addition to it so that I believe I have now so clearly Declared my Sense and Meaning therein that those which Understand it not must not only be Irrational but Insensible Creatures As for my Book of Playes some find Fault they are not made up Exactly nor the Scenes placed Justly as also I have not in some Playes caused all the Actors to be of an Acquaintance but
Brethren Know by the Spirit that they are not the Children of the Lord but Sathans Children they are the Children of Darkness we the Children of Light we are Glorified and Sanctified by Supernatural Grace we are a Peculiar People and the Holy Prophets of the Lord to Fore-see Fore-tell and Declare his Will and Pleasure also we are to Incourage and Comfort the Saints in Afflictions and Times of Tribulation and Consolation and to Help them to Present their Sanctified Sighs Tears and Groans unto the Lord but the Spirit moveth me to Pray and to leave off Preaching wherefore let us Pray unto the Lord. So after the Holy Brother had done his Prayer Mr. N. N. who was there pull'd off his Peruick and put on a Night-Cap wherein he appeared so like a Holy Brother as they took him for one of their Sect and he Preached this following Sermon DEarly beloved Brethren We are here met in a Congregation together some to Teach others to Learn but neither the Teaching nor Learning can be any other way but Natural and according to Human Capacitie for we cannot be Coelestial whilst we are Terrestrial neither can we be Glorified whilst we are Mortal and subject to Death nor yet can we arrive to the Purity of Saints or Angels whilst we are subject to Natural Imperfections both in Body and Mind but there are some Men that Believe they are or at least may be so Pure in Spirit by Saving Grace as to be Sanctified and to be so much fill'd with the Holy Ghost as to have Spiritual Visions and ordinarily to have Conversation with God believing God to be a Common Companion to their Idle Imaginations But this Opinion proceeds from an Extraordinary Self-Love Self-Pride and Self-Ambition as to believe they are the only fit Companions for God himself and that not any of God's Creatures are or were Worthy to be Favoured but They much less to be made of Gods Privy Counsel as they believe they are as to Know his Will and Pleasure his Decrees and Destinies which indeed are not to be Known for the Creator is too Mighty for a Creature to Comprehend him Wherefore let us Humbly Pray to What we cannot Conceive But before he had quite Ended his Sermon the Holy flock began to Bustle and at last VVent quite out of the Room so that he might have Pray'd by Himself had not I and two or three Ladies more that were of my Company Stayed and when he had done his short Prayer He told me and the other Ladyes that he had Done that which the Great Counsel of State could not Do for he had by one short Discourse Dispersed a Company of Sectaries without Noise or Disturbance but at last we dispersed our selves to our own Houses although Mr. N. N. would have given us a Ball after a Sermon but I was so tyred with the One as I was not fit for the Other for we were from Morning till Evening to hear them Preach yet as Tyred and Weary as I am I could not choose but Repeat these two of their shortest Sermons which I heard and so I subscribe my self Madam Your faithful Friend and Servant LXXVII MADAM YOu were pleased to desire me to Read the Romance of A. as also the Romance of C. which I have obeyed in reading the Romance of A but as yet I have not read any part of C. and to give you an Account of my Perusal I think there is more Love than Reason in it and more Wit than Truth or Probability of Truth and certainly it is deplorable that so much Wit and Eloquence should be wasted on Amorous Love as also to bring all Scholastical as Theological Physical Logistical and the like Arguments Disputes and Discourses into the Theme of Amorous Love which Love is between Appetite or Desire and Fruition of Different Sexes of Men and Women but I perceive that Romance-Writers endeavour to make all their Romance-Readers believe that the Gods Nature Fates Destinies and Fortune do imploy or busie themselves only in the affairs of Amorous Lovers which is a very low Imployment or Concern Also I perceive that Romance-Lovers are very Rheumatick for if all the Tears Romances express Lovers to shed were Gathered or United it would cause a second Deluge of the World it seems Amorous Love is Composed more of Water than Fire and more of Desire than Fruition But leaving Amorous Lovers to more Folly than Discretion to Lose more Time than to Gain Love and wishing them Sound Lungs for Sighs and Moist Eyes for Tears I rest Madam Your faithful Friend and Servant LXXVIII MADAM IN your last Letter you expressed that you had Presented C. with a Book of Gs. VVriting I wonder you would Present that Book to C. by reason that he is a Gallant for Pleasure and not a Stoick for Study also you express'd you sent one to D. the Student let me tell you Madam I dare swear he will never read it Half out not for the Bigness of the Volume but for the Newness of the Style and Age for most Students despise all New Works and only delight in Old Worm-eaten Records the truth is few Books are read Throughout the First Age it is well if at the Fourth Age the End be arrived at especially in the same Nation where the Author is a Native for as our Saviour sayes A man is not Esteemed of in his Own Country and yet in another place he sayes A man is Known by his Works wherefore the best way for a man that would have his Writings Known and Esteemed of in his Life time is to send them to Travel into Forein Nations for at Home they will find but little Applause no not Romances which the VVorld Dotes on for Distance of Place is next to Distance of Time at least resembles it But if any will present their VVorks to Persons of their Own Nation they must present them to such as are Known to Delight in such Subjects their Books treat of and then perchance they may read a leaf or two and by that Censure all the Book But fearing you should Censure me for writing so Long a Letter I rest Madam Your faithful Friend and Servant LXXIX MADAM I Was yesterday presented with a Book Translated out of French into English wherein I find the Author of the Book Condemns those that set their Images before their Books or that suffer their Friends to give their Opinions of their Books in Epistles or that do write many or some or few Epistles before their Books whereas himself writes so Long an Epistle in finding Fault with Others and civilly Applauding Himself in not having his Picture or his Friends Applauses as that Epistle or Preface is as Long if not More than many Short Epistles and as Vain-glorious as Many Friends Praises But I am so far from that Noble Persons Opinion or Modesty that I wish whereas I have One Friend to Praise my Works although Partially I had a Thousand or
rather Ten thousand Millions nay that their number were Infinite that the Issue of my Brain Fame and Name might live to Eternity if it were possible neither do I think or believe it a Sin to Wish it by reason it proceeds from Pure Self-love which is the Root or Foundation of the Love of God and all Moral Virtues I do not mean Corrupted Self-love but as I said Pure Self-love by which God and Nature did Make and doth Order the whole World or Infinite Matter But Madam give me leave to say that this Age doth Corrupt all Wit and Wisdom with Sophistry and because they cannot write Beyond the Antients they will endeavour to Disgrace them although most Writers Steal from them But for this French Author setting aside his Epistle his Book is full of Wit and Reason as it is rendred by the Translator and wishing all Writers could fill their Books with Wit and Reason I rest Madam Your faithful Friend and Servant LXXX MADAM BY Relation Reading and Observation I find that every Age is not alike for Humour Judgement and Wit although alike for Kind Life and Death for some Ages are so Heroick as all their Thoughts are of War and all their Actions Fighting in other Ages all their Thoughts are Considering and their Actions Experiments in other Ages all their Thoughts are Superstitious and their Actions Sermons in other Ages all their Thoughts are Amorous and their Actions Adulteries and so in many other things as Humors Passions Appetites Customs as also in Diets Accoustrements Behaviour Discourse and the like all which I have seriously Consider'd what should be the Cause that men being of One and the same Kind viz. Mankind should Differ so much in several Ages in the Course of their Life But I cannot find any more Reason for it than for several Diseases in several Ages as for Example a Disease namely the Sweating Disease that was Predominant in England and after in Germany and many other Diseases which are Predominant in One Age and not in Another which certainly is produced from an Influence from the Planets But this is to be observed that Evils may proceed from the Planets but what is Good both for Body and Mind proceeds from a Higher Celestial Power And as for this Age we live in now 't is Prodigal to their Enemies and Ungrateful to their Friends but Madam though this Age be so Infected in the Generality yet some Particulars escape this Infection for You and I are as Constant in Friendship as the Light to the Sun which is the Happiness of Madam Your Humble Servant LXXXI MADAM IN your last Letter you desired me to write some Letters of Complement as also some Panegyricks but I must intreat you to Excuse me for my Style in Writing is too Plain and Simple for such Courtly Works besides give me leave to inform you that I am a Servant to Truth and not to Flattery although I confess I rather Lose than Gain in my Mistress's Service for she is Poor and Naked and hath not those means to Advance her Servants as Flattery hath who gives Plenty of Words and is Prodigal of Praise and is Clothed in a Flourishing Style Imbroydered with Oratory but my Mistress Truth hath no need of such Adornings neither doth she give many Words and seldom any Praise so as her Servants have not any thing to live on or by but mere Honesty which rather Starves than Feeds any Creature yet howsoever I being bred in her Service from my Youth will never Quit her till Death takes me away and if I can Serve you by Serving her Command me and I shall Honestly Obey you and so rest Madam Your faithful Fr. and S. LXXXII MADAM IN your last Letter you Condemn me for living a Country Life saying I Bury my self whilst I Live and you wonder that knowing I love Glory I should live so Solitary a Life as I do I confess Madam both the Manner of my Life and my Ambitious Nature If a Solitary Life be not to Live in a Metrapolitan City spred broad with Vanity and almost smother'd with Crowds of Creditors for Debts and as I Confess my Solitude so I Confess my Glory which is to Despise such Vanities as will be rather a Reproach to my Life than a Fame to after Ages and I should Weep my self into Water if I could have no other Fame than Rich Coaches Lackies and what State and Ceremony could produce for my Ambition flies higher as to Worth and Merit not State and Vanity I would be Known to the World by my VVit not by my Folly and I would have my Actions so VVise and Just as I might neither be Asham'd nor Afrai'd to Hear of my self But Madam as you Condemn My Life so I Condemn Yours for the Nobles that live in a Metrapolitan City live but as Citizens and Citizens that live in the Country live like Noble men with less Expences and more Liberty having large Extension of Lands and not Imprisoned in One House and their Recreations are more Various and Noble neither do they spend their Time in Idle Visiting but Prudent Overseeing In short Madam there is so much Difference in either sort of Life as the One is like Heaven full of Peace and Blessedness the Other full of Trouble and Vice and so living in the sweet Air of Content I rest Madam Your faithful Friend and Servant LXXXIII MADAM IN your last Letter you Chid me for Loving too Earnestly saying Extreme Love did Consume my Body and Torment my Mind and that whosoever Love to a High Degree are Fools If so I Confess Madam I am as much a Fool as ever Nature made for where I set my Love it is Fix'd like Eternity and is as Full as Infinite My Love is not Fix'd Suddenly for it takes Experience and Consideration to help to Place it both which have been my Guides and Directors to Love you which makes me Love you Much and shall make me Love you Long if Souls Die not and so I shall alwayes and in all occasions be Madam Your Constant Friend and Humble Servant LXXXIV MADAM NOw we be both Return'd into our Native Country let us Meet to Rejoyce together for though our Husbands have Lost much yet the Broken parts of their Estates they have Recover'd by the Just Laws of this Kingdom will afford us some Recreation Pastime and Harmless Sports As for the Place of our Meeting If I may Advise it shall be N. whose Owner is M. N. a Person that hath Lost the Most of any Subject yet he is the Best Contented and so the Happiest for he never Troubles himself for any Worldly Wealth especially when he cannot tell Honestly which way to Repair his Estate And though he be Wisely Prudent yet he is not Basely Miserable as to be Miserably Sparing but will Entertain us Civilly Friendly Generously Pleasantly Delightfully So expecting when you will appoint the Time I rest Madam Your faithful Fr.