The works of Francis Bacon : baron of Verulam, viscount St. Albans, and lord high chancellor of England

JHf.

WORKS

OF

FRANCIS BACON,

BARON OF VERULAM,
VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS,
AND LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND.

IN TEN VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR W BAYNES AND SON, PATERNOSTER ROW;

H. S. BAYNES, EDINBURGH; M. KEENE, AND K. M. TIMS, DUBLIN,

1824.

CONTENTS

SECOND VOLUME.

CENTURY IX.

OF perception in bodies insensible, tending to natural
divination or subtile trials, Page 1

Of the nature of appetite in the stomach, Q

Of the sweetness of odour from the rainbow, ibid.

Of sweet smells, 10

Of the corporeal substance of smells, ibid.

Of fetid and fragrant odours, 1 1

Of the causes of putrefaction, 13

Of bodies imperfectly micct, ibid.

Of concoction and crudity, 14

Of alterations, which may be called majors, 1 5

Of bodies liauefiable, and not liauefiable, 16

Of bodies fragile and tough, ibid.

Of the two kinds of pneumaticals in bodies, \J

Of concretion and dissolution of bodies, ibid.

Of bodies hard and soft, 1 8

Of ductile and tensile, ibid.

Of several passions of matter, and characters of bo-
dies, 1 9

Of induration by sympathy, 20

Of honey and sugar , ibid.

Of the finer sort of base metals, 1 1

Of certain cements and quarries, ibid.

Of the altering of colours in hairs and feathers, 11
Of the difference of living creatures, male and female,

ibid.
Of the comparative magnitude of living creatures, 23
Of producing fruit without core or stone, 24

Of the melioration of tobacco, ibid.

Of several heats working the same effects, 25

Of swelling and dilatation in boiling, ibid.

Of the dulcoration of fruits, 16

Of flesh edible and not edible, ibid.

Of the salamander, 17

VOL. II. A 2

iv CONTENTS.

Of the contrary operations of time on fruits and liquors,

Of blows and bruises, void.

Of the orrice root, ^9

Of the compression of liquors, ..'

Of the working ofivater upon air contiguous, ibid.

Of the nature of air, 30

Of the eyes and sight, 'bid.

Of the colour of the sea, or other water, 32

Of shell-fish, . 33

Of the right side, and the left, ibid.

Of frictions, ibid.

Of globes appearing flat at distance, 34

Of shadows, ibid.

Of the rolling and breaking of the seas, ibid.

Of the dulcoration of salt water, 35

Of the return of saltness in pits upon the sea-shore,

ibid.

Of attraction by similitude of substance, ibid.

Of attraction, 30

Of heat under earth, ibid.

Of flying in the air, ibid.

Of the scarlet dye, 37

Of maleficiating, ibid.

Of the rise of-water by the means of flame, ibid.

Of the influences of the moon, 38

Of vinegar, 40

Of creatures that sleep all winter, 4 1
Of the generations of creatures by copulation, and by

putrefaction, ibid.

CENTURY X.

Of the transmission and influx of immateriate virtues,
and the force of imagination, 43

Of the emission of spirits in vapour, or exhalation,
odour-like, 4Q

Of emission of spiritual species which affect the senses,

55

Of emissions of immateriate virtues, from the minds and
spirits of men, by affections, imagination, or other
impressions, 56

CONTENTS. V

Of the secret virtue of sympathy and antipathy, 65
Of secret virtues and proprieties, 77

Of the general sympathy of mens spirits, 78

New Atlantis, 81

Mr. Bacon in praise of knowledge, 1 23

Valerius Terminus of the interpretation of nature : a

few fragments of the first book, 127

Filum Labyrinthi, sive Formula inquisitionis, 167

Sequela chartarum, sive inquisitio legitima de Colore

et Frigore, 177

PHYSIOLOGICAL REMAINS.

Inquisitions touching the compounding of metals, 187
Questions touching minerals, with Dr. Merevel's solu-
tions, 194
Of the compounding, incorporating, or union of metals
or minerals, ibid.
Compound metals now in use, 1 98
Of the separation of metals and minerals, 199
Of the variation of metals into several shapes, bodies, or
natures, 201
Of the restitution of metals and minerals, 206
Inquisition concerning the versions, transmutations,
multiplications, and affections of bodies, 207
A speech concerning the recovering of drowned mineral
works, 208
Experiments about weight in air and water, 210
Certain sudden thoughts of the lord Bacon, set down by
him under the title of Experiments for Profit, 212
Experiments about the commixture of liquors only, not
solids, without heat or agitation, but only by single
composition and settling, 213
A catalogue of bodies, attractive and not attractive, to-
gether with experimental observations about attrac-
tion, 215

MEDICAL REMAINS.

Grains of youth, 217

Preserving ointments, ibid.

A purge familiar for opening the liver, ibid.

VI CONTENTS.

Wine for the spirits, 217

The preparing of saffron, 218

Wine against adverse melancholy, preserving the senses
and the reason, ibid.

Breakfast preservative against the gout and rheums,

ibid.
The preparation of gar lick, ibid.

The artificial preparation of damask roses for smell,

ibid.

A restorative drink, ibid.

Against the waste of the body by heat, 210,

Methusalem water : Against all asperity and torrefac-

tion of inward parts, and all adustion of the blood,

and generally against the dryness of age, ibid.

A catalogue of astringents, openers, and cordials, 220

An extract by the lord Bacon, for his own use, out of

the book of the prolongation of life, together with

some new advices in order to health, 223

MEDICAL RECEIPTS.

His lordships usual receipt for the gout, 225

His lordship's broth and fomentation for the stone, 226

A manus Christifor the stomach, 227

A secret for the stomach, ibid.

WORKS MORAL.

A Fragment of the colours of good and evil, 23 1

ESSAYS OR COUNSELS CIVIL AND MORAL.

1 Of truth, 253

2 Of death, 255

3 Of unity in religion, 257

4 Of revenge, 26l

5 Of adversity, 262

6 Of simulation and dissimulation, 263

7 Of parents and children 266

8 Of marriage and single life, 267

9 Of envy, 2qq

10 Of love, 273

11 Of great place, 275

12 Of boldness, 278

CONTENTS. Vll

13 Of goodness, and goodness of nature, 280

14 Of nobility, 282

15 Of seditions and troubles, 283
10" Of atheism, 290

17 Of superstition, 2Q2

18 Of travel, 1QA
ig Of empire, 296

20 Of counsel, 300

21 Of delays, 304

22 0/* cunning, 305

23 Of wisdom for a mans self, 309

24 Of innovations, 310

25 Of dispatch, 311

26 Of seeming wise, 313

27 Of friendship, 314

28 Of expense, 321

29 0/" ^e tfrwe greatness of kingdoms and estates, Z11

30 Of regimen of health, 330

31 Of suspicion, 332

32 Of discourse, 333

33 Of plantations, 335

34 Of riches, 338

35 Of prophecies, 341

36 Of ambition, 343

37 Of masques and triumphs, 345

38 Of nature in men, 347

39 O/* custom and education, 348

40 Of fortune, 350

41 Of usury, 351

42 Of youth and age, 355

43 Of beauty, 357

44 Of deformity, 358

45 Of building, 359

46 Of gardens, 303

47 O/" negotiating, 309

48 Of followers and friends, 370

49 Of suitors, 372

50 Of studies, 373

51 Of faction, $73

52 O/* ceremonies and respects, 376

53 Of praise, 378

VIII CONTENTS.

54 Of vain-glory, 379

55 Of honour and reputation, 381

56 Of judicature, 382

57 Of anger, 386

58 Of vicissitude of things, 388
O/fl Amg-, 393
A fragment of an essay on fame, 395

J. collection o/~ apothth egms, new and old, 401
Ornamenta rationalia, 464

Short notes for civil conversation, 472

^n may on death, 473

THEOLOGICAL WORKS.

A confession of faith, 481

A prayer or psalm, 489

A prayer, - 490

!7%e student's prayer, 4Q3

The writers prayer, ibid.

TAe characters of a believing Christian, in paradoxes,

and seeming contradictions, 494

An advertisement touching the controversies of the

Church of England, 4Qg

Certain considerations touching the better pacification

and edification of the Church of England, 524

Circumstances in the government of bishops, 531

Concerning the liturgy, the ceremonies and subscription,

537
Touching a preaching ministry, 541

Touching the abuse of excommunication, 545

Touching non-residents and pluralities, 54Q

Touching the provision for sufficient maintenance in the
church, 548

The translation of certain psalms into English verse.

Psalm 1. 553

Psalm xii. 554

Psalm xc. 555

Psalm civ 55j-

Psalm cxxvi. 560

Psalm cxxxvii. 561

Psalm cxlix. 5g2

NATURAL HISTORY.

CENTURY IX.

Experiments in consort touching perception in bodies
insensible, tending to natural divination or subtile
trials.

It is certain, that all bodies whatsoever, though they
have no sense, yet they have perception : for when
one body is applied to another, there is a kind of elec-
tion to embrace that which is agreeable, and to ex-
clude or expel that which is ingrate : and whether
the body be alterant or altered, evermore a percep-
tion precedeth operation ; for else all bodies would be
alike one to another. And sometimes this percep-
tion, in some kind of bodies, is far more subtile than
the sense ; so that the sense is but a dull thing in
comparison of it : we see a weather-glass will find
the least difference of the weather, in heat, or cold,
when men find it not. And this perception also is
sometimes at distance, as well as upon the touch ; as
when the loadstone draweth iron, or flame fireth
naphtha of Babylon, a great distance off. It is there-
fore a subject of a very noble inquiry, to inquire of the
more subtile perceptions ; for it is another key to
open nature, as well as the sense, and sometimes
better. And besides, it is a principal means of na-
tural divination ; for that which in these perceptions
appeareth early, in the great effects cometh long
after. It is true also, that it serveth to discover that
which is hid, as well as to foretel that which is to
come, as it is in many subtile trials ; as to try whether
seeds be old or new, the sense cannot inform ; but
if you boil them in water, the new seeds will sprout
sooner : and so of water, the taste will not discover
the best water ; but the speedy consuming of it, and
many other means, which we have heretofore set

VOL. II. b

2 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

down, will discover it. So in all physiognomy, the
lineaments of the body will discover those natural in-
clinations of the mind which dissimulation will con-
ceal, or discipline will suppress. We shall therefore
now handle only those two perceptions, which per-
tain to natural divination and discovery; leaving the
handling of perception in other things to be disposed
elsewhere. Now it is true, that divination is attained
by other means ; as if you know the causes, if you
know the concomitants, you may judge of the effect
to follow : and the like may be said of discovery ;
but we tie ourselves here to that divination and dis-
covery chiefly, which is caused by an early or subtile
perception.

The aptness or propension of air, or water, to cor-
rupt or putrefy, no doubt, is to be found before it
break forth into manifest effects of diseases, blastings,
or the like. We will therefore set down some prog-
nostics of pestilential and unwholesome years.

801 . The wind blowing much from the south with-
out rain, and worms in the oak-apple, have been
spoken of before. Also the plenty of frogs, grass-
hoppers, flies, and the like creatures bred of putre-
faction, doth portend pestilential years.

802. Great and early heats in the spring, and
namely in May, without winds, portend the same ;
and generally so do years with little wind or thunder.

803. Great droughts in summer lasting till towards
the end of August, and some gentle showers upon
them, and then some dry weather again, do portend
a pestilent summer the year following : for about the
end of August all the sweetness of the earth, which
goeth into plants and trees, is exhaled, and much
more if the August be dry, so that nothing then can
breathe forth of the earth but a gross vapour, which is
apt to corrupt the air : and that vapour, by the first
showers, if they be gentle, is released, and cometh forth
abundantly. Therefore they that come abroad soon
after those showers, are commonly taken with sick-
ness : and in Africa, nobody will stir out of doors
after the first showers. But if the showers come ve-

Cent. IX.} Natural History. 3

hemently, then they rather wash and fill the earth,
than give it leave to breathe forth presently. But if
dry weather come again, then it fixeth and continu-
ed the corruption of the air, upon the first showers
begun ; and maketh it of ill influence, even to the
next summer ; except a very frosty winter discharge
it, which seldom succeedeth such droughts.

804. The lesser infections, of the small-pox, purple
fevers, agues, in the summer precedent, and hovering
all winter, do portend a great pestilence in the sum-
mer following ; for putrefaction doth not rise to its
height at once.

805. It were good to lay a piece of raw flesh or
fish in the open air ; and if it putrefy quickly, it is a
sign of a disposition in the air to putrefaction. And
because you cannot be informed whether the putre-
faction be quick or late, except you compare this ex-
periment with the like experiment in another year
it were not amiss in the same year, and at the same
time, to lay one piece of flesh or fish in the open air,
and another of the same kind and bigness within doors:
for I judge, that if a general disposition be in the air
to putrefy, the flesh, or fish, will sooner putrefy abroad
where the air hath more power, than in the house,
where it hath less, being many ways corrected. And
this experiment would be made about the end of
March : for that season is likeliest to discover what
the winter hath done, and what the summer follow-
ing will do, upon the air. And because the air, no
doubt, receiveth great tincture and infusion from the
earth ; it were good to try that exposing of flesh or
fish, both upon a stake of wood some height above
the earth, and upon the flat of the earth.

806. Take May-dew, and see whether it putrefy
quickly or no; for that likewise may disclose the
quality of the air, and vapour of the earth, more or
less corrupted.

807 A dry March, and a dry May, portend a
wholesome summer, if there be a showering April be-
tween : but otherwise it is a sign of a pestilential year.

808. As the discovery of the disposition of the air

b 2

4 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

is good for the prognostics of wholesome and un-
wholesome years ; so it is of much more use, for the
choice of places to dwell in : at the least, for lodges,
and retiring places for health : for mansion-houses
respect provisions as well as health, wherein the ex-
periments above-mentioned may serve. .

809. But for the choice of places, or seats, it is
good to make trial, not only of aptness of air to cor-
rupt, but also of the moisture and dryness of the air,
and the temper of it in heat or cold ; for that may
concern health diversly. We see that there be some
houses, wherein sweet-meats will relent, and baked
meats will mould, more than in others; and wain-
scots will also sweat more ; so that they will almost
run with water ; all which, no doubt, are caused
chiefly by the moistness of the air in those seats. But
because it fs better to know it before a man buildeth
his house, than to find it after, take the experiments
following.

810. Lay wool, or a sponge, or bread, in the place
you would try, comparing it with some other places;
and see whether it doth not moisten, and make the
wool, or sponge, etc. more ponderous than the other :
and if it do, you may judge of that place, as situate
in a gross and moist air.

811. Because it is certain, that in some places,
either by the nature of the earth, or by the situation
of woods and hills, the air is more unequal than in
others ; and inequality of air is ever an enemy to
health; it were good to take two weather-glasses,
matches in all things, and to set them, for the same
hours of one day, in several places, where no shade is,
nor enclosures ; and to mark when you set them, how
far the water cometh ; and to compare them, when
you come again, how the water standeth then ; and
if you find them unequal, you may be sure that the
place where the water is lowest is in the warmer air,
and the other in the colder. And the greater the in-
equality be, of the ascent or descent of the water, the
greater is the inequality of the temper of the air.

812. The predictions likewise of cold and long win-

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 5

ters, and hot and dry summers, are good to be known;
as well for the discovery of the causes, as for divers
provisions. That of plenty of haws, and hips, and
brier-berries, hath been spoken of before. If wain-
scot, or stone, that have used to sweat, be more dry
in the beginning of winter, or the drops of the eaves
of houses come more slowly down than they use, it
portendeth a hard and frosty winter. The cause
is, for that it sheweth an inclination of the air to
dry weather ; which in winter is ever joined with
frost.

813. Generally a moist and cool summer por-
tendeth a hard winter. The cause is, for that the va-
pours of the earth are not dissipated in the summer
by the sun ; and so they rebound upon the winter.

814. A hot and dry summer, and autumn, and
especially if the heat and drought extend far into Sep-
tember, portendeth an open beginning of winter ; and
colds to succeed toward the latter part of the winter,
and the beginning of the spring : for till then the
former heat and drought bear the sway, and the va-
pours are not sufficiently multiplied.

815. An open and warm winter portendeth a hot
and dry summer ; for the vapours disperse into the
winter showers ; whereas cold and frost keepeth them
in, and transporteth them into the late spring and
summer following.

816. Birds that use to change countries at certain
seasons, if they come earlier, do shew the temperature
of weather, according to that country whence they
came : as the winter birds, namely, woodcocks, field-
fares, etc. if they come earlier, and out of the northern
countries, with us, shew cold winters. And if it be
in the same country, then they shew a temperature
of season, like unto that season in which they come :
as swallows, bats, cuckooes, etc. that come towards
summer, if they come early, shew a hot summer to
follow

817 The prognostics, more immediate, of weather
to follow soon after, are more certain than those of
seasons. The resounding of the-sea upon the shore ;and

6 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

the murmur of winds in the woods, without apparent
wind, shew wind to follow ; for such winds breathing
chiefly out of the earth, are not at the first perceived,
except they be pent by water or wood. And there-
fore a murmur out of caves likewise portendeth as
much.

818. The upper regions of the air perceive the col-
lection of the matter of tempests and winds, before
the air here below ; and therefore the obscuring of
the smaller stars, is a sign of tempest following. And
of this kind you shall find a number of instances in
our inquisition De vends.

819. Great mountains have a perception of the
disposition of the air to tempests, sooner than the val-
leys or plains below : and therefore they say in Wales,
when certain hills have their night-caps on, they mean
mischief. The cause is, for that tempests, which are
for the most part bred above in the middle region, as
they call it, are soonest perceived to collect in the
places next it.

820. The air, and fire, have subtile perceptions of
wind rising, before men find it. We see the trem-
bling of a candle will discover a wind that otherwise
we do not feel ; and the flexuous burning of flames
doth shew the air beginneth to be unquiet ; and so do
coals of fire by casting off the ashes more than they
use. The cause is, for that no wind at the first, till
it hath struck and driven the air, is apparent to the
sense ; but flame is easier to move than air : and for
the ashes, it is no marvel, though wind unperceived
shake them off; for we usually try which way the
wind bloweth, by casting up grass, or chaff, or such
light things into the air.

821. When wind expireth from under the sea, as
it causeth some resounding of the water, whereof we
spake before, so it causeth some light motions of
bubbles, and white circles of froth. The cause is, for
that the wind cannot be perceived by the sense, until
there be an eruption of a great quantity from under
the water ; and so it getteth into a body : whereas in
the first putting up it cometh in little portions.

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 7

822. We spake of the ashes that coals cast off;
and of grass and chaff carried by the wind ; so any
light thing that moveth when we find no wind,
sheweth a wind at hand ; as when feathers, or down
of thistles, fly to and fro in the air.

For prognostics of weather from living creatures^
it is to be noted, that creatures that live in the open
air, sub dio, must needs have a quicker impression
from the air, than men that live most within doors ;
and especially birds who live in the air freest and
clearest ; and are aptest by their voice to tell tales
what they find ; and likewise by the motion of their
flight to express the same.

823. Water-fowls, as sea-gulls, moor-hens, etc.
when they flock and fly together from the sea towards
the shores ; and contrariwise, land-birds, as crows,
swallows, etc. when they fly from the land to the
waters, and beat the waters with their wings, do
foreshew rain and wind. The cause is, pleasure that
both kinds take in the moistness and density of the
air ; and so desire to be in motion, and upon the wing,
whithersoever they would otherwise go : for it is no
marvel, that water-fowl do joy most in that air which
is likest water ; and land-birds also, many of them,
delight in bathing, and moist air. For the same
reason also, many birds do prune their feathers ; and
geese do gaggle ; and crows seem to call upon rain :
all which is but the comfort they seem to receive in
the relenting of the air.

824; The heron, when she soareth high, so as
sometimes she is seen to pass over a cloud, sheweth
winds : but kites flying aloft shew fair and dry weather.
The cause may be, for that they both mount most
into the air of that temper wherein they delight : and
the heron being a water-fowl, taketh pleasure in the
air that is condensed; and besides, being but heavy
of wing, needeth the help of the grosser air But
the kite aflecteth not so much the grossness of the air,
as the cold and freshness thereof; for being a bird of
prey, and therefore hot, she delighteth in the fresh
air ; and, many times, flyeth against the wind ; as

8 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

trouts and salmons swim against the stream. And
yet it is true also, that all birds find an ease in the
depth of the air ; as swimmers do in a deep water.
And therefore when they are aloft, they can uphold
themselves with their wings spread, scarce moving

them.

825. Fishes, when they play towards the top of
the water, do commonly foretel rain. The cause is,
for that a fish hating the dry, will not approach the
air till it groweth moist ; and when it is dry, will fly
it, and swim lower.

826. Beasts do take comfort generally in a moist
air : and it maketh them eat their meat better ; and
therefore sheep will get up betimes in the morning to
feed against rain : and cattle, and deer, and conies,
will feed hard before rain ; and a heifer will put up
her nose, and snuff in the air against rain.

827 The trefoil against rain swelleth in the stalk;
and so standeth more upright ; for by wet, stalks do
erect, and leaves bow down. There is a small red
flower in the stubble-fields, which country-people call
the wincopipe ; which if it open in the morning, you
may be sure of a fair day to follow

828. Even in men, aches, and hurts, and corns,
do engrieve either towards rain, or towards frost : for
the one maketh the humours more to abound ; and the
other maketh them sharper. So we see both extremes
bring the gout.

829. Worms, vermin, etc. do foreshew likewise
rain : for earth-worms will come forth, and moles will
cast up more, and fleas bite more, against rain.

830. Solid bodies likewise foreshew rain. As
stones and wainscot, when they sweat : and boxes
and pegs of wood, when they draw and wind hard;
though the former be but from an outward cause ; for
that the stone, or wainscot, turneth and beateth back
the air against itself: but the latter is an inward
swelling of the body of the wood itself.

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 9

Experiment solitary touching the nature of appetite
in the stomach.

831. Appetite is moved chiefly by things that are
cold and dry ; the cause is, for that cold is a kind of
indigence of nature, and calleth upon supply ; and so
is dryness : and therefore all sour things, as vinegar,
juice of lemons, oil of vitriol, etc. provoke appetite.
And the disease which they call appetitus caninus,
consisteth in the matter of an acid and glassy phlegm
in the mouth of the stomach. Appetite is also moved
by sour things ; for that sour things induce a contrac-
tion in the nerves placed in the mouth of the stomach,
which is a great cause of appetite. As for the cause
why onions, and salt, and pepper, in baked meats,
move appetite, it is by vellication of those nerves ; for
motion whetteth. As for wormwood, olives, capers,
and others of that kind, which participate of bitterness,
they move appetite by abstersion. So as there be
four principal causes of appetite ; the refrigeration
of the stomach joined with some dryness, contraction,
vellication, and abstersion ; besides hunger; which is
an emptiness ; and yet over-fasting doth, many times,
cause the appetite to cease ; for that want of meat
maketh the stomach draw humours, and such hu-
mours as are light and choleric, which quench appe-
tite most.

Experiment solitary touching sweetness of odour
from the rainboiv.

832. It hath been observed by the ancients, that
where a rainbow seemeth to hang over, or to touch,
there breatheth forth a sweet smell. The cause is, for
that this happeneth but in certain matters, which
have in themselves some sweetness ; which the gen-
tle dew of the rainbow doth draw forth : and the like
do soft showers ; for they also make the ground
sweet: but none are so delicate as the dew of the
rainbow where it falleth. It may be also that the
water itself hath some sweetness ; for the rainbow
consisteth of a glomeration of small drops, which
cannot possibly fall but from the air that is very low ;

10 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

and therefore may hold the very sweetness of the herbs
and flowers, as a distilled water; for rain, and other
dew that fall from high, cannot preserve the smell,
being dissipated in the drawing up : neither do we
know, whether some water itself may not have some
degree of sweetness. It is true, that we find it sensibly
in no pool, river, nor fountain ; but good earth newly
turned up, hath a freshness and good scent ; which
water, if it be not too equal, for equal objects never
move the sense, may also have. Certain it is, that
bay-salt, which is but a kind of water congealed, will
sometimes smell like violets.

Experiment solitary touching sweet smells.

833. To sweet smells heat is requisite to concoct
the matter ; and some moisture to spread the breath
of them. For heat, we see that woods and spices
are more odorate in the hot countries than in the
cold : for moisture, we see that things too much dried
lose their sweetness : and flowers growing, smell
better in a morning or evening than at noon. Some
sweet smells are destroyed by approach to the fire ; as
violets, wall-flowers, gilly-flowers, pinks ; and gene-
rally all flowers that have cool and delicate spirits.
Some continue both on the fire, and from the fire ;
as rose-water, etc. Some do scarce come forth, or at
least not so pleasantly, as by means of the fire ; as
juniper, sweet gums, etc. and all smells that are en-
closed in a fast body : but generally those smells are
the most grateful, where the degree of heat is small ;
or where the strength of the smell is allayed ; for
these things do rather woo the sense, than satiate it.
And therefore the smell of violets and roses exceedeth
in sweetness that of spices and gums ; and the strong-
est sort of smells are best in a weft afar off.

Experiment solitary touching the corporeal
substance of smells.
834. It is certain, that no smell issueth but with
emission of some corporeal substance ; not as it is in
light, and colours, and in sounds. For we see plainly,

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 1 1

that smell doth spread nothing that distance that the
other do. It is true, that some woods of oranges,
and heaths of rosemary, will smell a great way into
the sea, perhaps twenty miles ; but what is that, since
a peal of ordnance will do as much, which moveth
in a small compass 1 Whereas those woods and heaths
are of vast spaces ; besides, we see that smells do
adhere to hard bodies ; as in perfuming of gloves, etc.
which sheweth them corporeal ; and do last a great
while, which sounds and light do not.

Experiment solitary touching fetid and fragrant

odours.

835. The excrements of most creatures smell ill ',
chiefly to the same creature that voideth them : for
we see, besides that of man, that pigeons and horses
thrive best, if their houses and stables be kept sweet ;
and so of cage-birds : and the cat burieth that which
she voideth : and it holdeth chiefly in those beasts
which feed upon flesh. Dogs almost only of beasts
delight in fetid odours ; which sheweth there is some-
what in there sense of smell differing from the smells
of other beasts. But the cause why excrements smell
ill, is manifest ; for that the body itself rejecteth them;
much more the spirits : and we see that those excre-
ments that are of the first digestion, smell the worst ;
as the excrements from the belly ; those that are from
the second digestion less ill : as urine ; and those that
are from the third, yet less ; for sweat is not so baa
as the other two ; especially of some persons, tha
are full of heat. Likewise most putrefactions are of
an odious smell : for they smell either fetid or mouldy.
The cause may be, for that putrefaction doth bring
forth such a consistence, as is most contrary to the
consistence of the body whilst it is sound : for it is a
mere dissolution of that form. Besides, there is ano-
ther reason, which is profound : and it is, that the
objects that please any of the senses have all some
equality, and, as it were, order in their composition ;
but where those are wanting, the object is ever in-
grate. So mixture of many disagreeing colours is

12 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

ever unpleasant to the eye : mixture of discordant
sounds is unpleasant to the ear : mixture, or hotch-
potch of many tastes, is unpleasant to the taste : harsh-
ness and ruggedness of bodies is unpleasant to the
touch : now it is certain, that all putrefaction, being
a dissolution of the first form, is a mere confusion and
unformed mixture of the part. Nevertheless it is
strange, and seemeth to cross the former observation,
that some putrefactions and excrements do yield ex-
cellent odours, as civet and musk ; and, as some think,
ambergrease : for divers take it, though improbably,
to come from the sperm of a fish : and the moss we
spake of from apple-trees, is little better than an ex-
cretion. The reason may be, for that there passeth
in the excrements, and remaineth in the putrefactions,
some good spirits; especially where they proceed
from creatures that are very hot. But it may be also
joined with a further cause, which is more subtile ;
and it is, that the senses love not to be over-pleased,
but to have a commixture of somewhat that is in
itself ingrate. Certainly, we see how discords in
music, falling upon concords, make the sweetest
strains : and we see again, what strange tastes delight
the taste; as red herrings, caviary, parmesan, etc.
And it may be the same holdeth in smells : for those
kind of smells that we have mentioned, are all strong-,
and do pull and vellicate the sense. And we find
also, that places where men urine, commonly have
some smell of violets : and urine, if one hath eaten
nutmeg, hath so too.

Tht; slothful, general, and indefinite contempla-
tions, and notions, of the elements and their con-
jugations ; of the influences of heaven ; of heat, cold,
moisture, drought, qualities active, passive, and the
like ; have swallowed up the true passages, and pro-
cesses, and affects, and consistences of matter and na-
tural bodies. Therefore they are to be set aside, be-
ing but notional and ill limited; and definite axioms
are to be drawn out of measured instances : and so
assent to be made to the more general axioms by
scale. And of these kinds of processes of natures and.

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 13

characters of matter, we will now set down some in-
stances.

Experiment solitary touching the causes of
putrefaction.

836. All putrefactions come chiefly from the in-
ward spirits of the body ; and partly also from the am-
bient body, be it air, liquor, or whatsoever else. And
this last, by two means : either by ingress of the sub-
stance of the ambient body into the body putrefied ;
or by excitation and solicitation of the body putrefied ;
and the parts thereof, by the body ambient. As for
the received opinion, that putrefaction is caused,
either by cold, or peregrine and preternatural heat, it
is but nugation : for cold in things inanimate, is the
greatest enemy that is to putrefaction; though it ex-
tinguisheth vivification, which ever consisteth in spirits
attenuate, which the cold doth congeal and coagu-
late. And as for the peregrine heat, it is thus far
true, that if the proportion of the adventive heat be
greatly predominant to the natural heat and spirits of
the body, it tendeth to dissolution, or notable altera-
tion. But this is wrought by emission, or suppression,
or suffocation, of the native spirits; and also by the
disordination and discomposure of the tangible parts,
and other passages of nature, and not by a conflict
of heats.

Experiment solitary touching bodies imperfectly

mixed.

837 In versions, or main alterations of bodies,
there is a medium between the body, as it is at first,
and the body resulting; which medium is corpus im-
perfecte mistum, and is transitory, and not durable ;
as mists, smokes, vapours, chylus in the stomach,
living creatures in the first vivification : and the
middle action, which produceth such imperfect bodies,
is fitly called, by some of the ancients, inquination,
or inconcoction, which is a kind of putrefaction : for
the parts are in confusion, till they settle one way or
other,

14 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

Experiment solitary touching concoction and crudity.

838. The word concoction, or digestion, is chiefly
taken into use from living creatures and their organs;
and from thence extended to liquors and fruits, etc.
Therefore they speak of meat concocted ; urine and
excrements concocted ; and the four digestions, in
the stomach, in the liver, in the arteries and nerves,
and in the several parts of the body, are likewise
called concoctions : and they are all made to be the
works of heat ; all which notions are but ignorant
catches of a few things, which are most obvious to
men's observations. The constantest notion of con-
coction is, that it should signify the degrees of altera-
tion, of one body into another, from crudity to per-
fect concoction ; which is the ultimity of that action
or process;, and while the body to be converted and
altered is too strong for the efficient that should con-
vert or alter it, whereby it resisteth and holdeth fast
in some degree the first form or consistence, it is all
that while crude and inconcoct ; and the process is to
be called crudity and inconcoction. It is true, that
concoction is in great part the work of heat, but not
the work of heat alone : for all things that further the
conversion, or alteration, as rest, mixture of a body
already concocted, etc. are also means to concoction.
And there are of concoction two periods ; the one
assimilation, or absolute conversion and subaction ;
the other maturation : whereof the former is most
conspicuous in the bodies of living creatures ; in
which there is an absolute conversion and assimilation
of the nourishment into the body : and likewise in
the bodies of plants : and again in metals, where there
is a full transmutation. The other, which is matu-
ration, is seen in liquors and fruits ; wherein there is
not desired, nor pretended, an utter conversion, but
only an alteration to that form which is most sought
for man's use; as in clarifying of drinks, ripening of
fruits, etc. But note, that there be two kinds of ab-
solute conversions ; the one is, when a body is con-
verted into another body, which was before; as when

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 15

nourishment is turned into flesh; that is it which we
call assimilation. The other is, when the conversion
is into a body merely new, and which Avas not before ;
so if silver should be turned to gold, or iron to cop-
per: and this conversion is better called, for distinc-
tion sake, transmutation.

Experiment solitary touching alterations, which
may be called majors.

839. There are also divers other great alterations
of matter and bodies, besides those that tend to con-
coction and maturation ; for whatsoever doth so alter
a body, as it returneth not again to that it was, may
be called alteratio major; as when meat is boiled, or
roasted, or fried, etc. or when bread and meat are
baked ; or when cheese is made of curds, or btitter of
cream, or coals of wood, or bricks of earth ; and a
number of others. But to apply notions philosophi-
cal to plebeian terms; or to say, where the notions
cannot fitly be reconciled, that there wanteth a term
or nomenclature for it, as the ancients used, they be
but shifts of ignorance; for knowledge will be ever a
wandering and indigested thing, if it be but a com-
mixture of a few notions that are at hand and occur^
and not excited from sufficient number of instances,
and those well collated.

The consistences of bodies are very diverse : dense?
rare ; tangible, pneumatical ; volatile, fixed ; deter-
minate, not determinate ; hard, soft ; cleaving, not
cleaving ; congelable, not congelable ; liquefiable,
not liquefiable; fragile, tough; flexible, inflexible;
tractile, or to be drawn forth in length, intractile ;
porous, solid ; equal and smooth, unequal ; venous
and fibrous, and with grains, entire ; and divers others;
all which to refer to heat, and cold, and moisture, and
drought, is a compendious and inutile speculation.
But of these see principally our Abecedarium naturce.;
and otherwise sparsim in this our Sylva Sylvaram:
nevertheless, in some good part, we shall handle
divers of them now presently.

16 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

Experiment solitary touching bodies liquefiable,
and not liquefiable.

840. Liquefiable, and not liquefiable, proceed
from these causes : liquefaction is ever caused by the
detention of the spirits, which play within the body
and open it. Therefore such bodies as are more tur-
gid of spirit ; or that have their spirits more straitly
imprisoned ; or, again, that hold them better pleased
and content, are liquetiable : for these three dispo-
sitions of bodies do arrest the emission of the spirits.
An example of the first two properties is in metals ;
and of the last in grease, pitch, sulphur, butter, wax,
etc. The disposition not to liquefy proceedeth from
the easy emission of the spirits, whereby the grosser
parts contract ; and therefore bodies jejune of spirits,
or which part with their spirits more willingly, are
not liquefiable ; as wood, clay, free- stone, etc. But
yet even many of those bodies that will not melt, or
will hardly melt, will notwithstanding soften ; as iron
in the forge ; and a stick bathed in hot ashes, which
thereby becometh more flexible. Moreover, there are
some bodies which do liquefy or dissolve by fire : as
metals, wax, etc. and other bodies which dissolve in
water; as salt, sugar, etc. The cause of the former
proceedeth from the dilatation of the spirits by heat :
the cause of the latter proceedeth from the opening
of the tangible parts, which desire to receive the
liquor. Again, there are some bodies that dissolve
with both ; as gum, etc. And those be such bodies,
as on the one side have good store of spirit ; and on
the other side, have the tangible parts indigent of
moisture ; for the former helpeth to the dilating of
the spirits by the fire ; and the latter stimulateth the
parts to receive the liquor.

Experiment solitary touching bodies fragile and tough.

841. Of bodies, some are fragile; and some are
tough, and not fragile ; and in the breaking, some
fragile bodies break but where the force is ; some
shatter and fly in many places. Of fragility, the cause
is an impotency to be extended ; and therefore stone

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 17

is more fragile than metal ; and so fictile earth is
more fragile than crude earth; and dry wood than
green. And the cause of this unaptness to extension,
is the small quantity of spirits, for it is the spirit that
furthereth the extension or dilatation of bodies, and
it is ever concomitant with porosity, and with dry-
ness in the tangible parts : contrariwise, tough bodies
have more spirit, and fewer pores, and moister tan-
gible parts : therefore we see that parchment or lea-
ther will stretch, paper will not ; woollen cloth will
tenter, linen scarcely.

Experiment solitary touching the two kinds of
pneumaticals in bodies.

842. All solid bodies consist of parts of two se-
veral natures, pneumatical and tangible ; and it is
well to be noted, that the pneumatical substance is in
some bodies the native spirit of the body, and in some
other, plain air that is gotten in ; as in bodies desic-
cate by heat or age : for in them, when the native spi-
rit goeth forth, and the moisture with it, the air with
time getteth into the pores. And those bodies are
ever the more fragile ; for the native spirit is more
yielding and extensive, especially to follow the parts,
than air. The native spirits also admit great diver-
sity; as hot, cold, active, dull, etc. whence proceed
most of the virtues and qualities, as we call them, of
bodies : but the air intermixed is without virtues, and
mafceth things insipid, and without any exstimulation.

Experiment solitary touching concretion and
dissolution of bodies.

843. The concretion of bodies is commonly solved
by the contrary ; as ice, which is congealed by cold,
is dissolved by heat; salt and sugar, which are ex-
cocted by heat, are dissolved by cold and moisture.
The cause is, for that these operations are rather re-
turns to their former nature, than alterations ; so that
the contrary cureth. As for oil, it doth neither
easily congeal with cold, nor thicken with heat. The
cause of both effects, though they be produced by
contrary efficients, seemeth to be the same; and that

VOL. II. c

18 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

is, because the spirit of the oil by either means ex-
haleth little, for the cold keepeth it in ; and the heat,
except it be vehement, doth not call it forth. As lor
cold, though it take hold of the tangible parts, yet as
to the spirits, it doth rather make them swell than
congeal them : as when ice is congealed in a cup, the
ice will swell instead of contracting, and sometimes rift.

Experiment solitary touching hard and soft bodies.

844. Of bodies, some we see are hard, and some
soft : the hardness is caused chiefly by the jejuneness
of the spirits, and their imparity with the tangible
parts : both which, if they be in a greater degree,
make them not only hard but fragile, and less endur-
ing of pressure ; as steel, stone, glass, dry wood, etc.
Softness cometh, contrariwise, by the greater quantity
of spirits, which ever helpeth to induce yielding and
cession, and by the more equal spreading of the tan-
gible parts, which thereby are more sliding and fol-
lowing : as in gold, lead, wax, etc. But note, that
soft bodies, as we use the word, are of two kinds ; the
one, that easily giveth place to another body, but al-
tereth not bulk, by rising in other places : and there-
fore we see that wax, if you put any thing into it,
doth not rise in bulk, but only giveth place : for you
may not think, that in printing of wax, the wax riseth
up at all ; but only the depressed part giveth place,
and the other remaineth as it was. The other that
altereth bulk in the cession, as water, or other liquors,
if you put a stone or any thing into them, they give
place indeed easily, but then they rise all over; which
is a false cession ; for it is in place, and not in body

Experiment solitary touching bodies ductile and tensile.

845. All bodies ductile and tensile, as metals,
that, will be drawn into wires ; wool and tow, that
will be drawn into yarn or thread, have in them the
appetite of not discontinuing strong, which maketh
them follow the force that pulleth them out; and
yet so, as not to discontinue or forsake their own
body. Viscous bodies likewise, as pitch, wax, bird-
lime, cheese toasted, will draw forth and rope. But

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 19

the difference between bodies fibrous and bodies vis-
cous is plain : for all wool, and tow, and cotton, and
silk, especially raw silk, have, besides their desire of
continuance, in regard of the tenuity of their thread,
a greediness of moisture ; and by moisture to join and
incorporate with other thread ; especially if there be
a little wreathing ; as appeareth by the twisting of
thread, and the practice of twirling about of spindles.
And we see also, that gold and silver thread cannot
be made without twisting.

»

Experiment solitary touching other passions of matter,
and characters of bodies.

846. The differences of impressible and not im-
pressible ; flgurable and not figurable ; mouldable and
not mouldable ; scissile and not scissile ; and many
other passions of matter, are plebeian notions, applied
unto the instruments and uses which men ordinarily
practise ; but they are all but the effects of some of
these causes following1, which we will enumerate
without applying them, because that will be too long.
The first is the cession, or not cession of bodies, into
a smaller space or room, keeping the outward bulk,
and not flying up. The second is the stronger or
weaker appetite in bodies to continuity, and to fly
discontinuity The third is the disposition of bodies
to contract, or not contract : and again, to extend, or
not extend. The fourth is the small quantity, or
great quantity of the pneumatical in bodies. The
fifth is the nature of the pneumatical, whether it be
native spirit of the body, or common air. The sixth
is the nature of the native spirits in the body, whether
they be active and eager, or dull and gentle. The
seventh is the emisson, or detention of the spirits in
bodies. The eighth is the dilatation, or contraction
of the spirits in bodies, while they are detained. The
ninth is the collocation of the spirits id bodies, whe-
ther the collocation be equal, or unequal ; and again,
whether the spirits be coacervate, or diffused. The
tenth is the density, or rarity of the tangible parts.
The eleventh is the equality, or inequality of the tan-

c 2

20 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

gible parts. The twelfth is the digestion, or crudity of
the tangible parts. The thirteenth is the nature of the
matter, whether sulphureous or mercurial, watery or
oily, dry and terrestrial, or moist and liquid ; which
natures of sulphureous and mercurial, seem to be
natures radical and principal. The fourteenth is the
placing of the tangible parts in length or transverse,
as it is in the warp and the woof of textiles, more in-
ward, or more outward, etc. The fifteenth is the po-
rosity or imporosity betwixt the tangible parts, and
the greatness or smallness of the pores. The sixteenth
is the collocation and posture of the pores. There may
be more causes ; but these do occur for the present.

Experiment solitary touching induration by
sympathy.
847 Take lead and melt it, and in the midst of
it, when it beginneth to congeal, make a little dint or
hole, and put quicksilver wrapped in a piece of linen
into that hole, and the quicksilver will fix and run no
more, and endure the hammer. This is a noble in-
stance of induration, by consent of one body with
another, and motion of excitation to imitate ; for to
ascribe it only to the vapour of lead, is less proba-
ble. Query, whether the fixing may be in such a
degree, as it will be figured like other metals? For if
so, you may make works of it for some purposes, so
they come not near the fire.

Experiment solitary touching honey and sugar.

848. Sugar hath put down the use of honey, in-
somuch as we have lost those observations and pre-
parations of honey which the ancients had, when it
was more in price. First, it seemeth that there was in
old time tree-honey, as well as bee-honey, which was
the tear or blood issuing from the tree : insomuch as
one of the ancients relateth, that in Trebisond there
was honey issuing from the box-trees, which made
men mad. Again, in ancient time there was a kind
of honey, which either of its own nature, or by art,
would grow as hard as sugar, and was not so luscious
as ours. They had also a wine of honey, which they

Cent. IX.J Natural History. 21

made thus. They crashed the honey into a great
quantity of water, and then strained the liquor: after
they boiled it in a copper to the half; then they
poured it into earthen vessels for a small time ; and
after tunned it into vessels of wood, and kept it for
many years. They have also at this day, in Russia and
those northern countries, mead simple, which, well
made and seasoned, is a good wholesome drink, and
very clear. They use also in Wales a compound
drink of mead, with herbs and spices. But mean
while it were good, in recompense of that we have
lost in honey, there were brought in use a sugar-mead,
for so we may call it, though without any mixture at
all of honey ; and to brew it, and keep it stale, as
they use mead : for certainly, though it would not be
so abstersive, and opening, and solutive a drink as
mead ; yet it will be more grateful to the stomach,
and more lenitive, and fit to be used in sharp diseases :
for we see, that the use of sugar in beer and ale hath
good effects in such cases.

Experiment solitary touching thejiner sort of
base metals.

849. It is reported by the ancients, that there was
a kind of steel in some places, which would polish
almost as white and bright as silver. And that there
was in India a kind of brass, which, being polished,
could scarce be discerned from gold. This was in the
natural ure : but I am doubtful, whether men have
sufficiently refined metals, which we count base; as
whether iron, brass, and tin be refined to the height?
But when they come to such a fineness, as serveth the
ordinary use, they try no farther.

Experiment solitary touching cements and quarries.

850. There have been found certain cements un-
der earth that are very soft ; and yet, taken forth into
the sun, harden as hard as marble : there are also
ordinary quarries in Somersetshire, which in the
quarry cut soft to any bigness, and in the building
prove firm and hard.

22 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

Experiment solitary touching the altering of the
colour of hairs arid feathers.

851. Living creatures generally do change their
hair with age, turning to be grey and white : as is
seen in men, thouo-h some earlier, some later ; in
horses that are dappled, and turn white ; in old squir-
rels that turn grisly; and many others. So do some
birds ; as cygnets from grey turn white ; hawks from
brown turn more white. And some birds there be
that upon their moulting do turn colour; as robin-red-
breasts, after their moulting, grow to be red again by
degrees ; so do goldfinches upon the head. The cause
is, for that moisture doth chiefly colour hair and fea-
thers, and dryness turneth them grey and white; now
hair in age waxeth dryer ; so do feathers. As for fea-
thers, after moulting, they are young feathers, and so
all one as the. feathers of young birds. So the beard
is vounp-er than the hair of the head, and doth, for
the most part, wax hoary later Out of this ground
a man may devise the means of altering the colour of
birds, and the retardation of hoary hairs. But of this
see in the fifth experiment.

Experiment solitary touching the differences of living
creatures, male and female.

852. The difference between male and female, in
some creatures, is not to be discerned, otherwise than
in the parts of generation : as in horses and mares,
dogs and bitches, doves he and she, and others. But
some differ in magnitude, and that diversly ; for in
most the male is the greater ; as in man, pheasants,
peacocks, turkeys, and the like : and in some few, as
in hawks, the female. Some differ in the hair and
feathers, both in the quantity, crispation, and colours
of them ; as he-lions are hirsute, and have great
manes: the she-lions are smooth like cats. Bulls are
more crisp upon the forehead than cows ; the pea-
cock, and pheasant-cock, and goldfinch-cock, have
glorious and fine colours ; the hens have not. Gene-
rally the males inbirds have the fairest feathers. Some
differ in divers features: as bucks have horns, does

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 23

none ; rams have more wreathed horns than ewes ;
cocks have great combs and spurs, hens little or none;
boars have great fangs, sows much less ; the turkey-
cock hath great and swelling gills, the hen hath less ;
men have generally deeper and stronger voices than
women. Some differ in faculty ; as the cocks amongst
singing-birds are the best singers. The chief cause of
all these, no doubt, is, for that the males have more
strength of heat than the females ; which appeareth
manifestly in this, that all young creatures males are
like females; and so are eunuchs, and gelt creatures
of all kinds, liker females. Now heat causeth great-
ness of growth, generally, where there is moisture
enough to work upon : but if there be found in any
creature, which is seen rarely, an over-great heat in
proportion to the moisture, in them the female is the
greater ; as in hawks and sparrows. And if the heat
be balanced with the moisture, then there is no dif-
ference to be seen between male and female ; as in
the instances of horses and dogs. We see also, that
the horns of oxen and cows, for the most part, are
larger than the bulls ; which is caused by abundance
of moisture, which in the horns of the bull faileth.
Again, heat causeth pilosity and crispation, and so
likewise beards in men. It also expelleth finer
moisture, which want of heat cannot expel ; and that
is the cause of the beauty and variety of feathers.
Again, heat doth put forth many excrescences, and
much solid matter, which want of heat cannot do :
and this is the cause of horns, and of the greatness of
them ; and of the greatness of the combs and spurs
of cocks, gills of turkey-cocks, and fangs of boars.
Heat also dilateth the pipes and organs, which causeth
the deepness of the voice. Again, heat refineth the
spirits, and that causeth the cock singing-bird to ex-
cel the hen.

Experiment solitary touching the comparative mag-
nitude of living creatures.

853. There be fishes greater than any beasts ; as
the whale is far greater than the elephant: and beasts

24 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

are generally greater than birds. For fishes, the cause
may be, that because they live not in the air, they
have not their moisture drawn and soaked by the air
and sun-beams. Also they rest always in a manner,
and are supported by the water ; whereas motion and
labour do consume. As for the greatness of beasts
more than of birds, it is caused, for that beasts stay
longer time in the womb than birds, and there nourish
and grow ; whereas in birds, after the egg laid, there
is no further growth or nourishment from the female ;
for the setting doth vivify, and not nourish.

Experiment solitary touching exossation of fruits.

854. We have partly touched before the means of
producing fruits without cores or stones. And this
we add farther, that the cause must be abundance of
moisture ; for that the core and stone are made of
a dry sap : and we see, that it is possible to make a
tree put forth only in blossom, without fruit ; as in
cherries with double flowers ; much more into fruit
without stone or cores. It is reported, that a cion of
an apple, grafted upon a colewort stalk, sendeth forth
a great apple without a core. It is not unlikely, that
if the inward pith of a tree were taken out, so that
the juice came only by the bark, it would work the
effect. For it hath been observed, that in pollards, if
the water get in on the top, and they become hollow,
they put forth the more. We add also, that it is de-
livered for certain by some, that if the cion be grafted
the small end downwards, it will rndke fruit have
little or no cores and stones.

Experiment solitary touching the melioration of
tobacco.

855. Tobacco is a thing of great price, if it be in
request : for an acre of it will be worth, as is affirmed,
two hundred pounds by the year towards charge.
The charge of making the ground and otherwise is
great, but nothing to the profit; but the English to-
bacco hath small credit, as being too dull and earthy :
nay, the Virginian tobacco, though that be in a hotter
climate, can get no credit for the same cause : so that

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 25

a trial to make tobacco more aromatical, and better
concocted, here in England, were a thing of great
profit. Some have gone about to do it by drenching
the English tobacco in a decoction or infusion of In-
dian tobacco : but those are but sophistications and
toys ; for nothing that is once perfect, and hath run
its race, can receive much amendment. You must
ever resort to the beginnings of things for melioration.
The way of naturation of tobacco must, as in other
plants, be from the heat either of the earth or of the
sun: we see some leading of this in musk-melons,
which are sown upon a hot-bed dunged below, upon
a bank turned upon the south sun, to give heat by
reflection ; laid upon tiles, which increaseth the heat,
and covered with straw to keep them from cold.
They remove them also, which addeth some life : and
by these helps they become as good in England, as
in Italy or Provence. These, and the like means,
maybe tried in tobacco. Inquire also of the steeping
of the roots in some such liquor as may give them
vigour to put forth strong.

Experiment solitary touching several heats working
the same effects.

856. Heat of the sun for the maturation of fruits ;
yea, and the heat of vivification of living creatures,
are both represented and supplied by the heat of fire;
and likewise the heats of the sun, and life, are repre-
sented one by the other. Trees set upon the backs of
chimneys do ripen fruit sooner. Vines, that have
been drawn in at the window of a kitchen, have sent
forth grapes ripe a month at least before others.
Stoves at the back of walls bring forth oranges here
with us. Eggs, as is reported by some, have been
hatched in the warmth of an oven. It is reported by
the ancients, that the ostrich layeth her eggs under
sand, where the heat of the sun discloseth them.

Experiment solitary touching swelling and dila-
tation in boiling.

857 Barley in the boiling swelleth not much ;
wheat swelleth more r rice extremely ; insomuch as a

26 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

quarter of a pint, unboiled, will arise to a pint boiled.
The cause no doubt is, for that the more close and
compact the body is, the more it will dilate : now
barley is the most hollow; wheat more solid than that;
and rice most solid of all. It may be also that some
bodies have a kind of lentour, and more depertible
nature than others ; as we see it evident in coloration ;
for a small quantity of saffron will tincture more than
a very great quantity of brasil or wine.

Experiment solitary touching the dulcoration of
fruits.

858. Fruit groweth sweet by rolling, or pressing
them gently with the hand ; as rolling pears, dama-
scenes, etc. by rottenness ; as medlars, services, sloes,
hips, etc. by time ; as apples, wardens, pomegranates,
etc. by certain special maturations; as by laying them
in hay, straw, etc. and by fire ; as in roasting, stew-
ing, baking, etc. The cause of the sweetness by
rolling and pressing, is emollition, which they pro-
perly induce; as in beating of stock-fish, flesh, etc.
by rottenness is, for that the spirits of the fruit by
putrefaction gather heat, and thereby digest the har-
der part, for in all putrefactions there is a degree of
heat : by time and keeping is, because the spirits of
the body do ever feed upon the tangible parts, and
attenuate them: by several maturations is, by some
degree of heat; and by fire is, because it is the pro-
per work of heat to refine, and to incorporate ; and all
sourness consisteth in some grossness of the body ;
and all incorporation doth make the mixture of the
body more equal in all the parts; which ever induceth
a milder taste.

Experiment solitary touching flesh edible, and not

edible.

859. Of fleshes, some are edible; some, except it
be in famine, not. For those that are not edible, the
cause is, for that they have commonly too much bit-
terness of taste ; and therefore those creatures which
are fierce and choleric are not edible ; as lions, wolves,
squirrels, dogs, foxes, horses, etc. As for kine, sheep,

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 27

goats, deer, swine, conies, hares, etc. we see they are
mild and fearful. Yet it is true, that horses, which
are beasts of courage, have been, and are eaten by-
some nations ; as the Scythians were called Hippo-
phagi; and the Chinese eat horse-flesh at this day;
and some gluttons have used to have colts-flesh
baked. In birds, such as are carnivora, and birds of
prey, are commonly no good meat ; but the reason is,
rather the choleric nature of those birds, than their
feeding upon flesh: for pewets, gulls, shovellers,
ducks, do feed upon flesh, and yet are good meat.
And we see that those birds which are of prey, or feed
upon flesh, are good meat when they are very young ;
as hawks, rooks out of the nest, owls, etc. Man's
flesh is not eaten. The reasons are three : first, be-
cause men in humanity do abhor it : secondly, because
no living creature that dieth of itself is good to eat :
and therefore the cannibals themselves eat no man's
flesh of those that die of themselves, but of such as
are slain. The third is, because there must be gene-
rally some disparity between the nourishment and the
body nourished ; and they must not be over-near, or
like : yet we see, that in great weaknesses and con-
sumptions, men have been sustained with woman's
milk ; and Ficinus, fondly, as I conceive, adviseth,
for the prolongation of life, that a vein be opened in
the arm of some wholesome young man, and the
blood to be sucked. It is said that witches do greedily
eat man's flesh ; which if it be true, besides a devilish
appetite in them, it is likely to proceed, for that man's
flesh may send up high and pleasing vapours, which
may stir the imagination; and witches' felicity is
chiefly in imagination, as hath been said.

Experiment solitary touching the salamander.

860. There is an ancient received tradition of the
salamander, that it liveth in the fire, and hath force
also to extinguish the fire. It must have two things,
if it be true, to this operation : the one a very close
skin, whereby flame, which in the midst is not so hot,
cannot enter; for we see that if the palm of the hand

28 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

be anointed thick with white of egg, and then aqua
vita be poured upon it, and inflamed, and yet one
may endure the flame a pretty while. The other is
some extreme cold and quenching virtue in the body
of that creature, which choketh the fire. We see that
milk quencheth wildfire better than water, because
it entereth better.

Experiment solitary touching the contrary operations
of time upon fruits and liquors.

861. Time doth change fruit, as apples, pears,
pomegranates, etc. from more sour to more sweet : but
contrariwise liquors, even those that are of the juice
of fruit, from more sweet to more sour: as wort,
muste, new verjuice, etc. The cause is, the congre-
gation of the spirits together : for in both kinds the
spirit is attenuated by time ; but in the first kind it is
more diffused, and more mastered by the grosser parts,
which the spirits do but digest : but in drinks the
spirits do reign, and finding less opposition of the
parts, become themselves more strong ; which causeth
also more strength in the liquor ; such as if the spirits
be of the hotter sort, the liquor becometh apt to burn :
but in time, it causeth likewise, when the higher
spirits are evaporated, more sourness.

Experiment solitary touching blows and bruises.

862. It hath been observed by the ancients, that
plates of metal, and especially of brass, applied pre-
sently to a blow, will keep it down from swelling.
The cause is repercussion, without humectation or
entrance of any body : for the plate hath only a vir-
tual cold, which doth not search into the hurt; whereas
all plaisters and ointments do enter. Surely, the
cause that blows and bruises induce swellings is, for
that the spirits resorting to succour the part that la-
boureth, draw also the humours with them : for we
see, that it' is not the repulse and the return of the
humour in the part strucken that causeth it ; for that
gouts and toothaches cause swelling, where there is
no percussion at all.

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 29

Experiment solitary touching the orrice root.

863. The nature of the orrice root is almost singu-
lar ; for there be few odoriferous roots ; and in those
that are in any degree sweet, it is but the same sweet-
ness with the wood or leaf: but the orrice is not
sweet in the leaf; neither is the flower any thing so
sweet as the root. The root seemeth to have a ten-
der dainty heat ; which when it cometh above ground
to the sun and the air, vanisheth : for it is a great
mollifier ; and hath a smell like a violet.

Experiment solitary touching the compression of

liquors.

864. It hath been observed by the ancients, that a
great vessel full, drawn into bottles, and then the li-
quor put again into the vessel, will not fill the vessel
again so full as it was, but that it may take in more
liquor : and that this holdeth more in wine than in
water. The cause may be trivial ; namely, by the
expense of the liquor, in regard some may stick to
the sides of the bottles : but there may be a cause
more subtile ; which is, that the liquor in the vessel
is not so much compressed as in the bottle ; because
in the vessel the liquor meeteth with liquor chiefly ;
but in the bottles a small quantity of liquor meeteth
with the sides of the bottles, which compress it so that
it doth not open again.

Experiment solitary touching the working of xoater
upon air contiguous.

865. Water, being contiguous with air, cooleth
it, but moisteneth it not, except it vapour. The
cause is, for that heat and cold have a virtual transi-
tion, without communication of substance ; but mois-
ture not : and to all madefaction there is required an
imbibition : but where the bodies are of such several
levity and gravity as they mingle not, there can fol-
low no imbibition. And therefore, oil likewise lieth
at the top of the water, without commixture : and a
drop of water running swiftly over a straw or smooth
body, wetteth not.

30 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

Experiment solitary touching the nature of air,
866. Star-light nights, yea, and bright moon-
shine nights, are colder than cloudy nights. The
cause is, the dryness and fineness of the air, which
thereby becometh more piercing and sharp ; and there-
fore great continents are colder than islands : and as
for the moon, though itself inclineth the air to moisture,
yet when it shineth bright, it argueth the air is dry-
Also close air is warmer than open air ; which, it may
be, is, for that the true cause of cold is an expiration
from the globe of the earth, which in open places is
stronger ; and again, air itself, if it be not altered by
that expiration, is not without some secret degree of
heat ; as it is not likewise without some secret degree
of light : for otherwise cats and owls could not see
in the night ; but that air hath a little light, propor-
tionable to the visual spirits of those creatures.

Experiments in consort touching the eyes and sight.

867 The eyes do move one and the same way ; for
when one eye movethto the nostril, the other moveth
from the nostril. The cause is motion of consent,
"which in the spirits and parts spiritual is strong.
But yet use will induce the contrary ; for some can
squint when they will : and the common tradition is,
that if children be set upon a table with a candle be-
hind them, both eyes will move outwards, as affecting
to see the light, and so induce squinting.

868. We see more exquisitely with one eye shut,
than with both open. The cause is, for that the
spirits visual unite themselves more, and so become
stronger. For you may see, by looking in a glass,
that when you shut one eye, the pupil of the other
eye that is open dilateth.

869. The eyes, if the sight meet not in one angle,
see things double. The cause is, for that seeing two
things, and seeing one thing twice, worketh the same
effect : and therefore a little pellet held between two
fingers laid across, seemeth double.

870. Pore-blind men see best in the dimmer
lights; and likewise have their sight stronger near

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 31

hand, than those that are not pore-blind ; and can
read and write smaller letters. The cause is, for that
the spirits visual in those that are pore-blind, are
thinner and rarer than in others ; and therefore the
greater light disperseth them. For the same cause
they need contracting ; but being contracted, are
more strong than the visual spirits of ordinary eyes
are ; as when we see through a level, the sight is the
stronger ; and so is it when you gather the eye-lids
somewhat close : and it is commonly seen in those
that are pore-blind, that they do much gather the
eye-lids together But old men, when they would see
to read, put the paper somewhat afar off: the cause
is, for that old men's spirits visual, contrary to those
of pore-blind men, unite not> but when the object is
at some good distance from their eyes.

871. Men see better, when their eyes are over-
against the sun or a candle, if they put their hand a
little before their eye. The reason is, for that the
glaring of the sun or the candle doth weaken the eye;
whereas the light circumfused is enough for the per-
ception. For we see that an over-light maketh the
eyes dazzle ; insomuch as perpetual looking against
the sun would cause blindness. Again, if men come
out of a great light into a dark room ; and contrari-
wise, if they come out of a dark room into a light
room, they seem to have a mist before their eyes, and
see worse than they shall do after they have stayed a
little while, either in the light or in the dark. The
cause is, for that the spirits visual are, upon a sudden
change, disturbed and put out of order ; and till they
be recollected, do not perform their function well.
For when they are much dilated by light, they cannot
contract suddenly ; and when they are much con-
tracted by darkness, they cannot dilate suddenly
And excess of both these, that is, of the dilatation and
contraction of the spirits visual, if it be long, de-
stroyeth the eye. For as long looking against the
sun or fire hurteth the eye by dilatation ; so curious
painting in small volumes, and reading of small let-
ters, do hurt the eye by contraction.

32 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

872. It hath been observed, that in anger the eyes
wax red ; and in blushing, not the eyes, but the ears,
and the parts behind them. The cause is, for that in
anger the spirits ascend and wax eager ; which is
most easily seen in the eyes, because they1 are trans-
lucid ; though withal it maketh both the cheeks and
the gills red ; but in blushing, it is true the spirits
ascend likewise to succour both the eyes and the face,
which are the parts that labour : but then they are
repulsed by the eyes, for that the eyes, in shame, do
put back the spirits that ascend to them, as unwilling
to look abroad : for no man in that passion doth look
strongly, but dejectedly ; and that repulsion from
the eyes diverteth the spirits and heat more to the
ears, and the parts by them.

873. The objects of the sight may cause a great
pleasure, and delight in the spirits, but no pain or
great offence ; except it be by memory, as hath been
said. The glimpses and beams of diamonds that
strike the eye ; Indian feathers, that have glorious
colours ,' the coming into a fair garden ; the coming
into a fair room richly furnished ; a beautiful person ;
and the like; do delight and exhilarate the spirits
much. The reason why it holdeth not in the offence
is, for that the sight is the most spiritual of the
senses; whereby it hath no object gross enough to
offend it. But the cause chiefly is, for that there be
no active objects to offend the eye. For harmonical
sounds, and discordant sounds, are both active and
positive : so are sweet smells and stinks : so are bitter
and sweet in tastes : so are over-hot and over-cold in
touch : but blackness and darkness are indeed but
privatives ; and therefore have little or no activity-
Somewhat they do contristate, but very little.

Experiment solitary touching the colour of the sea,
or other water

874. Water of the sea, or otherwise, looketh
blacker when it is moved, and whiter when it resteth.
The cause is, for that by means of the motion, the
beams of light pass not straight, and therefore must be

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 33

darkened ; whereas, when it resteth, the beams do
pass straight. Besides, splendour hath a degree of
whiteness ; especially if there be a little repercussion :
for a looking-glass with the steel behind, looketh
whiter than glass simple. This experiment deserveth
to be driven farther, in trying by what means motion
may hinder sight.

Experiment solitary touching shell-Jish.

875. Shell-fish have been, by some of the an-
cients, compared and sorted with the insecta ; but I
see no reason why they should ; for they have male
and female as other fish have : neither are they bred
of putrefaction ; especially such as do move. Never-
theless it is certain, that oysters, and cockles, and
muscles, which move not, have no discriminate sex.
Query, in what time, and how they are bred ? It
seemeth, that shells of oysters are bred where none were
before ; and it is tried, that the great horse-muscle,
with the fine shell, that breedeth in ponds, hath bred
within thirty years : but then, which is strange, it hath
been tried, that they do not only gape and shut as the
oysters do, but remove from one place to another.

Experiment solitary touching the right side and
the left.

876. The senses are alike strong, both on the right
side and on the left ; but the limbs on the right side are
stronger. The cause may be, for that the brain, which
is the instrument of sense, is alike on both sides ; but
motion, and abilities of moving, are somewhat holpen
from the liver, which lieth on the right side. It may
be also, for that the senses are put in exercise indiffe-
rently on both sides from the time of our birth ; but
the limbs are used most on the right side, whereby
custom helpeth ; for we see that some are left-handed ;
which are such as have used the left hand most.

Experiment solitary touching frictions.

877 Frictions make the parts more fleshy and
full ; as we see both in men, and in currying of horses,
etc. The cause is, for that they draw greater quantity

VOL. II. d

34 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

of spirits and blood to the parts : and again, because
they draw the aliment more forcibly from within :
and again, because they relax the pores, and so make
better passage for the spirits, blood and aliment:
lastly, because they dissipate and digest any inutile or
excrementitious moisture which lieth in the flesh ; all
which help assimilation. Frictions also do more fill
and impinguate the body, than exercise. The cause
is, for that in frictions the inward parts are at rest ;
which in exercise are beaten, many times, too much :
and for the same reason, as we have noted heretofore,
galley-slaves are fat and fleshy, because they stir the
limbs more, and the inward parts less.

Experiment solitary touching globes appearing
flat at distance.

878. All globes afar off appear flat. The cause
is, for that distance, being a secondary object of sight,
is not otherwise discerned, than by more or less light ;
which disparity, when it cannot be discerned, all
seemeth one : as it is, generally, in objects not dis-
tinctly discerned ; for so letters, if they be so far off
as they cannot be discerned, shew but as a duskish
paper ; and all engravings and embossings, afar off,
appear plain.

Experiment solitary touching shadows.

879. The uttermost parts of shadows seem ever to
tremble. The cause is, for that the little motes which
we see in the sun do ever stir, though there be
no wind ; and therefore those moving in the meeting
of the light and the shadow, from the light to the
shadow, and from the shadow to the light, do shew
the shadow to move, because the medium moveth.

Experiment solitary touching the rolling and
breaking of the seas.

880. Shallow and narrow seas break more than
deep and large. The cause is, for that, the impulsion
being the same in both, where there is greater quan-
tity of water, and likewise space enough, there the

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 35

water rolleth and moveth, both more slowly, and
with a sloper rise and fall : but where there is less
water, and less space, and the water dasheth more
against the bottom, there it moveth more swiftly, and
more in precipice ; for in the breaking of the waves
there is ever a precipice.

Experiment solitary touching the dulcoration of
salt water.

881. It hath been observed by the ancients, that
salt water boiled, or boiled and cooled again, is more
potable, than of itself raw ; and yet the taste of salt
in distillations by fire riseth not, for the distilled
water will be fresh. The cause may be, for that the
salt part of the water doth partly rise into a kind of
scum on the top, and partly goeth into a sediment in
the bottom ; and so is rather a separation than an eva-
poration. But it is too gross to rise into a vapour ;
and so is a bitter taste likewise ; for simple distilled
waters, of wormwood, and the like, are not bitter.

Experiment solitary touching the return of saltness
in pits upon the sea-shore.

882. It hath been set down before, that pits upon
the sea-shore turn into fresh water, by percolation of
the salt through the sand : but it is farther noted, by
some of the ancients, that in some places of Africa,
after a time, the water in such pits will become brack-
ish again. The cause is, for that after a time, the
very sands through which the salt water passeth, be-
come salt ; and so the strainer itself is tinctured with
salt. The remedy therefore is, to dig still new pits,
when the old wax brackish ; as if you would change
your strainer.

Experiment solitary touching attraction by similitude

of substance.

883. It hath been observed by the ancients, that
salt water will dissolve salt put into it, in less time
than fresh water will dissolve it. The cause may be,
for that the salt in the precedent water doth, by simi-

d 2

36 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

litude of substance, draw the salt new put in unto it;
whereby it diffuseth in the liquor more speedily This
is a noble experiment, if it be true, for it sheweth
means of more quick and easy infusions; and itis like-
wise a good instance of attraction by similitude of sub-
stance. Try it with sugar put into water formerly
sugared, and into other water unsugared.

Experiment solitary touching attraction.

884. Put sugar into wine, part of it above, part
under the wine, and you shall find, that which may
seem strange, that the sugar above the wine will
soften and dissolve sooner than that within the wine.
The cause is, for that the wine entereth that part of
the sugar which is under the wine, by simple infusion
or spreading ; but that part above the wine is likewise
forced by.sucking ; for all spongy bodies expel the air
and draw in liquor, if it be contiguous : as we see it
also in sponges put part above the water. It is wor-
thy the inquiry, to see how you may make more ac-
curate infusions, by help of attraction.

Experiment solitary touching heat under earth.

885. Water in wells is warmer in winter than in
summer : and so air in caves. The cause is, for that
in the hither parts, under the earth, there is a degree
of some heat, as appeareth in sulphureous veins, etc.
which shut close in, as in winter, is the more ; but
if it perspire, as it doth in summer, it is the less.

Experiment solitary touching flying in the air

886. It is reported, that amongst the Leucadians,

in ancient time, upon a superstition they did use to

precipitate a man from a high cliff into the sea ; tying

about him with strings, at some distance, many great

fowls; and fixing unto his body divers feathers, spread,

to break the fall. Certainly many birds of good wing,

as kites, and the like, would bear up a good weight

as they fly ; and spreading of feathers thin and close,

and in great breadth, will likewise bear up a great

weight, being even laid, without tilting upon the

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 37

sides. The farther extension of this experiment for
flying may be thought upon.

Experiment solitary touching the dye of scarlet.

887 There is in some places, namely in Cepha-
lonia, a little shrub which they call holly-oak, or
dwarf-oak : upon the leaves whereof there riseth a
tumour like a blister ; which they gather, and rub out
of it a certain red dust, that converteth, after a while,
into worms, which they kill with wine, as is reported,
when they begin to quicken : with this dust they dye
scarlet.

Experiment solitary touching maleficiating.

888. In Zant it is very ordinary to make men im-
potent to accompany with their wives. The like is
practised in Gascony ; where it is called nouer Veguil-
lette. It is practised always upon the wedding-day -
And in Zant the mothers themselves do it, by way of
prevention ; because thereby they hinder other charms,
and can undo their own. It is a thing the civil law
taketh knowledge of; and therefore is of no light
regard.

Experiment solitary touching the rise of water by
means of flame.

889. It is a common experiment, but the cause is
mistaken. Take a pot, or better a glass, because
therein you may see the motion, and set a candle
lighted in the bottom of a bason of water, and turn
the mouth of the pot or glass over the candle, and it
will make the water rise. They ascribe it to the draw-
ing of heat ; which is not true : for it appeareth plainly
to be but a motion of nexe, which they call tie de-
tur vacuum ; and it proceedeth thus. The flame of
the candle, as soon as it is covered, being suffocated
by the close air, lesseneth by little and little ; during
which time there is some little ascent of water, but not
much : for the flame occupying less and less room, as
it lesseneth, the water succeedeth. But upon the in-
stant of the candle's going out, there is a sudden rise
of a great deal of water ; for that the body of the
flame filleth no more place, and so the air and the

38 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

water succeed. It worketh the same effect, if instead
of water you put flour or sand into the bason : which
sheweth, that it is not the flame's drawing the liquor
as nourishment, as it is supposed; for all bodies are
alike unto it, as it is ever in motion of nexe; insomuch
as I have seen the glass, being held by the hand, hath
lifted up the bason and all ; the motion of nexe did
so clasp the bottom of the bason. That experiment,
when the bason was lifted up, was made with oil, and
not with water : nevertheless this is true, that at the
very first setting of the mouth of the glass upon the
bottom of the bason, it draweth up the water a little,
and then standeth at a stay, almost till the candle's
going out, as was said. This may shew some attrac-
tion at first : but of this we will speak more, when we
handle attractions by heat.

Experiments in consort touching the influences of

the moon.

Of the power of the celestial bodies, and what
more secret influences they have, besides the two ma-
nifest influences of heat and light, we shall speak
when we handle experiments touching the celestial
bodies ; mean while we will give some directions for
more certain trials of the virtue and influences of the
moon, which is our nearest neighbour.

The influences of the moon, most observed, are
four ; the drawing forth of heat; the inducing of pu-
trefaction ; the increase of moisture ; the exciting of
the motions of spirits.

890. For the drawing forth of heat, we have for-
merly prescribed to take water warm, and to set part
of it against the moon-beams, and part of it with a
screen between ; and to see whether that which stand-
eth exposed to the beams will not cool sooner. But
because this is but a small interposition, though in
the sun we see a small shade doth much, it were good
to try it when the moon shineth, and when the moon
shineth not at all ; and with water warm in a glass
bottle, as well as in a dish ; and with cinders ; and
with iron red-hot, etc.

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 39

891. For the inducing of putrefaction, it were good
to try it with flesh or fish exposed to the moon-beams ;
and again exposed to the air when the moon shineth
not, for the like time ; to see whether will corrupt
sooner : and try it also with capon, or some other
fowl, laid abroad, to see whether it will mortify and
become tender sooner ; try it also with dead flies, or
dead worms, having a little water cast upon them,
to see whether will putrefy sooner. Try it also with
an apple or orange, having holes made in their tops,
to see whether will rot or mould sooner. Try it also
with Holland cheese, having wine put into it, whe-
ther will breed mites sooner or greater.

892. Foil the increase of moisture, the opinion
received is ; that seeds will grow soonest ; and hair,
and nails, and hedges, and herbs, cut, etc. will grow
soonest, if they be set or cut in the increase of the
moon. Also that brains in rabbits, woodcocks, calves,
etc. are fullest in the full of the moon : and so of
marrow in the bones : and so of oysters and cockles,
which of all the rest are the easiest tried if you have
them in pits.

893. Take some seeds, or roots, as onions, etc. and
set some of them immediately after the change ; and
others of the same kind immediately after the full :
let them be as like as can be ; the earth also the same
as near as may be ; and therefore best in pots. Let
the pots also stand where no rain or sun may come to
them, lest the difference of the weather confound the
experiment : aud then see in what time the seeds set
in the increase of the moon come to a certain height ;
and how they differ from those that are set in the de-
crease of the moon.

894. It is like, that the brain of man waxeth
moister and fuller upon the full of the moon : and
therefore it were good for those that have moistbrains,
and are great drinkers, to take fume of lignum aloes,
rosemary, frankincense, etc. about the full of the
moon. It is like also, that the humours in men's
bodies increase and decrease as the moon doth : and
therefore it were good to purge some day or two after

40 Natural History. [Cent. IX

the full ; for that then the humours will not replenish
so soon again.

895. As for the exciting of the motion of the
spirits, you must note that the growth of hedges,
herbs, hair, etc. is caused from the moon, by exciting
of the spirits, as well as by increase of the moisture.
But for spirits in particular, the great instance is in
lunacies.

896. There may be other secret effects of the in-
fluence of the moon, which are not yet brought into
observation. It may be, that if it so fall out that the
wind be north, or north-east, in the full of the moon,
it increaseth cold ; and if south, or south-west, it dis-
poseth the air for a good while to warmth and rain ;
which would be observed.

897 It may be, that children, and young cattle,
that are brought forth in the full of the moon, are
stronger and larger than those that are brought forth
in the wane ; and those also which are begotten in
the full of the moon : so that it might be good hus-
bandry to put rams and bulls to their females, some-
what before the full of the moon. It may be also,
that the eggs laid in the full of the moon breed the
better bird : and a number of the like effects which
may be brought into observation. Query also, whe-
ther great thunders and earthquakes be not most in
the full of the moon.

Experimoit solitary touching vinegar,

898. The turning of wine into vinegar is a kind of
putrefaction : and in making of vinegar, they use to
set vessels of wine over-against the noon sun ; which
calleth out the more oily spirits, and leaveth the
liquor more sour and hard. We see also, that burnt
wine is more hard and astringent than wine unburnt.
It is said, that cider in navigations under the line
ripeneth, when wine or beer soureth. It were good
to set a rundlet of verjuice over-against the sun in
summer, as they do vinegar, to see whether it will
ripen and sweeten.

Cent. IX.] Natural History. 41

Experiment solitary touching creatures that sleep
all winter.

899. There be divers creatures that sleep all win-
ter, as the bear, the hedge-hog, the bat, the bee, etc.
These all wax fat when they sleep, and egest not.
The cause of their fattening during their sleeping
time, may be the want of assimilating ; for whatso-
ever assimilateth not to flesh turneth either to sweat
or fat. These creatures, for part of their sleeping
time, have been observed not to stir at all ; and for
the other part, to stir, but not to remove. And they
get warm and close places to sleep in. When the
Flemings wintered in Nova Zembla, the bears about
the middle of November went to sleep ; and then the
foxes began to come forth, which durst not before.
It is noted by some of the ancients, that the she-bear
breedeth, and lieth in with her young, during that
time of rest : and that a bear big with young hath
seldom been seen.

Experiment solitary touching the generating of
creatures by copulation, and by putrefaction.

900. Some living creatures are procreated by co-
pulation between male and female : some by putre-
faction: and of those which come by putrefaction,
many do, nevertheless, afterwards procreate by copu-
lation. For the cause of both generations : first, it is
most certain, that the cause of all vivification is a
gentle and proportionable heat, working upon a glu-
tinous and yielding substance : for the heat doth bring
forth spirit in that substance : and the substance
being glutinous produceth two effects ; the one, that
the spirit is detained, and cannot break forth : the
other, that the matter being gentle and yielding, is
driven forwards by the motion of the spirits, after
some swelling, into shape and members. Therefore
all sperm, all menstruous substance, all matter
whereof creatures are produced by putrefaction, have
evermore a closeness, lentor, and sequacity. It seem-
eth therefore, that the generation by sperm only, and

42 Natural History. [Cent. IX.

by putrefaction, have two different causes. The first
is, for that creatures which have a definite and exact
shape, as thoSe have which are procreated by copula-
tion, cannot be produced by a weak and casual heat;
nor out of matter which is not exactly prepared ac-
cording to the species. The second is, for that there
is a greater time required for maturation of perfect
creatures ; for if the time required in vivification be
of any length, then the spirit will exhale before the
creature be mature ; except it be inclosed in a place
where it may have continuance of the heat, access of
some nourishment to maintain it, and closeness that
may keep it from exhaling : and such places are the
wombs and matrices of the females. And therefore
all creatures made of putrefaction are of more uncer-
tain shape ; and are made in shorter time ; and need
not so perfect an inclosure, though some closeness
be commonly required. As for the heathen opinion,
which was, that upon great mutations of the world,
perfect creatures were first engendered of concretion ;
as well as frogs, and worms, and flies, and such like,
are now ; we know it to be vain : but if any such
thing should be admitted, discoursing according to
sense, it cannot be, except you admit a chaos first,
and commixture of heaven and earth. For the frame
of the world, once in order, cannot affect it by any
excess or casualty.

NATURAL HISTORY.

CENTURY X.

Experiments in consort touching the transmission
and influx of immateriate virtues, and the force
of imagination.

The philosophy of Pythagoras, which was full of
superstition, did first plant a monstrous imagination,
which afterwards was, by the school of Plato and
others, watered and nourished. It was, that the world
was one entire perfect living creature; insomuch as
Apollonius of Tyana, a Pythagorean prophet, affirm-
ed, that the ebbing and flowing of the sea was the
respiration of the world, drawing in water as breath,
and putting it forth again. They went on, and in-
ferred, that if the world were a living creature, it had
a soul and spirit; which also they held, calling it
spiritus mundi, the spirit or soul of the world : by
which they did not intend God, for they did admit of
a Deity besides, but only the soul or essential form of
the universe. This foundation being laid, they might
build upon it what they would ; for in a living crea-
ture, though never so great, as for example, in a great
whale, the sense and the effects of any one part of the
body instantly make a transcursion throughout the
whole body : so that by this they did insinuate, that
no distance of place, nor want of indisposition of
matter, could hinder magical operations ; but that,
for example, we might here in Europe have sense and
feeling of that which was done in China ; and like-
wise we might work any effect without and against
matter ; and this not holpen by the co-operation of
angels or spirits, but only by the unity and harmony
of nature. There were some also that stayed not here;
but went farther, and held, that if the spirit of man,
whom they call the microcosm, do give a fit touch to

44 Natural History. [Cent. X.

the spirit of the world, by strong imaginations and
beliefs, it might command nature ; for Paracelsus,
and some darksome authors of magic, do ascribe to
imagination exalted the power of miracle-working
faith. With these vast and bottomless follies men
have been in part entertained.

But we, that hold firm to the works of God, and
to the sense, which is God's lamp, lucerna Dei spi-
raculum hominis, will inquire with all sobriety and
severity, whether there be to be found in the footsteps
of nature, any such transmission and influx of imma-
teriate virtues ; and what the force of imagination is ;
either upon the body imaginant, or upon another
body : wherein it will be like that labour of Her-
cules, in purging the stable of Augeas, to separate
from superstitious and magical arts and observations,
any thing that is clean and pure natural ; and not to
be either contemned or condemned. And although
we shall have occasion to speak of this in more
places than one, yet we will now make some entrance
thereinto.

Experiments in consort, monitory, touching trans-
mission of spirits, and the force of imagination.

901. Men are to be admonished that they do not
withdraw credit from the operations by transmission
of spirits, and force of imagination, because the effects
fail sometimes. For as in infection, and contagion
from body to body, as the plague, and the like, it is
most certain that the infection is received, many
times, by the body passive, but yet is, by the strength
and good disposition thereof, repulsed and wrought
out, before it be formed into a disease ; so much more
in impressions from mind to mind, or from spirit to
spirit, the impression taketh, but is encountered and
overcome by the mind and spirit, which is passive,
before it work any manifest effect. And therefore
they work most upon weak minds and spirits ; as
those of women, sick persons, superstitious and fear-
ful persons, children, and young creatures :

A/escio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos :

Cent. X.] Natural History. 45

The poet speaketh not of sheep, but of lambs. As
for the weakness of the power of them upon kings
and magistrates, it may be ascribed, besides the
main, which is the protection of God over those that
execute his place, to the weakness of the imagina-
tion of the imaginant : for it is hard for a witch or a
sorcerer to put on a belief that they can hurt such
persons.

902. Men are to be admonished, on the other
side, that they do not easily give place and credit to
these operations, because they succeed many times ;
for the cause of this success is oft to be truly ascribed
unto the force of affection and imagination upon the
body agent ; and then by a secondary means it may
work upon a diverse body : as for example, if a man
carry a planet's seal, or a ring, or some part of a
beast, believing strongly that it will help him to ob-
tain his love • or to keep him from danger of hurt
in fight; or to prevail in a suit, etc. it may make
him more active and industrious : and again, more
confident and persisting, than otherwise he would be.
Now the great effects that may come of industry and
perseverance, especially in civil business, who know-
eth not? For we see audacity doth almost bind and
mate the weaker sort of minds ; and the state of hu-
man actions is so variable, that to try things oft, and
never to give over, doth wonders : therefore it were
a mere fallacy and mistaking to ascribe that to the
force of imagination upon another body which is but
the force of imagination upon the proper body ; for
there is no doubt but that imagination and vehement
affection work greatly upon the body of the imagi-
nant ; as we shall shew in due place.

903. Men are to be admonished, that as they are
not to mistake the causes of these operations; so
much less they are to mistake the fact or effect; and
rashly to take that for done which is not done. And
therefore, as divers wise judges have prescribed and
cautioned, men may not too rashly believe the confes-
sions of witches, nor yet the evidence against them.
For the witches themselves are imaginative, and be-

46 Natural History. [Cent. X.

lieve oft-times they do that which they do not : and
people are credulous in that point, and ready to im-
pute accidents and natural operations to witchcraft.
It is worthy the observing, that both in ancient and
late times, as in the Thessalian witches, and the meet-
ings of witches that have been recorded by so many
late confessions, the great wonders which they tell, of
carrying in the air, transforming themselves into
other bodies, etc. are still reported to be wrought, not
by incantations or ceremonies, but by ointments, and
anointing themselves all over. This may justly move
a man to think that these fables are the effects of
imagination : for it is certain that ointments do all,
if they be laid on any thing thick, by stopping of the
pores, shut in the vapours, and send them to the
head extremely. And for the particular ingredients
of those magical ointments, it is like they are opiate
and soporiferous. For anointing of the forehead,
neck, feet, back-bone, we know, is used for pro-
curing dead sleeps : and if any man say that this
effect would be better done by inward potions ; an-
swer may be made, that the medicines which go to
the ointments are so strong, that if they were used
inwards, they would kill those that use them : and
therefore they work potently, though outwards.

We will divide the several kinds of the operations
by transmission of spirits and imagination, which will
give no small light to the experiments that follow.
All operations by transmission of spirits and imagina-
tion have this ; that they work at distance, and not
at touch : and they are these being distinguished.

904. The first is the transmission or emission of
the thinner and more airy parts of bodies ; as in
odours and infections ; and this is, of all the rest, the
most corporeal. But you must remember withal,
that there be a number of those emissions, both whole-
some and unwholesome, that give no smell at all : for
the plague, many times when it is taken, giveth no
scent at all : and there be many good and healthful
airs that do appear by habitation and other proofs,
that differ not in smell from other airs. And under

Cent. X.] Natwal History. 47

this head you may place all imbibitions of air, where
the substance is material, odour-like; whereof some
nevertheless are strange, and very suddenly diffused ;
as the alteration which the air receiveth in Egypt,
almost immediately, upon the rising of the river of
Nilus, whereof we have spoken.

905. The second is the transmission or emission
of those things that we call spiritual species : as visi-
bles and sounds ; the one whereof we have handled, and
the other we shall handle in due place. These move
swiftly, and at great distance ; but then they require
a medium well disposed, and their transmission is
easily stopped.

906. The third is the emissions, which cause at-
traction of certain bodies at distance ; wherein though
the loadstone be commonly placed in the first rank,
yet we think good to except it, and refer it to an-
other head : but the drawing of amber and jet, and
other electric bodies, and the attraction in gold of
the spirit of quicksilver at distance; and the attrac-
tion of heat at distance ; and that of fire to naptha ;
and that of some herbs to water, though at distance ;
and divers others; we shall handle, but yet not under
this present title, but under the title of attraction in
general.

907 The fourth is the emission of spirits, and im-
materiate powers and virtues, in those things which
work by the universal configuration and sympathy of
the world ; not by forms, or celestial influxes, as is
vainly taught and received, but by the primitive na-
ture of matter, and the seeds of things. Of this kind
is, as we yet suppose, the working of the loadstone,
which is by consent with the globe of the earth : of
this kind is the motion of gravity, which is by con-
sent of dense bodies with the globe of the earth : of
this kind is some disposition of bodies to rotation,
and particularly from east to west: of which kind we
conceive the main float and refloat of the sea is,
which is by consent of the universe, as part of the
diurnal motion. These immateriate virtues have this
property differing from others ; that the diversity of

48 Natural History. [Cent. X.

the medium hindereth them not; but they pass
through all mediums, yet at determinate distances.
And of these we shall speak, as they are incident to
several titles.

908. The fifth is the emissions of spirits; and this
is the principal in our intention to handle now in this
place ; namely, the operation of the spirits of the
mind of man upon other spirits : and this is of a dou-
ble nature ; the operations of the affections, if they be
vehement ; and the operation of the imagination, if it
be strong. But these two are so coupled, as we shall
handle them together ; for when an envious or amo-
rous aspect doth infect the spirits of another, there is
joined both affection and imagination.

909. The sixth is, the influxes of the heavenly
bodies, besides those two manifest ones, of heat and
light. But these we will handle where we handle,
the celestial bodies and motions.

910. The seventh is the operations of sympathy,
which the writers of natural magic have brought into
an art or precept: and it is this; that if you desire
to superinduce any virtue or disposition upon a per-
son, you should take the living creature, in which
that virtue is most eminent, and in perfection; of that
creature you must take the parts wherein that virtue
chiefly is collocate : again, you must take those parts
in the time and act when that virtue is most in exer-
cise; and then you must apply it to that part of man
wherein that virtue chiefly consisteth. As if you
would superinduce courage and fortitude, take a lion
or a cock ; and take the heart, tooth, or paw of the
lion ; or the heart or spur of the cock : take those
parts immediately after the lion or the cock have
been in fight; and let them be worn upon a man's
heart or wrist. Of these and such like sympathies,
we shall speak under this present title.

911. The eighth and last is, an emission of imma-
teriate virtues ; such as we are a little doubtful to pro-
pound ; it is so prodigious : but that it is so constantly
avouched by many : and we have set it down as a law
to ourselves, to examine things to the bottom ; and

Cent. X.] Natural History. 49

not to receive upon credit, or reject upon improba-
bilities, until there hath passed a due examination.
This is the sympathy of individuals ; for as there is
a sympathy of species, so it may be there is a sympa-
thy of individuals : that is, that in things, or the parts
of things that have been once contiguous or entire,
there should remain a transmission of virtue from the
one to the other : as between the weapon and the
wound. Whereupon is blazed abroad the operation
of unguentum tell : and so of a piece of lard, or stick
of elder, etc. that if part of it be consumed or putre-
fied, it will work upon the other part severed. Now
we will pursue the instances themselves.

Experiments in consort touching emission of spirits
in vapour or exhalation, odour-like.

912. The plague is many times taken without
manifest sense, as hath been said. And they report,
that where it is found, it hath a scent of the smell of
a mellow apple ; and, as some say, of May-flowers :
and it is also received, that smells of flowers that are
mellow and luscious, are ill for the plague ; as white
lilies, cowslips, and hyacinths.

913. The plague is not easily received by such as
continually are about them that have the plague ; as
keepers of the sick, and physicians ; nor again by such
as take antidotes, either inward, as mithridate, juniper-
berries, rue, leaf and seed, etc. or outward, as ange-
lica, zedoary, and the like, in the mouth ; tar, galba-
num, and the like, in perfume ; nor again by old
people, and such as are of a dry and cold complexion.
On the other side, the plague taketh soonest hold of
those that come out of a fresh air, and of those that
are fasting, and of children ; and it is likewise noted
to go in a blood, more than to a stranger.

914. The most pernicious infection, next the
plague, is the smell of the jail, when prisoners have
been long, and close, and nastily kept ; whereof we
have had in our time experience twice or thrice;
when both the judges that sat upon the jail, and num-
bers of those that attended the business or were pre-

VOL. II. E

50 Natural History. [Cent. X.

sent, sickened upon it, and died. Therefore it were
good wisdom, that in such cases the jail were aired
before they be brought forth.

915. Out of question, if such foul smells be made
by art, and by the hand, they consist chiefly of man's
flesh or sweat putrified ; for they are not those stinks
which the nostrils straight abhor and expel, that are
most pernicious ; but such airs as have some simili-
tude with man's body ; and so insinuate themselves,
and betray the spirits. There may be great danger
in using such compositions, in great meetings of peo-
ple within houses; as in churches, at arraignments, at
plays and solemnities, and the like : for poisoning of
air is no less dangerous than poisoning of water,
which hath been used by the Turks in the wars, and
was used by Emmanuel Comnenus towards the Chris-
tians, when they passed through his country to the
Holy Land. And these impoisonments of air are the
more dangerous in meetings of people, because the
much breath of people doth further the reception of
the infection ; and therefore, where any such thing is
feared, it were good those public places were per-
fumed, before the assemblies.

916. The impoisonment of particular persons by
odours, hath been reported to be in perfumed gloves,
or the like : and it is like, they mingle the poison
that is deadly, with some smells that are sweet,
which also maketh it the sooner received. Plagues
also have been raised by anointings of the chinks of
doors, and the like ; not so much by the touch, as for
that it is common for men, when they find any thing
wet upon their fingers, to put them to their nose ;
which men therefore should take heed how they do.
The best is, that these compositions of infectious airs
cannot be made without danger of death to them that
make them. But then, again, they may have some
antidotes to save themselves ; so that men ought not
to be secure of it.

917 There have been in divers countries great
plagues, by the putrefaction of great swarms of grass-
hoppers and locusts, when they have been dead and
cast upon heaps.

Cent. X.] Natural Histoiy. 51

918. It happeneth often in mines, that there are
damps which kill, either by suffocation, or by the
poisonous nature of the mineral : and those that deal
much in refining, or other works about metals and
minerals, have their brains hurt and stupified by the
metalline vapours. Amongst which it is noted, that
the spirits of quicksilver either fly to the skull, teeth,
or bones ; insomuch as gilders use to have a piece of
gold in their mouth, to draw the spirits of the quick-
silver ; which gold afterwards they find to be whit-
ened. There are also certain lakes and pits, such as
that of Avernus, that poison birds, as is said, which
fly over them, or men that stay too long about them.

919. The vapour of charcoal, or sea-coal, in a close
room, hath killed many ; and it is the more danger-
ous, because it cometh without any ill smell, but steal-
eth on by little and little, inducing only a faintness,
without any manifest strangling. When the Dutch-
men wintered at Nova Zembla, and that they could
gather no more sticks, they fell to make fire of some
sea-coal they had, wherewith, at first, they were much
refreshed ; but a little after they had sat about the fire,
there grew a general silence and lothness to speak
amongst them ; and, immediately after, one of the
weakest of the company fell down in a swoon ; where-
upon they doubting what it was, opened their door to
let in air, and so saved themselves. The effect, no
doubt, is wrought by the inspissation of the air ; and
so of the breath and spirits. The like ensueth in rooms
newly plaistered, if a fire be made in them ; whereof
no less man than the emperor Jovinianus died.

920. Vide the experiment 803, touching the in-
fectious nature of the air, upon the first showers^ after
a long drought.

921. It hath come to pass, that some apothecaries,
upon stamping of colloquintida, have been put into a
great scouring by the vapour only.

922. It hath been a practice to burn a pepper they
call Guiney-pepper, which hath such a strong spirit,
that it provoketh a continual sneezing in those that
are in the room.

e 2

52 Natural History. [Cent. X.

•923. It is an ancient tradition, that blear-eyes
infect sound eyes ; and that a menstruous woman,
looking upon a glass, doth rust it : nay, they have an
opinion which seemeth fabulous ; that menstruous
women going over a field or garden, do corn and
herbs good by killing the worms.

924. The tradition is no less ancient, that the ba-
silisk killeth by aspect ; and that the wolf, if he see a
man first, by aspect striketh a man hoarse.

925. Perfumes convenient do dry and strengthen
the brain, and stay rheums and defiuxions, as we find
in fume of rosemary dried, and lignum aloes ; and
calamus taken at the mouth and nostrils : and no
doubt there be other perfumes that do moisten and
refresh, and are fit to be used in burning agues, con-
sumptions, and too much wakefulness ; such as are
rose-wat^r, vinegar, lemon-peels, violets, the leaves of
vines sprinkled, with a little rose-water, etc.

926. They do use in sudden faintings and swoon-
ings to put a handkerchief with rose-water or a little
vinegar to the nose ; which gathereth together again
the spirits, which are upon point to resolve and fall
away

927 Tobacco comforteth the spirits, and dis-
charged weariness, which it worketh partly by open-
ing, but chiefly by the opiate virtue, which condenseth
the spirits. It were good therefore to try the taking
of fumes by pipes, as they do in tobacco, of other
things ; as well to dry and comfort, as for other inten-
tions. I wish trial be made of the drying fume of
rosemary, and lignum aloes, before-mentioned, in
pipe ; and so of nutmeg, and folium indum, etc.

928. The following of the plough hath been ap-
proved for refreshing the spirits and procuring ap-
petite ; but to do it in the ploughing for wheat or
rye, is not so good, because the earth has spent her
sweet breath in vegetables put forth in summer. It
is better therefore to do it when you sow barley But
because ploughing is tied to seasons, it is best to take
the air of the earth new turned up, by digging with
the spade, or standing by him that diggeth. Gentle-

Cent. X.] Natural History. 53

women may do themselves much good by kneeling
upon a cushion, and weeding. And these things you
may practise in the best seasons ; which is ever the
early spring, before the earth putteth forth the vege-
tables, and in the sweetest earth you can choose. It
would be done also when the dew is a little off the
ground, lest the vapour be too moist. I knew a great
man that lived long, who had a clean clod of earth
brought to him every morning as he sat in his bed ;
and he would hold his head over it a good pretty while.
I commend also, sometimes, in digging of new earth,
to pour in some Malmsey or Greek wine, that the va-
pour of the earth and wine together may comfort the
spirits the more ; provided always it be not taken for
a heathen sacrifice, or libation to the earth.

929. They have in physic use of pomanders, and
knots of powders, for drying of rheums, comforting of
the heart, provoking of sleep, etc. For though those
things be not so strong as perfumes, yet you may
have them continually in your hand ; whereas per-
fumes you can take but at times : and besides, there
be divers things that breathe better of themselves,
than when they come to the fire ; as nigella romana,
the seed of melanthium amomum, etc.

930. There be two things which, inwardly used,
do cool and condense the spirits; and I wish thesame
to be tried outwardly in vapours. The one is nitre,
which I would have dissolved in Malmsey, or Greek
wine, and so the smell of the wine taken : or if you
would have it more forcible, pour of it upon a firepan,
well heated, as they do rose-water and vinegar. The
other is the distilled water of wild poppy, which I
wish to be mingled, at half, with rose-water, and so
taken with some mixture of a few cloves in a perfum-
ing pan. The like would be done with the distilled
water of saffron flowers.

931. Smells of musk, and amber, and civet, are
thought to further venereous appetite; which they may
do by the refreshing and calling forth of the spirits!

932. Incense and nidorous smells, such as were
of sacrifices, were thought to intoxicate the brain, and

54 Natural History, [Cent. X.

to dispose men to devotion : which they may do by a
kind of sadness, and contestation of the spirits ; and
partly also by heating and exalting them. We see
that amongst the Jews the principal perfume of the
sanctuary was forbidden all common uses.

933. There be some perfumes prescribed by the
writers of natural magic, which procure pleasant
dreams : and some others, as they say, that pro-
cure prophetical dreams ; as the seeds of flax, flea-
wort, etc.

934. It is certain, that odours do, in a smo.ll
degree, nourish ; especially the odour of wine : and
we see men an hungered do love to smell hot bread.
It is related, that Democritus, when he lay a dying,
heard a woman in the house complain that she should
be kept from being at a feast and solemnity, which
she much desired to see, because there would be a
corpse in the house ; whereupon he caused loaves of
new bread to be sent for, and opened them, and
poured a little wine into them ; and so kept himself
alive with the odour of them, till the feast was past.
I knew a gentleman that would fast, sometimes three
or four, yea, five days, without meat, bread, or drink;
but the same man used to have continually a great
wisp of herbs that he smelled on : and amongst those
herbs, some esculent herbs of strong scent; as onions,
garlic, leeks, and the like.

935. They do use, for the accident of the mother,
to burn feathers and other things of ill odour: and by
those ill smells the rising of the mother is put down.

936. There be airs which the physicians advise
their patients to remove unto, in consumptions or upon
recovery of long sicknesses : which, commonly, are
plain champains, but grasing, and not over-grown
with heath or the like ; or else timber-shades, as in
forests, and the like. It is noted also, that groves of
bays do forbid pestilent airs ; which was accounted a
great cause of the wholesome air of Antiochia. There
be also some soils that put forth odorate herbs of
themselves ; as wild thyme, wild marjoram, penny-
royal, camomile ; and in which the brier roses smell

Cent. X.] Natural History. 55

almost like musk-roses ; which, no doubt, are signs
that do discover an excellent air.

937 It were good for men to think of having
healthful air in their houses ; which will never be if
the rooms be low-roofed, or full of windows and
doors ; for the one maketh the air close, and not fresh,
and the other maketh it exceeding unequal ; which
is a great enemy to health. The windows also should
not be high up to the roof, which is in use for beauty
and magnificence, but low. Also stone- walls are not
wholesome ; but timber is more wholesome ; and
especially brick : nay, it hath been used by some with
great success to make their walls thick ; and to put
a lay of chalk between the bricks, to take away all
dampishness.

Experiment solitary touching the emissions of spi-
ritual species which affect the senses.

938. These emissions, as we said before, are han-
dled, and ought to be handled by themselves under
their proper titles : that is, visibles and audibles, each
apart : in this place it shall suffice to give some gene-
ral observations common to both. First, they seem
to be incorporeal. Secondly, they work swiftly.
Thirdly, they work at large distances. Fourthly, in
curious varieties. Fifthly, they are not effective of
any thing ; nor leave no work behind them ; but are
energies merely : for their working upon mirrours
and places of echo doth not alter any thing in those
bodies ; but it is the same action with the original,
only reper cussed. And as for the shaking of win-
dows, or rarifying the air by great noises ; and
the heat caused by burning glasses ; they are rather
concomitants of the audible and visible species, than
the effects of them. Sixthly, they seem to be of so
tender and weak a nature, as they effect only such a
rare and attenuate substance, as is the spirit of living
creatures.

56 Natural History. [Cent. X.

Experiments in consort touching the emission of im-
materiate virtues from the minds and spirits of
men, either by affections, or by imaginations, or by
other impressions.

939. It is mentioned in some stories, that where
children have been exposed, or taken away young
from their parents ; and that afterwards they have
approached to their parents' presence, the parents,
though they have not known them, have had a secret
joy or other alteration thereupon.

940. There was an Egyptian soothsayer, that
made Antonius believe, that his genius, which other-
wise was brave and confident, was, in the presence of
Octavianus Caesar, poor and cowardly : and therefore
he advised him to absent himself as much as he
could, and remove far from him. This soothsayer
wsf&ithought to be suborned by Cleopatra, to make
him live in Egypt, and other remote places from
Rome. Howsoever, the conceit of a predominant or
mastering spirit of one man over another, is ancient,
and received still, even in vulgar opinion.

941. There are conceits, that some men that are
of an ill and melancholy nature, do incline the com-
pany into which they come to be sad and ill-disposed ;
and, contrariwise, that others, that are of a jovial na-
ture, do dispose the company to be merry and cheer-
ful. And again, that some men are lucky to be kept
company with and employed ; and others unlucky
Certainly, it is agreeable to reason, that there are at
the least some light effluxions from spirit to spirit,
when men are in presence one with another, as well
as from body to body.

942. It hath been observed, that old men who have
loved young company, and been conversant continu-
ally with them, have been of long life ; their spirits,
as it seemeth, being recreated by such company.
Such were the ancient sophists and rhetoricians,
which ever had young auditors and disciples ; as
Georgias, Protagoras, Isocrates, etc. who lived till they
were an hundred years old. And so likewise did
many of the grammarians and school-masters ; such
as was Orbilius, etc

Cent. X.] Natural History. 57

943. Audacity and confidence doth, in civil busi-
ness, so great effects, as a man may reasonably
doubt, that besides the very daring, and earnestness,
and persisting, and importunity, there should be some
secret binding, and stooping of other men's spirits to
such persons.

944. The affections, no doubt, do make the spirits
more powerful and active ; and especially those affec-
tions which draw the spirits into the eyes : which are
two ; love, and envy, which is called oculus malus.
As for love, the Platonists, some of them, go so far as
to hold that the spirit of the lover doth pass into the
spirits of the person loved ; which causeth the desire of
return into the body whence it was emitted : where-
upon followeth that appetite of contact and conjunction
which is in lovers. And this is observed likewise, that
the aspects which procure love, are not gazings, but
sudden glances and dartings of the eye. As for envy,
that emitteth some malign and poisonous spirit, which
taketh hold of the spirit of another ; and is likewise of
greatest force when the cast of the eye is oblique. It
hath been noted also, that it is most dangerous when
an envious eye is cast upon persons in glory, and
triumph, and joy. The reason whereof is, for that at
such times the spirits come forth most into the out-
ward parts, and so meet the percussion of the envious
eye more at hand : and therefore it hath been noted,
that after great triumphs, men have been ill-disposed
for some days following. We see the opinion of fas-
cination is ancient, for both effects ; of procuring
love ; and sickness caused by envy : and fascination
is ever by the eye. But yet if there be any such in-
fection from spirit to spirit, there is no doubt but that
it worketh by presence, and not by the eye alone ;
yet most forcibly by the eye.

945. Fear and shame are likewise infective; for
we see that the starting of one will make another ready
to start ; and when one man is out of countenance in
a company, others do likewise blush in his behalf.

Now we will speak of the force of imagination
upon other bodies ; and of the means to exalt and

58 Natural History. [Cent. X.

strengthen it. Imagination, in this place, I under-
stand to be, the representation of an individual
thought. Imagination is of three kinds : the first
joined with belief of that which is to come; the second
joined with memory of that which is past ; and the
third is of things present, or as if they were present ;
for I comprehend in this, imaginations feigned, and at
pleasure ; as if one should imagine such a man to be
in the vestments of a Pope ; or to have wings. I
single out, for this time, that which is with faith or
belief of that which is to come. The inquisition of
this subject in our way, which is by induction, is won-
derful hard : for the things that are reported are full
of fables ; and new experiments can hardly be made,
but with extreme caution ; for the reason which we
will hereafter declare.

The power of imagination is of three kinds ; the
first upon 'the body of the imaginant, including like-
wise the child in the mother's womb ; the second is,
the power of it upon dead bodies, as plants, wood,
stone, metal, etc. the third is, the power of it upon the
spirits of men and living creatures : and with this last
we will only meddle.

The problem therefore is, whether a man con-
stantly and strongly believing that such a thing shall
be, as that such an one will love him ; or that such
an one will grant him his request ; or that such an
one shall recover a sickness ; or the like ; it doth help
any thing to the effecting of the thing itself. And
here again we must warily distinguish ; for it is
not meant, as hath been partly said before, that it
should help by making a man more stout, or more in-
dustrious, in which kind a constant belief doth much,
but merely by a secret operation, or binding, or
changing the spirit of another : and in this it is hard,
as we began to say, to make any new experiment ;
for I cannot command myself to believe what I will,
and so no trial can be made. Nay, it is worse ; for
whatsoever a man imagineth doubtingly, or with fear,
must needs do hurt, if imagination have any power at
all ; for a man represented that oftener that he fear-
eth, than the contrary

Cent. X.] Natural History. 59

The help therefore is, for a man to work by
another, in whom he may create belief, and not by
himself; until himself have found by experience, that
imagination doth prevail ; for then experience work-
eth in himself belief ; if the belief that such a thing
shall be, be joined with a belief that his imagination
may procure it.

946. For example : I related one time to a man
that was curious and vain enough in these things, that
I saw a kind of juggler, that had a pair of cards, and
would tell a man what card he thought. This pre-
tended learned man told me, it was a mistaking in
me ; " for," said he, " it was not the knowledge of
" the man's thought, for that is proper to God, but
" it was the inforcing of a thought upon him, and
" binding his imagination by a stronger, that he could
" think no other card." And thereupon he asked
me a question or two, which I thought he did but
cunningly, knowing before what used to be the feats
of the juggler. " Sir," said he, " do you remember
" whether he told the card the man thought, himself,
" or bade another to tell it ?" I answered, as was
true, that he bade another tell it. Whereunto he
said, " So I thought; for," said he, "himself could not
" have put on so strong an imagination ; but by tell-
" ing the other the card, who believed that the juggler
" was some strange man, and could do strange things,
" that other man caught a strong imagination." I
hearkened unto him, thinking for a vanity he spoke
prettily Then he asked me another question : saith
he, " Do you rememember, whether he bade the
" man think the card first, and afterwards told the
" other man in his ear what he should think ; or else
" that he did whisper first in the man's ear that
" should tell the card, telling that such a man should
" think such a card, and after bade the man think a
" card ?" I told him, as was true, that he did first
whisper the man in the ear, that such a man should
think such a card : upon this the learned man did
much exult and please himself, saying ; " Lo, you
" may see that my opinion is right : for if the man

60 Natural History. [Cent. X.

" had thought first, his thought had been fixed ; but
" the other imagining first, bound his thought."
Which, though it did somewhat sink with me, yet I
made it lighter than I thought, and said, I thought
it was confederacy between the juggler and the two
servants ; though, indeed, I had no reason so to
think, for they were both my father's servants ; and
he had never played in the house before. The jug-
gler also did cause a garter to be held up ; and took
upon him to know, that such an one should point in
such a place of the garter ; as it should be near so
many inches to the longer end, and so many to the
shorter ; and still he did it, by first telling the ima-
giner, and after bidding the actor think.

Having told this relation, not for the weight
thereof, but because it doth handsomely open the na-
ture of the question, I return to that I said ; that ex-
periments' of imagination must be practised by others,
and not by a man's self. For there be three means to
fortify belief : the first is experience ; the second is
reason ; and the third is authority : and that of these
which is far the most potent, is authority ; for belief
upon reason, or experience, will stagger.

947 For authority, it is of two kinds ; belief in an
art ; and belief in a man. And for things of belief
in an art, a man may exercise them by himself; but
for belief in a man, it must be by another. Therefore
if a man believe in astrology, and find a figure pros-
perous ; or believe in natural magic, and that a ring
with such a stone, or such a piece of a living creature,
carried, will do good ; it may help his imagination :
but the belief in a man is far the more active. But
howsoever, all authority must be out of a man's self,
turned, as was said, either upon an art, or upon a
man : and where authority is from one man to
another, there the second must be ignorant, and not
learned, or full of thoughts ; and such are, for the
most part, all witches and superstitious persons,
whose beliefs, tied to their teachers and traditions, are
no whit controlled either by reason or experience ;
and upon the same reason, in magic, they use for the

Cent. X.] Natural History. 61

most part boys and young people, whose spirits easi-
liest take belief and imagination.

Now to fortify imagination, there be three ways ;
the authority whence the belief is derived ; means to
quicken and corroborate the imagination ; and means
to repeat it and refresh it.

948. For the authority, we have already spoken:
as for the second, namely, the means to quicken and
corroborate the imagination ; we see what hath been
used in magic, if there be in those practices any thing
that is purely natural, as vestments, characters, words,
seals ; some parts of plants, or living creatures ;
stones ; choice of the hour ; gestures and motions ; also
incenses and odours ; choice of society, which, in-
creaseth imagination ; diets and preparations for some
time before. And for words, there have been ever
used, either barbarous words, of no sense, lest they
should disturb the imagination; or words of simili-
tude, that may second and feed the imagination ; and
this was ever as well in heathen charms, as in charms
of latter times. There are used also Scripture words;
for that the belief that religious texts and words have
power, may strengthen the imagination. And for the
same reason, Hebrew words, which amongst us is
counted the holy tongue, and the words more mysti-
cal, are often used.

949. For the refreshing of the imagination, which
was the third means of exalting it, we see the prac-
tices of magic, as in images of wax, and the like, that
should melt by little and little ; or some other things
buried in muck, that should putrify by little and
little; or the like: for so oft as the imaginant doth
think of those things, so oft doth he represent to his
imagination the effect of that he desireth.

950. If there be any power in imagination, it is
less credible that it should be so incorporeal, and im-
materiate a virtue, as to work at great distances, or
through all mediums, or upon all bodies : but that the
distance must be competent, the medium not adverse,
and the body apt and proportionate. Therefore, if
there be any operation upon bodies in absence by na-

62 Natural History. [Cent. X.

ture, it is like to be conveyed from man to man, as
fame is; as if a witch, by imagination, should hurt
any afar off, it cannot be naturally ; but by working
upon the spirit of some that cometh to the witch; and
from that party upon the imagination of another ; and
so upon another; till it come to one that hath resort
to the party intended ; and so by him to the party
intended himself. And although they speak, that it
sufficeth to take a point, or a piece of the garment, or
the name of the party, or the like ; yet there is less
credit to be given to those things, except it be by
working of evil spirits.

The experiments, which may certainly demonstrate
the power of imagination upon other bodies, are few
or none : for the experiments of witchcraft are no clear
proofs ; for that they may be by a tacit operation of
malign spirits : we shall therefore be forced, in this
inquiry, to resort to new experiments ; wherein we
can give only directions of trials, and not any positive
experiments. And if any man think that we ought
to have stayed till we had made experiment of some
of them ourselves, as we do commonly in other titles,
the truth is, that these effects of imagination upon
other bodies have so little credit with us, as we shall
try them at leisure ; but in the mean time we will
lead others the way.

951 When you work by the imagination of an-
other, it is necessary that he by whom you work, have
a precedent opinion of you that you can do strange
things ; or that you are a man of art, as they call it;
for else the simple affirmation to another, that this
or that shall be, can work but a weak impression in
his imagination.

952. It were good, because you cannot discern
fully of the strength of imagination in one man more
than another, that you did use the imagination of more
than one, that so you may light upon a strong one.
As if a physician should tell three or four of his pa-
tient's servants, that their master shall surely recover.

953. The imagination of one that you shall use,
such is the variety of men's minds, cannot be always

Cent. X.] Natural History. 63

alike constant and strong ; and if the success follow
not speedily, it will faint and lose strength. To re-
medy this, you must pretend to him, whose imagina-
tion you use, several degrees of means, by which to
operate : as to prescribe him that every three days, if
he find not the success apparent, he do use another
root, or part of a beast, or ring, etc. as being of more
force; and if that fail, another; and if that, another,
till seven times. Also you must prescribe a good
large time for the effect you promise ; as if you should
tell a servant of a sick man that his master shall
recover, but it will be fourteen days ere he findeth it
apparently, etc. All this to entertain the imagina-
tion that it waver less.

954. It is certain, that potions, or things taken
into the body ; incenses and perfumes taken at the
nostrils; and ointments of some parts, do naturally
work upon the imagination of him that taketh them.
And therefore it must needs greatly co-operate with
the imagination of him whom you use, if you pre-
scribe him, before he do use the receipt, for the work
which he desireth, that he do take such a pill, or
a spoonful of liquor; or burn such an incense; or
anoint his temples, or the soles of his feet, with such
an ointment or oil: and you must choose, for the
composition of such pill, perfume, or ointment, such
ingredients as do make the spirits a little more gross
or muddy; whereby the imagination will fix the
better.

955. The body passive, and to be wrought upon,
I mean not of the imaginant, is better wrought upon,
as hath been partly touched, at some times than at
others : as if you should prescribe a servant about a
sick person, whom you have possessed that his master
shall recover, when his master is fast asleep, to use
such a root, or such a root. For imagination is like
to work better upon sleeping men, than men awake ;
as we shall shew when we handle dreams.

956. We find in the art of memory, that images
visible work better than other conceits : as if you
would remember the word philosophy, you shall more

64 Natural History. [Cent. X.

surely do it, by imagining, that such a man, for men
are best places, is reading upon Aristotle's Physics;
than if you should imagine him to say, " I'll go study
"philosophy." And therefore this observation would
be translated to the subject we now speak of: for
the more lustrous the imagination is, it filleth and
fixeth the better And therefore I conceive, that
you shall, in that experiment, whereof we spake be-
fore, of binding of thoughts, less fail, if you tell one
that such an one shall name one of twenty men, than
if it were one of twenty cards. The experiment of
binding of thoughts would be diversified and tried to
the full : and you are to note, whether it hit for the
most part, though not always.

957 It is good to consider upon what things ima-
gination hath most force : and the rule, as I con-
ceive, is, that it hath most force upon things that
have the lightest and easiest motions. And therefore,
above all, upon the spirits of men : and, in them, upon
such affections as move lightest ; as upon procuring
of love; binding of lust, which is ever with imagina-
tion ; upon men in fear ; or men in irresolution ; and
the like. Whatsoever is of this kind would be
throughly inquired. Trials likewise would be made
upon plants, and that diligently ; as if you should tell
a man, that such a tree would die this year ; and will
him at these and these times to go unto it, to see how
it thriveth. As for inanimate things, it is true, that
the motions of shuffling of cards, or casting of dice,
are very light motions ; and there is a folly very usual,
that gamesters imagine, that some that stand by them
bring them ill luck. There would be trial also made
of holding a ring by a thread in a glass, and telling
him that holdeth it, before, that it shall strike so many
times against the side of the glass, and no more ; or
of holding a key between two men's fingers : without
a charm ; and to tell those that hold it, that at such
a name it shall go off their fingers, for these two
are extreme light motions. And, howsoever I have
no opinion of these things, yet so much I conceive to
be true ; That strong imagination hath more force

Cent. X.] Natural History. 65

upon things living, or that have been living, than
things merely inanimate : and more force likewise
upon light and subtile motions, than upon motions
vehement or ponderous.

958. It is an usual observation, that if the body of
one murdered be brought before the murderer, the
wounds will bleed afresh. Some do affirm, that the
dead body, upon the presence of the murderer, hath
opened the eyes ; and that there have been such like
motions, as well where the parties murdered have
been strangled or drowned, as where they have been
killed by wounds. It may be, that this participateth
of a miracle, by God's just judgment, who usually
bringeth murders to light : but if it be natural, it
must be referred to imagination.

959. The tying of the point upon the day of mar-
riage, to make men impotent towards their wives,
which, as we have formerly touched, is so frequent in
Zant and Gascony, if it be natural, must be referred
to the imagination of him that tieth the point. I
conceive it to have the less affinity with witchcraft,
because not peculiar persons only, such as witches
are, but any body may do it.

Experiments in consort touching the secret virtue
of sympathy and antipathy.

960. There be many things that work upon the
spirits of man by secret sympathy and antipathy : the
virtues of precious stones, worn, have been anciently
and generally received, and curiously assigned to work
several effects. So much is true; that stones have in
them fine spirits, as appeareth by their splendour; and
therefore they may work by consent upon the spirits
of men, to comfort and exhilarate them. Those that
are the best, for that effect, are the diamond, the
emerald, the hyacinth oriental, and the gold stone,
which is the yellow topaz. As for their particular
proprieties, there is no credit to be given to them.
But it is manifest, that light, above all things, ex-
celleth in comforting the spirits of men: and it is
very probable, that light varied doth the same effect,

vol. ir. F

66 Natural History. [Cent. X.

with more novelty. And this is one of the causes
why precious stones comfort. And therefore it were
good to have tincted lanthorns, or tincted screens,
of glass coloured into green, blue, carnation, crimson,
purple, etc. and to use them with candles in the night.
So likewise to have round glasses, not only of glass
coloured through, but with colours laid between
crystals, with handles to hold in one's hand. Prisms
are also comfortable things. They have of Paris-
work, looking-glasses, bordered with broad borders
of small crystal, and great counterfeit precious stones,
of all colours, that are most glorious and pleasant to
behold ; especially in the night. The pictures of
Indian feathers are likewise comfortable and pleasant
to behold. So also fair and clear pools do greatly
comfort the eyes and spirits, especially when the sun
is not glaring, but overcast; or when the moon
shineth.

961. There be divers sorts of bracelets fit to com-
fort the spirits ; and they be of three intentions ; re-
frigerant, corroborant, and aperient. For refrigerant,
I wish them to be of pearl, or of coral, as is used ;
and it hath been noted that coral, if the party that
weareth it be indisposed, will wax pale ; which I be-
lieve to be true, because otherwise distemper of heat
will make coral lose colour. I commend also beads,
or little plates of lapis lazuli ; and beads of nitre,
either alone, or with some cordial mixture.

962. For corroboration and confortation, take
such bodies as are of astringent quality, without ma-
nifest cold. I commend bead-amber, which is full
of astriction, but yet is unctuous, and not cold ; and
is conceived to impinguate those that wear such
beads; I commend also beads of hartshorn and ivory;
which are of the like nature ; also orange beads ; also
beads of lignum aloes, macerated first in rose-water,
and dried.

963. For opening, I commend beads, or pieces
of the roots of carduus benedictus: also of the roots
of piony the male ; and of orrice ; and of calamus
aromaticus; and of rue.

Cent. X.] Natural History. 67

964. The cramp, no doubt, cometh of contraction
of sinews ; which is manifest, in that it cometh either
by cold or dryness ; as after consumptions, and long
agues ; for cold and dryness do, both of them, con-
tract and corrugate. We see also, that chafing a little
above the place in pain, easeth the cramp; which is
wrought by the dilatation of the contracted sinews by
heat. There are in use, for the prevention of the
cramp, two things ; the one, rings of sea-horse teeth
worn upon the fingers; the other, bands of green
periwinkle, the herb, tied about the calf of the leg,
or the thigh, etc. where the cramp useth to come. I
do find this the more strange, because neither of these
have any relaxing virtue, but rather the contrary. I
judge, therefore, that their working is rather upon the
spirits, within the nerves, to make them strive less,
than upon the bodily substance of the nerves.

965. I would have trial made of two other kinds
of bracelets, for comforting the heart and spirits: the
one of the trochisk of vipers, made into little pieces
of beads; for since they do great good inwards,
especially for pestilent agues, it is like they will be
effectual outwards; where they may be applied in
greater quantity. There would be trochisk likewise
made of snakes ; whose flesh dried is thought to have
a very opening and cordial virtue. The other is, of
beads made of the scarlet powder, which they call
kermes ; which is the principal ingredient in their
cordial confection alkermes : the beads would be
made up with ambergrease, and some pomander.

966. It hath been long received, and confirmed by
divers trials, that the root of the male-piony dried,
tied to the neck, doth help the falling sickness; and
likewise the incubus, which we call the mare. The
cause of both these diseases, and especially of the
epilepsy from the stomach, is the grossness of the
vapours which rise and enter into the cells of the
brain : and therefore the working is by extreme and
subtile attenuation ; which that simple hath. I judge
the like to be in castoreum, musk, rue-seed, agnus
castus seed, etc.

f2

68 Natural History. [Cent. X.

967 There is a stone which they call the blood-
stone, which worn is thought to be good for them that
bleed at the nose : which, no doubt, is by astriction
and cooling of the spirits. Query, if the stone taken
out of the toad's head, be not of the like virtue ; for
the toad loveth shade and coolness ?

968. Light may be taken from the experiment of
the horse-tooth ring, and the garland of periwinkle,
how that those things which assuage the strife of the
spirits, do help diseases contrary to the intention de-
sired : for in the curing of the cramp, the intention is
to relax the sinews ; but the contraction of the spirits,
that they strive less, is the best help : so to procure
easy travails of women, the intention is to bring down
the child ; but the best help is, to stay the coming
down too fast : whereunto, they say, the toad-stone
likewise helpeth. So, in pestilent fevers, the inten-
tion is to expel the infection by sweat and evapora-
tion : but the best means to do it is by nitre, diascor-
dium, and other cool things, which do for a time ar-
rest the expulsion, till nature can do it more quietly -
For, as one saith prettily; " In the quenching of the
" flame of a pestilent ague, nature is like people that
" come to quench the fire of a house; which are so
" busy, as one of them letteth another." Surely it
is an excellent axiom, and of manifold use, that
whatsoever appeaseth the contention of the spirits,
furthereth their action.

969. The writers of natural magic commend the
wearing of the spoil of a snake, for preserving of
health. I doubt it is but a conceit; for that the
snake is thought to renew her youth, by casting her
spoil. They might as well take the beak of an eagle,
or a piece of a hart's horn, because those renew.

970. It hath been anciently received, for Pericles
the Athenian used it, and it is yet in use, to wear
little bladders of quicksilver, or tablets of arsenic, as
preservatives against the plague: not as they con-
ceive for any comfort they yield to the spirits, but for
that being poisons themselves, they draw the venom
to them from the spirits.

Cent. X.] Natural History. 69

971. Vide the experiments 95, 96, and 97, touch-
ing the several sympathies and antipathies for medi-
cinal use.

972. It is said, that the guts or skin of a wolf,
being applied to the belly, do cure the colic. It is
true, that the wolf is a beast of great edacity and
digestion ; and so it may be the parts of him comfort
the bowels.

973. We see scarecrows are set up to keep birds
from corn and fruit ; it is reported by some, that the
head of a wolf, whole, dried, and hanged up in a
dove-house, will scare away vermin ; such as are
weasels, pole-cats, and the like. It may be the head
of a dog will do as much ; for those vermin with us,
know dogs better than wolves.

974. The brains of some creatures, when their
heads are roasted, taken in wine, are said to strengthen
the memory ; as the brains of hares, brains of hens,
brains of deers, etc. And it seemeth to be incident to
the brains of those creatures that are fearful.

975. The ointment that witches use, is reported
to be made of the fat of children digged out of their
graves; of the juices of smallage, wolf-bane, and
cinque-foil, mingled with the meal of fine wheat.
But I suppose, that the soporiferous medicines are
likest to do it ; which are henbane, hemlock, man-
drake, moonshade, tobacco, opium, saffron, poplar-
leaves, etc.

976. It is reported by some, that the affections of
beasts, when they are in strength, do add some virtue
unto inanimate things ; as that the skin of a sheep
devoured by a wolf, moveth itching; that a stone
bitten by a dog in anger, being thrown at him, drunk
in powder, provoketh choler.

977 It hath been observed, that the diet of women
with child doth work much upon the infant; as, if the
mother eat quinces much, and coriander-seed, the na-
ture of both which is to repress and stay vapours that
ascend to the brain, it will make the child ingenious ;
and, on the contrary side, if the mother eat much
onions or beans, or such vaporous food ; or drink

70 Natural History. [Cent. X.

wine, or strong drink immoderately ; or fast much ;
or be given to much musing; all which send or draw
vapours to the head ; it endangereth the child to be-
come lunatic, or of imperfect memory : and I make
the same judgment of tobacco often taken by the
mother.

978. The writers of natural magic report, that the
heart of an ape, worn near the heart, comforteth the
heart, and increaseth audacity. It is true that the ape
is a merry and bold beast. And that the same heart
likewise of an ape, applied to the neck or head,
helpeth the wit, and is good for the falling sickness :
the ape also is a witty beast, and hath a dry brain ;
which may be some cause of attenuation of vapours
in the head. Yet it is said to move dreams also. It
may be the heart of a man would do more, but that
it is more -against men's minds to use it ; except it be
in such as wear the relics of saints.

979. The flesh of a hedge-hog, dressed and eaten,
is said to be a great drier : it is true that the juice of
a hedge-hog must needs be harsh and dry, because it
putteth forth so many prickles : for plants also that
are full of prickles are generally dry; as briers, thorns,
berberries ; and therefore the ashes of a hedge-hog
are said to be a great desiccative of fistulas.

980. Mummy hath great force in stanching of
blood ; which, as it may be ascribed to the mixture
of balms that are glutinous ; so it may also partake of
a secret propriety, in that the blood draweth man's
flesh. And it is approved that the moss which groweth
upon the skull of a dead man unburied, will stanch
blood potently : and so do the dregs, or powder of
blood, severed from the water, and dried.

981. It hath been practised, to make white swal-
lows, by anointing of the eggs with oil. Which
effect may be produced, by the stopping of the pores
of the shell, and making the juice that putteth forth
the feathers afterwards more penurious. And it may
be the anointing of the eggs will be as effectual as
the anointing of the body; of which vide the experi-
ment 93. J r

Cent. X.] Natural History. 71

982. It is reported, that the white of an egg, or
blood, mingled with salt-water, doth gather the salt-
ness, and maketh the water sweeter. This may be
by adhesion ; as in the sixth experiment of clarifica-
tion : it may be also, that blood, and the white of
an egg, which is the matter of a living creature, have
some sympathy with salt : for all life hath a sympathy
with salt. We see that salt laid to a cut finger
healeth it; so as it seemeth salt draweth blood, as
well as blood draweth salt.

983. It hath been anciently received, that the sea-
hare hath an antipathy with the lungs, if it cometh
near the body, and erodeth them. Whereof the
cause is conceived to be, a quality it hath of heating
the breath and spirits ; as cantharides have upon the
watery parts of the body, as urine and hydropical
water. And it is a good rule, that whatsoever hath
an operation upon certain kinds of matters, that, in
man's body, worketh most upon those parts wherein
that kind of matter aboundeth.

984. Generally, that which is dead, or corrupt-
ed, or excerned, hath antipathy with the same thing
when it is alive, and when it is sound ; and with
those parts which do excern : as a carcase of man is
most infectious and odious to man ; a carrion of a
horse to a horse, etc. ; purulent matter of wounds, and
ulcers, carbuncles, pocks, scabs, leprosy, to sound
flesh ; and the excrement of every species to that
creature that excerneth them : but the excrements
are less pernicious than the corruptions.

985. It is a common experience, that dogs know
the dog-killer; when, as in times of infection, some
petty fellow is sent out to kill the dogs; and that
though they have never seen him before, yet they will
all come forth, and bark, and fly at him.

986. The relations touching the force of imagina-
tion, and the secret instincts of nature, are so uncer-
tain, as they require a great deal of examination ere
we conclude upon them. I would have it first tho-
roughly inquired, whether there be any secret pas-
sages of sympathy between persons of near blood ; as

72 Natural History. [Cent. X.

parents, children, brothers, sisters, nurse-children, hus-
bands, wives, etc. There be many reports in history,
that upon the death of persons of such nearness, men
have had an inward feeling of it. I myself remember,
that being in Paris, and my father dying in London,
two or three days before my father's death, I had a
dream, which I told to divers English gentlemen, that
my father's house in the country was plaistered all
over with black mortar. -There is an opinion abroad,
whether idle or no I cannot say, that loving and kind
husbands have a sense of their wives breeding child,
by some accident in their own body.

987 Next to those that are near in blood, there
may be the like passage, and instincts of nature, be-
tween great friends and enemies : and sometimes the
revealing is unto another person, and not to the party
himself. I remember Philippus Commineus, a grave
writer, reporteth, that the archbishop of Vienna, a
reverend prelate, said one day after mass to king
Lewis the eleventh of France : " Sir, your mortal
" enemy is dead ;" what time duke Charles of Bur-
gundy was slain at the battle of Granson against the
Switzers. Some trial also would be made, whether
pact or agreement do any thing; as if two friends
should agree, that such a day in every week, they,
being in far distant places, should pray one for ano-
ther ; or should put on a ring or tablet one for ano-
ther's sake; whether if one of them should break their
vow and promise, the other should have any feeling
of it in absence.

988. If there be any force in imaginations and
affections of singular persons, it is probable the force
is much more in the joint imaginations and affections
of multitudes : as if a victory should be won or lost in
remote parts, whether is there not some sense thereof
in the people whom it concerneth; because of the
great joy or grief that many men are possessed with at
once? Pius Quintus, at the very time when that me-
morable victory was won by the Christians against
the Turks, at the naval battle of Lepanto, being then
hearing of causes in consistory, brake off suddenly,

Cent. X.] Natural History. 73

and said to those about him, " It is now more time
" we should give thanks to God, for the great vic-
" tory he hath granted us against the Turks :" it is
true, that victory had a sympathy with his spirit ; for
it was merely his work to conclude that league. It
may be that revelation was divine ; but what shall
we say then to a number of examples amongst the
Grecians and Romans ? where the people, being in
theatres at plays, have had news of victories and over-
throws, some few days before any messenger could
come.

It is true, that that may hold in these things, which
is the general root of superstition : namely, that men
observe when things hit, and not when they miss ; and
commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over
the other. But touching divination, and the misgiving
of minds, we shall speak more when we handle in
general the nature of minds, and souls, and spirits.

989. We have given formerly some rules of imagi-
nation ; and touching the fortifying of the same. We
have set down also some few instances and directions,
of the force of imagination upon beasts, birds, etc.
upon plants, and upon inanimate bodies: wherein
you must still observe, that your trials be upon subtle
and light motions, and not the contrary ; for you will
sooner by imagination bind a bird from singing than
from eating or flying : and I leave it to every man to
choose experiments which himself thinketh most com-
modious ; giving now but a few examples of every of
the three kinds.

990. Use some imaginant, observing the rules for-
merly prescribed, for binding of a bird from singing ;
and the like of a dog from barking. Try also the
imagination of some, whom you shall accommodate
with things to fortify it, in cock-fights, to make one
Cock more hardy, and the other more cowardly It
would be tried also in flying of hawks ; or in coursing
of a deer, or hare, with greyhounds : or in horse-
races ; and the like comparative motions; for you
may sooner by imagination quicken or slack a mo-
tion, than raise or cease it ; as it is easier to make a

74 Natural History. [Cent. X.

dog go slower, than to make him stand still, that he
may not run.

991. In plants also you may try the force of ima-
gination upon the lighter sort of motions : as upon
the sudden fading, or lively coming up of herbs ; or
upon their bending one way or other; or upon their
closing and opening, etc.

992. For inanimate things, you may try the force
of imagination, upon staying the working of beer
when the barm is put in ; or upon the coming of butter
or cheese, after the churning, or the rennet be put in.

993. It is an ancient tradition every where ai-
led ged, for example of secret proprieties and influxes,
that the torpedo marina, if it be touched with a long
stick, doth stupify the hand of him that toucheth it.
It is one degree of working at distance, to work by
the continuance of a fit medium ; as sound will be
conveyed to the ear by striking upon a bow-string,
if the horn of the bow be held to the ear.

994. The writers of natural magic do attribute
much to the virtues that come from the parts of living
creatures; so as they be taken from them, the crea-
tures remaining still alive : as if the creatures still
living did infuse some immateriate virtue and vigour
into the part severed. So much may be true ; that
any part taken from a living creature newly slain, may
be of greater force than if it were taken from the like
creature dying of itself, because it is fuller of spirit.

995. Trial would be made of the like parts of
individuals in plants and living creatures ; as to cut
off a stock of a tree, and to lay that which you cut off
to putrify, to see whether it will decay the rest of the
stock : or if you should cut off part of the tail or leg
of a dog or a cat, and lay it to putrify, and so see
whether it will fester, or keep from healing, the part
which remaineth.

996. It is received, that it helpeth to continue
love, if one wear a ring, or a bracelet, of the hair of
the party beloved. But that may be by the exciting
of the imagination : and perhaps a glove, or other
like favour, may as well do it.

Cent. X.] Natural History. 75

997 The sympathy of individuals, that have been
entire, or have touched, is of all others the most in-
credible ; yet, according unto our faithful manner of
examination of nature, we will make some little men-
tion of it. The taking away of warts, by rubbing
them with somewhat that, afterwards is put to waste
and consume, is a common experiment ; and I do ap-
prehend it the rather because of my own experience.
I had from my childhood a wart upon one of my fin-
gers: afterwards, when I was about sixteen years old,
being then at Paris, there grew upon both my hands a
number of warts, at the least a hundred, in a month's
space. The English ambassador's lady, who was a
woman far from superstition, told me one day, she
would help me away with my warts : whereupon she
got a piece of lard with the skin on, and rubbed the
warts all over with the fat side ; and amongst the rest,
that wart which I had had from my childhood : then
she nailed the piece of lard, with the fat towards the
sun, upon a post of her chamber window, which was
to the south. The success was, that within five weeks
space all the warts went quite away : and that wart
which I had so long endured, for company But at
the rest I did little marvel, because they came in a
short time, and might go away in a short time again :
but the going away of that which had stayed so long
doth yet stick with me. They say the like is done
by the rubbing of warts with a green elder stick, and
then burying the stick to rot in muck. It would be
tried with corns and wens, and such other excres-
cences. I would have it also tried with some parts
of living creatures that are nearest the nature of ex-
crescences ; as the combs of cocks, the spurs of cocks,
the horns of beasts, etc. And I would have it tried
both ways ; both by rubbing those parts with lard, or
elder, as before ; and by cutting off some piece of
those parts, and laying it to consume : to see whether
it will work any effect towards the consumption of
that part which was once joined with it.

998. It is constantly received and avouched, that
the anointing of the weapon that maketh the wound,

76 Natural History. [Cent. X.

will heal the wound itself. In this experiment, upon
the relation of men of credit, though myself, as yet,
am not fully inclined to believe it, you shall note the
points following : first, the ointment wherewith this
is done is made of divers ingredients ; whereof the
strangest and hardest to come by, are the moss upon
the skull of a dead man unburied ; and the fats of a
boar and a bear killed in the act of generation. These
two last I could easily suspect to be prescribed as a
starting-hole ; that if the experiment proved not, it
might be pretended that the beasts were not killed in
the due time ; for as for the moss, it is certain there
is great quantity of it in Ireland, upon slain bodies,
laid on heaps unburied. The other ingredients are,
the blood-stone in powder, and some other things,
which seem to have a virtue to stanch blood ; as also
the moss hath. And the description of the whole
ointment is to be found in the chemical dispensatory
of Crollius. Secondly, the same kind of ointment
applied to the hurt itself worketh not the effect ; but
only applied to the weapon. Thirdly, which I like
well, they do not observe the confecting of the oint-
ment under any certain constellation ; which com-
monly is the excuse of magical medicines when they
fail, that they were not made under a fit figure of
heaven. Fourthly, it may be applied to the weapon,
though the party hurt be at great distance. Fifthly,
it seemeth the imagination of the party to be cured is
not needful to concur; for it maybe done without the
knowledge of the party wounded: and thus much has
been tried, that the ointment, for experiment's sake,
hath been wiped off the weapon, without the know-
ledge of the party hurt, and presently the party hurt
has been in great rage of pain, till the weapon was
re-anointed. Sixthly, it is affirmed, that if you cannot
get the weapon, yet if you put an instrument of iron
or wood, resembling the weapon, into the wound,
whereby it bleedeth, the anointing of that instrument
will serve and work the effect. This I doubt should
be a device to keep this strange form of cure in re-
quest and use : because many times you cannot come

Cent. X.] Natural History. 77

by the weapon itself. Seventhly, the wound must be
at first washed clean with white wine, or the party's
own water ; and then bound up close in fine linen,
and no more dressing renewed till it be whole.
Eighthly, the sword itself must be wrapped up close,
as far as the ointment goeth, that it taketh no wind.
Ninthly, the ointment, if you wipe it off from the
sword and keep it, will serve again ; and rather in-
crease in virtue than diminish. Tenthly, it will cure
in far shorter time than ointments of wounds com-
monly do. Lastly, it will cure a beast as well as a
man ; which I like best of all the rest, because it sub-
jecteth the matter to any easy trial.

Experiment solitary touching secret proprieties.

999. I would have men know, that though I re-
prehend the easy passing over the causes of things, by
ascribing them to secret and hidden virtues, and pro-
prieties, for this hath arrested and laid asleep all true
inquiry and indications, yet I do not understand, but
that in the practical part of knowledge, much will be
left to experience and probation, whereunto indica-
tion cannot so fully reach : and this not only in spe-
cie, but in individuo. So in physic ; if you will cure
the jaundice, it is not enough to say, that the medi-
cine must not be cooling; for that will hinder the
opening which the disease requireth : that it must
not be hot ; for that will exasperate choler : that it
must go to the gall ; for there is the obstruction which
causeth the disease, etc. But you must receive from
experience that powder of Chamcepytis, or the like,
drunk in beer, is good for the jaundice. So, again, a
wise physician doth not continue still the same medi-
cine to a patient ; but he will vary, if the first medi-
cine doth not apparently succeed : for of those reme-
dies that are good for the jaundice, stone, agues, etc.
that will do good in one body which will not do
good in another; according to the correspondence
the medicine hath to the individual body.

78 Natural History. [Cent. X.

Experiment solitary touching the general sympathy
of mens spirits.

1000. The delight which men have in popularity,
fame, honour, submission, and subjection of other
men's minds, wills, or affections, although these
things may be desired for other ends, seemeth to be
a thing in itself, without contemplation of conse-
quence, grateful and agreeable to the nature of man.
This thing, surely, is not without some signification,
as if all spirits and souls of men came forth out of
one divine limbus; else why should men be so much
affected with that which others think or say? The
best temper of minds desireth good name and true
honour : the lighter, popularity and applause : the
more depraved, subjection and tyranny ; as is seen
in great conquerors and troublers of the world : and
yet more- in arch-heretics ; for the introducing of
new doctrines is likewise an affectation of tyranny
over the understandings and beliefs of men.

NEW ATLANTIS.

A WORK UNFINISHED.

TO THE READER.

This fable my lord devised, to the end that he might
exhibit therein a model or description of a college,
instituted for the interpreting of nature, and the
producing of great and marvellous works, for the
benefit of men ; under the name of Solomon's House,
or the College of the Six Days' Works. And even so
far his lordship hath proceeded, as to finish that part.
Certainly the model is more vast and high, than can
possibly he imitated in all things; notwithstanding
most things therein are within mens power to effect.
His lordship thought also in this present fable, to
have composed a frame of laws, or of the best state or
mould of a commonwealth; but foreseeing it would be
a long work, his desire of collecting the Natural His-
tory diverted him, which he preferred many degrees
before it.

This work of the New Atlantis, as much as con-
cerneth the English edition, his lordship designed for
this place ; in regard it hath so near affinity, in one
part of it, with the preceding Natural History.

W RAWLEY

NEW ATLANTIS.

We sailed from Peru, where we had continued by
the space of one whole year, for China and Ja-
pan, by the South Sea, taking with us victuals for
twelve months ; and had good winds from the east,
though soft and weak, for five months' space and
more. But then the wind came about, and settled in
the west for many days, so as we could make little or
no way, and were sometimes in purpose to turn back.
But then, again, there arose strong and great winds
from the south, with a point east, which carried us up,
for all that we could do, towards the north : by which
time our victuals failed us, though we had made good
spare of them. So that, finding ourselves in the midst
of the greatest wilderness of waters in the world,
without victual, we gave ourselves for lost men, and
prepared for death. Yet we did lift up our hearts
and voices to God above, who sheweth his wonders in
the deep; beseeching him of his mercy, that as in the
beginning he discovered the face of the deep, and
brought forth dry land ; so he would now discover
land to us, that we might not perish. And it came
to pass, that the next day about evening, we saw
within a kenning before us, towards the north, as it
were thick clouds, which did put us in some hope of
land; knowing how that part of the South Sea was ut-
terly unknown; and might have islands or continents,
that hitherto were not come to light. Wherefore we
bent our course thither, where we saw the appearance
of land all that night ; and in the dawning of the next
day, we might plainly discern that it was a land, flat
to our sight, and full of boscage, which made it shew
the more dark. And after an hour and a half's sail-
ing, we entered into a good haven, being the port of
a fair city ; not great indeed, but well built, and that
gave a pleasant view from the sea : and we thinking

VOL. II, G

82 New Atlantis.

every minute long till we were on land, came close to
the shore, and offered to land. But straightways we
saw divers of the people withbastons in their hands, as
it were, forbidding us to land; yet without any cries
or fierceness, but only as warning us off by signs that
they made. Whereupon, being not a little discom-
forted, we were advising with ourselves what we
should do. During which time there made forth to
us a small boat, with about eight persons in it;
whereof one of them had in his hand a tipstaff of a
yellow cane, tipped at both ends with blue, who
came aboard our ship, without any shew of distrust
at all. And when he saw one of our number present
himself somewhat afore the rest, he drew forth a lit-
tle scroll of parchment, somewhat yellower than our
parchment, and shining like the leaves of writing-
tables, but otherwise soft and flexible, and delivered
it to our foremost man. In which scroll were written
in ancient Hebrew, and in ancient Greek, and in
good Latin of the school, and in Spanish, these
words ; " Land ye not, none of you, and provide to
" be gone from this coast within sixteen days, except
" you have farther time given you : meanwhile, if
" you want fresh water, or victual, or help for your
" sick, or that your ship needeth repair, write down
" your wants, and you shall have that which belong-
etn to mercy " This scroll was signed with a
stamp of cherubims' wings, not spread, but hanging
downwards, and by them a cross. This being deli-
vered, the officer returned, and left only a servant
with us to receive our answer. Consulting hereupon
amongst ourselves, we were much perplexed. The
denial of landing, and hasty warning us away, trou-
bled us much : on the other side, to find that the peo-
ple had languages, and were so full of humanity, did
comfort us not a little. And above all, the sign of
the cross to that instrument was to us a great rejoic-
ing, and, as it were, a certain presage of good. Our
answer was in the Spanish tongue ; " That for our
" ship, it was well ; for we had rather met with calms
" and contrary winds than any tempests. For our

New Atlantis. S3

" sick, they were many, and in very ill case; so that
" if they were not permitted to land, they ran in dan-
" ger of their lives." Our other wants we set down
in particular ; adding, " that we had some little store
" of merchandise, which if it pleased them to deal
" for, it might supply our wants without being
" chargeable unto them." We offered some reward
in pistolets unto the servant, and a piece of crimson
velvet to be presented to the officer ; but the servant
took them not, nor would scarce look upon them ; and
so left us, and went back in another little boat which
was sent for him.

About three hours after we had dispatched our an-
swer, there came towards us a person, as it seemed, of
place. He had on him a gown with wide sleeves, of
a kind of water- chamblet, of an excellent azure colour,
far more glossy than ours; his under- apparel was
green, and so was his hat, being in the form of a tur-
ban, daintily made, and not so huge as the Turkish
turbans ; and the locks of his hair came down below
the brims of it. A reverend man was he to behold.
He came in a boat, gilt in some part of it, with four
persons more only in that boat: and was followed by
another boat, wherein were some twenty. When he
was come within a flight shot of our ship, signs were
made to us, that we should send forth some to meet
him upon the water, which we presently did in our
ship-boat, sendingthe principal man amongst us, save
one, and four of our number with him. When we
were come within six yards of their boat, they
called to us to stay, and not to approach farther ;
which we did. And thereupon the man, whom I be-
fore described, stood up, and with a loud voice in
Spanish, asked, " Are ye Christians?" We answer-
ed, "we were;" fearing the less, because of the cross
we had seen in the subscription. At which answer
the said person lift up his right hand towards heaven,
and drew it softly to his mouth, which is the gesture
they use when they thank God, and then said : " If
" ye will swear, all of you, by the merits of the
" Saviour, that ye are no pirates; nor have shed

g2

84 New Atlantis.

" blood lawfully nor unlawfully within forty days
"past; you may have licence to come on land." We
said, " we were all ready to take that oath." Where-
upon one of those that were with him, being, as it
seemed, a notary, made an entry of this act. Which
done, another of the attendants of the great person,
which was with him in the same boat, after his lord
had spoken a little to him, said aloud; " My lord
"would have you know, that it is not of pride or
" greatness, that he cometh not aboard your ship;
" but for that in your answer you declare, that you
" have many sick amongst you, he was warned by
" the conservator of health of the city, that he should
" keep a distance." We bowed ourselves towards
him, and answered, "we were his humble servants;
" and accounted for great honour, and singular hu-
" manity 'towards us, that which was already done;
" but hoped well, that the nature of the sickness of
" our men was not infectious." So he returned ; and
awhile after came the notary to us aboard our ship ;
holding in his hand a fruit of that country, like an
orange, but of colour between orange-tawny and
scarlet, which cast a most excellent odour. He used
it, as it seemeth, for a preservative against infection.
He gave us our oath ; " By the name of Jesus and
" his merits :" and after told us, that the next day by
six of the clock in the morning we should be sent to,
and brought to the Strangers' house, so he called it,
where we should be accommodated of things, both
for our whole, and for our sick. So he left us ; and
when we offered him some pistolets, he smiling, said,
"he must not be twice paid for one labour :" mean-
ing, as I take it, that he had salary sufficient of the
state for his service. For, as I after learned, they
call an officer that taketh rewards, twice-paid.

The next morning early, there came to us the same
officer that came to us at first with his cane, and told
us> " he came to conduct us to the Strangers' house ;
" and that he had prevented the hour, because we
11 might have the whole day before us for our busi-
*'ness. For," said he, "if you will follow my advice,

New Atlantis. 85

" there shall first go with me some few of you, and see
" the place, and how it may be made convenient for
" you ; and then you may send for your sick, and the
"rest of your number, which ye will bring on land."
We thanked him, and said, that this care, which he
took of desolate strangers, God would reward. And
so six of us went on land with him : and when we
were on land, he went before us, and turned to us,
and said, " he was but our servant, and our guide."
He led us through three fair streets ; and all the way
we went there were gathered some people on both
sides, standing in a row ; but in so civil a fashion, as
if it had been, not to wonder at us, but to welcome us ;
and divers of them, as we passed by them, put their
arms a little abroad ; which is their gesture when they
bid any welcome. The Strangers' house is a fair and
spacious house, built of brick, of somewhat a bluer
colour than our brick ; and with handsome windows,
some of glass, some of a kind of cambric oiled. He
brought us first into a fair parlour above stairs, and
then asked us, "What number of persons we were ?
"And how many sick?" We answered, " we were
" in all, sick and whole, one-and-fifty persons,
"whereof our sick were seventeen." He desired us
to have patience a little, and to stay till he came back
to us, which was about an hour after; and then he
led us to see the chambers, which were provided for
us, being in number nineteen : they having cast it,
as it seemeth,that four of those chambers, which were
better than the rest, might receive four of the princi-
pal men of our company, and lodge them alone by
themselves ; and the other fifteen chambers, were to
lodge us two and two together. The chambers were
handsome and chearful chambers, and furnished ci-
villy. Then he led us to a long gallery, like a dor-
ture, where he shewed us all along the one side, for
the other side was but wall and window, seventeen
cells, very neat ones, having partitions of cedar wood.
Which gallery and cells, being in all forty, many
more than we needed, were instituted as an infirmary
for sick persons. And he told us withal, that as any

86 New Atlantis.

of our sick waxed well, he might be removed from
his cell to a chamber : for which purpose there were
set forth ten spare chambers, besides the number we
spake of before. This done, he brought us back to
the parlour, and lifting up his cane a little, as they do
when they give any charge or command, said to us,
" Ye are to know that the custom of the land requir-
" eth, that after this day and to-morrow, which we
" giye you f°r removing of your people from your
" ship, you are to keep within doors for three days.
" But let it not trouble you, nor do not think your-
" selves restrained, but rather left to your rest and
" ease. You shall want nothing, and there are six
" of our people appointed to attend you, for any bu-
" siness you may have abroad." We gave him thanks,
with all afTection and respect, and said, " God surely
" is manifested in this land." We offered him
also twenty pistolets ; but he smiled, and only said ;
" What ! twice paid ?" And so he left us. Soon
after, our dinner was served in ; which was right good
viands, both for bread and meat : better than any col-
legiate diet that I have known in Europe. We had
also drink of three sorts, all wholesome and good ;
wine of the grape ; a drink of grain, such as is with
us our ale, but more clear ; and a kind of cider made
of a fruit of that country ; a wonderful pleasing and
refreshing drink. Besides, there were brought in to us
great store of those scarlet oranges for our sick ; which,
they said, were an assured remedy for sickness taken
at sea. There was given us also, a box of small grey
or whitish pills, which they wished our sick should
take, one of the pills every night before sleep ; which,
they said, would hasten their recovery The next day,
after that our trouble of carriage, and removing of
our men and goods out of our ship was somewhat
settled and quiet, I thought good to call our company
together ; and when they were assembled, said unto
them ; " My dear friends, let us know ourselves, and
"how it standeth with us. We are men cast on
" land, as Jonas was, out of the whale's belly, when
" we were as buried in the deep : and now we are

New Atlantis. 87

" on land, we are but between death and life ; for
" we are beyond both the old world and the news ;
" and whether ever we shall see Europe, God only
" knoweth. It is a kind of miracle hath brought us
" hither : and it must be little less that shall bring
" us hence. Therefore, in regard of our deliverance
" past, and our danger present and to come, let us
" look up to God, and every man reform his own ways.
" Besides, we are come here amongst a Christian
" people, full of piety and humanity : let us not bring
" that confusion of face upon ourselves, as to shew
" our vices or unworthiness before them. Yet there
" is more : for they have by commandment, though
" in form of courtesy, cloistered us within these
" walls for three days : who knoweth whether it be
" not to take some taste of our manners and condi-
" tions ? And if they find them bad, to banish us
" straightways ; if good, to give us farther time.
" For these men, that they have given us for attend-
" ance, may withal have an eye upon us. Therefore,
" for God's love, and as we love the weale of our
" souls and bodies, let us so behave ourselves as we
" may be at peace with God, and may find grace in
" the eyes of this people." Our company with one
voice thanked me for my good admonition, and pro-
mised me to live soberly and civilly, and without giv-
ing any the least occasion of offence. So we spent
our three days joyfully, and without care, in expecta-
tion what would be done with us when they were ex-
pired. During which time, we had every hour joy of
the amendment of our sick; who thought themselves
cast into some divine pool of healing; they mended
so kindly and so fast.

The morrow after our three days were past, there
came to us a new man, that we had not seen before,
clothed in blue as the former was, save that his turban
was white, with a small red cross on the top. He
had also a tippet of fine linen. At his coming in he
did bend to us a little, and put his arms abroad. We
of our parts saluted him in a very lowly and submis-
sive manner ; as looking that from him we should re-

88 New Atlantis.

ceive sentence of life or death. He desired to speak
with some few of us : whereupon six of us only stayed,
and the rest avoided the room. He said, " I am by
" office governor of this House of Strangers, and by
" vocation I am a Christian priest ; and therefore am
" come to you to offer you my service, both as stran-
" gers, and chiefly as Christians. Some things I may
" tell you, which I think you will not be unwilling
" to hear. The state hath given you licence to stay
" on land for the space of six weeks : and let it not
" trouble you if your occasions ask farther time, for the
" law in this point is not precise; and I do not doubt
"■ but myself shall be able to obtain for you such far-
" ther time as may be convenient. Ye shall also under-
" stand, that the Strangers' house is at this time rich,
" and much aforehand ; for it hath laid up revenue
" these thirty-seven years ; for so long it is since any
" stranger arrived in this part : and therefore take ye
" no care ; the state will defray you all the time you
" stay ; neither shall you stay one day the less for
" that. As for any merchandise you have brought,
" ye shall be well used, and have your return
" either in merchandise, or in gold and silver :
" for to us it is all one. And if you have any other
" request to make, hide it not. For ye shall find, we
" will not make your countenance to fall by the an-
" swer ye shall receive. Only this I must tell you,
" that none of you must go above a karan" that is,
with them, a mile and an half, " from the walls of
" the city, without special leave." We answered, after
we had looked awhile upon one another, admiring
this gracious and parent-like usage ; " that we could
" not tell what to say : for we wanted words to ex-
" press our thanks ; and his noble free offers left us
" nothing to ask. It seemed to us, that we had be-
4t fore us a picture of our salvation in heaven : for
" we that were awhile since in the jaws of death,
" were now brought into a place where we found
" nothing but consolations. For the commandment
" laid upon us, we would not fail to obey it, though
" it was impossible but our hearts should be inflamed

New Atlantis. 89

" to tread farther upon this happy and holy ground."7
We added ; " that our tongues should first cleave to
" the roofs of our mouths, ere we should forget either
" his reverend person, or this whole nation in our
" prayers." We also most humbly besought him to
accept of us as his true servants, by as just a right as
ever men on earth were bounden, laying and present-
ing both our persons and all we had at his feet. He
said ; " he was a priest, and looked for a priest's re-
" ward ; which was our brotherly love, and the good
" of our souls and bodies.'' So he went from us, not
without tears of tenderness in his eyes ; and left us
also confused with joy and kindness, saying amongst
ourselves, " that we were come into a land of angels,
" which did appear to us daily, and prevent us with
" comforts which we thought not of, much less ex-
" pected."

The next day, about ten of the clock, the governor
came to us again, and after salutations, said familiarly,
that he was come to visit us ; and called for a chair,
and sat him down : and we, being some ten of us— -the
rest were of the meaner sort, or else gone abroad — sat
down with him. And when we were set, he began
thus : " We of this island ofBensalem," for so they
call it in their language, " have this ; that by means
" of our solitary situation, and of the laws of secrecy
" which we have for our travellers, and our rare ad-
" mission of strangers, we know well most part of
" the habitable world, and are ourselves unknown.
" Therefore, because he that knoweth least is fittest
" to ask questions, it is more reason for the enter-
" tainment of the time, that ye ask me questions,
" than that I ask you." We answered ; " That we
" humbly thanked him that he would give us leave
" so to do : and that we conceived by the taste we
" had already, that there was no worldly thing on
" earth more worthy to be known than the state of
" that happy land. But above all," we said, " since
" that we were met from the several ends of the
" world, and hoped assuredly that we should meet
" one day in the kingdom of heaven, for that we were

90 New Atlantis.

" both parts Christians, we desired to know, in re-
" spect that land was so remote, and so divided by
" vast and unknown seas, from the land where our
" Saviour walked on earth, who was the apostle of
" that nation, and how it was converted to the
" faith?" It appeared in his face that he took great
contentment in this our question : he said, " Ye knit
" my heart to you, by asking this question in the first
" place; for it sheweth that you first seek the king-
" dom of heaven; and I shall gladly and briefly
" satisfy your demand.

" About twenty years after the ascension of our
" Saviour, it came to pass, that there was seen by
" the people of Renfusa, a city upon the eastern
" coast of our island, within night — the night was
" cloudy and calm — as it might be some mile into the
" sea, a great pillar of light ; not sharp, but in form
" of a column or cylinder rising from the sea, a great
" way up towards heaven : and on the top of it was
" seen a large cross of light, more bright and resplen-
" dent than the body of the pillar. Upon which so
" strange a spectacle, the people of the city gathered
" apace together upon the sands to wonder ; and so
" after put themselves into a number of small boats,
" to go nearer to this marvellous sight. But when
" the boats were come within about sixty yards of
" the pillar, they found themselves all bound, and
" could go no farther, yet so as they might move to
" go about, but might not approach nearer. So as the
" boats stood all as in a theatre, beholding this light
" as an heavenly sign ; it so fell out, that there was
" in one of the boats one of the wise men of the so-
" ciety of Solomon's house, which house or college,
" my good brethren, is the very eye of this kingdom ;
" who, having awhile attentively and devoutly viewed
" and contemplated this pillar and cross, fell down
" upon his face ; and then raised himself upon his
" knees, and lifting up his hands to heaven, made
" his prayers in this manner :

" 'Lord, God of heaven and earth ! thou hast vouch-
" safed of thy grace, to those of our order, to knoiv

New Atlantis. 91

" thy works of creation, and the secrets of them ;
" and to discern, as far as appertaineth to the gene-
" rations of men, between divine miracles, works of
" nature, works of art, and impostures and illusions
" of all sorts. I do here acknowledge and testify
" before this people, that the thing which we now
" see before our eyes is thy finger, and a true mi-
" rack ; and, forasmuch as we learn in our books
" that thou never workest miracles, but to a divine
" and excellent end, for the laivs of nature are thine
" own laws, and thou exceedest them not but upon
" great cause, we most humbly beseech thee to pros-
" per this great sign, and to give us the interpreta-
" tion and use of it in mercy ; which thou dost in
" some part secretly promise by sending it unto us.''

" When he had made his prayer, he presently
" found the boat he was in moveable and unbound ;
" whereas all the rest remained still fast; and taking
" that for an assurance of leave to approach, he caused
" the boat to be softly and with silence rowed to-
" wards the pillar. But ere he came near it, the
" pillar and cross of light brake up, and cast itself
" abroad, as it were, into a firmament of many stars ;
" which also vanished soon after, and there was no-
" thing left to be seen but a small ark or chest of
" cedar, dry, and not wet at all with water, though
" it swam. And in the fore-end of it which was to-
" wards him, grew a small green branch of palm ;
" and when the wise man had taken it with all re-
" verence into his boat, it opened of itself, and there
" were found in it a book and a letter; both written
" in fine parchment, and wrapped in sindons of linen.
" The book contained all the canonical books of the
" Old and New Testament, according as you have
" them, for we know well what the Churches with
" you receive, and the Apocalypse itself: and some
" other books of the New Testament, which were
"■ not at that time written, were nevertheless in the
" book : and for the letter it was in these words :

" ' 7, Bartholomew, a servant of the Highest, and
" Apostle of Jesus Christ, was warned by an angel
" that appeared to mc in a vision of glory, that I

92 jVeiv At (a /it is,

" should commit this ark to the floods of the sea.
" Therefore I do testify and declare, unto that
" people where God shall ordain this ark to come to
" land, that in the same day is come unto them sal-
" vation, and peace, and good-will, from the Father,
"■ and from the Lord Jesus'

" There was also in both these writings, as well the
" book as the letter, wrought a great miracle, con-
" form to that of the Apostles in the original gift of
" tongues. For there being at that time in this land,
" Hebrews, Persians, and Indians, besides the natives,
" every one read upon the book and letter, as if they
" had been written in his own language. And thus
" was this land saved from infidelity, as the remain
" of the old world was from water, by an ark, through
" the apostolical and miraculous evangelism of St.
" Bartholomew." And here he paused, and a mes-
senger came, and called him from us. So this was all
that passed in that conference.

The next day the same governor came again to us
immediately after dinner, and excused himself, saying ;
" that the day before, he was called from us some-
" what abruptly, but now he would make us amends,
" and spend time with us, if we held his company
" and conference agreeable." We answered, " that we
" held it so agreeable and pleasing to us, as we forgot
" both dangers past and fears to come, for the time
" we heard him speak ; and that we thought an hour
" spent with him, was worth years of our former
" life." He bowed himself a little to us, and after
we were set again, he said ; " Well, the questions are
" on your part." One of our number said, after a little
pause ; " that there was a matter we were no less de-
" sirous to know, than fearful to ask, lest we might
" presume too far. But encouraged by his rare hu-
" manity towards us, that could scarce think our-
" selves strangers, being his vowed and professed
" servants, we would take the hardiness to propound
" it : humbly beseeching him, if he thought it not
" fit to be answered, that he would pardon it, though
" he rejected it." We said; " we well observed those
" his words, which he formerly spake, that this happy

New Atlantis. 93

41 island where we now stood, was known to few,
" and yet knew most of the nations of the world ;
" which we found to be true, considering- they had
" the languages of Europe, and knew much of our
" state and business ; and yet we in Europe, not-
" withstanding all the remote discoveries and naviga-
" tions of this last age, never heard any of the least
" inkling or glimpse of this island. This we found
" wonderful strange ; for that all nations have inter-
" knowledge one of another, either by voyage into
" foreign parts, or by strangers that come to them :
" and though the traveller into a foreign country
" doth commonly know more by the eye, than he
" that stayeth at home can by relation of the travel-
" ler ; yet both ways suffice to make a mutual know-
" ledge, in some degree, on both parts. But for this
" island, we never heard tell of any ship of theirs,
" that had been seen to arrive upon any shore of
" Europe; no, nor of either the East or West Indies,
" nor yet of any ship of any other part of the world,
" that had made return from them. And yet the
" marvel rested not in this. For the situation of it,
" as his lordship said, in the secret conclave of such
" a vast sea might cause it. But then, that they
" should have knowledge of the languages, books,
" affairs, of those that lie such a distance from them,
" it was a thing we could not tell what to make of;
" for that it seemed to us a condition and propriety
" of divine powers and beings, to be hidden and un-
" seen to others, and yet to have others open, and as
" in a light to them." At this speech the governor
gave a gracious smile, and said ; " that we did well
" to ask pardon for this question we now asked ; for
" that it imported, as if we thought this land a land
" of magicians, that sent forth spirits of the air into
" all parts, to bring them news and intelligence of
" other countries." It was answered by us all, in all
possible humbleness, but yet with a countenance
taking knowledge that we knew that he spake it but
merrily, " That we were apt enough to think there
*f was something supernatural in this island, but yet

94 New Atlantis.

" rather as angelical than magical. But to let his
" lordship know truly, what it was that made us
" tender and doubtful to ask this question, it was not
" any such conceit, but because we remembered, he
" had given a touch in his former speech, that this
" land had laws of secrecy touching strangers." To
this he said; " You remember it aright; and there-
" fore in that I shall say to you, I must reserve some
" particulars, which it is not lawful for me to reveal;
" but there will be enough left to give you satis-
" faction.

" You shall understand, that which perhaps you will
" scarce think credible, that about three thousand
" years ago, or somewhat more, the navigation of
" the world; especially for remote voyages, was
" greater than at this day. Do not think with your-
" selves, that I know not how much it is increased
" with you within these six-score years : I know it
" well ; and yet I say greater then than now : whether
" it was, that the example of the ark, that saved the
" remnant of men from the universal deluge, gave
" men confidence to adventure upon the waters, or
" what it was, but such is the truth. The Phoenicians,
" and especially the Tyrians, had great fleets. So had
" the Carthaginians their colony, which is yet farther
" west. Toward the east, the shipping of Egypt,
" and of Palestine, was likewise great. China also,
" and the great Atlantis, that you call America,
" which have now but junks and canoes, abounded
" then in tall ships. This, island, as appeareth by
" faithful registers of those times, had then fifteen
" hundred strong ships, of great content. Of all this
" there is with you sparing memory, or none ; but
" we have large knowledge thereof.

" At that time, this land was known and frequented
" by the ships and vessels of all the nations before
" named. And, as it cometh to pass, they had many
" times men of other countries, that were no sailors,
" that came with them ; as Persians, Chaldeans,
" Arabians, so as almost all nations of might and
" fame resorted hither : of whom we have some

New Atlantis. 95

stirps and little tribes with us at this day. And for
our own ships, they went sundry voyages, as well
to your Straits, which you call the pillars of Her-
cules, as to other parts in the Atlantic and Medi-
terranean Seas ; as to Peguin, which is the same
with Cambaline, and Quinzy, upon the Oriental
Seas, as far as to the borders of the East Tartary.
" At the same time, and an age after, or more,
the inhabitants of the great Atlantis did flourish.
For though the narration and description which is
made by a great man with you, that the descend-
ants of Neptune planted there ; and of the magni-
ficent temple, palace, city, and hill; and the mani-
fold streams of goodly navigable rivers, which, as
so many chains, environed the same site and tem-
ple ; and the several degrees of ascent, whereby
men did climb up to the same, as if it had been a
scala call ; be all poetical and fabulous : yet so
much is true, that the said country of Atlantis, as
well that of Peru, then called Coya, as that of
Mexico, then named Tyrambel, were mighty and
proud kingdoms in arms, shipping, and riches : so
mighty, as at one time, or at least within the space
often years, they both made two great expeditions,
they of Tyrambel, through the Atlantic to the
Mediterranean Sea; and they of Coya, through the
South Sea upon this our island : and for the former
of these, which was into Europe, the same author
amongst you, as it seemeth, had some relation from
the Egyptian priest whom he citeth. For assuredly,
; such a thing there was, but whether it were the
ancient Athenians that had the glory of the repulse
and resistance of those forces, I can say nothing ;
; but certain it is, there never came back either ship,
: or man, from that voyage. Neither had the other
' voyage of those of Coya upon us had better for-
' tune, if they had not met with enemies of greater
1 clemency- For the king of this island, by name
' Altabin, a wise man, and a great warrior ; know-
' ing well both his own strength, and that of his
' enemies, handled the matter so, as he cut off their

96 Ntw Atlantis.

" land-forces from their ships, and entoiled both their
" navy and their camp, with a greater power than
" theirs, both by sea and land ; and compelled them
" to render themselves without striking stroke : and
" after they were at his mercy, contenting himself
" only with their oath, that they should no more bear
" arms against him, dismissed them all in safety But
" the divine revenge overtook not long after those
" proud enterprises. For within less than the space of
" one hundred years, the great Atlantis was utterly
" lost and destroyed ; not by a great earthquake, as
" your man saith, for that whole tract is little subject
" to earthquakes, but by a particular deluge or in-
" undation : those countries having, at this day, far
" greater rivers, and far higher mountains, to pour
" down waters, than any part of the old world. But
" it is tr.ue, that the same inundation was not deep ;
" not past forty foot, in most places, from the ground :
" so that although it destroyed man and beast gene-
" rally, yet some few wild inhabitants of the wood
" escaped. Birds also were saved, by flying to the
" high trees and woods. For as for men, although
" they had buildings in many places higher than the
" depth of the water; yet that inundation, though it
" were shallow, had a long continuance ; whereby
" they of the vale, that were not drowned, perished
" for want of food, and other things necessary. So
" as marvel you not at the thin population of America,
" nor at the rudeness and ignorance of the people ;
" for you must account your inhabitants of America
" as a young people; younger a thousand years, at
" the least, than the rest of the world ; for that there
" was so much time between the universal flood and
" their particular inundation. For the poor remnant
" of human seed, which remained in their mountains,
" peopled the country again slowly, by little and lit-
" tie : and being simple and savage people, not like
" Noah and his sons, which was the chief family of
" the earth, they were not able to leave letters, arts,
" and civility to their posterity ; and having likewise
•" in their mountainous habitations been used, in re-

New Atlantis. 97

" spect of the extreme cold of those regions, to clothe
" themselves with the skins of tigers, bears, and great
" hairy goats, that they have in those parts : when
" after they came down into the valley, and found
" the intolerable heats which are there, and knew no
" means of lighter apparel, they were forced to begin
" the custom of going naked, which continueth at
" this day. Only they take great pride and delight
" in the feathers of birds ; and this also they took
" from those their ancestors of the mountains, who
" were invited unto it by the infinite flights of birds,
" that came up to the high grounds, while the waters
" stood below So you see, by this main accident of
" time, we lost our traffic with the Americans, with
" whom, of all others, in regard they lay nearest to us,
" we had most commerce. As for the other parts of
" the world, it is most manifest, that in the ages fol-
" lowing, whether it were in respect of wars, or by
" a natural revolution of time, navigation did every
" where greatly decay ; and especially far voyages,
" the rather by the use of gallies, and such vessels as
" could hardly brook the ocean, were altogether left
" and omitted. So then, that part of intercourse
" which could be from other nations to sail to us, you
" see how it hath [long since ceased ; except it were
" by some' rare accident, as this of yours. But now of
" the cessation of that other part of intercourse, which
" might be by our sailing to other nations, I must
" yield you some other cause. For I cannot say, if
" I shall say truly, but our shipping, for number,
" strength, mariners, pilots, and all things that ap-
" pertain to navigation, is as great as ever : and there-
" fore why we should sit at home, I shall now give
" you an account by itself: and it will draw nearer to
" give you satisfaction to your principal question.

" There reigned in this island, about nineteen hun-
" dred years ago, a king, whose memory of all others
" we most adore; not supers titiously, but as a divine
" instrument, though a mortal man; his name was
" Solomona : and we esteem him as the lawgiver of
" our nation. This king had a large heart, inscrut-

VOL. II. H

98 New Atlantis.

" able for good, and was wholly bent to make his
" kingdom and people happy- He therefore taking
" into consideration, how sufficient and substantive
" this land was to maintain itself without any aid at
" all of the foreigner, being five thousand six hun-
" dred miles in circuit, and of rare fertility of soil, in
" the greatest part thereof; and finding also the ship-
" ping of this country might be plentifully set on
" work, both by fishing and by transportations from
" port to port, and likewise by sailing unto some small
" islands that are not far from us, and are binder the
" crown and laws of this state; and recalling into his
" memory the happy and flourishing estate wherein
" this land then was ; so as it might be a thousand
" ways altered to the worse, but scarce any one way
" to the better; thought nothing wanted to his noble
" and heroical intentions, but only, as far as human
" foresight might reach, to give perpetuity to that,
" which was in his time so happily established.
" Therefore amongst his other fundamental laws of
" this kingdom, he did ordain the interdicts and
" prohibitions, which we have, touching entrance of
" strangers ; which at that time, though it was after
" the calamity of America, was frequent ; doubting
" novelties, and commixture of manners. It is true,
"the like law, against the admission of strangers
" without licence, is an ancient law in the kingdom
".of China, and yet continued in use: but there it is
" a poor thing; and hath made them a curious, ig-
" norant, fearful, foolish nation. But our lawgiver
" made his law of another temper. For first, he hath
" preserved all points of humanity, in taking order,
" and making provision for the relief of strangers
" distressed, whereof you have tasted." At which
speech, as reason was, we all rose up, and bowed
ourselves. He went on. " That king also, still de-
" siring to join humanity and policy together ; and
" thinking it against humanity to detain strangers
" here against their wills ; and against policy tha't
" they should return, and discover their knowledge of
" this estate, he took this course: he did ordain, that

New Atlantis. 99

of the strangers that should be permitted to land, as
many, at all times, might depart as would ; but as
many as would stay, should have very good condi-
tions, and means to live, from the state. Wherein
he saw so far, that now in so many ages since the
prohibition, we have memory, not of one ship that
ever returned, and but of thirteen persons only, at
several times, that chose to return in our bottoms.
What those few that returned may have reported
abroad I know not : but you must think, whatso-
ever they have said, could be taken where they
came but for a dream. Now for our travelling from
hence into parts abroad, our lawgiver thought fit
altogether to restrain it. So is it not in China. For
1 the Chineses sail where they will or can ; which
c sheweth, that their law of keeping out strangers is
! a law of pusillanimity and fear. But this restraint
: of ours hath one only exception, which is admira-
: ble ; preserving the good- which cometh by commu-
' nicating with strangers, and avoiding the hurt; and
' I will now open it to you. And here I shall seem
' a little to digress, but you will by and by find it per-
' tinent. Ye shall understand, my dear friends, that
' amongst the excellent acts of that king, one above
' all hath the pre-eminence. It was the erection and
' institution of an order or society which we call So-
' lomon's House; the noblest foundation, as we think,
' that ever was upon the earth, and the lanthorn of
' this kingdom. It is dedicated to the study of the
' works and creatures of God. Some think it beareth
' the founders name a little corrupted, as if it should
' be Solomona's House. But the records write it as it
' is spoken. So as I take it to be denominate of the
' King of the Hebrews, which is famous with you,
1 and no stranger to us ; for we have some parts of
' his works, which with you are lost ; namely;, that
' Natural History which he wrote of all plants, from
' the cedar of Libanus, to the moss that groweth out
' of the wall; and of all things that have life and mo-
* tion. This maketh me think, that our king finding
' himself to symbolize in many things with that king

ii 2

100 New Atlantis.

" of the Hebrews, which lived many years before
" him, honoured him with the title of this founda-
" tion. And I am the rather induced to be of this
" opinion, for that I find in ancient records this order
" or society is sometimes called Solomon's House,
" and sometimes the college of the six days' works ;
" whereby I am satisfied, that our excellent king had
" learned from the Hebrews, that God had created the
" world, and all that therein is, within six days; and
" therefore he instituting that house for the finding
" out of the true nature of all things, whereby God
" might have the more glory in the workmanship of
" them, and men the more fruit in the use of them,
" did give it also that second name. But now to come
" to our present purpose. When the king had forbid-
" den to all his people navigation into any part, that
" was not under his crown, he made nevertheless this
" ordinance ; that every twelve years there should
" be set forth, out of this kingdom, two ships ap-
" pointed to several voyages ; that in either of these
" ships there should be a mission of three of the fel-
" lows or brethren of Solomon's House; whose errand
" was only to give us knowledge of the affairs and
" state of those countries to which they were designed ;
" and especially of the sciences, arts, manufactures,
" and inventions of all the world ; and withal to
" bring unto us books, instruments, and patterns in
" every kind : that the ships after they had landed
" the brethren, should return ; and that the brethren
" should stay abroad till the new mission. These
" ships are not otherwise fraught, than with store of
" victuals, and good quantity of treasure to remain
" with the brethren, for the buying of such things,
" and rewarding of such persons, as they should
" think fit. Now for me to tell you how the vul-
" gar sort of mariners are contained from being dis-
" covered at land ; and how they that must be put
on shore for any time, colour themselves under the
" names of other nations ; and to what places these
" voyages have been designed ; and what places of
" rendezvous are appointed for the new missions ; and

New Atlantis. 101

" the like circumstances of the practique ; I may not
" do it : neither is it much to your desire. But thus
" you see we maintain a trade, not for gold, silver, or
"jewels; nor for silks; nor for spices ; nor any other
" commodity of matter; but only for God's first crea-
" ture, which was light : to have light, I say, of the
" growth of all parts of the world." And when he
had said this, he was silent; and so were we all. For
indeed we were all astonished to hear so strange
things so probably told. And he perceiving that we
were willing to say somewhat, but had it not ready,
in great courtesy took us off, and descended to ask us
questions of our voyage and fortunes, and in the end
concluded, that we might do well to think with our-
selves, what time of stay we would demand of the
state ; and bade us not to scant ourselves ; for he would
procure such time as we desired. Whereupon we all
rose up, and presented ourselves to kiss the skirtof his
tippet, but he would not suffer us ; and so took his
leave. But when it came once amongst our people,
that the state used to offer conditions to strangers that
would stay, we had work enough to get any of our
men to look to our ship; and to keep them from going
presently to the governor to crave conditions. But
with much ado we refrained them, till we might agree
what course to take.

We took ourselves now for free men, seeing there
was no danger of our utter perdition ; and lived most
joyfully, going abroad and seeing what was to be seen
in the city and places adjacent within our tedder ;
and obtaining acquaintance with many of the city,
not of the meanest quality ; at whose hands we found
such humanity, and such a freedom and desire to take
strangers as it were into their bosom, as was enough
to make us forget all that was dear to us in our own
countries : and continually we met with many things,
right worthy of observation and relation ; as indeed,
if there be a mirror in the world worthy to hold men's
eyes, it is that country. One day there were two of
our company bidden to a feast of the family, as they
call it. A most natural, pious, and reverend custom

102 New Atlantic

it is, shewing that nation to be compounded of all
goodness. This is the manner of it. It is granted
to any man, that shall live to see thirty persons de-
scended of his body alive together, and all above three
years old, to make this feast, which is done at the
cost of the state. The father of the family, whom
they call the Tirsan, two days before the feast, taketh
to him three of such friends as he liketh to choose ;
and is assisted also by the governor of the city, or place,
where the feast is celebrated ; and all the persons of
the family of both sexes are summoned to attend him.
These two days the Tirsan sitteth in consultation con-
cerning the good estate of the family. There, if there
be any discord or suits between any of the family,
they are compounded and appeased. There, if any
of the family be distressed or decayed, order is taken
for their relief, and competent means to live. There,
if any be subject to vice, or take ill courses, they are
reproved and censured. So likewise direction is given
touching marriages, and the courses of life which any
of them should take, with divers other the like orders
and advices. The governor assisteth, to the end to
put in execution, by his public authority, the decrees
and orders of the Tirsan, if they should be disobeyed;
though that seldom needeth ; such reverence and obe-
dience they give to the order of nature. The Tir-
san doth also then ever choose one man from amongst
his sons, to live in the house with him : who is called
ever after the Son of the Vine. The reason will here-
after appear. On the feast-day, the father, or Tirsan,
cometh forth after divine service into a large room
where the feast is celebrated ; which room hath an
half pace at the upper end. Against the wall, in the
middle of the half pace, is a chair placed for him,
with a table and carpet before it. Over the chair
is a state made round or oval, and it is of ivy ;
an ivy somewhat whiter than ours, like the leaf of
a silver asp, but more shining ; for it is green all
winter. And the state is curiously wrought with
silver and silk of divers colours, broiding or bind-
ing in the ivy ; and is ever of the work of some of

New Atlantis. 103

the daughters of the family; and veiled over at
the top with a fine net of silk and silver. But the
substance of it is true ivy ; whereof, after it is taken
down, the friends of the family are desirous to have
some leaf or sprig to keep. The Tirsan eometh
forth with all his generation or lineage, the males
before him, and the females following him ; and if
there be a mother, from whose body the whole line-
age is descended, there is a traverse placed in a loft
above on the right hand of the chair, with a privy
door, and a carved window of glass, leaded with gold
and blue ; where she sitteth, but is not seen. When
the Tirsan is come forth, he sitteth down in the chair ;
and all the lineage place themselves against the wall,
both at his back, and upon the return of the half pace,
in order of their years, without difference of sex, and
stand upon their feet. When he is set, the room be-
ing always full of company, but well kept, and with-
out disorder ; after some pause there eometh in from
the lower end of the room a taratan, which is as much
as an herald, and on either side of him two young
lads ; whereof one carrieth a scroll of their shining
yellow parchment ; and the other a cluster of grapes
of gold, with a long foot or stalk. The herald and
children are clothed with mantles of sea-water green
sattin ; but the herald's mantle is streamed with gold,
and hath a train. Then the herald with three curte-
sies, or rather inclinations, eometh up as far as the
half pace ; and there first taketh into his hand the
scroll. This scroll is the king's charter, containino-
gift of revenue, and many privileges, exemptions, and
points of honour, granted to the father of the family ;
and is ever stiled and directed, " To such an one, our
" well-beloved friend and creditor :" which is a title
proper only to this case. For they say, the king is
debtor to no man, but for propagation of his subjects.
The seal set to the king's charter, is the king's image,
imbossed or moulded in gold ; and though such char-
ters be expedited of course, and as of right, yet they
are varied by discretion, according to the number and
dignity of the family This charter the herald readeth

104 New Atlantis.

aloud : and while it is read, the father or Tirsan
standeth up, supported by two of his sons, such as he
chooseth. Then the herald mounteth the half pace,
and delivereth the charter into his hand : and with
that there is an acclamation by all that are present in
their language, which is thus much : " Happy are
" the people of Bensalem." Then the herald taketh
into his hand from the other child the cluster of
grapes, which is of gold both the stalk and the grapes.
But the gr?pes are daintily enamelled ; and if the
males of the family be the greater number, the grapes
are enamelled purple, with a little sun set on the
top ; if the females, then they are enamelled into a
greenish yellow, with a crescent on the top. The
grapes are in number as many as there are descend-
ents of the family. This golden cluster the herald
deiiveretlralso to the Tirsan ; who presently delivereth
it over to that son, that he had formerly chosen to be
in the house with him : who beareth it before his
father as an ensign of honour, when he goeth in pub-
lic, ever after; and is thereupon called the Son of the
Vine. After this ceremony ended, the father or Tir-
san retireth ; and after some time cometh forth again
to dinner, where he sitteth alone under the state as
before ; and none of his descendents sit with him, of
what degree or dignity soever, except he hap to be of
Solomon's House. He is served only by his own chil-
dren, such as are male ; who perform unto him all
service of the table upon the knee ; and the women
only stand about him, leaning against the wall. The
room below the half pace, hath tables on the sides
for the guests that are bidden ; who are served with
great and comely order ; and towards the end of din-
ner, which, in the greatest feasts with them, lasteth
never above an hour and an half, there is an hymn
sung, varied according to the invention of him that
composeth it, for they have excellent poesy, but the
subject of it is, always, the praises of Adam, and
Noah, and Abraham ; whereof the former two peo-
pled the world, and the last was the father of the
faithful : concluding ever with a thanksgiving for the

New Atlantis. 105

nativity of our Saviour, in whose birth the births of
all are only blessed. Dinner being done, the Tirsan
retireth again ; and having withdrawn himself alone
into a place, where he maketh some private prayers,
he cometh forth the third time, to give the blessing ;
with all his descendents, who stand about him as at
the first. Then he calleth them forth by one and by
one, by name, as he pleaseth, though seldom the
order of age be inverted. The person that is called,
the table being before removed, kneeleth down be-
fore the chair, and the father layeth his hand upon
his head, or her head, and giveth the blessing in
these words : " Son of Bensalem, or daughter of Ben-
" salem, thy father saith it ; the man by whom thou
" hast breath and life speaketh the word ; The bless-
" ing-of the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,
" and the Holy Dove be upon thee, and make the
" days of thy pilgrimage good and many " This he
saith to every of them ; and that done, if there be any
of his sons of eminent merit and virtue, so they be
not above two, he calleth for them again ; and saith,
laying his arm over their shoulders, they standing ;
" Sons, it is well ye are born, give God the praise,
" and persevere to the end." And withal he deli-
vereth to either of them a jewel, made in the figure
of an ear of wheat, which they ever after wear in the
front of their turban or hat. This done, they fall to
music and dances, and other recreations, after their
manner, for the rest of the day This is the full
order of that feast.

By that time six or seven days were spent, I was
fallen into strait acquaintance with a merchant of
that city, whose name was Joabin. He was a Jew, and
circumcised: for they have some few stirps of Jews
yet remaining among them, whom they leave to their
own religion : which they may the better do, be-
cause they are of a far differing disposition from the
Jews in other parts. For whereas they hate the name
of Christ, and have a secret inbred rancour against the
people amongst whom they live : these, contrariwise,
give unto our Saviour many high attributes, and love

106 JS/ew Atlantis.

the nation of Bensalem extremely- Surely this man
of whom I speak, would ever acknowledge that
Christ was born of a virgin ; and that he was more
than a man ; and he would tell how God made him
ruler of the seraphims which guard his throne ; and
they call him also the milk en way, and the Eliah of the
Messias; and many other high names ; which though
they be inferior to his divine Majesty, yet they are
far from the language of other Jews. And for the
country of Bensalem, this man would make no end of
commending it : being desirous by tradition among
the Jews there, to have it believed, that the people
thereof were of the generations of Abraham, by an-
other son, whom they call Nachoran ; and that
Moses, by a secret cabala, ordained the laws of Bensa-
lem which they now use ; and that when the Messias
should come, and sit in his throne atHierusalem, the
king of Bensalem should sit at his feet, whereas other
kings should keep a great distance. But yet setting
aside these Jewish dreams, the man was a wise man;
and learned, and of great policy, and excellently seen
in the laws and customs of that nation. Amongst
other discourses, one day I told him I was much af-
fected with the relation I had from some of the com-
pany, of their custom in holding the feast of the
family ; for that, methought, I had never heard of a
solemnity wherein nature did so much preside. And
because propagation of families proceedeth from the
nuptial copulation, I desired to know of him, what
laws and customs they had concerning marriage ; and
whether they kept marriage well ; and whether they
were tied to one wife ? For that where population is
so much affected, and such as with them it seemed
to be, there is commonly permission of plurality of
wives. To this he said, " You have reason for to
" commend that excellent institution of the feast of
" the family ; and indeed we have experience, that
" those families that are partakers of the blessing of
" that feast, do flourish and prosper ever after in an
' extraordinary manner. But hear me now, and I
" will tell you what I know. You shall understand,

New Atlantis. 107

" that there is not under the heavens so chaste a na-
" tion as this of Bensalem ; nor so free from all pol-
" lution or foulness. It is the virgin of the world. I
" remember I have read in one of your European
"books, of an holy hermit among you, that desired
" to see the spirit of fornication; and there appeared
" to him a little foul ugly JEthiop; but if he had de-
" sired to see the spirit of chastity of Bensalem, it
" would have appeared to him in the likeness of a
"fair beautiful cherubim. For there is nothing
" amongst mortal men more fair and admirable, than
" the chaste minds of this people. Know there-
" fore that with them there are no stews, no dissolute
" houses, no courtesans, nor any thing of that kind.
" Nay, they wonder, with detestation, at you in Eu-
" rope, which permit such things. They say, ye have
" put marriage out of office : for marriage is ordained
" a remedy for unlawful concupiscence ; and natural
" concupiscence seemeth as a spur to marriage. But
" when men have at hand a remedy more agreeable
"to their corrupt will, marriage is almost expulsed.
" And therefore there are with you seen infinite men
" that marry not, but chuse rather a libertine and im-
" pure single life, than to be yoked in marriage ; and
"many that do marry, marry late, when the prime
" and strength of their years is past. And when they
" do marry, what is marriage to them but a very bar-
" gain; wherein is sought alliance, or portion, orre-
" putation, with some desire, almost indifferent, of
" issue; and not the faithful nuptial union of man and
" wife, that was first instituted. Neither is it possible,
" that those who have cast away so basely so much of
" their strength should greatly esteem children, being
" of the same matter, as chaste men do. So likewise
" during marriage, is the case much amended, as it
" ought to be if those things were tolerated only for
" necessity? No, but they remain still as a very af-
" front to marriage. The haunting of those dissolute
u places, or resort to courtesans, are no more punished
" in married men than in bachelors. And the de-
" praved custom of change, and the delight in mere-

108 New Atlantis.

" tricious embracements, where sin is turned into art,
" maketh marrriage a dull thing, and a kind of impo-
" sition or tax. They hear you defend these things,
" as done to avoid greater evils ; as advoutries, de-
" flouring of virgins, unnatural lust, and the like. But
" they say, this is apreposterous wisdom; and they call
" it Lot's offer, who to save his guests from abusing, of-
" ferred his daughters : nay, they say farther, that there
" is little gained in this ; for that the same vices and
" appetites do still remain and abound ; unlawful lust
" being like a furnace, that if you stop the flames al-
" together it will quench ; but if you give it any vent
" it will rage. As for masculine love, they have no
" touch of it ; and yet there are not so faithful and
" inviolate friendships in the world again as are there ;
" and to speak generally, as I said before, I have not
" read of any such chastity in any people as theirs.
" And their usual saying is, That whosoever is un-
" chaste cannot reverence himself: and they say,
" That the reverence of a man's self is, next religion,
" the chiefest bridle of all vices." And when he had
said this, the good Jew paused a little ; whereupon I,
far more willing to hear him speak on than to speak
myself ; yet thinking it decent, that upon his pause of
speech I should not be altogether silent, said only this ;
" that I would say to him, as the widow of Sarepta
" said to Elias ; that he was come to bring to memory
" our sins ; and that I confess the righteousness of
" Bensalem was greater than the righteousness of Eu-
" rope." At which speech he bowed his head, and
went on in this manner : "They have also many wise
" and excellent laws touching marriage. They allow
"no polygamy; they have ordained that none do
" intermarry, or contract, until a month be passed
" from their first interview. Marriage without con-
" sent of parents they do not make void, but they
" mulct it in the inheritors : for the children of such
" marriages are not admitted to inherit above a third
" part of their parents' inheritance. I have read, in
" a book of one of your men, of a feigned coramon-
" wealth, where the married couple are permitted

New Atla?itis. 109

"before they contract, to see one another naked.
" This they dislike; for they think it a scorn to give
" a refusal after so familiar knowledge : but because
" of many hidden defects in men and women's bodies,
" they have a more civil way ; for they have near
" every town a couple of pools, which they call Adam
" and Eve's pools, where it is permitted to one of the
" friends of the man, and another of the friends of
" the woman, to see them severally bathe naked."

And as we were thus in conference, there came
one that seemed to be a messenger, in a rich
huke, that spake with the Jew : whereupon he turned
to me and said; "You will pardon me, for I am
" commanded away in haste." The next morning he
came to me again joyful, as it seemed, and said,
" There is word come to the governor of the city,
" that one of the fathers of Solomon's House will be
"here this day seven-night: we have seen none of
"them this dozen years. His coming is in state;
" but the cause of his coming is secret. I will pro-
" vide you and your fellows of a good standing to
" see his entry." I thanked him, and told him I
was most glad of the news. The day being come, he
made his entry. He was a man of middle stature and
age, comely of person, and had an aspect as if he
pitied men. He was clothed in a robe of fine black
cloth, with wide sleeves and a cape. His under gar-
ment was of excellent white linen down to the foot,
girt with a girdle of the same ; and a sindon or tippet
of the same about his neck. He had gloves that
were curious, and set with stone ; and shoes of peach-
coloured velvet. His neck was bare to the shoulders.
His hat was like a helmet, or Spanish montera ; and
his locks curled below it decently: they were of
colour brown. His beard was cut round, and of the
same colour with his hair, somewhat lighter. He was
carried in a rich chariot without wheels, litter- wise,
with two horses at either end, richly trapped in blue
velvet embroidered ; and two footmen on each side
in the like attire. The chariot was all of cedar, gilt,
and adorned with crystal ; save that the fore-end had

110 New Atlantis.

pannels of sapphires, set in borders of gold, and the
hinder-end the like of emeralds of the Peru colour.
There was also a sun of gold, radiant upon the top,
in the midst : and on the top before a small cherub
of gold, with wings displayed. The chariot was
covered with cloth of gold tissued upon blue. He had
before him fifty attendants, young men all, in white
sattin loose coats to the mid-leg, and stockings of
white silk ; and shoes of blue velvet ; and hats of
blue velvet ; with fine plumes of divers colours, set
round like hat-bands. Next before the chariot went
two men bare headed, in linen garments down to the
foot, girt, and shoes of blue velvet, who carried the
one a crosier, the other a pastoral staff, like a sheep-
hook ; neither of them of metal, but the crosier of
balm- wood, the pastoral staff of cedar. Horsemen he
had none, neither before nor behind his chariot : as it
seemeth, to avoid all tumult and trouble. Behind his
chariot went all the officers and principals of the
companies of the city. He sat alone upon cushions
of a kind of excellent plush, blue ; and under his foot
curious carpets of silk of divers colours, like the Per-
sian, but far finer. He held up his bare hand as he
went, as blessing the people, but in silence. The
street was wonderfully well kept ; so that there was
never any army had their men stand in better battle-
array, than the people stood. The windows likewise
were not crouded, but every one stood in them as if
they had been placed. When the shew was past, the
Jew said to me ; "I shall not be able to attend you
" as I would, in regard of some charge the city
"hath laid upon me, for the entertaining of this great
" person." Three days after the Jew came to me
again, and said ; " Ye are happy men ; for the father
" of Solomon's House taketh knowledge of your
" being here, and commanded me to tell you, that he
" will admit all your company to his presence, and
" have private conference with one of you that ye
shall choose : and for this hath appointed the next
" day after to-morrow. And because he meaneth to
" give you his blessing, he hath appointed it in the

New Atlantis. Ill

"' forenoon." We came at our day and hour, and I
was chosen by my fellows for the private access. We
found him in a fair chamber, richly hanged, and
carpeted under foot, without any degrees to the state ;
he was set upon a low throne richly adorned, and a
rich cloth of state over his head, of blue sattin em-
broidered. He was alone, save that he had two pages
of honour, on either hand one, finely attired in white.
His under-garments were the like that we saw him
wear in the chariot ; but instead of his gown, he had on
him a mantle with a cape, of the same fine black, fas-
tened about him. When we came in, as we were taught,
we bowed low at our first entrance ; and when we
were come near his chair, he stood up, holding forth
his hand ungloved, and in posture of blessing ; and
we every one of us stooped down, and kissed the hem
of his tippet. That done, the rest departed, and I re-
mained. Then he warned the pages forth of the
room, and caused me to sit down beside him, and
spake to me thus in the Spanish tongue :

" GOD bless thee, my son ; I will give thee the
" greatest jewel I have. For I will impart unto
" thee, for the love of God and men, a relation of
" the true state of Solomon's House. Son, to make
" you know the true state of Solomon's House, I will
" keep this order. First, I will set forth unto you the
" end of our foundation. Secondly, the preparations
" and instruments we have for our works. Thirdly,
" the several employments and functions whereto our
" fellows are assigned. And, fourthly, the ordinances
" and rites which we observe.

" The end of our foundation is the knowledge of
" causes, and secret motions of things ; and the en-
" larging of the bounds of human empire, to the
" effecting of all things possible.

"The preparations and instruments are these.
" We have large and deep caves of several depths :
" the deepest are sunk six hundred fathom ; and

112 New Atlantis.

" some of them are digged and made under great
" hills and mountains : so that if you reckon to-
" gether the depth of the hill, and the depth of the
" cave, they are, some of them, above three miles
" deep. For we find that the depth of an hill, and
" the depth of a cave from the flat, is the same thing ;
" both remote alike from the sun and heaven's beams,
" and from the open air. These caves we call the
" lower region. And we use them for all coagu-
" lations, indurations, refrigerations, and conserva-
" tions of bodies. We use them likewise for the
" imitation of natural mines : and the producing also
" of new artificial metals, by compositions and raa-
" terials which we use and lay there for many years.
" We use them also sometimes, which may seem
" strange, for curing of some diseases, and for pro-
" longation of life, in some hermits that choose to
" live there, well accommodated of all things neces-
" sary, and indeed live very long ; by whom also we
" learn many things.

" We have burials in several earths, where we put
" divers cements, as the Chineses do their porcellane.
" But we have them in greater variety, and some of
" them more fine. We have also great variety of
" composts, and soils, for the making of the earth
" fruitful.

" We have high towers ; the highest about half a
" mile in height ; and some of them likewise set upon
" high mountains ; so that the vantage of the hill
" with the tower, is in the highest of them three
" miles at least. And these places we call the upper
" region : accounting the air between the high places
" and the low, as a middle region. We use these
" towers, according to their several heights and situa-
" tions, for insolation, refrigeration, conservation, and
" for the view of divers meteors ; as winds, rain,
" snow, hail, and some of the fiery meteors also.
" And upon them, in some places, are dwellings of
" hermits, whom we visit sometimes, and instruct
" what to observe.

" We have great lakes both salt and fresh, where-

New Atlantis. 113

" of we have use for the fish and fowl. We use them
" also for burials of some natural bodies : for we find
" a difference in things buried in earth, or in air
" below the earth ; and things buried in water. We
" have also pools, of which some do strain fresh
" water out of salt ; and others by art do turn fresh
" water into salt. We have also some rocks in the
" midst of the sea : and some bays upon the shore
" for some works, wherein is required the air and
" vapour of the sea. We have likewise violent streams
" and cataracts, which serve us for many motions :
" and likewise engines for multiplying and enforcing
" of winds, to set also on going divers motions.

" We have also a number of artificial wells and
" fountains, made in imitation of the natural sources
" and baths ; as tincted upon vitriol, sulphur, steel,
" brass, lead, nitre, and other minerals. And again,
" we have little wells for infusions of many things,
" where the waters take the virtue quicker and bet-
" ter, than in vessels or basons. And amongst them
" we have a water, which we call water of paradise,
" being, by that we do to it, made very sovereign for
" health, and prolongation of life.

" We have also great and spacious houses, where
" we imitate and demonstrate meteors ; as snow, hail,
" rain, some artificial rains of bodies, and not of
" water, thunders, lightnings ; also generations of
" bodies in air ; as frogs, flies, and divers others.

" We have also certain chambers, which we call
" chambers of health, where we qualify the air as we
" think good and proper for the cure of divers dis-
" eases, and preservation of health.

" We have also fair and large baths, of several
" mixtures, for the cure of diseases, and the restoring
" of man's body from arefaction : and others, for the
" confirming of" it in strength of sinews, vital parts,
" and the very juice and substance of the body.

" We have also large^ and various orchards and
" gardens, wherein we do not so much respect
" beauty, as variety of ground and soil, proper for
" divers trees and herbs : and some very spacious,

VOL. II. i

114 New Atlantis.

where trees and berries are set, whereof we make
divers kinds of drinks, besides the vineyards. In
these we practise likewise all conclusions of graft-
ing and inoculating, as well of wild trees as
fruit trees, which produceth many effects. And
we make, by art, in the same orchards and gar-
dens, trees and flowers to come earlier or later than
their seasons ; and to come up and bear more
speedily than by their natural course they do. We
make them also by art greater much than their
nature ; and their fruit greater, and sweeter, and of
differing taste, smell, colour, and figure, from their
nature. And many of them we so order, as they
become of medicinal use.

" We have also means to make divers plants rise
by mixtures of earths without seeds ; and likewise
to make divers new plants, differing from the
vulgar ; and to make one tree or plant turn into
another.

" We have also parks and inclosures of all sorts of
beasts and birds, which we use not only for view or
rareness, but likewise for dissections and trials ; that
thereby we may take light what may be wrought
upon the body of man. Wherein we find many
strange effects ; as continuing life in them, though
divers parts, which you account vital, be perished,
and taken forth ; resuscitating of some that seem
dead in appearance and the like. We try also all
poisons and other medicines upon them, as well of
chirurgery as physic. By art likewise, we make
them greater or taller than their kind is ; and con-
trariwise dwarf them, and stay their growth : we
make them more fruitful and bearing than their
kind is ; and contrariwise barren, and not generative.
Also we make them differ in colour, shape, activity,
many ways. We find means to make commixtures
and copulations of divers kinds, which have pro-
duced many new kinds, and them not barren, as the
general opinion is. We make a number of kinds
of serpents, worms, flies, fishes, of putrefaction ;
whereof some are advanced in effect to be perfect

New Atlantis. 115

" creatures, like beasts, or birds; and have sexes, and
" do propagate. Neither do we this by chance, but
" we know beforehand, of what matter and commix-
" ture, what kind of those creatures will arise.

" We have also particular pools, where we make
" trials upon fishes, as we have said before of beasts
" and birds.

" We have also places for breed and generation of
" those kinds of worms, and flies, which are of spe-
" cial use ; such as are with you your silk- worms and
" bees.

" I will not hold you long with recounting of our
" brew- houses, bake-houses, and kitchens, where are
" made divers drinks, breads, and meats, rare, and
" of special effects. Wines we have of grapes ; and
" drinks of other juice, of fruits, of grains, and of
" roots : and of mixtures with honey, sugar, manna,
" and fruits dried and decocted. Also of the tears
" or woundings of trees, and of the pulp of canes.
" And these drinks are of several ages, some to the
" age or last of forty years. We have drinks also
" brewed with several herbs, and roots, and spices ;
" yea, with several fleshes, and white meats; whereof
" some of the drinks are such as they are in effect
" meat and drink both : so that divers, especially in
" age, do desire to live with them, with little or no
" meat, or bread. And above all, we strive to have
" drinks of extreme thin parts, to insinuate into the
" body, and yet without all biting, sharpness, or fret-
" ting; insomuch as some of them put upon the back
" of your hand, will, with a little stay, pass through
" to the palm, and yet taste mild to the mouth. We
" have also waters which we ripen in that fashion as
" they become nourishing; so that they are indeed
" excellent drink ; and many will use no other. Breads
" we have of several grains, roots, and kernels :
" yea, and some of flesh, and fish, dried ; with di-
" vers kinds of leavenings and seasonings: so that
" some do extremely move appetites ; some do nou-
" rish so, as divers do live on them, without any other
" meat ; who live very long. So for meats, we have

i 2

116 New Atlantis.

" some of them so beaten, and made tender, and
" mortified, yet without all corrupting, as a weak
" heat of the stomach will turn them into good chy-
" lus, as well as a strong heat would meat otherwise
" prepared. We have some meats also, and breads
" and drinks, which taken by men enable them to
" fast long after; and some other, that used make the
" very flesh of men's bodies sensibly more hard and
" tough, and their strength far greater than otherwise
" it would be.

" We have dispensatories, or shops of medicines ;
" wherein you may easily think, if we have such va-
" riety of plants and living creatures more than you
" have in Europe (for we know what you have), the
" simples, drugs, and ingredients of medicines, must
" likewise be in so much the greater variety. We
" have them likewise of divers ages, and long fer-
" mentations. And for their preparations, we have
" not only all manner of exquisite distillations and
" separations, and especially by gentle heats and per-
" eolations through divers strainers, yea, and sub-
" stances ; but also exact forms of composition,
" whereby they incorporate almost as they were na-
" tural simples.

" We have also divers mechanical arts, which you
" have not ; and stuffs made by them ; as papers, linen,
" silks, tissues; dainty works of feathers of won-
" derful lustre ; excellent dyes, and many others ;
" and shops likewise as well for such as are not
" brought into vulgar use amongst us, as for those
" that are. For you must know, that of the things
" before recited, many of them are grown into use
" throughout the kingdom; but yet, if they did flow
" from our invention, we have of them also for pat-
" terns and principals.

" We have also furnaces of great diversities, and
" that keep great diversity of heats; fierce and quick;
" strong and constant ; soft and mild ; blown, quiet,
" dry, moist; and the like. But above all, we have
" heats in imitation of the sun's and heavenly bodies'
" heats, that pass divers inequalities, and, as it were,

New Atlantis. \n

" orbs, progresses, and returns, whereby we produce
" admirable effects. Besides, we have heats of dungs,
" and of bellies and maws of living creatures, and of
" their bloods and bodies; and of hays and herbs laid
" up moist; of lime unquenched : and such like. In-
" struments also which generate heat only by motion.
" And farther, places for strong insolations : and
" again, places under the earth, which, by nature or
" art, yield heat. These divers heats we use, as the
" nature of the operation which we intend requireth.
" We have also perspective houses, where we make
" demonstrations of all lights and radiations; and of
" all colours ; and out of things uncoloured and tran-
" sparent, we can represent unto you all several co-
" lours : not in rainbows, as it is in gems and prisms,
" but of themselves single. We represent also all
" multiplications of light, which we carry to great
" distance ; and make so sharp, as to discern small
" points and lines : also all colorations of light : all
" delusions and deceits of the sight, in figures, mag-
" nitudes, motions, colours : all demonstrations of
" shadows. We find also divers means yet unknown
" to you, of producing of light originally from divers
" bodies. We procure means of seeing objects afar
" off; as in the heaven and remote places ; and re-
" present things near as far off ; and things afar off
" as near ; making feigned distances. We have also
" helps for the sight, far above spectacles and glasses
" in use. We have also glasses and means, to see
" small and minute bodies perfectly and distinctly;
" as the shapes and colours of small flies and worms,
" grains, and flaws in gems, which cannot otherwise
" be seen ; observations in urine and blood, not other-
" wise to be seen. We make artificial rainbows,
" halos, and circles about light. We represent also
" all manner of reflections, refractions, and multipli-
" cations of visual beams of objects.

" We have also precious stones of all kinds, many
" of them of great beauty, and to you unknown ;
" crystals likewise; and glasses of divers kinds; and
" amongst them some of metals vitrificated, and other

H8 New Atlantis.

" materials, besides those of which you make glass.
Also a number of fossils, and imperfect minerals,
which you have not. Likewise loadstones of pro-
digious virtue; and other rare stones, both natural
and artificial.

" We have also sound houses, where we practice
and demonstrate all sounds, and their generation.
We have harmonies which you have not, of quar-
ter-sounds, and lesser slides of sounds. Divers in-
struments of music likewise to you unknown, some
sweeter than any you have ; together with bells and
rings that are dainty and sweet. We represent
small sounds as great and deep; likewise great
sounds extenuate and sharp ; we make divers trem-
blings and warblings of sounds, which in their
original are entire. We represent and imitate all
articulate sounds and letters, and the voices and
notes of beasts and birds. We have certain helps,
which set to the ear do further the hearing greatly.
We have also divers strange and artificial echos,
reflecting the voice many times, and as it were,
tossing it : and some that give back the voice
louder than it came; some shriller, and some
deeper; yea, some rendering the voice differing in
the letters or articulate sound from that they re-
ceive. We have also means to convey sounds in
trunks and pipes, in strange lines and distances.
" We have also perfume-houses; wherewith we
join also practices of taste. We multiply smells,
which may seem strange. We imitate smells,
making all smells to breathe out of other mixtures
than those that give them, We make divers imi-
tations of taste likewise, so that they will deceive
any man's taste. And in this house we contain
also a confiture-house ; where we make all sweet-
meats, dry and moist ; and divers pleasant wines,
milks, broths, and salads, in far greater variety than
you have.

" We have also engine-houses, where are prepared
engines and instruments for all sorts of motions.
There we imitate and practise to make swifter mo-

New Atlantis. 119

" tions than any you have, either out of your mus-
" kets, or any engine that you have; and to make
" them, and multiply them more easily, and with
" small force, by wheels and other means : and to
" make them stronger, and more violent than yours
" are ; exceeding your greatest cannons and basilisks.
" We represent also ordnance and instruments of
" war, and engines of all kinds : and likewise new
" mixtures and compositions of gun-powder, wild-
" fires burning in water, and unquenchable. Also
" fire- works of all variety both for pleasure and use.
" We imitate also flights of birds ; we have some de-
" grees of flying in the air ; we have ships and boats
" for going under water, and brooking of seas ; also
" swimming-girdles and supporters. We have divers
" curious clocks, and other like motions of return,
" and some perpetual motions. We imitate also mo-
" tions of living creatures, by images of men, beasts,
" birds, fishes, and serpents ; we have also a great
" number of other various motions, strange for equa-
" lity, fineness, and subtilty.

" We have also a mathematical-house, where are
" represented all instruments, as well of geometry as
" astronomy, exquisitely made.

" We have also houses of deceits of the senses ;
" where we represent all manner of feats of juggling,
" false apparitions, impostures, and illusions ; and
" their fallacies. And surely you will easily believe,
" that we that have so many things truly natural,
" which induce admiration, could in a world of par-
" ticulars deceive the senses, if we would disguise
" those things, and labour to make them seem more
" miraculous. But we do hate all impostures and
" lies : insomuch as we have severely forbidden it to
" all our fellows, under pain of ignominy and fines,
" that they do not shew any natural work or thing,
" adorned or swelling ; but only pure as it is, and
" without all affectation of strangeness.

" These are, my son, the riches of Solomon's House,

«

" For the several employments and offices of our
fellows; we have twelve that sail into foreign

120 New Atlantis.

" countries, under the names of other nations, for
" our own we conceal, who bring us the books, and
" abstracts, and patterns of experiments of all other
" parts. These we call merchants of light.

" We have three that collect the experiments which
" are in all books. These we call depredators.

" We have three that collect the experiments of all
" mechanical arts ; and also of liberal sciences ; and
" also of practices which are not brought into arts.
" These we call mystery-men.

" We have three that try new experiments, such as
u themselves think good. These we call pioneers or
" miners.

" We have three that draw the experiments of the
" former four into titles, and tables, to give the better
"light for the drawing of observations and axioms
" out of them. These we call compilers.

" We have three that bend themselves, looking
" into the experiments of their fellows, and cast
" about how to draw out of them things of use and
" practice for man's life and knowledge, as well for
" works, as for plain demonstration of causes, means
" of natural divinations, and the easy and clear dis-
" covery of the virtues and parts of bodies. These
" we call dowry-men or benefactors.

" Then after divers meetings and consults of our
fl whole number, to consider of the former labours
" and collections, we have three that take care, out
" of them, to direct new experiments, of a higher
" light, more penetrating into nature than the former.
" These we call lamps.

" We have three others that do execute the expe-
" riments so directed, and report them. These we
" call inoculators.

" Lastly, we have three that raise the former dis-
" eoveries by experiments into greater observations,
" axioms, and aphorisms. These we call interpreters
" of nature.

" We have also, as you must think, novices and
" apprentices, that the succession of the former em-
*' ployed men do not fail : besides a great number
" of servants, and attendants, men and women. And

New Atlantis. 121

" this we do also : we have consultations, which of
" the inventions and experiences which we have dis-
" covered shall be published, and which not : and
" take all an oath of secrecy, for the concealing of
" those which we think fit to keep secret : though
" some of those we do reveal sometimes to the state,
"and some not.

" For our ordinances and rites : we have two very
" long and fair galleries : in one of these we place
" patterns and samples of all manner of the more rare
" and excellent inventions : in the other we place the
" statues of all principal inventors. There we have
" the statue of your Columbus, that discovered the
" West Indies : also the inventor of ships : your monk
" that was the inventor of ordnance, and of gunpow-
" der : the inventor of music : the inventor of letters :
" the inventor of printing : the inventor of observa-
" tions of astronomy : the inventor of works in metal :
" the inventor of glass: the inventor of silk of the
" worm : the inventor of wine : the inventor of corn
" and bread : the inventor of sugars : and all these by
" more certain tradition than you have. Then have
" we divers inventors of our own of excellent works;
" which since you have not seen, it were too long to
" make descriptions of them ; and besides, in the
" right understanding of those descriptions, you
u might easily err. For upon every invention of value,
" we erect a statue to the inventor, and give him a
" liberal and honourable reward. These statues
*' are, some of brass; some of marble and touch-
" stone; some of cedar, and other special woods gilt
" and adorned : some of iron ; some of silver; some
" of gold.

" We have certain hymns and services, which we
" say daily, of laud and thanks to God for his mar-
" vellous works : and forms of prayers, imploring his
" aid and blessing for the illumination of our labours;
" and the turning of them into good and holy uses.

" Lastly, we have circuits or visits of divers prin-
" cipal cities of the kingdom; where, as it cometh
" to pass, we do publish such new profitable inven-

122 New Atlantis.

" tions as we think good. And we do also declare
" natural divinations of diseases, plagues, swarms of
" hurtful creatures, scarcity, tempests, earthquakes,
" great inundations, comets, temperature of the year,
" and divers other things; and we give counsel there-
" upon what the people shall do for the prevention
" and remedy of them."

And when he had said this, he stood up ; and I, as
I had been taught, kneeled down ; and he laid his
right hand upon my head, and said ; " God bless
" thee, my son, and God bless this relation which I
" have made. I give thee leave to publish it for the
" good of other nations ; for we here are in God's
" bosom, a land unknown." And so he left me ;
having assigned a value of about two thousand ducats,
for a bounty to me and my fellows. For they give
great largesses where they come upon all occasions.

[The rest was not perfected. J

MR. BACON

IN PRAISE OF KNOWLEDGE.

Silence were the best celebration of that, which
I mean to commend ; for who would not use silence,
where silence is not made? and what crier can make
silence in such a noise and tumult of vain and popular
opinions? My praise shall be dedicated to the mind
itself. The mind is the man, and the knowledge of
the mind. A man is but what he knoweth. The
mind itself is but an accident to knowledge; for know-
ledge is a double of that which is. The truth of be-
ing, and the truth of knowing, is all one. And the
pleasures of the affections greater than the pleasures of
the senses. And are not the pleasures of the intel-
lect greater than the pleasures of the affections? Is
it not a true and only natural pleasure, whereof there
is no satiety? Is it not knowledge that doth alone
clear the mind of all perturbations ? How many
things are there which we imagine not ? How many
things do we esteem and value otherwise than they
are? This ill-proportioned estimation, these vain
imaginations, these be the clouds of error that turn
into the storms of perturbation. Is there any such
happiness as for a man's mind to be raised above the
confusion of things ; where he may have the prospect
of the order of nature, and the error of men? Is this
but a vein only of delight, and not of discovery? of
contentment, and not of benefit? Shall we not as
well discern the riches of nature's warehouse, as the
benefit of her shop ? Is truth ever barren ? Shall he
not be able thereby to produce worthy effects, and to
endow the life of man with infinite commodities ? But
shall I make this garland to be put upon a wrong head?
Would any body believe me, if I should verify this

124 In Praise of Knowledge.

upon the knowledge that is now in use ? Are we the
richer by one poor invention, by reason of all the
learning that hath been these many hundred years?
The industry of artificers maketh some small improve-
ment of things invented ; and chance sometimes in
experimenting, maketh us to stumble upon somewhat
which is new : but all the disputation of the learned
never brought to light one effect of nature before un-
known. When things are known and found out,
then they can descant upon them, they can knit them
into certain causes, they can reduce them to their
principles. If any instance of experience stand against
them, they can range it in order by some distinctions.
But all this is but a web of the wit, it can work
nothing. I do not doubt but that common notions
which we call reason, and the knitting of them toge-
ther, whicn we call logic, are the art of reason and
studies. But they rather cast obscurity, than gain
light to the contemplation of nature. All the philo-
sophy of nature which is now received, is either the
philosophy of the Grecians, or that other of the alche-
mists. That of the Grecians hath the foundations in
words, in ostentation, in confutation, in sects, in
schools, in disputations. The Grecians were, as one
of themselves saith, you Grecians, ever children.
They knew little antiquity ; they knew, except fables,
not much above five hundred years before themselves.
They knew but a small portion of the world. That
of the alchemists hath the foundation in imposture, in
auricular traditions and obscurity. It was catching
hold of religion, but the principal of it is, Populus
vult decipi. So that I know no great difference be-
tween these great philosophers, but that the one is a
loud crying folly, and the other is a whispering folly.
The one is gathered out of a few vulgar observations,
and the other out of a few experiments of a furnace.
The one never faileth to multiply words, and the other
ever faileth to multiply gold. Who would not smile
at Aristotle, when he admireth the eternity and in-
variableness of the heavens, as there were not the like
in the bowels of the earth? Those be the confines

in Praise of Knowledge. 125

and borders of these two kingdoms, where the con-
tinual alteration and incursion are. The superficies
and upper parts of the earth are full of varieties.
The superficies and lower parts of the heavens, which
we call the middle region of the air, is full of va-
riety There is much spirit in the one part, that
cannot be brought into mass. There is much massy-
body in the other place, that cannot be refined to
spirit. The common air is as the waste ground be-
tween the borders. Who would not smile at the astro-
nomers, I mean not those few carmen which drive the
earth about, but the ancient astronomers, which feign
the moon to be the swiftest of the planets in motion,
and the rest in order, the higher the slower ; and so
are compelled to imagine a double motion ; whereas
how evident is it, that that which they call a contrary
motion, is but an abatement of motion? The fixed
stars overgo Saturn, and so in them and the rest, all is
but one motion, and the nearer the earth the slower.
A motion also whereof air and water do participate,
though much interrupted. But why do I in a con-
ference of pleasure enter into these great matters, in
sort that pretending to know much, I should forget
what is seasonable? Pardon me, it was because all
things may be endowed and adorned with speeches,
but knowledge itself is more beautiful than any ap-
parel of words that can be put upon it. And let not
me seem arrogant without respect to these great re-
puted authors. Let me so give every man his due,
as I give time his due, which is to discover truth.
Many of these men had greater wits, far above mine
own, and so are many in the universities of Europe
at this day- But alas, they learn nothing there but
to believe : first, to believe that others know that
which they know not ; and after themselves know
that which they know not. But indeed facility to
believe, impatience to doubt, temerity to answer,
glory to know, doubt to contradict, end to gain,
sloth to search, seeking things in words, resting in
part of nature ; these and the like, have been the
things which have forbidden the happy match be-

126 In Praise of Knowledge.

tween the mind of man and the nature of things ; and
in place thereof have married it to vein notions and
blind experiments : and what the posterity and issue
of so honourable a match may be, it is not hard to
consider. Printing, a gross invention ; artillery, a
thing that lay not far out of the way ; the needle, a
thing partly known before : what a change have these
three made in the world in these times ; the one in
state of learning, the other in state of the war, the
third in the state of treasure, commodities, and navi-
gation? And those, I say, were but stumbeld upon
and lighted upon by chance. Therefore, no doubt,
the sovereignty of man lieth hid in knowledge; where-
in many things are reserved, which kings with their
treasure cannot buy, nor with their force command ;
their spials and intelligencers can give no news of
them, their seamen and discoverers cannot sail where
they grow : now we govern nature in opinions, but
we are thrall unto her in necessity ; but if we would
be led by her in invention, we should command her
in action.

VALERIUS TERMINUS

OF THE

INTERPRETATION OF NATURE:

WITH THE

ANNOTATIONS OF HERMES STELLA.

A FEW FRAGMENTS OF THE FIRST BOOK.

[None of the Annotations of Stella are set down in these Fragments.]

CHAP I.

Of the limits and end of knowledge.

In the divine nature, both religion and philosophy
hath acknowledged goodness in perfection, science or
providence comprehending all things, and absolute
sovereignty or kingdom. In aspiring to the throne
of power, the angels transgressed and fell ; in pre-
suming to come within the oracle of knowledge, man
transgressed and fell ; but in pursuit towards the
similitude of God's goodness or love, which is one
thing, for love is nothing else but goodness put in
motion or applied, neither man or spirit ever hath
transgressed, or shall transgress.

The angel of light that was, when he presumed
before his fall, said within himself, I will ascend and
be like unto the Highest; not God, but the Highest.
To be like to God in goodness, was no part of his
emulation : knowledge, being in creation an angel of
light, was not the want which did most solicit him ;
only because he was a minister he aimed at a su-
premacy ; therefore his climbing or ascension was
turned into a throwing down or precipitation.

Man on the other side, when he was tempted be-
fore he fell, had offered unto him this suggestion,
that he should be like unto God. But how ? not sim-

128 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

ply, but in this part, knowing good and evil. For being"
in his creation invested with sovereignty of all inferior
creatures, he was not needy of power or dominion.
But again, being a spirit newly inclosed in a body of
earth, he was fittest to be allured with appetite of
light and liberty of knowledge. Therefore this ap-
proaching and intruding into God's secrets and mys-
teries, was rewarded with a further removing and
estranging from God's presence. But as to the good-
ness of God, there is no danger in contending or ad-
vancing towards a similitude thereof ; as that which
is open and propounded to our imitation. For that
voice, whereof the heathen and all other errors of re-
ligion have ever confessed that it sounds not like man,
Love your enemies; be you like unto your heavenly
Father, that suffereth his rain to fall both upon the
just and the unjust, doth well declare, that we can in
that point commit no excess. So again we find it
often repeated in the old law, Be you holy as I am
holy ; and what is holiness else but goodness, as we
consider it separate, and guarded from all mixture,
and all access of evil ?

Wherefore seeing that knowledge is of the number
of those things which are to be accepted of with cau-
tion and distinction ; being now to open a fountain,
such as it is not easy to discern where the issues and
streams thereof will take and fall ; I thought it good
and necessary in the first place, to make a strong and
sound head or bank to rule and guide the course of
the waters ; by setting down this position or firma-
ment, namely, That all knowledge is to be limited by
religion, and to be referred to use and action.

For if any man shall think, by view and inquiry into
these sensible and material things, to attain to any
light for the revealing of the nature or will of God ; he
shall dangerously abuse himself. It is true, that the
contemplation of the creatures of God hath for end, as
to the natures of the creatures themselves, knowledge ;
but as to the nature of God, no knowledge, but won-
der : which is nothing else but contemplation broken
off, or losing itself. Nay further, as it was aptly said

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 1 29

by one of Plato's school, the sense of man resembles
the sun, which openeth and revealeth the terrestrial
globe, but obscureth and concealeth the celestial ; so
doth the sense discover natural things, but darken and
shut up divine. And this appeareth sufficiently in
that there is no proceeding in invention of knowledge,
but by similitude ; and God is only self-like, having
nothing in common with any creature, otherwise than
as in shadow and trope. Therefore attend his will as
himself openeth it, and give unto faith that which
unto faith belongeth ; for more worthy it is to believe,
than to think or know, considering that in know-
ledge, as we now are capable of it, the mind sufTereth
from inferior natures ; but in all belief it sufTereth
from a spirit, which it holdeth superior, and more
authorized than itself.

To conclude ; the prejudice hath been infinite, that
both divine and human knowledge hath received by
the intermingling and tempering of the one with the
other : as that which hath filled the one full of
heresies, and the other full of speculative fictions and
vanities.

But now there are again, which, in a contrary ex-
tremity to those which give to contemplation an over-
large scope, do offer too great a restraint to natural
and lawful knowledge ; being unjustly jealous that
every reach and depth of knowledge wherewith their
conceits have not been acquainted, should be too high
an elevation of man's wit, and a searching and ravelling
too far into God's secrets ; an opinion that ariseth
either of envy, which is proud weakness, and to be
censured and not confuted, or else of a deceitful sim-
plicity. For if they mean that the ignorance of a
second cause doth make men more devoutly to depend
upon the providence of God, as supposing the effects
to come immediately from his hand ; I demand of
them, as Job demanded of his friends, Will you lie for
God, as man will for man to gratify him ? But if
any man, without any sinister humour, doth indeed
make doubt that this digging further and further into
the mine of natural knowledge, is u thing without

VOL. II. K

1 30 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

example, and uncommended in the Scriptures, or
fruitless ; let him remember and be instructed : for
behold it was not that pure light of natural know-
ledge, whereby man in paradise was able to give unto
every living creature a name according to his pro-
priety, which gave occasion to the fall ; but it was an
aspiring desire to attain to that part of moral know-
ledge, which defineth of good and evil, whereby to
dispute God's commandments, and not to depend
upon the revelation of his will, which was the ori-
ginal temptation. And the first holy records, which
within those brief memorials of things which passed
before the flood, entered few things as worthy to
be registered, but only lineages and propagations, yet
nevertheless honour the remembrance of the inventor
both of music and works in metal. Moses again,
who was the reporter, is said to have been seen in all
the Egyptian learning, which nation was early and
leading in matter of knowledge. And Solomon the
king, as out of a branch of his wisdom extraordinarily
petitioned and granted from God, is said to have
written a natural history of all that is green, from
the cedar to the moss, which is but a rudiment be-
tween putrefaction and an herb, and also of all that
liveth and moveth. And if the book of Job be turned
over, it will be found to have much aspersion of na-
tural philosophy. Nay, the same Solomon the king
afHrmeth directly, that the glory of God is to conceal
a thing, but the glory of the king is to find it out, as
if, according to the innocent play of children, the
divine Majesty took delight to hide his works, to the
end to have them found out ; for in naming the king
he intendeth man, taking such a condition of man as
hath most excellency and greatest commandment of
wits and means, alluding also to his own person, being
truly one of those clearest burning lamps, whereof
himself speaketh in another place, when he saith, The
spirit of man is as the lamp of God, wherewith he
searcheth all inwardness ; which nature of the soul
the same Solomon holding precious and inestimable,
and therein conspiring with the aifection of Socrates,

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 131

who scorned the pretended learned men of his time for
raising great benefit of their learning, whereas Anaxa-
goras contrariwise, and divers others, being born to
ample patrimonies, decayed them in contemplation,
delivereth it in precept yet remaining, Buy the truth,
and sell it not; and so of wisdom and knowledge.

And lest any man should retain a scruple, as if this
thirst of knowledge were rather an humour of the
mind, than an emptiness or want in nature, and an
instinct from God ; the same author defineth of it fully,
saying, God hath made every thing in beauty accord-
ing to season; also he hath set the world in maris
heart, yet can he not find out the work which God
worketh from the beginning to the end: declaring
not obscurely that God hath framed the mind of man
as a glass, capable of the image of theuniversal world,
joying to receive the signature thereof, as the eye is of
light ; yea, not only satisfied in beholding the variety of
things, and vicissitude of times, but raised also to find
out and discern those ordinances and decrees, which
throughout all these changes are infallibly observed.
And although the highest generality of motion, or sum-
mary law of nature, God should still reserve within his
own curtain ; yet many and noble are the inferior and
secondary operations which are within man's sounding.
This is a thing which I cannot tell whether I may so
plainly speak as truly conceive, that as all knowledge
appeareth to be a plant of God's own planting, so it
may seem the spreading and flourishing, or at least the
bearing and fructifying of this plant, by a providence
of God, nay, not only by a general providence, but by
a special prophecy, was appointed to this autumn of
the world : for to my understanding, it is not violent
to the letter, and safe now after the event, so to in-
terpret that place in the prophecy of Daniel, where,
speaking of the latter times, it is said, Many shall pass
to and fro, and science shall be increased; as if the
opening of the world by navigation and commerce,
and the further discovery of knowledge, should meet

in one time or age

But howsoever that be, there are besides the autho-

k 2

132 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

rities of Scriptures before recited, two reasons of ex-
ceeding great weight and force, why religion should
dearly protect all increase of natural knowledge : the
one, because it leadeth to the greater exaltation of the
glory of God; for as the Psalms and other Scriptures
do often invite us to consider, and to magnify the great
and wonderful works of God ; so if we should rest
only in the contemplation of those shows which first
offer themselves to our senses, we should do a like in-
jury to the majesty of God, as if we should judge of
the store of some excellent jeweller, by that only
which is set out to the street in his shop. The other
reason is, because it is a singular help and a preserva-
tive against unbelief and error ; for, saith our Saviour,
You err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power
of God ; laying before us two books or volumes to
study, if we will be secured from error ; first, the Scrip-
tures revealing the will of God, and then the creatures
expressing his power; for that latter book will certify
us, that nothing which the first teacheth shall be
thought impossible. And most sure it is, and a true
conclusion of experience, that a little natural philo-
sophy inclineth the mind to atheism, but a further
proceeding bringeth the mind back to religion.

To conclude then : Let no man presume to check
the liberality of God's gifts, who, as was said, hath set
the world in man's heart. So as whatsoever is not
God, but parcel of the world, he hath fitted it to the
comprehension of man's mind, if man will open and
dilate the powers of his understanding as he may.

But yet evermore it must be remembered, that the
least part of knowledge passed to man by this so
large a charter from God, must be subject to that use
for which God hath granted it, which is the benefit
and relief of the state and society of man ; for other-
wise all manner of knowledge becometh malign and
serpentine, and therefore, as carrying the quality of
the serpent's sting and malice, it maketh the mind of
man to swell; as the Scripture saith excellently,
Knowledge bloweth up, but charity buildeth up.
And again, the same author doth notably disavow

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 133

both power and knowledge, such as is not dedicated
to goodness or love ; for saith he, If I have all faith,
so as I could remove mountains, there is power active;
if I render my body to the fire, there is power pas-
sive ; if I speak with the tongues of men and angels,
there is knowledge, for language is but the conveyance
of knowledge, all ivere nothing,

And therefore it is not the pleasure of curiosity, nor
the quiet of resolution, nor the raising of the spirit,
nor victory of wit, nor faculty of speech, nor lucre of
profession, nor ambition of honour or fame, or inable-
ment for business, that are the true ends of know-
ledge; some of these being more worthy than other,
though all inferior and degenerate: but it is a resti-
tution and reinvesting, in great part, of man to the
sovereignty and power, for whensoever he shall be able
to call the creatures by their true names, he shall again
command them, which he had in his first state of crea-
tion. And to speak plainly and clearly, it is a dis-
covery of all operations and possibilities of operations
from immortality, if it were possible, to the meanest
mechanical practice. And therefore knowledge, that
tendeth but to satisfaction, is but as a courtesan,
which is for pleasure, and not for fruit or generation.
And knowledge that tendeth to profit or profession,
or glory, is but as the golden ball thrown before
Atalanta; which while she goeth aside, and stoopeth
to take up, she hindereth the race. And knowledge
referred to some particular point of use, is but as
Harmodius, which putteth down one tyrant : and not
like Hercules, who did perambulate the world to sup-
press tyrants and giants and monsters in every part.

It is true, that in two points the curse is peremp-
tory, and not to be removed : the one, that vanity must
be the end in all human effects; eternity being resumed,
though the revolutions and periods may be delayed.
The other, that the consent of the creature being now
turned into reluctation, this power cannot otherwise
be exercised and administered but with labour, as well
in inventing as in executing; yet nevertheless chiefly
that labour and travail which is described by the

134 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

sweat of the brows, more than of the body ; that is,
such travail as is joined with the working and discis-
sion of the spirits in the brain : for as Solomon saith
excellently, The fool putteth to more strength, but the
ivise man consider eth which way; signifying the elec-
tion of the mean to be more material than the multi-
plication of endeavour. It is true also that there is a
limitation rather potential than actual, which is when
the effect is possible, but the time or place yieldeth
not the matter or basis whereupon man should work.
But notwithstanding these precincts and bounds, let
it be believed, and appeal thereof made to time, with
renunciation nevertheless to all the vain and abusing
promises of alchymists and magicians, and such like
light, idle, ignorant, credulous, and fantastical wits
and sects, that the new-found world of land was not
greater addition to the ancient continent, than there
remaineth at this day a world of inventions and
sciences unknown, having respect to those that are
known, with this difference, that the ancient regions
of knowledge will seem as barbarous, compared with
the new; as the new regions of people seem barbarous,
compared to many of the old.

The dignity of this end, of endowment of man's
life with new commodities, appeareth by the estima-
tion that antiquity made of such as guided thereunto ;
for whereas founders of states, lawgivers, extirpers of
tyrants, fathers of the people, were honoured but with
the titles of worthies or demi-gods, inventors were
ever consecrated amongst the gods themselves. And
if the ordinary ambitions of men lead them to seek
the amplification of their own power in their countries,
and abetter ambition than that hath moved men to seek
the amplification of the power of their own countries
amongst other nations ; better again and more worthy
must that aspiring be, which seeketh the amplification
of the power and kingdom of mankind over the
world : the rather, because the other two prosecutions
are ever culpable of much perturbation and injustice;
but this is a work truly divine, which cometh in aura
lent, without noise or observation.

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 135

The access also to this work hath been by that port
or passage, which the Divine Majesty, who is un-
changeable in his ways, doth infallibly continue and
observe ; that is, the felicity wherewith he hath bles-
sed an humility of mind, such as rather laboureth to
spell, and so by degrees to read in the volumes of his
creatures, than to solicit and urge, and as it were to
invocate a man's own spirit to divine, and give oracles
unto him. For as in the inquiry of divine truth, the
pride of man hath ever inclined to leave the oracles of
God's word, and to vanish in the mixture of their
own inventions : so in the self-same manner, in in-
quisition of nature, they have ever left the oracles of
God's works, and adored the deceiving and deformed
imagery, which the unequal mirrors of their own
minds have represented unto them. Nay, it is a point
fit and necessary in the front and beginning of this
work, without hesitation or reservation to be profes-
sed, that it is no less true in this human kingdom of
knowledge, than in God's kingdom of heaven, that
no man shall enter into it, except he become first as a
little child.

Of the impediments of knowledge.

Being the IVth chapter, the preface only of it.

In some things it is more hard to attempt than to
achieve; which falleth out, when the difficulty is not
so much in the matter or subject, as it is in the cross-
ness and indisposition of the mind of man to think of
any such thing, to will or to resolve it; and therefore
Titus Livius, in his declamatory digression, wherein
he doth depress and extenuate the honour of Alexan-
der's conquests, saith, Nihil aliud quam bene ausus
vana contemnere: in which sort of things it is the
manner of men, first to wonder that any such thing
should be possible, and after it is found out, to won-
der again how the world should miss it so long. Of
this nature I take to be the invention and discovery
of knowledge, etc.

136 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

The impediments which have been in the times,
and in diversion of wits.

Being the Vth chapter, a small fragment in the be-
ginning of that chapter.

The encounters of the times have been nothing
favourable and prosperous for the invention of know-
ledge, so as it is not only the daintiness of the seed to
take, and the ill mixture and unliking of the ground
to nourish or raise this plant, but the ill season also
of the weather, by which it hath been checked and
blasted. Especially in that the seasons have been
proper to bring up and set forward other more hasty
and indifferent plants, whereby this of knowledge
hath been starved and overgrown ; for in the descent
of times always there hath been somewhat else in
reign and reputation, which hath generally aliened
and diverted wits and labours from that employment.

For as for the uttermost antiquity, which is like
fame that muffles her head, and tells tales, I cannot
presume much of it; for I would not willingly imitate
the manner of those that describe maps, which, when
they come to some far countries, whereof they have no
knowledge, set down how there be great wastes and
desarts there : so I am not apt to affirm that they
knew little, because what they knew is little known
to us. But if you will judge of them by the last
traces that remain to us, you will conclude, though
not so scornfully as Aristotle doth, that saith our an-
cestors were extreme gross, as those that came newly
from being moulded out of the clay, or some earthly
substance ; yet reasonably and probably thus, that it
was with them in matter of knowledge, but as the
dawning or break of day. For at that time the world
was altogether home-bred, every nation looked little
beyond their own confines or territories, and the world
had no thorough lights then, as it hath had since by
commerce and navigation, whereby there could nei-
ther be that contribution of wits one to help another,
nor that variety of particulars for the correcting the
customary conceits.

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 137

And as there could be no great collection of wits of
several parts or nations, so neither could there be any
succession of wits of several times, whereby one might
refine the other, in regard they had not history to any
purpose. And the manner of their traditions was
utterly unfit and unproper for amplification of know-
ledge. And again, the studies of those times, you
shall find, besides wars, incursions, and rapines, which
were then almost every where betwixt states adjoin-
ing, the use of leagues and confederacies being not
then known, were to populate by multitude of wives
and generation, a thing at this day in the waster
part of the West-Indies principally effected ; and to
build, sometimes for habitation, towns and cities;
sometimes for fame and memory, monuments, pyra-
mids, colosses, and the like. And if there happened
to rise up any more civil wits ; then would he found
and erect some new laws, customs, and usages, such
as now of late years, when the world was revolute
almost to the like rudeness and obscurity, we see both
in our own nation and abroad many examples of, as
well in a number of tenures reserved upon men's
lands, as in divers customs of towns and manors, being
the devices that such wits wrought upon in such times
of deep ignorance, etc.

The impediments of knowledge for want of a true suc-
cession of wits, and that hitherto the length of one
man's life hath been the greatest measure of know-
ledge.

Being the Vlth chapter, the whole chapter.

In arts mechanical the first device cometh shortest,
and time addeth and perfecteth. But in sciences of
conceit, the first author goeth furthest, and time leeseth
and corrupteth. Painting, artillery, sailing, and the
like, grossly managed at first, by time accommodate
and refined. The philosophies and sciences of Aris-
totle, Plato, Democritus, Hippocrates, of most vigour
at first, by time degenerated and imbased. In the
former, many wits and industries contributed in one.

138 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

In the latter many men's wits spent to deprave the
wit of one.

The error is both in the deliverer and in the re-
ceiver. He that delivereth knowledge, desireth to
deliver it in such form as may be soonest believed,
and not as may easiliest be examined. He that re-
ceiveth knowledge desireth rather present satisfaction
than expectant search, and so rather not to doubt than
not to err. Glory maketh the author not to lay open
his weakness : and sloth maketh the disciple not to
know his strength.

Then begin men to aspire to the second prizes, to
be a profound interpreter and commenter, to be a
sharp champion and defender, to be a methodical
compounder and abridger. And this is the unfortu-
nate succession of wits which the world hath yet had,
whereby the patrimony' of all knowledge goeth not
on husbanded or improved, but wasted and decayed.
For knowledge is like a water, that will never arise
again higher than the level from which it fell. And
therefore to go beyond Aristotle by the light of Aris-
totle, is to think that a borrowed light can increase the
original light from whom it is taken. So then, no
true succession of wits having been in the world;
either we must conclude, that knowledge is but a task
for one man's life, and then vain was the complaint,
that life is short, and art is long : or else, that the
knowledge that now is, is but a shrub ; and not that
tree which is never dangerous, but where it is to the
purpose of knowing good and evil ; which desire ever
riseth upon an appetite to elect, and not to obey, and
so containeth in it a manifest defection.

That the pretended succession of wits hath been evil
placed, for as much as after variety of sects and
opinions, the most popular and not the truest pre-
vaileth and weareth out the rest.

Being the Vllth chapter, a fragment.

It is sensible to think, that when men enter first
into search and inquiry, according to the several

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 139

frames and compositions of their understanding, they
light upon differing conceits, and so all opinions and
doubts are beaten over ; and then men having made
a taste of all, wax weary of variety, and so reject the
worst, and hold themselves to the best, either some
one, if it be eminent ; or some two or three, if they
be in some equality ; which afterwards are received
and carried on, and the rest extinct.

But truth is contrary ; and that time is like a river
which carrieth down things which are light and blown
up, and sinketh and drowneth that which is sad and
weighty For howsoever governments have several
forms, sometimes one governing, sometimes few,
sometimes the multitude ; yet the state of knowledge
is ever a democraty, and that prevaileth which is most
agreeable to the senses and conceits of people. As, for
example, there is no great doubt, but he that did put
the beginnings of things to be solid, void, and motion
to the centre, was in better earnest than he that put
matter, form, and shift ; or he that put the mind,
motion, and matter. For no man shall enter into
inquisition of nature, but shall pass by that opinion
of Democritus ; whereas he shall never come near the
other two opinions, but leave them aloof, for the
schools and table-talk. Yet those of Aristotle and
Plato, because they be both agreeable to popular
sense, and the one was uttered with subtilty and the
spirit of contradiction, and the other with a style of
ornament and majesty, did hold out, and the other
gave place, etc.

Of the impediments of knowledge, in handling it by
parts, and in slipping off particular sciences from
the root and stock of universal knowledge.

Being the VHIth chapter, the whole chapter.

Cicero, the orator, willing to magnify his own
profession, and thereupon spending many words to
maintain that eloquence was not a shop of good
words and elegancies, but a treasury and receipt of
all knowledges, so far forth as may appertain to the

140 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

handling and moving of the minds and affections of
men by speech ; maketh great complaint of the school
of Socrates ; that whereas before his time the same
professors of wisdom in Greece did pretend to teach
a universal sapience and knowledge both of matter
and words, Socrates divorced them, and withdrew
philosophy, and left rhetoric to itself, which by that
destitution became but a barren and unnoble science.
And in particular sciences we see, that if men fall to
subdivide their labours, as to be an oculist in physic,
or to be perfect in some one title of die law or the
like, they may prove ready and subtile, but not deep
or sufficient, no, not in that subject which they do
particularly attend, because of that consent which it
hath with the rest. And it is a matter of common
discourse, of the chain of sciences, how they are linked
together, insomuch as the Grecians, who had terms
at will, have fitted it of a name of Circle-Learning,
Nevertheless, I that hold it for a great impediment
towards the advancement and further invention of
knowledge, that particular arts and sciences have
been disincorporated from general knowledge, do not
understand one and the same thing, which Cicero's
discourse and the note and conceit of the Grecians in
their word Circle-Learning do intend. For I mean
not that use which one science hath of another for
ornament or help in practice, as the orator hath of
knowledge of affections for moving, or as military
science may have use of geometry for fortifications ; but
I mean it directly of that use by way of supply of light
and information, which the particulars and instances
of one science do yield and present for the framing or
correcting of the axioms of another science in their
very truth and notion. And therefore that example
of oculists and title lawyers doth come nearer my
conceit than the other two ; for sciences distinguished
have a dependence upon universal knowledge to be
augmented and rectified by the superior light thereof;
as well as the parts and members of a science have
upon the maxims of the same science, and the mu-
tual light and consent which one part receiveth of

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 141

another. And therefore the opinion of Copernicus
in astronomy, which astronomy itself cannot correct,
because it is not repugnant to any of the appear-
ances; yet natural philosophy doth correct. On the
other side, if some of the ancient philosophers had
been perfect in the observations of astronomy, and
had called them to counsel when they made their
principles and first axioms, they would never have
divided their philosophy, as the cosmographers do
their descriptions by globes, making one philosophy
for heaven, and another for under heaven, as in effect
they do.

So if the moral philosophers, that have spent such
an infinite quantity of debate touching good and the
highest good, had cast their eye abroad upon nature,
and beheld the appetite that is in all things to receive
and to give ; the one motion affecting preservation,
and the other multiplication ; which appetites are
most evidently seen in living creatures, in the plea-
sure of nourishment and generation ; and in man do
make the aptest and most natural division of all his
desires, being either of sense of pleasure, or sense of
power : and in the universal frame of the world are
figured, the one in the beams of heaven which issue
forth, and the other in the lap of the earth which takes
in : and again, if they had observed the motion of
congruity, or situation of the parts in respect of the
whole, evident in so many particulars : and lastly, if
they had considered the motion, familiar in attraction
of things, to approach to that which is higher in the
same kind : when by these observations, so easy and
concurring in natural philosophy, they should have
found out this quaternion of good, in enjoying or frui-
tion, effecting or operation, consenting or proportion,
and approach or assumption ; they would have saved
and abridged much of their long and wandering dis-
courses of pleasure, virtue, duty, and religion. So like-
wise in the same logic, and rhetoric, or acts of argu-
ment and grace of speech, if the great masters of them
would but have gone a form lower, and looked but into
the observations of grammar concerning the kinds of

142 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

words, their derivations, deflexions, and syntax, spe-
cially enriching the same with the helps of several
languages, with their differing proprieties of words,
phrases, and tropes ; they might have found out more
and better footsteps of common reason, help of dispu-
tation, and advantages of cavillation, than many of
these which they have propounded. So again, a man
should be thought to dally, if he did note how the
figures of rhetoric and music are many of them the
same. The repetitions and traductions in speech, and
the reports and haun tings of sounds in music, are the
very same things. Plutarch hath almost made a book
of the Lacedaemonian kind of jesting, which joined
every pleasure with distaste. " Sir," said a man of art
to Philip, king of Macedon, when he controlled him
in his faculty, " God forbid your fortune should be
" such a's to know these things better than I." In
taxing his ignorance in his art, he represented to him
the perpetual greatness of his fortune, leaving him
no vacant time for so mean a skill. Now in music it
is one of the ordinariest flowers to fall from a discord,
or hard tune, upon a sweet accord. The figure that
Cicero and the rest commend, as one of the best points
of elegancy, which is the fine checking of expecta-
tion, is no less well known to the musicians, when
they have a special grace in flying the close or ca-
dence. And these are no allusions but direct com-
munities, the same delights of the mind being to be
found not only in music, rhetoric, but in moral phi-
losophy, policy, and other knowledges, and that ob-
scure in the one, which is more apparent in the other;
yea, and that discovered in the one, which is not
found at all in the other ; and so one science greatly
aiding to the invention and augmentation of another.
And therefore, without this intercourse, the axioms
of sciences will fall out to be neither full nor true;
but will be such opinions, as Aristotle in some places
doth wisely censure, when he saith, " These are the
" opinions of persons that have respect but to a few
" things." So then we see, that this note leadeth
us to an administration of knowledge in some such

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 143

order and policy, as the king of Spain, in regard of
his great dominions, useth in state : who, though he
hath particular councils for several countries and af-
fairs, yet hath one council of state, or last resort, that
receiveth the advertisements and certificates from all
the rest. Hitherto of the diversion, succession, and
conference of wits.

That the end and scope of knowledge hath been gene-
rally mistaken, and that men were never well
advised what it was they sought.

Being the IXth chapter, immediately preceding the
Inventory, and inducing the same.

It appeareth then how rarely the wits and labours
of men have been converted to the severe and original
inquisition of knowledge ; and in those who have pre-
tended, what hurt hath been done by the affectation
of professors, and the distraction of such as were no
professors ; and how there was never in effect any
conjunction or combination of wits in the first and in-
ducing search, but that every man wrought apart, and
would either have his own way, or else would go no
further than his guide, having in the one case the ho-
nour of a first, and in the other the ease of a second ;
and lastly, how in the descent and continuance of
wits and labours, the succession hath been in the most
popular and weak opinions, like unto the weakest na-
tures, which many times have most children ; and in
them also the condition of succession hath been rather
to defend and to adorn, than to add ; and if to add,
yet that addition to be rather a refining of a part, than
an increase of the whole. But the impediments of
time and accidents, though they have wrought a ge-
neral indisposition, yet are they not so peremptory
and binding, as the internal impediments and clouds
in the mind and spirit of man, whereof it now fol-
io weth to speak.

The Scripture, speaking of the worst sort of error,
saith, Errare fecit eos in invio et non in via. For a man
may wander in the way, by rounding up and down ;

144 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

but if men have failed in their very direction and ad-
dress, that error will never by good fortune correct
itself. Now it hath fared with men in their contem-
plations, as Seneca saith it fareth with them in their
actions, De partibus vita quisque deliberat, de summa
nemo. A course very ordinary with men who receive
for the most part their final ends from the inclination
of their nature, or from common example and opi-
nion, never questioning or examining them, nor re-
ducing them to any clear certainty ; and use only to
call themselves to account and deliberation touching
the means and second ends, and thereby set them-
selves in the right way to the wrong place. So like-
wise upon the natural curiosity and desire to know,
they have put themselves in way without foresight or
consideration of their journey's end.

For I find that even those that have sought know-
ledge for itself, and not for benefit, or ostentation, or
any practical inablement in the course of their life,
have nevertheless propounded to themselves a wrong
mark, namely, satisfaction, which men call truth, and
not operation. For as in the courts and services of
princes and states, it is a much easier matter to give
satisfaction than to do the business ; so in the inquir-
ing of causes and reasons it is much easier to find out
such causes as will satisfy the mind of man, and quiet
objections, than such causes as will direct him and
give him light to new experiences and inventions.
And this did Celsus note wisely and truly, how that
the causes which are in use, and whereof the know-
ledges now received do consist, were in time minors
and subsequents to the knowledge of the particulars,
out of which they were induced and collected ; and
that it was not the light of those causes which disco-
vered particulars, but only the particulars being first
found, men did fall on glossing and discoursing of the
causes ; which is the reason, why the learning that
now is hath the curse of barrenness, and is courtesan-
like, for pleasure, and not for fruit. Nay, to compare it
rightly, the strange fiction of the poets of the trans-
formation of Scylla, seemeth to be a lively emblem of

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 145

this philosophy and knowledge : a fair woman up-
ward in the parts of show, but when you come to the
parts of use and generation, barking monsters ; for no
better are the endless distorted questions, which ever
have been, and of necessity must be, the end and
womb of such knowledge. .

But yet, nevertheless, here I may be mistaken, by
reason of some which have much in their pen the re-
ferring sciences to action and the use of man, which
mean quite another matter than I do. For they mean
a contriving of directions, and precepts for readiness
of practice, which I discommend not, so it be not
occasion that some quantity of the science be lost ;
for else it will be such a piece of husbandry, as to put
away a manor lying somewhat scattered, to buy in a
close that lieth handsomely about a dwelling. But
my intention contrariwise is to increase and multiply
the revenues and possessions of man, and not to trim
up only, or order with conveniency the grounds
whereof he is already stated. Wherefore, the better to
make myself understood, that I mean nothing less
than words, and directly to demonstrate the point
which we are now upon, that is, what is the true end,
scope, or office of knowledge, which I have set down
to consist not in any plausible, delectable, reverend,
or admired discourse, or any satisfactory arguments,
but in effecting and working, and in discovery of par-
ticulars not revealed before, for the better endowment
and help of man's life ; I have thought good to make,
as it were, a kalendar or inventory of the wealth, fur-
niture, or means of man, according to his present
estate, as far as it is known ; which I do not to shew
any universality of sense or knowledge, and much
less to make a satire of reprehension in respect of
wants and errors, but partly because cogitations new
had need of some grossness and inculcation to make
them perceived, and chiefly to the end, that for the
time to come, upon the account and state now made
and cast up, it may appear what increase this new
manner of use, and administration of the stock, if it
be once planted, shall bring with it hereafter ; and

VOL. II. L

146 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

for the time present, in case I should be prevented
by death to propound and reveal this new light as I
purpose, yet I may at the least give some awaking
note, both of the wants in man s present condition,
and the nature of the supplies to be wished ; though
for mine own part neither do I much build upon my
present anticipations, neither do I think ourselves yet
learned or wise enough to wish reasonably : for as it
asks some knowledge to demand a question not im-
pertinent ; so it asketh some sense, to make a wish
not absurd.

The Inventory, or an enumeration and view of inven-
tions already discovered in use, together with a note
of the wants, and the nature of the supplies.

Being the Xth chapter; and this a small fragment
thereof, being the preface to the Inventory -

The plainest method, and most directly pertinent
to this intention, will be to make distribution of sci-
ences, arts, inventions, works, and their portions,
according to the use and tribute which they yield and
render to the conditions of man's life, and under those
several uses, being as several offices of provisions, to
charge and tax what may be reasonably exacted or
demanded, not guiding ourselves neither by the po-
verty of experiences and probations, nor according to
the vanity of credulous imaginations ; and then upon
those charges and taxations to distinguish and present,
as it were, in several columns, what is extant and al-
ready found, and what is defective and further to be
provided. Of which provisions, because in many of
them, after the manner of slothful and faulty officers
and accomptants, it will be returned, by way of ex-
cuse, that no such are to be had, it will be fit to give
some light of the nature of the supplies, whereby it
will evidently appear, that they are to be compassed
and procured. And yet, nevertheless, on the other
side again, it will be as fit to check and controul the
vain and void assignations and gifts, whereby certain
ignorant, extravagant, and abusing wits have pre-

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 147

tended to indue the state of man with wonders, dif-
fering as much from truth in nature, as Caesar's Com-
mentaries difTereth from the acts of King Arthur, or
Huon of Bourdeaux, in story. For it is true, that
Csesar did greater things than those idle wits had
the audacity to feign their supposed worthies to have
done ; but he did them not in that monstrous and
fabulous manner.

The chapter immediately following the Inventory.
Being the Xlth in order, a part thereof.

It appeareth, then, what is now in proposition, not
by general circumlocution, but by particular note, no
former philosophy varied in terms or method ; no
new placet or speculation upon particulars already
known; no referring to action, by any manual of
practice ; but the revealing and discovering of new
inventions and operations. This to be done without
the errors and conjectures of art, or the length or dif-
ficulties of experience ; the nature and kinds of which
inventions have been described as they could be dis-
covered ; for your eye cannot pass one kenning with-
out further sailing : only we have stood upon the best
advantages of the notions received, as upon a mount,
to shew the knowledges adjacent and confining. If
therefore the true end of knowledge, not propounded,
hath bred large error, the best and perfectest condi-
tion of the same end, not perceived, will cause some
declination. For when the butt is set up, men need
not rove, but except the white be placed, men can-
not level. This perfection we mean, not in the worth
of the effects, buHn the nature of the direction ; for
our purpose is not to stir up men's hopes, but to guide
their travels. The fulness of direction to work, and
produce any effect, consisteth in two conditions, cer-
tainty and liberty. Certainty is, when the direction
is not only true for the most part, but infallible. Li-
berty is, when the direction is not restrained to some
definite means, but comprehendeth all the means and
ways possible ; for the poet saith well, Sapientibus

l 2

148 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

undique latce sunt vice ; and where there is the great-
est plurality of change, there is the greatest singu^
larity of choice. Besides, as a conjectural direction
maketh a casual effect, so a particular and restrained
direction is no less casual than uncertain. For those
particular means whereunto it is tied, may be out of
your power, or may be accompanied with an overvalue
of prejudice ; and so, if for want of certainty in direc-
tion, you are frustrated in success, for want of variety
in direction, you are stopped in attempt. If therefore
your direction be certain, it must refer you, and point
you to somewhat, which if it be present, the effect
you seek will of necessity follow, else may you per-
form and not obtain. If it be free, then must it re-
fer you to somewhat, which, if it be absent, the effect
you seek will of necessity withdraw, else may you
have power and not attempt. This notion Aristotle
had in light, though not in use. For the two com-
mended rules by him set down, whereby the axioms
of sciences are precepted to be made convertible, and
which the latter men have not without elegancy sur-
named, the one the rule of truth, because it prevent-
eth deceit; the other the rule of prudence, because it
freeth election ; are the same thing in speculation
and affirmation, which we now observe. An exam-
ple will make my meaning attained, and yet percase
make it thought that they attained it not.

Let the effect to be produced be whiteness; let the
first direction be, that if air and water be intermin-
gled, or broken in small portions together, whiteness
will ensue ; as in snow, in the breaking of the ways
of the sea and rivers, and the like. This direction is
certain, but very particular; and restrained, being tied
but to air and water. Let the second direction be,
that if air be mingled as before with any transparent
body, such nevertheless as is uncoloured and more
grossly transparent than air itself, that then, etc. as
glass or crystal, being beaten to fine powder, by the
interposition of the air becometh white ; the white of
an egg, being clear of itself, receiving air by agita-
tion, becometh white, receiving air by concoction,

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 149

becometh white ; here you are freed from water, and
advanced to a clear body, and still tied to air. Let
the third direction exclude or remove the restraint
of an uncoloured body, as in amber, sapphires, etc.
which, beaten to fine powder, become white in wine
and beer ; which, brought to froth, become white. Let
the fourth direction exclude the restraint of a body
more grossly transparent than air, as in flame, being
a body compounded between air and a finer substance
than air; which flame, if it were not for the smoke,
which is the third substance that incorporateth itself
and dieth, the flame would be more perfect white.
In all these four directions air still beareth a part.
Let the fifth direction then be, that if any bodies,
both transparent, but in an unequal degree, be min-
gled as before, whiteness will follow : as oil and wa-
ter beaten to an ointment, though by settling, the
air which gathereth in the agitation be evaporate,
yet remaineth white ; and the powder of glass, or
crystal, put into water, whereby the air giveth place,
yet remaineth white, though not so perfect. Now
are you freed from air, but still you are tied to tran-
sparent bodies. To ascend further by scale I do for-
bear, partly because it would draw on the example
to an over-great length, but chiefly because it would
open that which in this work I determine to reserve;
for to pass through the whole history and observation
of colours and objects visible, were too long a digres-
sion ; and our purpose is now to give an example of
a free direction, thereby to distinguish and describe
it ; and not to set down a form of interpretation how
to recover and attain it. But as we intend not now
to reveal, so are we circumspect not to mislead ; and
therefore, this warning being given, returning to our
purpose in hand, we admit the sixth direction to be,
that all bodies, or parts of bodies, which are unequal
equally, that is, in a simple proportion, do represent
whiteness : we will explain this, though we induce it
not. It is then to be understood, that absolute equa-
lity produceth transparence, inequality in simple
order or proportion produceth whiteness, inequality

150 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

in compound or respective order or proportion pro-
duceth other colours, and absolute or orderless ine-
quality produceth blackness; which diversity, if so
gross a demonstration be needful, may be signified by
four tables ; a blank, a chequer, a fret, and a medley;
whereof the fret is evident to admit great variety.
Out of this assertion are satisfied a multitude of effects
and observations, as, that whiteness and blackness are
most incompatible with transparence ; that whiteness
keepeth light, and blackness stoppeth light, but nei-
ther passeth it ; that whiteness or blackness are never
produced in rainbows, diamonds, crystals, and the
like ; that white giveth no dye, and black hardly tak-
eth dye ; that whiteness seemeth to have an affinity
with dryness, and blackness with moisture ; that adus-
tion causeth blackness, and calcination whiteness ;
that fioWers are generally of fresh colours, and rarely
black, etc. all which I do now mention confusedly,
by way of derivation, and not by way of induction.
This sixth direction, which I have thus explained, is
of good and competent liberty, for whiteness fixed
and inherent ; but not for whiteness fantastical, or
appearing, as shall be afterwards touched. But first
do you need a reduction back to certainty or verity ;
for it is not all position or contexture of unequal bo-
dies that will produce colours ; for aquafortis, oil of
vitriol, etc. more manifestly, and many other sub-
stances more obscurely, do consist of very unequal
parts, which yet are transparent and clear. Therefore
the reduction must be, that the bodies or parts of bo-
dies so intermingled as before, be of a certain gross-
ness or magnitude ; for the unequalities which move
the sight must have a further dimension and quantity,
than those which operate many other effects. Some
few grains of saffron will give a tincture to a tun of
water, but so many grains of civet will give a perfume
to a whole chamber of air. And therefore, when
Democritus, from whom Epicurus did borrow it, held
that the position of the solid portions was the cause
of colours ; yet in the very truth of this assertion he
should have added, that the portions are required to

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 151

be of some magnitude. And this is one cause why
colours have little inwardness and necessitude with
the nature and proprieties of things, those things re-
sembling in colour, which otherwise differ most, aS
salt and sugar; and, contrariwise, differing in colour,
which otherwise resemble most, as the white and blue
violets, and the several veins of one agate or marble,
by reason that other virtues consist in more subtile
proportions than colours do ; and yet are there virtues
and natures which require a grosser magnitude than
colours, as well as scents and divers other require a
more subtile ; for as the portion of a body will give
forth scent, which is too small to be seen, so the por-
tion of a body will shew colours, which is too small to
be endued with weight : and therefore one of the pro-
phets, with great elegancy describing how all creatures
carry no proportion towards God the creator, saith,
that all the nations in respect of him are like the
dust upon the balance ; which is a thing appeareth, but
weigheth not. But to return, there resteth a further
freeing of this sixth direction ; for the clearness of a
river or stream sheweth white at a distance, and crys-
talline glasses deliver the face or any other object falsi-
fied in whiteness, and long beholding the snow, to a
weak eye, giveth an impression of azure, rather than
of whiteness. So as for whiteness in apparition only,
and representation, by the qualifying of the light, al-
tering the intermedium, or affecting the eye itself, it
reacheth not. But you must free your direction to
the producing of such an incidence, impression, or
operation, as may cause a precise and determinate
passion of the eye, a matter which is much more easy
to induce than that which we have passed through ;
but yet, because it hath a full coherence both with
that act of radiation, which hath hitherto been con-
ceived and termed so unproperly and untruly, by some,
an effluxion of spiritual species, and by others, an in-
vesting of the intermedium, with a motion which suc-
cessively is conveyed to the eye, and with the act of
sense, wherein I should likewise open that which I
think good to withdraw, I will omit.

152 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

Neither do I contend, but that this notion, which
I call the freeing of a direction in the received philo-
sophies, as far as a swimming anticipation could take
hold, might be perceived and discerned ; being not
much other matter than that which they did not only
aim at in the two rules of axioms before remembered,
but more nearly also than that which they term the
form or formal cause, or that which they call the true
difference ; both which, nevertheless, it seemeth they
propound rather as impossibilities and wishes, than
as things within the compass of human comprehen-
sion : for Plato casteth his burthen, and saith, that he
will revere him as a God, that can truly divide and
define ; which cannot be but by true forms and dif-
ferences, wherein I join hands with him, confessing as
much, as yet assuming to myself little ; for if any man
can, by the strength of his anticipations, find out
forms, I will magnify him with the foremost. But as
any of them would say, that if divers things, which
many men know by instruction and observation, an-
other knew by revelation, and without those means,
they would take him for somewhat supernatural and
divine ; so I do acknowledge, that if any man can by
anticipations reach to that which a weak and inferior
wit may attain to by interpretation, he cannot receive
too high a title. Nay, I for my part do indeed admire
to see how far some of them have proceeded by their
anticipations : but how ? it is, as I wonder at some
blind men, to see what shift they make without their
eye-sight; thinking with myself that if I were blind,
I could hardly do it. Again, Aristotle's school con-
fesseth, that there is no true knowledge but by causes,
no true cause but the form, no true form known ex-
cept one, which they are pleased to allow ; and there-
fore thus far their evidence standeth with us, that
both hitherto there hath been nothing but a shadow
of knowledge, and that we propound now that which
is agreed to be worthiest to be sought, and hardest to
be found. There wanteth now a part very necessary,
not by way of supply, but by way of caution : for,
as it is seen for the most part, that the outward tokens

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 153

and badge of excellency and perfection are more in-
cident to things merely counterfeit, than to that which
is true, but for a meaner and baser sort ; as a dubline
is more like a perfect ruby than a spinel, and a coun-
terfeit angel is made more like a true angel, than if it
were an angel coined of China gold ; in like manner,
the direction carrietha resemblance of a true direction
in verity and liberty, which indeed is no direction at
all. For though your direction seem to be certain
and free, by pointing you to nature, that is unsepara-
ble from the nature you enquire upon ; yet if it do not
carry you on a degree or remove nearer to action,
operation, or light, to make or produce, it is but super-
ficial and counterfeit. Wherefore, to secure and war-
rant what is a true direction, though that general
note I have given be perspicuous in itself, for a man
shall soon cast with himself, whether he be ever the
near to effect and operate or no, or whether he have
won but an abstract or varied notion ; yet for better
instruction I will deliver three particular notes of
caution. The first is, that the nature discovered be
more original than the nature supposed, and not more
secondary, or of the like degree ; as to make a stone
bright, or to make it smooth, it is a good direction to
say, make it even ; but to make a stone even, it is no
good direction to say, make it bright, or make it
smooth : for the rule is, that the disposition of any
thing referring to the state of it in itself, or the parts,
is more original than that which is relative or transi-
tive towards another thing. So evenness is the dis-
position of the stone in itself, but smooth is to the
hand, and bright to the eye, and yet nevertheless they
all cluster and concur ; and yet the direction is more
unperfect, if it do appoint you to such a relative, as is
in the same kind, and not in a diverse. For in the
direction, to produce brightness by smoothness, al-
though properly it win no degree, and will never
teach you any new particulars before unknown, yet
by way of suggestion, or bringing to mind, it may
draw your consideration to some particulars known
but not remembered ; as you shall sooner remember

154 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

some practical means of making smoothness, than if
you had fixed your consideration only upon brightness;
but if the direction had been to make brightness, by
making reflexion, as thus, make it such as you may
seeyour face in it; this is merely secondary, and help-
eth neither by way of informing, nor by way of sug-
gesting. So if in the inquiry of whiteness you were
directed to make such a colour as should be seen fur-
thest in a dark light ; here you are advanced nothing
at all. For these kinds of natures are but proprieties,
effects, circumstances, concurrences, or what else you
shall like to call them, and not radical and formative
natures towards the nature supposed. The second
caution is, that the nature inquired be collected by
division before composition, or, to speak more pro-
perly, by composition subaltern, before you ascend to
composition absolute, etc.

Of the internal and profound errors and supersti-
tions in the nature of the mind, and of the four
sorts of idols or fictions which offer themselves to
the understanding in the inquisition of knowledge.

Being the XVIth chapter ; and this a small fragment
thereof, being a preface to the inward elenches of
the mind.

The opinion of Epicurus, that the gods were of
human shape, was rather justly derided than seriously
confuted by the other sects, demanding whether every
kind of sensible creatures did not think their own
figure fairest, as the horse, the bull, and the like,
which found no beauty but in their own forms, as in
appetite of lust appeared. And the heresy of the An-
thropomorphites was ever censured for a gross con-
ceit, bred in the obscure cells of solitary monks that
never looked abroad. Again, the fable so well known
of Quis pinxit leonem, doth set forth well, that there is
an error of pride and partiality, as well as of custom
and familiarity. The reflection also from glasses so
usually resembled to the imagery of the mind, every
man knoweth to receive error and variety both in co-

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 155

lour, magnitude, and shape, according to the quality
of the glass. But yet no use hath been made of these
and many the like observations to move men to search
out, and upon search to give true cautions of the na-
tive and inherent errors in the mind of man, which
have coloured and corrupted all his notions and im-
pressions.

I do find, therefore, in this enchanted glass four
idols, or false appearances, of several and distinct
sorts, every sort comprehending many subdivisions :
the first sort, I call idols of the nation or tribe ; the
second, idols of the palace ; the third, idols of the
cave ; and the fourth, idols of the theatre, etc.

Here followeth an abridgment of divers chapters of the
first book of the Interpretation of Nature.

CHAP XII.

That in deciding and determining of the truth of
knowledge, men have put themselves upon trials not
competent. That antiquity and authority, common
and confessed notions, the natural and yielding con-
sent of the mind, the harmony and coherence of a
knowledge in itself, the establishing of principles with
the touch and reduction of other propositions unto
them, inductions without instances contradictory, and
the report of the senses, are none of them absolute
and infallible evidence of truth ; and bring no secu-
rity sufficient for effects and operations. That the dis-
covery of new works, or active directions, not known
before, is the only trial to be accepted of; and yet
not that neither, in case where one particular giveth
light to another; but where particulars induce an
axiom or observation, which axiom found out, disco-
vereth and designeth new particulars. That the na-
ture of this trial is not only upon the point, whether
the knowledge be profitable or no, but even upon
the point, whether the knowledge be true or no. Not
because you may always conclude, that the axiom
which discovereth new instances is true ; but contra-
riwise, you may safely conclude, that if you discover

156 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

not any new instance, it is vain and untrue. That
by new instances are not always to be understood new
recipes, but new assignations ; and of the diversity
between these two. That the subtilty of words, ar-
guments, notions, yea, of the senses themselves, is but
rude and gross in comparison of the subtilty of things.
And of the slothful and flattering opinions of those
which pretend to honour the mind of man in with-
drawing and abstracting it from particulars ; and of
the inducements and motives whereupon such opi-
nions have been conceived and received.

CHAP XIII.

Of the error in propounding chiefly the search of
causes and productions of things concrete, which are
infinite and transitory ; and not of abstract natures,
which are few and permanent. That these natures
are as the alphabet or simple letters, whereof the va-
riety of things consisteth ; or as the colours mingled
in the painter's shell, wherewith he is able to make
infinite variety of faces or shapes. An enumeration
of them according to popular note. That at the first
one would conceive, that, in the schools, by natural phi-
losophy were meant the knowledge of the efficients of
things concrete ; and, by metaphysic, the knowledge of
the forms of natures simple; which is a good and fit
division of knowledge : but upon examination there
is no such matter by them intended. That the little
inquiry into the production of simple natures, sheweth
well that works were not sought ; because, by the for-
mer knowledge, some small and superficial deflexions
from the ordinary generations and productions may
be found out ; but the discovery of all profound and ra-
dical alteration must arise out of the latter knowledge.

CHAP XIV

Of the error in propounding the search of the ma-
terials, or dead beginnings or principles of things,
and not the nature of motions, inclinations, and ap-
plications. That the whole scope of the former
search is impertinent and vain ; both because there

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 157

are no such beginnings, and if there were, they could
not be known. That the latter manner of search,
which is all, they pass over compendiously and
slightly, as a bye matter. That the several conceits
in that kind ; as that the lively and moving begin-
nings of things should be shift or appetite of matter
to privation; the spirit of the world, working in mat-
ter according to platform ; the proceeding or fructify-
ing of distinct kinds according to their proprieties ;
the intercourse of the elements by mediation of their
common qualities ; the appetite of like portions to
unite themselves ; amity and discord, or sympathy
and antipathy ; motion to the centre, with motion of
stripe or press ; the casual agitation, aggregation, and
essays of the solid portions in the void space ; motion
of shuttings and openings; are all mere nugations.
And that the calculating and ordination of the true
degrees, moments, limits, and laws of motions and
alterations, by means whereof all works and effects
are produced, is a matter of a far other nature than
to consist in such easy and wild generalities.

CHAP XV

Of the great error of inquiring knowledge in an-
ticipations. That I call anticipations, the voluntary
collections that the mind maketh of knowledge, which
is every man's reason. That though this be a solemn
thing, and serves the turn to negociate between man
and man, because of the conformity and participation
of men's minds in the like errors, yet towards inquiry
of the truth of things and works it is of no value.
That civil respects are a lett that this pretended rea-
son should not be so contemptibly spoken of, as were
fit and medicinable, in regard that hath been too
much exalted and glorified, to the infinite detriment
of man's estate. Of the nature of words, and their
facility and aptness to cover and grace the defects of
anticipations. That it is no marvel if these antici-
pations have brought forth such diversity and repug-
nance in opinions, theories, orphilosophies, as so many

158 Of the Intayretation of Nature.

fable, of several arguments. That had not the na-
ture of civil customs and government been in most
times somewhat adverse to such innovations, though
contemplative, there might have been, and would
have been, many more. That the second school of
the Academics and the sect of Pyrrho, or the consi-
dered, that denied comprehension as to the disabling
of man's knowledge, entertained in anticipations, is
well to be allowed : but that they ought, when they
had overthrown and purged the floor of the ruins, to
have sought to build better in place. And more es-
pecially that they did unjustly and prejudicially, to
charge the deceit upon the- report of the senses,
which admitteth very sparing remedy ; being indeed
to have been charged upon the anticipations of the
mind, which admitteth a perfect remedy That the
information of the senses is sufficient, not because
they err not, but because the use of the sense in dis-
covering of knowledge is for the most part not im-
mediate. So that it is the work, effect, or instance,
that trieth the axiom, and the sense doth but try the
work done or not done, beings or not being-. That the
mind of man in collecting knowledge needeth great
variety of helps, as well as the hand of man in manual
and mechanical practices needeth great variety of
instruments. And that it were a poor work, that if
instruments were removed, men would overcome with
their naked hands. And of the distinct points of
want and insufficiency in the mind of man.

CHAP XVI.

That the mind of a man, as it is not a vessel of
that content or receipt to comprehend knowledge
without helps and supplies ; so again, it is not sincere,
but of an ill and corrupt tincture. Of the inherent
and profound errors and superstitions in the nature
of the mind, and of the four sorts of idols or false ap-
pearances that offer themselves to the understanding
in the inquisition of knowledge ; that is to say, the
idols of the tribe, the idols of the palace, the idols of
the cave, and the idols of the theatre : That these

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 1 59

four, added to the incapacity of the mind, and the
vanity and malignity of the affections, leave nothing
but impotency and confusion. A recital of the par-
ticular kinds of these four idols, with some chosen
examples of the opinions they have begot, such of
them as have supplanted the state of knowledge
most.

CHAP XVII.

Of the errors of such as have descended and ap-
plied themselves to experience, and attempted to in-
duce knowledge upon particulars. That they have
not had the resolution and strength of mind to free
themselves wholly from anticipations, but have made
a confusion and intermixture of anticipations, and
observations and so vanished. That if any have had
the strength of mind generally to purge away and
discharge all anticipations ; they have not had that
greater and double strength and patience of mind, as
well to repel new anticipations after the view and
search of particulars, as to reject old, which were in
their mind before ; but have from particulars and
history flown up to principals, without the mean de-
grees, and so framed all the middle generalities or
axioms, not by way of scale or ascension from par-
ticulars, but by way of derivation from principles,
whence hath issued the infinite chaos of shadows and
moths, wherewith both books and minds have been
hitherto, and may be yet hereafter much more pes-
tered. That in the course of those derivations, to
make them yet the more unprofitable, they have used,
when any light of new instance opposite to any asser-
tion appeared, rather to reconcile the instance than to
amend the rule. That if any have had, or shall have
the power and resolution to fortify and inclose his
mind against all anticipations, yet if he have not
been or shall not be cautioned by the full under-
standing of the nature of the mind and spirit of man,
and therein of the states, pores, and passages both of
knowledge and error, he hath not been, nor shall not
be possibly able to guide or keep on his course aright.
That those that have been conversant in experience

1 60 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

and observation, have used, when they have intended
to discover the cause of any effect, to fix their consi-
deration narrowly and exactly upon that effect itself,
witfc all the circumstances thereof, and to vary the
trial thereof as many ways as can be devised ; which
course amounteth but to a tedious curiosity, and ever
breaketh offin wondering, and not in knowing. And
that they have not used to enlarge their observation to
match and sort that effect with instances of a diverse
subject, which must of necessity be before any cause
be found out. That they have passed over the ob-
servation of instances vulgar and ignoble, and stayed
their attention chiefly upon instances of mark;
whereas the other sort are for the most part more
significant, and of better light and information. That
every particular that worketh any effect, is a thing
compounded, more or less, of diverse single natures,
more manifest and more obscure, and that it ap-
peareth not to whether of the natures of the effect is to
be ascribed ; and yet notwithstanding they have taken
a course without breaking particulars, and reducing
them by exclusions and inclusions to a definite point,
to conclude upon inductions in gross ; which em-
pirical course is no less vain than the scholastical.
That all such as have sought action and work out
of their inquiry, have been hasty and pressing to dis-
cover some practices for present use, and not to
discover axioms, joining with them the new assigna-
tions as their sureties. That the forerunning of the
mind to frame recipes upon axioms at the entrance, is
like Atalanta's golden ball, that hindereth and inter-
rupted the course ; and is to be inhibited till you
have ascended to a certain stage and degree of ge-
neralities; which forbearance will be liberally re-
compensed in the end ; and that chance discovereth
new inventions by one and one, but science by knots
and clusters. That they have not collected sufficient
quantity of particulars, nor them in sufficient cer-
tainty and subtilty, nor of all several kinds, nor with
those advantages and discretions in the entry and
sorting which are requisite; and of the weak man-
ner of collecting natural history, which hath been

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 161

used. Lastly, that they had no knowledge of the
formulary of interpretation, the work whereof is to
abridge experience, and to make things as certainly
found out by axiom in short time, as by infinite ex-
periences in ages.

CHAP XVIII.

That the cautels and devices put in practice in
the delivery of knowledge for the covering and pal-
liating of ignorance, and the gracing and overvaluing
of that they utter, are without number; but none
more bold and more hurtful than two : the one, that
men have used of a few observations upon any sub-
ject to make a solemn and formal art; by filling it up
with discourse, accommodating it with some circum-
stances and directions to practice, and digesting it
into method, whereby men grow satisfied and secure,
as if no more inquiry were to be made of that matter;
the other, that men have used to discharge ignorance
with credit, in defining all those effects which they
cannot attain unto, to be out of the compass of art
and human endeavour. That the very styles and
forms of utterance are so many characters of im-
posture, some chusing a style of pugnacity and con-
tention, some of satire and reprehension, some of
plausible and tempting similitudes and examples,
some of great words and high discourse, some of
short and dark sentences, some of exactness of me-
thod, all of positive affirmation ; without disclosing
the true motives and proofs of their opinions, or free
confessing their ignorance or doubts, except it be
now and then for a grace, and in cunning to win the
more credit in the rest, and not in good faith. That
although men be free from these errors and incum-
brances in the will and affection, yet it is not a thing
so easy as is conceived, to convey the conceit of one
man's mind into the mind of another, without loss or
mistaking, especially in notions new and differing
from those that are received. That never any know-
ledge was delivered in the same order it was invented,
no not in the mathematics, though it should seem

VOL. II. M

162 Of the Intreprdallon of Nature.

otherwise in regard that the propositions placed last
do use the propositions or grants placed first for their
proof and demonstration. That there are forms and
methods of tradition wholly distinct and differing, ac-
cording to their ends whereto they are directed That
there are two ends of tradition of knowledge, the one
to teach and instruct for use and practice, the other
to impart or intimate for re-examination and pro-
gression. That the former of these ends requireth
a method not the same, whereby it was invented and
induced, but such as is most compendious and ready,
whereby it may be used and applied. That the latter
of the ends, which is where a knowledge is delivered
to be continued and spun on by a succession of la-
bours, requireth a method whereby it may be trans-
posed to another in the same manner as it was col-
lected, to the end it may be discerned both where the
work is 'weak, and where it breaketh off. That this
latter method is not only unfit for the former end, but
also impossible for all knowledge gathered and in-
sinuated by anticipations, because the mind working
inwardly of itself, no man can give a just account
how he came to that knowledge which he hath re-
ceived, and that therefore this method is peculiar for
knowledge gathered by interpretation. That the dis-
cretion anciently observed, though by the precedent
of many vain persons and deceivers disgraced, of pub-
lishing part and reserving part to a private succession,
and of publishing in a manner whereby it shall not
be to the capacity nor taste of all, but shall as it were
single and adopt his reader, is not to be laid aside,
both for the avoiding of abuse in the excluded, and
the strengthening of affection in the admitted. That
there are other virtues of tradition, as that there be
no occasion given to error, and that it carry a vigour
to root and spread against the vanity of wits and in-
juries of time; all which, if they were ever due to
any knowledge delivered, or, if they were never due
to any human knowledge heretofore delivered, yet are
now- due to the knowledge propounded-

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 1 63

CHAP XIX.

Of the impediments which have been in the affec-
tions, the principle whereof hath been despair or dif
fidence, and the strong apprehension of the difficulty,
obscurity, and infiniteness which belongeth to the in-
vention of knowledge, and that men have not known
their own strength; and that the supposed difficulties
and vastness of the work is rather in shew and muster,
than in state or substance, where the true way is
taken. That this diffidence hath moved and caused
some never to enter into search, and others, when they
have been entered, either to give over, or to seek a
more compendious course than can stand with the
nature of true search. That of those that have refused
and prejudged inquiry, the more sober and grave sort
of wits have depended upon authors and traditions,
and the more vain and credulous resorted to revelation
and intelligence with spirits and higher natures. That
of those that have entered into search, some having
fallen upon some conceits, which they after consider to
be the same which they have found in former authors,
have suddenly taken a persuasion that a man shall
but, with much labour, incur and light upon the same
inventions which he might with ease receive from
others, and that it is but a vanity and self-pleasing
of the wit to go about again, as one that would rather
have a flower of his own gathering, than much better
gathered to his hand. That the same humour of
sloth and diffidence suggesteth, that a man shall but
revive some ancient opinion, which was long ago pro-
pounded, examined, and rejected. And that it is
easy to err in conceit, that a man's observation or
notion is the same with a former opinion, both because
new conceits must of necessity be uttered in old words,
and because upon true and erroneous grounds men
may meet in consequence or conclusion, as several
lines or circles that cut in some one point. That
the greatest part of those that have descended into
search have chosen for the most artificial and compen-
dious course, to induce principles out of particulars,

m 2

164 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

and to reduce all other propositions unto principles ;
and so, instead of the nearest way, have been led o no
way, or a mere labyrinth. That the two contempla-
tive ways have some resemblance with the old parable
of the two moral ways, the one beginning with in-
certainty and difficulty, and ending in plainness and
certainty; and the other beginning with shew of
plainness and certainty, and ending in difficulty and
incertainty. Of the great and manifest error and
untrue conceit or estimation of the infiniteness of par-
ticulars, whereas indeed all prolixity is in discourse
and derivations ; and of the infinite and most laborious
expence of wit that hath been employed upon toys
and matters of no fruit or value. That although the
period of one age cannot advance men to the furthest
point of interpretation of nature, except the work
should be undertaken with greater helps than can be
expected, yet it cannot fail in much less space of time
to make return of many singular commodities towards
the state and occasions of man's life. That there is
less reason of distrust in the course of interpretation
now propounded, than in any knowledge formerly
delivered, because this course doth in sort equal men's
wits, and leaveth no great advantage or pre-eminence
to the perfect and excellent motions of the spirit.
That to draw a straight line, or to make a circle per-
fect round by aim of hand only, there must be a great
difference between an unsteady and unpractised hand
and a steady and practised ; but to do it by rule or
compass, it is much alike.

CHAP XXL

Of the impediments which have been in the two
extreme humours of admiration of antiquity and love
of novelty ; and again, of over-servile reverence, or
over-light scorn of the opinions of others.

CHAP XXII.

Of the impediments which have been in the affec-
tion of pride, specially of one kind, which is the dis-
dain of dwelling and being conversant much in expe-

Of the Interpretation of Nature. 165

riences and particulars, especially such as are vulgar
in occurrency, and base and ignoble in use. That
besides certain higher mysteries of pride, generalities
seem to have a dignity and solemnity, in that they do
not put men in mind of their familiar actions, in that
they have less affinity with arts mechanical and illibe-
ral, in that they are not so subject to be controuled by
persons of mean observation, in that they seem to teach
men that they know not, and not to refer them to
that they know. All which conditions directly feed-
ing the humour of pride, particulars do want. That
the majesty of generalities, and the divine nature of
the mind in taking them, if they be truly collected,
and be indeed the direct reflections of things, cannot
be too much magnified. And that it is true, that in-
terpretation is the very natural and direct intention,
action, and progression of the understanding, delivered
from impediments. And that all anticipation is but
a deflexion or declination by accident.

CHAP XXV

Of the impediments which have been in the state
of heathen religion, and other superstitions and errors
of religion. And that in the true religion there hath
not, nor is any impediment, except it be by accident
or intermixture of humour. That a religion which con-
sisteth in rites and forms of adoration, and not in con-
fessions and beliefs, is adverse to knowledge ; because
men havingliberty to inquire and discourse oftheology
at pleasure, it cometh to pass that all inquisition of
nature endeth and limiteth itself in such metaphysical
or theological discourse ; whereas if men's wits be shut
out of that port, it turneth them again to discover,
and so to seek reason of reason more deeply. And
that such was the religion of the Heathen. That a
religion that, is jealous of the variety of learning, dis-
course, opinions, and sects, as misdoubting it may
shake the foundations, or that cherisheth devotion
upon simplicity and ignorance, as ascribing ordinary
effects to the immediate working of God, is adverse
to knowledge. That such is the religion of the Turk,

1 66 Of the Interpretation of Nature.

and such hath been the abuse of Christian religion
at some several times, and in some several factions.
And of the singular advantage which the Christian
religion hath towards the furtherance of true know-
ledge, in that it excludeth and interdicteth human
reason, whether by interpretation or anticipation,
from examining or discussing of the mysteries and
principles of faith.

CHAP XXVI.

Of the impediments which have been in the nature
of society, and the policies of state. That there is no
composition of estate or society, nor order or quality
of persons, which have not some point of contrariety
towards true knowledge. That monarchies incline
wits to profit and pleasure, and commonwealths to
glory and vanity. That universities incline wits to
sophistry and affectation ; cloisters to fables and un-
profitable subtilty; study at large to variety ; and that
it is hard to say, whether mixture of contemplations
with an active life, or retiring wholly to contempla-
tions, do disable and hinder the mind more.

FILUM LABYRINTHI,

SIVE

FORMULA INQUISITIONIS.

AD FILIOS.

PARS PRIMA.

1. Francis Bacon thought in this manner. The
knowledge whereof the world is now possessed, espe-
cially that of nature, extendeth not to magnitude and
certainty of works. The physician pronounceth many
diseases incurable, and faileth oft in the rest. The
alchemists wax old and die in hopes. The magicians
perform nothing that is permanent and profitable.
The mechanics take small light from natural philo-
sophy, and do but spin on their own little threads.
Chance sometimes discovereth inventions ; but that
worketh not in years, but ages. So he saw well, that
the inventions known are very imperfect, and that
new are not like to be brought to light but in great
length of time ; and that those which are, came not
to light by philosophy

2. He thought also this state of knowledge was the
worse, because men strive against themselves to save
the credit of ignorance, and to satisfy themselves in
this poverty. For the physician, besides the cau teles
of practice, hath this general cautele of art, that he
dischargeth the weakness of his art upon supposed
impossibilities : neither can his art be condemned,
when itself judgeth. That philosophy also, out of
which the knowledge of physic which now is in use
is hewed, receiveth certain positions and opinions,
which, if they be well weighed, induce this persua-
sion, that no great works are to be expected from art.
and the hand of man ; as, in particular, that opi-
nion, that the heat of the sun andjire differ in kind;
and that other, that composition is the work of man,

168 Filum Labyrinthi.

and mixture is the work of nature, and the like ; all
tending to the circumscription of man's power, and
to artificial despair ; killing in men not only the com-
fort of imagination, but the industry of trial : only
upon vain-glory, to have their art thought perfect, and
that all is impossible that is not already found. The
alchemist dischargeth his art upon his own errors,
either supposing a misunderstanding of the words of
his authors, which maketh him listen after auricular
traditions ; or else a failing in the true proportions
and scruples of practice, which maketh him renew
infinitely his trials; and finding also that he lighteth
upon some mean experiments and conclusions by the
way, feedeth upon them, and magnifieth them to the
most, and supplieth the rest in hopes. The magician,
when he findeth something, as he conceiveth, above
nature, effected, thinketh, when a breach is once
made in nature, that it is all one to perform great
things and small ; not seeing, that they are but sub-
jects of a certain kind, wherein magic and superstition
hath played in all times. The mechanical person, if
he can refine an invention, or put two or three obser-
vations or practices together in one, or couple things
better with their use, or make the work in less or
greater volume, taketh himself for an inventor. So
he saw well, that men either persuade themselves of
new inventions as of impossibilities ; or else think they
are already extant, but in secret and in few hands :
or that they account of those little industries and ad-
ditions, as of inventions : all which turneth to the
averting of their minds from any just and constant
labour, to invent further in any quantity.

3. He thought also, when men did set before them-
selves the variety and perfection of works produced
by mechanical arts, they are apt rather to admire the
provisions of man, than to apprehend his wants ; not
considering, that the original inventions and conclu-
sions of nature, which are the life of all that variety,
are not many, nor deeply fetched ; and that the rest
is but the subtile and ruled motion of the instrument
and hand ; and that the shop therein is not unlike the

Filum Labyrinthi. 169

library, which in such number of books containeth,
for the far greater part, nothing but iterations, varied
sometimes in form, but not new in substance. So he
saw plainly, that opinion of store was a cause of want;
and that both works and doctrines appear many, and
are few.

4. He thought also, that knowledge is uttered to
men in a form, as if every thing were finished; for it
is reduced into arts and methods ; which in their di-
visions do seem to include all that may be. And how
weakly soever the parts are filled, yet they carry the
shew and reason of a total ; and thereby the writings
of some received authors go for the very art : whereas
antiquity used to deliver the knowledge which the
mind of man had gathered, in observations, aphorisms,
or short and dispersed sentences, or small tractates of
some parts that they had diligently meditated and la-
boured ; which did invite men, both to ponder that
which was invented, and to add and supply further.
But now sciences are delivered to be believed and
accepted, and not to be examined and further disco-
vered ; and the succession is between master and dis-
ciple, and not between inventor and continuer or ad-
vancer ; and therefore sciences stand at a stay, and
have done for many ages, and that which is positive
is fixed, and that which is question is kept question,
so as the columns of no further proceeding are pitched.
And therefore he saw plainly men had cut themselves
off from further invention ; and that it is no marvel,
that that is not obtained which hath not been at-
tempted, but rather shut out and debarred.

5. He thought, also, that knowledge is almost gene-
rally sought either for delight and satisfaction, or for
gain or profession, or for credit and ornament, and that
every of these are as Atalanta's balls, which hinder
the race of invention. For men are so far in these
courses from seeking to increase the mass of know-
ledge, as of that mass which is they will take no more
than will serve their turn : and if any one amongst so
many seeketh knowledge for itself, yet he rather seek-
eth to know the variety of things, than to discern of

170 Filum Labyrinthi.

the truth and causes of them ; and if his inquisition
be yet more severe, yet it tendeth rather to judgment
than to invention ; and rather to discover truth in
controversy, than new matter; and if his heart be so
large as he propoundeth to himself further discovery
or invention, yet it is rather of new discourse and spe-
culation of causes, than of effects and operations.
And as for those that have so much in their mouths,
action and use and practice, and the referring of
sciences thereunto; they mean it of application of that
which is known, and not of a discovery of that which
is unknown. So he saw plainly, that this mark,
namely, invention of further means to endow the
condition and life of man with new powers or
works, was almost never yet set up and resolved in
man's intention and inquiry

6. He thought also, that, amongst other know-
ledges, natural philosophy hath been the least fol-
lowed and laboured. For since the Christian faith,
the greatest number of wits have been employed, and
the greatest helps and rewards have been converted
upon divinity. And before-time likewise, the greatest
part of the studies of philosophers was consumed in
moral philosophy, which was as the heathen divinity.
And in both times a great part of the best wits betook
themselves to law, pleadings, and causes of estate;
specially in the time of the greatness of the Romans,
who by reason of their large empire needed the ser-
vice of all their able men for civil business. And the
time amongst the Grecians, in which natural philoso-
phy seemed most to flourish, was but a short space ;
and that also rather abused in differing sects and con-
flicts of opinions than profitably spent. Since which
time, natural philosophy was never any profession,
nor never possessed any whole man, except perchance
some monk in a cloister, or some gentleman in the
country, and that very rarely; but became a science
of passage, to season a little young and unripe wits,
and to serve for an introduction to other arts, espe-
cially physic and the practical mathematics. So as
he saw plainly, that natural philosophy hath been

Filum Labyrinthi. 171

intended by few persons, and in them hath occupied
the least part of their time ; and that in the weakest
of their age and judgment.

7 He thought also, how great opposition and pre-
judice natural philosophy had received by superstition,
and the immoderate and blind zeal of religion; for he
found that some of the Grecians, which first gave the
reason of thunder, had been condemned of impiety ;
and that the cosmographers, which first discovered
and described the roundness of the earth, and the con-
sequence thereof touching the Antipodes, were not
much otherwise censured by the ancient fathers of the
Christian Church; and that the case is now much
worse, in regard of the boldness of the schoolmen
and their dependences in the monasteries, who having
made divinity into an art, have almost incorporated
the contentious philosophy of Aristotle into the body
of Christian religion : and generally he perceived in
men of devout simplicity this opinion, that the secrets
of nature were the secrets of God ; and part of that
glory whereinto the mind of man, if it seek to press,
shall be oppressed ; and that the desire in men to at-
tain to so great and hidden knowledge, hath a resem-
blance with that temptation which caused the original
fall; and on the other side, in men of a devout policy,
he noted an inclination to have the people depend
upon God the more, when they are less acquainted
with second causes ; and to have no stirring in philo-
sophy, lest it may lead to an innovation in divinity,
or else should discover matter of further contradiction
to divinity. But in this part, resorting to the autho-
rity of the Scriptures, and holy examples, and to rea-
son, he rested not satisfied alone, but much confirmed.
For first, he considered that the knowledge of nature,
by the light whereof man discerned of every living
creature, and imposed names according to their pro-
priety, was not the occasion of the fall ; but the moral*
knowledge of good and evil, affected to the end to
depend no more upon God's commandments, but for
man to direct himself. Neither could he find in any
Scripture, that the inquiry and science of man in any

172 Filum Labyrinthi.

thing, under the mysteries of the Deity, is determined
and restrained, but contrariwise allowed and pro-
voked. For concerning all other knowledge the Scrip-
ture pronounceth, That it is the glory of God to con-
ceal, but it is the glory of man (or of the king, for the
king is but the excellency of man) to invent; and
again, The spirit of man is as the lamp of God, where-
with hesearcheth every secret; and again most effec-
tually, That God hath made all things beautiful and
decent, according to the return of their seasons ; also
that he hath set the world in man's heart, and yet man
cannot find out the work which God worketh from
the beginning to the end: shewing that the heart of
man is a continent of that concave or capacity, wherein
the content of the world, that is, all forms of the
creatures, and whatsoever is not God, may be placed,
or received ; and complaining, that through the va-
riety of 'things, and vicissitudes of times, which are
but impediments and not impuissances, man cannot
accomplish his invention. In precedent also he set
before his eyes, that in those few memorials before the
flood, the Scripture honoureth the name of the in-
ventors of music and works in metal ; that Moses had
this addition of praise, that he was seen in all the
learning of the Egyptians; that Solomon, in his grant
of wisdom from God, had contained, as a branch
thereof, that knowledge whereby he wrote a natural
history of all verdure, from the cedar to the moss,
and of all that breatheth : that the book of Job, and
many places of the prophets, have great aspersion of
natural philosophy ; that the Church in the bosom and
lap thereof, in the greatest injuries of times, ever pre-
served, as holy relics, the books of philosophy and
all heathen learning ; and that when Gregory, the
bishop of Rome, became adverse and unjust to the
memory of heathen antiquity, it was censured for
pusillanimity in him, and the honour thereof soon after
restored, and his own memory almost persecuted by
his successor Sabinian ; and lastly, in our times, and
the ages of our fathers, when Luther and the divines
of the Protestant Church on the one side, and the Je-

Filum Labyrinthi. 173

suits on the other, have enterprised to reform, the
one the doctrine, the other the discipline and manners
of the Church of Rome, he saw well how both of them
have awaked to their great honour and succour all
human learning. And for reason, there cannot be a
greater and more evident than this, that all know-
ledge, and specially that of natural philosophy, tend-
eth highly to the magnifying of the glory of God in
his power, providence, and benefits, appearing and
engraven in his works, which without this knowledge
are beheld but as through a veil : for if the heavens
in the body of them do declare the glory of God to
the eye, much more do they in the rule and decrees of
them declare it to the understanding. And another
reason, not inferior to this, is, that the same natural phi-
losophy principally amongst all other human know-
ledge, doth give an excellent defence against both
extremes of religion, superstition, and infidelity; for
both it freeth the mind from a number of weak fan-,
cies and imaginations, and it raiseth the mind to ac-
knowledge that to God all things are possible : for to
that purpose speaketh our Saviour in that first canon
against heresies, delivered upon the case of the re-
surrection, You err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor
the power of God; teaching that there are but two
fountains of heresy, not knowing the will of God re-
vealed in the Scriptures, and not knowing the power
of God revealed or at least made most sensible in his
creatures. So as he saw well, that natural philosophy
was of excellent use to the exaltation of the Divine
Majesty ; and, that which is admirable, that being a
remedy of superstition, it is nevertheless an help to
faith. He saw likewise, that the former opinions to
the prejudice hereof had no true ground ; but must
spring either out of mere ignorance, or out of an ex-
cess of devotion, to have divinity all in all, whereas
it should be only above all ; both which states of
mind may be best pardoned ; or else out of worse
causes, namely out of envy, which is proud weak-
ness, and deserveth to be despised ; or out of some
mixture of imposture, to tell a lie for God's cause;

174 Filum Labyrinthi.

or out of an impious diffidence, as if men should fear
to discover some things in nature which might subvert
faith. But still he saw well, howsoever these opinions
are in right reason reproved, yet they leave not to be
most effectual hindrances to natural philosophy and
invention.

8. He thought also, that there wanted not great
contrariety to the further discovery of sciences in
regard of the orders and customs of universities, and
also in regard of common opinion. For in universi-
ties and colleges men's studies are almost confined to
certain authors, from which if any dissenteth or pro-
pounded matter of redargution, it is enough to make
him thought a person turbulent ; whereas if it be well
advised, there is a great difference to be made be-
tween matters contemplative and active. For in go-
vernment change is suspected, though to the better;
but it is natural to arts to be in perpetual agitation
and growth. Neither is the danger alike of new light,
and of new motion or remove ; and for vulgar and
received opinions, nothing is more usual, or more
usually complained of, than that it is imposed for ar-
rogancy and presumption, for men to authorise them-
selves against antiquity and authors, towards whom
envy is ceased, and reverence by time amortised : it
not being considered what Aristotle himself did, upon
whom the philosophy that now is chiefly dependeth,
who came with a professed contradiction to all the
world, and did put all his opinions upon his own au-
thority and argument, and never so much as nameth
an author, but to confute and reprove him ; and yet
his success well fulfilled the observation of Him that
said, If a man come in his own name, him will you
receive. Men think likewise, that if they should give
themselves to the liberty of invention and travail of
inquiry, that they shall light again upon some con-
ceits and contemplations which have been formerly
offered to the world, and have been put down by
better, which have prevailed and brought them to
oblivion ; not seeing, that howsoever the property and
breeding of knowledges is in great and excellent

Filum Labyrinthi. 175

wits, yet the estimation and price of them is in the
multitude, or in the inclinations of princes and great
persons meanly learned. So as those knowledges are
like to be received and honoured, which have their
foundation in the subtilty or finest trial of common
sense, or such as fill the imagination, and not such
knowledge as is digged out of the hard mine of his-
tory and experience, and falleth out to be in some
points as adverse to common sense, or popular reason,
as religion, or more. Which kind of knowledge, ex-
cept it be delivered with strange advantages of elo-
quence and power, may be likely to appear and dis-
close a little to the world, and straight to vanish and
shut again. So that time seemeth to be of the nature
of a river or flood, that brinoeth down to us that
which is light and blown up, and sinketh and drown-
eth that which is solid and grave. So he saw well,
that both in the state of religion, and in the adminis-
tration of learning, and in common opinion, there
were many and continual stops, and traverses to the
course of invention.

9. He thought also, that the invention of works
and further possibility was prejudiced in a more spe-
cial manner than that of speculative truth; for be-
sides the impediments common to both, it hath by
itself been notably hurt and discredited by the vain
promises and pretences of alchemy, magic, astrology,
and such other arts, which, as they now pass, hold
much more of imagination and belief, than of sense
and demonstration. But to use the poet's language,
men ought to have remembered, that although Ixion
of a cloud in the likeness of Juno begat Centaurs and
Chimseras, yet Jupiter also of the true Juno begat
Vulcan and Hebe. Neither is it just to deny credit
to the greatness of the acts of Alexander, because the
like or more strange have been feigned of an Amadis
or an Arthur, or other fabulous worthies. But though
this in true reason should be, and that men ought
not to make a confusion of unbelief; yet he saw well
it could not otherwise be in event, but that experi-
ence of untruth had made access to truth more diffi-

176 Filum Labyrinthi.

cult, and that the ignominy of vanity had abated all
greatness of mind.

10. He thought also, there was found in the mind
of man an affection naturally bred and fortified, and
furthered by discourse and doctrine, which did per-
vert the true proceeding towards active and operative
knowledge. This was a false estimation, that it
should be as a diminution to the mind of man to be
much conversant in experiences and particulars, sub-
ject to sense, and bound in matter, and which are
laborious to search, ignoble to meditate, harsh to de-
liver, illiberal to practise, infinite as is supposed in
number, and no ways accommodate to the glory of
arts. This opinion or state of mind received much
credit and strength by the school of Plato, who think-
ing that particulars rather revived the notions, or ex-
cited the faculties of the mind, than merely informed ;
and having mingled his philosophy with superstition,
which never favoureth the sense, extolleth too much
the understanding of man in the inward light thereof.
And again, Aristotle's school, which giveth the due
to the sense in assertion, denieth it in practice much
more than that of Plato. For we see the schoolmen,
Aristotle's successors, which were utterly ignorant of
history, rested only upon agitation of wit; whereas
Plato giveth good example of inquiry by induction
and view of particulars; though in such a wandering
manner as is of no force or fruit. So that he saw
well, that the supposition of the sufficiency of man's
mind hath lost the means thereof.

SEQUELA CHARTARUM;

SIVE

INQUISITO LEGITIMA

DE

CALORE ET FRIGORE.

SECTIO ORDINIS.

Charta suggestionis, sive memoriajixa.

The sun-beams hot to sense.

The moon-beams not hot, but rather conceived to
have a quality of cold, for that the greatest colds are
noted to be about the full, and the greatest heats
about the change. Query.

The beams of the stars have no sensible heat by
themselves; but are conceived to have an augmenta-
tive heat of the sun-beams by the instance following.
The same climate arctic and antarctic are observed
to differ in cold, viz. that the antarctic is the more
cold, and it is manifest the antarctic hemisphere is
thinner planted with stars.

The heats observed to be greater in July than in
June ; at which time the sun is nearest the greatest
fixed stars, viz. Cor Leonis, Cauda Leonis, Spica
Virginia, Sirius, Canicula.

The conjunction of any two of the three highest
planets noted to cause great heats.

Comets conceived by some to be as well causes as
effects of heat, much more the stars.

The sun-beams have greater heat when they are
more perpendicular than when they are more oblique;
as appeareth in difference of regions, and the differ-
ence of the times of summer and winter in the same

vol. n. v

178 De Calore et Frigore.

region ; and chiefly in the difference of the hours of
mid-day, mornings, evenings in the same day.

The heats more extreme in July and August than
in May or June, commonly imputed to the stay and
continuance of heat.

The heats more extreme under the tropics than
under the line : commonly imputed to the stay and
continuance of heat, because the sun there doth as it
were double a cape.

The heats more about three or four of clock than
at noon; commonly imputed to the stay and conti-
nuance of heat.

The sun noted to be hotter when it shineth forth
between clouds, that when the sky is open and serene.
The middle region of the air hath manifest effects
of cold, notwithstanding locally it be nearer the
sun, commonly imputed to antiperistasis, assuming
that the beams of the sun are hot either by approach
or by reflexion, and that falleth in the middle term
between both; or if, as some conceive, it be only by
reflexion, then the cold of that region resteth chiefly
upon distance. The instances shewing the cold of
that region, are the snows which descend, the hails
which descend, and the snows and extreme colds
which are upon high mountains.

But Qu. of such mountains as adjoin to sandy
vales, and not to fruitful vales, which minister no va-
pours ; or of mountains above the region of vapours,
as is reported of Olympus, where any inscription
upon the ashes of the altar remained untouched of
wind or dew. And note, it is also reported, that
men carry up sponges with vinegar to thicken their
breath, the air growing too fine for respiration, which
seemeth not to stand with coldness.

The clouds make a mitigation of the heat of the
sun. So doth the interposition of any body, which
we term shades ; but yet the nights in summer are
many times as hot to the feeling of men's bodies as
the days are within doors, where the beams of the
sun actually beat not.

De Calore et Frigore. 179

There is no other nature of heat known from the
celestial bodies or from the air, but that which Com-
eth by the sun-beams. For in the countries near the
pole, we see the extreme colds end in the summer
months, as in the voyage of Nova Zembla, where
they could not disengage their barks from the ice,
no not in July, and met with great mountains of ice,
some floating, some fixed, at that time of the year,
being the heart of summer.

The caves under the earth noted to be warmer in
winter than in summer, and so the waters that spring
from within the earth.

Great quantity of sulphur, and sometimes naturally
burning after the manner of iEtna, in Iceland ; the
like written of Greenland, and divers other the cold
countries.*

The trees in the cold countries are such as are fuller
of rosin, pitch, tar, which are matters apt for fire, and
the woods themselves more combustible than those
in much hotter countries ; as for example, fir, pine-
apple, juniper : Qu. whether their trees of the same
kind that ours are, as oak and ash, bear not, in the
more cold countries, a wood more brittle and ready
to take fire than the same kinds with us 1

The sun-beams heat manifestly by reflexion, as in
countries pent in with hills, upon walls or buildings,
upon pavements, upon gravel more than earth, upon
arable more than grass, upon rivers if they be not
very open, etc.

The uniting or collection of the sun-beams multi-
plieth heat, as in burning-glasses, which are made
thinner in the middle than on the sides, as I take it,
contrary to spectacles ; and the operation of them is,
as I remember, first to place them between the sun
and the body to be fired, and then to draw them up-
ward towards the sun, which it is true maketh the
angle of the cone sharper. But then I take it if the
glass had been first placed at the same distance, to

* No doubt but the heat of the sun has infinite power in cohi
countries, though it be not to the analogy of men, and fruits, etc.

v 2

180 De Calore et Frigore.

which it is after drawn, it would not have had that
force, and yet that had been all one to the sharpness
of the angle. Qu.

So in that the sun's beams are hotter perpendicu-
larly than obliquely, it may be imputed to the union
of the beams, which in case of perpendicularity re-
flect into the very same lines with the direct; and
the further from perpendicularity the more obtuse
the angle, and the greater distance between the di-
rect beam and the reflected beam.

The sun-beams raise vapours out of the earth, and
when they withdraw, they fall back in dews.

The sun-beams do many times scatter the mists
which are in the mornings.

The sun-beams cause the divers returns of the
herbs, plants, and fruits of the earth ; for we see in
lemori-trees and the like, that there is coming on at
once fruit ripe, fruit unripe, and blossoms; which
may shew that the plant worketh to put forth conti-
nually, were it not for the variations of the accesses
and recesses of the sun, which call forth, and put back.

The excessive heat of the sun doth wither and de-
stroy vegetables, as well as the cold doth nip and blast
them.

The heat or beams of the sun doth take away the
smell of flowers, specially such as are of a milder
odour.

The beams of the sun do disclose summer flowers,
as the pimpernel, marigold, and almost all flowers
else, for they close commonly morning and evening,
or in over-cast weather, and open in the brightness
of the sun; which is but imputed to dryness and mois-
ture, which doth make the beams heavy or erect; and
not to any other propriety in the sun-beams ; so they
report not only a closing, but a bending or inclining
in the heliotropium and calendula. Qu.

The sun-beams do ripen all fruits, and addeth to
them a sweetness or fatness ; and yet some sultry hot
days overcast, are noted to ripen more than bright
days.

The sun-beams are thought to mend distilled wa-

De Calore et Frigore. 181

ters, the glasses being well stopped, and to make
them more virtuous and fragrant.

The sun-beams do turn wine into vinegar; but
Qu. whether they would not sweeten verjuice ?

The sun-beams do pall any wine or beer that is
set in them.

The sun-beams do take away the lustre of any
silks or arras.

There is almost no mine but lieth some depth in
the earth ; gold is conceived to lie highest, and in
the hottest countries ; yet Thracia and Hungary are
cold, and the hills of Scotland have yielded gold, but
in small grains or quantity.

If you set a root of a tree too deep in the ground,
that root will perish, and the stock will put forth a
new root nearer the superficies of the earth.

Some trees and plants prosper best in the shade :
as the bayes, strawberries, some wood-flowers.

Almost all flies love the sun-beams, so do snakes ;
toads and worms the contrary.

The sun-beams tanneth the skin of man ; and in
some places turneth it to black.

The sun-beams are hardly endured by many, but
cause head-ach, faintness, and with many they cause
rheums ; yet to aged men they are comfortable.

The sun causes pestilence, which with us rage about
autumn : tyut it is reported in Barbary they break up
about June, and rage most in the winter.

The heat of the sun, and of fire, and living crea-
tures, agree in some things which pertain to vivifi-
cation; as the back of a chimney will set forward an
apricot-tree as well as the sun ; the fire will raise a
dead butterfly as well as the sun ; and so will the
heat of a living creature. The heat of the sun in
sand will hatch an egg. Qu.

The heat of the sun in the hottest countries nothing
so violent as that of fire, no not scarcely so hot to the
sense as that of a living creature.

The sun, a fountain of light as well as heat. The
other celestial bodies manifest in light, and yet non
constat whether all borrowed, as in the moon ; but
obscure in heat.

183- De Calore et Frigore.

The southern and western wind with us is the
warmest, whereof the one bloweth from the sun, the
other from the sea; the northern and eastern the
more cold. Qu. whether in the coast of Florida, or
at Brasil, the east wind be not the warmest, and the
west the coldest ; and so beyond the antarctic tropic,
the southern wind the coldest.

The air useth to be extreme hot before thunders.

The sea and air ambient, appeareth to be hotter
than that at land ; for in the northern voyages two or
three degrees farther at the open sea, they find less
ice than two or three degrees more south near land ;
but Qu. for that may be by reason of the shores and
shallows.

The snows dissolve fastest upon the sea-coasts, yet
the winds are counted the bitterest from the sea, and
such as trees will bend from. Qu.

The streams or clouds of brightness which appear
in the firmament, being such through which the stars
may be seen, and shoot not, but rest, are signs of
heat.

The pillars of light, which are so upright, and do
commonly shoot and vary, are signs of cold ; but both
these are signs of drought.

The air when it is moved is to the sense colder ; as
in winds, fanning, ventilabra.

The air in things fibrous, as fleeces, ixxm,-etc. warm ;
and those stuffs to the feeling warm.

The water to man's body seemeth colder than the
air; and so in summer, in swimming, it seemeth at
the first going in ; and yet after one hath been in a
while, at the coming forth again, the air seemeth
colder than the water.

The snow more cold to the sense than water, and
the ice than snow ; and they have in Italy means to
keep snow and ice for the cooling of their drinks :
Qu. whether it be so in froth in respect of the
liquor?

Baths of hot water feel hottest at the first going
in.

The frost dew which we see in hoar frost, and in
the rymes upon trees or the like, accounted more

De Calore et Frigore. 183

mortifying cold than snow ; for snow cherisheth the
ground, and any thing sowed in it ; the other biteth
and killeth.

Stone and metal exceeding cold to the feeling more
than wood : yea more than jet or amber, or horn, which
are no less smooth.

The snow is ever in the winter season, but the hail,
which is more of the nature of ice, is ever in the sum-
mer season ; whereupon it is conceived, that as the
hollows of the earth are warmest in the Winter, so
that region of the air is coldest in the summer ; as if
they were a fugue of the nature of either from the
contrary, and a collecting itself to an union, and so
to a further strength.

So in the shades under trees, in the summer, which
stand in an open field, the shade noted to be colder
than in a wood.

Cold effecteth congelation in liquors, so as they do
consist and hold together, which before did run.

Cold breaketh glasses, if they be close stopped, in
frost, when the liquor freezeth within.

Cold in extreme maketh metals, that are dry and
brittle, cleft and crack, JEraque dissiliunt ; so of pots
of earth and glass.

Cold maketh bones of living creatures more fragile.

Cold maketh living creatures to swell in the joints,
and the blood to clot and turn more blue.

Bitter frosts do make all drinks to taste more dead
and flat.

Cold maketh the arteries and flesh more asper and
rough.

Cold causes rheums and distillations by compress-
ing the brain, and laxes by like reason.

Cold increases appetite in the stomach, and wil-
lingness to stir.

Cold maketh the fire to scald and sparkle.

Paracelsus reporteth, that if a glass of wine be set
upon a terras in a bitter frost, it will leave some li-
quor unfrozen in the centre of the glass, which ex-
celleth spiritus vini drawn by fire.

Cold in Muscovy, and the like countries, causes

184 De Calore et Frigore.

those parts which are voidest of blood, as the nose?
the ears, the toes, the fingers, to mortify and rot '■>
especially if you come suddenly to fire, after you
have been in the air abroad, they are sure to moulder
and dissolve. They use for remedy, as is said, wash-
ing in snow water.

If a man come out of a bitter cold suddenly to the
fire, he is ready to swoon, or be overcome.

So contrariwise, at Nova Zembla, when they opened
their door at times to go forth, he that opened the
door was in danger to be overcome.

The quantity of fish in the cold countries, Norway,
etc. very abundant.

The quantity of fowl and eggs laid in the cliffs in
great abundance.

In Nova Zembla they found no beasts but bears
and foxes, whereof the bears gave over to be seen
about September, and the foxes began.

Meat will keep from putrifying longer in frosty
weather than at other times.

In Iceland they keep fish, by exposing it to the
cold, from putrifying without salt.

The nature of man endureth the colds in the coun-
tries of Scricfinnia, Biarmia, Lappia, Iceland, Groen-
land ; and that not by perpetual keeping in in stoves
in the winter time, as they do in Russia : but contra-
riwise, their chief fairs and intercourse is written to
be in the winter, because the ice evens and levelleth
the passages of waters, plashes, etc.

A thaw after a frost doth greatly rot and mellow
the ground.

Extreme cold hurteth the eyes, and causeth blind-
ness in many beasts, as is reported.

The cold maketh any solid substance, as wood,
stone, metal, put to the flesh, to cleave to it, and to
pull the flesh after it, and so put to any cloth that is
moist.

Cold maketh the pilage of beasts more thick and
long, as foxes of Muscovy, sables, etc.

Cold maketh the pilage of most beasts incline to
grayness or whiteness, as foxes, bears, and so the

De Colore et Frigore. 185

"O

plumage of fowls; and maketh also the crests of
cocks and their feet white as is reported.

Extreme cold will make nails leap out of the walls,
and out of locks, and the like.

Extreme cold maketh leather to be stiff like horn.

In frosty weather the stars appear clearest and most
sparkling.

In the change from frost to open weather, or from
open weather to frosts, commonly great mists.

In extreme colds any thing never so little which
arresteth the air maketh it to congeal ; as we see in
cobwebs in windows, which is one of the least and
weakest threads that is, and yet drops gather about it
like chains of pearl.

So in frosts, the inside of glass windows gathereth
a dew ; Qu. if not more without.

Qu. Whether the sweating of marble and stones
be in frost, or towards rain.

Oil in time of frost gathereth to a substance, as of
tallow : and it is said to sparkle some time, so as it
giveth a light in the dark.

The countries which lie covered with snow, have
a hastier maturation of all grain than in other coun-
tries, all being within three months, or thereabouts.

Qu. It is said, that compositions of honey, as
mead, do ripen, and are most pleasant in the great
colds.

The frosts with us are casual, and not tied to any
months, so as they are not merely caused by the
recess of the sun, but mixed with some inferior causes,
In the inland of the northern countries, as in Russia,
the weather for the three or four months of No-
vember, December, January, February, is constant,
viz. clear and perpetual frost, without snows or
rain s.

There is nothing in our region, which by approach
of a matter hot, will not take heat by transition or
excitation.

There is nothing hot here with us but is in a kind
of consumption, if it carry heat in itself ; for all fired
things are ready to consume : chafed things are readv

1 86 De Calore et Frigore.

to fire ; and the heat of men's bodies needeth aliment
to restore.

The transition of heat is without any imparting of
substance, and yet remaineth after the body heated is
withdrawn ; for it is not like smells, for they leave
some airs or parts ; not like light, for that abideth not
when the first body is removed ; not unlike to the
motion of the loadstone, which is lent without ad-
hesion of substance, for if the iron be filed where it
was rubbed, yet it will draw or turn.

PHYSIOLOGICAL REMAINS.

Inquisitions touching the compounding of metals.

To make proof of the incorporation of iron with flint,
or other stone. For if it can be incorporated without
over-great charge, or other incommodity, the cheap-
ness of the flint or stone doth make the compound
stuff profitable for divers uses. The doubts may be
three in number.

First, Whether they will incorporate at all, other-
wise than to a body that will not hold well together,
but become brittle and uneven ?

Secondly, Although it should incorporate well, yet
whether the stuff will not be so stubborn as it will
not work well with a hammer, whereby the charge in
working will overthrow the cheapness of the ma-
terial 1

Thirdly, whether they will incorporate, except the
iron and stone be first calcined into powder ? and if
not, whether the charge of the calcination will not
eat out the cheapness of the material ?

The uses are most probable to be ; first for the im-
plements of the kitchen ; as spits, ranges, cobirons,
pots, etc. then for the wars, as ordnance, portcullises,
grates, chains, etc.

Note ; the finer works of iron are not so probable
to be served with such a stuff; as locks, clocks, small
chains, etc. because the stuff is not like to be tough
enough.

For the better use, in comparison of iron, it is like
the stuff will be far lighter : for the weight of iron to
flint is double and a third part ; and, secondly, it is
like to rust not so easily, but to be more clean.

The ways of trial are two : first, by the iron and
stone of themselves, wherein it must be inquired,
what are the stones that do easiliest melt. Secondly,

188 Physiological Remains.

with an additament, wherein brimstone is approved
to help to the melting of iron or steel. But then it
must be considered, whether the charge of the addita-
ment will not destroy the profit.

It must be known also, what proportion of the
stone the iron will receive to incorporate well with it,
and that with once melting ; for if either the propor-
tion be too small, or that it cannot be received but
piece-meal by several meltings, the work cannot be
of value.

To make proof of the incorporating of iron and
brass. For the cheapness of the iron in comparison of
the brass, if the uses may be served, doth promise pro-
fit. The doubt will be touching their incorporating ;
for that it is approved, that iron will not incorporate,
neither with brass nor other metals, of itself, by sim-
ple firs : so as the inquiry must be upon the calcina-
tion, and the additament, and the charge of them.

The uses will be for such things as are now made of
brass, and might be as well served by the compound
stuff; wherein the doubts will be chiefly of the tough-
ness, and of the beauty

First, therefore, if brass ordnance could be made of
the compound stuff, in respect of the cheapness of the
iron, it would be of great use.

The vantage which brass ordnance hath over
iron, is chiefly, as I suppose, because it will hold the
blow, though it be driven far thinner than the iron can
be ; whereby it saveth both in the quantity of the ma-
terial, and in the charge and commodity of mounting
and carriage, in regard, by reason of the thinness, it
beareth much less weight : there may be also some-
what in being not so easily over-heated.

Secondly, for the beauty. Those things wherein
the beauty or lustre are esteemed, are andirons, and
all manner of images, and statues, and columns, and
tombs, and the like. So as the doubt will be double
for the beauty ; the one, whether the colour will please
so well, because it will not be so like gold as brass ?
The other, whether it will polish so well ? Wherein
for the latter it is probable it will : for steel glosses are
more resplendent than the like plates of brass would

Physiological Remains. 189

be ; and so is the glittering of a blade. And besides,
I take it, andiron brass, which they call white brass,
hath some mixture of tin to help the lustre. And for
the golden colour, it may be by some small mixture
of orpiment, such as they use to brass in the yellow
alchemy ; it will easily recover that which the iron
loseth. Of this the eye must be the judge upon proof
made.

But now for pans, pots, curfews, counters, and the
like, the beauty will not be so much respected, so as
the compound stuff is like to pass.

For the better use of the compound stuff, it will be
sweeter and cleaner than brass alone, which yieldeth
a smell or soiliness ; and therefore may be better for
the vessels of the kitchen and brewing. It will also be
harder than brass, where hardness may be required.

For the trial, the doubts will be two : first ; the
overweight of brass towards iron, which will make
iron float on the top in the melting. This perhaps
will be holpen with the calaminar stone, which con-
senteth so well with brass, and, as I take it, is lighter
than iron. The other doubt will be the stiffness and
dryness of iron to melt ; which must be holpen either
by moistening the iron, or opening it. For the first,
perhaps some mixture of lead will help. Which is as
much more liquid than brass, as iron is less liquid.
The opening may be holpen by some mixture of sul-
phur : so as the trials would be with brass, iron, ca-
laminar stone, and sulphur ; and then again with the
same composition, and an addition of some lead ; and
in all this the charge must be considered, whether it
eat not out the profit of the cheapness of iron ?

There be two proofs to be made of incorporation
of metals for magnificence and delicacy. The one
for the eye, and the other for the ear. Statue-metal,
and bell-metal, and trumpet-metal, and string-metal ;
in all these, though the mixture of brass or copper
should be dearer than the brass itself, yet the plea-
sure will advance the price to profit.

First therefore for statue-metal, see Pliny's mix-
tures, which are almost forgotten, and consider the
charge.

190 Physiological Remains.

Try likewise the mixture of tin in large proportion
with copper, and observe the colour and beauty, it
being polished. But chiefly let proof be made of the in-
corporating of copper or brass with glass-metal, for that
is cheap, and is like to add a great glory and shining.

For bell-metal. First, it is to be known what is
the composition which is now in use. Secondly, it
is probable that it is the dryness of the metal that
doth help the clearness of the sound, and the moist-
ness that dulleth it ; and therefore the mixtures that
are probable, are steel, tin, glass-metal.

For string-metal, or trumpet-metal, it is the same
reason ; save that glass-metal may not be used, be-
cause it will make it too brittle; and trial may be
made with mixture of silver, it being but a delicacy,
with iron or brass.

To make proof of the incorporation of silver and
tin in equal quantity, or with two parts silver and
one part tin, and to observe whether it be of equal
beauty and lustre with pure silver ; and also whether
it yield no soiliness more than silver ? And again,
whether it will endure the ordinary fire which be-
longeth to chafing-dishes, posnets, and such other
silver vessels 1 And if it do not endure the fire, yet
whether by some mixture of iron it may not be made
more fixt? For if it be in beauty and all the uses
aforesaid equal to silver, it were a thing of singular
profit to the state, and to all particular persons, to
change silver plate or vessel into the compound stuff,
being a kind of silver electre, and to turn the rest into
coin. It may be also questioned, whether the com-
pound stuff will receive gilding as well as silver, and
with equal lustre ? It is to be noted, that the com-
mon allay of silver coin is brass, which doth disco-
lour more, and it is not so neat as tin.

The drownings of metals within other metals, in
such sort as they can never rise again, is a thing of
great profit. For if a quantity of silver can be so bu-
ried in gold, as it will never be reduced again, neither
by fire, or parting waters, nor otherways : and also
that it serve all uses as well as pure gold, it is in ef-
fect all one as if so much silver were turned into gold ;

Physiological Remains. 191

only the weight will discover it ; yet that taketh offbut
half of the profit ; for gold is not fully double weight
to silver, but gold is twelve times price to silver.

The burial must be by one of these two ways, either
by the smallness of the proportion, as perhaps fifty to
one, which will be but sixpence gains in fifty shil-
lings : or it must be holpen by somewhat which may
fix the silver, never to be restored or vapoured away,
when it is incorporated into such a mass of gold ; for
the less quantity is ever the harder to sever : and for
this purpose iron is the likeliest, or coppel stuff, upon
which the fire hath no power of consumption.

The making of gold seemeth a thing scarcely pos-
sible ; because gold is the heaviest of metals, and to
add matter is impossible : and again, to drive metals
into a narrower room than their natural extent bear-
eth, is a condensation hardly to be expected. But to
make silver seemeth more easy, because both quick-
silver and lead are weightier than silver ; so as there
needeth only fixing, and not condensing. The de-
gree unto this that is already known, is infusing of
quicksilver in a parchment, or otherwise, in the midst
of molten lead when it cooleth ; for this stupifieth the
quicksilver that it runneth no more. This trial is to
be advanced three ways. First, by iterating the melt-
ing of the lead, to see whether it will not make the
quicksilver harder and harder. Secondly, to put re-
algar hot into the midst of the quicksilver, whereby
it may be condensed, as well from within as without.
Thirdly, to try it in the midst of molten iron, or mol-
ten steel, which is a body more likely to fix the
quicksilver than lead. It may be also tried, by in-
corporating powder of steel, or coppel dust, by
pouncing, into the quicksilver, and so to proceed to
the stupifying.

Upon glass four things would be put in proof. The
first, means to make the glass more crystalline. The
second, to make it more strong for falls, and for fire,
though it come not to the degree to be malleable.
The third, to make it coloured by tinctures, compar-
able to or exceeding precious stones. The fourth, to

192 Physiological Remains.

make a compound body of glass and galletyle ; that
is, to have the colour milky like a chalcedon, being
a stuff between a porcelane and a glass.

For the first, it is good first to know exactly the
several materials whereof the glass in use is made ;
window-glass, Normandy and Burgundy, ale-house
glass, English drinking-glass : and then thereupon
to consider what the reason is of the coarseness or
clearness ; and from thence to rise to a consideration
how to make some additaments to the coarser mate-
rials, to raise them to the whiteness and crystalline
splendour of the finest.

For the second, we see pebbles, and some other
stones, will cut as fine as crystal, which if they will
melt, may be a mixture for glass, and may make it
more tough and more crystalline. Besides, we see
metals will vitrify; and perhaps some portion of the
glass of metal vitrified, mixed in the pot of ordinary
glass-metal, will make the whole mass more tough.

For the third, it were good to have of coloured
window-glass, such as is coloured in the pot, and not
by colours

It is to be known of what stuff galletyle is made,
and how the colours in it are varied; and thereupon
to consider how to make the mixture of glass-metal
and them, whereof I have seen the example.

Inquire what be the stones that do easiliest melt.
Of them take half a pound, and of iron a pound and
half, and an ounce of brimstone, and see whether they
will incorporate, being whole, with a strong fire. If
not, try the same quantities calcined : and if they will
incorporate, make a plate of them, and burnish it as
they do iron.

Take a pound and a half of brass, and half a pound
of iron; two ounces of the calaminar stone, an ounce
and a half of brimstone, an ounce of lead ; calcine
them, and see what body they make ; and if they in-
corporate, make a plate of it burnished.

Take of copper an ounce and a half, of tin an
ounce, and melt them together, and make a plate of
them burnished.

Physiological Remains. \ 93

Take of copper an ounee and a half, of tin an
ounce, of glass-metal half an ounce; stir them well in
the boiling, and if they incorporate, make a plate of
tliem burnished.

Take of copper a pound and a half, tin four ounces,
brass two ounces ; make a plate of them burnished.

Take of silver two ounces, tin half an ounce, make
a little say-cup of it, and burnish it.

To inquire of the materials of every of the kind of
glasses, coarser and finer, and of the proportions.

Take an equal quantity of glass-metal, of stone cal-
cined, and bring a pattern.

Take an ounce of vitrified metal, and a pound of
ordinary glass-metal, and see whether they will in-
corporate, and bring a pattern.

Bring examples of all coloured glasses, and learn
the ingredients whereby they are coloured.

Inquire of the substance of galletyle,

VOL. II. o

ARTICLES OF QUESTIONS

TOUCHING

MINERALS.

THE LORD BACON'S QUESTIONS,

WITH

DR. MEVEREL'S SOLUTIONS.

Concerning the compounding, incorporating, or union
of metals or minerals. Which subject is the first
letter of his Lordship's Alphabet.

With what metals gold will incorporate by simple
eolliquefaction, and with what not ? And in what
quantity it will incorporate ; and what kind of body
the compound makes ?

Gold with silver, which was the ancient electrum:
gold with quicksilver : gold with lead : gold with
copper : gold with brass : gold with iron : gold with
tin.

So likewise of silver, silver with quicksilver : sil-
ver with lead : silver with copper : silver with brass :
silver with iron : Plinhis secund. lib. xxxiii. 9. Mis-
cuit denario triumvir Antonius ferrum, silver with
tin.

So likewise of quicksilver : quicksilver with lead :
quicksilver with copper : quicksilver with brass :
quicksilver with iron : quicksilver with tin.

So of lead : lead with copper : lead with brass :
lead with iron : lead with tin. Plin. xxxiv. 9.

So of copper : copper with brass : copper with
iron : copper with tin.

So of brass : brass with iron : brass with tin.

So of iron : iron with tin.

What be the compound metals that are common
and known 1 And what are the proportions of their
mixtures ? As

Latten of brass, and the calaminar stone.

Physiological Remains. 195

Pewter of tin and lead.

Bell-metal of etc. and the counterfeit plate, which
they call alchemy.

The decomposites of three metals or more, are too
long to inquire of, except there be some compositions
of them already observed.

It is also to be observed, whether any two metals,
which will not mingle of themselves, will mingle
with the help of another; and what.

What compounds will be made of metal with stone
and other fossils ; as latten is made with brass and the
calaminar stone ; as all the metals incorporate with
vitriol ; all with iron powdered ; all with flint, etc.

Some few of these would be inquired of, to disclose
the nature of the rest.

Whether metals or other fossils will incorporate
with molten glass, and what body it makes?

The quantity in the mixture would be well consi-
dered: for some small quantity perhaps will incorpo-
rate, as in the allays of gold and silver coin.

Upon the compound body, three things are chiefly
to be observed : the colour ; the fragility or pliantness;
the volatility or fixation, compared with the simple
bodies.

For present use or profit, this is the rule : consider
the price of the two simple bodies ; consider again
the dignity of the one above the other in use ; then
see if you can make a compound, that will save more
in price, than it will lose in dignity of the use.

As for example; consider the price of brass ord-
nance; consider again the price of iron ordnance, and
then consider wherein the brass ordnance doth excel
the iron ordnance in use ; then if you can make a com-
pound of brass and iron that will be near as good in
use, and much cheaper in price, then there is profit
both to the private and the commonwealth. So if
gold and silver, the price is double of twelve : the dig-
nity of gold above silver is not much, the splendour is
alike, and more pleasing to some eyes, as in cloth of
silver, silvered rapiers, etc. The main dignity is that
gold bears the fire, which silver doth not: but that is

o 2

196 Physiological Remains.

an excellency in nature, but it is nothing at all in use;
for any dignity in use I know none, but that silvering-
will sully and canker more than gilding; which if it
might be corrected with a little mixture of gold, there
is profit : and I do somewhat marvel that the latter
ages have lost the ancient electrum, which was a mix-
ture of silver with gold : whereof I conceive there
may be much use, both in coin, plate, and gilding.

It is to be noted, that there is in the version of me
tals impossibility, or at least great difficulty, as in
making of gold, silver, copper. On the other side, in
the adulterating or counterfeiting of metals, there is
deceit and villany. But it should seem there is a
middle way, and that is by new compounds, if the
ways of incorporating were well known.

What incorporation or imbibition metals will re-
ceive from vegetables, without being dissolved in their
substance : as when the armourers make their steel
more tough and pliant, by aspersion of water or juice
of herbs; when gold being grown somewhat churlish
by recovering, is made more pliant by throwing in
shreds of tanned leather, or by leather oiled.

Note, that in these and the like shews of imbibi-
tion, it were good to try by the weights, whether the
weight be increased, or no; for if it be not, it is to be
doubted that there is no imbibition of substance, but
only that the application of that other body doth dis-
pose and invite the metal to another posture of parts,
than of itself it would have taken.

After the incorporation of metals by simple colli-
quefaction, for the better discovery of the nature and
consents and dissents of metals, it would be likewise
tried by incorporating of their dissolutions. What
metals being dissolved in strong waters will incorpo-
rate well together, and whatnot? Which is to be in-
quired particularly, as it was in colliquefactions.

There is to be observed in those dissolutions which
will not. easily incorporate, what the effects are : as
the bullition; the precipitation to the bottom; the
ejaculation towards the top ; the suspension in the
midst ; and the like.

Physiological Remains. 197

Note, that the dissents of the menstrual or strong-
waters may hinder the incorporation, as well as the
dissents of the metals themselves ; therefore where
the menstrua are the same, and yet the incorporation
folio weth not, you may conclude the dissent is in the
metals ; but where the menstrua are several, not so
certain.

Dr. Meverets ansivers to the foregoing questions,
concerning the compounding, incorporating, or union
of metals and minerals.

Gold will incorporate with silver in any propor-
tion. Plin. lib. xxxiii. cap. 4. — Omni auro inest ar-
genturn vario pondere ; alibi dena, alibi nona, alibi
octava parte — Ubicunque quint a argenti portio in-
venitur, eltcirum vacatur. The body remains fixt,
solid, and coloured, according to the proportion of the
two metals.

Gold with quicksilver easily mixeth, but the pro-
duct is imperfectly fixed ; and so are all other metals
incorporate with mercury

Gold incorporates with lead in any proportion.

Gold incorporates with copper in any proportion,
the common allay

Gold incorporates with brass in any proportion.
And what is said of copper is true of brass, in the
union of other metals.

Gold will not incorporate with iron.

Gold incorporateswith tin,the ancient allay ,Isa.i. 25.

What was said of gold and quicksilver, may be said
of quicksilver and the rest of metals.

Silver with lead in any proportion.

Silver incorporates with copper. Pliny mentions
such a mixture for triumphales statuce, lib. xxxiii. 9.
Jlliscentur argento, tertia pars ceris Cyprii tenuissimi,
quod coronarium vocant, et sulphur is vivi quantum ar-
genti. The same is true of brass.

Silver incorporates not with iron. Wherefore I
wonder at that which Pliny hath, lib. xxxiii. 9.
Miscuit denario triumvir Autonius f err ion. And
what is said of this is true in the rest ; for iron incor-
porateth with none of them.

198 Physiological Remains.

Silver mixes with tin.

Lead incorporates with copper. Such a mixture
was the pot-metal whereof Pliny speaks, lib. xxxiv.
9. Ternis ant quaternis libris plumbi argentarii in
centenas ceris odditis .

Lead incorporates with tin. The mixture of these
two in equal proportions, is that which was anciently
called plumbum argent arium, Plin. lib. xxxiv. 17

Copper incorporates with tin. Of such a mixture
were the mirrors of the Romans. Plin. Atque ut omnia
de speculis peragantur hoc loco, optima apud majores
erant Brundusina; stanno et eeremistis. Lib. xxxiii. 9.

Compound metals now in use.

1. Fine tin. The mixture is thus: pure tin a
thousand pounds, temper fifty pounds, glass of tin
three pounds.

2. Coarse pewter is made of fine tin and lead.
Temper is thus made : the dross of pure tin, four
pounds and a half; copper, half a pound.

3. Brass is made of copper and calaminaris.

4. Bell-metal. Copper, a thousand pounds ; tin,
from three hundred to two hundred pounds ; brass, a
hundred and fifty pounds.

5. Pot-metal, copper and lead.

6. White alchemy is made of pan-brass one pound,
and arsenicum three ounces.

7 Red alchemy is made of copper and auripig-
ment.

There be divers imperfect minerals, which will in-
corporate with the metals : being- indeed metals in-
wardly, but clothed with earths and stones : aspyritis
calaminaris, misy, chalcitis, sory, vitriolum.

Metals incorporate not with glass, except they be
brought into the form of glass.

Metals dissolved. The dissolution of gold and
silver disagree, so that in their mixture there is great
ebullition, darkness, and in the end a precipitation ot
a black powder.

The mixture of gold and mercury agree.

Gold agrees with iron. In a word, the dissolution
of mercury and iron agree with all the rest.

Physiological Remains. 199

Silver and copper disagree, and so do silver and
lead. Silver and tin agree.

The second letter of the cross-roiv, touching the se-
paration of metals and minerals.

Separation is of three sorts; the first is, the
separating of the pure metal from the ore or dross,
which we call refining. The second is, the drawing
one metal or mineral out of another, which we call
extracting. The third is, the separating of any me-
tal into its original or materia prima, or element, or
call them what you will ; which work we will call
principiation.

1 . For refining, we are to inquire of it according to
the several metals ; as gold, silver, etc. Incidentally
we are to inquire of the first stone, or ore, or spar, or
marcasite of metals severally, and what kind of bodies
they are, and of the degrees of richness. Also we
are to inquire of the means of separating, whether by
fire, parting waters, or otherwise. Also for the man-
ner of refining, you are to see how you can multiply
the heat, or hasten the opening, and so save the charge
in the fining.

The means of this in three manners ; that is to say,
in the blast of the fire ; in the manner of the furnace,
to multiply heat by union and reflexion ; and by some
additament, or medicines which will help the bodies
to open them the sooner.

Note, the quickningofthe blast, and the multiply-
ing of the heat in the furnace, may be the same for all
metals; but the additaments must be several, accord-
ing to the nature of the metals. Note again, that if
you think that multiplying of the additaments in the
same proportion that you multiply the ore, the work
will follow, you may be deceived : for quantity in the
passive will add more resistance, than the same quan-
tity in the active will add force.

2. For extracting, you are to inquire what metals
contain others, and likewise what not; as lead, silver;
copper, silver, etc.

Note, although the charge of extraction should ex-

200 Physiological Remains.

ceed the worth, yet that is not the matter : for at
least it will discover nature and possibility, the other
may be thought on afterwards.

We are likewise to inquire, what the differences
are of those metals which contain more or less other
metals, and how that agrees with the poorness or
richness of the metals or ore in themselves. As the
lead that contains most silver is accounted to be more
brittle, and yet otherwise poorer in itself.

3. For principiation, I cannot affirm whether there
be any such thing or not ; and I think the chemists
make too much ado about it : but howsoever it be, be
it solution or extraction, or a kind of conversion by
the fire ; it is diligently to be inquired what salts, sul-
phur, vitriol, mercury, or the like simple bodies are to
be found in the several metals, and in what quantity.

Dr. Meverel's answers to the foregoing questionsr
touching the separations of metals and minerals.

1. For the means of separating. After that the ore
is washed, or cleansed from the earth, there is nothing
simply necessary, save only a wind furnace well fram-
ed, narrow above and at the hearth, in shape oval,,
sufficiently fed with charcoal and ore, in convenient
proportions.

For additions in this first separation, I have ob-
served none ; the dross the mineral brings being suf-
ficient. The refiners of iron observe, that that iron-
stone is hardest to melt which is fullest of metal, and
that easiest which hath most dross. But in lead and
tin the contrary is noted. Yet in melting of metals,
when they have been calcined formerly by fire, or
strong waters, there is good use of additaments, as
of borax, tartar, armoniac, and saltpetre.

2. In extracting of metals. Note, that lead and
tin contain silver. Lead and silver contain gold.
Iron contains brass. Silver is best separated from
lead by the test. So gold from silver. Yet the best
Way for that is aqua regia.

3. For principiation. I can truly and boldly affirm,
that there are no such principals as sal, sulphur, and

Physiological Remains. 20 i

mercury, which can be separated from any perfect
metals. For every part so separated, may easily be
reduced into perfect metal without substitution of
that, or those principles which chemists imagine to be
wanting. As suppose you take the salt of lead ; this
salt, or as some name it, sulphur, may be turned into
perfect lead, by melting it with the like quantity
of lead which contains principles only for itself.

I acknowledge that there is quicksilver and brim-
stone found in the imperfect minerals : but those are
nature's remote materials, and not the chemist's prin-
ciples. As if you dissolve antimony by aqua regia,
there will be real brimstone swimming upon the
water : as appears by the colour of the fire when it
is burnt, and by the smell.

The third letter of the cross-row, touching the varia-
tion of metals into several shapes, bodies, or natures,
the particulars whereof follow.

Tixcture : turning to rust : calcination: sublima-
tion : precipitation : amalgamating, or turning into
a soft body : vitrification : opening or dissolving into
liquor : sproutings, or branchings, or arborescents :
induration and mollification : making tough or brittle :
volatility and fixation: transmutation, or version.

For tincture : it is to be inquired how metal may
be tinged through and through, and with what, and
into what colours ; as tinging silver yellow, tinging
copper white, and tinging red, green, blue ; especially
with keeping the lustre.

Item, tincture of glasses.

Item, tincture of marble, flint, or other stone.

For turning- into rust, two thino-s are chiefly to be
inquired ; by what corrosives it is done, and into
what colours it turns ; as lead into white, which they
call ceruss ; iron into yellow, which they call crocus
■mart is. ; ; quicksilver into vermilion ; brass into green,
which they call verdegrease.

For calcination ; how every metal is calcined, and
into what kind of body, and what is the exquisitest
way of calcination.

202 Physiological Remains.

For sublimation ; to inquire the manner of sublim-
ing, and what metals endure subliming, and what
body the sublimate makes.

For precipitation likewise; by what strong water
every metal will precipitate, and with what addita-
ments, and in what time, and into what body

So for amalgama ; what metals will endure it, what
are the means to do it, and what is the manner of
the body

For vitrification likewise ; what metals will endure
it, what are the means to do it, into what colour it
turns ; and farther, where the whole metal is turned
into glass, and where the metal doth but hang in the
glassy parts ; also what weight the vitrified body
bears, compared with the crude body ; also because
vitrification is accounted a kind of death of metals,
what vitrification will admit of turning back again,
and what hot.

For dissolution into liquor, we are to inquire what
is the proper mensfruum to dissolve any metal, and
in the negative, what will touch upon the one and not
upon the other, and what several menstrua will dis-
solve any metal, and which most exactly- Item, the
process or motion of the dissolution, the manner of
rising, boiling, vapouring more violent, or more gen-
tle, causing much heat or less. Item, the quantity
or charge that the strong water will bear, and then
give over. Item, the colour into which the liquor
will turn. Above all, it is to be inquired, whether
there be any menstruum to dissolve any metal that
is not fretting, or corroding ; and openeth the body
by sympathy, and not by mordacity or violent pene-
tration.

For sprouting or branching, though it be a thing
but transitory, and a kind of toy or pleasure, yet
there is a more serious use of it ; for that it discover-
ed the delicate motions of spirits, when they put
forth and cannot get forth, like unto that which is in
vegetables.

For induration, or mollification ; it is to be inquired
what will make metals harder and harder, and what

Physiological Remains. 203

will make them softer and softer. And this'inquiry
tendeth to two ends : first, for use ; as to make iron
soft by the fire makes it malleable. Secondly, because
induration is a degree towards fixation, and mollifica-
tion towards volatility ; and therefore the inquiry of
them will o-ive li^ht towards the other.

For tough and brittle, they are much of the same
kind, but yet worthy of an inquiry apart, especially
to join hardness with toughness, as making glass
malleable, etc. and making blades strong to resist and
pierce, and yet not easy to break.

For volatility and fixation. It is a principal branch
to be inquired : the utmost degree of fixation is that
whereon no fire will work, nor strong water joined
with fire, if there be any such fixation possible. The
next is, when fire simply will not work without strong
waters. The next is by the test. The next is when
it will endure fire not blown, or such a strength of fire.
The next is when it will not endure, but yet is malle-
able. The next is when it is not malleable, but
yet is not fluent, but stupified. So of volatility, the
utmost degree is when it will fly away without return-
ing. The next is when it will fly up, but with ease
return. The next is when it will fly upwards over the
helm by a kind of exsufnation without vapouring.
The next is when it will melt though not rise. The
next is when it will soften though not melt. Of all
these diligent inquiry is to be made in several metals,
especially of the more extreme degrees.

For transmutation or version. If it be real and true,
it is the farthest part of art, and would be well distin-
guished from extraction, from restitution, and from
adulteration. I hear much of turning iron into cop-
per ; I hear also of the growth of lead in weight,
which cannot be without a conversion of some body
into lead : but whatsoever is of this kind, and well
expressed, is diligently to be inquired and set down.

204 Physiological Remains.

Dr. MevereVs answers to the foregoing questions con-
cerning the variation of metals and minerals.

1 For tinctures, there are none that I know, but
that rich variety which springs from mixture of metals
with metals, or imperfect minerals.

2. The imperfect metals are subject to rust, all of
them except mercury, which is made into vermillion
by solution, or calcination. The rest are rusted by
any salt, sour, or acid water. Lead into a white body
called cerussa. Iron into a pale red called ferrugo.
Copper is turned into green, named arugo, ces viride.
Tin into white : but this is not in use, neither hath it
obtained a name.

The Scriptures mention the rust of gold, but that
is in regard of the allay

3. Calcination. All metals may be calcined by
strong waters, or by admixtion of salt, sulphur, and
mercury The imperfect metals may be calcined by
continuance of simple fire; iron thus calcined is
called crocus martis.

And this is their best way. Gold and silver are
best calcined by mercury Their colour is grey
Lead calcined is very red. Copper dusky red.

4. Metals are sublimed by joining them with mer-
cury or salts. As silver with mercury, gold with sal
armoniac, mercury with vitriol.

5. Precipitation is, when any metal being dissolved
into a strong water, is beaten down into a powder by
salt water. The chiefest in this kind is oil of tartar.

6. Amalgamation is the joining or mixing of mer-
cury with any other of the metals. The manner is
this in gold, the i*est are answerable : take six parts
of mercury, make them hot in a crucible, and pour
them to one part of gold made red hot in another
crucible, stir these well together that they may incor-
porate ; which done, cast the mass into cold water and
wash it. This is called the amalgama of gold.

7 For vitrification. All the imperfect metals may
be turned by strong fire into glass, except mercury ;
iron into green ; lead into yellow; brass into blue;

Physiological Remains. 205

tin into pale yellow For gold and silver, I have not
known them vitrified, except joined with antimony
These glassy bodies may be reduced into the form of
mineral bodies.

8. Dissolution. All metals without exception may
be dissolved.

(1.) Iron may be dissolved by any tart, salt, or
vitriolated water ; yea, by common water, if it be first
calcined with sulphur. It dissolves in aqua fortis,
with great ebullition and heat, into a red liquor, so red
as blood.

(2.) Lead is fittest dissolved in vinegar, into a pale
yellow, making the vinegar very sweet.

(3.) Tin is best dissolved with distilled salt water.
It retains the colour of the menstruum.

(4.) Copper dissolves as iron doth, in the same
liquor, into a blue.

(5.) Silver hath its proper menstruum, which is
aqua fortis. The colour is green, with great heat
and ebullition.

(6.) Gold is dissolved with aqua regia, into a yel-
low liquor, with little heat or ebullition.

(7.) Mercury is dissolved with much heat and boil-
ing, into the same liquors which gold and silver are.
It alters not the colour of the menstruum.

Note. Strong waters may be charged with half
their weight of fixed metals, and equal of mercury;
if the workman be skilful.

9. Sprouting. This is an accident of dissolution.
For if the menstruum be overcharged, then within
short time the metals will shoot into certain crystals.

10. For induration, or mollification, they depend
upon the quantity of fixed mercury and sulphur. I
have observed little of them, neither of toughness nor
brittleness.

1 1 . The degrees of fixation and volatility I ac-
knowledge, except the two utmost, which never were
observed.

12. The question of transmutation is very doubt-
ful. Wherefore I refer your honour to the fourth
tome of Theatritm Chi/micum : and there, to that tract

206 Physiological Remains.

which is intitled Disquisitio Heliana ; where you
shall find full satisfaction.

The fourth letter of the cross-row, touching
restitution.

First, therefore, it is to be inquired in the nega-
tive, what bodies will never return, either by their
extreme fixings, as in some vitrifications, or by ex-
treme volatility-
It is also to be inquired of the two means of reduc-
tion ; and first by the fire, which is but by congrega-
tion of homogeneal parts.

The second is by drawing them down by some
body that hath consent with them. As iron draweth
down copper in water ; gold draweth quicksilver in
vapour ; whatsoever is of this kind, is very diligently
to be inquired.

Also it is to be inquired what time, or age, will
reduce without help of fire or body

Also it is to be inquired what gives impediment to
union or restitution, which is sometimes called morti-
fication : as when quicksilver is mortified with tur-
pentine, spittle, or butter.

Lastly, it is to be inquired, how the metal restored,
differeth in any thing from the metal rare : as whe-
ther it become not more churlish, altered in colour, or
the like.

Dr MevereVs answers touching the restitutions of
metals and minerals.

Reduction is chiefly effected by fire, wherein if
they stand and nele, the imperfect metals vapour
away, and so do all manner of salts which separated
them in minimus partes before.

Reduction is singularly holpen, by joining store of
metal of the same nature with it in the melting.

Metals reduced are somewhat churlish, but not
altered in colour.

Physiological Remains. 20"!

THE LORD VERULAM'S INQUISITION

Concerning the versions, transmutations, multipli-
cations, and effections of bodies.

Earth by fire is turned into brick, which is of
the nature of a stone, and serve th for building, as
stone doth : and the like of tile. Qu. the manner.

Naphtha, which was the bituminous morter used
in the walls of Babylon, grows to an intire and very
hard matter like a stone.

In clay countries, where there is pebble and gravel,
you shall find great stones, where you may see the
pebbles or gravel, and between them a substance of
stone as hard or harder than the pebble itself.

There are some springs of water, wherein if you
put wood, it will turn into the nature of stone: so as
that within the water shall be stone, and that above
the water continue wood.

The slime above the reins and bladder in man's
body, turns into stone : and stone is likewise found
often in the gall ; and sometimes, though rarely, in
vena porta.

Query, what time the substance of earth in quarries
asketh to be turned into stone ?

Water, as it seems, turneth into crystal, as is seen
in divers caves, where the crystal hangs in stillicidiis .
Try wood, or the stalk of herbs, buried in quick-
silver whether it will not grow hard and stony.
They speak of a stone ingendered in a toad's head.
There was a gentleman, digging in his moat, found
an egg turned into stone, the white and the yolk
keeping their colour, and the shell glistering like a
stone cut with corners.

Try some things put into the. bottom of a well ; as
wood, or some soft substance : but let it not touch
the water, because it may not putrify.

They speak, that the white of an egg, with lying-
long in the sun, will turn stone.

Mud in water turns into shells of fishes, as in
horse-mussels, in fresh ponds, old and overgrown.

208 Physiological Remains.

And the substance is a wondrous fine substance, light
and shining.

A SPEECH TOUCHING THE RECOVERING OF
DROWNED MINERAL WORKS.

Prepared for the parliament (as Mr Bushel af-
firmed) by the Viscount of St. Albans, then Lord
High Chancellor of England*

My lords and gentlemen,

The king, my royal master, was lately graciously
pleased to move some discourse to me concerning
Mr. Sutton's hospital, and such like worthy founda-
tions of memorable piety : which humbly seconded
by myself, drew his majesty into a serious considera-
tion of the mineral treasures of his own territories,
and the practical discoveries of them by way of my
philosophical theory : which he then so well resented,
that afterwards, upon a mature digestion of my whole
design, he commanded me to let your lordships under-
stand, how great an inclination he hath to further
so hopeful a work, for the honour of his dominions,
as the most probable means to relieve all the poor
thereof, without any other stock or benevolence, than
that which divine bounty should confer on their own
industries and honest labours, in recovering all such
drowned mineral works, as have been, or shall t>e
therefore deserted.

And, my lords, all that is now desired of his ma-
jesty and your lordships, is no more than a gracious
act of this present parliament to authorise them here-
in, adding a mercy to a munificence, which is, the
persons of such strong and able petty-felons, who, in
true penitence for their crimes, shall implore his ma-
jesty's mercy and permission to expiate their offences
by their assiduous labours in so innocent and hopeful
a work.

For by this unchargeable way, my lords, have I
proposed to erect the academical fabric of this island's

* See Mr. Bee's extract, p. 18, 19,

Physiological Remains. 209

Solomon's House, modelled in my new Atlantics. And
I can hope, my lords, that my midnight studies, to
make our countries flourish and outvie European
neighbours in mysterious and beneficent arts, have
not so ingratefully affected your noble intellects, that
you will delay or resist his majesty's desires, and my
humble petition in this benevolent, yea, magnificent
affair ; since your honourable posterities may be en-
riched thereby, and my ends are only to make the
world my heir, and the learned fathers of my Solo-
mon's House, the successive and sworn trustees in the
dispensation of this great service, for God's glory, my
prince's magnificence, this parliament's honour, our
country's general good, and the propagation of my
own memory.

And I may assure your lordships, that all my pro-
posals in order to this great architype, seemed so ra-
tional and feasible to my royal sovereign, our Christian
Solomon, that I thereby prevailed with his majesty to
call this honourable parliament, to confirm and im-
power me in my own way of mining, by an act of
the same, after his majesty's more weighty affairs
were considered in your wisdoms ; both which he
desires your lordships, and you gentlemen that are
chosen as the patriots of your respective countries,
to take speedy care of : which done, I shall not then
doubt the happy issue of my undertakings in this de-
sign, whereby concealed treasures, which now seem
utterly lost to mankind, shall be confined to so uni-
versal a piety, and brought into use by the industry of
converted penitents, whose wretched carcases the im-
partial laws have, or shall dedicate, as untimely
feasts, to the worms of the earth, in whose womb
those deserted mineral riches must ever lie buried as
lost abortments, unless those be made the active mid-
wives to deliver them. For, my lords, I humbly
conceive them to be the fittest of all men to effect
this great work, for the ends and causes which I have
before expressed.

All which, my lords, I humbly refer to your grave
and solid judgments to conclude of, together with

VOL. II, p

210 Physiological Remains.

such other assistances to this frame, as your own
oraculous wisdom shall intimate, for the magnifying
our Creator in his inscrutable providence, and admi-
rable works of nature.

Certain experiments made by the Lord Bacon
about weight in air and water.

A new sovereign of equal weight in the air to the
piece in brass, overweigheth in the water nine grains:
in three sovereigns the difference in the water is but
twenty-four grains.

The same sovereign overweigheth an equal weight
of lead, four grains in the water, in brass grains for
gold : in three sovereigns about eleven grains.

The same sovereign overweigheth an equal weight
of stones in the air, at least sixty-five grains in the
water : the grains being for the weight of gold in
brass metal.

A glass filled with water weighing, in Troy weights,
thirteen ounces and five drams, the glass and the water
together weigheth severally, viz. the water nine
ounces and a half, and the glass four ounces and a
dram.

A bladder weighing two ounces seven drams and
a half, a pebble laid upon the top of the bladder
makes three ounces six drams and a half, the stone
weigheth seven drams.

The bladder, as above, blown, and the same fallen,
weigheth equal.

A sponge dry weigheth one ounce twenty-six
grains : the same sponge being wet, weigheth four-
teen ounces six drams and three quarters : the water
weigheth in several eleven ounces one dram and a
half, and the sponge three ounces and a half, and
three quarters of a dram. First time.

The sponge and water together weigh fifteen ounces
and seven drams : in several, the water weigheth
eleven ounces and seven drams, and the sponge three
ounces seven drams and a half. Second time.

Three sovereigns made equal to a weight in silver
in the air, differ in the water.

Physiological Remains. 211

For false weights, one beam long, the other thick.

The stick and thread weigh half a dram, and
twenty grains, being laid in the balance.

The stick tied to reach within half an inch of the
end of the beam, and so much from the tongue,
weigheth twenty-eight grains ; the difference is
twenty-two grains.

The same stick being tied to hang over the end of
the beam an inch and a half, weigheth half a dram
and twenty-four grains, exceeding the weight of the
said stick in the balance by four grains.

The same stick being hanged down beneath the
thread, as near the tongue as is possible, weigheth
only eight grains.

Two weights of gold being made equal in the air,
and weighing severally seven drams ; the one balance
being put into the water, and the other hanging in
the air, the balance in the water weigheth only five
drams and three grains, and abateth of the weight
in the air, one dram and a half, and twenty-seven
grains.

The same trial being made the second time, and
more truly and exactly betwixt gold and gold, weigh-
ing severally, as above ; and making a just and equal
weight in the air, the one balance being put into the
water the depth of five inches, and the other hanging
in the air, the balance in the water weigheth only
four drams, and fifty-five grains, and abateth of the
weight in the air two drams and five grains.

The trial being made betwixt lead and lead, weigh-
ing severally seven drams in the air, the balance in the
water weigheth only four drams and forty-one grains,
and abateth of the weight in the air two drams and
nineteen grains ; the balance kept the same depth in
the water as abovesaid.

The trial being made betwixt silver and silver,
weighing severally seven drams in the air, the balance
in the water weigheth only four drams and twenty-
five grains. So it abateth two drams and thirty-five
grains ; the same depth in the water observed.

In iron and iron, weighing severally each balance in

p 2

"212 Physiological Remains.

the air seven drams, the balance in the water weigh
eth only four drams and eighteen grains ; andabateth
of the weight in the air two drams and forty-two
grains ; the depth observe as above.

In stone and stone, the same weight of seven
drams equally in the air, the balance in the water
weigheth only two drams and twenty-two grains ;
and abateth of the weight in the air four drams and
thirty-eight grains ; the depth as above.

In brass and brass, the same weight of seven drams
in each balance, equal in the air, the balance in the
water weigheth only four drams and twenty-two
grains ; and abateth in the water two drams and
thirty-eight grains ; the depth observed.

The two balances being weighed in air and water,
the balance in the air over-weigheth the other in the
water one dram and twenty- eight grains , the depth
in the water as aforesaid.

It is a profitable experiment which sheweth the
weights of several bodies in comparison with water.
It is of use in lading of ships, and other bottoms, and
may help to shew what burden in the several kinds
they will bear.

Certain sudden thoughts of the Lord Bacon's set
down by him under the title of Experiments
for Profit.

Muck of leaves : muck of river, earth, and
chalk : muck of earth closed, both for salt-petre and
muck : setting of wheat and peas : mending of crops
by steeping of seeds : making peas, cherries, and
strawberries come early : strengthening of earth for
often returns of radishes, parsnips, turnips, etc. mak-
ing great roots of onions, radishes, and other esculent
roots : sowing of seeds of trefoil : setting of woad ;
setting of tobacco, and taking away the rawns : graft-
ing upon boughs of old trees : making of a hasty cop-
pice : planting of osiers in wet grounds : making of
candles to last long : building of chimnies, furnaces,
and ovens, to give heat with less wood : fixing of log-
wood : other means to make yellow and green fixed ;

Physiological Remains. 213

conserving of oranges, lemons, citrons, pomegranates,
etc. all summer : recovering of pearl, coral, turcoise
colour, by a conservatory of snow ; sowing of fennel :
brewing with hay, haws, trefoil, broom, hips, bramble-
berries, woodbines, wild thyme, instead of hops, this-
tles : multiplying and dressing artichokes.

Certain experiments of the Lord Bacon's, about the
commixture of liquors only, not solids, without heat
or agitation, but only by simple composition and
settling.

Spirit of wine mingled with common water, al-
though it be much lighter than oil, yet so as if the
first fall be broken, by means of a sop, or otherwise,
it stayeth above ; and if it be once mingled, it severeth
not again as oil doth. Tried with water coloured
with saffron.

Spirit of wine mingled with common water hath a
kind of clouding, and motion shewing no ready com-
mixture. Tried with saffron.

A dram of gold dissolved in aqua regis, with a
dram of copper in aqua fort is, commixed, gave a
green colour, but no visible motion in the parts.
Note, that the dissolution of the gold was, twelve
parts water to one part body : and of the copper
was, six parts water to one part body

Oil of almonds commixed with spirit of wine se-
vereth, and the spirit of wine remaineth on the top,
and the oil in the bottom.

Gold dissolved, commixed with spirit of wine, a
dram of each, doth commix, and no other apparent
alteration.

Quicksilver dissolved with gold dissolved, a dram
of each, doth turn to a mouldy liquor, black, and
like smiths' water.

Note, the dissolution of the gold was twelve parts
water, ut supra, and one part metal : that of water
was two parts, and one part metal.

Spirit of wine and quicksilver commixed, a dram
of each, at the first shewed a white milky substance
at the top, but soon after mingled.

214 Physiological Remains.

Oil of vitriol commixed with oil of cloves, a dram
of each, turneth into a red dark colour ; and a substance
thick almost like pitch, and upon the first motion ga-
thereth an extreme heat, not to be endured by touch.
Dissolution of gold, and oil of vitriol commixed, a
dram of each, gathereth a great heat at the first, and
darkeneth the gold, and maketh a thick yellow.

Spirit of wine and oil of vitriol, a dram of each,
hardly mingle ; the oil of vitriol going to the bottom,
and the spirit of wine lying above in a milky sub-
stance. It gathereth also a great heat, and a sweet-
ness in the taste.

Oil of vitriol and dissolution of quicksilver, a dram
of each, maketh an extreme strife, and casteth up a
very gross fume, and after casteth down a white kind
of curds, or sands ; and on the top a slimish sub-
stance, and gathereth a great heat.

Oil of sulphur and oil of cloves commixed, a dram
of each, turn into a thick and red-coloured sub-
stance ; but no such heat as appeared in the com-
mixture with the oil of vitriol.

Oil of petroleum and spirit of wine, a dram of
each, intermingle otherwise than by agitation, as
wine and water do ; and the petroleum remaineth on
the top.

Oil of vitriol and petroleum, a dram of each, turn
into a mouldy substance, and gathereth some warmth ;
there residing a black cloud in the bottom, and a
monstrous thick oil on the top.

Spirit of wine and red-wine vinegar, one ounce of
each, at the first fall, one of them remaineth above,
but by agitation they mingle.

Oil of vitriol and oil of almonds, one ounce of each,
mingle not ; but the oil of almonds remaineth above.
Spirit of wine and vinegar, an ounce of each, com-
mixed, do mingle, without any apparent separation,
which might be in respect of the colour.

Dissolution of iron, and oil of vitriol, a dram of
each, do first put a milky substance into the bottom,
and after incorporate into a mouldy substance
Spirit of wine commixed with milk, a third part

Physiological Remains. 215

spirit of wine, and two parts milk, coagulateth little,
but mingleth ; and the spirit swims not above.

Milk and oil of almonds mingled, in equal portions,
do hardly incorporate, but the oil cometh above, the
milk being poured in last; and the milk appeareth
in some drops or bubbles.

Milk one ounce, oil of vitriol a scruple, doth coa-
gulate; the milk at the bottom where the vitriol
goeth.

Dissolution of gum tragacanth, and oil of sweet
almonds, do not commingle, the oil remaining on the
top till they be stirred, and make the mucilage some-
what more liquid.

Dissolution of gum tragacanth one ounce and a
half, with half an ounce of spirit of wine, being com-
mixed by agitation, make the mucilage more thick.

The white of an egg with spirit of wine, doth bake
the egg into clots, as if it began to poch.

One ounce of blood, one ounce of milk, do easily
incorporate.

Spirit of wine doth curdle the blood.
One ounce of whey unclarified, one ounce of oil of
vitriol, make no apparent alteration.

One ounce of blood, one ounce of oil of almonds,
incorporate not, but the oil swims above.

Three quarters of an ounce of wax being dissolved
upon the fire, and one ounce of oil of almonds put to-
gether and stirred, do not so incorporate, but that
when it is cold the wax gathereth and swims upon
the top of the oil.

One ounce of oil of almonds cast into an ounce of
sugar seething, sever presently, the sugar shooting
towards the bottom.

A catalogue of bodies attractive and not attractive,
together with experimental observations about at-
traction.

These following bodies draw : amber, jet, dia-
mond, sapphire, carbuncle, iris, the gem opale, ame-
thyst, bristollina, crystal, clear glass, glass of anti-
mony, divers flowers from mines, sulphur, mastic,
hard sealing-wax, the harder rosin, arsenic.

216 Physiological Remains .

These following bodies do not draw : smaragd,
achates, corneolus, pearl, jaspis, chalcedonius, alabas-
ter, porphyry, coral, marble, touchstone, haematites,
or bloodstone ; smyris, ivory, bones, ebon-tree, cedar,
cypress, pitch, softer rosin, camphire, galbanum, am-
moniac, storax, benzoin, loadstone, asphaltum*

These bodies, gold, silver, brass, iron, draw not,
though never so finely polished.

In winter, if the air be sharp and clear, sal gem-
meum, roch allum, and lapis specularis, will draw.

These following bodies are apt to be drawn, if the
mass of them be small : chaff, woods, leaves, stones,
all metals leaved, and in the mine ; earth, water, oiL

* The drawing of iron excepted.

MEDICAL REMAINS.

Grains of youth.

Take of nitre four grains, of ambergrease three
grains, of orris-powder two grains, of white poppy-
seed the fourth part of a grain, of saffron half a grain,
with water of orange-flowers, and a little tragacanth;
make them into small grains, four in number. To
be taken at four a-clock, or going to bed.

Preserving ointments.

Take of deers suet one ounce, of myrrh six grains,
of saffron five grains, of bay-salt twelve grains, of
Canary wine, of two years old, a spoonful and a half.
Spread it on the inside of your shirt, and let it dry,
and then put it on.

A purge familiar for opening the liver.

Take rhubarb two drams, agaric trochiscat one
dram and a half, steep them in claret wine burnt with
mace ; take of wormwood one dram, steep it with the
rest, and make a mass of pills, with syrup, acetos.
simplex. But drink an opening broth before it, with
succory, fennel, and smallage roots, and a little of an
onion.

Wine for the spirits.

Take gold perfectly refined three ounces, quench
it six or seven times in good claret wine ; add of nitre
six grains for two draughts ; add of saffron prepared
three grains, of ambergrease four grains, pass it
through an hippocras bag, wherein there is a dram of
cinnamon gross beaten, or, to avoid the dimming of
the colour, of ginger. Take two spoonfuls of this to
a draught of fresh claret wine.

218 Medical Remains.

The preparing of saffron.

Take six grains of saffron, steeped in half parts of
wine and rose water, and a quarter part vinegar : then
dry it in the sun.

Wine against adverse melancholy, preserving the
senses and the reason.

Take the roots of buglos well scraped and cleansed
from their inner pith, and cut them into small slices ;
steep them in wine of gold extinguished ut supra,
and add of nitre three grains, and drink it ut supra,
mixed with fresh wine : the roots must not continue
steeped above a quarter of an hour ; and they must
be changed thrice.

Breakfast preservative against the gout and
rheums.

To take once in the month at least, and for two
days together, one grain of castorei in my ordinary
broth.

The preparation of gar lick.

Take garlic four ounces, boil it upon a soft fire in
claret wine, for half an hour. Take it out and steep
it in vinegar; whereto add two drams of cloves, then
take it forth, and keep it in a glass for use.

The artificial preparation of damask roses for smell.

Take roses, pull their leaves, then dry them in a
clear day in the hot sun : then their smell will be as
gone. Then cram them into an earthen bottle, very
dry and sweet, and stop it very close; they will re-
main in smell and colour both fresher than those that
are otherwise dried. Note, the first drying, and close
keeping upon it, preventeth all putrefaction, and the
second spirit cometh forth, made of the remaining
moisture not dissipated.

A restorative drink.

Take of Indian maize half [a pound, grind it not
too small, but to the fineness of ordinary meal, and

Medical Remains. 219

then bolt and searce it, that all the husky part may be
taken away. Take of eryngium roots three ounces,
of dates as much, of enula two drams, of mace three
drams, and brew them with ten-shilling beer to the
quantity of four gallons : and this do, either by de-
cocting them in a pottle of wort, to be after mingled
with the beer, being new tapped, or otherwise infuse
it in the new beer, in a bag. Use this familiarly at
meals.

Against the waste of the body by heat.

Take sweet pomegranates, and strain them lightly,
not pressing the kernel, into a glass; where put some
little of the peel of a citron, and two or three cloves,
and three grains of ambergrease, and a pretty deal of
fine sugar. It is to be drunk every morning whilst
pomegranates last.

Methusalem water. Against all asperity and torre-
f action of inward parts, and all adustion of the
blood, and generally against the dryness of age.

Take crevices very new, q* s. boil them well in
claret wine, of them take only the shells, and rub
them very clean, especially on the inside, that they
may be thoroughly cleansed from the meat. Then
wash them three or four times in fresh claret wine,
heated : still changing the wine, till all the fish-taste
be quite taken away. But in the wine wherein they
are washed, steep some tops of green rosemary; then
dry the pure shell thoroughly, and bring them to an
exquisite powder. Of this powder take three drams.
Take also pearl, and steep them in vinegar twelve
hours, and dry off the vinegar ; of this powder also
three drams. Then put the shell powder and pearl
powder together, and add to them of ginger one scru-
ple, and of white poppy-seed half a scruple, and steep
them in spirit of Wine, wherein six grains of saffron
have been dissolved, seven hours. Then upon a gen-
tle heat vapour away all the spirit of wine, and dry
the powder against the sun without fire. Add to it of
nitre one dram, of ambergrease one scruple and a half;

220 Medical Remains.

and so keep this powder for use in a clean glass.
Then take a pottle of milk, and slice in it of fresh
cucumbers, the inner pith only, the rind being pared
off, four ounces, and draw forth a water by distilla-
tion. Take of claret wine a pint, and quench gold in
it four times.

Of the wine, and of the water of milk, take of each
three ounces, of the powder one scruple, and drink it
in the morning ; stir up the powder when you drink^
and walk upon it.

A catalogue of astringents, openers, and cordials,
instrumental to health.

ASTRINGENTS.

Red rose, black-berry, myrtle, plantane, flower of
pomegranate, mint, aloes well washed, myrobalanes,
sloes, agrestia fraga, mastich, myrrh, saffron, leaves
of rosemary, rhubarb received by infusion, cloves,
service-berries, corna, wormwood, bole armeniac,
sealed earth, cinquefoil, tincture of steel, sanguis
draconis, coral, amber, quinces, spikenard, galls,
alum, blood-stone, mummy, amomum, galangal, cy-
press, ivy, psyllum, housleek, sallow, mullein, vine,
oak-leaves, lignum aloes, red sanders, mulberry, med-
lars, flowers of peach-trees, pomegranates, pears,
palmule. pith of kernels, purslain, acacia, laudanum,
tragacanth, thus olibani, comfrey, shepherd's purse,
polygonium.

Astringents, both hot and cold, which corroborate the
parts, and which confirm and refresh such of them
as are loose or languishing.

Rosemary, mint, especially with vinegar, cloves,
cinnamon, cardamom, lign-aloes, rose, myrtle, red
sanders, cotonea, red wine, chalybeat wine, five-finger
grass, plantane, appless of cypress, berberries, fraga,
service-berries, cornels, ribes, sour pears, rambesia.

Medical Remains. 22 1

Astringents styptic, which by their styptic virtue
may stay fluxes.

Sloes, acacia, rind of pomegranates infused, at
least three hours, the styptic virtue not coming forth
in lesser time. Alum, galls, juice of sallow, syrup of
unripe quinces, balaustia, the whites of eggs boiled
hard in vinegar.

Astringents, which by their cold and earthy nature
may stay the motion of the humours tending to a

flux.

Sealed earth, sanguis draconis, coral, pearls, the
shell of the fish dactylus.

Astringents, which by the thickness of their substance
stuff as it were the thin humours, and thereby stay
fluxes.

Rice, beans, millet, cauls, dry cheese, fresh goats
milk.

Astringents, which by virtue of their glutinous sub-
stance restrain a flux, and strengthen the looser
parts.

Karabe,* mastich, spodium, hartshorn, frankin-
cense, dried bull's pistle, gum tragacanth.

Astringents purgative, which, having by their pur-
gative or expulsive power thrust out the humours,
leave behind them astrictive virtue.

Rhubarb, especially that which is toasted against
the fire : myrobalanes, tartar, tamarinds, an Indian
fruit like green damascenes.

Astringents which do very much suck and dry up the
humours, and thereby stay fluxes.

Rust of iron, crocus martis, ashes of spices.

Astringents, which by their nature do dull the spirits,
and lay asleep the expulsive virtue, and take away
the acrimony of all humours.

Laudanum, mithridate, diascordium, diacodium.
* Perhaps he meant the fruit of Karobe.

222 Medical Remains.

Astringents, which, by cherishing the strength of
the parts, do comfort and confirm their retentive
power.

A stomacher of scarlet cloth : whelps, or young
healthy boys, applied to the stomach : hippocratic
wines, so they be made of austere materials.

OPENERS.

Succory, endive, betony, liverwort, petroselinum,
smallage, asparagus, roots of grass, dodder, tama-
risk, juncus odoratus, lacca, cupparus, wormwood,
chamapitys, fumaria, scurvy-grass, eringo, nettle,
ireos, elder, hyssop, aristolochia, gentian, costus, fen-
nel-root, maiden-hair, hart's-tongue, daffodilly, asarum,
sarsaparilla, sassafras, acorns, abretonum, aloes, agaric,
rhubarb infused, onions, garlic, bother, squilla, sow-
bread, Indian nard, Celtic nard, bark of laurel-tree,
bitter almonds, holy thistle, camomile, gun-powder,
sows (millepedes) ammoniac, man's urine, rue, park
leaves (vitex) centaury, lupines, chamcedrys, costum,
ammios, bistort, campnire, daucus seed, Indian bal-
sam, scordium, sweet cane, galingal, agrimony.

CORDIALS.

Flowers of basil roy&l, flores caryophillati, flow-
ers of bugloss and borage, rind of citron, orange flow-
ers, rosemary and its flowers, saffron, musk, amber,
folium, i. e. nardi folium, balm-gentle, pimpernel,
gems, gold, generous wines, fragrant apples, rose, rosa
moschata, cloves, lign-aloes, mace, cinnamon, nutmeg,
cardamom, galingal, vinegar, kermes berry, herha
moschata, betony, white sanders, camphire, flowers of
heliotrope, penny royal, scordium, opium corrected,
white pepper, nasturtium, white and red bean, castum
dulce, dactylus, pine, fig, egg-shell, vinum malvaticum,
ginger, kidneys, oysters, crevises, or river crabs, seed
of nettle, oil of sweet almonds, sesaminum oleum,
asparagus, bulbous roots, onions, garlic, eruca, daucus
seed, eringo, siler montanus, the smell of musk, cynethi
odor, caraway seed, flower of puis, aniseed, pellitory,
anointing of the testicles with oil of elder in which
pellitory hath been boiled, cloves with goat's milk,
olibanum.

Medical Remains. 223

An extract by the Lord Bacon, for his own use, out
of the book Of the prolongation of life, together
with some new advices in order to health.

1. Once in the week, or at least in the fortnight,
to take the water of mithridate distilled, with three
parts to one, or strawberry-water to allay it ; and some
grains of nitre and saifron, in the morning between
sleeps.

2. To continue my broth with nitre; but to inter-
change it every other two days, with the juice of
pomegranates expressed, with a little cloves, and rind
of citron.

3. To order the taking of the maceration* as fol-
low eth.

To add to the maceration six grains of cremor tar-
tari, and as much enula.

To add to the oxymel some infusion of fennel-roots
in the vinegar, and four grains of angelica-seed, and
juice of lemons, a third part to the vinegar.

To take it not so immediately before supper, and
to have the broth specially made with barley, rose-
mary, thyme, and cresses.

Sometimes to add to the maceration three grains
of tartar, and two of enula, to cut the more heavy
and viscous humours; lest rhubarb work only upon
the lightest.

To take sometimes the oxymel before it, and some-
times the Spanish honey simple.

4. To take once in the month at least, and for two
days together, a grain and a half of castor, in my
broth, and breakfast.

5. A cooling clyster to be used once a month, after
the working of the maceration is settled.

Take of barley-water, in which the roots of bu-
gloss are boiled, three ounces, with two drams of red
sanders, and two ounces of raisins of the sun, and one
ounce of dactyles, and an ounce and a half of fat

* Viz. of rhubarb infused into a draught of white wine and
beer, mingled together for the space of half an hour, once in six
or seven days. See the Lord Bacon's Life, by Dr. Rawley, to-
wards the end.

224 Medical Remains.

caricks ; let it be strained, and add to it an ounce and
a half of syrup of violets : let a clyster be made. Let
this be taken, with veal, in the aforesaid decoction.

6. To take every morning the fume of lign-aloes,
rosemary and bays dried, which I use ; but once in a
week to add a little tobacco, without otherwise taking-
it in a pipe.

7 To appoint every day an hour ad affectus inten-
tionales et sanos. Qu. de particulari.

8. To remember masticatories for the mouth.

9. And orange-flower water to be smelt to or
snuffed up.

10. In the third hour after the sun is risen, to take
in air from some high and open place, with a venti-
lation of rascE moschatce, and fresh violets ; and to
stir the earth, with infusion of wine and mint.

1 1 . To use ale with a little enula campana, car-
duus, germander, sage, angelica-seed, cresses of a
middle age, to beget a robust heat.

12. Mithridate thrice a year.

13. A bit of bread dipt in vino odorato, with syrup
of dry roses, and a little amber, at going to bed.

14. Never to keep the body in the same posture
above half an hour at a time.

15. Four precepts. To break off custom. To
shake off spirits ill disposed. To meditate on youth.
To do nothing against a man's genius.

16. Syrup of quinces for the mouth of the stomach.
Inquire concerning other things useful in that kind.

1 7 To use once during supper time wine in which
gold is quenched.

18. To use anointing in the morning lightly with
oil of almonds, with salt and saffron, and a gentle
rubbing.

19. Ale of the second infusion of the vine of oak.

20. Methusalem water, of pearls and shells of
crabs, and a little chalk.

21. Ale of raisins, dactyles, potatoes, pistachios,
honey, tragacanth, mastic.

22. Wine with swine's flesh or hart's flesh.

23. To drink the first cup at supper hot, and half

Medical Remains. 225

an hour before supper something hot and aroma-
tised.

24. Chalybeates four times a year,

25. Pilulce ex tribus, once in two months, but
after the mass has been macerated in oil of almonds.

26. Heroic desires.

27 Bathing- of the feet once in a month, with

• • •

lye ex sale nigro, camomile, sweet marjoram, fennel,
sage, and a little aqua vital.

28. To provide always an apt breakfast.

29. To beat the flesh before roasting of it.

30. Macerations in pickles.

31. Agitation of beer by ropes, or in wheel-bar-
rows.

32. That diet is good which makes lean, and then
renews. Consider of the ways to effect it.

MEDICAL RECEIPTS OF THE LORD BACON

His lordship's usual receipt for the gout. To which
he refers, Nat. Hist. Cent. I. N. 60.

1. The poultis.

Take of manchet about three ounces, the crumb
only, thin cut ; let it be boiled in milk till it grow to a
pulp. Add in the end a dram and a half of the pow-
der of red roses; of saffron ten grains; of oil of roses
an ounce ; let it be spread upon a linen cloth, and ap-
plied lukewarm, and continued for three hours' space.

2. The bath or fomentation.

Take of sage leaves half a handful ; of the root of
hemlock sliced six drams ; of briony roots half an
ounce ; of the leaves of red roses two pugils ; let them
be boiled in a pottle of water, wherein steel hath been
quenched, till the liquor come to a quart. After the
straining, put in half a handful of bay salt. Let it
be used with scarlet cloth, or scarlet wool, dipped
in the liquor hot, and so renewed seven times ; all in
the space of a quarter of an hour, or little more.

VOL. II. Q

226 Medical Remains.

3. The plaister

Take emplastrum diachalciteos, as much as is suf-
ficient for the part you mean to cover. Let it be
dissolved with oil of roses, in such a consistence as
will stick ; and spread upon a piece of holland, and
applied.

His lordships broth and fomentation for the stone.

The broth.

Take one dram of eryngium roots, cleansed and
sliced ; and boil them together with a chicken. In
the end, add of elder flowers, and marigold flowers to-
gether, one pugil ; of angelica seed half a dram, of
raisins of the sun stoned, fifteen ; of rosemary, thyme,
mace, together, a little.

In six ounces of this broth, or thereabouts, let there
be dissolved of white cremor tartari three grains.

Every third or fourth day take a small toast of
manchet, dipped in oil of sweet almonds new drawn,
and sprinkled with a little loaf sugar. You may make
thebroth for two days, and take theonehalf-every day.

If you find the stone to stir, forbear the toast for a
course or two. The intention of this broth is, not to
void, but to undermine the quarry of the stones in
the kidneys.

The fomentation.

Take of leaves of violets, mallows, pellitory of the
wall, together, one handful ; of flowers of camomile
and melilot, together, one pugil ; the root of marsh-
mallows, one ounce ; of anise and fennel seeds, toge-
ther, one ounce and a half; of flax seed two drams.
Make a decoction in spring water.

The second receipt, shewing the way of making a cer-
tain ointment, which his lordship called Unguentum
fragrans, sive Romanum, the fragrant or Roman
unguent.

Take of the fat of a deer half a pound ; of oil of
sweet almonds two ounces : let them be set upon a

Medical Remains. 227

very gentle fire, and stirred with a stick of juniper
till they are melted. Add of root of flower-de-luce
powdered, damask roses powdered, together, one
dram ; of myrrh dissolved in rose-water half a dram ;
of cloves half a scruple ; of civet four grains ; of musk
six grains ; of oil of mace expressed one drop ; as
much of rose-water as sufficeth to keep the unguent
from being too thick. Let all these be put together
in a glass, and set upon the embers for the space of
an hour, and stirred with a stick of juniper.

Note, that in the confection of this ointment, there
was not used above a quarter of a pound, and a tenth
• part of a quarter of deer's suet : and that all the in-
gredients, except the oil of almonds, were doubled
when the ointment was half made, because the fat
things seemed to be too predominant.

The third receipt. A manus Christi/or the stomach.

Take of the best pearls, very finely pulverised, one
dram ; of sal nitre one scruple ; of tartar two scruples ;
of ginger and galingal together, one ounce and a half;
of calamus, root of enula campana, nutmeg, together,
one scruple and a half; of amber sixteen grains ; of
the best musk ten grains ; with rose-water and the
finest sugar, let there be made a manus Christi.

The fourth receipt. A secret for the stomach.

Take lignum aloes in gross shavings, steep them
in sack, or alicant, changed twice, half an hour at a
time, till the bitterness be drawn forth. Then take
the shavings forth, and dry them in the shade, and
beat them to an excellent powder. Of that powder,
with the syrup of citrons, make a small pill, to be
taken before supper.

Q2

WORKS MORAL.

FRAGMENT

COLOURS OF GOOD AND EVIL.

TO THE LORD MOUNTJOYE.

I send you the last part of the best book of Aristotle
of Stagira, who, as your lordship knoweth, goeth
for the best author. But saving the civil respect
which is due to a received estimation, the man being
a Grecian, and of a hasty wit, having hardly a dis-
cerning patience, much less a teaching patience, hath
so delivered the matter, as I am glad to do the part
of a good house-hen, which, without any strangeness,
will sit upon pheasants' eggs. And yet, perchance,
some that shall compare my lines with Aristotle's
lines, will muse by what art, or rather by what reve-
lation, I could draw these conceits out of that place.
But I, that should know best, do freely acknowledge,
that I had my light from him ; for where he gave me
not matter to perfect, at the least he gave me occa-
sion to invent. Wherein as I do him right, being
myself a man that am as free from envying the dead
in contemplation, as from envying the living in ac-
tion or fortune : so yet nevertheless still I say, and I
speak it more largely than before, that in perusing
the writings of this person so much celebrated, whe-
ther it were the impediment of his wit, or that he did
it upon glory and affectation to be subtile, as one,
that if he had seen his own conceits clearly and per-
spicuously delivered, perhaps would have been out of
love with them himself; or else upon policy, to keep

232 Colonics of Good and Evil.

himself close, as one that had been a challenger of
all the world, and had raised infinite contradiction :
to what cause soever it is to be ascribed, I do not find
him to deliver and unwrap himself well of that he
seemeth to conceive ; nor to be a master of his own
knowledge. Neither do I for my part also, though I
have brought in a new manner of handling this ar-
gument, to make it pleasant and lightsome, pretend
so to have overcome the nature of the subject ; but
that the full understanding and use of it will be
somewhat dark, and best pleasing the taste of such
wits as are patient to stay the digesting and soluting
unto themselves of that which is sharp and subtile.
Which was the cause, joined with the love and ho-
nour which I bear to your lordship, as the person I
know to have many virtues, and an excellent order
of them, which moved me to dedicate this writing to
your lordship after the ancient manner : choosing both
a friend, and one to whom I conceived the argument
was agreeable.

OF THE

COLOURS OF GOOD AND EVIL.

In deliberatives, the point is, what is good, and what
is evil ; and of good, what is greater, and of evil,
what is less.

So that the persuader's labour is, to make things
appear good or evil, and that in higher or lower de-
gree : which, as it may be performed by true and solid
reasons, so it may be represented also by colours,
popularities, and circumstances ; which are of such
force, as they sway the ordinary judgment either of
a weak man, or of a wise man, not fully and consi-
derately attending and pondering the matter. Be-
sides their power to alter the nature or the subject in

Colours of Good and Evil. 233

appearance, and so to lead to error, they are of no
less use to quicken and strengthen the opinions and
persuasions which are true ; for reasons plainly de-
livered, and always after one manner, especially with
fine and fastidious minds, enter but heavily and dully :
whereas, if they be varied, and have more life and vi-
gour put into them by these forms and insinuations,
they cause a stronger apprehension, and many times
suddenly win the mind to a resolution. Lastly, to
make a true and safe judgment, nothing can be of
greater use and defence to the mind, than the dis-
covering and reprehension of these colours, shewing
in what cases they hold, and in what they deceive :
which, as it cannot be done but out of a very uni-
versal knowledge of the nature of things, so, being
performed, it so cleareth man's judgment and elec-
tion, as it is the less apt to slide into any error.

A Table of the colours or appearances of
Good and Evil, and their degrees, as places
of persuasion and dissuasion, and their se-
veral fallacies, and the elenches of them.

I.

Cut cceterce partes vel sectce secundas unanimiter de-
ferunt, cum singula principatum sibi vindicent, me-
lior reliquis videtur. Nam primas quceque ex zelo
videtur sumere, secundas autem ex vero et merito
tribuere.

So Cicero went about to prove the sect of Acade-
mics, which suspended all asseveration, for to be the
best. For, saith he, ask a Stoic which philosophy is
true, he will prefer his own. Then ask him, which
approacheth next the truth, he will confess the Aca-
demics. So deal with the Epicure, that will scarce
endure the Stoic to be in sight of him ; so soon as he
hath placed himself, he will place the Academics next
him. So if a prince took divers competitors to a place,
and examined them severally, whom next themselves

234 Colours of Good and Evil.

they would rarest commend, it were like the ablest
man should have the most second voices.

The fallax of this colour happeneth oft in respect
of envy, for men are accustomed, after themselves
and their own faction, to incline unto them which are
softest, and are least in their way, in despite and de-
rogation of them that hold them hardest to it. So
that this colour of meliority and pre-eminence is a
sign of enervation and weakness.

II.

Cujus excellentia vel exuperantia melior, id toto
genere melius.

Appertaining to this are the forms : "Let us not
" wander in generalities. Let us compare particular
" with particular," etc. This appearance, though it
seem of strength, and rather logical than rhetorical,
yet is very oft a fallax.

Sometime because some things are in kind very
casual, which, if they escape, prove excellent ; so that
the kind is inferior, because it is so subject to peril,
but that which is excellent, being proved, is superior :
as the blossom of March, and the blossom of May,
whereof the French verse goeth :

Burgeon de Mars, enfans de Paris,
Si un eschape, il en vaut dix.
So that the blossom of May is generally better than
the blossom of March ; and yet the best blossom of
March is better than the best blossom of May. Some-
times because the nature of some kinds is to be more
equal, and more indifferent, and not to have very dis-
tant degrees ; as hath been noted, in the warmer cli-
mates the people are generally more wise, but in the
northern climates the wits of chief are greater. So
in many armies, if the matter should be tried by duel
between two champions, the victory should go on the
one side ; and yet if it be tried by the gross, it would
go on the other side : for excellencies go as it were
by chance, but kinds go by a more certain nature ; as
by discipline in war.

Lastly ; many kinds have much refuse, which coun-

Colours of Good and Evil. 235

tervail that which they have excellent : and therefore
generally metal is more precious than stone ; and yet a
diamond is more precious than gold.

III.

Quod ad veritatem refertur, mqjus est, quam quod
ad opinionem. Modus autem et probatio ejus, quod
ad opinionem pertinet, haze est : quod quis, si clam
putaret fore, facturus non esset.

So the Epicures say of the Stoics' felicity placed in
virtue, that it is like the felicity of a player, who if he
were left of his auditory and their applause, he would
straight be out of heart and countenance ; and there-
fore they call virtue bonum theatrale : but of riches
the poet saith,

Populus me sibilat ; at mihi plaudo.
And of pleasure,

Grata sub imo
Gaudia corde premens, vultu simulante pudorem.

The fallax of this colour is somewhat subtile, though
the answer to the example be ready, for virtue is not
chosen propter auram popularem ; but contrariwise,
maxime omnium teipsum reverere: so as a virtuous
man will be virtuous in solitudine, and not only in
theatro, though percase it will be more strong by
glory and fame, as an heat which is doubled by re-
flexion. But that denieth the supposition, it doth not
reprehend the fallax ; whereof the reprehension is.
Allow that virtue, such as is joined with labour and
conflict, would not be chosen but for fame and opi-
nion : yet it followeth not that the chief motive of the
election should not be real and for itself : for fame may
be only causa impulsiva, and not causa constituens or
efficiens. As if there were two horses, and the one
would do better without the spur than the other : but
again, the other with the spur would far exceed the
doing of the former, giving him the spur also : yet the
latter will be judged to be the better horse. And the
form, as to say, " Tush, the life of this horse is but in
" the spur," will not serve as to a wise judgment: for
since the ordinary instrument of horsemanship is the

236 Colours of Good and Evil.

spur, and that it is no matter of impediment or burden,
the horse is not to be accounted the less of, which will
not do well without the spur : but rather the other is to
be reckoned a delicacy than a virtue. So glory and
honour are the spurs to virtue : and although virtue
would languish without them, yet since they be al-
ways at hand to attend virtue, virtue is not to be said
the less chosen for itself, because it needeth the spur
of fame and reputation : and therefore that position,
nota ejus, quod "propter opinionem et non propter
veritatem eligitur, h<ec est ; quod quis, si clam pu-
taret fore facturus non esset, is reprehended.

IV

Quod rem integrant servat, bonum; quod sine receptu
est, malum : nam se recipere non posse, impotentice
genus est ; potentia autem bonum.

Hereof iEsop framed the fable of the two frogs,
that consulted together in the time of drought, when
many plashes, that they had repaired to, were dry, what
was to be done ; and the one propounded to go down
into a deep well, because it was like the water would
not fail there ; but the other answered, " Yea, but
" if it do fail, how shall we get up again?" And the
reason is, that human actions are so uncertain and
subject to perils, as that seemeth the best course which
hath most passages out of it. Appertaining to this
persuasion, the forms are : You shall engage yourself;
on the other side, Non tantum, quantum voles, sumes
ex forluna, etc. You shall keep the matter in your
own hand.

The reprehension of it is, that proceeding and re-
solving in all actions is necessary. For as he saith
well, Not to resolve, is to resolve ; and many times
it breeds as many necessities, and engageth as far in
some other sort, as to resolve. So it is but the covet-
ous man's disease, translated into power ; for the co-
vetous man will enjoy nothing, because he will have
his full store and possibility to enjoy the more : so by
this reason a man should execute nothing, because he
should be still indifferent, and at liberty to execute

Colours of Good and Evil. 237

any thing. Besides, necessity and this same jacta
est alea, hath many times an advantage, because it
awaketh the powers of the mind, and strengtheneth
endeavour; Ceteris pares, necessitate certe superi-
ors estis.

V
Quod ex pluribus constat et divisibilibus est majus,
quam quod ex paucioribus, et magis unum; nam
omnia per partes considerata majora videntur :
quare et pluralitas partium magnitudinem prce se
fert : fortius autem operatur pluralitas partium
si ordo absit ; nam inducit similitudinem injiniti,
et impedit comprehensionem.

This colour seemeth palpable ; for it is not plura-
lity of parts without majority of parts, that maketh
the total greater ; yet nevertheless it often carries the
mind away, yea, it deceiveth the sense ; as it seemeth
to the eye a shorter distance of way, if it be all dead
and continued, than if it have trees or buildings, or
any other marks whereby the eye may divide it. So
when a great monied man hath divided his chests,
and coins, and bags, he seemeth to himself richer than
he was ; and therefore a way to amplify any thing is,
to break it, and to make anatomy of it in several parts,
and to examine it according to several circumstances.
And this maketh the greater shew if it be done with-
out order, for confusion maketh things muster more ;
and besides, what is set down by order and division,
doth demonstrate that nothing is left out or omitted,
but all is there ; whereas, if it be without order, both
the mind comprehendeth less that which is set down ;
and besides, it leaveth a suspicion, as if more might
be said than is expressed.

This colour deceiveth, if the mind of him that is to
be persuaded, do of itself over-conceive, or prejudge
of the greatness of any thing ; for then the breaking
of it will make it seem less, because it maketh it to
appear more according to the truth : and therefore if
a man be in sickness or pain, the time will seem
longer without a clock or hour-glass, than with it ;
for the mind doth value every moment, and then the

238 Colours of Good and Evil.

hour doth rather sum up the moments, than divide the
day. So in a dead plain the way seemeth the longer,
because the eye hath preconceived it shorter than the
truth, and the frustrating of that maketh it seem
longer than the truth. Therefore, if any man have an
over-great opinion of any thing, then if another think
by breaking it into several considerations he shall
make it seem greater to him, he will be deceived ;
and therefore in such cases it is not safe to divide,
but to extol the entire still in general. Another case
wherein this colour deceiveth, is when the matter,
broken or divided, is not comprehended by^the sense,
or made at once, in respect of the distracting or scat-
tering of it; and being intire and not divided, is
comprehended : as an hundred pounds in heaps of
five pounds will shew more than in one gross heap, so
as the heaps be all upon one table to be seen at once,
otherwise not : as flowers growing scattered in divers
beds will shew more than if they did grow in one bed,
so as all those beds be within a plot, that they be
object to view at once, otherwise not : and therefore
men, whose living lieth together in one shire, are com-
monly counted greater landed than those whose liv-
ings are dispersed, though it be more, because of the
notice and comprehension. A third case, wherein this
colour deceiveth, and it is not so properly a case of
reprehension as it is a counter colour, being in effect
as large as the colour itself; and that is, omnis compo-
sitio indigenti<x cujusdam in singulis videtur essepar-
ticeps, because, if one thing would serve the turn, it
were ever best, but the defect and imperfections of
things hath brought in that help to piece them up ;
as it is said, Martha, Martha, attendis ad plurima,
unum sufficit. So likewise hereupon iEsop framed the
fable of the fox and the cat ; whereas the fox brag-
ged what a number of shifts and devices he had to
get from the hounds, and the cat said he had but one,
which was to climb a tree, which in proof was better
worth than all the rest ; whereof the proverb grew,
Multa novit vulpes, sed felis unum magnum. And in
the moral of this fable it comes likewise to pass, that

Colours of Good and Evil. 239

a good sure friend is a better help at a pinch, than all
the stratagems and policies of a man's own wit. So
it falleth out to be a common error in negociating,
whereas men have many reasons to induce or per-
suade, they strive commonly to utter and use them all
at once, which weakeneth them. For it argueth, as
was said, a neediness in every of the reasons by itself,
as if one did not trust to any of them, but fled from
one to another, helping himself only with that : Et
quae, non prosunt singula, multajuvant. Indeed, in a
set speech in an assembly, it is expected a man should
use all his reasons in the case he handleth, but in pri-
vate persuasions it is always a great error. A fourth
case wherein this colour may be reprehended, is in re-
spect of that same vis unita fortior, according to the
tale of the French king, that when the emperor's am-
bassador had recited his master's style at large, which
consisteth of many countries and dominions; the
French king willed his chancellor, or other minister,
to repeat over France as many times as the other had
recited the several dominions; intending it was equi-
valent with them all, and more compacted and united.
There is also appertaining to this colour another point,
why breaking of a thing doth help it, not by way of
adding a shew of magnitude unto it, but a note of
excellency and rarity; whereof the forms are, Where
shall you find such a concurrence ; Great but not
complete ; for it seems a less work of nature or for-
tune, to make any thing in his kind greater than or-
dinary than to make a strange composition. Yet if
it be narrowly considered, this colour will be repre-
hended or encountered, by imputing to all excellen-
cies in compositions a kind of poverty, or at least a
casualty or jeopardy ; for from that which is excel-
lent in greatness, somewhat may be taken, or there
may be a decay, and yet sufficient left; but from
that which hath his price in composition, if you take
away any thing, or any part do fail, all is disgrace.

240 Colours of Good and Evil.

VI.

Cujus privatio bona, malum ; cujus privatio
mala, bonum.

The forms to make it conceived, that that was
evil which is changed for the better, are, He that is
in hell thinks there is no other heaven. Satis quercus,
Acorns were good till bread was found, etc. And of
the other side, the forms to make it conceived, that
that was good which was changed for the worse, are
Bona magis carendo quam fruendo sentimus : Bona
a tergo formosissima : Good things never appear in
their full beauty, till they turn their back, and be
going away, etc.

The reprehension of this colour is, that the good
or evil which is removed, may be esteemed good or
evil comparatively, and not positively or simply So
that if the privation be good, it follows not the for-
mer condition was evil, but less good : for the flower
or blossom is a positive good, although the remove
of it to give place to the fruit, be a comparative good.
So in the tale of iEsop, when the old fainting man in
the heat of the day cast down his burden, and called
for Death ; and when Death came to know his will
with him, said, it was for nothing but to help him up
with his burden again : it doth not follow, that be-
cause death, which was the privation of the burden,
was ill, therefore the burden was good. And in this
part, the ordinary form of malum necessarium aptly
reprehendeth this colour ; for privatio mail necessarii
est mala, and yet that doth not convert the nature of
the necessary evil, but it is evil.

Again, it cometh sometimes to pass, that there is
an equality in the change of privation, and, as it were,
a dilemma boni, or a dilemma mail : so that the cor-
ruption of the one good, is a generation of the other.
Sorti pater cequus utrique est : and contrary, the re-
medy of the one evil is the occasion and commence-
ment of another, as in Scylla and Charybdis.

Colours of Good and Evil. 241

VII.

Quod bono vicinum, bonum ; quod a bono remotum,

malum.

Such is the nature of things, that things contrary,
and distant in nature and quality, are also severed and
disjoined in place : and things like and consenting in
quality, are placed, and as it were quartered together :
for, partly in regard of the nature to spread, multiply,
and infect in similitude ; and partly in regard of the
nature to break, expel, and alter that which is dis-
agreeable and contrary, most things do either associ-
ate, and draw near to themselves the like, or at least
assimilate to themselves that which approacheth near
them, and do also drive away, chase, and exterminate
their contraries. And that is the reason commonly
yielded, why the middle region of the air should be
coldest, because the sun and stars are either hot by
direct beams, or by reflection. The direct beams heat
the upper region, the reflected beams from the earth
and seas heat the lower region. That which is in the
midst, being farthest distant in place from these two
regions of heat, are most distant in nature, that is,
coldest ; which is that they term cold or hot per an-
tiperistasin, that is, environing by contraries: which
was pleasantly taken hold of by him that said, that
an honest man, in these days, must needs be more
honest than in ages heretofore, propter antiperistasin,
because the shutting of him in the midst of contra-
ries, must needs make the honesty stronger and more
compact in itself.

The reprehension of this colour, is : first, many
things of amplitude in their kind do as it were in-
gross to themselves all, and leave that which is next
them most destitute : as the shoots or underwood that
grow near a great and spread tree, is the most pined
and shrubby wood of the field, because the great tree
doth deprive and deceive them of sap and nourish-
ment ; so he saith well, divitis servi maxime servi :
and the comparison was pleasant of him, that com-
pared courtiers attendant in the courts of princes

VOL. II. R

242 Colours of Good and Evil.

without great place or office, to fasting-days, which
were next the holy-days, but otherwise were the lean-
est days in all the week.

Another reprehension is, that things of greatness
and predominancy, though they do not extenuate the
things adjoining in substance, yet they drown them
and obscure them in shew and appearance ; and there*-
fore the astronomers say, That whereas in all other pla^
nets conjunction is the perfectest amity ; the sun con*-
trariwise is good by aspect, but evil by conjunction.

A third reprehension is, because evil approacheth
to good sometimes for concealment, sometimes for
protection ; and good to evil for conversion and re-*
formation. So hypocrisy draweth near to religion
for covert, and hiding itself; sape latet vitium proxu
mitate boni: and sanctuary-men, which were com-
monly inordinate men and malefactors, were wont to
be nearest to priests and prelates, and holy men ; for
the majesty of good things is such, as the confines of
them are reverend. On the other side, our Saviour,
charged with nearness of publicans and rioters, said,
the physician approacheth the sick, rather than the
whole.

VIII.

Quod quis culpa sua contraxit, majus malum ; quod
ah externis imponitur, minus malum.

The reason is, because the sting and remorse of
the mind accusing itself doubleth all adversity : con-
trariwise, the considering and recording inwardly, that
a man is clear and free from fault and just imputation,
doth attemper outward calamities. For if the evil be
in the sense, and in the conscience both, there is a
gemination of it ; but if evil be in the one, and com-
fort in the other, it is a kind of compensation : so the
poets in tragedies do make the most passionate la-
mentation, and those that fore-run final despair to be
accusing, questioning, and torturing of a man's life.

Seque unum clamat causamque caputque malorum.

And contrariwise, the extremities of worthy persons
have been annihilated in the consideration of their own

Colours of Good and Evil. 243

good deserving. Besides, when the evil cometh from
without, there is left a kind of evaporation of grief, if
it come by human injury, either by indignation, and
meditating of revenge from ourselves, or by expecting
or fore-conceiving that Xemesis and retribution will
take hold of the authors of our hurt : or if it be by
fortune or accident, yet there is left a kind of expos-
tulation against the divine powers :

Atque deos atque astra vocat crudelia mater.
But where the evil is derived from a mans own fault,
there all strikes deadly inwards, and suffocateth.

The reprehension of this colour is, first, in respect
of hope, for reformation of our faults is in nostra po-
testate; but amendment of our fortune simply is not.
Therefore, Demosthenes, in many of his orations, saith
thus to the people of Athens : " That which having re-
" gard to the time past is the worst point and circum-
" stance of all the rest ; that as to the time to come is
" the best : what is that ? Even this, that by your slotb,
" irresolution, and misgovemment, your affairs are
'; grown to this declination and decay For had you
" used and ordered your means and forces to the
<: best, and done your parts every way to the full, and»
" notwithstanding your matters should have gone
" backward in this manner as they do, there had
" been no hope left of recovery or reparation ; but
" since it hath been only by our own errors," etc. So
Epictetus in his degrees saith, The worst state of man
is to accuse external things, better that to accuse a
man's self, and best of all to accuse neither

Another reprehension of this colour is, in respect of
the well bearing of evils wherewith a man can charge
nobody but himself, which maketh them the less.
Levejit quod benefertur onus.

And therefore manv natures, that are either ex-
tremely proud, and will take no fault to themselves,
or else very true and cleaving to themselves, when
they see the blame of any thing that falls out ill must
light upon themselves, have no other shift but to bear
it out well, and to make the least of it; for as we see
when sometimes a fault is committed, and before it

b 2

244 Colours of Good and Evil.

be known who is to blame, much ado is made of it ;
but after, if it appear to be done by a son, or by a
wife, or by a near friend, then it is light made of: so
much more when a man must take it upon himself.
And therefore it is commonly seen, that women that
marry husbands of their own choosing-, against their
friends' consents, if they be never so ill used, yet you
shall seldom see them complain, but set a good face
on it.

IX.

Quod opera et virtute nostra partum est, majus bonum ;
quod ab alleno benejicio vel ab indulgentia fortune
delatum, est minus bonum.

The reasons are, first, the future hope, because in
the favours of others, or the good winds of fortune,
we have no state or certainty ; in our endeavours or
abilities we have. So as, when they have purchased
us one good fortune, we have them as ready, and
better edged, and inured to procure another.
" The forms be : You have won this by play, You
have not only the water, but you have the receipt,
you can make it again if it be lost, etc.

Next, because these properties, which we enjoy by
the benefit of others, carry with them an obligation,
which seemeth a kind of burden ; whereas the other,
which derive from ourselves, are like the freest pa-
tents, absque aliquo inde reddendo; and if they pro-
ceed from fortune or Providence, yet they seem to
touch us secretly with the reverence of the divine
powers, whose favours we taste, and therefore work
a kind of religious fear and restraint : whereas in the
other kind, that comes to pass which the prophet
speaketh, Icetantur ex exultant, immolant plagis suis,
et sacrificant reti suo.

Thirdly, because that which cometh unto us with-
out our own virtue, yielded not that commendation
and reputation; for actions of great felicity may draw
wonder, but praise less j as Cicero said to Caesar, Qua
miremur, habemus; quce laudemus, expectamus.

Fourthly, because the purchases of our own in-

Colours of Good and Evil. 245

dustry are joined commonly with labour and strife,
which gives an edge and appetite, and makes the
fruition of our desires more pleasant. Siiavis cibus a
venatu.

On the other side, there be four counter-colours to
this colour, rather than reprehensions, because they be
as large as the colour itself. First, because felicity
seemeth to be a character of the favour and love of the
divine powers, and accordingly worketh both confi-
dence in ourselves, and respect and authority from
others. And this felicity extendeth to many casual
things, whereunto the care or virtue of man cannot
extend, and therefore seemeth to be a larger good ; as
when Csesar said to the sailor, Casarem portas etfor-
tunam ejus ; if he had said, et virtutem ejus, it had
been small comfort against a tempest, otherwise than
if it might seem upon merit to induce fortune.

Next, whatsoever is done by virtue and industry,
seems to be done by a kind of habit and art, and there-
fore open to be imitated and followed; whereas feli-
city is inimitable : so we generally see, that things of
nature seem more excellent than things of art, because
they be inimitable : for quod imitabile est, potentia
quadam vulgatum est.

Thirdly, felicity commendeth those things which
come without our own labour; for they seem gifts,
and the other seem pennyworths : whereupon Plu-
tarch saith elegantly of the acts of Timoleon, who
was so fortunate, compared with the acts of Agesi-
laus and Epaminondas ; that they were like Homer's
verses, they ran so easily and so well. And therefore
it is the word we give unto poesy, terming it a happy
vein, because facility seemeth ever to come from hap-
piness.

Fourthly, this same prater spent, vel prater eayec-
tatum, doth increase the price and pleasure of many
things : and this cannot be incident to those things
that proceed from their own care and compass.

246 Colours of Good and Evil.

X.

Gradus privationis major videtur, quam gradus di-
minntionis; et rursus gradus inceptionis major vide-
tur, quam gradus incrementi.

It is a position in the mathematics, that there is
no proportion between somewhat and nothing, there-
fore the degree of nullity and quiddity or act, seemeth
larger than the degrees of increase and decrease; as
to a monoculus it is more to lose one eye than to a man
that hath two eyes. So if one have lost divers chil-
dren, it is more grief to him to lose the last, than all
the rest ; because he is spes gregis. And therefore
Sibylla, when she brought her three books, and had
burned two, did double the whole price of both the
other, because the burning of that had been gradus
privationis, and not diminutionis.

This colour is reprehended first in those things, the
use and service whereof resteth in sufficiency, compe-
tency, or determinate quantity : as if a man be to pay
one hundred pounds upon a penalty, it is more to him
to want twelve pence, than, after that twelve pence
supposed to be wanting, to want ten shillings more;
so the decay of a man's estate seems to be most
touched in the degree, when he first grows behind,
more than afterwards, when he proves nothing worth.
And hereof the common forms are Sera in fundo par-
shnonia, and, As good never a whit, as never the bet-
ter, etc. It is reprehended also in respect of that
notion, Corruptio unius, generatio alterius : so that
gradus privationis is many times less matter, because
it gives the cause and motive to some new course.
As when Demosthenes reprehended the people for
hearkening to the conditions offered by king Philip,
being not honourable nor equal, he saith they were
but aliments of their sloth and weakness, which, if
they were taken away, necessity would teach them
stronger resolutions. So doctor Hector was wont to
say to the dames of London, when they complained
they were they could not tell how, but yet they could
not endure to take any medicine ; he would tell them,
their way was only to be sick, for then they would
be glad to take any medicine.

Colours of Good and Evil. 247

Thirdly, this colour may be reprehended, in respect
that the degree of decrease is more sensitive than the
degree of privation ; for in the mind of man gradus
diminutionis may work a wavering between hope and
fear, and so keep the mind in suspense, from settling
and accommodating in patience and resolution. Here-
of the common forms are, Better eye out than always
ache; Make or mar, etc.

For the second branch of this colour, it depends
upon the same general reason : hence grew the com-
mon-place of extolling the beginning of every thing :
dimidium facti qui bene ccepit habet. This made the
astrologers so idle as to judge of a man's nature and
destiny, by the constellation of the moment of his na-
tivity or conception. This colour is reprehended, be-
cause many inceptions are but, as Epicurus termeth
them, tentamenta, that is, imperfect offers and essays,
which vanish and come to no substance without an
iteration: so as in such cases the second degree seems
the worthiest, as the body-horse in the cart, that
draweth more than the fore-horse. Hereof the com-
mon forms are, The second blow makes the fray, the
second word makes the bargain ; Alter malo princi-
pium dedit, alter modum abstulit, etc. Another re-
prehension of this colour is in respect of defatigation,
which makes perseverance of greater dignity than in-
ception : for chance or instinct of nature may cause
inception; but settled affection, or judgment, maketh
the continuance.

Thirdly, this colour is reprehended in such things,
which have a natural course and inclination contrary
to an inception. So that the inception is continually
evacuated and gets no start; as in the common form,
Non progredi est regredi, Qui non projicit deficit:
running against the hill; rowing against the stream,
etc. For if it be with the stream or with the hill, then
the degree of inception is more than all the rest.

Fourthly, this colour is to be understood of gradus
inceptionis a potentia ad actum, comparatus cum gradu
ab actu ad increment urn. For otherwise major vide-
tur gradus ab impotent ia ad potcntiam, quam a poten-
tia ad actum.

ESSAYS OR COUNSELS,

CIVIL AND MORAL.

To Mr. Anthony Bacon, his dear Brother

Loving and beloved Brother,

i do now, like some that have an orchard ill-neigh-
boured, that gather their fruit before it is ripe, to
prevent stealing. These fragments of my conceits
were going to print; to labour the stay of them had
been troublesome, and subject to interpretation ; to
let them pass had been to adventure the wrong they
might receive by untrue copies, or by some garnish-
ment which it might please any that should set them
forth to bestow upon them. Therefore I held it best
discretion to publish them myself, as they passed long
ago from my pen, without any further disgrace than
the weakness of the author. And as I did ever hold,
there might be as great a vanity in retiring and with-
drawing men's conceits, except they be of some na-
ture, from the world, as in obtruding them : so in
these particulars I have played myself the inquisitor,
and find nothing to my understanding in them con-
trary or infectious to the state of religion, or manners,
but rather, as I suppose, medicinable. Only I dis-
liked now to put them out, because they will be like
the late new half-pence, which, though the silver were
good, yet the pieces were small. But since they
would not stay with their master, but would needs
travel abroad, I have preferred them to you that are
next myself; dedicating them, such as they are, to
our love, in the depth whereof, I assure you, I some-
times wish your infirmities translated upon myself,
that her majesty might have the service of so active
and able a mind ; and I might be with excuse con-
fined to these contemplations and studies, for which
I am fittest : so commend I you to the preservation of

the divine Majesty -

Your intire loving brother,
From my chamber at Gray's-Ian, pRAN BaCON.

this 30th of January, 1597.

To my loving Brother, Sir ions Constable, knight.

My last Essays I dedicated to my dear brother, Mr.
Anthony Bacon, who is with God. Looking amongst
my papers this vacation, I found others of the same
nature : which, if I myself shall not suffer to be lost, it
seemeth the world will not, by the often printing of
the former. Missing my brother, I found you next ;
in respect of bond both of near alliance, and of strait
friendship and society, and particularly of communi-
cation in studies : wherein I must acknowledge my-
self beholden to you. For as my business found rest
in my contemplations, so my contemplations ever
found rest in your loving conference and judgment.
So wishing you all good, I remain

1612. Your loving brother and friend,

Fran Bacon

To the right honourable my very good lord the Duke
©/"Buckingham, his grace, lord high admiral of
England.

Excellent Lord,

Solomon says, A good name is as a precious oint-
ment; and I assure myself such will your grace's
name be with posterity. For your fortune and merit
both have been eminent : and you have planted things
that are like to last. I do now publish my Essays;
which of all my other works have been most current :
for that, as it seems, they come home to men's busi-
ness and bosoms. I have enlarged them both in
number and weight; so that they are indeed a new
work. I thought it therefore agreeable to my affec-
tion and obligation to your grace, to prefix your name
before them, both in English and in Latin : For I do
conceive, that the Latin volume of them, being in
the universal language, may last as long as books last.
My Instauration I dedicated to the king : my History
of Henry the Seventh, which I have now also trans-
lated into Latin, and my portions of Natural His-
tory, to the prince : and these I dedicate to y ur grace ;
being of the best fruits, that by the good increase
which God gives to my pen and labours, I could yield.
God lead your grace by the hand.

Your grace's most obliged and faithful servant,

1625. Fran. St Albajs

ESSAYS CIVII, AND MORAL.

I. Of Truth.

What is truth? said jesting Pilate; and would
not stay for an answer. Certainly there be that de-
light in giddiness ; and count it a bondage to fix a
belief; affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in
acting. And though the sects of philosophers of that
kind be gone, yet there remain certain discoursing
wits, which are of the same veins, though there be
not so much blood in them as was in those of the
ancients. But it is not only the difficulty and la-
bour which men take in finding out of truth; nor
again, that when it is found, it imposeth upon men's
thoughts ; that doth bring lyes in favour : but a na-
tural though corrupt love of the lye itself. One of the
later school of the Grecians examineth the matter,
and is at a stand to think what should be in it, that
men should love lyes ; where neither they make for
pleasure, as with poets; nor for advantage, as with
the merchant ; but for the lye's sake. But I cannot
tell : this same truth is a naked and open day-light,
that doth not shew the masks, and mummeries, and
triumphs of the world, half so stately and daintily as
candle-lights. Truth may perhaps come to the price
of a pearl, that sheweth best by day : but it will not
rise to the price of a diamond or carbuncle, that
sheweth best in varied lights. A mixture of a lye
doth ever add pleasure. Doth any man doubt, that if
there were taken out of men's minds, vain opinions,
nattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations as
one would, and the like; but it would leave the
minds of a number of men, poor shrunken things;
full of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing

254 Essays Civil and Moral.

to themselves ? One of the fathers, in great severity,
called poesy, vinum dcemonum; because it filleth the
imagination, and yet it is but with the shadow of a lye.
But it is not the lye that passeth through the mind,
but the lye that sinketh in, and settleth in it, that
doth the hurt, such as we spake of before. But
howsoever these things are thus in mens depraved
judgments and affections, yet truth, which only doth
judge itself, teacheth, that the inquiry of truth, which
is the love-making, or wooing of it ; the knowledge
of truth, which is the presence of it ; and the belief
of truth, which is the enjoying of it; is the sovereign
good of human nature. The first creature of God,
in the works of the days, was the light of the sense;
the last was the light of reason ; and his sabbath work
ever since is the illumination of his Spirit. First he
breathed, light upon the face of the matter, or chaos;
then he breathed light into the face of man ; and still
he hreatheth and inspireth light into the face of his
chosen. The poet that beautified the sect, that was
otherwise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently
well : " It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and
" to see ships tost upon the sea : a pleasure to stand
" in the window of a castle, and to see a battle, and
" the adventures thereof below : but no pleasure is
" comparable to the standing upon the vantage
" ground of truth, a hill not to be commanded, and
" where the air is always clear and serene : and to see
"the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tem-
" pests, in the vale below :" so always, that this pros-
pect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride.
Certainly it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's
mind move in charity, rest in Providence^ and turn
upon the poles of truth.

To pass from theological and philosophical truth,
to the truth of civil business ; it will be acknowledged,
even by those that practise it not, that clear and
round dealing is the honour of man's nature ; and that
mixture of falsehood is like allay in coin of gold and
silver; which may make the metal work the better,
but it embaseth it. For these winding and crooked

Essays Civil and Moral, 255

courses are the goings of the serpent ; which goeth
basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet. There
is no vice that doth so c6ver a man with shame, as to
be found false and perfidious. And therefore Mon-
tagne saith prettily, when he inquired the reason
why the word of the lye should be such a disgrace,
and such an odious charge? Saith he, " If it be well
" weighed, to say that a man lyeth, is as much as to
" say, that he is brave towards God, and a coward
" towards men. For a lye faces God, and shrinks
" from man." Surely the wickedness of falsehood,
and breach of faith, cannot possibly be so highly
expressed, as in that it shall be the last peal to call
the judgments of God upon the generations of men :
it being foretold, that when Christ cometh he shall
not find faith upon the earth.

II. Of Death.

Men fear death, as children fear to go in the
dark : and as that natural fear in children is. increased
with tales, so is the other. Certainly, the contempla^
tion of death, as the wages of sin, and passage to
another world, is holy and religious ; but the fear of
it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak. Yet in re-
ligious meditations, there is sometimes mixture of
vanity and of superstition. You shall read in some of
the friars' books of mortification, that a man should
think with himself, what the pain is, if he have but his
finger's end pressed or tortured ; and thereby imagine
what the pains of death are, when the whole body is
corrupted and dissolved; when many times death
passeth with less pain than the torture of a limb : for
the most vital parts are not the quickest of sense.
And by him that spake only as a philosopher, and
natural man, it was well said, Pompa mortis magis
terret, quam mors ipsa. Groans, and convulsions, and
a discoloured face, and friends weeping, and blacks,
and obsequies, and the like, shew death terrible. It
is worthy the observing, that there is no passion in
the mind of man so weak, but it mates and masters
the fear of death: and therefore death is no such

256 Essays Civil and Moral.

terrible enemy, when a man hath so many attendants
about him, that can win the combat of him. Revenge
triumphs over death; love slights it; honour aspireth
to it ; grief flieth to it ; fear pre-occupateth it : nay,
we read, after Otho the emperor had slain himself,
pity, which is the tenderest of affections, provoked
many to die, out of mere compassion to their sove-
reign, and as the truest sort of followers. Nay, Se-
neca adds, niceness and satiety ; cogita quamdiu eadem
feceris ; mori velle, non tantum fortis, aut miser, sed
etiam fastidiosus potest. A man would die, though
he were neither valiant nor miserable, only upon a
weariness to do the same thing so oft over and over.
It is no less worthy to observe, how little alteration
in good spirits the approaches of death make; for
they appear to be the same men till the last instant.
Augustus Caesar died in a compliment ; Livia con-
jugii nostri memor vive, et vale. Tiberius in dissimu-
lation ; as Tacitus saith of him ; Jam Tiberium vires
et corpus, non dissimulatio, deserebant. Vespasian in a
jest; sitting upon the stool; Ut puto, Deusjio. Galba
with a sentence ; Feri, si ex re sit populi Romani;
holding forth his neck. Septimius Severus in dispatch ;
Adeste, si quid mihi restat agendum : and the like.
Certainly the Stoics bestowed too much cost upon
death, and by their great preparations made it appear
more fearful. Better saith he, qui Jinem vital ex-
tremum inter muneraponit natural. It is as natural to
die, as to be born ; and to a little infant, perhaps, the
one is as painful as the other. He that dies in an
earnest pursuit, is like one that is wounded in hot
blood; who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt;
and therefore a mind fixt and bent upon somewhat
that is good, doth avert the dolors of death: but
above all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is, Nunc
dimittis; when a man hath obtained worthy ends and
expectations. Death hath this also; that it openeth
the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy. —
Extinctus amabitur idem.

Essays Civil and Moral. 257

III. Of Unity in Religion.

Religion being the chief band of human society*
it is a happy thing, when itself is well contained
within the true band of unity. The quarrels and
divisions about religion were evils unknown to the
heathen. The reason was, because the religion of the
heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies,
than in any constant belief. For you may imagine
what kind of faith theirs was, when the chief doctors
and fathers of their church were the poets. But the
true God hath this attribute, that he is a jealous God ;
and therefore his worship and religion will endure
no mixture nor partner. We shall therefore speak a
few words concerning the unity of the Church ; what
are the fruits thereof; what the bounds ; and what
the means.

The fruits of unity, next unto the well-pleasing of
God, which is all in all, are two ; the one towards
those that are without the Church ; the other towards
those that are within. For the former; it is certain,
that heresies and schisms are of all others the greatest
scandals; yea more than corruption of manners. For
as in the natural body, a wound, or solution of con-
tinuity, is worse than a corrupt humour ; so in the
spiritual. So that nothing doth so much keep men
out of the Church, and drive men out of the Church,
as breach of unity : and therefore, whensoever itcometh
to that pass, that one saith, ecce in deserto ; another
saith, ecce in penetralibus ; that is, when some men
seek Christ in the conventicles of heretics, and others
in an outward face of a church, that voice had need
continually to sound in men's ears, nolite exire, go not
out. The doctor of the Gentiles, the propriety of
whose vocation drew him to have a special care of
those without, saith ; If an heathen come in, and hear
you speak with several tongues, will he not say that
you are mad? And certainly it is little better, when
atheists, and profane persons, do hear of so many dis-
cordant and contrary opinions in religion ; it doth
avert them from the Church, and maketh them to sit

VOL. II. s

258 Essays Civil and Moral.

down in the chair of the scorners. It is but a light
thing to be vouched in so serious a manner, but yet it
expresseth well the deformity : There is a master of
scoffing ; that in his catalogue of books of a feigned
library sets down this title of a book ; " The Morris-
dance of Heretiques." For indeed every sect of them
hath a diverse posture or cringe by themselves, which
cannot but move derision in worldlings and depraved
politics, who are apt to contemn holy things.

As for the fruit towards those that are within, it is
peace; which containeth infinite blessings: it esta-
blished! faith ; it kindleth charity ; the outward peace
of the Church distilleth into peace of conscience; and
itturneth the labours of writing and reading of con-
troversies into treatises of mortification and devotion.

Concerning the bonds of unity ; the true placing of
them importeth exceedingly There appear to be
two extremes. For to certain zealots all speech of
pacification is odious. Is it peace, Jehu? What hast
thou to do with pedce? turn thee behind me. Peace
is not the matter, but following and party Contrari-
wise, certain Laodiceans, and lukewarm persons think
they may accommodate points of religion by middle-
ways, and taking part of both, and witty reconcile-
ments ; as if they would make an arbitrement between
God and man. Both these extremes are to be
avoided ; which will be done, if the league of Chris-
tians, penned by our Saviour himself, were, in the two
cross clauses thereof, soundly and plainly expounded :
he that is not with us is against us: and again, he that
is not against us is with us: that is, if the points
fundamental, and of substance, in religion, were truly
discerned and distinguished from points not merely of
faith, but of opinion, order, or good intention. This
is a thing may seem to many a matter trivial, and
done already ; but if it were done less partially, it
would be embraced more generally.

Of this I may give only this advice, according to
my small model. Men ought to take heed of rending
God's Church by two kinds of controversies. The
one is, when the matter of the point controverted is

Essays Civil and Moral. 259

too small and light, not worth the heat and strife
about it, kindled only by contradiction. For, as it is
noted by one of the Fathers, Christ's coat indeed had
no-seam,; but the Church's vesture was of divers co-
lours : whereupon he saith, in veste varietas sit, scis-
sura non sit ; they be two things, unity, and unifor-
mity. The other is, when the matter of the point
controverted is great; but it is driven to an over-great
subtilty and obscurity; so that it becometh a thing
rather ingenious than substantial. A man that is of
judgment and understanding, shall sometimes hear
ignorant men differ, and know well within himself,
that those which so differ mean one thing, and yet they
themselves would never agree. And if it come so to
pass in that distance of judgment which is between
man and man, shall we not think that God above,
that knows the heart, doth not discern that frail men,
in some of their contradictions, intend the same thing,
and accepteth of both? The nature of such contro-
versies is excellently expressed by St. Paul, in the
warning and precept that he giveth concerning the
same, devita prof anas vocum novitates, et oppositiones
falsi nominis scienticB. Men create oppositions which
are not ; and put them into new terms so fixed, as,
whereas the meaning ought to govern the term, the
term in effect governeth the meaning. There be also
two false peaces or unities; the one, when the peace
is grounded but upon an implicit ignorance; for all
colours will agree in the dark : the other, when it is
pieced up upon a direct admission of contraries in
fundamental points. For truth and falsehood, in
such things, are like the iron and clay in the toes of
Nebuchadnezzar's image ; they may cleave, but they
will not incorporate.

Concerning the means of procuring unity; men
must beware, that in the procuring or muniting of re-
ligious unity, they do not dissolve and deface the laws
of charity, and of human society. There be two
swords amongst Christians, the spiritual and tempo-
ral ; and both have their due office and place in the
maintenance of religion. But we may not take up the

s2

260 Essays Civil and Moral.

third sword, which is Mahomet's sword, or like unto
it ; that is, to propagate religion by wars, or by san-
guinary persecutions to force consciences ; except it
be in cases of overt scandal, blasphemy, or intermix-
ture of practice against the state ; much less to nourish
seditions; to authorize conspiracies and rebellions;
to put the sword into the peoples hands, and the
like, tending to the subversion of all government,
which is the ordinance of God. For this is but to
dash the first table against the second ; and so to con-
sider men as Christians, as we forget that they are
men. Lucretius the poet, when he beheld the act of
Agamemnon, that could endure the sacrificing of his
own daughter, exclaimed;

Tantum religio potnit suatlere malorum.
What would he have said, if he had known of the
massacre in France, or the powder-treason of Eng-
land ? He would have been seven times more epi-
cure and atheist than he was: for as the temporal
sword is to be drawn with great circumspection, in
cases of religion; so it is a thing monstrous to put it
into the hands of the common people. Let that be
left unto the anabaptists, and other furies. It was
great blasphemy, when the devil said, / will ascend
and be like the Highest; but it is greater blasphemy
to personate God, and bring him in saying, " I will
" descend, and be like the prince of darkness." And
what is it better to make the cause of religion to de-
scend to the cruel and execrable actions of murthering
princes, butchery of people, and subversion of states
and governments? Surely this is to bring down the
Holy Ghost, instead of the likeness of a dove, in the
shape of a vulture or raven : and to set, out of the bark
of a Christian Church, a flag of a bark of pirates and
assassins. Therefore it is most necessary, that the
Church by doctrine and decree; princes by their
sword; and all learnings, both Christian and moral, as
by their mercury rod ; do damn and send to hell for
ever those facts and opinions, tending to the support
of the same; as hath been already in good part done.
Surely in counsels concerning religion, that counsel

Essays Civil and Moral. 261

of the apostle would be prefixed ; Ira hominis non
implet justitiam Dei. And it was a notable observa-
tion of a wise father, and no less ingenuously con-
fessed ; That those which held and persuaded pressure
of consciences, were commonly interested therein
themselves for their own ends.

IV Of Revenge.

Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the
more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to
weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth but
offend the law ; but the revenge of that wrong putteth
the law out of office. Certainly in taking revenge, a
man is but even with his enemy ; but in passing it
over, he is superior : for it is a prince's part to pardon.
And Solomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a
man to pass by an offence. That which is past is
gone and irrevocable, and wise men have enough to
do with things present and to come : therefore they
do but trifle with themselves that labour in past mat-
ters. There is no man doth a wrong for the wrong's
sake; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or plea-
sure, or honour, or the like. Therefore why should I
be angry with a man for loving himself better than
me ? And if any man should do wrong, merely out of
ill nature, why ? yet it is but like the thorn or brier,
which prick and scratch, because they can do no other.
The most tolerable sort of revenge is for those wrongs
which there is no law to remedy : but then let a man
take heed the revenge be such as there is no law to
punish ; else a man's enemy is still beforehand, and it
is two for one. Some, when they take revenge, are
desirous the party should know whence it cometh :
this is the more generous. For the delight seemeth
to be not so much in doing the hurt, as in making the
party repent : but base and crafty cowards are like
the arrow that flieth in the dark. Cosmus, duke of
Florence, had a desperate saying against perfidious or
neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardon-
able. " You shall read, saith he, that we are com-
" manded to forgive our enemies ; but you never read,

262 Essays Civil and Moral.

" that we are commanded to forgive our friends."
But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune ; Shall
we, saith he, take good at God's hands, and not be
content to take evil also ? And so of friends in a
proportion. This is certain, that a man that studieth
revenge, keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise
would heal, and do well. Public revenges are for the
most part fortunate : as that for the death of Caesar ;
for the death of Pertinax; for the death of Henry
the Third of France ; and many more : but in pri-
vate revenges it is not so; nay rather, vindicative
persons live the life of witches ; who as they are mis-
chievous, so end they unfortunate.

V Of Adversity

It was a high speech of Seneca, after the manner
of the Stoics, that the good things which belong to
prosperi'ty are to be wished, but the good things that
belong to adversity are to be admired : Bona rerum
secundarum optabilia, adversarum mirabilia. Cer-
tainly if miracles be the command over nature, they
appear most in adversity. It is yet a higher speech
of his than the other, much too high for a heathen, It
is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man,
and the security of a God : Vere magnum, habere
fragilitatem hominis, securitatem Dei. This would
have done better in poesy, where transcendencies are
more allowed. And the poets indeed have been busy
with it ; for it is in effect the thing which is figured
in that strange fiction of the ancient poets, which
seemeth not to be without mystery; nay, and to have
some approach to the state of a Christian : that Her-
cules, when he went to unbind Prometheus, by whom
human nature is represented, sailed the length of the
great ocean in an earthen pot or pitcher ; lively de-
scribing Christian resolution, that saileth in the frail
bark of the flesh through the waves of the world. But
to speak in a mean : the virtue of prosperity is tem-
perance ; the virtue of adversity is fortitude ; which
in morals is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is
the blessing of the Old Testament ; adversity is the

Essays Civil and Moral. 263

blessing of the New, which carrieth the greater bene-
diction, and the clearer revelation of God's favour.
Yet, even in the Old Testament, if you listen to
David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs
as carols : and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath la-
boured more in describing the afflictions of Job than
the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without
many fears and distastes ; and adversity is not without
comforts and hopes. We see in needle-works and
embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work
upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark
and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground : judge
therefore of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure
of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odours,
most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed ;
for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity
doth best discover virtue.

VI. Of Simulation and Dissimulation.

Dissimulation is but a faint kind of policy, or
wisdom ; for it asketh a strong wit, and a strong
heart, to know when to tell truth, and to do it.
Therefore it is the weaker sort of politicians that are
the great dissemblers.

Tacitus saith, Livia sorted well with the arts of her
husband, and dissimulation of her son ; attributing
arts or policy to Augustus, and dissimulation to Tibe-
rius. And again, when Mucianus encourageth Ves-
pasian to take arms against Vitellius, he saith ; We
rise not against the piercing judgment of Augustus,
nor the extreme caution or closeness of Tiberius.
These properties of arts or policy, and dissimulation
or closeness, are indeed habits and faculties several,
and to be distinguished. For if a man have that pe-
netration of judgment as he can discern what things
are to be laid open, and what to be secreted, and what
to be shewed at half lights, and to whom and when,
which indeed are arts of state, and arts of life, as Ta-
citus well calleth them, to him a habit of dissimula-
tion is a hindrance and a poorness. But if a man
cannot obtain to that judgment, then it is left to him,

264 Essays Civil and Moral.

generally, to be close and a dissembler. For where a
man cannot choose, or vary in particulars, there it is
good to take the safest and wariest way in general ;
like the going softly by one that cannot well see.
Certainly the ablest men that ever were, have had all
an openness and frankness of dealing, and a name of
certainty and veracity ; but then they were like horses
well managed ; for they could tell passing well when
to stop or turn : and at such times, when they thought
the case indeed required dissimulation, if then they
used it, it came to pass, that the former opinion spread
abroad of their good faith and clearness of dealing
made them almost invisible.

There be three degrees of this hiding and veiling
of a man's self. The first, closeness, reservation, and
secrecy, when a man leaveth himself without obser-
vation, or without hold to be taken, what he is. The
second, dissimulation in the negative, when a man
lets fall signs and arguments, that he is not that he is.
And the third, simulation in the affirmative, when a
man industriously and expressly feigns and pretends
to be that he is not.

For the first of these, secrecy ; it is indeed the virtue
of a confessor ; and assuredly the secret man heareth
many confessions ; for who will open himself to a
blab or a babbler ? but if a man be thought secret, it
inviteth discovery ; as the more close air sucketh in
the more open : and as in confession the revealing is
not for worldly use, but for the ease of a man's heart ;
so secret men come to knowledge of many things in
that kind ; while men rather discharge their minds,
than impart their minds. In few words, mysteries are
due to secrecy. Besides, to say truth, nakedness is
uncomely as well in mind as body ; and it addeth no
small reverence to men's manners and actions if they
be not altogether open. As for talkers and futile per-
sons, they are commonly vain and credulous withal.
For he that talketh what he knoweth, will also talk
what he knoweth not. Therefore set it down, that
a habit of secrecy is both politic and moral. And in
this part it is good that a man's face give his tongue

Essays Civil and Moral. 265

leave to speak. For the discovery of a man's self by
the tracts of his countenance is a great weakness in
betraying ; by how much it is many times more
marked and believed than a man's words.

For the second, which is dissimulation ; it followeth
many times upon secrecy, by a necessity : so that he
that will be secret must be a dissembler in some de-
gree. For men are too cunning to suffer a man to
keep an indifferent carriage between both, and to be
secret, without swaying the balance on either side.
They will so beset a man with questions, and draw
him on, and pick it out of him, that, without an ab-
surd silence, he must shew an inclination one way ; or
if he do not, they will gather as much by his silence
as by his speech. As for equivocations, or oraculous
speeches, they cannot hold out long. So that no
man can be secret, except he give himself a little
scope of dissimulation, which is as it were but the
skirts or train of secrecy.

But for the third degree, which is simulation and
false profession ; that I hold more culpable and less
politic, except it be in great and rare matters. And
therefore a general custom of simulation, which is this
last degree, is a vice rising either of a natural false-
ness, or fearfulness, or of a mind that hath some main
faults; which because a man must needs disguise, it
maketh him practise simulation in other things, lest
his hand should be out of ure.

The great advantages of simulation and dissimula-
tion are three. First, to lay asleep opposition, and to
surprise. For where a man's intentions are pub-
lished, it is an alarm to call up all that are against
them. The second is, to reserve to a man's self a fair
retreat : for if a man engage himself by a manifest de-
claration, he must go through, or take a fall. The
third is, the better to discover the mind of another.
For to him that opens himself, men will hardly shew
themselves adverse; but will fair let him go on, and
turn their freedom of speech to freedom of thought.
And therefore it is a good shrewd proverb of the Spa-
niard, Tell a lie, and find a truth. As if there were

266 Essays Civil and Moral.

no way of discovery but by simulation. There be also
three disadvantages to set it even. The first, that
simulation and dissimulation commonly carry with
them a showof fearfulness, which in any business doth
spoil the feathers of round flying up to the mark.
The second, that it puzzleth and perplexeth the con-
ceits of many, that perhaps would otherwise co-
operate with him ; and makes a man walk, almost
alone, to his own ends. The third and greatest is,
that it depriveth a man of one of the most principal
instruments for action ; which is trust and belief.
The best composition and temperature is, to have
openness in fame and opinion; secrecy in habit ; dis-
simulation in seasonable use ; and a power to feign, if
there be no remedy.

VII. Of Parents and Children.

The joys of parents are secret ; and so are their
griefs and fears : they cannot utter the one, nor they
will not utter the other. Children sweeten labours ;
but they make misfortunes more bitter ; they increase
the cares of life, but they mitigate the remembrance of
death. The perpetuity by generation is common to
beasts ; but memory, merit, and noble works, are pro-
per to men : and surely a man shall see the noblest
works and foundations have proceeded from childless
men ; which have sought to express the images of
their minds, where those of their bodies have failed :
so the care of posterity is most in them that have no
posterity. They that are the first raisers of their
houses, are most indulgent towards their children ;
beholding them as the continuance, not only of their
kind, but of their work; and so both children and
creatures.

The difference in affection of parents towards their
several children is many times unequal ; and some-
times unworthy ; especially in the mother ; as Solo-
mon saith, A wise son rejoiceth the father, but an un-
gracious son shames the mother. A man shall see,
where there is a house full of children, one or two of the
eldest respected, and the youngest made wantons :.

Essays Civil and Moral. 267

bat in the midst, some that are as it were forgotten,
who many times nevertheless prove the best. The illi-
berality of parents in allowance towards their children,
is a harmful error ; makes them base ; acquaints them
with shifts ; makes them sort with mean company ;
and makes them surfeit more when they come to
plenty : and therefore the proof is best when men
keep their authority towards their children, but not
their purse. Men have a foolish manner, both pa-
rents, and schoolmasters, and servants, in creating
and breeding an emulation between brothers, during
childhood, which many times sorteth to discord when
they are men, and disturbeth families. The Italians
make little difference between children and nephews,
or near kinsfolks; but so they be of the lump they care
not, though they pass not through their own body.
And, to say truth, in nature it is much a like matter ;
insomuch that we see a nephew sometimes resembleth
an uncle, or a kinsman, more than his own parent; as
the blood happens. Let parents choose betimes the
vocations and courses they mean their children should
take ; for then they are most flexible ; and let them
not too much apply themselves to the disposition of
their children, as thinking they will take best to that
which they have most mind to. It is true, that if the
affection or aptness of the children be extraordinary,
then it is good not to cross it; but generally the precept
is good, Optimum elige, suave et facile Mud faciei con-
suetudo. Younger brothers are commonly fortunate,
but seldom or never where the elder are disinherited.

VIII. Of Marriage and Single Life.

He that hath wife and children, hath given hos-
tages to fortune ; for they are impediments to great
enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the
best works and of greatest merit for the public, have
proceeded from the unmarried or childless men :
which both in affection and means have married and
endowed the public. Yet it were great reason, that
those that have children should have greatest care
of future times; unto which they know they must

268 Essays Civil and Moral.

transmit their dearest pledges. Some there are, who
though they lead a single life, yet their thoughts do
end with themselves, and account future times imper-
tinences. Nay, there are some other, that account
wife and children but as bills of charges. Nay more,
there are some foolish rich covetous men, that take a
pride in having no children, because they may be
thought so much the richer. For perhaps they have
heard some talk, Such a one is a great rich man ; and
another except to it, Yea, but he hath a great charge
of children : as if it were an abatement to his riches.
But the most ordinary cause of a single life is liberty ;
especially in certain self-pleasing and humorous
minds, which are so sensible of every restraint, as
they will go near to think their girdles and garters
to be bonds and shackles. Unmarried men are best
friends, best masters, best servants, but not always
best subjects ; for they are light to run away ; and
almost all fugitives are of that condition. A single life
doth well with churchmen : for charity will hardly
water the ground, where it must first fill a pool. It is
indifferent forjudges and magistrates : for if they be
facile and corrupt, you shall have a servant five times
worse than a wife. For soldiers, I find the generals
commonly, in their hortatives, put men in mind of
their wives and children. And I think the despising
of marriage amongst the Turks, maketh the vulgar
soldiers more base. Certainly, wife and children are
a kind of discipline of humanity : and single men,
though they be many times more charitable, because
their means are less exhaust ; yet, on the other side,
they are more cruel and hard-hearted, good to make
severe inquisitors, because their tenderness is not so
oft called upon. Grave natures, led by custom, and
therefore constant, are commonly loving husbands ;
as was said of Ulysses, vetulam suam prcetulit immor-
talitati. Chaste women are often proud and froward,
as presuming upon the merit of their chastity. It is
one of the best bonds, both of chastity and obedience,
in the wife, if she think her husband wise ; which she
will never do if she find him jealous. Wives are

Essays Civil and Moral. 2C9

young men's mistresses; companions for middle age;
and old men's nurses. So as a man may have a
quarrel to marry when he will. But yet he was re-
puted one of the wise men, that made answer to the
question, when a man should marry ? " A young man
" not yet, an elder man not at all." It is often seen,
that bad husbands have very good wives ; whether it
be, that it raiseth the price of their husband's kind-
ness when it comes ; or that the wives take a pride in
their patience. But this never fails if the bad hus-
bands were of their own choosing, against their
friends' consent ; for then they will be sure to make
good their own folly

IX. Of Envy

There be none of the affections which have been
noted to fascinate or bewitch, but love and envy
They both have vehement wishes; they frame them-
selves readily into imaginations and suggestions : and
they come easily into the eye ; especially upon the
presence of the objects ; which are the points that
conduce to fascination, if any such thing there be.
We see likewise, the Scripture calleth envy an evil
eye: and the astrologers call the evil influences of the
stars, evil aspects ; so that still there seemeth to be
acknowledged in the act of envy, an ejaculation, or
irradiation of the eye. Nay, somehave been so curious,
as to note, that the times when the stroke or percus-
sion of an envious eye doth most hurt, are, when the
party envied is beheld in glory or triumph ; for that
sets an edge upon envy : and besides, at such times,
the spirits of the person envied do come forth most
into the outward parts, and so meet the blow.

But leaving these curiosities, though not unworthy
to be thought on in fit place, we will handle, what
persons are apt to envy others ; what persons are
most subject to be envied themselves ; and what is
the difference between public and private envy.

A man that hath no virtue in himself, ever envieth
virtue in others. For men's minds will either feed
upon their own good, or upon other's evil ; and who

270 Essays Civil and Moral.

wanteth the one, will prey upon the other ; and whoso
is out of hope to attain to another's virtue, will seek 16
come at even hand by depressing another's fortune; iv

A man that is busy and inquisitive, is commonly
envious : for to know much of other men's matters can-
not be because all that ado may concern his own estate :
therefore it must needs be, that he taketh a kind of
play-pleasure in looking upon the fortunes of others ;
neither can he that mindeth but his own business find
much matter for envy. For envy is a gadding pas-
sion, and walketh the streets, and doth not keep
home ; Non est curiosus, quin idem sit malevolus.

Men of noble birth are noted to be envious towards
new men when they rise : for the distance is altered ;
and it is like a deceit of the eye, that when others
come on, they think themselves go back.

Deformed persons and eunuchs, and old men and
bastards, are envious: for he that cannot possibly
mend his own case, will do what he can to impair
another's; except these defects light upon a very
brave and heroical nature, which thinketh to make
his natural wants part of his honour ; in that it should
be said, that an eunuch or a lame man did such great
matters; affecting the honour of a miracle; as it was
in Narses the eunuch, and Agesilaus and Tamerlane,
that were lame men.

The same is the case of men that rise after cala-
mities and misfortunes ; for they are as men fallen
out with the times ; and think other men's harms a
redemption of their own sufferings.

They that desire to excel in too many matters, out
of levity and vain- glory, are ever envious, for they
cannot want work ; it being impossible but many, in
some one of those things, should surpass them.
Which was the character of Adrian the emperor, that
mortally envied poets, and painters, and artificers, in
works wherein he had a vein to excel.

Lastly, near kinsfolks, and fellows in office, and
those that have been bred together, are more apt to
envy their equals when they are raised. For it doth
upbraid unto them their own fortunes, and pointeth

Essays Civil and Moral. 271

at them, and eometh oftener into their remembrance,
and incurreth likewise more into the note of others ;
and envy ever redoubleth from speech and fame.
Cain's envy was the more vile and malignant towards
his brother Abel, because, when his sacrifice was
better accepted, there was no body to look on. Thus
much for those that are apt to envy.

Concerning those that are more or less subject to
envy: First, persons of eminent virtue, when they
are advanced, are less envied. For their fortune
seemeth but due unto them ; and no man envieth the
payment of a debt, but rewards, and liberality rather.
Again, envy is ever joined with the comparing of a
man's self; and where there is no comparison, no
envy; and therefore kings are not envied but by
kings. Nevertheless it is to be noted, that unworthy
persons are most envied at their first coming in,
and afterwards overcome it better ; whereas contrari-
wise, persons of worth and merit are most envied
when their fortune continueth long. For by that
time, though their virtue be the same, yet it hath
not the same lustre ; for fresh men grow up that
darken it.

Persons of noble blood are less envied in their ris-
ing ; for it seemeth but right done to their birth : be-
sides, there seemeth not much added to their fortune ;
and envy is as the sun beams, that beat hotter upon
a bank or steep rising ground than upon a flat. And
for the same reason, those that are advanced by de-
grees, are less envied than those that are advanced
suddenly, and per saltum.

Those that have joined with their honour, great
travels, cares, or perils, are less subject to envy : for
men think that they earn their honours hardly, and
pity them sometimes; and pity ever healeth envy:
wherefore you shall observe, that the more deep and
sober sort of politic persons, in their greatness, are
ever bemoaning themselves what a life they lead,
chanting a Quanta patimur: not that they feel it so,
but only to abate the edge of envy. But this is to be
understood of business that is laid upon men, and not
such as they call unto themselves : for nothing in-

272 Essays Civil and Moral.

creaseth envy more, than an unnecessary and ambi-
tious engrossing of business : and nothing doth ex-
tinguish envy more, than for a great person to pre-
serve all other inferior officers in their full rights and
pre-eminences of their places: for by that means there
be so many screens between him and envy.

Above all, those are most subject to envy, which
carry the greatness of their fortunes in an insolent
and proud manner ; being never well but while they
are shewing how great they are, either by outward
pomp, or by triumphing over all opposition or com-
petition : whereas wise men will rather do sacrifice
to envy, in suffering themselves sometimes of pur-
pose to be crossed and overborn in things that do not
much concern them. Notwithstanding, so much is
true : that the carriage of greatness, in a plain and
open manner, so it be without arrogancy and vain-
glory, doth draw less envy, than if it be in a more
crafty and cunning fashion. For in that course a man
doth but disavow fortune, and seemeth to be con-
scious of his own want in worth, and doth but teach
others to envy him.

Lastly, to conclude this part ; as we said in the be-
ginning, that the act of envy had somewhat in it of
witchcraft, so there is no other cure of envy, but the
cure of witchcraft : and that is, to remove the lot, as
they call it, and to lay it upon another. For which
purpose, the wiser sort of great persons bring in ever
upon the stage somebody upon whom to derive the
envy that would come upon themselves; sometimes
upon ministers and servants, sometimes upon col-
leagues and associates, and the like : and for that
turn, there are never wanting some persons of violent
and undertaking natures, who, so they may have
power and business, will take it at any cost.

Now to speak of public envy. There is yet some
good in public envy, whereas in private there is none.
For public envy is as an ostracism, that eclipseth men
when they grow too great : and therefore it is a bri-
dle also to great ones, to keep them within bounds.

This envy, being in the Latin word invidia, goeth
in the modern languages by the name of discontent-

Essays Civil and Moral. 273

merit; of which we shall speak in handling sedition.
It is a disease in a state like to infection : for as in-
fection spreadeth upon that which is sound, and taint-
eth it ; so when envy is gotten once into a state, it
traduceth even the best actions thereof, and turneth
them into an ill odour ; and therefore there is little
won by intermingling of plausible actions : for that
doth argue but a weakness and fear of envy, which
hurteth so much the more ; as it is likewise usual in
infections, which if you fear them, you call them
upon you.

This public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon prin-
cipal officers or ministers, rather than upon kings and
estates themselves. But this is a sure rule, that if
the envy upon the minister be great, when the cause
of it in him is small; or if the envy be general in a
manner upon all the ministers of an estate, then the
envy, though hidden, is truly upon the state itself.
And so much of public envy or discontentment, and
the difference thereof from private envy, which was
handled in the first place.

We will add this in general touching the affection
of envy : that of all other affections, it is the most
importune and continual : for of other affections
there is occasion given but now and then ; and there-
fore it is well said, Invidia festos dies non agit: for it
is ever working upon some or other. And it is also
noted, thatlove and envy do make a man pine, which
other affections do not, because they are not so conti-
nual. It is also the vilest affection, and the most de-
praved ; for which cause it is the proper attribute of
the devil, who is called, the envious man, that soweth
tares amongst the wheat by night: as it always
cometh to pass, that envy worketh subtilly, and in
the dark; and to the prejudice of good things, such
as is the wheat.

X. Of Love.

The stage is more beholden to love, than the life
of man. For as to the stage, love is ever matter of
comedies, and now and then of tragedies ; but in

vnr tt T

274 Essays Civil and Moral.

life it doth much mischief, sometimes like a syren,
sometimes like a fury. You may observe, that amongst
all the great and worthy persons, whereof the memory
remaineth, either ancient or recent, there is not one
that hath been transported to the mad degree of love ;
which shews, that great spirits and great business do
keep out this weak passion. You must except never-
theless Marcus Antonius the half partner of the em-
pire of Rome, and Appius Claudius the decemvir and
lawgiver ; whereof the former was indeed a volup-
tuous man and inordinate ; but the latter was an aus-
tere and wise man : and therefore it seems, though
rarely, that love can find entrance, not only into an
open heart, but also into a heart well fortified, if
watch be not well kept. It is a poor saying of Epi-
curus ; Satis magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus :
as if man, made for the contemplation of heaven, and
all noble objects, should do nothing but kneel before
a little idol, and make himself subject, though not
of the mouth, as beasts are, yet of the eye, which
was given him for higher purposes. It is a strange
thing to note the excess of this passion; and how it
braves the nature and value of things by this, that the
speaking in a perpetual hyperbole is comely in no-
thing but in love. Neither is it merely in the phrase ;
for whereas it hath been well said, that the arch flat-
terer, with whom all the petty flatterers have intelli-
gence, is a man's self; certainly the lover is more.
For there was never proud man thought so absurdly
well of himself, as the lover doth of the person loved ;
and therefore it was well said, that it is impossible to
love, and to be wise. Neither doth this weakness
appear to others only, and not to the party loved,
but to the loved most of all ; except the love be reci-
proque. For it is a true rule, that love is ever re-
warded either with the jeciproque, or with an inward
and secret contempt: by how much the more men
ought to beware of this passion, which loseth not only
other things, but itself. As for the other losses, the
poet's relation doth well figure them; that he that
preferred Helena, quitted the gifts of Juno and Pallas :
for whosoever esteemeth too much of amorous affec-

Essays Civil and Moral. 275

tion, quitteth both riches and wisdom. This passion
hath its floods in the very times of weakness, which
are great prosperity, and great adversity; though this
latter hath been less observed; both which times
kindle love, and make it more fervent, and therefore
shew it to be the child of folly. They do best, who,
if they cannot but admit love, yet make it keep quar-
ter; and sever it wholly from their serious affairs and
actions of life: for if it check once with business, it
troubleth men's fortunes, and maketh men that they
can no ways be true to their own ends. I know not
how, but martial men are given to love: I think it
is, but as they are given to wine; for perils com-
monly ask to be paid in pleasures. There is in man's
nature a secret inclination and motion towards love
of others, which, if it be not spent upon some one or
a few, doth naturally spread itself towards many, and
maketh men become humane and charitable; as it is
seen sometimes in friars. Nuptial love maketh man-
kind ; friendly love perfecteth it ; but wanton love
corrupteth and embaseth it.

XI. Of Great Place.

Men in great place are thrice servants: servants
of the sovereign or state; servants of fame; and ser-
vants of business : so as they have no freedom, neither
in their persons, nor in their actions, nor in their
times. It is a strange desire, to seek power, and to
lose liberty ; or to seek power over others, and to lose
power over a man's self. The rising unto place is la-
borious; and by pains men come to greater pains;
and it is sometimes base; and by indignities men come
to dignities. The standing is slippery, and the regress
is either a downfal, or at least an eclipse, which is a
melancholy thing. Cum non sis qui fueris, non esse
cur velis vivere ? Nay, retire men cannot when they
would; neither will they when it were reason: but
are impatient of privateness, even in age and sickness,
which require the shadoAv : like old townsmen, that
will be still sitting at their street door, though there-
by they offer age to scorn. Certainly great persons

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276 Essays Civil and Moral.

had need to borrow other men's opinions to think
themselves happy ; for if they judge by their own
feeling, they cannot find it; but if they think with
themselves what other men think of them, and that
other men would fain be as they are, then they are
happy as it were by report, when perhaps they find
the contrary within. For they are the first that find
their own griefs ; though they be the last that find
their own faults. Certainly men in great fortunes are
strangers to themselves, and while they are in the
puzzle of business, they have no time to tend their
health either of body or mind. Illi mors gravis in-
cubat, qui not us nimis omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi.
In place there is licence to do good and evil ; whereof
the latter is a curse ; for in evil the best condition isJ
not to will; the second not to can. But power to
do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring. For
good thoughts, though God accept them, yet towards
men are little better than good dreams, except they
be put in act; and that cannot be without power
and place; as the vantage and commanding ground.
Merit and good works is the end of man's motion ;
and conscience of the same is the accomplishment of
man's rest. For if a man can be partaker of God's
theatre, he shall likewise be partaker of God's rest.
Et conversus Dens, ut aspiceret opera, quce fecerunt
manus sua, vidit quod omnia essent bona nimis; and
then the sabbath. In the discharge of thy place, set
before thee the best examples ; for imitation is a globe
of precepts. And after a time set before thee thine
own example; and examine thyself strictly, whether
thou didst not best at first. Neglect not also the
examples of those, that have carried themselves ill in
the same place : not to set off thyself by taxing their
memory; but to direct thyself what to avoid. Reform
therefore, without bravery or scandal of former times
and persons ; but yet set it down to thyself, as well to
create good precedents, as to follow them. Reduce
things to the first institution, and observe wherein and
how they have degenerated ; but yet ask counsel of
both times: of the ancient time what is best; andof

Essays Civil and Moral. 277

the latter time what is fittest. Seek to make thy
course regular ; that men may know beforehand what
they may expect : but be not too positive and peremp-
tory ; and express thyself well when thou digressest
from thy rule. Preserve the right of thy place, but
stir not questions of jurisdiction : and rather assume
thy right in silence, and de facto, than voice it with
claims and challenges. Preserve likewise the rights
of inferior places ; and think it more honour to direct
in chief, than to be busy in all. Embrace and invite
helps and advices touching the execution of thy place ;
and do not drive away such as bring thee information,
as medlers, but accept of them in good part. The
vices of authority are chiefly four; delays, corruption,
roughness, and facility. For delays ; give easy ac-
cess ; keep times appointed ; go through with that
which is in hand ; and interlace not business but of
necessity. For corruption ; do not only bind thine
own hands, or thy servants' hands, from taking, but
bind the hands of suitors also from offering. For inte-
grity used doth the one ; but integrity professed, and
with a manifest detestation of bribery, doth the other :
and avoid not only the fault, but the suspicion. Who-
soever is found variable, and changeth manifestly
withoutmanifestcause, giveth suspicion of corruption.
Therefore always when thou changest thine opinion
or course, profess it plainly, and declare it, together
with the reasons that move thee to change ; and do
not think to steal it. A servant or a favourite, if he
be inward, and no other apparent cause of esteem, is
commonly thought but a bye-way to close corruption.
For roughness, it is a needless cause of discontent ;
severity breedeth fear, but roughness breedeth hate.
Even reproofs from authority ought to be grave, and
not taunting. As for facility, it is worse than bribery.
For bribes come but now and then ; but if importu-
nity or idle respects lead a man, he shall never be with-
out. As Solomon saith ; to respect persons is not
good; for such a man will transgress for a piece of
bread. It is most true that was anciently spoken, A
place sheweth the man : and it sheweth some to the

278 Essays Civil and Moral.

better, and some to the worse ; omnium consensu, ca-
pax imperii, nisi imperasset, saith Tacitus of Galba :
but of Vespasian he saith ; solus imperantium Vespa-
sianus mutatus in melius. Though the one was
meant of sufficiency, the other of manners and affec-
tion. It is an assured sign of a worthy and generous
spirit, whom honour amends. For honour is, or should
be, the place of virtue : and as in nature things move
violently to their place, and calmly in their place ; so
virtue in ambition is violent, in authority settled and
calm. All rising to great place is by a winding-stair ;
and if there be factions, it is good to side a maris self
whilst he is in the rising ; and to balance himself when
he is placed. Use the memory of thy predecessor
fairly and tenderly ; for if thou dost not, it is a debt
will sure be paid when thou art gone. If thou have
colleagues, respect them, and rather call them when
they look not for it, than exclude them when they
have reason to look to be called. Be not too sensible,
or too remembering of thy place in conversation, and
private answers to suitors ; but let it rather be said,
When he sits in place he is another man.

XII. Of Boldness.

It is a trivial grammar-school text, but yet worthy
a wise man's consideration. Question was asked of
Demosthenes, what was the chief part of an orator ?
He answered, Action. What next 1 — Action. What
next again ? — Action. He said it that knew it best ;
and had by nature himself no advantage in that he
commended. A strange thing, that that part of an
orator, which is but superficial, and rather the virtue
of aplayer, should be placed so high above those other
noble parts of invention, elocution, and the rest : nay
almost alone, as if it were all in all. But the reason
is plain. There is in human nature, generally, more
of the fool than of the wise ; and therefore those
faculties by which the foolish part of men's minds is
taken, are most potent. Wonderful like is the case
of boldness in civil business ; what first ?— Boldness.
What second and third ? — Boldness. And yet bold-

Essays Civil and Moral. 279

ness is a child of ignorance and baseness, far inferior
to other parts. But nevertheless it doth fascinate,
and bind hand and foot those that are either shallow
in judgment, or weak in courage, which are the
greatest part ; yea, and prevaileth with wise men at
weak times ; therefore we see it hath done wonders
in popular states, but with senates and princes less ;
and more ever upon the first entrance of bold persons
into action, than soon after ; for boldness is an ill
keeper of promise. Surely, as there are mountebanks
for the natural body, so there are mountebanks for
the politic body : men that undertake great cures,
and perhaps have been lucky in two or three experi-
ments, but want the grounds of science, and therefore
cannot hold out ; nay, you shall see a bold fellow
many times do Mahomet's miracle. Mahomet made
the people believe that he would call a hill to him,
and from the top of it offer up his prayers for the ob-
servers of his law. The people assembled : Mahomet
called the hill to come to him again and again ; and
when the hill stood still he was never a whit abashed,
but said, " If the hill will not come to Mahomet,
Mahomet will go to the hill." So these men, when
they have promised great matters, and failed most
shamefully, yet, if they have the perfection of bold-
ness, they will but slight it over, and make a turn,
and no more ado. Certainly to men of great judg-
ment bold persons are a sport to behold ; nay, and to
the vulgar also boldness hath somewhat of the ridi-
culous : for if absurdity be the subject of laughter,
doubt you not but great boldness is seldom without
some absurdity : especially it is a sport to see when a
bold fellow is out of countenance, for that puts his
face into a most shrunken and wooden posture, as
needs it must ; for in bashfulness the spirits do a lit-
tle go and come ; but with bold men, upon like occa-
sion, they stand at a stay ; like a stale at chess, where
it is no mate, but yet the game cannot stir : but this
last were fitter for a satire, than for a serious obser-
vation. This is well to be weighed, that boldness is
ever blind ; for it seeth not dangers and inconve-
niences : therefore it is ill in counsel, good in execu-

280 Essays Civil and Moral.

tion : so that the right use of bold persons, is, that
they never command in chief, but be seconds, and
under the direction of others. For in counsel, it is
good to see dangers ; and in execution not to see
them, except they be very great.

XIII. Of Goodness, and Goodness of Na-
ture.

I take goodness in this sense, the affecting of the
weal of men, which is that the Grecians called phi-
lanthropia; and the word humanity, as it is used, is
a little too light to express it. Goodness I call the
habit, and goodness of nature the inclination. This
of all virtues and dignities of the mind is the greatest,
being the character of the Deity ; and without it
man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better
than a kind of vermin. Goodness answers to the
theological virtue charity, and admits no excess but
error. The desire of power in excess caused the an-
gels to fall ; the desire of knowledge in excess caused
man to fall : but in charity there is no excess ; neither
can angel or man come in danger by it. The incli-
nation to goodness is imprinted deeply in the nature
of man ; insomuch, that if it issue not towards men,
it will take unto other living creatures ; as it is seen in
the Turks, a cruel people, who nevertheless are kind
to beasts, and give alms to dogs and birds: insomuch,
as Busbechius reporteth, a Christian boy in Constan-
tinople had liked to have been stoned, for gagging, in
a waggishness, a long-billed fowl. Errors indeed in
this virtue of goodness or charity may be committed
The Italians have an ungracious proverb ; Tanto buon
che val niente ; So good that he is good for nothing.
And one of the doctors of Italy, Nicholas Machiavel,
had the confidence to put in writing, almost in plain
terms, that the Christian faith had given up good men
in prey to those that are tyrannical and unjust: which
he spake, because indeed there was never law, or
sect, or opinion, did so much magnify goodness, as
the Christian religion doth : therefore to avoid the
scandal, and the danger both, it is good to take know-

Essays Civil and Moral. 281

ledge of the errors of a habit so excellent. Seek the
good of other men, but be not in bondage to their
faces or fancies ; for that is but facility or softness,
which taketh an honest mind prisoner. Neither
give thou iEsop's cock a gem, who would be better
pleased, and happier if he had a barley-corn. The ex-
ample of God teacheth the lesson truly; he sendeth his
rain and maketh his sun to shine upon the just and
the unjust ; but he doth not rain wealth nor shine ho-
nour and virtues upon men equally : common benefits
are to be communicated with all, but peculiar benefits
with choice. And beware, how in making the por-
traiture thou breakest the pattern ; for divinity mak-
eth the love of ourselves the pattern, the love of our
neighbours but the portraiture : Sell all thouhast, and
give it to the poor, and follow me. But sell not all thou
hast, except thou come and follow me ; that is, ex-
cept thou have a vocation, wherein thou mayest do as
much good with little means as with great : for other-
wise, in feeding the streams thou driest the fountain.
Neither is there only a habit of goodness directed by
right reason; but there is in some men, even in na-
ture, a disposition towards it; as on the other side
there is a natural malignity. For there be, that in
their nature do not affect the good of others. The
lighter sort of malignity turneth but to a crossness, or
frowardness, or aptness to oppose, or difficilness, or
the like; but the deeper sort to envy, and mere mis-
chief. Such men, in other men's calamities, are as it
were in season, and are ever on the loading part : not
so good as the dogs that licked Lazarus' sores, but
like flies that are still buzzing upon any thing that is
raw; Misanthropi, that make it their practice to bring
men to the bough, and yet have never a tree for the
purpose in their gardens, as Timon had. Such dispo-
sitions are the very errors of human nature, and yet
they are the fittest timber to make great politics of;
like to knee-timber, that is good for ships that are
ordained to be tossed, but not for building houses that
shall stand firm. The parts and signs of goodness are
many. If a man be gracious and courteous to stran-

282 Essays Civil and Moral.

gers it shews he is a citizen of the world, and that his
heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a con-
tinent that joins to them. If he be compassionate to-
wards the afflictions of others, it shews that his heart
is like the noble tree that is wounded itself when it
gives the balm. If he easily pardons and remits of-
fences, it shews that his mind is planted above inju-
ries, so that he cannot be shot. If he be thankful
for small benefits, it shews that he weighs men's minds,
and not their trash. But above all, if he have St.
Paul's perfection, that he would wish to be an ana-
thema from Christ for the salvation of his brethren,
it shews much of a divine nature, and a kind of con-
formity with Christ himself.

XIV Of Nobilitv

We will speak of nobility first as a portion of an
estate, then as a condition of particular persons. A mo-
narchy, where there is no nobility at all, is ever a pure
and absolute tyranny ; as that of the Turks : for nobi-
lity attempers sovereignty, and draws the eyes of the
people somewhat aside from the line royal. But for
democracies, they need it not ; and they are commonly
more quiet, and less subject to sedition, than where
there are stirps of nobles ; for men's eyes are upon the
business, and not upon the persons ; or if upon the
persons, it is for the business sake, as fittest and not
for flags and pedigree. We see the Switzers last well,
notwithstanding their diversity of religion, and Of can-
tons ; for utility is their bond, and not respects. The
United Provinces of the Low Countries, in their go-
vernment, excel : for where there is an equality, the
consultations are more indifferent, and the payments
and tributes more cheerful. A great and potent no-
bility addeth majesty to a monarch, but diminisheth
power; and putteth life and spirit into the people,
but presseth their fortune. It is well when nobles are
not too great for sovereignty, nor for justice ; and yet
maintained in that height as the insolency of inferiors
may be broken upon them, before it come on too fast
upon the majesty of kings. A numerous nobility

Essays Civil and Moral. 283

causeth poverty and inconvenience in a state, for it is
a surcharge of expense ; and besides, it being of ne-
cessity that many of the nobility fall in time to be
weak in fortune, it maketh a kind of disproportion
between honour and means.

As for nobility in particular persons ; it is a reve-
rend thing to see an ancient castle or building not in
decay; or to see a fair timber tree sound and perfect;
how much more to behold an ancient noble family,
which hath stood against the waves and weathers of
time? for new nobility is but the act of power, but
ancient nobility is the act of time. Those that are first
raised to nobility, are commonly more virtuous, but
less innocent, than their descendants; for there is
rarely any rising, but by a commixture of good and
evil arts: but it is reason the memory of their virtues
remain to their posterity, and their faults die with
themselves. Nobility of birth commonly abateth in-
dustry; and he that is not industrious envieth him that
is. Besides, noble persons cannot go much higher;
and he that standeth at a stay, when others rise, can
hardly avoid motions of envy On the other side,
nobility extinguisheth the passive envy from others
towards them, because they are in possession of ho-
nour. Certainly kings that have able men of their
nobility, shall find ease in employing them, and a bet-
ter slide into their business : for people naturally bend
to them, as born in some sort of command.

XV Of Seditions and Troubles.

Shepherds of people had need know the kalen-
dars of tempests in state ; which are commonly great-
est when things grow to equality; as natural tempests
are greatest about the <zquinoct\a. And as there are
certain hollow blasts of wind, and secret swellings of
seas, before a tempest, so are there in states :
Ille etiam ccecos instare tumultus
Scepe nwnet, fraudesque et operta tumescere bella.

Libels and licentious discourses against the state,
when they are frequent and open, and in like sort

284 Essays Civil and Moral.

false news often running up and down to the disad-
vantage of the state, and hastily embraced, are amongst
the signs of troubles. Virgil giving the pedigree of
Fame, saith, she was sister to the giants.

Illam Terra parens, ira irritata Dear urn,

Extremam, lit per hi bent, Cceo Enceladoque sororem

Progenuit.
As if fames were the relics of seditions past : but
they are no less indeed the preludes of seditions to
come. Howsoever he noteth it right, that seditious
tumults, and seditious fames, differ no more, but as
brother and sister, masculine and feminine; especi-
ally if it come to that, that the best actions of a state,
and the most plausible, and which ought to give
greatest contentment, are taken in ill sense and tra-
duced : for that shews the envy great, as Tacitus
saith; conjlata magna invidia, seu bene, sen male,
gesta premunt. Neither doth it follow, that because
these fames are a sign of troubles, that the suppressing
of them with too much severity should be a remedy
of troubles. For the despising of them many times
checks them best: and the going about to stop them,
doth but make a wonder long-lived. Also that kind
of obedience which Tacitus speaketh of, is to be held
suspected; Erant in officio, sed tamen qui mallent
mandata hnperantium interpretari quam exequi; dis-
puting, excusing, cavilling upon mandates and direc-
tions, is a kind of shaking off the yoke, and assay of
disobediance : especially if in those disputings, they
which are for the direction, speak fearfully and ten-
derly ; and those that are against it, audaciously.

Also, as Machiavel noteth well, when princes,
that ought to be common parents, make themselves
as a party, and lean to a side, it is as a boat that is
overthrown by uneven weight on the one side : as was
well seen in the time of Henry the Third of France ;
for first, himself entered league for the extirpation of
the protestants ; and presently after the same league
was turned upon himself. For when the authority of
princes is made but an accessary to a cause, and that
there be other bands, that tie faster than the band of

Essays Civil and Moral. 285

o

sovereignty, kings begin to be put almost out of pos-
session.

Also, when discords, and quarrels,- and factions,
are carried openly and audaciously, it is a sign the
reverence of government is lost. For the motions of
the greatest persons in a government ought to be as
the motions of the planets under primum mobile, ac-
cording to the old opinion ; which is, that every
of them is carried swiftly by the highest motion, and
softly in their own motion. And therefore when
great ones in their own particular motion move vio-
lently, and, as Tacitus expresseth it well, liberius,
quam tit imperantium meminissent ; it is a sio-n the
orbs are out of frame. For reverence is that wherewith
princes are girt from God, who threateneth the dis-
solving thereof; solvam cingula regum.

So when any of the four pillars of government are
mainly shaken or weakened, which are religion, jus-
tice, counsel, and treasure, men had need to pray for
fair weather But let us pass from this part of pre-
dictions, concerning which, nevertheless, more light
may be taken from that which followeth, and let us
speak first of the materials of seditions ; then of the
motives of them; and thirdly, of the remedies.

Concerning the materials of seditions. It is a thing
well to be considered ; for the surest way to prevent
seditions, if the times do bear it, is to take away the
matter of them. For if there be fuel prepared, it is
hard to tell whence the spark shall come that shall
set it on fire. The matter of seditions is of two kinds :
much poverty, and much discontentment. It is cer-
tain, so many overthrown estates, so many votes for
troubles. Lucan noteth well the state of Rome be-
fore the civil war :

Hinc usura vorax, rapidumque in tempore foenus,

Hinc concussa Jules , et multis utile bellum.
This same multis utile bellum is an assured and infal-
lible sign of a state disposed to seditions and troubles.
And if this poverty and broken estate in the better
sort be joined with a want and necessity in the mean
people, the danger is imminent and great. For the

286 Essays Civil and Moral.

rebellions of the belly are the worst. As for discon-
tentments, they are in the politic body like to hu-
mours in the natural, which are apt to gather a pre-
ternatural heat, and to inflame. And let no prince
measure the danger of them by this ; whether they
be just, or unjust ; for that were to imagine people to
be too reasonable ; who do often spurn at their own
good : nor yet by this ; whether the griefs whereupon
they rise be in fact great or small. For they are the
most dangerous discontentments, where the fear is
greater than the feeling. Dolendi modus, timendi non
item. Besides, in great oppressions, the same things
that provoke the patience, do withal mate the cou-
rage ; but in fears it is not so. Neither let any prince
or state be secure concerning discontentments, be-
cause they have been often, or have been long, and
yet no peril hath ensued ; for as it is true that every
vapour, or fume, doth not turn into a storm ; so it is
nevertheless true, that storms, though they blow over
divers times, yet may fall at last ; and as the Spanish
proverb noteth well, the cord breaketh at the last by
the weakest pull.

The causes and motives of seditions are, innovation
in religion, taxes, alteration of laws and customs,
breaking of privileges, general oppression, advance-
ment of unworthy persons, strangers, dearths, dis-
banded soldiers, factions grown desperate ; and what-
soever in offending people joineth and knitteth them
in a common cause.

For the remedies, there may be some general pre-
servatives, whereof we will speak ; as for the just
cure, it must answer to the particular disease : and so
be left to counsel, rather than rule.

The first remedy or prevention, is to remove by all
means possible that material cause of sedition, where-
of we spake ; which is want and poverty in the estate.
To which purpose serveth the opening and well ba-
lancing of trade ; the cherishing of manufactures; the
banishing of idleness ; the repressing of waste and ex-
cess by sumptuary laws ; the improvement and hus-
banding of the soil ; the regulating of prices of things

Essays Civil and Moral. 287

vendible ; the moderating of taxes and tributes, and
the like. Generally it is to be foreseen, that the po-
pulation of a kingdom, especially if it be not mown
down by wars, do not exceed the stock of the king-
dom which should maintain them. Neither is the
population to be reckoned only by number : for a
smaller number, that spend more and earn less, do
wear out an estate sooner than a greater number that
live lower and gather more. Therefore the multiplying
of nobility, and other degrees of quality, in an over-
proportion to the common people, doth speedily bring
a state to necessity : and so doth likewise an over-
grown clergy ; for they bring nothing to the stock :
and in like manner, when more are bred scholars,
than preferments can take off.

It is likewise to be remembered, that forasmuch as
the increase of any estate must be upon the foreigner,
for whatsoever is somewhere gotten is somewhere
lost, there be but three things which one nation
selleth unto another ; the commodity as nature yield-
eth it ; the manufacture; and the vecture or carriage.
So that if these three wheels go, wealth will flow as
in a spring tide. And it cometh many times to pass,
that materiam superabit opus, that the work and car-
riage is more worth than the material, and enricheth
a state more ; as is notably seen in the Low-Country-
men, who have the best mines above ground in the
world.

Above all things good policy is to be used, that the
treasure and moneys in a state be not gathered into
few hands. For otherwise a state may have a grea
stock, and yet starve. And money is like muck, not
good except it be spread. This is done chiefly by sup-
pressing, or at the least keeping a strait hand upon
the devouring trades of usury, ingrossing, great pas-
turages, and the like.

For removing discontentments, or at least the dan-
ger of them : there is in every state, as we know, two
portions of subjects, the noblesse, and the commonalty.
When one of these is discontent, the danger is not
great ; for common people are of slow motion, if they

288 Essays Civil and Moral.

be not excited by the greater sort ; and the greater
sort are of small strength, except the multitude be apt
and ready to move of themselves. Then is the danger,
when the greater sort do but wait for the troubling of
the waters amongst the meaner, that then they may
declare themselves. The poets feign, that the rest of
the gods would have bound Jupiter ; which he hear-
ing of, by the counsel of Pallas, sent for Briareus with
his hundred hands to come in to his aid. An emblem,
no doubt, to shew, how safe it is for monarchs to
make sure of the good will of common people.

To give moderate liberty for griefs and discontent-
ments to evaporate, so it be without too great inso-
lency or bravery, is a safe way For he that turneth
the humours back, and maketh the wound bleed in-
wards, endangereth malign ulcers, and pernicious im-
postumations.-

The part of Epimetheus might well become Pro-
metheus, in the case of discontentments, for there is
not a better provision against them. Epimetheus,
when griefs and evils flew abroad, at last shut the lid,
and kept Hope in the bottom of the vessel. Certainly
the politic and artificial nourishing and entertaining
of hopes, and carrying men from hopes to hopes, is
one of the best antidotes against the poison of discon-
tentments. And it is a certain sign of a wise govern-
ment and proceeding, when it can hold men's hearts
by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction : and when
it can handle things in such manner, as no evil shall
appear so peremptory, but that it hath some outlet of
hope ; which is the less hard to do, because both par-
ticular persons and factions are apt enough to flatter
themselves, or at least to brave that which they be-
lieve not.

Also, the foresight and prevention that there be no
likely or fit head, whereunto discontented persons may
resort, and under whom they may join, is a known
but an excellent point of caution. I understand a fit
head to be one that hath greatness and reputation ;
that hath confidence with the discontented party, and
upon whom they turn their eyes ; and that is thought

Essays Civil and Moral. 289

discontented in his own particular : which kind of
persons are either to be won and reconciled to the
state, and that in a fast and true manner ; or to be
fronted with some other of the same party that may
oppose them, and so divide the reputation. Ge-
nerally, the dividing and breaking of all factions and
combinations that are adverse to the state, and' setting
them at distance, or at least distrust amongst them-
selves, is not one of the worst remedies. For it is a
desperate case, if those that hold with the proceeding
of the state, be full of discord and faction; and those
that are against it be entire and united.

I have noted, that some witty and sharp speeches
which have fallen from princes, have given fire to se-
ditions. Caesar did himself infinite hurt in that speech ;
Sj/lla nescivit litems, non potuit dictare : for it did
utterly cut off that hope which men had entertained,
that he would at one time or other give over his dic-
tatorship. Galba undid himself by that speech ; Legi
a se militem, non emi : for it put the soldiers out of
hope of the donative. Probus likewise by that speech,
Si vLvero, non opus erit amplius Romano imperio
militibus ; a speech of great despair for the soldiers :
and many the like. Surely, princes had need, in ten-
der matters and ticklish times, to beware what they
say ; especially in these short speeches, which fly
abroad like darts, and are thought to be shot out of
their secret intentions. For, as for large discourses,
they are flat things, and not so much noted.

Lastly, let princes, against all events, not be with-
out some great person, one, or rather more, of mili-
tary valour near unto them, for the repressing of se-
ditions in their beginnings. For without that, there
useth to be more trepidation in court upon the first
breaking out of troubles, than were fit. And the
state runneth the danger of that which Tacitus saith,
atque is habitus animorum fuit, ut pessimum /aci-
nus auderent pauci, plures vellent, omnes paterentur,
But let such military persons be assured and well re^
puted of, rather than factious and popular ; holding
also good correspondence with the other great men

vol. rr. u

290 Essays Civil and Moral.

in the state ; or else the remedy is worse than the
disease.

XVI. Of Atheism.

I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend,
and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this
universal frame is without a mind. And therefore
God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, be-
cause his ordinary works convince it. It is true, that
a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism ;
but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about
to religion : for while the mind of man looketh upon
second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in
them, and go no farther ; but when it beholdeth the
chain of them confederate and linked together, it
must needs fly to Providence and Deity. Nay even
that school .which is most accused of atheism, doth
most demonstrate religion ; that is, the school of Leu-
cippus, and Democritus, and Epicurus. For it is a
thousand times more credible, that four mutual ele-
ments, and one immutable fifth essence duly and eter-
nally placed, need no God; than that an army of
infinite small portions, or seeds unplaced, should have
produced this order and beauty without a divine
marshal. The Scripture saith, The fool hath said in
his heart, There is no God: it is not said, the fool
hath thought in his heart. So as he rather saith it
by rote to himself, as that he would have, than that
he can throughly believe it, or be persuaded of it.
For none deny there is a God, but those for whom it
maketh that there were no God. It appeareth in
nothing more, that atheism is rather in the lip than
in the heart of man, than by this ; that atheists will
ever be talking of that their opinion, as if they fainted
in it within themselves, and would be glad to be
strengthened by the consent of others : nay more, you
shall have atheists strive to get disciples, as it fareth
with other sects : and, which is most of all, you shall
have of them that will suffer for atheism, and not re-
cant : whereas if they did truly think that there were
no such thing as God, why should they trouble them-

Essays Civil and Moral. 291

selves ? Epicurus is charged, that he did but dis-
semble, for his credit's sake, when he affirmed there
were blessed natures, but such as enjoyed themselves
without having respect to the government of the
world. Wherein they say he did temporize, though
in secret he thought there was no God. But certainly
he is traduced; for his words are noble and divine :
Non deos vulgi negare profanum; sed vulgi opiniones
diis applicare profanum. Plato could have said no
more. And although he had the confidence to deny
the administration, he had not the power to deny the
nature. The Indians of the west have names for their
particular gods, though they have no name for God :
as if the heathens should have had the names Jupiter,
Apollo, Mars, etc. but not the word Deus: which
shews, that even those barbarous people have the no-
tion, though they have not the latitude and extent of
it. So that against atheists the very savages take part
with the very subtilest philosophers. The contem-
plative atheist is rare; a Diagoras, a Bion, a Lucian
perhaps, and some others ; and yet they seem to be
more than they are ; for that all that impugn a re-
ceived religion or superstition, are by the adverse part
branded with the name of atheists. But the great
atheists indeed are hypocrites ; which are ever hand-
ling holy things, but without feeling; so as they must
needs be cauterized in the end. The causes of atheism
are ; divisions in religion, if they be many ; for any one
main division addeth zeal to both sides ; but many
divisions introduce atheism. Another is, scandal of
priests; when it is come to that which S. Bernard
saith, non est jam dicere, ut populus, sic sacerdos :
quia nee sic populus, ut sacerdos. A third is, custom
of profane scoffing in holy matters ; which doth by lit-
tle and little deface the reverence of religion. And
lastly, learned times, especially with peace and pros-
perity : for troubles and adversities do more bow men's
minds to religion. They that deny a God destroy
man's nobility : for certainly man is of kin to the
beasts by his body; and if he be not of kin to God
by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature. It

u 2

292 Essays Civil and Moral.

destroys likewise magnanimity, and the raising of hu-
man nature : for take an example of a dog, and mark
what a generosity and courage he will put on, when
he finds himself maintained by a man ; who to him is
instead of a God, or melior natura ; which courage is
manifestly such, as that creature, without that confi-
dence of a better nature than his own, could never
attain. So man, when he resteth and assureth him-
self upon divine protection and favour, gathereth a
force and faith, which human nature in itself could
not obtain : therefore as atheism is in all respects
hateful, so in this, that it depriveth human nature of
the means to exalt itself above human frailty- As it
is in particular persons, so it is in nations : never was
there such a state for magnanimity as Rome; of this
state hear what Cicero saith : quam volumus, licet,
patres conscripti, nos amemus, tamen nee numero
Hispanos, nee robore Gallos, nee calliditate Panos,
nee artibus Grcecos, nee denique hoc ipso hujus gen-
tis et terra domestico nativoque sensu Ttalos ipsos
et Latinos ; sed pietate, ac religiojie, atque hac una
sapientia, quod deorum immortalium numine omnia
regi gubernarique perspeximus, omnes gentes na-
tionesque superavirnus.

XVII. Of Superstition.

It were better to have no opinion of God at all,
than such an opinion as is unworthy of him : for the
one is unbelief, the other is contumely: and cer-
tainly superstition is the reproach of the Deity. Plu-
tarch saith well to that purpose : " Surely," saith he,
" I had rather a great deal men should say, there was
" no such man at all as Plutarch, than that they
" should say, that there was one Plutarch, that would
" eat his children as soon as they were born ; as the
" poets speak of Saturn." And as the contumely is
greater towards God, so the danger is greater towards
men. Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy,
to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all which
may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though
religion were not: but superstition dismounts all

Essays Civil and Moral. 293

these, and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds
of men. Therefore atheism did never perturb states ;
for it makes men wary of themselves, as looking no
farther : and we see the times inclined to atheism, as
the time of Augustus Caesar, were civil times. But
superstition hath been the confusion of many states ;
and bringeth in a new primum mobile, that ravisheth
all the spheres of government. The master of super-
stition is the people ; and in all superstition wise men
follow fools ; and arguments are fitted to practice in a
reversed order. It was gravely said by some of the
prelates in the Council of Trent, where the doctrine
of the schoolmen bare great sway ; that the school-
men were like astronomers, which did feign eccen-
trics and epicycles, and such engines of orbs, to save
the phenomena, though they knew there were no
such things ; and in like manner, that the schoolmen
had framed a number of subtile and intricate axioms
and theorems, to save the practice of the Church.
The causes of superstition are : pleasing and sensual
rites and ceremonies : excess of outward and phari-
saical holiness : over-great reverence of traditions,
which cannot but load the Church : the stratagems of
prelates for their own ambition and lucre : the favour-
ing too much of good intentions, which openeth the
gate to conceits and novelties : the taking an aim at
divine matters by human, which cannot but breed
mixture of imaginations : and lastly, barbarous times,
especially joined with calamities and disasters. Su-
perstition without a veil is a deformed thing: for as
it addeth deformity to an ape to be so like a man; so
the similitude of superstition to religion makes it the
more deformed. And as wholesome meat corrupteth
to little worms, so good forms and orders corrupt into
a number of petty observances. There is a super-
stition in avoiding superstition ; when men think to
do best, if they go farthest from the superstition for-
merly received : therefore care would be had, that, as
it fareth in ill purgings, the good be not taken away
with the bad, which commonly is done when the peo-
ple is the reformer.

294 Essays Civil and Moral.

XVIII. Of Travel.

Travel in the younger sort is a part of educa-
tion ; in the elder a part of experience. He that tra-
velled into a country before he hath some entrance
into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel.
That young men travel under some tutor or grave ser-
vant, I allow well ; so that he be such a one that hath
the language, and hath been in the country before ;
whereby he may be able to tell them what things
are worthy to be seen in the country where they go,
what acquaintances they are to seek, what exercises
or discipline the place yieldeth. For else young men
shall go hooded, and look abroad little. It is a strange
thing, that in sea-voyages, where there is nothing to
be seen but sky and sea, men should make diaries ;
but in land-travel, wherein so much is to be observed,
for the most part they omit it; as if chance were fitter
to be registered than observation. Let diaries therefore
be brought in use. The things to be seen and observed
are : the courts of princes, especially when they give
audience to ambassadors : the courts of justice, while
they sit and hear causes : and so of consistories eccle-
siastic : the churches and monasteries, with the monu-
ments which are therein extant : the walls and fortifi-
cations of cities and towns, and so the havens and
harbours : antiquities and ruins ; libraries, colleges,
disputations, and lectures, where any are ; shipping
and navies ; houses, and gardens of state and pleasure
near great cities ; armories, arsenals, magazines, ex-
changes, burses, warehouses ; exercises of horseman-
ship, fencing, training of soldiers and the like; come-
dies, such whereunto the better sort of persons do
resort ; treasuries of jewels and robes, cabinets and
rarites : and to conclude, whatsoever is memorable
in the places where they go. After all which, the
tutors or servants ought to make diligent inquiry.
As for triumphs, masks, feasts, weddings, funerals,
capital executions, and such shews, men need not to be
put in mind of them ; yet they are not to be neglected.
If you will have a young man to put his travel into a

Essays Civil and Moral. 295

little room, and in short time to gather much, this you
must do; first, as was said, he must have some en-
trance into the language before he goeth. Then he
must have such a servant, or tutor, as knoweth the
country, as was likewise said. Let him carry with
him also some card or book describing the country
where he travelleth, which will be a good key to his
inquiry- Let him keep also a diary Let him not stay
long in one city or town ; more or less as the place
deserveth, but not long : nay, when he stayeth in one
city or town, let him change his lodging from one
end and part of the town to another, which is a great
adamant of acquaintance. Let him sequester himself
from the company of his countrymen, and diet in such
places where there is good company of the nation
where he travelleth. Let him, upon his removes
from one place to another, procure recommendation
to some person of quality residing in the place whither
he removeth ; that he may use his favour in those
things he desireth to see or know- Thus he may
abridge his travel with much profit. As for the ac-
quaintance which is to be sought in travel, that which
is most of all profitable, is acquaintance with the se-
cretaries and employed men of ambassadors ; for so
in travelling in one country, he shall suck the expe-
rience of many. Let him also see and visit eminent
persons in all kinds, which are of great name abroad;
that he may be able to tell how the life agreeth with
the fame. For quarrels, they are with care and dis-
cretion to be avoided : they are commonly for mis-
tresses, healths, place, and words. And let a man
beware how he keepeth company with choleric and
quarrelsome persons ; for they will engage him into
their own quarrels. When a traveller returneth home,
let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled
altogether behind him ; but maintain a correspond-
ence by letters with those of his acquaintance which
are of most worth. And let his travel appear rather
in his discourse than in his apparel or gesture ; and in
his discourse, let him be rather advised in his answers
than forward to tell stories : and let it appear that he

296 Essays Civil and Moral.

doth not change his country manners for those of
foreign parts ; but only prick in some flowers of that
he hath learned abroad, into the customs of his own
country -

XIX. Of Empire.

It is a miserable state of mind to have few things
to desire, and many things to fear : and yet that com-
monly is the case of kings, who being at the highest,
want matter of desire, which makes their minds more
languishing : and have many representations of perils
and shadows, which makes their minds the less clear.
And this is one reason also of that effect which the
Scripture speaketh of, that the king's heart is in-
scrutable. For multitude of jealousies, and lack of
some predominant desire, that should marshal and put
in order all the rest, maketh any man's heart hard to
find or sound. Hence it comes likewise, that princes
many times make themselves desires, and set their
hearts upon toys ; sometimes upon a building ; some-
times upon erecting of an order ; sometimes upon the
advancing of a person ; sometimes upon obtaining ex-
cellency in some art, or feat of the hand ; as Nero for
playing on the harp ; Domitian for certainty of the
hand with the arrow ; Commodus for playing at fence ;
Caracalla for driving chariots ; and the like. This
seemeth incredible unto those that know not the prin-
ciple, That the mind of man is more cheered and re-
freshed by profiting in small things, than by standing
at a stay in great. We see also, that kings that have
been fortunate conquerors in their first years, it being
not possible for them to go forward infinitely, but that
they must have some check or arrest in their fortunes,
turn in their latter years to be superstitious and melan-
choly : as did Alexander the Great, Dioclesian, and in
our memory Charles the Fifth, and others ; for he that
is used to go forward, and findeth a stop, falleth out
of his own favour, and is not the thing he was.

To speak now of the true temper of empire : it is
a thing rare and hard to keep ; for both temper and
distemper consist of contraries. But it is one thing

Essays Civil and Moral. 297

to mingle contraries, another to interchange them.
The answer of Apollonius to Vespasian is full of ex-
cellent instruction : Vespasian asked him, what was
Nero's overthrow? He answered, Nero could touch
and tune the harp well, but in government sometimes
he used to wind the pins too high, sometimes to let
them down too low- And certain it is, that nothing
destroyeth authority so much as the unequal and un-
timely interchange of power pressed too far, and re-
laxed too much.

This is true, that the wisdom of all these latter
times, in princes' affairs, is rather fine deliveries, and
shiftings of dangers and mischiefs, when they are
near ; than solid and grounded courses to keep them
aloof. But this is but to try masteries with fortune :
and let men beware how they neglect and suffer mat-
ter of trouble to be prepared ; for no man can forbid
the spark, nor tell whence it may come. The diffi-
culties in princes' business are many and great; but
the greatest difficulty is often in their own mind. For
it is common with princes, saith Tacitus, to will con-
tradictories. Sunt plerumque regum voluntates vehe-
mentes, et inter se contraries. For it is the solecism
of power, to think to command the end, and yet not
to endure the mean.

Kings have to deal with their neighbours ; their
wives ; their children ; their prelates or clergy ; their
nobles ; their second nobles or gentlemen ; their mer-
chants; their commons; and their men of war ; and
from all these arise dangers, if care and circumspec-
tion be not used.

First, for their neighbours, there can no general
rule be given, the occasions are so variable, save one,
which ever holdeth; which is, that princes do keep
due sentinel, that none of their neighbours do over-
grow so, by increase of territory, by embracing of
trade, by approaches, or the like, as they become
more able to annoy them, th^ they were. And this
is generally the work of standing counsels, to foresee
and to hinder it. During that triumvirate of kings,
King Henry the Eighth, of England ; Francis the

298 Essays Civil and Moral.

First, king of France ; and Charles the Fifth, em-
peror, there was such a watch kept, that none of the
three could win a palm of ground, but the other two
would straightways balance it, either by confederation,
or if need were by a war : and would not in any wise
take up peace at interest. And the like was done by
that league, which Guicciardine saith, was the secu-
rity of Italy, made between Ferdinando, king of Na-
ples ; Lorenzius Medices, and Ludovicus Sforza, po-
tentates, the one of Florence, the other of Milan.
Neither is the opinion of some of the schoolmen to be
received, that a war cannot justly be made but upon
a precedent injury, or provocation. For there is no
question but a just fear of an imminent danger, though
there be no blow given, is a lawful cause of a war.

For their wives, there are cruel examples of them.
Livia is infamed for the poisoning of her husband :
Roxolana, Solyman's wife, was the destruction of that
renowned prince, Sultan Mustapha; and otherwise
troubled his house and succession : Edward the Se-
cond of England his queen had the principal hand in
the deposing and murder of her husband. This kind
of danger is then to be feared, chiefly, when the
wives have plots for the raising of their own children,
or else that they be advowtresses.

For their children : the tragedies likewise of the
dangers from them have been many : and generally,
the entering of fathers into suspicion of their children
hath been ever unfortunate. The destruction of Mus-
tapha, that we named before, was so fatal to Soly-
man's line, as the succession of the Turks, from Soly-
man until this day, is suspected to be untrue, and of
strange blood; for that Selymus the Second was
thought to be supposititious. The destruction of
Crispus, a young prince of rare towardness, by Con-
stantinus the Great, his father, was in like manner
fatal to his house ; for both Constantinus and Con-
stance, his sons, died violent deaths ; and Constan-
tius his other son did little better; who died indeed
of sickness, but after that Julianus had taken arms
against him. The destruction of Demetrius, son to

Essays Civil and Moral. 299

Philip the Second of Macedon, turned upon the fa-
ther, who died of repentance. And many like exam-
ples there are ; but few or none where the fathers had
good by such distrust, except it were where the sons
were up in open arms against them ; as was Selymus
the First against Bajazet : and the three sons of Henry
the Second, king of England.

For their prelates, when they are proud and great,
there is also danger from them ; as it was in the
times of Anselmus and Thomas Becket, archbishops
of Canterbury, who with their crosiers did almost
try it with the king's sword ; and yet they had to
deal with stout and haughty kings, William Rufus,
Henry the First, and Henry the Second. The dan-
ger is not from that state, but where it hath a depen-
dence of foreign authority ; or where the churchmen
come in, and are elected, not by the collation of the
king or particular patrons, but by the people.

For their nobles ; to keep them at a distance it is
not amiss ; but to depress them, may make a king
more absolute, but less safe ; and less able to perform
any thing that he desires : I have noted it in my His-
tory of king Henry the Seventh of England, who de-
pressed his nobility ; whereupon it came to pass that
his times were full of difficulties and troubles : for the
nobility, though they continued loyal unto him, yet
did they not co-operate with him in his business. So
that in effect he was fain to do all things himself.

For their second nobles ; there is not much danger
from them, being a body dispersed. They may some-
times discourse high, but that doth little hurt : be-
sides, they are a counterpoise to the higher nobility,
that they grow not too potent : and lastly, being the
most immediate in authority with the common peo-
ple, they do best temper popular commotions.

For their merchants, they are vena porta; and if
they flourish not, a kingdom may have good limbs,
but will have empty veins, and nourish little. Taxes
and imposts upon them do seldom good to the king's
revenue, for that that he wins in the hundred, he
loseth in the shire; the particula rates being in-

300 Essays Civil and Moral.

creased, but the total bulk of trading rather de-
creased.

For their commons, there is little danger from them,
except it be where they have great and potent heads;
or where you meddle with the point of religion, or
their customs, or means of life.

For their men of war, it is a dangerous state where
they live and remain in a body, and are used to do-
natives, whereof we see examples in the janizaries, and
pretorian bands of Rome; but trainings of men, and
arming them in several places, and under several
commanders, and without donatives, are things of
defence and no danger.

Princes are like to heavenly bodies, which cause
good or evil times ; and which have much veneration,
but no rest. All precepts concerning kings are in
effect comprehended in those two remembrances:
Memento quod es homo; and Memento quod es Deus,
or vice Dei: the one bridleth their power, and the
other their will.

XX. Of Counsel.

The greatest trust between man and man is the
trust of giving counsel. For in other confidences,
men commit the parts of life ; their lands, their goods,
their children, their credit, some particular affair ;
but to such as they make their counsellors, they com-
mit the whole : by how much the more they are ob-
liged to all faith and integrity- The wisest princes
need not think it any diminution to their greatness,
or derogation to their sufficiency, to rely upon coun-
sel. God himself is not without: but hath made it one
of the great names of his blessed Son, the Counsellor.
Solomon hath pronounced, that in counsel is stability.
Things will have their first or second agitation ; if
they be not tossed upon the arguments of counsel,
they will be tossed upon the waves of fortune ; and
be full of inconstancy, doing and undoing, like the
reeling of a drunken man. Solomon's son found the
force of counsel, as his father saw the necessity of it.
For the beloved kingdom of God was first rent and

Essays Civil and Moral. 301

broken by ill counsel ; upon which counsel there are
set, for our instruction, the two marks whereby bad
counsel is for ever best discerned : that it was young
counsel, for the persons ; and violent counsel, for the
matter.

The ancient times do set forth in figure both the
incorporation and inseparable conjunction of counsel
with kings, and the wise and politic use of counsel
by kings : the one, in that they say Jupiter did marry
Metis, which signifieth counsel ; whereby they in-
tend, that sovereignty is married to counsel : the
other in that which followeth, which was thus : they
say, after Jupiter was married to Metis, she conceived
by him, and was with child, but Jupiter suffered her
not to stay till she brought forth, but eat her up ;
whereby he became himself with child, and was de-
livered of Pallas armed out of his head. Which mon-
strous fable containeth a secret of empire ; how kings
are to make use of their council of state : that, first,
they ought to refer matters unto them, which is the
first begetting or impregnation ; but when they are
elaborate, moulded and shaped in the womb of their
council, and grow ripe and ready to be brought forth,
that then they suffer not their council to go through
with the resolution and direction, as if it depended on
them ; but take the matter back into their own hands,
and make it appear to the world, that the decrees and
final directions, which because they come forth with
prudence and power, are resembled to Pallas armed,
proceeded from themselves, and not only from their
authority, but, the more to add reputation to them-
selves, from their head and device.

Let us now speak of the inconveniencies of counsel,
and of the remedies. The inconveniencies that have
been noted in calling and using counsel are three.
First, the revealing of affairs, whereby they become
less secret. Secondly, the weakening of the authority
of princes, as if they were less of themselves. Thirdly,
the danger of being unfaithfully counselled, and more
for the good of them that counsel, than of him that is
counselled. For which inconveniencies the doctrine

302 Essays Civil and Moral.

of Italy, and practice of France, in some kings' times,
hath introduced cabinet counsels : a remedy worse
than the disease.

As to secrecy, princes are not bound to communi-
cate all matters with all counsellors, but may extract
and select. Neither is it necessary, that he that con-
sulted what he should do, should declare what he
will do. But let princes beware, that the unsecreting
of their affairs comes not from themselves. And as
for cabinet counsels, it may be their motto ; Plenus
rimarum sum: one futile person, that maketh it his
glory to tell, will do more hurt than many that know
it their duty to conceal. It is true, there be some
affairs which require extreme secrecy, which will
hardly go beyond one or two persons besides the
king : neither are those counsels unprosperous ; for
besides the secrecy, they commonly go on constantly
in one spirit of direction without distraction. But
then it must be a prudent king, such as is able to
grind with a hand-mill ; and those inward counsellors
had need also be wise men, and especially true and
trusty to the king's ends ; as it was with king Henry
the Seventh of England, who in his greatest business
imparted himself to none, except it were to Morton
and Fox.

For weakening of authority ; the fable sheweth the
remedy Nay, the majesty of kings is rather exalted
than diminished, when they are in the chair of coun-
sel ; neither was there ever prince bereaved of his
dependencies by his council, except where there hath
been either an over-greatness in one counsellor, or an
over-strict combination in divers ; which are things
soon found and holpen.

For the last inconvenience, that men will counsel
with an eye to themselves ; certainly Non inveniet
Jidem super terram is meant of the nature of times,
and not of all particular persons. There be that are
in nature faithful and sincere, and plain and direct ;
not crafty and involved ; let princes above all draw to
themselves such natures. Besides, counsellors are not
commonly so united, but that one counsellor keepeth

Essays Civil and Moral. 303

centinel over another; so that if any do counsel out
of faction or private ends, it commonly comes to the
king's ear. But the best remedy is, if princes know
their counsellors, as well as their counsellors know
them :

Principis est virtus maxima nosse suos.
And on the other side, counsellors should not be too
speculative into their sovereign's person. The true
composition of a counsellor is rather to be skilful in
their master's business, than in his nature ; for then
he is like to advise him, and not to feed his humour.
It is of singular use to princes, if they take the opi-
nions of their council both separately and together :
for private opinion is more free, but opinion before
others is more reverend. In private, men are more
bold in their own humours ; and in consort, men are
more obnoxious to others' humours ; therefore it is
good to take both : and of the inferior sort, rather in
private, to preserve freedom ; of the greater, rather in
consort, to preserve respect. It is in vain for princes
to take counsel concerning matters, if they take no
counsel likewise concerning persons : for all matters
are as dead images ; and the life of the execution of
affairs resteth in the good choice of persons. Neither
is it enough to consult concerning persons secundum
genera, as in an idea or mathematical description,
what the kind and character of the person should be ;
for the greatest errors are committed, and the most
judgment is shewn, in the choice of individuals. It
was truly said, optimi consiliarii mortui ; books will
speak plain, when counsellors blanch. Therefore it is
good to be conversant in them, specially the books of
such as themselves have been actors upon the stage.

The councils at this day, in most places, are but
familiar meetings ; where matters are rather talked on,
than debated : and they run too swift to the order
or act of council. It were better, that in causes of
weight the matter were propounded one day, and not
spoken to till the next day ; in nocte consilium. So
was it done in the commission of union between
England and Scotland ; which was a grave and or-

304 Essays Civil and Moral.

derly assembly I commend set days for petitions :
for both it gives the suitors more certainty for their
attendance ; and it frees the meetings for matters of
estate, that they may hoc agere. In choice of com-
mittees, for ripening business for the council, it is
better to choose indifferent persons, than to make an
indifferency by putting in those that are strong on
both sides. I commend also standing commissions :
as for trade, for treasure, for war, for suits, for some
provinces ; for where there be divers particular coun-
cils, and but one council of estate, as it is in Spain,
they are, in effect, no more than standing commissions ;
save that they have greater authority. Let such as are
to inform councils out of their particular professions,
as lawyers, seamen, mint-men, and the like, be first
heard before committees ; and then, as occasion
serves, before, the council. And let them not come
in multitudes, or in a tribunitious manner ; for that
is to clamour councils, not to inform them. A long-
table, and a square table, or seats about the walls, seem
things of form, but are things of substance ; for at a
long table, a few at the upper end, in effect, sway all
the business ; but in the other form, there is more use
of the counsellors' opinions that sit lower. A king
when he presides in council, let him beware how he
opens his own inclination too much in that which he
propound eth : for else counsellors will but take the
wind of him, and, instead of giving free counsel, sing
him a song of Placebo.

XXI. Of Delays.

Fortune is like the market, where many times
if you can stay a little, the price will fall. And
again, it is sometimes like Sibylla's offer, which at
first offereth the commodity at full, then consumeth
part and part, and still holdeth up tjie price. For
occasion, as it is in the common verse, turneth a
bald noddle, after she hath presented her locks in
front, and no hold taken : or at least turneth the
handle of the bottle first to be received, and after
the belly, which is hard to clasp. There is surely no

Essays Civil and Moral. 305

greater wisdom, than well to time the beginnings and
onsets of things. Dangers are no more light, if they
once seem light : and more dangers have deceived
men, than forced them. Nay, it were better to meet
some dangers half way, though they come nothing
near, than to keep too long a watch upon their ap-
proaches ; for if a man watch too long, it is odds he
will fall asleep. On the other side, to be deceived
with too long shadows, as some have been when the
moon was low, and shone on their enemies' back, and
so to shoot off before the time ; or to teach dangers
to come on, by over-early buckling towards them,
is another extreme. The ripeness or unripeness of
the occasion, as we said, must ever be well weighed ;
and generally it is good to commit the beginnings of
all great actions to Argus with his hundred eyes, and
the ends to Briareus with his hundred hands : first
to watch, and then to speed. For the helmet of
Pluto, which maketh the politic man go invisible, is
secrecy in the counsel, and celerity in the execution.
For when things are once come to the execution,
there is no secrecy comparable to celerity ,' like the
motion of a bullet in the air, which flieth so swift as
it outruns the eye.

XXII. Of Cunning.

We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom.
And certainly there is great difference between a
cunning man and a wise man ; not only in point of
honesty, but in point of ability There be that can
pack the cards, and yet cannot play well ; so there
are some that are good in canvasses and factions,
that are otherwise weak men. Again, it is one thing
to understand persons, and another thing to under-
stand matters ; for many are perfect in men's humours,
that are not greatly capable of the real part of busi-
ness ; which is the constitution of one that hath
studied men more than books. Such men are fitter
for practice than for counsel ; and they are good but
in their own. alley : turn them to new men, and they
have lost their aim : so as the old rule to know a fool

VOL. II. x

306 Essays Civil and Moral.

from a wise man, Mitte ambos nudos ad ignotos, et
videbis, doth scarce hold for them. And because
these cunning men' are like haberdashers of small
wares, it is not amiss to set forth their shop.

It is a point of cunning, to wait upon him with
whom you speak with your eye ; as the Jesuits give
it in precept ; for there be many wise men that have
secret hearts and transparent countenances. Yet this
would be done with a demure abasing of your eye
sometimes, as the Jesuits also do use.

Another is, that when you have any thing to ob-
tain of present dispatch, you entertain and amuse the
party with whom you deal with some other discourse ;
that he be not too much awake to make objections.
I knew a counsellor and secretary, that never came
to queen Elizabeth of England with bills to sign, but
he would always first put her into some discourse of
estate, that she might the less mind the bills.

The like surprise may be made by moving things
when the party is in haste, and cannot stay to con-
sider advisedly of that is moved.

If a man would cross a business, that he doubts
some other would handsomely and effectually move,
let him pretend to wish it well, and move it himself
in such sort as may foil it.

The breaking off in the midst of that one was
about to say, as if he took himself up, breeds a
greater appetite in him with whom you confer, to
know more.

And because it works better when any thing
seemeth to be gotten from you by question, than if
you offer it of yourself, you may lay a bait for a ques-
tion, by shewing another visage and countenance
than you are wont ; to the end to give occasion for
the party to ask what the matter is of the change ; as
Nehemiah did, And I had not before that time been
sad before ihe king.

In things that are tender and unpleasing, it is good
to break the ice by some whose words are of less
weight, and to reserve the more weighty voice to
come in as by chance, so that he may be asked the

Essays Civil and Moral. 307

question upon the other's speech ; as Narcissus did,
in relating to Claudius the marriage of Messalina and
Silius.

In things that a man would not be seen in himself,
it is a point of cunning to borrow the name of the
world ; as to say, The world says, or, There is a
speech abroad.

I knew one, that when he wrote a letter, he would
put that which was most material in the postscript,
as if it had been a bye-matter.

I knew another that, when he came to have speech,
he would pass over that that he intended most ; and
go forth, and come back again, and speak of it as of
a thing that he had almost forgot.

Some procure themselves to be surprised at such
times, as it is like the party that they work upon will
suddenly come upon them ; and to be found with a
letter in their hand, or doing somewhat which they
are not accustomed ; to the end they may be apposed
of those things, which of themselves they are desirous
to utter.

It is a point of cunning to let fall those words in
a man's own name, which he would have another
man learn and use, and thereupon take advantage. I
knew two that were competitors for the secretary's
place in queen Elizabeth's time, and yet kept good
quarter between themselves, and would confer one
with another upon the business ; and the one of them
said, that to be a secretary in the declination of a
monarchy was a ticklish thing, and that he did not
affect it : the other straight caught up those words,
and discoursed with divers of his friends, that he had
no reason to desire to be secretary in the declination
of a monarchy The first man took hold of it, and
found means it was told the queen ; who hearing of
a declination of a monarchy, took it so ill, as she
would never after hear of the other's suit.

There is a cunning which we in England call, the
turning of the cat in the pan ; which is, when that
which a man says to another, he lays it as if another
had said it to him ; and to say truth, it, is not easy,

x 2

308 Essays Civil and Moral.

when such a matter passed between two, to make
it appear from which of them it first moved and
began.

It is a way that some men have, to glance and dart
at others, by justifying themselves by negatives ; as
to say, This I do not: as Tigellinus did towards
Burrhus, se non diversas spes, sed incolumitatem im-
pe rat or is simp licit er sped are.

Some have in readiness so many tales and stories,
as there is nothing they would insinuate, but they
can wrap it into a tale ; which serveth both to keep
themselves more in guard, and to make others carry
it with more pleasure.

It is a good point of cunning, for a man to shape
the answer he would have in his own words and pro-
positions ; for it makes the other party stick the less.

It is strange how long some men will lie in wait to
speak somewhat they desire to say ; and how far
about they will fetch, and how many other matters
they will beat over to come near it ; it is a thing of
great patience, but yet of much use.

A sudden, bold, and unexpected question, doth
many times surprise a man, and lay him open. Like
to him, that having changed his name, and walking
in Paul's, another suddenly came behind him, and
called him by his true name, whereat straightways he
looked back.

But these small wares and petty points of cunning
are infinite, and it were a good deed to make a list of
them ; for that nothing doth more hurt in a state,
than that cunning men pass for wise.

But certainly some there are that know the resorts
and falls of business, that cannot sink into the main of
it ; like a house that hath convenient stairs and entries,
but never a fair room. Therefore you shall see them
find out pretty looses in the conclusion, but are no
ways able to examine or deb?te matters. And yet
oommonly they take advantage of their inability, and
would be thought wits of direction. Some build ra-
ther upon the abusing of others, and, as we now say,
putting tricks upon them, than upon soundness of

Essays Civil and Moral. 309

their own proceedings. But Solomon saith, Prudens
advertit ad gressus suos : stultus divertit ad dolos.

XXIII. Of Wisdom for a Man's self

An ant is a wise creature for itself: but it is a
shrewd thing in an orchard or garden. And certainly
men that are great lovers of themselves waste the
public. Divide with reason between self-love and
society ; and be so true to thyself, as thou be not false
to others ; especially to thy king and country. It is a
poor centre of a man's actions, Himself. It is right
earth. For that only stands fast upon his own centre :
whereas all things that have affinity with the heavens,
move upon the centre of another which they benefit.
The referring of all to a man's self is more tolerable
in a sovereign prince, because themselves are not
only themselves, but their good and evil is at the peril
of the public fortune. But it is a desperate evil in a
servant to a prince, or a citizen in a republic. For
whatsoever affairs pass such a man's hands, he crook-
eth them to his own ends : which must needs be often
eccentric to the ends of his master or state. There-
fore let princes or states choose such servants as have
not this mark ; except they mean their service should
be made but the accessary. That which maketh the
effect more pernicious is, that all proportion is lost :
it were disproportion enough for the servant's good
to be preferred before the master's ; but yet it is a
greater extreme, when a little good of the servant
shall carry things against a great good of the master's.
And yet that is the case of bad officers, treasurers,
ambassadors, generals, and other false and corrupt
servants ; which set a bias upon the bowl of their
own petty ends and envies, to the overthrow of their
master's great and important affairs. And for the most
part, the good such servants receive, is after the model
of their own fortune ; but the hurt they sell for that
good, is after the model of their master's fortune. And
certainly it is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as they
will set a house on fire, and it were but to roast their
eggs ; and yet these men many times hold credit with

310 Essuys Civil and Moral.

their masters, because their study is but to please
them, and profit themselves : and for either respect
they will abandon the good of their affairs,

Wisdom for a man's self is in many branches thereof
a depraved thing. It is the wisdom of rats that will
be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall. It
is the wisdom of the fox that thrusts out the badger,
who digged and made room for him. It is the wis-
dom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they would
devour. But that which is specially to be noted is,
that those which, as Cicero says of Pompey, are sui
amantes sine rivali, are many times unfortunate. And
whereas they have in all their time sacrificed to them-
selves, they become in the end themselves sacrifices to
the inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they thought
by their self- wisdom to have pinioned.

XXIV Of Innovations.

As the births of living creatures at first are ill
shapen ; so are all innovations, which are the births of
time. Yet notwithstanding as those that first bring
honour into their family, are commonly more worthy
than most that succeed : so the first precedent, if it
be good, is seldom attained by imitation. For ill, to
man's nature, as it stands perverted, hath a natural
motion strongest in continuance : but good, as a forced
motion, strongest at first. Surely every medicine is an
innovation, and he that will not apply new remedies,
must expect new evils ; for time is the greatest inno-
vator : and if time of course alter things to the worse,
and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the
better, what shall be the end 1 It is true, that what
is settled by custom, though it be not good, yet at
least it is fit. And those things which have long
gone together, are, as it were, confederate within
themselves : whereas new things piece not so well ;
but though they help by their utility, yet they trouble
by their inconformity Besides, they are like strangers,
more admired, and less favoured. All this is true if
time stood still; which contrariwise moveth so round,
that a froward retention of custom is as turbulent a

Essays Civil and Moral. 311

thing as an innovation ; and they that reverence too
much old times are but a scorn to the new It were
good, therefore, that men in their innovations would
follow the example of time itself, which indeed inno-
vateth greatly, but quietly and by degrees scarce to
be perceived: for otherwise, whatsoever is new is
unlooked for; and ever it mends some, and impairs
others : and he that is holpen takes it for a fortune, and
thanks the time ; and he that is hurt, for a wrong, and
imputeth it to the author. It is good also not to try
experiments in states, except the necessity be urgent,
or the utility evident ; and well to beware that it be
the reformation that draweth on the change ; and not
the desire of change that pretendeth the reformation.
And lastly, that the novelty, though it be not rejected,
yet be held for a suspect : and as the Scripture saith,
that we make a stand upon the ancient way, and then
look about us, and discover what is the straight and
right way, and so to walk in it.

XXV. Of Dispatch.

Affected dispatch is one of the most dangerous
things to business that can be. It is like that which
the physicians call predigestion, or hasty digestion,
which is sure to fill the body full of crudities and se-
cret seeds of diseases. Therefore measure not dispatch
by the times of sitting, but by the advancement of the
business. And as in races, it is not the large stride,
or high lift that makes the speed ; so in business, the
keeping close to the matter, and not taking of it too
much at once, procureth dispatch. It is the care of
some, only to come off speedily for the time; or to
contrive some false periods of business, because they
may seem men of dispatch. But it is one thing to
abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off: and
business so handled at several sittings or meetings,
goeth commonly backward and forward in an un-
steady manner. I knew a wise man that had it for a
by-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion,
" Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner."

On the other side, true dispatch is a rich thing. For

312 Essays Civil and Moral.

time is the measure of business, as money is of wares;
and business is bought at a dear hand, where there is
small dispatch. The Spartans and Spaniards have
been noted to be of small dispatch : Mivenga la muerte
de Spagna ; Let my death come from Spain ; for then
it will be sure to be long in coming.

Give good hearing to those that give the first in-
formation in business ; and rather direct them in the
beginning than interrupt them in the continuance of
their speeches : for he that is put out of his own order,
will go forward and backward, and be more tedious
while he waits upon his memory, than he could have
been if he had gone on in his own course. But some-
times it is seen, that the moderator is more trouble-
some than the actor.

Iterations are commonly loss of time : but there is
no such gain of time, as to iterate often the state of
the question : 'for it chaseth away many a frivolous
speech as it is coming forth. Long and curious
speeches are as fit for dispatch, as a robe or mantle
with a long train is for a race. Prefaces, and passages,
and excusations, and other speeches of reference to
the person, are great wastes of time ; and though they
seem to proceed of modesty, they are bravery. Yet
beware of being too material, when there is any im-
pediment or obstruction in men's wills ; for pre-occu-
pation of mind ever requireth preface of speech; like
a fomentation to make the unguent enter.

Above all things, order, and distribution, and sin-
gling out of parts, is the life of dispatch ; so as the dis-
tribution be not too subtile : for he that doth not di-
vide, will never enter well into business ; and he that
divideth too much, will never come out of it clearly.
To choose time is to save time ; and an unseasonable
motion is but beating the air. There be three parts
of business ; the preparation, the debate or examina-
tion, and the perfection. Whereof, if you look for
dispatch, let the middle only be the work of many,
and the first and last the work of few- The proceed-
ing upon somewhat conceived in writing, doth for the
most part facilitate dispatch : for though it should be

Essays Civil and Moral. 3 1 3

wholly rejected, yet that negative is more pregnant
of direction than an indefinite ; as ashes are more
generative than dust.

XXVI. Of Seeming Wise.

It hath been an opinion, that the French are wiser
than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than
they are. But howsoever it be between nations, cer-
tainly it is so between man and man. For as the
apostle saith of godliness, having a shew of godliness,
but denying the power thereof; so certainly there are
in point of wisdom and sufficiency that do nothing or
little very solemnly ; magno conatu nugas. It is a
ridiculous thing, and fit for a satire to persons of judg-
ment, to see what shifts these formalists have, and
what prospectives to make superficies to seem body
that hath depth and bulk. Some are so close and re-
served, as they will not shew their wares but by a
dark light; and seem always to keep back some-
what ; and when they know within themselves, they
speak of that they do not well know, would never-
theless seem to others to know of that which they
may not well speak. Some help themselves with
countenance and gesture, and are wise by signs ; as
Cicero saith of Piso, that when he answered him, he
fetched one of his brows up to his forehead, and bent
the other down to his chin : respondes, alter o adfron-
tem sublato, altero ad mentum depresso supercilio,
crudelitatem tibi non placere. Some think to bear it
by speaking a great word, and being peremptory; and
go on, and take by admittance that which they can-
not make good. Some, whatsoever is beyond their
reach, will seem to despise or make light of it as im-
pertinent or curious ; and so would have their igno-
rance seem judgment. Some are never without a
difference, and commonly, by amusing men with a
subtilty, blanch the matter ; of whom A. Gellius saith,
hominem delirum, qui verborum minutiis rerum fran-
git ponder a. Of which kind also, Plato in his Prota-
goras bringeth in Prodicus in scorn, and maketh him
make a speech that consisteth of distinctions from the

314 Essays Civil and Moral.

beginning to the end. Generally such men in all de-
liberations find ease to be of the negative side, and
affect a credit to object and foretel difficulties : for
when propositions are denied, there is an end of them;
but if they be allowed, it requireth a new work:
which false point of wisdom is the bane of business.
To conclude, there is no decaying merchant, or inward
beggar, hath so many tricks to uphold the credit of
their wealth, as these empty persons have to maintain
the credit of their sufficiency. Seeming wise men
may make shift to get opinion ; but let no man choose
them for employment, for certainly you were better
take for business a man somewhat absurd, than over
formal.

XXVII. Of Friendship.

It had been hard for him that spake it to have put
more truth and untruth together, in few words, than
in that speech : " Whosoever is delighted in solitude,
" is either a wild beast, or a god." For it is most
true, that a natural and secret hatred, and aversation
towards society, in any man, hath somewhat of the
savage beast: but it is most untrue, that it should
have any character at all of the divine nature, except
it proceed, not out of a pleasure in solitude, but out
of a love and desire to sequester a man's self for a
higher conversation : such as is found to have been
falsely and feignedly in some of the heathen; as Epi-
menides the Candian, Numa the Roman, Empedocles
the Sicilian, and Apollonius of Tyana; and truly and
really in divers of the ancient hermits, and holy fa-
thers of the Church. But little do men perceive what
solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a crowd
is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pic-
tures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is
no love. The Latin adage meeteth with it a little;
Magna civitas, magna solitudo; because in a great
town friends are scattered, so that there is not that fel-
lowship, for the most part, which is in less neighbour-
hoods. But we may go farther, and affirm most truly,
that it is a mere and miserable solitude, to want true

Essays Civil and Moral. 315

friends, without which the world is but a wilderness.
And even in this sense also of solitude, whosoever in
the frame of his nature and affections is unfit for
friendship, he taketh it of the beast, and not from
humanity.

A principal fruit of friendship is the ease and dis-
charge of the fulness and swellings of the heart, which
passions of all kinds do cause and induce. We know
diseases of stoppings and suffocations are the most
dangerous in the body ; and it is not much otherwise
in the mind ; you may take sarza to open the liver ;
steel to open the spleen ; flour of sulphur for the lungs ;
castoreum for the brain; but no receipt openeth the
heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart
griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and
whatsoever lieth upon the heart, to oppress it, in a
kind of civil shrift or confession.

It is a strange thing to observe, how high a rate
great kings and monarchs do set upon this fruit of
friendship, whereof we speak; so great, as they pur-
chase it many times at the hazard of their own safety
and greatness. For princes, in regard of the distance
of their fortune from that of their subjects and ser-
vants, cannot gather this fruit, except, to make them-
selves capable thereof, they raise some persons to be
as it were companions, and almost equals to them-
selves ; which many times sorteth to inconvenience.
The modern languages give unto such persons the
name of favourites or privadoes ; as if it were matter
of grace or conversation : but the Roman name at-
taineth the true use and cause thereof; naming them
participes cur arum; for it is that which tieth the knot.
And we see plainly, that this hath been done, not by
weak and passionate princes only, but by the wisest
and most politic that ever reigned, who have often-
times joined to themselves some of their servants,
whom both themselves have called friends, and al-
lowed others likewise to call them in the same man-
ner, using the word which is received between private
men.

L. Sylla, when he commanded Rome, raised Pom-

316 Essays Civil and Moral.

pey, after surnamed the Great, to that height, that
Pompey vaunted himself for Sylla's over-match. For
when he had carried the consulship for a friend of his
against the pursuit of Sylla, and that Sylla did a little
resent thereat, and began to speak great, Pompey
turned upon him again, and in effect bade him be
quiet; for that more men adored the sun-rising, than
the sun setting. With Julius Csesar, Decimus Brutus
had obtained that interest, as he set him down in his
testament for heir in remainder after his nephew.
And this was the man that had power with him to
draw him forth to his death. For when Csesar would
have discharged the senate, in regard of some ill pre-
sages, and specially a dream of Calpurnia ; this man
lifted him gently by the arm out of his chair, telling
him, He hoped he would not dismiss the senate, till
his wife had dreamed a better dream. And it seem-
eth, his favour was so great, as Antonius, in a letter
which is recited verbatim in one of Cicero's Philippics,
calleth him venejica, witch; as if he had enchanted
Csesar. Augustus raised Agrippa, though of mean
birth, to that height, as when he consulted with
Msecenas about the marriage of his daughter Julia,
Maecenas took the liberty to tell him, That he must
either marry his daughter to Agrippa, or take away
his life ; there was no third way, he had made him so
great. With Tiberius Csesar, Sejanus had ascended to
that height, as they two were termed and reckoned as
a pair of friends. Tiberius in a letter to him saith;
Hcec pro amicitia nostra non occultavi : and the whole
senate dedicated an altar to Friendship as to a goddess,
in respect of the great dearness of friendship between
them two. The like or more was between Septimius
Severus and Plantianus. For he forced his eldest son
to marry the daughter of Plantianus ; and would
often maintain Plantianus in doing affronts to his son :
and did write also in a letter to the senate, by these
words: " I love the man so well, as I wish he may
" over-live me." Now if these princes had been as a
Trajan, or a Marcus Aurelius, a man might have
thought that this had proceeded of an abundant good-

Essays Civil and Moral. 317

ness of nature; but being men so wise, of such
strength and severity of mind, and so extreme lovers
of themselves, as all these were; it proveth most
plainly, that they found their own felicity, though as
great as ever happened to mortal men, but as a half
piece, except they might have a friend to make it en-
tire ; and yet, which is more, they were princes that
had wives, sons, nephews ; and yet all these could
not supply the comfort of friendship.

It is not to be forgotten what Commineus observeth
of his first master, duke Charles the Hardy, namely,
That he would communicate his secrets with none;
and least of all those secrets which troubled him most.
Whereupon he goeth on, and saith, That towards his
latter time, that closeness did impair, and a little
perish his understanding. Surely Commineus might
have made the same judgment also, if it had pleased
him, of his second master Lewis the Eleventh, whose
closeness was indeed his tormentor. The parable of
Pythagoras is dark, but true ; Cor ne edito, eat not the
heart. Certainly, if a man would give it a hard
phrase, those that want friends to open themselves
unto, are cannibals of their own hearts. But one
thing is most admirable, wherewith I will conclude
this first fruit of friendship, which is, that this com-
municating of a man's self to his friend works two
contrary effects ; for it redoubleth joys, and cutteth
griefs in halves. For there is no man that imparteth
his joys to his friend, but hejoyeth the more; and no
man that imparteth his griefs to his friend, but he
grieveth the less. So that it is in truth of operation
upon a man's mind of like virtue, as the alchymists
use to attribute to their stone, for man's body; that it
worketh all contrary effects, but still to the good and
benefit of nature. But yet, without praying in aid of
alchymists, there is a manifest image of this in the
ordinary course of nature. For in bodies, union
strengthened and cherisheth any natural action; and,
on the other side, weakeneth and dulleth any violent
impression ; and even so is it of minds.

The second fruit of friendship is healthful and sove-

318 Essays Civil and Moral,

reign for the understanding, as the first is for the affec-
tions. For friendship maketh indeed a fair day in the
affections, from storm and tempests; but it maketh
day-light in the understanding, out of darkness and
confusion of thoughts : neither is this to be under-
stood only of faithful counsel, which a man receiveth
from his friend ; but before you come to that, certain
it is, that whosoever hath his mind fraught with many
thoughts, his wits and understanding do clarify and
break up in the communicating and discoursing with
another : he tosseth his thoughts more easily ; he mar-
shalleth them more orderly ; he seeth how they look
when they are turned into words ; finally, he waxeth
wiser than himself; and that more by an hour's dis-
course, than by a day's meditation. It was well said
by Themistocles to the king of Persia, That speech
was like clo(h of Arras, opened and put abroad,
whereby the imagery doth appear in figure; whereas
in thoughts they lie but as in packs. Neither is this
second fruit of friendship, in opening the understand-
ing, restrained only to such friends, as are able to give
a man counsel : they indeed are best : but even, with-
out that, a man learneth of himself, and bringeth his
own thoughts tolight, and whetteth his wits as against
a stone, which itself cuts not. In a word ; a man
were better relate himself to a statue or picture, than
to suffer his thoughts to pass in smother.

Add now, to make this second fruit of friendship
complete, that other point which lieth more open,
and falleth within vulgar observation ; which is faith-
ful counsel from a friend. Heraclitus saith well in
one of his enigmas, Dry light is ever the best. And
certain it is, that the light that a man receiveth by
counsel from another, is drier and purer, than that
which cometh from his own understanding and judg-
ment; which is ever infused and drenched in his affec-
tions and customs. So as there is as much difference
between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a
man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of
a friend, and of a flatterer. For there is no such flatterer
as is a man's self; and there is no such remedy against

Essays Civil a fid Moral. 319

flattery of a man's self, as the liberty of a friend.
Counsel is of two sorts; the one concerning manners,
the other concerning business. For the first, the best
preservative to keep the mind in health, is the faithful
admonition of a friend. The calling of a man's self
to a strict account, is a medicine sometimestoo pierc-
ing and corrosive. Reading good books of morality,
is a little flat and dead. Observing our faults in
others, is sometimes improper for our case ; but the
best receipt, best, I say, to work, and best to take, is
the admonition of a friend. It is a strange thing to
behold what gross errors and extreme absurdities
many, especially of the greater sort, do commit, for
want of a friend to tell them of them ; to the great
damage both of their fame and fortune. For, as St.
James saith, they are as men that look sometimes into
a glass, and presently forget their own shape and fa-
vour. As for business, a man may think if he will, that
two eyes see no more than one ; or that a gamester seeth
always more than a looker-on; or that a man in anger
is as wise as he that hath said over the four-and-twenty
letters ; or that a musket may be shot off, as well upon
the arm, as upon a rest; and such other fond and high
imaginations, to think himself all in all. But when
all is done, the help of good counsel is that which
setteth business straight. And if any man think, that
he will take counsel, but it shall be by pieces ; asking
counsel in one business of one man, and in another
business of another man; it is well, that is to
say, better, perhaps, than if he asked none at all,
but he runneth two dangers : one, that he shall not
be faithfully counselled ; for it is a rare thing, except
it be from a perfect and entire friend, to have counsel
given, but such as shall be bowed and crooked to
some ends which he hath that giveth it. The other,
that he shall have counsel given, hurtful and unsafe,
though with good meaning, and mixed partly of
mischief, and partly of remedy : even as if you would
call a physician that is thought good for the cure of
the disease you complain of, but is unacquainted with
your body ; and therefore may put you in way for

320 Essays Civil and Moral.

a present cure, but overthroweth your health in some
other kind, and so cure the disease and kill the
patient. But a friend that is wholly acquainted with
a man's estate, will beware, by furthering any present
business, how he dasheth upon other inconvenience.
And therefore rest not upon scattered counsels ; they
will rather distract and mislead, than settle and
direct.

After these two noble fruits of friendship, peace in
the affections, and support of the judgment, followeth
the last fruit, which is like the pomegranate, full of
many kernels; I mean aid, and bearing a part in all
actions and occasions. Here the best way to repre-
sent to life the manifold use of friendship, is to cast
and see how many things there are which a man
cannot do himself; and then it will appear that it
was a sparing speech of the ancients to say, That a
friend is another himself; for that a friend is far more
than himself. Men have their time, and die many
times in desire of some things which they principally
take to heart ; the bestowing of a child, the finishing
of a work, or the like. If a man have a true friend,
he may rest almost secure, that the care of those
things will continue after him. So that a man hath,
as it were, two lives in his desires. A man hath a
body, and that body is confined to a place; but where
friendship is, all offices of life are, as it were, granted
to him and his deputy: for he may exercise them by
his friend. How many things are there, which a man
cannot, with any face of comeliness, say or do him-
self? A man can scarce allege his own merits with
modesty, much less extol them : a man cannot some-
times brook fo supplicate or beg ; and a number of
the like. But all these things are graceful in a friend's
mouth, which are blushing in a man's own. So,
again, a man's person hath many proper relations,
which he cannot put off. A man cannot speak to his
son, but as a father; to his wife, but as a husband; to
his enemy, but upon terms; whereas a friend may
speak as the case requires, and not as it sorteth with
the person. But to enumerate these things were end-

Essays Civil and Moral. 321

less; I have given the rule, where a man cannot fitly
play his own part; if he have not a friend, he may
quit the stage.

XXVIII. Of Expense.

Riches are for spending; and. spending for ho-
nour and good actions. Therefore extraordinary ex-
pense must be limited by the worth of the occasion ;
for voluntary undoing may be as well for a man's
country, as for the kingdom of heaven. But ordinary
expense ought to be limited by a man's estate, and
governed with such regard as it be within his com-
pass ; and not subject to deceit and abuse of servants ;
and ordered to the best show, that the bills may be
less than the estimation abroad. Certainly if a man
will keep but of even hand, his ordinary expenses
ought to be but to the half of his receipts; and. if he
think to wax rich, but to the third part. It is no
baseness for the greatest, to descend and look into
their own estate. Some forbear it, not upon negli-
gence alone, but doubting to bring themselves into
melancholy, in respect they shall find it broken. But
wounds cannot be cured without searching. He that
cannot look into his own estate at all, had need both
choose well those whom he employeth, and change
them often : for new are more timorous and less sub-
tile. He that can look into his estate but seldom, it
behoveth him to turn all to certainties. A man had
need, if he be plentiful in some kind of expense, to be
as saving again in some other. As if he be plentiful
in diet, to be saving in apparel : if he be plentiful in
the hall, to be saving in the stable : and the like. For
he that is plentiful in expenses of all kinds, will hardly
be preserved from decay In clearing of a man's
estate, he may as well hurt himself in being too sud-
den, as in letting it run on too long: for hasty selling
is commonly as disadvantageable as interest. Besides,
he that clears at once will relapse ; for finding him-
self out of straits, he will revert to his customs ; but
he that cleareth by degrees induceth a habit of fru-
gality, and gaineth as well upon his mind as upon his

VOL. II. Y

322 Essays Civil and Moral.

estate. Certainly, who hath a state to repair, may
not despise small things : and commonly it is less dis-
honourable to abridge petty charges, than to stoop to
petty gettings. A man ought warily to begin charges,
which once begun will continue ; but in matters that
return not, he may be more magnificent.

XXIX. Of the True Greatness of King-
doms and Estates.

The speech of Themistoeles the Athenian, which
was haughty and arrogant in taking so much to him-
self, had been a grave and wise observation and cen-
sure, applied at large to others. Desired at a feast to
touch a lute, he said, He could not fiddle, but yet he
could make a small town a great city These words,
holpen a little with a metaphor, may express two
differing abilities in those that deal in business of
estate. For if a true survey be taken of counsellors
and statesmen, there may be found, though rarely,
those which can make a small state great, and yet
cannot fiddle; as on the other side, there will be
found a great many that can fiddle very cunningly,
but yet are so far from being able to make a small
state great, as their gift lieth the other way; to bring
a great and flourishing estate to ruin and decay And
certainly those degenerate arts and shifts, whereby
many counsellors and governors gain both favour
with their masters, and estimation with the vulgar,
deserve no better name than fiddling; being things
rather pleasing for the time, and graceful to them-
selves only, than tending to the weal and advance-
ment of the state which they serve. There are also,
no doubt, counsellors and governors which may be
held sufficient, negotiis pares, able to manage affairs,
and to keep them from precipices and manifest in-
conveniences, which nevertheless are far from the
ability to raise and amplify an estate, in power,
means, and fortune. But be the workmen what
they may be, let us speak of the work ; that is, the
true greatness of kingdoms and estates, and the means
thereof. An argument fit for great and mighty princes

Essays Civil and Moral. 323

to have in their hand ; to the end that neither by
over-measuring their forces they lose themselves in
vain enterprises; nor on the other side, by under-
valuing them, they descend to fearful and pusillani-
mous counsels.

The greatness of an estate in bulk and territory
doth fall under measure, and the greatness of finances
and revenue doth fall under computation. The po-
pulation may appear by musters; and the number
and greatness of cities and towns by cards and maps.
But yet there is not any thing amongst civil affairs
more subject to error, than the right valuation and
true judgment concerning the power and forces of an
estate. The kingdom of heaven is compared, not to
any great kernel or nut, but to a grain of mustard-
seed ; which is one of the least grains, but hath in it
a property and spirit hastily to get up and spread.
So are there states, great in territory, and yet not apt
to enlarge or command ; and some that have but a
small dimension of stem, and yet apt to be the foun-
dations of great monarchies.

Walled towns, stored arsenals and armouries,
goodly races of horse, chariots of war, elephants,
ordnance, artillery, and the like: all this is but a
sheep in a lion's skin, except the breed and disposi-
tion of the people be stout and warlike. Nay, num-
ber itself, in armies, importeth not much, where the
people is of weak courage; for, as Virgil saith, it
never troubles a wolf how many the sheep be. The
army of the Persians, in the plains of Arbela, was
such a vast sea of people, as it did somewhat astonish
the commanders in Alexander's army ; who came to
him therefore, and wished him to set upon them by
night ; but he answered, he would not pilfer the vic-
tory : and the defeat was easy. When Tigranes the
Armenian, being encamped upon a hill with four
hundi-ed thousand men, discovered the army of the
Romans, being not above fourteen thousand, march-
ing towards him ; he made himself merry with it,
and said, "Yonder men are too many for an'em-
" bassage, and too few for a fight." But before the

y 2

324 Essays Civil and Moral.

sun set, he found them enow to give him the chace,
with infinite slaughter. Many are the examples of the
great odds between number and courage : so that a
man may truly make a judgment, that the principal
point of greatness in any state is to have a race of
military men. Neither is money the sinews of war,
as it is trivially said, where the sinews of men's arms,
in base and effeminate people, are failing. For Solon
said well to Croesus, when in ostentation he shewed
him his gold, " Sir, if any other come that hath better
"iron than you, he will be master of all this gold."
Therefore let any prince or state think soberly of his
forces, except his militia of natives be of good and
valiant soldiers. And let princes, on the other side,
that have subjects of martial disposition, know their
own strength, unless they be otherwise wanting unto
themselves.. As for mercenary forces, which is the
help in this case, all examples shew, that whatso-
ever estate or prince doth rest upon them, he may
spread his feathers for a time, but he will mew them
soon after.

The blessing of Judah and Issachar will never
meet; that the same people or nation should be
both the lion's whelp, and the ass between burdens.
Neither will it be, that a people overlaid with taxes
should ever become valiant and martial. It is true,
that taxes levied by consent of the estate, do abate
men's courage less ; as it hath been seen notably in
the excises of the Low Countries; and, in some
degree, in the subsidies of England. For you must
note, that we speak now of the heart, and not of the
purse. So that although the same tribute and tax,
laid by consent, or by imposing, be all one to the
purse, yet it works diversly upon the courage. So
that you may conclude, that no people overcharged
with tribute is fit for empire.

Let states that aim at greatness, take heed how
their nobility and gentlemen do multiply too fast;
for that maketh the common subject grow to be a
peasant and base swain, driven out of heart, and in
effect but the gentleman's labourer. Even as you

Essays Civil and Moral. 325

may see in coppice woods ; if you leave your staddles
too thick, you shall never have clean underwood, but
shrubs and bushes. So in countries, if the gentlemen
be too many, the commons will be base ; and you
will bring it to that, that not the hundred poll will
be fit for a helmet; especially as to the infantry,
which is the nerve of an army : and so there will be
great population and little strength. This which I
speak of, hath been no where better seen, than by
comparing of England and France; whereof England,
though far less in territory and population, hath been,
nevertheless, an overmatch ; in regard the middle peo-
ple of England make good soldiers, which the peasants
of France do not. And herein the device of king
Henry the Seventh, whereof I have spoken largely in
the history of his life, was profound and admirable :
in making farms, and houses of husbandry, of a stand-
ard ; that is, maintained with such a proportion of
land unto them, as may breed a subject to live in con-
venient plenty, and no servile condition; and to keep
the plough in the hands of the owners, and not mere
hirelings. And thus indeed you shall attain to Vir-
gil's character, which he gives to ancient Italy :

Terra pot ens armis, at que ubere glebes.
Neither is that state, which, for any thing I know, is
almost peculiar to England, and hardly to be found
any where else, except it be perhaps in Poland, to be
passed over ; I mean the state of free servants, and
attendants upon noblemen and gentlemen, which are
no ways inferior unto the yeomanry for arms : and
therefore out of all question, the splendour and mag-
nificence, and great retinues, and hospitality of noble-
men and gentlemen, received into custom, doth much
conduce unto martial greatness : whereas, contrari-
wise, the close and reserved living of noblemen and
gentlemen causeth a penury of military forces.

By all means it is to be procured, that the trunk of
Nebuchadnezzar's tree of monarchy be great enough
to bear the branches and the boughs ; that is, that the
natural subjects of the crown or state bear a sufficient
proportion to the stranger subjects that they govern.

326 Essays Civil and Moral.

Therefore all states, that are liberal of naturalization
towards strangers, are fit for empire. For to think
than a handful of people can, with the greatest cou-
rage and policy in the world, embrace too large extent
of dominion, it may hold for a time, but it will fail
suddenly. The Spartans were a nice people in point
of naturalization; whereby, while they kept their
compass, they stood firm; but when they did spread,
and their boughs were become too great for their stem,
they became a windfal upon the sudden. Never any
state was, in this point, so open to receive strangers
into their body, as were the Romans ; therefore it
sorted with them accordingly, for they grew to the
greatest monarchy- Their manner was to grant na-
turalization, which they called jus civitatis, and to
grant it to the highest degree, that is, not only jus
commercii,jus connubii,jus hereditatis ; but 2\&o,jus
suffragii, and jus honorum: and this not to singular
persons alone, but. likewise to whole families ; yea, to
cities, and sometimes to nations. Add to this, their
custom of plantation of colonies, whereby the Roman
plant was removed into the soil of other nations : and
putting both constitutions together, you will say, that
it was not the Romans that spread upon the world, but
it was the world that spread upon the Romans : and
that was the sure way of greatness. I have marvelled
sometimes at Spain, how they clasp and contain so
large dominions, with so few natural Spaniards : but
sure the whole compass of Spain is a very great body
of a tree, far above Rome and Sparta at the first. And
besides, though they have not had that usage, to natu-
ralize liberally, yet they have that which is next to it;
that is, to employ, almost indifferently, all nations in
their militia of ordinary soldiers ; yea, and sometimes
in their highest commands. Nay, it seemeth at this
instant, they are sensible of this want of natives ; as
by the pragmatical sanction, now published, ap-
peareth.

It is certain, that sedentary and within-door arts,
and delicate manufactures, that require rather the fin-
ger than the arm, have in their nature a contrariety to

Essays Civil and Moral. 327

a military disposition. And generally all warlike
people are a little idle, and love danger better than
travail : neither must they be too much broken of it,
if they shall be preserved in vigour. Therefore it was
great advantage in the ancient states of Sparta,
Athens, Rome, and others, that they had the use of
slaves, which commonly did rid those manufactures-
But that is abolished, in greatest part, by the Chris-
tian law That which cometh nearest to it, is, to
leave those arts chiefly to strangers, which for that
purpose are the more easily to be received, and to
contain the principal bulk of the vulgar natives within
those three kinds; tillers of the ground, free-servants,
and handicraftsmen of strong and manly arts, as
smiths, masons, carpenters, etc. not reckoning pro-
fessed soldiers.

But above all, for empire and greatness, it import-
eth most, that a nation do profess arms as their prin-
cipal honour, study, and occupation. For the things
which we have formerly spoken of, are but habilita-
tions towards arms ; and what is habilitation without
intention and act? Romulus after his death, as they
report or feign, sent a present to the Romans, that
above all they should intend arms, and then they
should prove the greatest empire of the world. The
fabric of the state of Sparta was wholly, though not
wisely, framed and composed to that scope and end.
The Persians and Macedonians had it for a flash. The
Gauls, Germans, Goths, Saxons, Normans, and others,
had it for a time. The Turks have it at this day,
though in great declination. Of Christian Europe
they that have it, are in effect only the Spaniards.
But it is so plain, that every man profiteth in that he
most intendeth, that it needeth not to be stood upon.
It is enough to point at it ; that no nation, which doth
not directly profess arms, may look to have greatness
fall into their mouths. And on the other side, it is a
most certain oracle of time, that those states that con-
tinue long in that profession, as the Romans and Turks
principally have done, do wonders : and those that
have professed arms but for an age, have notwith-

328 Essays Civil and Moral.

standing commonly attained that greatness in that
age, which maintained them long after, when their
profession and exercise of arms hath grown to decay -

Incident to this point is, for a state to have those
laws or customs, which may reach forth unto them
just occasions, as may be pretended, of war. For
there is that justice imprinted in the nature of men,
that they enter not upon wars, whereof so many cala-
mities do ensue, but upon some, at the least specious,
grounds and quarrels. The Turk hath at hand, for
cause of war, the propagation of his law or sect ; a
quarrel that he may always command. The Romans,
though they esteemed the extending the limits of their
empire to be great honour to their generals, when it
was done ; yet they never rested upon that alone to
begin a war. First, therefore, let nations that pretend
to greatness have this, that they be sensible of wrongs,
either upon borderers, merchants, or politic ministers ;
and that they sit not too long upon a provocation.
Secondly, let them be prest, and ready to give aids
and succours to their confederates ; as it ever was
with the Romans : insomuch, as if the confederate
had leagues defensive with divers other states, and,
upon invasion offered, did implore their aids severally,
yet the Romans would ever be the foremost, and
leave it to none other to have the honour. As for
the wars, which were anciently made on the behalf of
a kind of party, or tacit conformity of estate, I do
not see how they may be well justified ; as when the
Romans made a war for the liberty of Grsecia ; or
when the Lacedaemonians and Athenians made wars,
to set up or pull down democracies and oligarchies ;
or when wars were made by foreigners, under the
pretence of justice or protection, to deliver the sub-
jects of others from tyranny and oppression ; and the
like. Let it suffice, that no estate expect to be great,
that is not awake upon any just occasion of arming.

No body can be healthful without exercise, neither
natural body nor politic : and certainly, to a kingdom
or estate, a just and honourable war is the true exer-
cise. A civil war, indeed, is like the heat of a fever ;

Essays Civil and Moral. 329

but a foreign war is like the heat of exercise, and
serveth to keep the body in health. For in a sloth-
ful peace, both courages will effeminate, and man-
ners corrupt. But howsoever it be for happiness,
without all question, for greatness it maketh, to be
still, for the most part, in arms : and the strength of
a veteran army, though it be a chargeable business,
always on foot, is that which commonly giveth the
law, or at least the reputation amongst all neighbour
states, as may well be seen in Spain ; which hath had
in one part or other, a veteran army, almost continu-
ally, now by the space of six-score years.

To be master of the sea, is an abridgment of a mo-
narchy Cicero writing to Atticus, of Pompey his
preparation against Csesar, saith, Consilium Pompeii
plane Themistocleum est; putat enim, qui mari poti-
tur, eum rerum potiri. And without doubt Pompey
had tired out Caesar, if upon vain confidence he had
not left that way We see the great effects of battles
by sea. The battle of Actium decided the empire of
the world. The battle of Lepanto arrested the great-
ness of the Turk. There be many examples, where sea
fights have been final to the war ; but this is, when
princes or states have set up their rest upon the bat-
tles. But thus much is certain ; that he that com-
mands the sea is at great liberty, and may take as
much and as little of the war as he will. Whereas those
that be strongest by land are many times, neverthe-
less, in great straits. Surely, at this day, with us of
Europe, the vantage of strength at sea, which is one
of the principal dowries of this kingdom of Great Bri-
tain, is great : both because most of the kingdoms of
Europe are not merely inland, but girt with the sea,
most part of their compass; and because the wealth of
both Indies seems in great part but an accessary to
the command of the seas.

The wars of latter ages seem to be made in the dark,
in respect of the glory and honour which reflected
upon men from the wars in ancient time. There be
now, for martial encouragement, some degrees and
orders of chivalry, which nevertheless are conferred

330 Essays Civil and Moral.

promiscuously upon soldiers and no soldiers : and some
remembrance perhaps upon the escutcheon, and some
hospitals for maimed soldiers, and such like things.
But in ancient times, the trophies erected upon the
place of the victory ; the funeral laudatives and mo-
numents for those that died in the wars ; the crowns
and garlands personal ; the style of emperor, which
the great kings of the world after borrowed ; the tri-
umphs of the generals upon their return ; the great
donatives and largesses upon the disbanding of the
armies, were things able to inflame all men's cou-
rages : but above all, that of the triumph, among the
Romans, was not pageants or gaudery, but one of the
wisest and noblest institutions that ever was. For it
contained three things; honour to the general; riches
to the treasury out of the spoils ; and donatives to the
army. But. that honour, perhaps, were not fit for
monarchies ; except it be in the person of the mo-
narch himself, or his sons ; as it came to pass in the
times of the Roman emperors, who did impropriate the
actual triumphs to themselves and their sons, for such
wars as they did achieve in person ; and left only,
for wars achieved by subjects, some triumphal gar-
ments and ensigns to the general.

To conclude : no man can, by care taking, as the
Scripture saith, add a cubit to his stature, in this little
model of a man's body : but in the great frame of
kingdoms and commonwealths, it is in the power of
princes or estates, to add amplitude and greatness to
their kingdoms. For by introducing such ordinances,
constitutions, and customs, as we have now touched,
they may sow greatness to their posterity and suc-
cession. But these things are commonly not observed,
but left to take their chance.

XXX. Of Regiment of Health.

There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of
physic : a man's own observation, what he finds good
of, and what he finds hurt of, is the best physic to
preserve health. But it is a safer conclusion to svay
this, "" This agreeth not well with me, therefore I

Essays Civil mid Moral. 331

" will not continue it;" than this, " I find no offence
" of this, therefore I may use it." For strength of
nature in youth passeth over many excesses, which
are owing a man till his age. Discern of the coming
on of years, and think not to do the same things still;
for age will not be defied. Beware of sudden change
in any great point of diet, and if necessity enforce it,
fit the rest to it. For it is a secret both in nature and
state, that it is safer to change- many things than
one. Examine thy customs of diet, sleep, exercise,
apparel, and the like ; and try in any thing thou shalt
judge hurtful, to discontinue it by little and little ;
but so, as if thou dost find any inconvenience by the
change, thou come back to it again ; for it is hard to
distinguish that which is generally held good and
wholesome, from that which is good particularly, and
fit for thine own body To be free-minded and cheer-
fully disposed, at hours of meat, and of sleep, and of
exercise, is one of the best precepts of long lasting.
As for the passions and studies of the mind, avoid
envy, anxious fears, anger, fretting inwards, subtile
and knotty inquisitions, joys and exhilarations in ex-
cess, sadness not communicated. Entertain hopes,
mirth rather than joy, variety of delights rather than
surfeit of them ; wonder and admiration, and therefore
novelties ; studies that fill the mind with splendid and
illustrious objects, as histories, fables, and contempla-
tions of nature. If you fly physic in health altoge-
ther, it will be too strange for your body when you
shall need it. If you make it too familiar, it will work
no extraordinary effect when sickness cometh. I
commend rather some diet for certain seasons, than
frequent use of physic, except it be grown into a cus-
tom. For those diets alter the body more, and trou-
ble it less. Despise no new accident in your body,
but ask opinion of it. In sickness, respect health
principally : and in health, action. For those that
put their bodies to endure in health, may in most sick-
nesses, which are not very sharp, be cured only with
diet and tendering. Celsus could never have spoken
it as a physician, had he not been a wise man withal;

332 Essays Civil and Moral.

when he giveth it for one of the great precepts of
health and lasting, that a man do vary and inter-
change contraries; but with an inclination to the
more benign extreme. Use fasting and full eating,
but rather full eating ; watching and sleep, but ra-
ther sleep ; sitting and exercise, but rather exercise,
and the like. So shall nature be cherished, and yet
taught masteries. Physicians are some of them so
pleasingand conformable to the humour of the patient,
as they press not the true cure of the disease ; and
some other are so regular in proceeding according to
art for the disease, as they respect not sufficiently the
condition of the patient. Take one of a middle tem-
per ; or if it may not be found in one man, combine
two of either sort ; and forget not to call as well the
best acquainted with your body, as the best reputed
of for his faculty.

XXXI. Of Suspicion

Suspicions amongst thoughts, are like bats
amongst birds, they ever fly by twilight. Certainly
they are to be repressed, or at the least well guarded :
for they cloud the mind, they lose friends, and they
check with business, whereby business cannot go on
currently and constantly. They dispose kings to tyran-
ny, husbands to jealousy, wise men to irresolution and
melancholy. They are defects not in the heart, but
in the brain ; for they take place in the stoutest na-
tures ; as in the example of Henry the Seventh of
England; there was not a more suspicious man, nor
a more stout. And in such a composition they do
small hurt. For commonly they are not admitted but
with examination, whether they be likely or no ? But
in fearful natures they gain ground too fast. There
is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to
know little : and therefore men should remedy suspi-
cion, by procuring to know more, and not to keep
their suspicions in smother. What would men have?
Do they think those they employ and deal with are
saints ? Do they not think they will have their own
ends, and be truer to themselves than to them? There-

Essays Civil and Moral. 333

fore there is no better way to moderate suspicions^
than to account upon such suspicions as true, and
yet to bridle them as false : for so far a man ought
to make use of suspicions, as to provide, as if that
should be true that he suspects, yet it may do him
no hurt. Suspicions that the mind of itself gathers
are but buzzes ; but suspicions that are artificially
nourished, and put into men's heads by the tales and
whisperings of others, have stings. Certainly the
best mean to clear the way in this same wood of
suspicions, is frankly to communicate them with the
party that he suspects ; for thereby he shall be sure
to know more of the truth of them than he did before ;
and withal shall make that party more circumspect
not to give farther cause of suspicion. But this
would not be done to men of base natures : for they,
if they find themselves once suspected, will never be
true. The Italian says, Sospetto licentia fede ; as if
suspicion did give a passport to faith ; but it ought
rather to kindle it to discharge itself.

XXXII. Of Discourse.

Some in their discourse desire rather commenda-
tion of wit, in being able to hold all arguments, than
of judgment in discerning what is true ; as if it were
a praise to know what might be said, and not what
should be thought. Some have certain common-
places and themes, wherein they are good, and want
variety : which kind of poverty is for the most part
tedious, and, when it is once perceived, ridiculous.
The honourablest part of talk is to give the occasion ;
and again, to moderate, and pass to somewhat else ;
for then a man leads the dance. It is good in dis-
course and speech of conversation to vary, and inter-
mingle speech of the present occasion with argu-
ments ; tales with reasons ; asking of questions with
telling of opinions; and jest with earnest; for it is a
dull thing to tire, and, as we say now, to jade any
thing too far. As for jest, there be certain things
which ought to be privileged from it ; namely, reli-
gion, matters of state, great persons, any man's present

334 Essays Civil and Moral.

business of importance, and any case that deserveth
pity. Yet there be some that think their wits have
been asleep, except they dart out somewhat that is
piquant, and to the quick : that is a vein which would
be bridled.

Parce puer stimulis, et fortius utere loris.
And generally men ought to find the difference be-
tween saltness and bitterness. Certainly he that hath
a satirical vein, as he maketh others afraid of his wit,
so he had need be afraid of others memory He that
questioneth much shall learn much, and content
much ; but especially if he apply his questions to the
skill of the persons whom he asketh : for he shall give
them occasion to please themselves in speaking, and
himself shall continually gather knowledge. But let
his questions not be troublesome, for that is fit for a
poser. And let him be sure to leave other men their
turns to speak. Nay, if there be any that would
reign, and take up all the time, let him find means to
take them off, and to bring others on ; as musicians
use to do with those that dance too long galliards. If
you dissemble sometimes your knowledge of that you
are thought to know, you shall be thought another
time to know that you know not. Speech of a man's
self ought to be seldom, and well chosen. I knew
one was wont to say in scorn, " He must needs be
" a wise man, he speaks so much of himself:" and
there is but one case wherein a man may commend
himself with good grace, and that is in commending
virtue in another; especially if it be such a virtue,
whereunto himself pretendeth. Speech of touch to-
wards others should be sparingly used : for discourse
ought to be as a field, without coming home to any
man. I knew two noblemen of the west part of Eng-
land, whereof the one was given to scoff, but kept
ever royal cheer in his house ; the other would
ask of those that had been at the other's table,
"Tell truly, was there never a flout or dry blow
" given?" To which the guest would answer, Such
and such a thing passed. The lord would say, " I
" thought he would mar a good dinner." Discretion

Essays Civil and Moral. 335

of speech is more than eloquence ; and to speak
agreeably to him with whom we deal, is more than
to speak in good words, or in good order. A good
continued speech, without a good speech of interlo-
cution, shews slowness : and a good reply, or second
speech, without a good settled speech, sheweth shal-
lowness and weakness. As we see in beasts, that
those that are weakest in the course, are yet nimblest
in the turn : as it is betwixt the greyhound and the
hare. To use too many circumstances ere one come
to the matter, is wearisome; to use none at all, is
blunt.

XXXIII. Of Plantations.

Plantations are amongst ancient, primitive,
and heroical works. When the world was young, it
begat more children; but now it is old, it begets
fewer : for I may justly account new plantations to
be the children of former kingdoms. I like a planta-
tion in a pure soil ; that is, where people are not dis-
planted to the end to plant in others. For else it is
rather an extirpation, than a plantation. Planting
of countries is like planting of woods ; for you must
make account to lose almost twenty years' profit, and
expect your recompense in the end. For the princi-
pal thing that hath been the destruction of most plan-
tations, hath been the base and hasty drawing of pro-
fit in the first years. It is true, speedy profit is not to
be neglected, as far as may stand with the good of
the plantation, but no farther. It is a shameful and
unblessed thing, to take the scum of people, and
wicked condemned men, to be the people with whom
you plant ; and not only so, but it spoileth the planta-
tion ; for they will ever live like rogues, and not fall
to work, but be lazy, and do mischief, and spend vic-
tuals, and be quickly weary, and then certify over to
their country to the discredit of the plantation. The
people wherewith you plant ought to be gardeners,
ploughmen, labourers, smiths, carpenters, joiners,
fishermen, fowlers, with some few apothecaries, sur-
geons, cooks, and bakers. In a country of planta-

336 Essays Civil and Moral.

tion, first look about what kind of victual the coun-
try yields of itself to hand ; as chesnuts, walnuts,
pine-apples, olives, dates, plumbs, cherries, wild ho-
ney, and the like, and make use of them. Then
consider what victual or esculent things there are,
which grow speedily and within the year ; as pars-
nips, carrots, turnips, onions, radishes, artichokes of
Jerusalem, maiz, and the like. For wheat, barley,
and oats, they ask too much labour : but with peas
and beans you may begin ; both because they ask less
labour, and because they serve for meat, as well as
for bread. And of rice likewise cometh a great in-
crease, and it is a kind of meat. Above all, there
ought to be brought store of biscuit, oatmeal, flour,
meal, and the like, in the beginning, till bread may be
had. For beasts or birds, take chiefly such as are
least subject to diseases, and multiply fastest: as
swine, goats, cocks, hens, turkeys, geese, house-
doves, and the like. The victual in plantations
ought to be expended almost as in a besieged town ;
that is, with certain allowance. And let the main
part of the ground employed to gardens or corn be
to a common stock ; and to be laid in, and stored up,
and then delivered out in proportion ; besides some
spots of ground that any particular person will ma-
nure for his own private. Consider likewise what
commodities the soil where the plantation is doth na-
turally yield, that they may some way help to defray
the charge of the plantation : so it be not, as was said,
to the untimely prejudice of the main business; as it
hath fared with tobacco in Virginia. Wood com-
monly aboundeth but too much : and therefore tim-
ber is fit to be one. If there be iron ore, and
streams whereupon to set the mills; iron is a brave
commodity where wood aboundeth. Making of
bay-salt, if the climate be proper for it, would be put
in experience. Growing-silk likewise, if any be, is a
likely commodity. Pitch and tar, where store of firs
and pines are, will not fail. So drugs and sweet
woods, where they are, cannot but yield great profit.
Soap-ashes, likewise, and other things that may be

Essays Civil and A/oral. 337

thought of. But moil not too much under ground ;
for the hope of mines is very uncertain, and useth to
make the planters lazy in other things. For govern-
ment, let it be in the hands of one assisted with some
counsel : and let them have commission to exercise
martial laws with some limitation. And above all,
let men make that profit of being in the wilderness, as
they have God always, and his service, before their
eyes. Let not the government of the plantation de-
pend upon too many counsellors and undertakers in
the country that planteth, but upon a temperate num-
ber ; and let those be rather noblemen and gentle-
men, than merchants ; for they look ever to the pre-
sent gain. Let there be freedoms from custom, till
the plantation be of strength : and not only freedom
from custom, but freedom to carry their commodities
where they may make their best of them, except there
be some special cause of caution. Cram not in peo-
ple, by sending too fast, company after company ; but
rather hearken how they waste, and send supplies pro-
portionably; but so as the number may live well in
the plantation, and not by surcharge be in penury-
It hath been a great endangering to the health of some
plantations, that they have built along the sea and
rivers, in marish and unwholesome grounds. Therefore
though you begin there to avoid carriage, and other
like discommodities, yet build still rather upwards
from the streams, than along. It concerneth likewise
the health of the plantation, that they have good store
of salt with them, that they may use it in their victuals
when it shall be necessary. If you plant where savages
are, do not only entertain them with trifles andgingles;
but use them justly and graciously, with sufficient
guard nevertheless : and do not win their favour by
helping them to invade their enemies ; but for their
defence it is not amiss. And send oft of them over
to the country that plants, that they may see a better
condition than their own, and commend it when they
return. When the plantation grows to strength, then
it is time to plant with women, as well as with men;
that the plantation may spread into generations; slnd

VOL. II. z

338 Essays Civil and Moral.

not be ever pieced from without. It is the sinfullest
thing in the world to forsake or destitute a planta-
tion once in forwardness : for besides the dishonour,
it is the guiltiness of blood of many commiserable
persons.

XXXIV Of Riches.

I cannot call riches better than the baggage of
virtue. The Roman word is better, impedimenta.
For as the baggage is to an army, so are riches to vir-
tue. It cannot be spared, nor left behind, but it hin-
dereth the march ; yea, and the care of it sometimes
loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great riches there
is no real use, except it be in the distribution ; the
rest is but conceit. So saith Solomon ; Where much
is, there are many to consume it; and what hath the
owner, but. the sight of it with his eyes? The perso-
nal fruition in any man, cannot reach to feel great
riches : there is a custody of them ; or a power of dole
and donative of them ; or a fame of them ; but no
solid use to the owner. Do you not see what feigned
prices are set upon little stones and rarities ? And what
works of ostentation are undertaken, because there
might seem to be some use of great riches ? But then
you will say, they may be of use, to buy men out of
dangers or troubles. As Solomon saith, Riches are
as a strong hold in the imagination of the rich man.
But this is excellently expressed, that it is in imagina-
tion, and not always in fact. For certainly great
riches have sold more men than they have bought out.
Seek not proud riches, but such as thou mayest get
justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave
contentedly Yet have no abstract nor friarly con-
tempt of them : but distinguish, as Cicero saith well of
Rabirius Posthumus ; in studio rei amplijicanda? ap-
parebat, non avaritice prcedam, sed instrument um
bonitati quazri. Hearken also to Solomon, and. be-
ware of hasty gathering of riches : Qui festinat ad
divitias, non erit insons. The poets feign, that when
Plutus, which is riches, is sent from Jupiter, he limps,
and goes slowly ; but when he is sent from Pluto, he

Essays Civil and Moral. 339

runs, and is swift of foot: meaning, that riches got-
ten by good means and just labour, pace slowly; but
when they come by the death of others, as by the
course of inheritance, testaments, and the like, they
come tumbling upon a man. But it might be applied
likewise to Pluto, taking him for the devil. For when
riches come from the devil, as by fraud, and oppression,
and unjust means, they come upon speed. The ways
to enrich are many, and most of them foul. Parsimony
is one of the best, and yet is not innocent : for it with-
holdeth men from works of liberality and charity. The
improvement of the ground is the most natural obtain-
ing of riches ; for it is our great mother's blessing, the
earth's ; but it is slow. And yet, where men of great
wealth do stoop to husbandry, it multiplieth riches ex-
ceedingly I knew a nobleman in England that had
the greatest audits of any man in my time ; a great
grazier, a great sheep-master, a great timber-man, a
great collier, a great corn-master, a great lead-man ;
and so of iron, and a number of the like points of hus-
bandry : so as the earth seemed a sea to him, in respect
of the perpetual importation. It was truly observed
by one, that himself came very hardly to a little riches,
and very easily to great riches. For when a man's
stock is come to that, that he can expect the prime of
markets, and overcome those bargains, which for their
greatness are few men's money, and be partner in the
industries of younger men, he cannot but increase
mainly The gains of ordinary trades and vocations
are honest, and furthered by two things, chiefly, by
diligence, and by a good name for good and fair deal-
ing. But the gains of bargains are of a more doubtful
nature, when men should wait upon others necessity ;
broke by servants and instruments to draw them
on ; put off others cunningly that would be better
chapmen, and the like practices, which are crafty and
naught. As for the chopping of bargains, when a
man buys, not to hold, but to sell over again, that
commonly grindeth double, both upon the seller, and
upon the buyer. Sharings do greatly enrich, if the
hands be well chosen that are trusted. Usury is the

340 Essays Civil and Moral.

certainest means of gain, though one of the worst, as
that whereby a man doth eat his bread insudore, vultus
alieni; and besides, doth plough upon Sundays. But
yet certain though it be, it hath flaws; for that the
scriveners and brokers do value unsound men, to
serve their own turn. The fortune in being the first
in an invention, or in a privilege, doth cause some-
times a wonderful overgrowth in riches ; as it was
with the first sugar-man in the Canaries. Therefore,
if a man can play the true logician, to have as well
judgment as invention, he may do great matters, espe-
cially if the times be fit. He that resteth upon gains
certain, shall hardly grow to great riches. And he
that puts all upon adventures, doth oftentimes break,
and come to poverty : it is good therefore to guard
adventures with certainties that may uphold losses.
Monopolies, and co-emption of wares for resale, where
they are not restrained, are great means to enrich ;
especially if the party have intelligence what things
are like to come into request, and to store himself
beforehand. Riches gotten by service, though it be
of the best rise, yet when they are gotten by flattery,
feeding humours, and other servile conditions, they
may be placed amongst the worst. As for fishing for
testaments and executorships, as Tacitus saith of Se-
neca, Testamenia et orbos tanquam indagine capi, it
is yet worse ; by how much men submit themselves
to meaner persons, than in service. Believe not much
them that seem to despise riches ; for they despise
them that despair of them : and none worse when
they come to them. Be not penny- wise ; riches
have wings, and sometimes they fly away of them-
selves, sometimes they must be set flying to bring in
more. Men leave their riches either to their kindred,
or to the public : and moderate portions prosper best
in both. A great estate left to an heir, is as a lure to
all the birds of prey round about, to seize on him, if he
be not the better established in years and judgment.
Likewise glorious gifts and foundations, are like sacri-
fices without salt ; and but the painted sepulchres of
alms, which soon will putrefy and corrupt inwardly

Essays Civil and Moral. 341

Therefore measure not thine advancements by quan-
tity, but frame them by measure : and defer not cha-
rities till death : for certainly, if a man weigh it right-
ly, he that doth so, is rather liberal of another man's
than of his own.

XXXV Of Prophecies.

I mean not to speak of divine prophecies, nor of
heathen oracles, nor of natural predictions; but only
of prophecies that have been of certain memory, and
from hidden causes. Saith the Pythonissa to Saul ;
To-morrow thou and thy son shall be with me. Virgil
hath these verses from Homer :

At domus JEneaz cunctis dominabitur oris,
Et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab Wis.

jEneid. iii. 97

A prophecy, as it seems, of the Roman empire. Se-
neca the Tragedian hath these verses :

Venient annis
Secula seris, quibus oceanus
Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens
Pateat tellus, Tiphysqae novos
Delegat orbes ; nee sit terris
Ultima Thule :

A prophecy of the discovery of America. The
daughter of Polycrates dreamed, that Jupiter bathed
her father, and Apollo anointed him : and it came to
pass, that he was crucified in an open place, where
the sun made his body run with sweat, and the rain
washed it. Philip of Macedon dreamed he sealed up
his wife's belly, whereby he did expound it, that his
wife should be barren; but Aristander the soothsayer
told him his wife was with child : because men do
not use to seal vessels that are empty- A phantasm
that appeared to M. Brutus, in his tent, said to him,
Philippis iterum me videbis. Tiberius said to Galba,
Tu quoque, Galba, degustabis imperium. In Vespa-
sian's time there went a prophecy in the east, that
those that should come forth of Judsea, should reign
over the world ; which though it may be meant of
our Saviour, yet Tacitus expounds it of Vespasian.

3 *2 Essays Civil and Moral.

Domitian dreamed, the night before he was slain,
that a golden head was growing out of the nape of
his neck : and indeed the succession that followed
him, for many years, made golden times. Henry
the Sixth of England, said of Henry the Seventh,
when he was a lad, and gave him water ; " This is
" the lad that shall enjoy the crown for which we
" strive." When I was in France, I heard from one
Dr. Pena, that the queen- mother, who was given to
curious arts, caused the king her husband's nativity
to be calculated under a false name ; and the astro-
loger gave a judgment that he should be killed in a
duel; at which the queen laughed, thinking her
husband to be above challenges and duels : but he
was slain upon a course at tilt, the splinters of the
staff of Montgomery going in at his beaver. The
trivial prophecy, which I heard when I was a child,
and queen Elizabeth was in the flower of her years,
was;

When Hempe is sponne,
England's donne.

Whereby it was generally conceived, that after the
princes had reigned which had the principal letters
of that word Hempe, which were Henry, Edward,
Mary, Philip, and Elizabeth, England should come
to utter confusion ; which, thanks be to God, is veri-
fied only in the change of the name, for that the king's
style is now no more of England, but of Britain.
There was also another prophecy before the year of
eighty-eight, which I do not well understand :
There shall be seen upon a day,
Between the baugh and the May,
The black fleet of Norway.
When that is come and gone,
England build houses of lime and stone,
For after wars shall you have none.

It was generally conceived to be meant of the Spanish
fleet that came in eighty-eight. For that the king of
Spain's surname, as they say, is Norway. The pre-
diction of Regiomontanus,

Octogesimus octavus mirabilis annus

Essays Civil and Moral. 343

was thought likewise accomplished, in the sending
of that great fleet, being the greatest in strength,
though not in number, of all that ever swam upon
the sea. As for Cleon's dream, I think it was a jest:
it was, that he was devoured of a long dragon; and it
was expounded of a maker of sausages, that troubled
him exceedingly. There are numbers of the like
kind ; especially if you include dreams, and predic-
tions of astrology But I have set down these few
only of certain credit, for example. My judgment is,
that they ought all to be despised, and ought to serve
but for winter talk by the fire-side. Though when I
say despised, I mean it as for belief: for otherwise,
the spreading or publishing of them, is in no sort to
be despised; for they have done much mischief. And
I see many severe laws made to suppress them. That
that hath given them grace, and some credit, consist-
eth in three things : first, that men mark when they
hit, and never mark when they miss ; as they do, ge-
nerally, also of dreams. The second is, that probable
conjectures, or obscure traditions, many times, turn
themselves into prophecies: while the nature of man,
which coveteth divination, thinks it no peril to fore-
tel that, which indeed they do but collect ; as that
of Seneca's verse. For so much was then subject to
demonstration, that the globe of the earth had great
parts beyond the Atlantic, which might be probably
conceived not to be all sea : and adding thereto, the
tradition in Plato's Timceus, and his Atlanticus, it
might encourage one to turn it to a prediction. The
third and last, which is the great one, is, that almost
all of them, being infinite in number, have been im-
postures, and, by idle and crafty brains, merely con-
trived and feigned, after the event past.

XXXVI. Of Ambition.

Ambition is like choler, which is a humour that
maketh men active, earnest, full of alacrity, and stir-
ring, if it be not stopped. But if it be stopped, and
cannot have its way, it becometh adust, and thereby
malign and venomous. So ambitious men, if they

344 Essays Civil and Moral.

find the way open for their rising, and still get for-
ward, they are rather busy than dangerous ; but if
they be checked in their desires, they become secret-
ly discontent, and look upon men and matters with
an evil eye, and are best pleased when things go
backward ; which is the worst property in a servant
of a prince or state. Therefore, it is good for princes,
if they use ambitious men, to handle it so, as they be
still progressive, and not retrograde; which, because
it cannot be without inconvenience, it is good not
to use such natures at all. For if they rise not with
their service, they will take order to make their ser-
vice fall with them. But since we have said it were
good not to use men of ambitious natures, except it
be upon necessity, it is fit we speak in what cases
they are of necessity Good commanders in the wars
must be taken, be they never so ambitious : for the
use of their service dispenseth with the rest ; and
to take a soldier without ambition, is to pull off his
spurs. There is also great use of ambitious men, in
being screens to princes, in matters of danger and
envy : for no man will take that part, except he be
like a seeled dove, that mounts, and mounts, because
he cannot see about him. There is use also of am-
bitious men in pulling down the greatness of any
subject that over-tops ; as Tiberius used Macro in
the pulling down of Sejanus. Since therefore they
must be used in such cases, there resteth to speak
how they are to be bridled, that they may be less
dangerous. There is less danger of them if they be
of mean birth, than if they be noble; and if they be
rather harsh of nature, than gracious and popular ;
and if they be rather new raised, than grown cun-
ning and fortified in their greatness. It is counted
by some a weakness in princes to have favourites; but
it is, of all others, the best remedy against ambitious
great ones. For when the way of pleasuring and dis-
pleasuring lieth by the favourite, it is impossible any
other should be over-great. Another means to curb
them, is to balance them by others as proud as they
"ut tnen there must be some middle counsellors to

Essays Civil and Moral. 345

keep things steady ; for without that ballast the ship
will roll too much. At the least a prince may ani-
mate and inure some meaner persons, to be as it
were scourges to ambitious men. As for the hav-
ing of them obnoxious to ruin, if they be of fear-
ful natures, it may do well : but if they be stout and
daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove
dangerous. As for the pulling of them down, if
the affairs require it, and that it may not be done
with safety suddenly, the only way is, the interchange
continually of favours and disgraces, whereby they
may not know what to expect, and be as it were in
a wood. Of ambitions, it is less harmful the ambi-
tion to prevail in great things, than that other to ap-
pear in every thing; for that breeds confusion, and
mars business : but yet it is less danger to have an
ambitious man stirring in business, than great in in-
dependences. He that seeketh to be eminent amongst
able men, hath a great task ; but that is ever good
for the public. But he that plots to be the only
figure amongst ciphers, is the decay of a whole age.
Honour hath three things in it : the vantage ground
to do good; the approach to kings and principal
persons ; and the raising of a man's own fortunes. He
that hath the best of these intentions, when he as-
pireth, is an honest man : and that prince that can
discern of these intentions in another that aspireth,
is a wise prince. Generally let princes and states
choose such ministers as are more sensible of duty
than of rising; and such as love business rather
upon conscience, than upon bravery : and let them
discern a busy nature from a willing mind.

XXXVII. Of Masks and Triumphs.

These things are but toys to come amongst such
serious observations. But yet, since princes will have
such things, it is better they should be graced with
elegancy, than daubed with cost. Dancing to song,
is a thing of great state and pleasure. I understand
it, that the song be in quire, placed aloft, and accom-
panied with some broken music ; and the ditty fitted

346 Essays Civil and Moral.

to the device. Acting in song, especially in dia-
logues, hath an extreme good grace ; I say acting,
not dancing (for that is a mean and vulgar thing),
and the voices of the dialogue should be strong and
manly, a bass, and a tenor ; no treble, and the ditty
high and tragical ; not nice or dainty. Several quires
placed one over against another, and taking the voice
by catches, anthem-wise, give great pleasure. Turn-
ing dances into figure, is a childish curiosity And
generally let it be noted, that those things which I
here set down, are such as do naturally take the
sense, and not respect petty wonderments. It is true,
the alterations of scenes, so it be quietly and without
noise, are things of great beauty and pleasure ; for
they feed and relieve the eye before it be full of the
same object. Let the scenes abound with light, spe-
cially coleured and varied : and let the maskers, or
any other that are to come down from the scene,
have some motions upon the scene itself before their
coming down ; for it draws the eye strangely, and
makes it with great pleasure to desire to see that it
cannot perfectly discern. Let the songs be loud and
cheerful, and not chirpings or pulings. Let the music
likewise be sharp and loud, and well placed. The
colours that shew best by candle-light, are white,
carnation, and a kind of sea-water green ; and ouches,
or spangs, as they are of no great cost, so they are of
most glory As for rich embroidery, it is lost, and
not discerned. Let the suits of the maskers be grace-
ful, and such as become the person when the vizards
are off: not after examples of known attires; Turks,
soldiers, mariners, and the like. Let anti-masks not
be long ; they have been commonly of fools, satyrs,
baboons, wild men, antics, beasts, spirits, witches,
Ethiopes, pigmies, turquets, nymphs, rustics, Cupids,
statues moving, and the like. As for angels, it is not
comical enough to put them in anti-masks ; and any
thing that is hideous, as devils, giants, is on the other
side as unfit : but chiefly, let the music of them be
recreative, and with some strange changes. Some
sweet odours suddenly coming forth without any drops

Essays Civil and Moral. 347

falling, are in such a company, as there is steam and
heat, things of great pleasure and refreshment. Dou-
ble masks, one of men, another of ladies, addeth state
and variety But all is nothing except the room be
kept clear and neat.

For justs, and tourneys, and barriers, the glories of
them are chiefly in the chariots, wherein the chal-
lengers make their entry; especially if they be drawn
with strange beasts ; as lions, bears, camels, and the
like : or in the devices of their entrance, or in the
bravery of their liveries : or in the goodly furniture of
their horses and armour. But enough of these toys.

XXXVIII. Of Nature in Men

Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, sel-
dom extinguished. Force maketh nature more vio-
lent in the return ; doctrine and discourse maketh
nature less importune : but custom only doth alter
and subdue nature. He that seeketh victory over his
nature, let him not set himself too great, nor too
small tasks ; for the first will make him dejected by
often failings; and the second will make him a small
proceeder, though by often prevailings. And at the
first, let him practise with helps, as swimmers do with
bladders or rushes : but after a time, let him practise
with disadvantages, as dancers do with thick shoes.
For it breeds great perfection if the practice be harder
than the use. Where nature is mighty, and there-
fore the victory hard, the degrees had need be, first to
stay and arrest nature in time; like to him that would
say over the four-and-twenty letters when he was an-
gry: then to go less in quantity; as if one should, in
forbearing wine, come from drinking healths, to a
draught at a meal ; and lastly, to discontinue altoge-
ther. But if a man have the fortitude and resolution
to enfranchise himself at once, that is the best :
Optimus Me animi vindew, ladentia pectus
Vincula qui rupit, dedoluitque semel.
Neither is the ancient rule amiss, to bend nature as a
wand to a contrary extreme, whereby to set it right :
understanding it where the contrary extreme is no

348 Essays Civil arid Moral.

vice. Let not a man force a habit upon himself with
a perpetual continuance, but with some intermission.
For both the pause reinforceth the new onset ; and if
a man that is not perfect be ever in practice, he shall
as well practise his errors as his abilities, and induce
one habit of both ; and there is no means to help this
but by seasonable intermissions. But let not a man
trust his victory over his nature too far ; for nature
will lie buried a great time, and yet revive upon the
occasion or temptation. Like as it was with iEsop's
damsel, turned from a cat to a woman, who sat very
demurely at the board's end, till a mouse ran before
her. Therefore let a man either avoid the occasion
altogether, or put himself often to it, that he may be
little moved with it. A man's nature is best per-
ceived in privateness, for there is no affectation ; in
passion, .for that putteth a man out of his precepts ;
and in a new case or experiment, for there custom
leaveth him. They are happy men, whose natures
sort with their vocations ; otherwise they may say,
Multum incola fiat anima mea: when they converse
in those things they do not affect. In studies, what-
soever a man commandeth upon himself, let him set
hours for it; but whatsoever is agreeable to his na-
ture, let him take no care for any set times ; for his
thoughts will fly to it of themselves ; so as the spaces
of other business or studies will suffice. A man's na-
ture runs either to herbs, or weeds : Therefore let him
seasonably water the one, and destroy the other.

XXXIX. Of Custom and Education

Men's thoughts are much according to their in-
clination ; their discourse and speeches according to
their learning and infused opinions ; but their deeds
are after as they have been accustomed. And there-
fore, as Machiavel well noteth, though in an evik
favoured instance, there is no trusting to the force of
nature, nor to the bravery of words, except it be
corroborate by custom. His instance is, that for the
achieving of a desperate conspiracy a man should
not rest upon the fierceness of any man's nature, or his

Essays Civil and Moral. 349

resolute undertakings ; but take such a one as hath,
had his hands formerly in blood. But Machiavel
knew not of a friar Clement, nor a Ravillac, nor a
Jauregny, nor a Baltazar Gerard : yet his rule holdeth
still, that nature, nor the engagements of words, are
not so forcible as custom. Only superstition is now
so well advanced, that men of the first blood are as
firm as butchers by occupation : and votary resolution
is made equipollent to custom, even in matter of blood.
In other things, the predominancy of custom is every-
where visible; insomuch as a man would wonder to
hear men profess, protest, engage, give great words,
and then do just as they have done before: as if they
were dead images, and engines moved only by the
wheels of custom. We see also the reign of tyranny
of custom what it is. The Indians, I mean the sect
of their wise men, lay themselves quietly upon a stack
of wood, and so sacrifice themselves by fire. Nay.
the wives strive to be burned with the corpse of their
husbands. The lads of Sparta, of ancient time, were
wont to be scourged upon the altar of Diana, without
so much as queching. I remember in the beginning
of queen Elizabeth's time of England, an Irish rebel
condemned put up a petition to the deputy that he
might be hanged in a with, and not in a halter, be-
cause it had been so used with former rebels. There
be monks in Russia, for penance, that will sit a whole
night in a vessel of water, till they be engaged with
hard ice. Many examples may be put of the force of
custom, both upon mind and body Therefore since
custom is the principal magistrate of man's life, let
men by all means endeavour to obtain good customs.
Certainly custom is most perfect, when it beginneth
in young years : this we call education, which is, in
effect, but an early custom. So we see in languages,
the tongue is more pliant to all expressions andsounds,
the joints are more supple to all feats of activity and
motions, in youth than afterwards. For it is true,
that late learners cannot so well take the ply, except
it be in some minds that have not suffered themselves
to fix, but have kept themselves open and prepared to

350 Essays Civil and Moral.

receive continual amendment, which is exceeding-
rare. But if the force of custom simple and separate
be great ; the force of custom copulate and conjoined,
and collegiate, is far greater. For there example
teacheth, company comforteth, emulation quickeneth,
glory raiseth : so as in such places the force of custom
is in its exaltation. Certainly the great multiplica-
tion of virtues upon human nature resteth upon so-
cieties well ordained and disciplined. For common-
wealths and good governments do nourish virtue
grown, but do not much mend the seeds. But the
misery is, that the most effectual means are now ap-
plied to the ends least to be desired.

XL. Of Fortune.
It cannot be denied but outward accidents con-
duce much to fortune: favour, opportunity, death of
others, occasion fitting virtue. But chiefly, the mold
of a man's fortune is in his own hands. Faber quis-
que fortunes suce; saith the poet. And the most
frequent of external causes is, that the folly of one
man is the fortune of another. For no man prospers
so suddenly as by others errors. Serpens ?iisi serpen-
tem comederit non fit draco. Overt and apparent
virtues bring forth praise; but there be secret and hid-
den virtues that bring forth fortune ; certain deliveries
of a man's self, which have no name. The Spanish
name, desemboltura, partly expresseth them : when
there be not stonds, nor restiveness in a man's na-
ture; but that the wheels of his mind keep way with
the wheels of his fortune. For so Livy, after he had
described Cato Major in these words ; in illo viro, tan-
tum robur corporis et animi fait, id quocunque loco
natus essei, fortunam sibi facturus videretur ; fall-
eth upon that, that he had versatile ingenium. There-
fore if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see
fortune: for though she be blind, yet she is not invisi-
ble. The way of fortune is like the milky way in the
sky ; which is a meeting or knot of a number of small
stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together. So
are there a number of little and scarce discerned vir-

Essays Civil and Moral. 351

tues, or rather facilities and customs, that make men
fortunate. The Italians note some of them, such as a
man would little think. When they speak of one that
cannot do amiss, they will throw in into his other con-
ditions, that he hath Poco di matto. And certainly
there be not two more fortunate properties, than to
have a little of the fool, and not too much of the honest.
Therefore extreme lovers of their country, or masters,
were never fortunate, neither can they be. For when
a man placeth his thoughts without himself, hegoeth
not his own way. A hasty fortune maketh an enter-
priser and remover ; the French hath it better, en-
treprenant or remuant, but the exercised fortune
maketh an able man. Fortune is to be honoured and
respected, and it be but for her daughters, Confidence
and Reputation. For those two felicity breedeth : the
first within a man's self; the latter in others towards
him. All wise men, to decline the envy of their own
virtues, use to ascribe them to Providence and fortune;
for so they may the better assume them : and besides,
it is greatness in a man to be the care of the higher
powers. So Caesar said to the pilot in the tempest,
CcEsarem portas, et fortunam ejus. So Sylla chose
the name of fcl'uv and not of magnus: and it hath
been noted, that those that ascribe openly too much
to their own wisdom and policy, end unfortunate. It
is written, that Timotheus the Athenian, after he had,
in the account he g-ave to the state of his Government,
often interlaced this speech, "And in this fortune had
" no part ; " never prospered in any thing he undertook
afterwards. Certainly there be, whose fortunes are
like Homer's verses, that have a slide and easiness
more than the verses of other poets : as Plutarch
saith of Timoleon's fortune, in respect of that of
Agesilaus or Epaminondas. And that this should be,
no doubt it is much in a man's self.

XLI. Of Usury

Many have made witty invectives against usury
They say, That it is a pity the devil should have God's
part, which is the tithe. That the usurer is the

352 Essays Civil and Moral.

greatest sabbath-breaker, because his plough goetli
every Sunday That the usurer is the drone that
Virgil speaketh of:

Ignavum fucos pecus a prcesepibus arcent.
That the usurer breaketh the first law that was made
for mankind after the fall ; which was, In sadore vul-
tus tui comedes panem tuum ; not, In sudore vultus
alieni. That usurers should have orange-tawney bon-
nets, because they do judaize. That it is against na-
ture, for money to beget money : and the like. I say
this only, that usury is a concession propter duritiem
cordis: for since there must be borrowing and lending,
and men are so hard of heart as they will not lend
freely, usury must be permitted. Some others have
made suspicious and cunning propositions of banks,
discovery of men's estates, and other inventions. But
few have s-poken of usury usefully It is good to set
before us the incommodities and commodities of usury ;
that the good may be either weighed out, or culled
out ; and warily to provide, that while we make forth
to that which is better, we meet not with that which
is worse.

The discommodities of usury are; first, that it
makes fewer merchants. For were it not for this lazy
trade of usury, money would not lie still, but would
in great part be employed upon merchandising ; which
is the vena porta of wealth in a state. The second,
that it makes poor merchants. For as a farmer cannot
husband his ground so well, if he sit at a great rent;
so the merchant cannot drive his trade so well, if he sit
at great usury The third is incident to the other two ;
and that is, the decay of customs of kings or states,
which ebb or flow with merchandising. The fourth,
that it bringeth the treasure of a realm or state into
a few hands. For the usurer being at certainties, and
others at uncertainties, at the end of the game most
of the money will be in the box; and ever a state
flourisheth, when wealth is more equally spread. The
fifth, that it beats down the price of land : for the em-
ployment of money is chiefly either merchandising or
purchasing ; and usury way-lays both. The sixth that

Essays Civil and Moral. 353

it doth dull and damp all industries, improvements,
and new inventions, wherein money would be stor-
ing, if it were not for this slug. The last, that it is
the canker and ruin of many men's estates, which in
process of time breeds a public poverty. .

On the other side, the commodities of usury are :
first, that howsoever usury in some respect hindereth
merchandising, yet in some other it advanceth it; for
it is certain that the greatest part of trade is driven
by young merchants, upon borrowing at interest ; so
as if the usurer either call in or keep back his money,
there will ensue presently a great stand of trade. The
second is, that were it not for this easy borrowing
upon interest, men's necessities would draw upon them
a most sudden undoing ; in that they would be forced
to sell their means, be it lands or goods, far under
foot; and so whereas usury doth but gnaw upon them,
bad markets would swallow them quite up. As for
mortgaging or pawning, it will little mend the matter ;
for either men will not take pawns without use ; or if
they do, they will look precisely for the forfeiture. I
remember a cruel monied man in the country, that
would say; "The devil take this usury, it keeps us
" from forfeitures of mortgages and bonds." The
third and last is, that it is a vanity to conceive, that
there would be ordinary borrowing without profit;
and it is impossible to conceive the number of incon-
veniences that will ensue, if borrowing be cramped.
Therefore to speak of the abolishing of usury is idle.
All states have ever had it in one kind or rate, or other.
So as that opinion must be sent to Utopia.

To speak now of the reformation and reglement of
usury: how the discommodities of it may be best
avoided, and the commodities retained: it appears
by the balance of commodities and discommodities of
usury, two things are to be reconciled. The one, that
the tooth of usury be grinded that it bite not too
much : the other, that there be left open a means to
invite monied men to lend to the merchants, for the
continuing and quickening of trade. This cannot be
done, except you introduce two several sorts of usury,

VOL. II. 2 A

354 Essays Civil and Moral.

a less and a greater. For if you reduce usury to one
low rate, it will ease the common borrower, but the
merchant will be to seek for money. And it is to be
noted, that the trade of merchandise being- the most
.lucrative, may bear usury at a good rate; other con-
tracts not so.

To serve both intentions, the way would be briefly
thus. That there be two rates of usury ; the one free
and general for all ; the other under licence only to
certain persons, and in certain places of merchandis-
ing. First therefore let usury in general be reduced
to five in the hundred; and let the rate be proclaim-
ed to be free and current ; and let the state shut itself
out to take any penalty for the same. This will pre-
serve borrowing from any general stop or dryness.
This will ease infinite borrowers in the country.
This will in good part raise the price of land, because
land purchased at sixteen years' purchase, will yield
six in the hundred and somewhat more, whereas this
rate of interest yields but five. This by like reason
will encourage and edge industrious and profitable im-
provements ; because many will rather venture in that
kind, than take five in the hundred, especially having
been used to greater profit. Secondly, let there be
certain persons licensed to lend to known merchants,
upon usury at a higher rate : and let it be with the
cautions following. Let the rate be, even with the
merchant himself, somewhat more easy than that he
used formerly to pay : for by that means all borrowers
shall have some ease by this reformation, be he mer-
chant or whosoever. Let it be no bank, or common
stock, but every man be master of his own money.
Not that I altogether mislike banks, but they will
hardly be brooked in regard of certain suspicions.
Let the state be answered some small matter for the
licence, and the rest left to the lender ; for if the abate-
ment be but small, it will no whit discourage the
lender. For he, for example, that took before ten or
nine in the hundred, will sooner descend to eight in
the hundred, than give over his trade of usury ; and go
from certain gains, to gains of hazard. Let these li-

Essays Civil and Moral. 355

censed lenders be in number indefinite, but restrained
to certain principal cities and towns of merchandis-
ing- : for then they will be hardly able to colour other
men's moneys in the country ; so as the licence of nine
will not suck away the current rate of five : for no man
will send his moneys far off, nor put them into un-
known hands.

If it be objected, that this doth in a sort authorize
usury, which before was in some places but permis-
sive : the answer is, that it is better to mitigate usury
by declaration, than to suffer it to rage by connivance.

XLII. Of Youth and Age.

A man that is young- in years, may be old in
hours, if he have lost no time. But that happeneth
rarely Generally youth is like the first cogitations,
not so wise as the second. For there is a youth in
thoughts, as well as in ages. And yet the invention
of young men is more lively than that of old ; and ima-
ginations stream into their minds better, and as it
were more divinely. Natures that have much heat,
and great and violent desires and perturbations, are
not ripe for action, till they have passed the meridian
of their years : as it was with Julius Csesar, and Sep-
timius Severus. Of the latter of whom it is said, Ju-
ventutem egit erroribus, imofuroribus, plenam. And
yet he was the ablest emperor almost of all the list.
But reposed natures may do well in youth : as it is seen
in Augustus Csesar, Cosmusduke of Florence, Gaston
de Fois, and others. On the other side, heat and vi-
vacity in age is an excellent composition for business.
Young men are fitter to invent than to judge ; fitter
for execution than for counsel; and fitter for new
projects than for settled business. For the experi-
ence of age, in things that fall within the compass of
itj directeth them; but in new things abuseth them.
The errors of young men are the ruin of business;
but the errors of aged men amount but to this ; that
more might have been done, or sooner. Young
men, in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace
more than they can hold; stir more than they can

2 a 2

356 -Essays Civil and Moral.

quiet; fly to the end, without consideration of the
means and degrees; pursue some few principles,
which they have chanced upon, absurdly; care not to
innovate, which draws unknown inconveniences; use
extreme remedies at first; and, that which doubleth
all errors, will not acknowledge or retract them ; like
an unready horse, that will neither stop nor turn. Men
of age object too much, consult too long, adventure
too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business
home to the full period; but content themselves with
a mediocrity of success. Certainly it is good to com-
pound employments of both; for that will be good
for the present, because the virtues of either age may
correct the defects of both : and good for succession,
that young men may be learners, while men in age are
actors: and lastly, good for extern accidents, be-
cause authority followeth old men, and favour and
popularity youth. But for the moral part, perhaps
youth will have the pre-eminence, as age hath for
the politic. A certain Rabbin upon the text, Your
young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream dreams; inferreth, thatyoung men are admitted
nearer to God than old ; because vision is a clearer re-
velation than a dream. And certainly the more a
man drinketh of the world, the more it intoxicateth;
and age doth profitrather in the powers of understand-
ing, than in the virtues of the will and affections. There
be some have an over-early ripeness in their years,
which fadeth betimes : these are first, such as have
brittle wits, the edge whereof is soon turned; such
as was Hermogenes the rhetorician, whose books are
exceeding subtile; who afterwards waxed stupid. A
second sort, is of those that have some natural dispo-
sitions which have better grace in youth than in age :
such as is a fluent and luxuriant speech ; which be-
comes youth well, but not age. So Tully saith of
Hortensius ; idem manebat, neque idem decebat. The
third is, of such as take too high a strain at the first;
and are magnanimous, more than tract of years can
uphold. As was Scipio Africanus, of whom Livy
saith in effect ; ultima primis cedebant.

Essays Civil and Moral. 357

XLIII. Of Beauty

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set: and
surely virtue is best in a body that is comely, though
not of delicate features ; and that hath rather dignity
of presence, than beauty of aspect. Neither is it al-
most seen, that very beautiful persons are otherwise
of great virtue. As if nature were rather busy not to
err, than in labour to produce excellency And there-
fore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit ;
and study rather behaviour than virtue. But this holds
not always ; for Augustus Caesar, Titus Vespasianus,
Philip le Bel of France, Edward the Fourth of Eng-
land, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael the sophi of Per-
sia, were all high and great spirits ; and yet the most
beautiful men of their times. In beauty, that of favour
is more than that of colour; and that of decent and
gracious motion more than that of favour. That is
the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot ex-
press ; no nor the first sight of the life. There is no
excellent beauty, that hath not some strangeness in
the proportion. A man cannot tell, whether Apelles
or Albert Durer were the more trifler ; whereof the
one would make a personage by geometrical propor-
tions ; the other, by taking the best parts out of di-
vers faces, to make one excellent. Such personages,
I think, would please nobody but the painter that
made them. Not but I think a painter may make a
better face than ever was ; but he must do it by a
kind of felicity, as a musician that maketh an excel-
lent air in music, and not by rule. A man shall see
faces, that if you examine them part by part, you shall
never find a good ; and yet altogether do well. If it
be true, that the principal part of beauty is in decent
motion, certainly, it is no marvel, though persons in
years seem many times more amiable ; pulchrorum
autumnus pulcher : for no youth can be comely butby
pardon, and considering the youth, as to make up the
comeliness. Beauty is as summer fruits, which are
easy to corrupt, and cannot last : and for the most part
it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out of

358 Essays Civil and Moral.

countenance : but yet certainly again, if it light well,
it maketh virtues shine, and vices blush.

XLIV Of Deformity

Deformed persons are commonly even with
nature ; for as nature hath done ill by them, so do
they by nature ; being for the most part, as the Scrip-
ture saith, void of natural affection: and so they have
their revenge of nature. Certainly there is a consent
between the body and the mind, and where nature
erreth in the one, she ventureth in the other. Ubi
peccat in.uno, periclitatur in altero. But because
there is in man an election touching the frame of his
mind, and a necessity in the frame of his body, the stars
of natural inclination are sometimes obscured by the
sun of discipline and virtue : therefore it is good to con-
sider of deformity, not as a sign which is more deceiv-
able, but as a cause which seldom faileth of the effect.
Whosoever hath any thing fixed in his person that
doth induce contempt, hath also a perpetual spur in
himself, to rescue and deliver himself from scorn ;
therefore all deformed persons are extreme bold.
First, as in their own defence, as being exposed to
scorn ; but in process of time, by a general habit.
Also it stirreth in them industry, and especially of
this kind, to watch and observe the weakness of
others, that they may have somewhat to repay.
Again, in their superiors it quencheth jealousy to-
wards them, as persons that they think they may at
pleasure despise : and it layeth their competitors and
emulators asleep ; as never believing they should be
in possibility of advancement, till they see them in
possession. So that, upon the matter, in a great wit
deformity is an advantage to rising. Kings in ancient
times, and at this present, in some countries, were
wont to put great trust in eunuchs, because they that
are envious towards all, are more obnoxious and of-
ficious towards one. But yet their trust towards them
hath rather been as to good spials and good whis-
perers, than good magistrates and officers. And
much like is the reason of deformed persons. Still

Essays Civil and Moral. 359

the ground is, they will, if they be of spirit, seek to
free themselves from scorn ; which must be either by
virtue or malice. And therefore let it not be mar-
velled, if sometimes they prove excellent persons ; as
was Agesilaus, Zanger the Son of Solyman, iEsop,
Gasca president of Peru ; and Socrates may go like-
wise amongst them, with others.

XLV Of Building.

Houses are built to live in, and not to look on;
therefore let use be preferred before uniformity, ex-
cept where both may be had. Leave the goodly
fabrics of houses for beauty only, to the inchanted
palaces of the poets : who build them with small cost.
He that builds a fair house upon an ill seat, commit-
teth himself to prison. Neither do I reckon it an ill
seat only, where the air is unwholesome, but likewise
where the air is unequal ; as you shall see many fine
seats, set upon a knap of ground, environed with
higher hills round about it, whereby the heat of the
sun is pent in, and the wind gathereth as in troughs ;
so as you shall have, and that suddenly, as great di-
versity of heat and cold, as if you dwelt in several
places. Neither is it ill air only that maketh an ill seat ;
but ill ways, ill markets; and, if you will consult with
Momus, ill neighbours. I speak not of many more;
want of water, want of wood, shade, and shelter ;
want of fruitfulness, and mixture of grounds of several
natures ; want of prospect ; want of level grounds ;
want of places at some near distance for sports of
hunting, hawking, and races ; too near the sea, too
remote ; having the commodity of navigable rivers,
or the discommodity of their overflowing ; too far off
from great cities, which may hinder business ; or too
near them, which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh
every thing dear ; where a man hath a great living-
laid together, and where he is scanted : all which, as
it is impossible perhaps to find together, so it is good
to know them, and think of them, that a man may
takeas many as he can : and if he have several dwell-
ings that he sort them so, that what he wanteth in

360 Essays Civil and Moral.

the one, he may find in the other. Lucullus answered
Pompey well, who, when he saw his stately galleries
and rooms, so large and lightsome in one of his
houses, said, " Surely an excellent place for summer,
" but how do you do in winter ?" Lucullus an-
swered, " Why, do you not think me as wise as some
" fowls are, that ever change their abode towards
" the winter ?"

To pass from the seat to the house itself, we will do
as Cicero doth in the orator's art, who writes books
de oratore, and a book he entitles Orator ; whereof
the former delivers the precepts of the art, and the
latter the perfection. We will therefore describe a
princely palace, making a brief model thereof. For
it is strange to see, now in Europe, such huge build-
ings as the Vatican, and Escurial, and some others
be, and yet scarce a very fair room in them.

First therefore, I say, you cannot have a perfect
palace, except you have two several sides ; a side for
the banquet, as is spoken of in the book of Esther ;
and a side for the household : the one for feasts and
triumphs, the other for dwelling. I understand both
these sides to be not only returns, butpartsofthe front ;
and to be uniform without, though severally parti-
tioned within ; and to be on both sides of a great and
stately tower, in the midst of the front ; that as it
were joineth them together on either hand. I would
have on the side of the banquet, in front, one only
goodly room above stairs, of some forty foot high ;
and under it a room for a dressing or preparing place,
at times of triumphs. On the other side, which is
the household side, I wish it divided at the first into a
hall and a chapel, with a partition between, both of
good state and bigness ; and those not to go all the
length, but to have at the farther end a winter and a
summer parlour, both fair : and under these rooms a
fair and large cellar sunk under ground ; and likewise
some privy kitchens, with butteries and pantries,
and the like. As for the tower, I would have it two
stories, of eighteen foot high apiece, above the two
wings ; and a goodly leads upon the top, railed, with

Essays Civil and Moral. 36 1

statues interposed ; and the same tower to be divided
into rooms, as shall be thought fit. The stairs like-
wise to the upper rooms, let them be upon a fair open
newel, and finely railed in, with images of wood cast
into a brass colour ; and a very fair landing-place at
the top. But this to be, if you do not appoint any of
the lower rooms for a dining-place of servants ; for
otherwise you shall have the servants' dinner after your
own : for the steam of it will come up as in a tunnel.
And so much for the front. Only I understand the
height of the first stairs to be sixteen foot, which is
the height of the lower room.

Beyond this front is there to be a fair court, but
three sides of it of a far lower building than the front.
And in all the four corners of that court, fair stair-
cases cast into turrets on the outside, and not within
the row of buildings themselves : but those towers are
not to be of the height of the front, but rather propor-
tionable to the lower building. Let the court not be
paved, for that striketh up a great heat in summer,
and much cold in winter : but only some side alleys,
with a cross, and the quarters to graze, being kept
shorn, but not too near shorn. The row of return
on the banquet side, let it be all stately galleries ; in
which galleries let there be three, or five, fine cupo-
las, in the length of it, placed at equal distance ; and
fine coloured windows of several works. On the
household side, chambers of presence and ordinary
entertainments, with some bed-chambers ; and let all
three sides be a double house, without thorough lights
on the sides, that you may have rooms from the sun,
both for forenoon and afternoon. Cast it also, that
you may have rooms both for summer and winter ;
shady for summer and warm for winter. You shall
have sometimes fair houses so full of glass, that one
cannot tell where to become to be out of the sun or
cold. For imbowed windows, I hold them of good
use (in cities, indeed, upright do better, in respect of
the uniformity towards the street), for they be pretty
retiring places for conference ; and besides, they keep
both the wind and sun off; for that which would

362 Essays Civil and Moral.

strike almost through the room, doth scarce pass the
window. But let them be but few, four in the court,
on the sides only.

Beyond this court, let there be an inward court, of
the same square and height, which is to be environed
with the garden on all sides : and in the inside, clois-
tered on all sides upon decent and beautiful arches, as
high as the first story : on the under story, towards
the garden, let it be turned to a grotto, or place of
shade or estivation : and only have opening and win-
dows towards the garden, and be level upon the floor,
no whit sunk under ground, to avoid all dampishness.
And let there be a fountain, or some fair work of sta-
tues, in the midst of this court ; and to be paved as
the other court was. These buildings to be for privy
lodgings on both sides, and the end for privy galle-
ries: whereof you must foresee, that one of them be
for an infirmary, if the prince or any special person
should be sick, with chambers, bed-chamber, anteca-
memera and recamera, joining to it. This upon the
second story. Upon the ground-story, a fair gallery,
open, upon pillars ; and upon the third story, likewise,
an open gallery, upon pillars, to take the prospect
and freshness of the garden. At both corners of the
farther side, by way of return, let there be two deli-
cate or rich cabinets, daintily paved, richly hanged,
glazed with crystalline glass, and a rich cupola in the
midst; and all other elegancy that may be thought
upon. In the upper gallery too, I wish that there
may be, if the place will yield it, some fountains run-
ning in divers places from the wall, with some fine
avoidances. And thus much for the model of the
palace ; save that you must have, before you come to
the front, three courts : a green court plain, with a
wall about it : a second court of the same, but more
garnished, with little turrets, or rather embellishments
upon the wall ; and a third court, to make a square with
the front, but not to be built, nor yet enclosed with a
naked wall, but enclosed with terraces, leaded aloft,
and fairly garnished on the three sides ; and cloistered
on the inside with pillars, and not with arches' below.

Essays Civil and Moral 363

As for offices, let them stand at a distance, with some
low galleries to pass from them to the palace itself.

XLVI. Of Gardens.

God Almighty first planted a garden : and indeed
it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest
refreshment to the spirits of man ; without which,
buildings and palaces are but gross handy- works : and
a man shall ever see, that when ages grow to civility
and elegancy, men come to build stately, sooner than
to garden finely ; as if gardening were the greater
perfection. I do hold it, in the royal ordering of gar-
dens, there ought to be gardens for all the months in
the year : in which, severally, things of beauty may
be then in season. For December and January, and
the latter part of November, you must take such
things as are green all winter ; holly ; ivy ; bays ;
juniper; cypress-trees; yew; pine-apple trees ; fir-
trees ; rosemary ; lavender ; periwinkle, the white,
the purple, and the blue ; germander ; flags ; orange-
trees ; lemon-trees ; and myrtles, if they be stoved ;
and sweet marjoram, warm set. There followeth, for
the latter part of January and February, the mezereon
tree, which then blossoms ; crocus vermis, both the
yellow and the gray; primroses; anemonies; the early
tulip ; hyacinthus orient alis ; chamairis; fritellaria.
For March there come violets, especially the single
blue, which are the earliest ; the yellow daffodil ; the
daisy ; the almond-tree in blossom ; the peach-tree in
blospom ; the cornelian-tree in blossom ; sweetbriar.
In April follow the double white violet ; the wall-
flower; the stock-gilliflower ; the cowslip; flower-
de-luces; and lilies of all natures ; rosemary-flowers ;
the tuliy ; the double piony ; the pale daffodil ; the
French honeysuckle ; the cherry-tree in blossom ; the
damascene and plum-trees in blossom; the white-
thorn in leaf; the lilach-tree. In May and June
come pinks of all sorts ; especially the blush-pink ;
roses of all kinds, except the musk, which comes
later ; honeysuckles ; strawberries ; bugloss ; colum-
bine : the French marygold : jios Africanus; cherry-

364 Essays Civil and Moral.

tree in fruit ; ribes ; figs in fruit ; rasps vine-flowers ;
lavender in flowers ; the sweet satyrian, with the white
flower; herba muscaria ; lilium convalimm; the apple-
tree in blossom. In July come gilliflowers of all va-
rieties ; musk roses ; the lime-tree in blossom ; early
pears and plums in fruit, gennitings, codlins. In Au-
gust come plums of all sorts in fruit ; pears ; apricots ;
berberries ; filberds ; musk melons ; monks-hoods, of
all colours. In September come grapes; apples; pop-
pies of all colours; peaches; melo-cotones ; nectarines;
cornelians; wardens; quinces. In October, and the
beginning of November, come services; medlars; bul-
laces ; roses cut or removed to come late; hollyoaks,
and such like. These particulars are for the climate
of London : but my meaning is perceived, that you
may have ver perpetuum, as the place affords.

And because the breath of flowers is far sweeter in
the air, where it comes and goes, like the warbling
of music, than in the hand, therefore nothing is more
fit for that delight, than to know what be the flowers
and plants that do best perfume the air. Roses, da-
mask and red, are fast flowers of their smells : so that
you may walk by a whole row of them, and find no-
thing of their sweetness : yea, though it be in a morn-
ing's dew Bays likewise yield no smell, as they
grow; rosemary, little ; nor sweet marjorum. That
which above all others yields the sweetest smell in the
air, is the violet ; especially the white double violet,
which comes twice a year : about the middle of April,
and about Bartholomew-tide. Next to that is the
musk-rose; then the strawberry-leaves dying, with a
most excellent cordial smell ; then the flower of the
vines ; it is a little dust, like the dust of a bent, which
grows upon the cluster, in the first coming forth : then
sweetbriar : then wall-flowers, which are very de-
lightful, to be set under a parlour, or lower chamber
window ; then pinks and gilliflowers, especially the
matted pink, and clove-gill iflower ; then the flowers
of the lime-tree; then the honeysuckles, so they be
somewhat afar off. Of bean-flowers I speak not,
because they are field-flowers ; but those which per-

Essays Civil and Moral. 365

fume the air most delightfully, not passed by as the
rest, but being trodden upon and crushed, are three ;
that is, burnet, wild thyme, and water mints. There-
fore you are to set whole alleys of them, to have the
pleasure when you walk or tread.

For gardens, speaking of those which are indeed
prince-like, as we have done of buildings, the con-
tents ought not well to be under thirty acres of
ground, and to be divided into three parts : a green
in the entrance ; a heath or desert in the going forth ;
and the main garden in the midst; besides alleys on
both sides. And I like well, that four acres of ground
be assigned to the green, six to the heath, four and
four to either side, and twelve to the main garden.
The green hath two pleasures ; the one, because no-
thing is more pleasant to the eye than green grass kept
finely shorn ; the other, because it will give you a
fair alley in the midst; by which you may go in front
upon a stately hedge, which is to enclose the garden.
But because the alley will be long, and in great heat
of the year or day, you ought not to buy the shade in
the garden by going in the sun through the green ;
therefore you are, of either side the green, to plant a
covert alley, upon carpenters' work, about twelve foot
in height, by which you may go in shade into the
garden. As for the making of knots or figures, with
divers coloured earths, that they may lie under the
windows of the house, on that side which the garden
stands, they be but toys ; you may see as good sights,
many times, in tarts. The garden is best to be square,
encompassed on all the four sides with a stately arched
hedge : the arches to be upon pillars of carpenters'
work, of some ten foot high, and six foot broad ; and
the spaces between of the same dimension with the
breadth of the arch. Over the arches let there be
an entire hedge, of some four foot high, framed also
upon carpenters' work ; and upon the upper hedge,
over every arch, a little turret, with a belly enough
to receive a cage of birds ; and over every space
between the arches, some other little figure, with
broad plates of round coloured glass, gilt, for the sun

366 Essays Civil and Moral.

to play upon. But this hedge I intend to be raised
upon a bank, not steep, but gently slope, of some
six foot, set all with flowers. Also I understand,
that this square of the garden should not be the
whole breadth of the ground, but to leave on either
side ground enough for diversity of side alleys ; unto
which the two covert alleys of the green may deliver
you : but there must be no alleys with hedges at
either end of this great enclosure ; not at the hither
end, for letting your prospect upon the fair hedge
from the green ; nor at the further end, for letting
your prospect from the hedge, through the arches,
upon the heath.

For the ordering of the ground within the great
hedge, I leave it to variety of device ; advising
nevertheless, that whatsoever form you cast it into,
first it be not too busy, or full of work : wherein I, for
my part, do not like images cut out in juniper or
other garden stuff; they be for children. Little low
hedges round, like welts, with some pretty pyramids,
I like well; and in some places, fair columns upon
frames of carpenters' work. I would also have the
alleys spacious and fair. You may have closer alleys
upon the side grounds, but none in the main garden.
I wish also, in the very middle, a fair mount, with
three ascents and alleys, enough for four to walk
a-breast; which I would have to be perfect circles,
without any bulwarks or embossments; and the
whole mount to be thirty foot high ; and some fine
banquetting house, with some chimneys neatly cast,
and without too much glass.

For fountains, they are a great beauty and refresh-
ment ; but pools mar all, and make the garden un-
wholesome, and full of flies and frogs. Fountains I
intend to be of two natures : the one that sprinkleth
or spouteth water ; the other a fair receipt of water,
of some thirty or forty foot square, but without fish,
or slime, or mud. For the first, the ornaments of
images gilt, or of marble, which are in use, do well:
but the main matter is so to convey the water, as it
never stay either in the bowls, or in the cistern; that

Essays Civil and Moral. 367

the water be never by rest discoloured, green or red
or the like ; or gather any mossiness or putrefaction
Besides that, it is to be cleansed every day by the
hand. Also some steps up to it, and some fine pave-
ment about it doth well. As for the other kind of
fountain, which we may call a bathing pool, it may
admit much curiosity and beauty, wherewith we
will not trouble ourselves ; as, that the bottom be
finely paved, and with images ; the sides likewise ;
and withal embellished with coloured glass, and such
things of lustre ; encompassed also with fine rails of
low statues. But the main point is the same which
we mentioned in the former kind of fountain ; which
is, that the water be in perpetual motion, fed by a
water higher than the pool, and delivered into it by
fair spouts, and then discharged away under ground
by some equality of bores, that it stay little. And
for fine devices of arching water without spilling,
and making it rise in several forms, of feathers,
drinking-glasses, canopies, and the like, they be
pretty things to look on, but nothing to health and
sweetness.

For the heath, which was the third part of our
plot, I wish it to be framed as much as may be to
a natural wildness. Trees I would have none in it,
but some thickets made only of sweetbriar and
honeysuckle, and some wild vine amongst ; and the
ground set with violets, strawberries, and primroses.
For these are sweet and prosper in the shade. And
these to be in the heath here and there, not in any
order. I like also little heaps, in the nature of mole-
hills, such as are in wild heaths, to be set, some with
wild thyme, some with pinks, some with germander,
that gives a good flower to the eye, some with peri-
winkle, some with violets, some with strawberries,
some with cowslips, some with daisies, some with red
roses, some with lilium convallium, some with sweet-
williams red, some with bears-foot, and the like low
flowers, being withal sweet and sightly. Part of
which heaps to be with standards of little bushes,
prickt upon their top, and part without. The

368 Essays Civil and Moral.

standards to be roses, juniper, holly, berberries, but
here and there, because of the smell of their blossom,
red currants, gooseberries, rosemary, bays, sweet-
briar, and such like. But these standards to be kept
with cutting, that they grow not out of course.

For the side grounds, you are to fill them with va-
riety of alleys, private, to give a full shade, some of
them, wheresoever the sun be. You are to frame
some of them likewise for shelter, that when the
wind blows sharp, you may walk as in a gallery.
And those alleys must be likewise hedged at both
ends, to keep out the wind ; and these closer alleys
must be ever finely gravelled, and no grass, because
of going wet. In many of these alleys likewise, you
are to set fruit-trees of all sorts ; as well upon the
walls as in ranges. And this would be generally
observed, .that the borders wherein you plant your
fruit-trees, be fair and large, and low, and not steep ;
and set with fine flowers, but thin and sparingly, lest
they deceive the trees. At the end of both the side
grounds, I would have a mount of some pretty height,
leaving the wall of the enclosure breast high, to look
abroad into the fields.

For the main garden, I do not deny but there
should be some fair alleys, ranged on both sides, with
fruit-trees, and some pretty tufts of fruit-trees, and
arbours with seats, set in some decent order; but
these to be by no means set too thick, but to leave the
main garden so as it be not close, but the air open
and free. For as for shade, I would have you rest
upon the alleys of the side grounds, there to walk,
if you be disposed, in the heat of the year or day ;
but to make account, that the main garden is for the
more temperate parts of the year ; and in the heat of
summer, for the morning and the evening, or over-
cast days.

For aviaries, I like them not, except they be of that
largeness, as they may be turfed, and have living
plants and bushes set in them ; that the birds may
have more scope, and natural nestling, and that no
foulness appear in the floor of the aviary.

Essays Civil and Moral. 369

So I have made a platform of a princely garden,
partly by precept, partly by drawing ; not a model,
but some general lines of it; and in this I have
spared for no cost. But it is nothing for great princes,
that for the most part, taking advicet with workmen,
with no less cost set their things together ; and some-
times add statues, and such things, for state and mag-
nificence; but nothing to the true pleasure of a
garden.

XLVII. Of Negotiating.

It is generally better to deal by speech, than by
letter ; and by the mediation of a third, than by a
man's self. Letters are good, when a man would
draw an answer by letter back again ; or when it
may serve for a mans justification, afterwards to pro-
duce his own letter; or where it may be danger to be
interrupted, or heard by pieces. To deal in person
is good, when a man's face breedeth regard, as com-
monly with inferiors ; or in tender cases, where a
man's eye upon the countenance of him with whom
he speaketh, may give him a direction how far to
go : and generally where a man will reserve to him-
self liberty, either to disavow, or to expound. In
choice of instruments, it is better to choose men of a
plainer sort, that are like to do that that is com-
mitted to them, and to report back again faithfully
the success ; than those that are cunning to contrive
out of other men's business somewhat to grace them-
selves, and will help the matter in report, for satisfac-
tion sake. Use also such persons as affect the busi-
ness wherein they are employed, for that quickeneth
much ; and such as are fit for the matter ; as bold
men for expostulation, fair-spoken men for persuasion,
crafty men for inquiry and observation, froward and
absurd men for business that doth not well bear out
itself. Use also such as have been lucky, and pre-
vailed before in things wherein you have employed
them; for that breeds confidence, and they will strive
to maintain their prescription. It is better to sound
a person with whom one deals, acar off, than to fall

VOL. II. 2 B

370 Essays CiviLand Moral.

upon the point at first ; except you mean to surprise
him by some short question. It is better dealing with
men in appetite, than with those that are where they
would be. If a man deal with another upon con-
ditions, the star* or first performance is all ; which a
man cannot reasonably demand, except either the
nature of the thing be such which must go before ;
or else a man can persuade the other party, that he
shall still need him in some other thing ; or else that
he be counted the honester man. All practice is to
discover, or to work. Men discover themselves in
trust, in passion, at unawares, and of necessity, when
they would have somewhat done, and cannot find an
apt pretext. If you would work any man, you must
either know his nature and fashions, and so lead
him ; or his ends, and so persuade him ; or his weak-
ness and disadvantages, and so awe him ; or those
that have interest in him, and so govern him. In
dealing with cunning persons, we must ever con-
sider their ends to interpret their speeches ; and it is
good to say little to them, and that which they least
look for. In all negotiations of difficulty, a man may
not look to sow and reap at once ; but must prepare
business, and so ripen it by degrees.

XLVIII. Of Followers and Friends.

Costly followers are not to be liked ; lest, while
a man maketh his train longer, he make his wings
shorter. I reckon to be costly, not them alone which
charge the purse, but which are wearisome and im-
portune in suits. Ordinary followers ought to chal-
lenge no higher conditions than countenance, recom-
mendation, and protection from wrongs. Factious
followers are worse to be liked, which follow not
upon affection to him with whom they range them-
selves, but upon discontentment conceived against
some other : whereupon commonly ensueth that ill
intelligence that we many times see between great
personages. Likewise glorious followers, who make
themselves as trumpets of the commendation of those
they follow, are full of inconvenience; for they taint

Essays Civil and Moral. 37 1

business through want of secrecy ; and they export
honour from a man, and make him a return in envy.
There is a kind of followers, likewise, which are dan-
gerous, being indeed espials; which inquire the se-
crets of the house, and bear tales of them to others.
Yet such men many times are in great favour ; for
they are officious, and commonly exchange tales. The
following by certain estates of men answerable to
that which a great person himself professeth, as of
soldiers to him that hath been employed in the wars,
and the like, hath ever been a thing civil, and well
taken even in monarchies ; so it be without too much
pomp or popularity. But the most honourable kind
of following, is to be followed as one that appre-
hendeth to advance virtue and desert in all sorts of
persons. And yet where there is no eminent odds in
sufficiency, it is better to take with the more passable
than with the more able. And besides, to speak
truth, in base times active men are of more use than
virtuous. It is true, that in government, it is good to
use men of one rank equally: for to countenance
some extraordinarily, is to make them insolent, and
the rest discontent ; because they may claim a due.
But contrariwise in favour, to use men with much
difference and election is good ; for it maketh the
persons preferred more thankful, and the rest more
officious ; because all is of favour. It is good discre-
tion not to make too much of any man at the first ;
because one cannot hold out that proportion. To be
governed, as we call it, by one, is not safe ; for it
shews softness, and gives a freedom to scandal and
disreputation ; for those that would not censure, or
speak ill of a man immediately, will talk more boldly
of those that are so great with them, and thereby
wound their honour. Yet to be distracted with
many, is worse ; for it makes men to be of the last
impression, and full of change. To take advice of
some few friends is ever honourable ; for lookers-on
many times see more than gamesters ; and the vale
best discovereth the hill. There is little friendship in
the world, and least of all between equals, which was

2 b 2

372 Essays Civil and Moral.

wont to be magnified. That that is, is between su-
perior and inferior, whose fortunes may comprehend
the one the other.

XLIX. Of Suitors.

Many ill matters and projects are undertaken ;
and private suits do putrify the public good. Many
good matters are undertaken with bad minds ; I mean
not only corrupt minds, but crafty minds, that intend
not performance. Some embrace suits, which never
mean to deal effectually in them ; but if they see there
may be life in the matter by some other mean, they
will be content to win a thank, or take a second re-
ward, or at least to make use in the mean time of the
suitor's hopes. Some take hold of suits, only for an
occasion to cross some other, or to make an informa-
tion, whereof they could not otherwise have apt pre-
text; without care what become of the suit when
that turn is served : or generally, to make other men's
business a kind of entertainment to bring in their
own. Nay, some undertake suits, with a full purpose
to let them fall; to the end to gratify the adverse
party or competitor. Surely there is in some sort a
right in every suit; either a right of equity, if it be a
suit of controversy ; or a right of desert, if it be a
suit of petition. If affection lead a man to favour the
wrong side in justice, let him rather use his counte-
nance to compound the matter than to carry it. If
affection lead a man to favour the less worthy in
desert, let him do it without depraving or disabling
the better deserver. In suits which a man doth not
well understand, it is good to refer them to some
friend of trust and judgment, that may report whe-
ther he may deal in them with honour; but let him
choose well his referendaries, for else he may be led
by the nose. Suitors are so distasted with delays and
abuses, that plain dealing in denying to deal in suits
at first, and reporting the success barely, and in chal-
lenging no more thanks than one hath deserved, is
grown not only honourable, but also gracious. In
suits of favour, the first coming ought to take little

Essays Civil and Moral. 373

place; so far forth consideration may be had of his
trust, that, if intelligence of the matter could not
otherwise have been had but by him, advantage be
not taken of the note, but the party left to his other
means, and in some sort recompensed for his dis-
covery. To be ignorant of the value of a suit, is
simplicity ; as well as to be ignorant of the right
thereof, is want of conscience. Secrecy in suits is a
great mean of obtaining; for voicing them to be in
forwardness, may discourage some kind of suitors;
but doth quicken and awake others. But timing of
the suit is the principal: timing, I say, not only in
respect of the person that should grant it, but in
respect of those which are like to cross it. Let a
man, in the choice of his mean, rather choose the
fittest mean than the greatest mean: and rather them
that deal in certain things than those that are ge-
neral. The reparation of a denial is sometimes equal
to the first grant; if a man shew himself neither de-
jected nor discontented. Iniquum petas, ut eequum
/eras, is a good rule, where a man hath strength of
favour; but otherwise a man were better rise in his
suit; for he that would have ventured at first to have
lost the suitor, will not in the conclusion lose both
the suitor and his own former favour. Nothing is
thought so easy a request to a great person, as his
letter; and yet, if it be not in a good cause, it is so
much out of his reputation. There are no worse
instruments than these general contrivers of suits ;
for they are but a kind of poison and infection to
public proceedings.

L. Of Studies.

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for
ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness
and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for
ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business.
For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of
particulars, one by one ; but the general counsels, and
the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from
those that are learned. To spend too much time in

374 Essays Civil and Moral.

studies, is sloth ; to use them too much for ornament,
is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules,
is the humour of a scholar. They perfect nature, and
are perfected by experience : for natural abilities are
like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and
studies themselves do give forth directions too much
at large, except they be bounded in by experience.
Crafty men contemn studies; simple men admire
them; and wise men use them: for they teach not their
own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and
above them, won by observation. Read not to con-
tradict and confute ; nor to believe and take for grant-
ed; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and
consider. Some books are to tasted, others to be
swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested :
that is, some books are to be read only in parts ;
others to be read, but not curiously ; and some few
to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts
made of them by others; but that would be only in
the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of
books : else distilled books are like common distilled
waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man;
conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.
And therefore if a man write little, he had need have
a great memory; if he confer little, he had need
have a present wit; and if he read little, he had
need have much cunning, to seem to know that he
doth not. Histories make men wise ; poets, witty ;
the mathematics, subtile; natural philosophy, deep;
moral, grave ; logic and rhetoric, able to contend :
Abeunt studia in morses. Nay, there is no stond or
impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by
fit studies ; like as diseases of the body may have ap-
propriate exercises : bowling is good for the stone
and reins ; shooting for the lungs and breast ; gentle
walking for the stomach ; riding for the head ; and
the like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let him
study the mathematics ; for in demonstrations, if his
wit be called away never so little, he must begin
again : if bis wit be not apt to distinguish or find dif-

Essays Civil a7id Moral. 375

ferences, let him study the schoolmen ; for they are
cymini sectores : if he be not apt to beat over mat-
ters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate
another, let him study the lawyers' cases : so every
defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

LI. Of Faction.

Many have an opinion not wise; that for a prince
to govern his estate, or for a great person to govern
his proceedings, according to the respect of factions,
is a principal part of policy ; whereas, contrariwise,
the chiefest wisdom is, either in ordering those things
which are general, and wherein men of several fac-
tions do nevertheless agree, or in dealing with cor-
respondence to particular persons, one by one. But
I say not, that the consideration of factions is to be
neglected. Mean men, in their rising, must adhere;
but great men, that have strength in themselves, were
better to maintain themselves indifferent and neutral.
Yet even in beginners, to adhere so moderately, as
he be a man of the one faction, which is most pass-
able with the other, commonly giveth best way The
lower and weaker faction is the firmer in conjunction:
and it is often seen, that a few that are stiff do tire
out a greater number that are more moderate. When
one of the factions is extinguished, the remaining
subdivideth : as the factions between Lucullus and the
rest of the nobles of the senate, which they called opti-
mates, held out a while against the faction of Pompey
and Caesar : but when the senate's authority was pull-
ed down, Csesar and Pompey soon after brake. The
faction or party of Antonius and Octavianus Csesar,
against Brutus and Cassius, held out likewise for a
time : but when Brutus and Cassius were overthrown,
then soon after Antonius and Octavianus brake and
subdivided. These examples are of wars; but the
same holdeth in private factions. And therefore those
that are seconds in factions, do many times, when the
faction subdivideth, prove principals : but many times
also they prove cyphers and cashiered ; for many a
man s strength is in opposition ; and, when that faiLeth,

376 Essays Civil and Moral.

he groweth out of use. It is commonly seen, that
men once placed, take in with the contrary faction to
that by which they enter; thinking- belike that they
have the first sure, and now are ready for a new pur-
chase. The traitor in faction lightly goeth away with
it : for when matters have stuck long in balancing, the
winning of some one man casteth them, and he get-
teth all the thanks. The even carriage between two
factions, proceedeth not always of moderation, but of
a trueness to a man's self, with end to make use of
both. Certainly in Italy they hold it a little suspect
in popes, when they have ofen in their mouth Padre
commune: and take it to be a sign of one that mean-
eth to refer all to the greatness of his own house.
Kings had need beware how they side themselves,
and make themselves as of a faction or party; for
leagues within the state are ever pernicious to monar-
chies ; for they raise an obligation paramount to obli-
gation of sovereignty, and make the king tanquam
unus ex nobis; as was to be seen in the. league of
France. When factions are carried too high, and too
violently, it is a sign of weakness in princes, and
much to the prejudice both of their authority and bu-
siness. The motions of factions under kings ought
to be like the motions, as the astronomers speak, of
the inferior orbs; which may have their proper mo-
tions, but yet still are quietly carried by the higher
motion of primum mobile.

LII. Of Ceremonies and Respects.

He that is only real, had need have exceeding
great parts of virtue : as the stone had need to be
rich, that is set without foil : but if a man mark it
well, it is in praise and commendation of men, as it is
in gettings and gains. For the proverb is true, that
light gains make heavy purses : for light gains come
thick, whereas great come but now and then. So it
is true, that small matters win great commendation,
because they are continually in use, and in note;
whereas the occasion of any great virtue cometh but

Essays Civil and Moral. 377

on festivals : therefore it doth much add to a man's
reputation, and is, as queen Isabella said, like per-
petual letters commendatory, to have good forms.
To attain them, it almost sufficeth not to despise them :
for so shall a man observe them in others ; and let him
trust himself with the rest. For if he labour too much
to express them, he shall lose their grace; which is,
to be natural and unaffected. Some men's behaviour
is like a verse, wherein every syllable is measured:
how can a man comprehend great matters, that break-
eth his mind too much to small observations? Not
to use ceremonies at all, is to teach others not to use
them again, and so diminisheth respect to himself;
especially they be not to be omitted to strangers and
formal natures: but the dwelling upon them, and ex-
alting them above the moon, is not only tedious, but
doth diminish the faith and credit of him that speaks.
And certainly there is a kind of conveying of effectual
and imprinting passages, amongst compliments, which
is of singular use, if a man can hit upon it. Amongst
a man's peers, a man shall be sure of familiarity ; and
therefore it is good a little to keep state. Amongst
a man's inferiors, one shall be sure of reverence ; and
therefore it is good a little to be familiar. He that is
too much in any thing, so that he giveth another
occasion of satiety, maketh himself cheap. To ap-
ply one's self to others, is good; so it be with demon-
stration that a man doth it upon regard, and not upon
facility. It is a good precept, generally in seconding
another, yet to add somewhat of one's own; as if you
will grant his opinion, let it be with some distinction ;
if you will follow his motion, let it be with condition;
if you allow his counsel, let it be with alledging far-
ther reason. Men had need beware how they be too
perfect in compliments; for be they never so sufficient
otherwise, their enviers will be sure to give them that
attribute, to the disadvantage of their greater virtues.
It is loss also in business, to be too full of respects, or
to be too curious in observingtimes and opportunities :
Solomon saith, He that considereth the wind, shall
not sow; and he that looketh to the clouds, shall not

378 Essays Civil and Moral.

reap. A wise man will make more opportunities
than he finds. Men's behaviour should be like their
apparel ; not too straight or point device, but free for
exercise or motion.

LIII. Of Praise.

Praise is the reflection of virtue: but it is as the
glass or body which giveth the reflection. If it be
from the common people, it is commonly false and
nought; and rather followeth vain persons than vir-
tuous ; for the common people understand not many
excellent virtues : the lowest virtues draw praise from
them ; the middle virtues work in them astonishment
or admiration ; but of the highest virtues they have
no sense or perceiving at all : but shews, and species
virtutibus similes, serve best with them. Certainly
fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and
swoln, and drowns things weighty and solid : but if
persons of quality and judgment concur, then it is, as
the Scripture saith, Nomen bonum instar unguenti
fragrantis. It filleth all round about, and will not
easily away : for the odours of ointments are more
durable than those of flowers. There be so many
false points of praise, that a man may justly hold it
a suspect. Some praises proceed merely of flattery ;
and if he be an ordinary flatterer, he will have cer-
tain common attributes, which may serve every man ;
if he be a cunning flatterer, he will follow the arch-
flatterer, which is a man's self; and wherein a man
thinketh best of himself, therein the flatterer will up-
hold him most : but if he be an impudent flatterer,
look, wherein a man is conscious to himself that he
is most defective, and is most out of countenance in
himself, that will the flatterer entitle him to perforce,
spreta conscientia. Some praises come of good wishes
and respects, which is a form due in civility to kings
and great persons; lauclando prcecipere ; when by tell-
ing men what they are, they represent to them what
they should be. Some men are praised maliciously
to their hurt, thereby to stir envy and jealousy to-
wards them : pessimum genus inimicorwn laudan-

Essays Civil and Moral. 379

tium; insomuch as it was a proverb amongst the Gre-
cians, that he that was praised to his hurt, should
have a push rise upon his nose; as we say, that a
blister will rise upon one's tongue that tells a lie.
Certainly moderate praise, used with opportunity, and
not vulgar, is that which doth the good. Solomon
saith, He that praiseth his friend aloud, rising early,
it shall be to him no better than a curse. Too much
magnifying of man or matter, doth irritate contradic-
tion, and procure envy and scorn. To praise a man's
self cannot be decent, except it be in rare cases : but
to praise a man's office or profession, he may do it
with good grace, and with a kind of magnanimity.
The cardinals of Rome, which are theologues, and
friars, and schoolmen, have a phrase of notable con-
tempt and scorn towards civil business ; for they call
all temporal business, of wars, embassages, judicature,
and other employments, sbirrerie, which is under-
sheriffries, as if they were but matters for under-
sheriffs and catchpoles ; though many times those un-
der-sheriffries do more good than their high specula-
tions. St. Paul, when he boasts of himself, he doth
oft interlace, I speak like a fool; but speaking of his
calling, he saith, magnificabo apostolatum meum.

LIV Of Vain-Glory

It was prettily devised of iEsop : The fly sat upon
the axle-tree of the chariot- wheel, and said, What
a dust do I raise! So are there some vain persons,
that whatsoever goeth alone, or moveth upon greater
means, if they have never so little hand in it, they
think it is they that carry it. They that are glorious
must needs be factious; for all bravery stands upon
comparisons. They must needs be violent, to make
good their own vaunts: neither can they be secret,
and therefore not effectual; but, according to the
French proverb, Beaucoup de bruit, peu de fruit:
Much bruit, little fruit. Yet certainly there is use of
this quality in civil affairs : where there is an opinion,
and fame to be created, either of virtue or greatness,
these men are good trumpeters. Again, as Titus

380 Essays Civil and Moral.

Livius noteth, in the case of Antiochus and the iEto-
lians, there are sometimes great effects of cross lies ;
as if a man that negotiates between two princes, to
draw them to join in a war against the third, doth
extol the forces of either of them above measure, the
one to the other : and sometimes he that deals be-
tween man and man, raiseth his own credit with both,
by pretending greater interest than he hath in either.
And in these and the like kinds, it often falls out,
that somewhat is produced of nothing ; for lies are
sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on sub-
stance. In military commanders and soldiers, vain-
glory is an essential point; for as iron sharpens iron,
so by glory one courage sharpeneth another : in cases
of great enterprise, upon charge and adventure, a
composition of glorious natures doth put life into bu-
siness ; and those that are of solid and sober natures
have more of the ballast than of the sail. In fame of
learning the flight will be slow, without some fea-
thers of ostentation: Qui de contemnenda gloria
libidos scribunt nomen suum inscribunt. Socrates,
Aristotle, Galen, were men full of ostentation. Cer-
tainly vain-glory helpeth to perpetuate a man's me-
mory ; and virtue was never so beholden to human
nature, as it received its due at the second hand.
Neither had the fame of Cicero, Seneca, Plinius Se-
cundus, borne her age so well, if it had not been joined
with some vanity in themselves : like unto varnish,
that makes ceilings not only shine but last. But all
this while, when I speak of vain-glory, I mean not of
that property that Tacitus doth attribute to Muci-
anus ; omnium, qucE dlverat, feceratque, arte quadam
ostentator: for that proceeds not of vanity, but of
natural magnanimity and discretion: and in some
persons, is not only comely but gracious. For excu-
sations, cessions, modesty itself well governed, are but
arts of ostentation. And amongst those arts, there is
none better than that which Plinius Secundus speak-
eth of ; which is to be liberal of praise and commen-
dation to others, in that wherein a man's self hath any
perfection. For, saith Pliny, very wittily, " in com-

Essays Civil and Moral. 381

" mending another you do yourself right ; for he that
" you commend is either superior to you in that you
" commend, or inferior. If he be inferior, if he be
" to be commended, you much more. If he be su-
" perior, if he be not to be commended, you much
" less." Glorious men are the scorn of wise men ;
the admiration of fools ; the idols of parasites ; and
the slaves of their own wants.

LV Of Honour and Reputation.

The winning of honour is but the revealing of a
man's virtue and worth without disadvantage. For
some in their actions do woo and affect honour and
reputation ; which sort of men are commonly much
talked of, but inwardly little admired." And some,
contrariwise, darken their virtue in the shew of it ; so
as they be undervalued in opinion. If a man per-
form that which hath not been attempted before, or
attempted and given over ; or hath been atchieved, but
not with so good circumstance ; he shall purchase
more honour than by effecting a matter of greater
difficulty or virtue, wherein he is but a follower. If
a man so temper his actions, as in some one of them
he doth content every faction or combination of peo-
ple, the music will be the fuller. A man is an ill hus-
band of his honour, that entereth into any action, the
failing wherein may disgrace him more than the
carrying of it through can honour him. Honour that
is gained and broken upon another, hath the quickest
reflection, like diamonds cut with fascets. And there-
fore let a man contend or excel any competitors of his
in honour, in out-shooting them, if he can, in their
own bow. Discreet followers and servants help much
to reputation : omnis fama a domesticis emanat. Envy,
which is the canker of honour, is best extinguished
by declaring a man's self, in his ends rather to seek
merit than fame; and by attributing a man's suc-
cesses rather to divine providence and felicity, than
to his own virtue or policy. The true marshalling of
the degrees of sovereign honour, are these. In the
first place are conditores imperiorum ; founders of

382 Essays Civil and Moral.

states and commonwealths ; such as were Romulus,
Cyrus, Caesar, Ottoman, Ismael. In the second place
are legislator's, lawgivers, which are also called se-
cond founders, or perpetui principes, because they
govern by their ordinances, after they are gone : such
were Lycurgus, Solon, Justinian, Edgar, Alphonsus of
Castile the Wise, that made the Siete partidas. In
the third place are liberatores, or salvatores; such as
compound the long miseries of civil wars, or deliver
their countries from servitude of strangers or tyrants ;
as Augustus Caesar, Vespasianus, Aurelianus, Theo-
doricus, king Henry the Seventh of England, king
Henry the Fourth of France. In the fourth place are
propagatores, or propugnatores imperii, such as in
honourable wars enlarge their territories, or make
noble defence against invaders. And, in the last
place, are patres patriae, which reign justly, and make
the times good wherein they live. Both which last
kinds need no examples, they are in such number.
Degrees of honour in subjects are ; first, participescu-
rarum, those upon whom princes do discharge the
greatest weight of their affairs ; their right hands, as we
call them. The next are duces belli, great leaders ; such
are princes' lieuteuants, and do them notable services
in the wars. The third are gratiosi, favourites; such
as exceed not this scantling, to be solace to the so-
vereign, and harmless to the people : and the fourth,
negotiis pares; such as have great places under
princes, and execute their places with sufficiency.
There is an honour likewise, which may be ranked
amongst the greatest, which happeneth rarely: that
is, of such as sacrifice themselves to death or danger
for the good of their country ; as was M. Regulus,
and the two Decii.

LVI. Of Judicature.

Judges ought to remember that their office isjus
dicere, and not jus dare; to interpret law, and not to
make law, or give law. Else will it be like the au-
thority claimed by the Church of Rome ; which, un-
der pretext of exposition of Scripture, doth not stick

Essays Civil and Moral. 383

to add and alter ; and to pronounce that which they
do not find ; and by shew of antiquity to introduce
novelty Judges ought to be more learned than witty ;
more reverend than plausible ; and more advised than
confident. Above all things, integrity is their por-
tion and proper virtue. Cursed, saith the law, is he
that removeth the land-mark. The mislayer of a mere-
stone is to blame : but it is the unjust judge that is
the capital remover of land-marks, when he defineth
amiss of lands and property One foul sentence doth
more hurt than many foul examples. For these do
but corrupt the stream : the other corrupteth the foun-
tain. So saith Solomon ; Fons turbatus, et vena cor-
rupta, est Justus cadens in causa sua coram adversario.
The office of judges may have reference unto the
parties that sue; unto the advocates that plead; unto
the clerks and ministers of justice underneath them;
and to the sovereign or state above them.

First, for the causes or parties that sue. There be,
saith the Scripture, that turn judgment into worm-
wood; and surely there be also that turn it into vine-
gar; for injustice maketh it bitter, and delays make
it sour. The principal duty of a judge is, to suppress
force and fraud ; whereof force is the more pernicious
when it is open ; and fraud when it is close and dis-
guised. Add thereto contentious suits, which ought
to be spewed out as the surfeit of courts. A judge
ought to prepare his way to a just sentence, as God
useth to prepare his way, by raising valleys and taking
down hills : so when there appeareth on either side a
high hand, violent prosecution, cunning advantages
taken, combination, power, great counsel, then is the
virtue of a judge seen, to make inequality equal ; that
he may plant his judgment as upon an even ground.
Qui fortiter emungit, elicit sanguinem; and where the
wine-press is hard wrought, it yields a harsh wine,
that tastes of the grape-stone. Judges must beware of
hard constructions and strained inferences ; for there
is no worse torture than the torture of laws : especially
in case of laws penal they ought to have care, that
that which was meant for terror be not turned into

384 Essays Civil and Moral.

rigour ; and that they bring not upon the people that
shower whereof the Scripture speaketh, pluet super
eos laqueos: for penal laws pressed are a shower of
snares upon the people. Therefore let penal laws, if
they have been sleepers of long, or if they be grown
unfit for the present time, be by wise judges confined
in the execution : Judiciis qfficium est, ut res, ita tem-
pora rerum, etc. In causes of life and death, judges
ought, as far as the law permitteth, injustice, to re-
member mercy; and to cast a severe eye upon the
example, but a merciful eye upon the person.

Secondly, for the advocates and counsel that plead :
patience and gravity of hearing is an essential part of
justice; and an over-speaking judge is no well-tuned
cymbal. It is no grace to a judge, first to find that
which he might have heard in due time from the bar;
or to shew, quickness of conceit in cutting off evi-
dence or counsel too short ; or to prevent information
by questions, though pertinent. The parts of a judge
in hearing, are four : to direct the evidence; to mode-
rate length, repetition, or impertinency of speech ; to
recapitulate, select, and collate the material points of
that which hath been said ; and to give the rule or
sentence. Whatsoever is above these, is too much ;
and proceedeth either of glory and willingness to
speak, or of impatience to hear, or of shortness of
memory, or of want of a stayed and equal attention.
It is a strange thing to see that the boldness of advo-
cates should prevail with judges; whereas they should
imitate God, in whose seat they sit ; who represseth
the presumptuous, and giveth grace to the modest. But
it is more strange that judges should have noted fa-
vourites ; which cannot but cause multiplication of
fees, and suspicion of by-ways. There is due from
the judge to the advocate some commendation and
gracing where causes are well handled, and fair
pleaded : especially towards the side which obtain-
eth not ; for that upholds in the client the reputation
of his counsel, and beats down in him the conceit of
his cause. There is likewise due to the public a civil
reprehension of advocates, where there appeareth cun-

Essays Civil and Moral. 385

ning counsel, gross neglect, slight information, indis-
creet pressing, or an over-bold defence. And let not
the counsel at the bar chop with the judge, nor wind
himself into the handling of the cause anew, after the
judge hath declared his sentence : but, on the other
side, let not the judge meet the cause half way ; nor
give occasion to the party to say, his counsel or
proofs were not heard.

Thirdly, for that that concerns clerks and ministers.
The place of justice is an hallowed place ; and there-
fore not only the bench, but the footpace, and pre-
cincts, and purprise thereof, ought to be preserved
without scandal and corruption. For certainly grapes,
as the Scripture saith, will not he gathered of thorns
or thistles: neither can justice yield her fruit with
sweetness, amongst the briers and brambles of catch-
ing and polling clerks and ministers. The attendance
of courts is subject to four bad instruments. First,
certain persons that are sowers of suits ; which make
the court swell, and the country pine. The second
sort is of those that engage courts in quarrels of juris-
diction, and are not truly amici curice, but parasiti
curia, in puffing a court up beyond her bounds, for
their own scraps and advantage. The third sort is of
those that may be accounted the left hands of courts;
persons that are full of nimble and sinister tricks
and shifts, whereby they pervert the plain and direct
courses of courts, and bring justice into oblique lines
and labyrinths. And the fourth is, the poller and
exacter of fees ; which justifies the common resem-
blance of the courts of justice to the bush, where-
unto while the sheep flies for defence in weather,
he is sure to lose part of his fleece. On the other
side, an ancient clerk, skilful in precedents, wary in
proceeding, and understanding in the business of the
court, is an excellent finger of a court, and doth
many times point the way to the judge himself.

Fourthly, for that which may concern the sovereign
and estate. Judges ought above all to remember the
conclusion of the Roman twelve tables ; solus populi
supremo lex ; and to know that laws, except they be

VOL. II. 2 c

386 Essays Civil and Moral.

in order to that end, are but things captious, and
oracles not well inspired. Therefore it is an happy
thing in a state, when kings and states do often con-
sult with judges ; and again, when judges do often
consult with the king and state ; the one, when there
is matter of law intervenient in business of state ;
the other, when there is some consideration of state
intervenient in matter of law. For many times the
things deduced to judgment may be meum and tuum,
when the reason and consequence thereof may trench
to point of estate : I call matter of estate, not only
the parts of sovereignty, but whatsoever introduceth.
any great alteration, or dangerous precedent; or con-
cerneth manifestly any great portion of people. And
let no man weakly conceive, that just laws and true
policy have any antipathy ; for they are like the
spirits and sinews, that one moves with the other.
Let judges also remember, that Solomon's throne was
supported by lions on both sides ; let them be lions,
but yet lions under the throne ; being circumspect
that they do not check or oppose any points of sove-
reignty. Let not judges also be so ignorant of their
own right, as to think there is not left to them, as
a principal part of their office, a wise use and appli-
cation of laws. For they may remember what the
apostle saith of a greater law than theirs ; Nos scimus
quia lex bona est, modo quis ea utatur legitime.

LVII. Of Anger.

To seek to extinguish anger utterly, is but a bra-
very of the Stoics. We have better oracles : Be
angry, but sin not. Let not the sun go down upon
your anger. Anger must be limited] and confined,
both in race and in time. We will first speak, how
the natural inclination and habit, to be angry, may
be attempered and calmed. Secondly, how the par-
ticular motions of anger may be repressed, or at least
refrained from doing mischief. Thirdly, how to raise
anger, or appease anger, in another.

For the first, there is no other way, but to medi-
tate and ruminate well upon the eifects of anger, how

Essays Civil and Moral. 387

it troubles man's life. And the best time to do this,
is to look back upon anger when the fit is thoroughly
over. Seneca saith well ; That anger is like ruin,
which breaks itself upon that it falls. The Scrip-
ture exhorteth us, to possess our souls in patience.
Whosoever is out of patience, is out of possession
of his soul. Men must not turn bees ;

Animasque in vulnereponunt.

Anger is certainly a kind of baseness ; as it appears
well in the weakness of those subjects in whom it
reigns; children, women, old folks, sick folks. Only
men must beware, that they carry their anger rather
with scorn, than with fear ; so that they may seem
rather to be above the injury, than below it. Which
is a thing easily done, if a man will give law to him-
self in it.

For the second point, the causes and motives of
anger are chiefly three. First, to be too sensible of
hurt ; for no man is angry that feels not himself hurt :
and therefore tender and delicate persons must needs
be oft angry ; they have so many things to trouble
them, which more robust natures have little sense
of. The next is, the apprehension and construction
of the injury offered to be, in the circumstances
thereof, full of contempt. For contempt is that
which putteth an edge upon anger, as much or more
than the hurt itself. And therefore when men are
ingenious in picking out circumstances of contempt,
they do kindle their anger much. Lastly, opinion of
the touch of a man's reputation doth multiply and
sharpen anger. Wherein the remedy is, that a man
should have, as Consalvo was wont to say, telam hono-
ris crassiorem. But in all refrainings of anger, it is the
best remedy to win time ; and to make a man's self
believe, that the opportunity of his revenge is not yet
come: but that he foresees a time for it, and so to
still himself in the mean time, and reserve it.

To contain anger from mischief, though it take
hold of a man, there be two things whereof you must
have special caution. The one, of extreme bitterness
of words, especially if they be aculeate and proper ;

2 c 2

388 Essays Civil and Moral

for communia maledicta are nothing so much : and
again, that in anger a man reveal no secrets; for that
makes them not fit for society. The other, that you
do not peremptorily break off, in any business, in a
fit of anger : but howsoever you shew bitterness, do
not act any thing that is not revocable.

For raising and appeasing anger in another ; it is
done chiefly by choosing of times. When men are
frowardest and worst disposed, to incense them.
Again, by gathering, as was touched before, all that
you can find out to aggravate the contempt : and the
two remedies are by the contraries. The former, to
take good times, when first to relate to a man an
angry business ; for the first impression is much. And
the other is, to sever, as much as may be, the con-
struction of the injury, from the point of contempt :
imputing it to misunderstanding, fear, passion, or
what you will.

LVIII. Of Vicissitude of Things.

Solomon saith, There is no new thing upon the
earth : so that as Plato had an imagination, that all
knowledge was but remembrance ; so Solomon giveth
his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion. Whereby
you may see, that the river of Lethe runneth as well
above ground as below. There is an abstruse astro-
loger, that saith, if it were not for two things that
are constant (the one is, that the fixed stars ever stand
at like distance one from another, and never come
nearer together, nor go farther asunder : the other,
that the diurnal motion perpetually keepeth time),
no individual would last one moment. Certain it is,
that the matter is in a perpetual flux, and never at a
stay. The great winding-sheets, that bury all things
in oblivion, are two : deluges, and earthquakes. As
for conflagrations, and great droughts, they do not
merely dispeople and destroy. Phaeton's car went
but a day And the three years' drought in the time
of Elias, was but particular, and left people alive. As
for the, great burnings by lightnings, which are often
in the West Indies, they are but, narrow But in the

Essays Civil and Moral. 389

other two destructions, by deluge and earthquake it
is farther to be noted, that the remnant of the people
which hap to be reserved, are commonly ignorant and
mountainous people, that can give no account of the
time past; so that the oblivion is all one, as if none
had been left. If you consider well of the people of
the West Indies, it is very probable that they are a
newer or a younger people than the people of the
old world : and it is much more likely, that the
destruction that hath heretofore been there, was not
by earthquakes (as the Egyptian priest told Solon,
concerning the island of Atlantis, that it was swal-
lowed by an earthquake), but rather that it was
desolated by a particular deluge ; for earthquakes are
seldom in those parts : but, on the other side, they
have such pouring rivers, as the rivers of Asia, and
Africa, and Europe, are but brooks to them. Their,
Andes likewise, or mountains, are far higher than
those with us ; whereby it seems, that the remnants
of generation of men were in such a particular deluge
saved. As for the observation that Machiavel hath,
that the jealously of sects doth much extingush the
memory of things ; traducing Gregory the Great,
that he did what in him lay to extinguish all heathen
antiquities ; I do not find that those zeals do any
great effects, nor last long; as it appeared in the
succession of Sabinian, who did revive the former
antiquities.

The vicissitude or mutations in the superior globe
are no fit matter for this present argument. It may
be, Plato's great year, if the world should last so long,
would have some effect, not in renewing the state of
like individuals (for that is the fume of those, that
conceive the celestial bodies have more accurate in-
fluences upon these things below than indeed they
have), but in gross. Comets, out of question, have
likewise power and effect over the gross and mass of
things : but they are rather gazed upon, and waited
upon in their journey, than wisely observed in their
effects ; specially in their respective effects : that is,
what kind of comet, for magnitude, colour, version

390 Essays Civil and Moral.

of the beams, placing in the region of heaven, or
lasting, produceth what kind of effects.

There is a toy, which I have heard, and I would
not have it given over, but waited upon a little.
They say it is observed in the Low Countries, I know
not in what part, that every five and thirty years, the
same kind and sute of years and weathers comes about
again : as great frost, great wet, great droughts, warm
winters, summers with little heat, and the like ; and
they call it the prime. It is a thing I do the rather
mention, because, computing backwards I have
found some concurrence.

But to leave these points of nature, and to come to
men. The greatest vicissitude of things amongst men,
is the vicissitude of sects and religions : for those orbs
rule in men's minds most. The true religion is built
upon the rock : the rest are tossed upon the waves of
time. To speak therefore of the causes of new sects,
and to give some counsel concerning them, as far as
the weakness of human judgment can give stay to so
great revolutions.

When the religion formerly received is rent by dis-
cords; and when the holiness of the professors of re-
ligion is decayed and full of scandal : and withal the
times be stupid, ignorant, and barbarous, you may
doubt the springing up of a new sect; if then also
there should arise any extravagant and strange spirit
to make himself author thereof: all which points
held when Mahomet published his law. If a new
sect have not two properties, fear it not ; for it will
not spread. The one is the supplanting, or the op-
posing of authority established : for nothing is more
popular than that. The other is the giving licence to
pleasures and a voluptuous life. For as for specula-
tive heresies, such as were in ancient times the Arians,
and now the Arminians, though they work mightily
upon mens wits, yet they do not produce any great
alterations in states ; except it be by the help of civil
occasions. There be three manner of plantations of
new sects : by the power of signs and miracles; by
the eloquence and wisdom of speech and persuasion ;

Essays Civil and Moral. 391

and by the sword. For martyrdoms, I reckon them
amongst miracles ; because they seem to exceed the
strength of human nature ; and I may do the like of
superlative and admirable holiness of life. Surely there
is no better way to stop the rising of new sects and
schisms, than to reform abuses ; to compound the
smaller differences ; to proceed mildly, and not with
sanguinary persecutions ; and rather to take off the
principal authors, by winning and advancing them,
than to enrage them by violence and bitterness.

The changes and vicissitudes in wars are many: but
chiefly in three things ; in the seats or stages of the
war; in the weapons; and in the manner of the con-
duct. Wars, in ancient time, seemed more to move
from east to west: for the Persians, Assyrians, Ara-
bians, Tartars, which were the invaders, were all
eastern people. It is true, the Gauls were western ;
but we read but of two incursions of theirs ; the one
to Gallo-Graecia, the other to Rome. But east and
west have no certain points of heaven; and no more
have the wars, either from the east or west, any cer-
tainty of observation. But north and south are
fixed : and it hath seldom or never been seen, that the
far southern people have invaded the northern, but
contrariwise ; whereby it is manifest, that the nor-
thern tract of the world is in nature the more martial
region : be it in respect of the stars of that hemisphere,
or of the great continents that are upon the north ;
whereas the south part, for ought that is known, is
almost all sea; or (which is most apparent) of the
cold of the northern parts ; which is that which, with-
out aid of discipline, doth make the bodies hardest,
and the courages warmest.

Upon the breaking and shivering of a great state
and empire, you may be sure to have wars. For great
empires, while they stand, do enervate and destroy the
forces of the natives which they have subdued, resting
upon their own protecting forces: and then when they
fail also, all goes to ruin, and they become a prey So
was it in the decay of the Roman empire, and like-
wise in the empire of Almaigne, after Charles the

392 Essays Civil and Moral.

Great, every bird taking a feather; and were not
unlike to befal to Spain, if it should break. The
great accessions and unions of kingdoms do likewise
stir up wars. For when a state grows to an over-
power, it is like a great flood, that will be sure to
overflow. As it hath been seen in the states of Rome,
Turkey, Spain, and others. Look when the world
hath fewest barbarous people, but such as commonly
will not marry or generate, except they know means
to live, as it is almost every where at this day, ex-
cept Tartary, there is no danger of inundations of
people : but when there be great shoals of people,
which go on to populate, without foreseeing means
of life and sustentation, it is of necessity that once
in an age or two they discharge a portion of their
people upon other nations; which the ancient nor-
thern people were wont to do by lot ; casting lots
what part should stay at home, and what should seek
their fortunes. When a warlike state grows soft and
effeminate, they may be sure of a war. For com-
monly such states are grown rich in the time of their
degenerating; and so the prey inviteth, and their
decay in valour encourageth a war.

As for the weapons, it hardly falleth under rule
and observation : yet we see, even they have returns
and vicissitudes. For certain it is, that ordnance was
known in the city of the Oxidraces in India; and
was that which the Macedonians called thunder and
lightning, and magic. And it is well known, that
the use of ordnance hath been in China above two
thousand years. The conditions of weapons, and
their improvement are, first, the fetching afar off;
for that outruns the danger; as it is seen in ordnance
and muskets. Secondly, the strength of the percus-
sion ; wherein likewise ordnance do exceed all arieta-
tions and ancient inventions. The third is, the com-
modious use of them ; as that they may serve in all
weathers ; that the carriage may be light and manage-
able; and the like.

For the conduct of the war : at the first, men rested
extremely upon number: they did put the wars likewise

Essays Civil and Moral. 393

upon main force and valour, pointing days for pitched
fields, and so trying it out upon an even match : and
they were more ignorant in ranging and arraying
their battles. After, they grew to rest upon number
rather competent than vast; they grew to advantages
of place, cunning diversions, and the like : and they
grew more skilful in the ordering of their battles.

In the youth of a state, arms do flourish ; in the
middle age of a state, learning ; and then both of
them together for a time : in the declining age of a
state, mechanical arts and merchandise. Learning
hath its infancy when it is but beginning and almost
childish : then its youth, when it is luxuriant and
juvenile : then its strength of years, when it is solid
and reduced : and lastly, its old age, when it waxeth
dry and exhaust. But it is not good to look too
long upon these turning wheels of vicissitude, lest
we become giddy As for the philology of them,
that is but a circle of tales, and therefore not fit for
this writing.

Of a King.

1. A king is a mortal god on earth, unto whom
the living God hath lent his own name as a great
honour ; but withal told him, he should die like a
man, lest he should be proud, and flatter himself,
that God hath with his name imparted unto him his
nature also.

2. Of all kind of men, God is the least beholden
unto them ; for he doth most for them, and they do
ordinarily least for him.

3. A king that would not feel his crown too heavy
for him, must wear it every day ; but if he think it
too light, he knoweth not of what metal it is made.

4. He must make religion the rule of government,
and not to balance the scale ; for he that casteth in
religion only to make the scales even, his own weight
is contained in those characters, Mene, mene, tekel,
upharsin, He is found too light, his kingdom shall be
taken from him.

5. And that king that holds not religion the best

394 Essays Civil and Moral.

reason of state, is void of all piety and justice, the
supporters of a king-.

6. He must be able to give counsel himself, but
not rely thereupon ; for though happy events justify
their counsels, yet it is better that the evil event of
good advice be rather imputed to a subject than a
sovereign.

7 He is the fountain of honour, which should
not run with a waste pipe, lest the courtiers sell the
water ; and then, as Papists say of their holy wells,
it loses the virtue.

8. He is the life of the law, not only as he is lex
loquens himself, but because he animateth the dead
letter, making it active towards all his subjects prce-
mio et poena.

9. A wise king must do less in altering his laws
than he may; for new government is ever dangerous.
It being true in the body politic, as in the corporal,
that omnis subita immutatio est periculosa ; and though
it be for the better, yet it is not without a fearful
apprehension ; for he that changeth the fundamental
laws of a kingdom, thinketh there is no good title to
a crown, but by conquest.

10. A king that setteth to sale seats of justice, op-
pressed the people ; for he teacheth his judges to sell
justice ; and pretio parata pretio venditur justitia.

1 1 . Bounty and magnificence are virtues very re-
gal, but a prodigal king is nearer a tyrant than a par-
simonious ; for store at home draweth not his contem-
plations abroad : but want supplieth itself of what is
next, and many times the next way: a king herein
must be wise, and know what he may justly do.

12. That king which is not feared, is not loved;
and he that is well seen in his craft, must as well study
to be feared as loved ; yet not loved for fear, but
feared for love.

13. Therefore, as he must always resemble Him
whose great name he beareth, and that as in mani-
festing the sweet influence of his mercy on the severe
stroke of his justice sometimes, so in this not to suf-
fer a man of death to live ; for besides that the land

Essays Civil and Moral. 395

doth mourn, the restraint of justice towards sin doth
more retard the affection of love, than the extent of
mercy doth inflame it : and sure where love is [ill]
bestowed, fear is quite lost.

14. His greatest enemies are his flatterers; for
though they ever speak on his side, yet their words
still make against him.

15. The love which a king oweth to a weal public,
should not be restrained to any one particular ; yet
that his more special favour do reflect upon some
worthy ones, is somewhat necessary, because there
are few of that capacity

16. He must have a special care of five things, if
he would not have his crown to be but to him infdix
felicitas.

First, that simulata sanctitas be not in the Church ;
for that is duplex iniquitas.

Secondly, that inutilis csquitas sit not in the chan-
cery ; for that is inepta misericordia.

Thirdly, that utilis iniquitas keep not the exche-
quer ; for that is crudele latrocinium.

Fourthly, that Jidelis temeritas be not his general ;
for that will bring but seram pcenitentiam.

Fifthly, that inftdelis prudentia be not his secretary ;
for that is anguis sub viridi herba.

To conclude ; as he is of the greatest power, so he
is subject to the greatest cares, made the servant of
his people, or else he were without a calling at all.

He then that honoureth him not is next an atheist,
wanting the fear of God in his heart.

A Fragment of an Essay on Fame.

The poets make Fame a monster. They describe
her in part finely and elegantly ; and in. part gravely
and sententiously. They say : Look, how many fea-
thers she hath, so many eyes she hath underneath; so
many tongues ; so many voices ; she pricks up so many
ears.

This is a flourish : there follow excellent parables :
as, that she gathereth strength in going; that she
goeth upon the ground, and yet hideth her head in

396 Essays Civil and Moral.

the clouds : that in the daytime she sitteth in a watch
tower, and flieth most by night : that she mingleth
things done with things not done ; and that she is a
terror to great citjes. But that which passeth all the
rest is, they do recount that the Earth, mother of the
giants, that made war against Jupiter, and were by
him destroyed, thereupon in an anger brought forth
Fame ; for certain it is that rebels, figured by the
giants, and seditious fames and libels, are but brothers
and sisters ; masculine and feminine. But now if a
man can tame this monster, and bring her to feed at
the hand, and govern her, and with her fly other
ravening fowl, and kill them, it is somewhat worth.
But we are infected with the style of the poets. To
speak now in a sad and a serious manner ; there is
not in all the politics a place less handled, and more
worthy to be handled, than this of fame. We will
therefore speak of these points : what are false fames ;
and what are true fames ; and how they may be best
discerned; how fames maybe sown and raised; how
they may be spread and multiplied ; and how they
may be checked and laid dead. And other things
concerning the nature of fame. Fame is of that force,
as there is scarcely any great action wherein it hath
not a great part, especially in the war. Mucianus
undid Vitellius, by a fame that he scattered, that
Vitellius had in purpose to remove the legions of
Syria into Germany, and the legions of Germany
into Syria ; whereupon the legions of Syria were in-
finitely inflamed. Julius Csesar took Pompey unpro-
vided, and laid asleep his industry and preparations,
by a fame that he cunningly gave out, how Caesar's
own soldiers loved him not ; and being wearied with
the wars, and laden with the spoils of Gaul, would
forsake him as soon as he came into Italy- Livia
settled all things for the succession of her son Tibe-
rius, by continual giving out that her husband Au-
gustus was upon recovery and amendment. And it
is an usual thing with the bashaws, to conceal the
death of the Great Turk from the janizaries and men
of war, to save the sacking of Constantinople and

Essays Civil and Moral. 397

other towns, as their manner is. Theniistocles made
Xerxes, king of Persia, post apace out of Grecia, by
giving out that the Grecians had a purpose to break
his bridge of ships which he had made athwart the
Hellespont. There be a thousand such like exam-
ples, and the more they are, the less they need to be
repeated, because a man meeteth with them every
where : therefore let all wise governors have as great
a watch and care over fames, as they have of the
actions and designs themselves.

[The rest was not finished.]

COLLECTION OF APOPHTHEGMS,

NEW AND OLD.

HIS LORDSHIP'S PREFACE.

Julius Caesar did write a collection of apoph-
thegms, as appears in an epistle of Cicero ; so did
Macrobius, a consular man. I need say no more
for the worth of a writing of that nature. It is pity
Caesar's book is lost : for I imagine they were col-
lected with judgment and choice ; whereas that of
Plutarch and Stobseus, and much more the modern
ones, draw much of the dregs. Certainly they are
of excellent use. They are mucrones verborum,
pointed speeches. ' The words of the wise are as
goads,' saith Solomon. Cicero prettily calleth them
salinas, salt pits, that you may extract salt out of,
and sprinkle it where you will. They serve to be
interlaced in continued speech. They serve to be
recited upon occasion of themselves. They serve if
you take out the kernel of them, and make them
your own. I have, for my recreation amongst more
serious studies, collected some few of them :* there-
in fanning the old ; not omitting any, because they
are vulgar, for many vulgar ones are excellent good ;
nor for the meanness of the person, but because they
are dull and flat; and adding many new, that other-
wise would have died.

* This collection his lordship made out of his memory, with-
out turning any book. Rawley.

COLLECTION OF APOPHTHEGMS,

NEW AND OLD.

1. Queen Elizabeth, the morrow of her coronation
it being the custom to release prisoners at the in-
auguration of a prince, went to the chapel ; and in
the great chamber, one of her courtiers, who was well
known to her, either out of his own motion, or by the
instigation of a wiser man, presented her with a peti-
tion; and, before a great number of courtiers, besought
her with a loud voice, " That now this good time,
" there might be four or five principal prisoners more
" released : those were the four evangelists and the
" apostle St. Paul, who had been long shut up in an
" unknown tongue, as it were in prison ; so as they
" could not converse with the common people." The
queen answered very gravely, " That it was best
" first to inquire of them, Whether they would be
" released or no."

2. Queen Ann Bullen, at the time when she was
led to be beheaded in the Tower, called one of the
king's privy chamber to her, and said unto him,
" Commend me to the king, and tell him, that he
" hath been ever constant in his course of advancing
" me ; from a private gentlewoman he made me a
" marchioness ; and from a marchioness a queen ;
" and now, that he hath left no higher degree of
" earthly honour, he intends to crown my innocency
" with the glory of martyrdom."

3. His majesty James the First, king of Great Bri-
tain, having made unto his parliament an excellent
and large declaration, concluded thus ; " I have now
" given you a clear mirrour of my mind ; use it there-

VOL. II. 2 D

402 Apophthegms.

" fore like a mirrour, and take heed how you let it
" fall, or how you soil it with your breath."

4. A great officer in France was in danger to have
lost his place ; but his wife, by her suit and means
making, made his peace ; whereupon a pleasant fel-
low said, " That he had been crushed, but that he
" saved himself upon his horns."

5. His majesty said to his parliament at another
time, finding there were some causeless jealousies
sown amongst them, " That the king and his people,
" whereof the parliament is the representative body,
" were as husband and wife ; and therefore that of
" all other things jealousy was between them most
" pernicious."

6. His majesty, when he thought his counsel might
note in him some variety in businesses, though indeed
he remained constant, would say, " That the sun many
" times shineth watery ; but it is not the sun which
" causeth it, but some cloud rising betwixt us and
" the sun : and when that is scattered, the sun is as
" it was, and comes to his former brightness."

7 His majesty, in his answer to the book of the
cardinal of Evereux, who had in a grave argument
of divinity sprinkled many witty ornaments of poesy
and humanity, saith, " That these flowers were like
" blue, and yellow, and red flowers in the corn, which
" make a pleasant shew to those that look on, but
" they hurt the corn."

8. Sir Edward Coke being vehement against the
two provincial councils of Wales, and the north, said
to the king ; " There was nothing there but a kind
" of confusion and hotch-potch of justice : one while
" they were a star chamber ; another while a king's-
" bench ; another, a common pleas ; another, a com-
" mission of oyer and terminer." His majesty an-
swered ; " Why, Sir Edward Coke, they be like
" houses in progress, where I have not, nor can have
" such distinct rooms of state, as I have here at
" Whitehall, or at Hampton Court."

9. The commissioners of the treasury moved the
king, for the relief of his estate, to disafforest some

Apophthegms. 403

forests of his, explaining themselves of such forests as
lay out of the way, not near any of the king's houses,
nor in the course of his progress ; whereof he should
never have use nor pleasure. " Why," saith the king,
" do you think that Solomon had use and pleasure
" of all his three hundred concubines ?"

10. His majesty, when the committees of both
houses of parliament presented unto him the instru-
ment of union of England and Scotland, was merry
with them ; and amongst other pleasant speeches,
shewed unto them the laird of Lawreston, a Scotch-
man, who was the tallest and greatest man that was
to be seen, and said, " Well, now we are all one, yet
" none of you will say, but here is one Scotchman
" greater than any Englishman ;" which was an am-
biguous speech ; but it was thought he meant it of
himself.

11. His majesty would say to the lords of his
council, when they sat upon any great matter, and
came from council into him, " Well, you have sat,
" but what have you hatched ?"

12. When the archduke did raise his siege from the
Grave, the then secretary came to queen Elizabeth.
The queen, having first intelligence thereof, said to
the secretary, " Wot you what? The archduke has
risen from the Grave." He answered, " What, with-
*' out the trumpet of the archangel?" The queen
replied, " Yes, without the sound of trumpet."

13. Queen Elizabeth was importuned much by
my lord of Essex, to supply divers great offices that
had been long void ; the queen answered nothing to
the matter ; but rose up on the sudden, and said ;
" I am sure my office will not be long void." And
yet at that time there was much speech of troubles,
and divisions about the crown, to be after her de-
cease ; but they all vanished; and king James came
in, in a profound peace.

14. The council did make remonstrance unto queen
Elizabeth of the continual conspiracies against her
life ; and namely, that a man was lately taken, who
stood ready in a very dangerous and suspicious man-

2 d2

404 Apophthegms.

ner to do the deed : and they shewed her the weapon
wherewith he thought to have acted it. And there-
fore they advised her that she should go less abroad
to take the air, weakly attended, as she used. But
the queen answered ; That she had rather be dead,
" than put in custody"

15. The lady Paget, that was very private with
queen Elizabeth, declared herself much against the
match with Monsieur. After Monsieur's death, the
queen took extreme grief, at least as she made shew,
and kept in within her bed-chamber and one ante-
chamber for three weeks space, in token of mourning :
at last she came forth into the privy-chamber, and
admitted her ladies to have access unto her; and
amongst the rest my lady Paget presented herself, and
came to her with a smiling countenance. The queen
bent her brows', and seemed to be highly displeased,
and said to her, " Madam, you are not ignorant of
" my extreme grief, and do you come to me with a
" countenance of joy ?" My lady Paget answered,
" Alas, if it please your majesty, it is impossible for
" me to be absent from you three weeks, but that
" when I see you, I must look cheerfully." " No, no,''
said the queen, not forgetting her former averseness
to the match, " you have some other conceit in it,
" tell me plainly " My lady answered, " I must
" obey you ; it is this. I was thinking how happy
" you majesty was, you married not Monsieur; for
" seeing you take such thought for his death, being
" but your friend ; if he had been your husband, sure
" it would have cost you your life."

16. Henry the Fourth of France his queen was
young with child ; count Soissons, that had his ex-
pectation upon the crown, when it was twice or
thrice thought that the queen was with child before,
said to some of his friends, " That it was but with a
" pillow." This had someways come to the king's ear;
who kept it till such time as the queen waxed great :
then he called the count of Soissons to him, and said,
laying his hand upon the queen's belly ; " Come,
" cousin, is this a pillow ?"— The count of Soissons

Apophthegms. 405

answered, " Yes, sir, it is a pillow for all France to
" sleep upon."

17 King Henry the Fourth of France was so
punctual of his word, after it was once passed, that
they called him, " The king of the faith."

18. The said king Henry the Fourth was moved
by his Parliament to a war against the Protestants :
he answered, " Yes, I mean it; I will make every one
" of you captains ; you shall have companies assigned
" you." The Parliament observing whereunto his
speech tended, gave over, and deserted his motion.

19. Queen Elizabeth was wont to say, upon the
commission of sales, " That the commissioners used
" her like strawberry wives, that laid two or three
" great strawberries at the mouth of their pot, and
" all the rest were little ones ; so they made her two
" or three good prizes of the first particulars, but fell
" straightways."

20. Queen Elizabeth used to say of her instruc-
tions to great officers, " That they were like to gar-
" ments, strait at the first putting on, but did by
" and by wear loose enough."

21 A great officer at court, when my lord of Essex
was first in trouble ; and that he and those that dealt
for him would talk much of my lord's friends, and of
his enemies, answered to one of them, " I will tell
" you, I know but one friend and one enemy my lord
" hath, and that one friend is the queen, and that
" one enemy is himself."

22. The book for deposing king Richard the Se-
cond, and the coming in of Henry the Fourth, sup-
posed to be written by doctor Hayward, who was
committed to the Tower for it, had much incensed
queen Elizabeth; and she asked Mr. Bacon, being
then of her counsel learned, " Whether there were
" any treason contained in it?" Who intending to do
him a pleasure, and to take off the queen's bitterness
with a merry conceit, answered, " No, madam, for
" treason 1 cannot deliver opinion that there is any,
" but very much felony " The queen, apprehend-
ing it gladly, asked, "How? and wherein?" Mr.

406 Apophthegms.

Bacon answered, " Because he had stolen many
" of his sentences and conceits out of Cornelius
" Tacitus."

23. Queen Elizabeth being to resolve upon a great
officer, and being by some, that canvassed for others,
put in some doubt of that person whom she meant to
advance, called for Mr. Bacon, and told him, " She
■' was like one with a lanthorn seeking a man;" and
seemed unsatisfied in the choice she had of a man
for that place. Mr. Bacon answered her, " That
" he had heard that in old time there was usually
" painted on the church walls the day of doom, and
" God sitting in judgment, and St. Michael by him,
" with a pair of balances ; and the soul and the
" good deeds in the one balance, and the faults and
" the evil deeds in the other : and the soul's ba-
" lance went up far too light. Then was our lady
" painted with a great pair of beads, who cast them
" into the light balance, and brought down the scale :
" so, he said, place and authority, which were in her
" majesty's hands to give, were like our lady's beads,
" which though men, through any imperfections,
" were too light before, yet when they were cast in,
" made weight competent."

24. Queen Elizabeth was dilatory enough in suits
of her own nature ; and the lord treasurer Burleigh,
being a wise man, and willing therein to feed her
humour, would say to her, " Madam, you do well to
" let suitors stay; for I shall tell you, bis dat, quicito
" dat ; if you grant them speedily, they will come
" again the sooner."

25. Sir Nicholas Bacon, who was keeper of the
great seal of England, when queen Elizabeth in her
progress came to his house at Gorhambury, and said
to him, " My lord, what a little house have you got-
" ten !" answered her, " Madam, my house is well,
" but it is you that have made me too great for my
" house."

26. There was a conference in parliament between
the lords' house and the house of commons, about a
bill of accountants, which came down from the lords

Apophthegms. 407

to the commons ; which bill prayed, That the lands
of accountants, whereof they were seized when they
entered upon their office, might be liable to their ar-
rears to the queen. But the commons desired, That
the bill might not look back to accountants that were
already, but extend only to accountants hereafter.
But the lord treasurer said, " Why, I pray you, if
" you had lost your purse by the way, would you
" look forwards, or would you look back ? The
" queen hath lost her purse."

27 The lord keeper, Sir Nicholas Bacon, was
asked his opinion by my lord of Leicester, concern-
ing two persons whom the queen seemed to think well
of: " By my troth, my lord," said he, " the one is a
" grave counsellor ; the other is a proper young man ;
" and so he will be as long as he lives."

28. My lord of Leicester, favourite to queen Eliza-
beth, was making a large chase about Cornbury-park ;
meaning to inclose it with posts and rails ; and one
day was casting up his charge what it would come to.
Mr. Goldingham, a free spoken man, stood by, and
said to my lord, " Methinks your lordship goeth not
" the cheapest way to work." " Why, Golding-
" ham?'' said my lord. "Marry, my lord," said
" Goldingham, " count you but upon the posts, for
" the country will find you railing."

29. The lord keeper, Sir Nicholas Bacon, was
asked his opinion by queen Elizabeth of one of these
monopoly licences? And he answered, " Madam,
" will you have me speak the truth? Licentia omnes
1 ' deteriores sumus : We are all the worse for li-
" cences."

30. My lord of Essex, at the succour of Roan,
made twenty-four knights, which at that time was a
great number. Divers of those gentlemen were of
weak and small means ; which when queen Elizabeth
heard, she said, " My lord might have done well
" to have built his alms-house, before he made his
" knights."

3 1 . The deputies of the reformed religion, after the
massacre which was at Paris upon St. Bartholomew's

408 Apoph th egms .

day, treated with the king and queen-mother, and
some other of the council, for a peace. Both sides
were agreed upon the articles. The question was,
upon the security for the performance. After some
particulars propounded and rejected, the queen-mo-
ther said, " Why, is not the word of a king sufficient
" security?" One of the deputies answered, " No,
" by St. Bartholomew, madam."

32. There was a French gentleman speaking with
an English, of the law Salique ; that women were
excluded from inheriting the crown of France. The
English said, "Yes; but that was meant of the
" women themselves, not of such males as claimed
" by women." The French gentleman said, " Where
" do you find that gloss?" The English answered,
" I'll tell you, Sir : look on the backside of the re-
" cord of the law Salique, and there you shall find
" it indorsed :" implying there was no such thing as
the law Salique, but that it is a mere fiction.

33. A friar of France, being in an earnest dispute
about the law Salique, would needs prove it by
Scripture ; citing that verse of the Gospel, Lilia agri
non laborant neque nent : The lilies of the field do
neither labour nor spin ; applying it thus : That the
flower-de-luces of France cannot descend, neither to
the distaff, nor to the spade : that is, not to a woman,
nor to a peasant.

34. When peace was renewed with the French in
England, divers of the great counsellors were pre-
sented from the French with jewels : the lord Henry
Howard, being then earl of Northampton, and a
counsellor, was omitted. Whereupon the king said
to him, " My lord, how happens it that you have not
" a jewel as well as the rest?" My lord answered,
according to the fable in iEsop, Non sum Gallus,
itaque non reperi gemmam.

35. The same earl of Northampton, then lord privy
seal, was asked by king James, openly at the table,
where commonly he entertained the king with dis-
course ; the king asked him upon the sudden, " My
" lord, have you not a desire to see Rome ?" My

Apophthegms. 409

lord privy seal answered, " Yes, indeed, Sir." The
king said, " And why ?" My lord answered, " Be-
" cause, if it please your majesty, it was the seat of
" the greatest monarchy, and the seminary of the
" bravest men of the world, whilst it was heathen •
" and then, secondly, because afterwards it was the
" see of so many holy bishops in the primitive
" Church, most of them martyrs." The king would
not give it over, but said, "And for nothing else?"
My lord answered, " Yes, if it please your majesty,
" for two things more: the one, to see him, who, they
" say, hath so great a power to forgive other men
" their sins, to confess his own sins upon his knees
" before a chaplain or priest: and the other, to hear
" Antichrist say his creed."

36. Sir Nicholas Bacon being appointed a judge
for the northern circuit, and having brought his trials
that came before him to such a pass, as the passing of
sentence on malefactors, he was by one of the male-
factors mightily importuned for to save his life ; which,
when nothing that he had said did avail, he at length
desired his mercy on account of kindred. " Prithee,"
said my lord judge, " how came that in?" " Why,
" if it please you, my lord, your name is Bacon, and
" mine is Hog, and in all ages Hog and Bacon have
" been so near kindred, that they are not to be sepa-
" rated." " Ay, but," replied judge Bacon, " you and
" I cannot be kindred, except you be hanged ; for
" Hog is not Bacon until it be well hanged."

37 Two scholars and a countryman travelling upon
the road, one night lodged all in one inn, and supped
together, where the scholars thought to have put a
trick upon the countryman, which was thus : the
scholars appointed for supper two pigeons, and a fat
capon, which being ready, was brought up; and they
having sat down, the one scholar took up one pigeon,
the other scholar took the other pigeon, thinking
thereby that the countryman should have sat still,
until that they were ready for the carving of the ca-
pon ; which he perceiving, took the capon and laid
it on his trencher, and thus said, " Daintily con-
" trived, every man a bird."

410 Apophthegms.

38. Jack Roberts was desired by his taylor, when
the reckoning grew somewhat high, to have a bill of
his hand. Roberts said, " I am content ; but you
" must let no man know it." When the taylor
brought him the bill, he tore it as in choler, and said
to him, " You use me not well; you promised me
" that no man should know it, and here you have put
" in, Be it known unto all men by these presents."

39. Sir Walter Raleigh was wont to say of the
ladies of queen Elizabeth's privy-chamber and bed-
chamber, " that they were like witches, they could
" do hurt, but they could do no good."

40. There was a minister deprived for inconformity,
who said to some of his friends, "that if they de-
" prived him, it should cost a hundred men's lives."
The party understood it, as if, being a turbulent fellow,
he would have moved sedition, and complained of
him ; whereupon being convented and apposed upon
that speech, he said his meaning was, " that if he
" lost his benefice, he would practise physic; and
" then he thought he should kill a hundred men in
" time."

4 1 . Secretary Bourn's son kept a gentleman's wife
in Shropshire, who lived from her husband, with
him : when he was weary of her, he caused her hus-
band to be dealt with to take her home, and offered
him five hundred pounds for reparation. The gentle-
man went to Sir H. Sidney to take his advice upon
this offer, telling him, " that his wife promised now
" a new life ; and, to tell him truth, five hundred
" pounds would come well with him ; and besides,
" that sometimes he wanted a woman in his bed."
" By my troth," said Sir Henry Sidney, " take her
" home, and take the money: then whereas other
" cuckolds wear their horns plain, you may wear
" yours gilt."

42. When Rabelais, the great jester of France, lay
on his death-bed, and they gave him the extreme
unction, a familiar friend came to him afterwards,
and asked him how he did ? Rabelais answered,
" Even going myjourney, they have greased my boots
" already."

Apophthegms. 41 1

43. Mr. Bromley, solicitor, giving in evidence for
a deed, which was impeached to be fraudulent, was
urged by the counsel on the other side with this pre-
sumption, That in two former suits, when title was
made, that deed was passed over in silence, and some
other conveyance stood upon. Mr. Justice Catline
taking in with that side, asked the solicitor, " I pray
" thee, Mr. Solicitor, let me ask you a familiar ques-
" tion ; I have two geldings in my stable ; I have
" divers times business of importance, and still I send
" forth one of my geldings, and not the other; would
" you not think I set him aside for a jade?" " No,
" my lord," said Bromley, " I would think you
" spared him for your own saddle."

44. Thales, as he looked upon the stars, fell to-
wards water ; whereupon it was after said, " that if
" he had looked into the water, he might have seen
" the stars ; but looking up to the stars, he could not
" see the water."

45. A man and his wife in bed together, she to-
wards morning pretended herself to be ill at ease, de-
siring to lie on her husband's side ; so the good man
to please her, came over her, making some short stay,
in his passage over; where she had not long lain, but
desired to lie in her old place again : quoth he, " How
" can that be effected ?" She answered, " Come over
" me again." " I had rather," said he, " go a mile
" and a half about."

46. A thief being arraigned at the bar for stealing
a mare, in his pleading urged many things in his
own behalf; and at last nothing availing, he told
the bench, the mare rather stole him, than he the
mare ; which in brief he thus related : That pass-
ing over several grounds about his lawful occasions,
he was pursued close by a fierce mastiff dog, and
so was forced to save himself by leaping over a
hedge, which being of an agile body he effected ;
and in leaping, a mare standing on the other side of
the hedge, leaped upon her back, who running furi-
ously away with him, he could not by any means stop
her, until he came to the next town, in which town

412 Apophthegms.

the owner of the mare lived, and there was he taken,
and here arraigned.

47 Master Mason, of Trinity College, sent his pupil
to another of the fellows, to borrow a book of him,
who told him, " I am loth to lend my books out of my
" chamber; but if it please thy tutor to come and read
" upon it in my chamber, he shall as long as he
" will." It was winter, and some days after the same
fellow sent to Mr. Mason to borrow his bellows ; but
Mr. Mason said to his pupil, " I am loth to lend my
" bellows out of my chamber ; but if thy tutor would
" come and blow the fire in my chamber, he shall as
" long as he will."

48. A notorious rogue being brought to the bar,
and knowing his case to be desperate, instead of
pleading, he took to himself the liberty of jesting,
and thus said, " I charge you in the king's name, to
" seize and take away that man (meaning the judge)
" in the red gown; for I go in danger of my life be-
" cause of him."

49. In Flanders, by accident a Flemish tiler fell
from the top of a house upon a Spaniard, and killed
him, though he escaped himself; the next of the
blood prosecuted his death with great violence, and
when he was offered pecuniary recompence, nothing
would serve him but lex talionis : whereupon the judge
said to him, " that if he did urge that sentence, it
" must be, that he should go up to the top of the
" house, and then fall down upon the tiler."

50. A rough-hewn seaman, being brought before a
wise just-ass for some misdemeanor, was by him sent
away to prison, and being somewhat refractory after
he heard his doom, insomuch as he would not stir a
foot from the place where he stood, saying, " it were
" better to stand where he was, than go to a worse
" place." The justice thereupon, to shew the strength
of his learning, took him by the shoulder, and said,
" Thou shalt go nogus vogus," instead of nolens
volens.

51. Francis the First of France used for his plea-
sure sometimes to go disguised : so walking one day

Apophthegms. 413

in the company of the cardinal of Bourbon near Pa-
ris, he met with a peasant with a new pair of shoes
upon his arm : so he called unto him and said, " By
" our lady, these be good shoes ; what did they cost
" thee?" The peasant said, "Guess." The king said,
" I think some five sols." Saith the peasant, " You
" have lyed ; but a carlois." " What, villain," said
the cardinal of Bourbon, " thou art dead ; it is the
" king." The peasant replied ; " The devil take him
" of you and me, that knew so much."

52. There was a young man in Rome, that was
very like Augustus Caesar; Augustus took knowledge
of him, and sent for the man, and asked him, " Was
" your mother ever at Rome?" He answered, "No,
" sir; but my father was."

53. A physician advised his patient that had sore
eyes, that he should abstain from wine ; but the pa-
tient said, " I think, rather, Sir, from wine and wa-
" ter ; for I have often marked it in blue eyes, and I
" have seen water come forth, but never wine."

54. A debauched seaman being brought before a
justice of the peace upon the account of swearing,
was by the justice commanded to deposit his fine in
that behalf provided, which was two shillings ; he
thereupon plucking out of his pocket a half crown,
asked the justice what was the rate he was to pay for
cursing ; the justice told him six-pence ; quoth he,
" Then a pox take you all for a company of knaves
" and fools, and there's half a crown for you, I will
" never stand changing of money "

55. Augustus Caesar was invited to supper by one
of his old friends, that had conversed with him in his
less fortunes, and had but ordinary entertainment ;
whereupon at his going away, he said, " I did not
" know that you and I were so familiar."

56. Agathocles, after he had taken Syracuse, the
men whereof, during the siege, had in a bravery
spoken of him all the villany that might be, sold the
Syracusans for slaves, and said ; " Now if you use
" such words of me, I will tell your masters of you."

57 Dionysius the elder, when he saw his son in

414 Apoph th egms .

many things very inordinate, said to him, " Did
" you ever know me do such things? His son an-
" swered, " No ; but you had not a tyrant to your
" father." The father replied, " No ; nor you, if you
" take these courses, will have a tyrant to your

" son."

53. Callisthenes, the philosopher, that followed
Alexander's court, and hated the king, being asked
by one, how one should become the famousest man
in the world, answered, " By taking away him
" that is."

59. Agesilaus, when one" told him, there was one
did excellently counterfeit a nightingale, and would
have had him near him, said, " Why I have heard
" the nightingale herself."

60. A great nobleman, upon the complaint of a
servant of his, laid a citizen by the heels, thinking to
bend him to his servant's desire ; but the fellow be-
ing stubborn, the servant came to his lord, and told
him, " Your lordship, I know, hath gone as far as
" well you may, but it works not; for yonder fellow
" is more perverse than before." Said my lord,
" Let's forget him a while, and then he will remem-
" ber himself.''

61. One came to a cardinal in Rome, and told him,
that he had brought his lordship a dainty white pal-
frey, but he fell lame by the way Saith the cardinal
to him, " I'll tell thee what thou shalt do; go to such
" a cardinal, and such a cardinal," naming him half
a dozen cardinals, " and tell them as much ; and so
" whereas by thy horse, if he had been sound, thou
" couldst have pleased but one, with thy lame horse
" thou mayest please half a dozen."

62. A witty rogue coming into a lace-shop, said,
he had occasion for some lace ; choice whereof being
shewed ,him, he at last pitched upon one pattern, and
asked them, how much they would have for so much
as would reach from ear to ear, for so much he had
occasion for. They told him for so much: so some
few words passing between them, he at last agreed,
and .told down his money for it, and began to mea-

Apophthegms. 415

sure on his own bead, thus saying; ; " One ear is here,
" and the other is nailed to the pillory in Bristol, and
" I fear you have not so much of this lace by you at
" present as will perfect my bargain : therefore this
" piece of lace shall suffice at present in part of pay-
" ment, and provide the rest with all expedition."

63. Iphicrates the Athenian, in a treaty that he had
with the Lacedaemonians for peace, in which question
was about security for observing the same, said, " The
"Athenians would not accept of any security, except
" the Lacedaemonians did yield up unto them those
" things, whereby it might be manifest, that they
" could not hurt them if they would."

64. Euripides would say of persons that were beau-
tiful, and yet in some years, " In fairest bodies
" not only the spring is pleasant, but also the au-
" tumn."

65. There was a captain sent to an exploit by his
general with forces that were not likely to atchieve
the enterprize ; the captain said to him, " Sir, ap-
" point but half so many " "Why?" saith the general.
The captain answered, " Because it is better fewer
" die than more."

66. There was a hai'binger who had lodged a
gentleman in a very ill room, who expostulated with
him somewhat rudely ; but the harbinger carelessly
said, " You will take pleasure in it when you are
" out of it."

67 There is a Spanish adage, " Love without end,
" hath no end :" meaning, that if it were begun not
upon particular ends, it would last.

68. A woman being suspected by her husband for
dishonesty, and being by him at last pressed very
hard about it, made him quick answer with many
protestations, "that she knew no more of what he
" said than the man in the moon." Now the captain
of the ship called the Moon, was the very man she so
much loved.

69. Demosthenes when he fled from the battle,
and that it was reproached to him, said, " that he
" that flies might fight again."

416 Apoph thegms ,

70. Gonsalvo would say, " The honour of a soldier
" ought to be of a strong web:" meaning, that it
should not be so fine and curious, that every little
disgrace should catch and stick in it.

71. An apprentice of London being brought be-
fore the chamberlain by his master for the sin of in-
continency, even with his own mistress, the chamber-
lain thereupon gave him many Christian exhorta-
tions ; and at last he mentioned and pressed the chas-
tity of Joseph, when his mistress tempted him with
the like crime of incontinency " Ay, Sir," said the
apprentice, " but if Joseph's mistress had been as
" handsome as mine is, he could not have forborn."

72. Bias gave in precept, " Love as if you should
" hereafter hate ; and hate as if you should hereafter
" love."

73. Cineas was an excellent orator and statesman,
and principal friend and counsellor to Pyrrhus ; and
falling in inward talk with him, and discerning'the
king's endless ambition; Pyrrhus opened himself unto
him, that he intended first a war upon Italy, and
hoped to atchieve it : Cineas asked him, " Sir, what
" will you do then?" " Then," saith he, " we will
" attempt Sicily." Cineas said, " Well, Sir, what
" then ?" Said Pyrrhus, " If the gods favour us, we
" may conquer Africa and Carthage." " What then,
" Sir ?" saith Cineas. " Nay, then," saith Pyrrhus,
" we may take our rest, and sacrifice and feast every
" day, and make merry with our friends." " Alas,
" Sir," said Cineas, " may we not do so now without
" all this ado."

74. Lamia the courtezan had all power with De-
metrius, king of Macedon, and by her instigations he
did many unjust and cruel acts ; whereupon Lysima-
chus said, " that it was the first time that ever he
" knew a whore play in a tragedy"

75. One of the Romans said to his friend, " What
" think you of one who was taken in the act and
" manner of adultery ?" The other answered, " Marry,
" I think he was slow at dispatch."

76. Epaminondas, when his great friend and col-

Apophthegms. 417

league in war was suitor to him to pardon an offender,
denied him ; afterwards, when a concubine of his
made the same suit, he granted it to her; which
when Pelopidas seemed to take unkindly, he said ;
" Such suits are to be granted to whores, but not to
" personages of worth."

77 Thales being asked when a man should marry,
said ; " Young men not yet, old men not at all."

78. A company of scholars going together to catch
conies, carried one scholar with them, which had not
much more wit than he was born with ; and to him
they gave in charge, that if he saw any, he should be
silent, for fear of scaring of them. But he no sooner
espied a company of rabbits, before the rest, but he
cried aloud, Ecce mult'i cuniculi, which in English
signifies, " Behold many conies ;" which he had no
sooner said, but the conies ran to their burrows : and
he being checked by them for it, answered, " Who
" the devil would have thought that the rabbits un-
" derstood Latin?"

79. A Welchman being at a sessions-house, and
seeing the prisoners hold up hands at the bar, re-
lated to some of his acquaintance there, " that the
"judges were good fortune-tellers ; for if they did
" but look upon their hands, they could certainly
" tell whether they should live or die."

80. Solon compared the people unto the sea, and
orators and counsellors to the winds : for that the
sea would be calm and quiet, if the winds did not
trouble it.

81. Socrates was pronounced by the oracle ofDel-
phos to be the wisest man of Greece, which he would
put from himself ironically, saying, " there would
" be nothing in him to verify the oracle, except this ;
"that he was not wise, and knew it; and others
"were not wise, and knew it not."

82. Socrates, when there was shewed him the book
of Heraclitus the obscure, and was asked his opi-
nion of it, answered ; " Those things which I under-
stood " were excellent, I imagine so were those I

vol. it. 2 E

418 Apophthegms.

" understood not ; but they require a diver of
" Delos."

83. Bion asked an envious man that was very sad,
" what harm had befallen unto him, or what good
" had befallen unto another man ?"

84. Stilpo the philosopher, when the people flocked
about him, and that one said to him, "The people
" come wondering about you as if it were to see
" some strange beast !" " No," saith he, " it is to
" see a man which Diogenes sought with his lanthorn
" at noon-day "

85. A man being very jealous of his wife, insomuch
that which way soever she went, he would be prying
at her heels; and she being so grieved thereat, in
plain terms told him, " that if he did not for the fu-
" ture leave off his proceedings in that nature, she
" would graft such a pair of horns upon his head,
" that should hinder him from coming out of any
" door in the house."

86. A citizen of London passing the streets very
hastily, came at last where some stop was made by
carts ; and some gentlemen talking together, who
knew him, where being in some passion that he could
not suddenly pass, one of them in this wise spoke
unto him; "that others had passed by, and there was
" room enough, only they could not tell whether
" their horns were so wide as his."

87 A tinker passing Cheapside with his usual tone,
" Have you any work for a tinker?" an apprentice
standing at a door opposite to a pillory there set up,
called the tinker, with an intent to put a jest upon
him, and told him, " that he should do very well if
" he would stop those two holes in pillory ;" to
which the tinker answered, " that if he would but
" put in his head and ears a while in that pillory, he
" would bestow both brass and nails upon him to
" hold him in, and give him his labour into the bar-
" gain."

88. A young maid having married an old man,
was observed on the day of marriage to be somewhat

Apophthegms. 4 ] 9

moody, as if she had eaten a dish of chums, which
one of her bridemen observing-, bid her be cheery ;
and told her moreover, "that an old horse would
" hold out as long, and as well as a young one, in
" travel." To which she answered, stroking down
her belly with her. hand, " But not in this road, Sir."

89. There was in Oxford a cowardly fellow that
was a very good archer ; he was abused grossly by
another, and moaned himself to Sir Walter Raleigh,
then a scholar, and asked his advice, what he should
do to repair the wrong had been offered him ; Ra-
leigh answered, " Why, challenge him at a match of
" shooting."

90. Whitehead, a grave divine, was much esteemed
by queen Elizabeth, but not preferred, because he
was against the government of bishops; he was of a
blunt stoical nature : he came one day to the queen,
and the queen happened to say to him, " I like thee
" the better, Whitehead, because thou livest unmar-
" ried." He answered, " In troth, Madam, I like
" you the worse for the same cause."

91. Dr. Laud said, " that some hypocrites and
" seeming mortified men, that held down their heads
" like bulrushes, were like the little images that they
" place in the very bowing of the vaults of churches,
" that look as if they held up the church, but are
" but puppets."

92. A nobleman of this nation, famously known
for his mad tricks, on a time having taken physic,
which he perceiving that it began well to work, called
up his man to go for a chirurgeon presently, and to
bring his instruments with him. The chirurgeon
comes in all speed ; to whom my lord related, that
he found himself much addicted to women, and
therefore it was his will, that the cause of it might be
taken away, and therefore commanded him forth-
with to prepare his instruments ready for to geld him :
so the chirurgeon forthwith prepares accordingly, and
my lord told him that he would not see it done, and that
therefore he should do his work the back way : so, both
parties being contented, my lord makes ready, and

2 e 2

420 Apophthegms.

holds up his a — ; and when he perceives the chirur-
geon very near him, he lets fly full in his face ; which
made the chirurgeon step back : but coming- pre-
sently on again, " Hold, hold," saith my lord, " I will
" better consider of it, for I see the retentive fa-
" culty is very weak at the approach of such keen
" instruments."

93. There was a cursed page that his master whipt
naked, and when he had been whipt, would not put
on his clothes : and when his master bade him,
said, " Take them you, for they are the hangman's
" fees."

94. There was a lady of the west country, that gave
great entertainment at her house to most of the gallant
gentlemen thereabouts, and amongst others Sir Wal-
ter Raleigh was one. This lady, though otherwise a
stately dame, was a notable good housewife ; and in
the morning betimes she called to one of her maids
that looked to the swine, and asked, " Are the pigs
"served?" Sir Walter Raleigh's chamber was fast
by the lady's, so as he heard her : a little before din-
ner, the lady came down in great state into the great
chamber, which was full of gentlemen: and as soon as
Sir Walter Raleigh set eye upon her, " Madam," saith
he, "are the pigs served ?" The lady answered, "You
" know best whether you had your breakfast."

95. There were fishermen drawing the river at
Chelsea : Mr. Bacon came thither by chance in the
afternoon, and offered to buy their draught : they
were willing. He asked them what they would take ?
They asked thirty shillings. Mr. Bacon offered them
ten. They refused it. " Why, then," saith Mr. Bacon,
" I will be only a looker on." They drew, and catched
nothing. Saith Mr. Bacon, "Are not you mad fellows
"now, that might have had an angel in your purse, to
" have made merry withal, and to have warmed you
"thoroughly, and now you must go home with no-
" thing." "Ay, but," saith the fishermen, " we had hope
" then to make a better gain of it." Saith Mr. Bacon,
" Well, my master, then I will tell you, hope is a
" good breakfast, but it is a bad supper."

Apophthegms. 421

96. A lady walking with Mr. Bacon in Gray's Inn
walks, asked him, Whose that piece of ground lying
next under the walls was? He answered, " Theirs."
Then she asked him, If those fields beyond the
walks were theirs too ? He answered, " Yes, Madam,
" those are ours, as you are ours, to look on, and no
" more."

97 His lordship, when he was newly made lord
keeper, was in Gray's Inn walks with Sir Walter Ra-
leigh; one came and told him, that the earl of Exe-
ter was above. He continued upon occasion still
walking a good while. At last when he came up,
my lord of Exeter met him, and said, " My lord, I
" have made a great venture, to come up so high
" stairs, being a gouty man." His lordship answered,
" Pardon me, my lord, I have made the greatest ven-
" ture of all ; for I have ventured upon your pa-
" tience."

98. When Sir Francis Bacon was made the king's
attorney, Sir Edward Coke was put up from being
lord chief justice of the Common Pleas, to be lord
chief justice of the King's Bench ; which is a place
of greater honour, but of less profit ; and withal was
made privy counsellor. After a few days, the lord
Coke meeting with the king's attorney, said unto him,
" Mr. Attorney, this is all your doing : It is you that
" have made this stir." Mr. Attorney answered, "Ah !
" my lord, your lordship all this while hath grown in
" breadth ; you must needs now grow in height, or
" else you would be a monster,"

99. One day queen Elizabeth told Mr. Bacon,
that my lord of Essex, after great protestation of pe-
nitence and atfection, fell in the end but upon the
suit of renewing of his farm of sweet wines. He
answered ; "I read that in nature there be two
"kinds of motions or appetites in sympathy; the
" one as of iron to the adamant, for perfection ; the
" other as of the vine to the stake, for sustentation ;
" that her majesty was the one, and his suit the
" other."

100. Mr. Bacon, after he had been vehement in

422 Apophthegms.

parliament against depopulation and inclosufes ; and
that soon after the queen told him that she had referred
the hearing of Mr. Mill's cause to certain counsellors
and judges ; and asked him how he liked of it ? an-
swered, " Oh, madam, my mind is known; I am
" against all inclosures, and especially against in-
" closed justice."

101. When Sir Nicholas Bacon the lord keeper
lived, every room in Gorhambury was served with a
pipe of water from the ponds, distant about a mile off.
In the lifetime of Mr. Anthony Bacon, the water
ceased. After whose death, his lordship coming to
the inheritance, could not recover the water without
infinite charge : when he was lord chancellor, he
built Verulam house, close by the pond-yard, for a
place of privacy when he was called upon to dispatch
any urgent business. And being asked, why he built
that house there ; his lordship answered, " that since
" he could not carry the water to his house, he would
" carry his house to the water "

102. When my lord president of the council came
first to be lord treasurer, he complained to my lord
chancellor of the troublesomeness of the place ; for
that the exchequer was so empty ; the lord chan-
cellor answered, " My lord, be of good cheer,
" for now you shall see the bottom of your business
" at the first."

103. When his lordship was newly advanced to
the great seal, Gondomar came to visit him. My
lord said ; that he was to thank God and the king for
that honour ; but yet, so he might be rid of the bur-
den, he could very willingly forbear the honour ; and
that he formerly had a desire, and the same continued
with him still, to lead a private life. Gondomar an-
swered, that he would tell him a tale of an old rat, that
would needs leave the world, and acquainted the
young rats that he would retire into his hole, and spend
his days solitarily : and would enjoy no more comfort :
and commanded them upon his high displeasure, not
to offer to come in unto him. They forbore two or
three days; at last, one that was more hardy than the

Apophthegms, 423

rest, incited some of his fellows to go in with him,
and he would venture to see how his father did ; for
he might be dead. They went in, and found the old
rat sitting in the midst of a rich Parmesan cheese.
So he applied the fable after his witty manner.

104. Rabelais tells a tale of one that was very for-
tunate in compounding differences. His son under-
took the said course, but could never compound any.
Whereupon he came to his father, and asked him,
What art he had to reconcile differences ? He an-
swered ; " he had no other but this : to watch when
" the two parties were much wearied, and their hearts
" were too great to seek reconcilement at one an-
" other's hands ; then to be a means betwixt them,
" and upon no other terms. After which the son
went home, and prospered in the same undertakings.

105. Alonso Cartilio was informed by his steward
of the greatness of his expence, being such as he could
not hold out therewith. The bishop asked him,
wherein it chiefly arose 1 His steward told him, in
the multitude of his servants. The bishop bad him
to make him a note of those that were necessary, and
those that might be spared. Which he did. And the
bishop taking occasion to read it before most of his
servants, said to his steward, "Well, let these remain,
" because I have need of them ; and these other also,
" because they have need of me."

106. Mr. Marbury, the preacher, would say, " that
" God was fain to do with wicked men, as men do
" with frisking jades in a pasture, that cannot take
" them up, till they get them at a gate. So wicked
" men will not be taken up till the hour of death."

107 Pope Sixtus the Fifth, who was a very poor
man's son, and his father's house ill thatched, so that
the sun came in in many places, would sport with his
ignobility, and say, " that he was nato di casa illus-
" tre : son of an illustrious house."

108. When the king of Spain conquered Portugal,
he gave special charge to his lieutenant, that the sol-
diers should not spoil, lest he should alienate the hearts
of the people : the army also suffered much scarcity

424 Apophthegms.

of victual. Whereupon the Spanish soldiers would
afterwards say, " that they had won the king a king-
" dom on earth, as the kingdom of heaven used to
" be won : by fasting and abstaining from that which
" is another man's."

109. They feigned a tale of Sixtus Quintus, whom
they called Size-ace, that after his death he went to
hell, and the porter of hell said to him, " You have
" some reason to offer yourself to this place, because
" you were a wicked man; but yet, because you were
" a pope, I have order not to receive you : you have
" a place of your own, purgatory ; you may go thi-
" ther." So he went away, and sought about a great
while for purgatory, and could find no such place.
Upon that he took heart, and went to heaven, and
knocked ; and St. Peter asked, " Who was there V
He said, " Sixtus pope." Whereunto St. Peter said,
" Why do you knock ? you have the keys." Sixtus
answered, " It is true ; but it is -so long since they
" were given, as I doubt the wards of the lock be
" altered/'

1 10. Charles, king of Sweden, a great enemy of the
Jesuits, when he took any of their colleges, he would
hang the old Jesuits, and put the young to his mines,
saying, "that since they wrought so hard above
" ground, he would try how they could work under
" ground."

111. In chancery, at one time when the counsel of
the parties set forth the boundaries of the land in
question, by the plot; and the counsel of one part
said, " We lie on this side, my lord ;" and the coun-
sel of the other part said, " And we lie on this side :"
the lord chancellor Hatton stood up and said ; "If
" you lie on both sides, whom will you have me to
"believe?"

112. Sir Edward Coke was wont to say, when a
great man came to dinner to him, and gave him no
knowledge of his coming, " Sir, since you sent me
" no word of your coming, you must dine with me ;
" but if I had known of it in due time, I would have
" dined with you."

Apophthegms. 425

113. Pope Julius the third, when he was made
pope, gave his hat unto a youth, a favourite of his,
with great scandal. Whereupon, at one time, a car-
dinal that might be free with him, said modestly to
him, " What did your holiness see in that young man,
" to make him cardinal ?" Julius answered, " What
" did you see in me to make me pope?"

114. The same Julius, upon like occasion of
speech, Why he should bear so great affection to the
same young man ? would say, " that he found by
" astrology that it was the youth's destiny to be a
" great prelate ; which was impossible except himself
" were pope. And therefore that he did raise him,
" as the driver on of own fortune."

115. Sir Thomas More had only daughters at the
first, and his wife did ever pray for a boy At last
she had a boy, which being come to man's estate,
proved but simple. Sir Thomas said to his wife,
" Thou prayedst so long for a boy, that he will be a
" boy as long as he lives."

116. Sir Fulk Grevil, afterwards lord Brook, in
parliament, when the house of commons, in a great
business, stood much upon precedents, said unto them,
" Why do you stand so much upon precedents ? The
" times hereafter will be good or bad. If good, pre-
" cedents will do no harm; if bad, power will make
" a way where it finds none."

117 Sir Thomas More, on the day that he was
beheaded, had a barber sent to him, because his hair
was long; which was thought would make him more
commisserated with the people. The barber came to
him, and asked him, " Whether he would be pleased
" to be trimmed?" " In good faith, honest fellow,"
saith Sir Thomas, u the king and I have a suit for
" my head ; and till the title be cleared, I will do no
" cost upon it."

118. Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, a
great champion of the popish religion, was wont to
say of the Protestants who ground upon the Scripture,
" That they were like posts, that bring truth in their
" letters, and lies in their mouths."

426 Apophthegms.

119. The former Sir Thomas More had sent him
by a suitor in chancery two silver flagons. When
they were presented by the gentleman's servant, he
said to one of his men, " Have him to the cellar, and
" let him have of my best wine :" and, turning to the
servant said, " Tell thy master, if he like it, let him
" not spare it."

120. Michael Angelo, the famous painter, painting
in the pope's chapel the portraiture of hell and
damned souls, made one of the damned souls so like
a cardinal that was his enemy, as every body at first
sight knew it. Whereupon the cardinal complained
to pope Clement, humbly praying it might be defaced.
The pope said to him, " Why, you know very well,
" I have power to deliver a soul out of purgatory,
" but not out of hell."

121. There was an agent here for the Dutch, call-
ed Carroon ; and when he used to move the queen
for farther succours and more men, my lord Henry
Howard would say, " That he agreed well with the
" name of Charon, ferryman of hell ; for he came still
" for more men, to increase regnum umbrarum."

122. They were wont to call referring to the
masters in chancery, committing. My lord keeper
Egerton, when he was master of the rolls, was wont
to ask, " What the cause had done that it should be
" committed?"

123. They feigned a tale, principally against doc-
tors reports in the chancery, that Sir Nicholas Bacon,
when he came to heaven gate, was opposed, touching
an unjust decree which had been made in the chan-
cery. Sir Nicholas desired to see the order, where-
upon the decree was drawn up ; and finding it to be-
gin, Veneris, etc. " Why," saith he, " I was then sitting
" in the star chamber ; this concerns the master of
" the rolls; let him answer it." Soon after came the
master of the rolls, Cordal, who died indeed a small
time after Sir Nicholas Bacon; and he was likewise
stayed upon it; and looking into the order, he found,
that upon the reading of a certificate of Dr. Gibson,
it was ordered that his report should be decreed.

Apophthegms. 427

And so he pat it upon Dr. Gibson, and there it
stock.

124. Sir Nicholas Bacon, when a certain nimble-
witted counsellor at the bar, who was forward to
speak, did interrupt him often, said unto him, " There
" is a great difference betwixt yon and me : a pain to
" me to speak, and a pain to you to hold yoor peace.**

125. The same Sir Nicholas Bacon, upon bills ex-
hibited to discover where lands lay, upon proof that
they had a certain quantity of land, but could not set
it forth, was wont to say ; " And if you cannot find
" your land in the country, how will you have me
" find it in the chancery T

126. Mr. Howland, in conference with a young
student, arguing a case, happened to say, " I would
" ask you but this question." The student presently
interrupted him, to give him an answer. Whereunto
Mr. Howland gravely said, " Nay, though I ask you
" a question, yet I did not mean you should answer
" me ; I mean to answer myself."

127 Pope Adrian the Sixth was talking with the
duke of Sesa, " that Pasquil gave great scandal, and
" that he would have him thrown into the river;" but
Sesa answered, " Do it not, holy father, for then he
"will turn frog; and whereas now he chants but by
" day, he will then chant both by day and night."

128. There was a gentleman in Italy that wrote to
a great friend of his, whom the pope had newly ad-
vanced to be cardinal, that he was very glad of his
advancement, for the cardinal's own sake ; but he
was sorry that himself had lost a good friend.

129. There was a king of Hungary took a bishop
in battle, and kept him prisoner : whereupon the pope
writ a monitory to him, for that he had broken the
privilege of the holy church, and taken his son. The
king sent an embassage to him, and sent withal the
armour wherein the bishop was taken, and this only in
writing, Vide num hcec sit vestis jilii tui: :< Know
" now whether this be thy son's coat."

130. Sir Amy as Pawlet, when he saw too much
haste made in any matter, was wont to say.

428 Apophthegms.

" Stay a while, that we may make an end the

" sooner."

131. A master of the requests to queen Elizabeth
had divers times moved for audience, and been put
off. At last he came to the queen in a progress, and
had on a new pair of boots. The queen, who loved
not the smell of new leather, said to him, " Fy, sloven,
" thy new boots stink." " Madam,"' said he, " it is
" not my new boots that stink; but it is the stale bills
" that I have kept so long."

132. At an act of the commencement, the an-
swerer gave for his question, that an aristocracy was
better than a monarchy The replier, who was a
dissolute man, did tax him, that being a private bred
man, he would give a question of state. The an-
swerer said, that the replier did much wrong the pri-
vilege of scholars, who would be much straitened if
they should give questions of nothing but such things
wherein they are practised : and added, " We have
" heard yourself dispute of virtue, which no man will
" say you put much in practice."

133. Queen Isabella of Spain used to say, " Who-
" soever hath a good presence, and a good fashion,
" carries continual letters of recommendation."

134. Alonso of Arragon was wont to say in com-
mendation of age, " That age appeared to be best in
" four things: old wood best to burn ; old wine to
" drink ; old friends to trust; and old authors to read."

135. It was said of Augustus, and afterwards the
like was said of Septimius Severus, both which did
infinite mischief in their beginnings, and infinite good
towards their ends, " that they should either have
" never been born or never died."

136. Constantine the Great, in a kind of envy,
himself being a great builder, as Trajan likewise was,
would call Trajan Parktaria : wall-flower ; because
his name was upon so many walls.

137 Alonso of Arragon was wont to say of him-
self, " That he was a great necromancer, for that
" he used to ask counsel of the dead :" meaning of
books.

Apophthegms. 429

138. Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester, in a famine,
sold all the rich vessels and ornaments of the church,
to relieve the poor with bread; and said, "there was
" no reason that the dead temples of God should be
" sumptuously furnished, and the living temples suf-
" fer penury."

139. Many men, especially such as affect gravity,
have a manner, after other men s speech, to shake
their heads. A great officer of this land would say,
" It was as men shake a bottle, to see if there Avere
" any wit in their heads or no."

140. After a great fight, there came to the camp
of Consalvo, the great captain, a gentleman proudly
horsed and armed. Diego de Mendoza asked the
great captain, "Who is this?" Who answered, "It
" is Saint Ermin, who never appears but after the
" storm."

141. There was one that died greatly in debt:
when it was reported in some company, where divers
of his creditors casually were, that he was dead, one
began to say, "Well, if he be gone, then he hath
" carried five hundred ducats of mine with him into
" the other world : " and another said, " And two
" hundred of mine :" and a third spake of great sums
of his. Whereupon one that was amongst them said,
" I perceive now, that though a man cannot carry

any of his own with him into the next world, yet
" he may carry away that which is another man's."

142. Francis Carvajal, that was the great captain of
the rebels of Peru, had often given the chase to Diego
Centeno, a principal commander of the emperor's
party : he was afterwards taken by the emperor's lieu-
tenant Gasca, and commited to the custody of Diego
Centeno, who used him with all possible courtesy ;
insomuch as Carvajal asked him, " I pray, Sir, who
" are you, that use me with this courtesy?" Centeno
said, "Do not you know Diego Centeno?" Carvajal
answered, " Truly, Sir, I have been so used to see
" your back, as I knew not your face."

143. There was a merchant died that was very far
in debt; his goods and household stuff were set forth

a

4.30 Apophthegms.

to sale. A stranger would needs buy a pillow there,
saying, " This pillow sure is good to sleep upon,
" since he could sleep that owed so many debts."

144. A lover met his lady in a close chair. She
thinking to have gone unknown, he came and spake
to her. She asked him, " How did you know me?"
He said, " Because my wounds bleed afresh;" alluding
to the common tradition, that the wounds of a body
slain will bleed afresh upon the approach of the mur-
derer.

145. A gentleman brought music to his lady's win-
dow. She hated him, and had warned him often
away ; and when he would not desist, she threw
stones at him. Whereupon a gentleman said unto
him, that was in his company, " What greater honour
" can you have to your music, than that stones come
" about you, as they did to Orpheus?"

146. Coranus the Spaniard, at a table at dinner,
fell into an extolling his own father, saying, " If he
" could have wished of God, he could not have chosen
" amongst men a better father." Sir Henry Savil
said, "What, not Abraham?" Now Coranus was
doubted to descend of a race of Jews.

147 Bresquet, jester to Francis the First of France,
did keep a calendar of fools, wherewith he did use to
make the king sport; telling him ever the reason why
he put any one into his calendar. When Charles the
Fifth, emperor, upon confidence of the noble nature
of Francis, passed through France for the appeasing
of the rebellion of Gaunt, Bresquet put him into his
calendar. The king asked him the cause. He an-
swered, " Because you having suffered at the hands of
" Charles the greatest bitterness that ever prince did
" from another, nevertheless he would trust his per-
" son into your hands." " Why, Bresquet," said the
king, "what wilt thou say, if thou seest him pass
" back in as great safety, as if he marched through
"the midst of Spain?" Saith Bresquet, "Why,
" then I will put him out, and put in you."

148. Archbishop Grindall was wont to say, "that
" the physicians here in England were not good at the

Apophthegms. 431

" cure of particular diseases ; but had only the power
" of the church to bind and loose."

149. Cosmus, duke of Florence, was wont to say of
perfidious friends, "that we read, that we ought to
" forgive our enemies ; but we do not read that we
" ought our friends."

150. A Papist being opposed by a Protestant, "that
" they had no Scripture for images," answered,
" Yes ; for you read that the people laid their sick
" in the streets, that the shadow of saint Peter might
"come upon them; and that a shadow was an
" image, and the obscurest of all images."

151. Sir Edward Dyer, a grave and wise gentle-
man, did much believe in Kelly, the alchemist, that
he did indeed the work, and did make gold ; inso-
much that he went into Germany, where Kelly
then was, to inform himself fully thereof. After his
return, he dined with my lord of Canterbury ; where
at that time was at the table Dr. Brown, the phy-
sician. They fell in talk of Kelly Sir Edward
Dyer, turning to the archbishop, said, " I do assure
" your grace, that what I shall tell you is truth ; I
" am an eye-witness thereof; and if I had not seen
" it, I should not have believed it. I saw Mr. Kelly
" put off the base metal into the crucible; and after
" it was set a little upon the fire, and a very small
" quantity of the medicine put in, and stirred with a
" stick of wood, it came forth, in great proportion,
" perfect gold ; to the touch, to the hammer, and to
" the test." My lord Archbishop said, " You had
" need take heed what you say, Sir Edward Dyer,
" for here is an infidel at the board." Sir Edward
Dyer said again pleasantly, " I should have looked
" for an infidel sooner in any place than at your
" grace's table." " What say you, Dr. Brown ?" said
the archbishop. Dr. Brown answered, after his blunt
and huddling manner ; "The gentleman hath spoken
"enough for me." "Why," said the archbishop,
" what hath he said ?" "Marry," saith Dr. Brown,
" he said, he would not have believed it, except he
" had seen it; and no more will I."

432 Apophthegms.

152. Doctor Johnson said, that in sickness there
were three things that were material ; the physician,
the disease, and the patient : and if any two of these
joined, then they get the victory; for, Ne Hercules
quidem contra duos. If the physician and the patient
join, then down goes the disease ; for then the pa-
tient recovers : if the physician and the disease join,
that is a strong disease ; and the physician mistaking
the cure, then down goes the patient : if the patient
and the disease join, then down goes the physician ;
for he is discredited.

153. Mr. Bettenham said, that virtuous men were
like some herbs and spices that give not out their
sweet smell, till they be broken or crushed.

154. There was a painter became a physician:
whereupon one said to him, "You have done well;
"for before, the faults of your work were seen ; but
"now, they are unseen."

155. There was a gentleman that came to the tilt
all in orange-tawny, and ran very ill. The next day
he came again all in green, and ran worse. There
was one of the lookers-on asked another, " What is
" the reason that this gentleman changeth his co-
" lours?" The other answered, "Sure, because it
" may be reported, that the gentleman in the green
" ran worse than the gentleman in the orange-
" tawny."

156. Zelim was the first of the Ottomans that did
shave his beard, whereas his predecessors wore it
long. One of his bashaws asked him, Why he altered
the custom of his predecessors? He answered,
" Because you bashaws may not lead me by the
" beard, as you did them."

157 JEneas Sylvius, that was pope Pius Secundus,
was wont to say, that the former popes did wisely to
set the lawyers a-work to debate, whether the dona-
tion of Constantine the Great to Sylvester, of St.
Peter's patrimony, were good or valid in law or no ?
the better to skip over the matter in fact, whether
there was ever any such thing at all or no.

158. The lord bishop Andrews was asked at the

Apophthegms. 433

first coming over of the archbishop of Spalato, whe-
ther he were a Protestant or no 1 He answered ; " Truly
I know not : but I think he is a detestant ;" that was,
of most of the opinions of Rome.

159. It was said amongst some of the grave pre-
lates of the council of Trent, in which the school-
divines bare the sway ; that the school-men were like
the astronomers, who to save the phenomena framed
to their conceit eccentrics and epicycles, and a won-
derful engine of orbs, though no such things were:
so they, to save the practice of the church, had de-
vised a great number of strange positions.

160. iEneas Sylvius would say, that the Christian
faith and law, though it had not been confirmed by
miracles, yet was worthy to be received for the ho-
nesty thereof.

161. Mr. Bacon would say, that it was in his
business, as it is frequently in the ways: that the
next way is commonly the foulest; and that if a man
will go the fairest way, he must go somewhat about.

162. Mr. Bettenham, reader of Gray's Inn, used
to say, that riches were like muck ; when it lay in a
heap it gave but a stench and ill odour ; but when it
was spread upon the ground, then it was cause of
much fruit.

163. Cicero married his daughter to Dolabella,
that held Caesar's party : Pompey had married Julia,
that was Caesar's daughter. After, when Caesar and
Pompey took arms one against the other, and Pom-
pey had passed the seas, and Caesar possessed Italy,
Cicero stayed somewhat long in Italy, but at last
sailed over to join with Pompey ; who, when he came
to him, Pompey said, " You are welcome, but where
" left you your son-in-law ? Cicero answered, " With
" your father-in-law."

164. Vespasian and Titus his eldest son were both
absent from Rome when the empire was cast upon
Vespasian ; Domitian his younger son was at Rome,
who took upon him the affairs ; and being of a tur-
bulent spirit, made many changes ; and displaced di-
vers officers and governors of provinces, sending them

vol. ir. 2 f

434 Apophthegms.

successors. So when Vespasian returned to Rome,
and Domitian came into his presence, Vespasian said
to him ; " Son, I looked when you would have sent

" me a successor.

165. Nero loved a beautiful youth, whom he used
viciously, and called him wife : there was a senator
of Rome that said secretly to his friend, " It was pity
" Nero's father had not such a wife."

166. Galba succeeded Nero, and his age being
despised, there was much licence and confusion in
Rome during his empire ; whereupon a senator said
in full senate ; " It were better to live where nothing
" is lawful, than where all things are lawful."

167 Augustus Csesar did write to Livia, who was
over-sensible of some ill words that had been spoken
of them both : " Let it not trouble thee, my Livia, if
" any man speak ill of us ; for we have enough that
" no man can do ill unto us."

168. Chilon said, that kings, friends, and favourites,
were like casting counters ; that sometimes stood for
one, sometimes for ten, sometimes for a hundred.

169. Theodosius, when he was pressed by a suitor,
and denied him ; the suitor said, " Why, Sir, you pro-
" mised it." He answered; " I said it, but I did not
" promise it, if it be unjust."

170. The Romans, when they spake to the peo-
ple, were wont to style them, Ye Romans : when
commanders in war spake to their army, they styled
them, My soldiers. There was a mutiny in Caesar's
army, and somewhat the soldiers would have had,
yet they would not declare themselves in it, but only
demanded a mission, or discharge ; though with no
intention it should be granted : but, knowing that
Csesar had at that time great need of their service,
thought by that means to wrench him to their other
desires : whereupon with one cry they asked mis-
sion. Caesar, after silence made, said ; " I for my
" part, ye Romans." This title did actually speak
them to be dismissed : which voice they had no
sooner heard, but they mutinied again; and would
not suffer him to go on with his speech, until he had

Apophthegms. 435

called them by the name of his soldiers: and so with
that one word he appeased the sedition.

171. Caesar would say of Sylla, for that he did
resign his dictatorship ; " Sylla was ignorant of let-
' ters, he could not dictate."

172. Seneca said of Caesar, " that he did quickly
" shew the sword, but never leave it off."

173. Diogenes begging, as divers philosophers then
used, did beg more of a prodigal man, than of the rest
which were present. Whereupon one said to him ;
" See your baseness, that when you find a liberal
" mind, you will take most of him." " No," said
Diogenes, " but I mean to beg of the rest again."

174. Themistocles, when an ambassador from a
mean estate did speak gre .t matters, said to him,
" Friend, thy words would require a city."

175. They would say of the duke of Guise, Henry,
" that he was the greatest usurer in France, for that
" he had turned all his estate into obligations."
Meaning, that he had sold and oppignerated all his
patrimony, to give large donatives to other men.

176. Csesar Borgia, after long division between
him and the lords of Romagna, fell to accord with
them. In this accord there was an article, that he
should not call them at any time all together in per-
son. The meaning was, that knowing his danger-
ous nature, if he meant them treason, he might have
opportunity to oppress them all together at once.
Nevertheless, he used such fine art and fair carriage,
that he won their confidence to meet all together in
council at Cinigaglia ; where he murdered them all.
This act, when it was related unto pope Alexander,
his father, by a cardinal, as a thing happy, but very
perfidious ; the pope said, " It was they that broke
" their covenant first, in coming all together."

177 Titus Quinctius was in the council of the
Achaians, what time they deliberated, whether in the
war then to follow, between the Romans and king
Antiochus, they should confederate themselves with
the Romans, or with king Antiochus ? In that coun-
cil the iEtolians, who incited the Achaians against the

2 f 2

436 Apophthegms.

Romans, to disable their forces, gave great words, as
if the late victory the Romans had obtained against
Philip, king of Macedon, had been chiefly by the
strength and forces of the iEtolians themselves : and
on the other side the ambassador of Antiochus did
extol the forces of his master; sounding what an
innumerable company he brought in his army ; and
gave the nations strange names ; as Elymaeans, Ca-
ducians, and others. After both their harangues,
Titus Quinctius, when he rose up, said ; " It was an
" easy matter to perceive what it was that had joined
" Antiochus and the iEtolians together ; that it ap-
" peared to be by the reciprocal lying of each, touch-
" ing the other's forces."

178. Plato was amorous of a young gentleman,
whose name was Stella, that studied astronomy, and
went oft in the clear nights to look upon the stars.
Whereupon Plato wished himself heaven, that he
might look upon Stella with a thousand eyes.

179. The Lacedaemonians were besieged by the
Athenians in the port of Pyle, which was won, and
some slain, and some taken. There was one said
to one of them that was taken, by way of scorn,
" Were they not brave men that lost their lives at
" the port of Pyle ?" He answered, " Certainly a
" Persian arrow is much to be set by, if it can choose
" out a brave man."

180. Clodius was acquitted by a corrupt jury, that
had palpably taken shares of money : before they gave
up their verdict, they prayed of the senate a guard,
that they might do their consciences, for that Clodius
was a very seditious young nobleman. Whereupon
all the world gave him for condemned. But acquitted
he was. Catulus, the next day seeing some of them
that had acquitted him together, said to them ; " What
" made you ask of us a guard? Were you afraid your
" money should be taken from you ?"

181. At the same judgment, Cicero gave in evi-
dence upon oath : and when the jury, which consisted
of fifty-seven, had passed against his evidence, one
day in the senate Cicero and Clodius being in alterca-

Apophthegms. 437

tion, Clodius upbraided him, and said, " The jury
" gave you no credit." Cicero answered, " Five-and-
" twenty gave me credit: but there were two-and-
" thirty that gave you no credit, for they had their
" money beforehand."

182. Sir Henry Savil was asked by my lord of
Essex his opinion touching poets? He answered my
lord ; " that he thought them the best writers, next
" to them that writ prose."

183. Diogenes, having seen that the kingdom of
Macedon, which before was contemptible and low,
began to come aloft when he died, was asked, how
he would be buried ? He answered, " With my
" face downwards; for within a while the world
" will be turned upside down, and then I shall lie
" right."

184. Cato the elder was wont to say; that the
Romans were like sheep; a man were better to
drive a flock of them, than one of them.

185. When Lycurgus was to reform and alter the
state of Sparta; in consultation one advised, that it
should be reduced to an absolute popular equality :
but Lycurgus said to him ; " Sir, begin it in your
" own house."

186. Bion, that was an atheist, was shewed in a
port city, in a temple of Neptune, many tables of
pictures, of such as had in tempests made their vows
to Neptune, and were saved from shipwreck : and was
asked, " How say you now? Do you not acknowledge
" the power of the gods?" But saith he; " Ay, but
" where are they painted that have been drowned
" after their vows ?"

187 Cicero was at dinner, where there was an
ancient lady that spake of her own years, and said,
" she was but forty years old." One that sat by
Cicero rounded him in the ear, and said; " She talks
" of forty years old; but she is far more, out of ques-
" tion." Cicero answered him again ; " I must be-
" lieve her, for I have heard her say so any time
" these ten years."

188. There was a soldier that vaunted before Ju-

438 Apophthegms.

lius Caesar of the hurts he had received in his face.
Julius Caesar knowing him to be but a coward, told
him ; " You were best take heed next time you run
" away, how you look back."

189. There was a suitor to Vespasian, who, to lay
his suit fairer, said it was for his brother; whereas in-
deed it was for a piece of money Some about Ves-
pasian told the emperor, to cross him, that the party
his servant spoke for, was not his brother; but that
he did it upon a bargain. Vespasian sent for the
party interested, and asked him; "Whether his mean
" employed by him was his brother or no?" He
durst not tell untruth to the emperor, and confessed
he was not his brother. Whereupon the emperor
said, " This do, fetch me the money, and you shall
" have your suit dispatched." Which he did. The
courtier, w'hich was the mean, solicited Vespasian
soon after about his suit : " Why," saith Vespasian,
" I gave it last day to a brother of mine."

190. Vespasian asked of Apollonius, what was the
cause of Nero's ruin? Who answered, " Nero could
" tune the harp well, but in government he did al-
" ways wind up the strings too high, or let them
" down too low"

191. Dionysius the tyrant, after he was deposed
and brought to Corinth, kept a school. Many used
to visit him ; and amongst others, one when he came
in, opened his mantle and shook his clothes ; think-
ing to give Dionysius a gentle scorn ; because it was
the manner to do so for them that came in to see him
while he was tyrant. But Dionysius said to him;
" I prithee do so, rather when thou goest out, that
" we may see thou stealest nothing away."

192. Diogenes, one terrible frosty morning, came
into the market-place, and stood naked, shaking, to
shew his tolerance. Many of the people came about
him, pitying him : Plato passing by, and knowing he
did it to be seen, said to the people as he went by ;
" If you pity him indeed, let him alone to himself."

193. Aristippus was earnest suitor to Dionysius for
some grant, who would give no ear to his suit. Aris-

Apophthegms. 439

tippus fell at his feet, and then Dionysius granted it.
One that stood by said afterwards to Aristippus;
" You a philosopher, and be so base as to throw your-
" self at the tyrant's feet to get a suit." Aristippus
answered, " The fault is not mine, but the fault is in
" Dionysius, that carries his ears in his feet."

194. Solon, when he wept for his son's death, and
one said to him, "Weeping will not help;" answered,
" Alas, therefore I weep, because weeping will not
help."

195. The same Solon being asked ; whether he had
given the Athenians the best laws? answered, "The
" best of those that they would have received."

196. One said to Aristippus; 'Tis a strange thing,
why men should rather give to the poor, than to phi-
losophers. He answered, " Because they think them-
" selves may sooner come to be poor, than to be phi-
" losophers."

197 Trajan would say of the vain jealousy of
princes, that seek to make away those that aspire to
their succession; "that there was never king that
" did put to death his successor."

198. When it was represented to Alexander, to
the advantage of Antipater, who was a stern and im-
perious man, that he only of all his lieutenants wore
no purple, but kept the Macedonian habit of black ;
Alexander said, " Yea, but Antipater is all purple
'' within."

199. Alexander used to say of his two friends,
Craterus, and Hephsestion; that Hephsestion loved
Alexander, and Craterus loved the king.

200. It fell out so, that as Livia went abroad in
Rome, there met her naked young men that were
sporting in the streets, which Augustus went about
severely to punish in them; but Livia spake for them,
and said, " It was no. more to chaste women than so
" many statues."

201. Philip of Macedon was wished to banish one
for speaking ill of him. But Philip answered ; " Bet-
" ter he speak where we are both known, than where
" we are both unknown."

440 Apophthegms.

202. Lucullus entertained Pompey in one of his
magnificent houses: Pompey said, "This is a mar-
" vellous fair and stately house for the summer: but
" methinks it should be very cold for winter." Lu-
cullus answered, " Do you not think me as wise as
" divers fowls are, to change my habitation in the
" winter season ?"

- 203. Plato entertained some of his friends at a
dinner, and had in the chamber a bed, or couch,
neatly and costly furnished. Diogenes came in,
and got up upon the bed, and trampled it, saying,
" I trample upon the pride of Plato." Plato
mildly answered, " But with greater pride, Dio-
" genes.

204. Pompey being commissioner for sending grain
to Rome in time of dearth, when he came to the sea,
found it very tempestuous and dangerous, insomuch
as those about him advised him by no means to em-
bark ; but Pompey said, " It is of necessity that I go,
" not that I live."

205. Demosthenes was upbraided by i£schines,
that his speeches did smell of the lamp. But Demos-
thenes said, " Indeed there is a great deal of differ-
" ence between that which you and I do by lamp-
" light."

206. Demades the orator, in his age was talkative,
and would eat hard: Antipater would say of him,
that he was like a sacrifice, that nothing was left of
it but the tongue and the paunch.

207 Themistocles, after he was banished, and had
wrought himself into great favour afterwards, so that
he was honoured and sumptuously served, seeing his
present glory, said unto one of his friends, " If I had
" not been undone, I had been undone."

208. Philo Judseus saith, that the sense is like the
sun; for the sun seals up the globe of heaven, and
opens the globe of earth : so the sense doth obscure
heavenly things, and reveals earthly things.

209. Alexander, after the battle of Granicum, had
very great offers made him by Darius; consulting
with his captains concerning them, Parmenio said,

Apophthegms. 44 1

" Sure I would accept of these offers, if I were as
" Alexander." Alexander answered, " So would I,
" if I were as Parmenio."

210. Alexander was wont to say, he knew himself
to be mortal, chiefly by two things ; sleep and lust.

211. Augustus Caesar would say, that he wondered
that Alexander feared he should want work, having
no more worlds to conquer: as if it were not as hard
a matter to keep, as to conquer,

212. Antigonus, when it was told him, that the
enemy had such volleys of arrows that they did hide
the sun, said, " That falls out well, for it is hot wea-
" ther, and so we shall fight in the shade."

213. Cato the elder, being aged, buried his wife,
and married a young woman. His son came to him,
and said ; " Sir, what have I offended, that you have
brought a step-mother into your house ?" The old
man answered, " Nay, quite contrary, son : thou
" pleasest me so well, as I would be glad to have
" more such."

214. Crassus the orator had a fish which the Ro-
mans called Murcena, that he made very tame and
fond of him ; the fish died, and Crassus wept for it.
One day falling in contention with Domitius in the
senate, Domitius said, " Foolish Crassus, you wept
" for your Afurcena." Crassus replied, " That is
" more than you did for both your wives."

215. Philip, Alexander's father, gave sentenc
against a prisoner what time he was drowsy, and
seemed to give small attention. The prisoner, after
sentence was pronounced, said, " I appeal." The
king, somewhat stirred, said; " To whom do you
" appeal?" The prisoner answered, "From Philip

when he gave no ear, to Philip when he shall give

" ear.

216. There was a philosopher that disputed with
the emperor Adrian, and did it but weakly. One of
his friends that stood by, afterwards said unto him,
" Methinks you were not like yourself last day, in
" argument with the emperor; I could have an-
" swered better myself." " Why," said the philo-

442 Apophthegms.

sopher, " would you have me contend with him that
" commands thirty legions ?"

217 When Alexander passed into Asia, he gave
large donatives to his captains, and other principal
men of virtue ; insomuch as Parmenio asked him,
" Sir, what do you keep for yourself?" He an-
swered, " Hope."

218. Vespasian set a tribute upon urine; Titus his
son emboldened himself to speak to his father of it ;
and represented it as a thing indign and sordid. Ves-
pasian said nothing for the time ; but a while after,
when it was forgotten, sent for a piece of silver out
of the tribute-money ; and called to his son, bidding
him to smell to it; and asked him, whether he
found any offence? Who said, "No." " Why so?"
saith Vespasian again ; " yet this comes out of

" urine.

219. Nerva the emperor succeeded Domitian, who
had been tyrannical, and in his time many noble houses
were overthrown by false accusations ; the instru-
ments whereof were chiefly Marcellus and Regulus.
The emperor Nerva one night supped privately with
some six or seven : amongst whom there was one
that was a dangerous man ; and began to take the
like courses as Marcellus and Regulus had done.
The emperor fell into discourse of the injustice and
tyranny of the former time ; and by name, of the two
accusers ; and said, " What should we do with them,
" if we had them now ?" One of them that was at
supper, and was a free-spoken senator, said, " Marry,
" they should sup with us."

220. There was one that found a great mass of
money digging under ground in his grandfather's
house ; and being somewhat doubtful of the case,
signified it to the emperor that he had found such
treasure. The emperor made a rescript thus; " Use
" it." He writ back again, that the sum was greater
than his estate or condition could use. The emperor
writ a new rescript thus : " Abuse it."

221. Julius Caesar, as he passed by, was, by accla-
mation of some that stood in the way, termed King,

Apophthegms. 443

to try how the people would take it. The people
shewed great murmur and distaste at it. Caesar,
finding where the wind stood, slighted it, and said,
" I am not king, but Caesar;" as if they had mis-
taken his name. For Rex was a surname amongst
the Romans, as King is with us.

222. When Crcesus, for his glory, shewed Solon
his great treasures of gold, Solon said to him, " If
" another king come that hath better iron than you,
" he will be master of all this gold."

223. Aristippus being reprehended of luxury by
one that was not rich, for that he gave six crowns
for a small fish, answered, " Why, what would you
" have given?" The other said, " Some twelvepence."
Aristippus said again, " And six crowns is no more
" with me."

224. Plato reprehended severely a young man for
entering into a dissolute house. The young man said
to him, " Why do you reprehend so sharply for so
" small a matter ?" Plato replied, " But custom is
" no small matter."

225. Archidamus, king of Lacedaemon, having re-
ceived from Philip king of Macedon, after Philip had
won the victory of Chaeronea upon the Athenians,
proud letters, writ back to him, " That if he mea
" sured his own shadow, he would find it no longer
" than it was before his victory."

226. Pyrrhus, when his friends congratulated to
him his victory over the Romans, under the conduct
of Fabricius, but with great slaughter of his own
side, said to them again, " Yes, but if we have such
" another victory, we are undone."

227 Plato was wont to say of his master Socrates,
that he was like the apothecaries' gally-pots ; that
had on the outside apes, and owls, and satyrs ; but
within, precious drugs.

228. Alexander sent to Phocion a great present of
money. Phocion said to the messenger, " Why doth
" the king send to me, and to none else ?" The mes-
senger answered, " Because he takes you to be the
" only good man in Athens." Phocion replied, " If

444 Apophthegms.

" he thinks so, pray let him suffer me to be so
still."

229. At a banquet, where those that were called
the seven wise men of Greece were invited by the
ambassador of a barbarous king ; the ambassador re-
lated, that there was a neighbour mightier than his
master, picked quarrels with him, by making im-
possible demands, otherwise threatening war; and
now at that present had demanded of him, to drink
up the sea. Whereunto one of the wise men said,
" I would have him undertake it." " Why," saith
the ambassador, " how shall he come off?" " Thus,"
saith the wise man; " let that king first stop the
" rivers which run into the sea, which are no part of
" the bargain, and then your master will perform
" it."

230. At the same banquet, the ambassador desired
the seven, and some other wise men that were at the
banquet, to deliver every one of them some sentence
or parable, that he might report to his king the
wisdom of Grsecia, which they did; only one was
silent; which the ambassador perceiving, said to him,
" Sir, let it not displease you ; why do not you say
" somewhat that I may report?" He answered,
" Report to your lord, that there are of the Grecians
" that can hold their peace."

23 1 . The Lacedaemonians had in custom to speak
very short, which being an empire, they might do at
pleasure : but after their defeat at Leuctra, in an
assembly of the Grecians, they made a long invective
against Epaminondas ; who stood up, and said no
more than this ; " lam glad we have brought you to
" speak long."

232. Fabius Maximus being resolved to draw
the war in length, still waited upon Hannibal's
progress to curb him ; and for that purpose he en-
camped upon the high ground : but Terentius his
colleague fought with Hannibal, and was in great
peril of overthrow ; but then Fabius came down
from the high grounds, and got the day. Where-
upon Hannibal said, " that he did ever think that

Apophthegms. 445

" that same cloud that hanged upon the hills, would
" at one time or other give a tempest."

233. Hanno the Carthaginian was sent commis-
sioner by the state, after the second Carthaginian
war, to supplicate for peace, and in the end obtained
it : yet one of the sharper senators said, " You have
" often broken with us the peaces whereunto you
" have been sworn ; I pray, by what god will you
" swear?" Hanno answered; " By the same gods
" that have punished the former perjury so severely "

234. Csesar, when he first possessed Rome, Pompey
being fled, offered to enter the sacred treasury to take
the moneys that were there stored ; and Metellus,
tribune of the people, did forbid him : and when
Metellus was violent in it, and would not desist,
Caesar turned to him, and said, " Presume no farther,
" or I will lay you dead." And when Metellus was
with those words somewhat astonished, Caesar added;
" Young man, it had been easier for me to do this
" than to speak it."

235. Caius Marius was general of the Romans
against the Cimbers, who came with such a sea of
people upon Italy In the fight there was a band of
the Cadurcians of a thousand, that did notable ser-
vice ; whereupon, after the fight, Marius did denison
them all for citizens of Rome, though there was no
law to warrant it. One of his friends did present it
unto him, that he had transgressed the law, because
that privilege was not to be granted but by the people.
Whereunto Marius answered ; " That for the noise of
" arms he could not hear the laws."

236. Pompey did consummate the war against Ser-
torius, when Metellus had brought the enemy some-
what low. He did also consummate the war against
the fugitives, whom Crassus had before defeated in a
great battle. So when Lucullus had had great and glo-
rious victories against Mithridates and Tigranes ; yet
Pompey, by means his friends made, was sent to put
an end to that war. Whereupon Lucullus taking
indignation, as a disgrace offered to himself, said ;
" that Pompey was a carrion crow: when others had

446 Apophthegms.

" strucken down the bodies, then Pompey came and
" preyed upon»them."

237. Antisthenes being asked of one what learn-
ing was most necessary for man's life? answered;
" To unlearn that which is nought."

238. Alexander visited Diogenes in his tub ; and
when he asked him, what he would desire of him?
Diogenes answered ; " That you would stand a little
" aside, that the sun may come to me."

239. The same Diogenes, when mice came about
him as he was eating, said ; " I see that even Dio-
" genes nourisheth parasites."

240. Hiero visited by Pythagoras, asked him, " of
" what condition he was ?" Pythagoras answered ;
" Sir, I know you have been at the Olympian games."
" Yes," saith Hiero. " Thither," saith Pythagoras,
" come some to win the prizes. Some come to sell
" their merchandise, because it is a kind of mart
" of all Greece. Some come to meet their friends,
" and to make merry ; because of the great confluence
" of all sorts. Others come only to look on. I am
" one of them that come to look on." Meaning it,
of philosophy, and the contemplative life.

241. Heraclitus the obscure said; " The dry light
" is the best soul :" meaning, when the faculties in-
tellectual are in vigour, not drenched, or, as it were,
blooded by the affections.

242. One of the philosophers was asked, " what a
" wise man differed from a fool?" He answered,
" Send them both naked to those that know them
" not, and you shall perceive.

243. There was a law made by the Romans against
the bribery and extortion of the governors of pro-
vinces. Cicero saith in a speech of his to the people,
" that he thought the provinces would petition to
" the state of Rome to have that law repealed.
" For," saith he, " before the governors did bribe and
extort as much as was sufficient for themselves:
" but now they bribe and extort as much as may be
" enough not only for themselves, but for the judges,
" and jurors, and magistrates."

Apophthegms. 447

244. Aristippus sailing in a tempest, shewed signs
of fear. One of the seamen said to him, in an insult-
ing manner : " We that are plebeians are not trou-
" bled ; you that are a philosopher are afraid." Aris-
tippus answered ; " That there is not the like wager
" upon it, for you to perish and for me."

245. There was an orator that defended a cause
of Aristippus, and prevailed. Afterwards he asked
Aristippus ; " Now, in your distress, what did Socrates
" do you good?" Aristippus answered; " Thus, in
" making that which you said of me to be true."

246. There was an Epicurean vaunted, that divers
of other sects of philosophers did after turn Epicu-
reans ; but there never were any Epicureans that
turned to any other sect. Whereupon a philosopher
that was of another sect, said ; " The reason was
" plain, for that cocks may be made capons, but ca-
" pons could never be made cocks."

247 Chilon would say, " That gold was tried
" with the touchstone, and men with gold."

248. Simonides being asked of Hiero, what he
thought of God? asked a seven-night's time to con-
sider of it : and at the seven-night's end, he asked a
fortnight's time; at the fortnight's end, a month. At
which Hiero marvelling, Simonides answered; "that
" the longer he thought upon the matter, the more
" difficult he found it."

249. A Spaniard was censuring to a French gen-
tleman the want of devotion amongst the French; in
that, whereas in Spain, when the sacrament goes to
the sick, any that meets with it, turns back and waits
upon it to the house whither it goes ; but in France
they only do reverence, and pass by. But the French
gentleman answered him, " There is reason for it ;
" for here with us, Christ is secure amongst his
" friends ; but in Spain there be so many Jews and
" Moranos, that it is not amiss for him to have a
" convoy."

250. Mr. Popham, afterwards lord chief justice
Popham, when he was speaker, and the house of
commons had sat long, and done in effect nothing ;

448 Apophthegms.

coming one day to queen Elizabeth, she said to him ;
" Now, Mr. Speaker, what hath passed in the com-
" mons' house?" He answered, " If it please your
" majesty, seven weeks."

251. Themistocles in his lower fortune was in love
with a young gentleman who scorned him ; but when
he grew to his greatness, which was soon after, he
sought him : Themistocles said, " We are both grown
" wise, but too late."

252. Bion was sailing, and there fell out a great
tempest; and the mariners, that were wicked and dis-
solute fellows, called upon the gods ; but Bion said to
them, " Peace, let them not know you are here."

253. The Turks made an expedition into Persia;
and because of the strait jaws of the mountains of
Armenia, the bashaws consulted which way they
should get in. One that heard the debate said,
" Here is much ado how you shall get in ; but I hear
" nobody take care how you should get out."

254. Philip king of Macedon maintained argu-
ments with a musician in points of his art, somewhat
peremptorily ; but the musician said to him, " God
" forbid, Sir, your fortune were so hard, that you
" should know these things better than myself."

255. Antalcidas, when an Athenian said to him,
" Ye Spartans are unlearned;" said again, " True,
" for we have learned no evil nor vice of you."

256. Pace, the bitter fool, was not suffered to come
at queen Elizabeth, because of his bitter humour. Yet
at one time, some persuaded the queen that he should
come to her; undertaking for him, that he should
keep within compass : so he was brought to her, and
the queen said : " Come on, Pace ; now we shall hear
" of our faults." Saith Pace ; " I do not use to talk
" of that that all the town talks of."

257 Bishop Latimer said, in a sermon at court,
" That he heard great speech that the king was poor;
" and many ways were propounded to make him rich :
" for his part he had thought of one way, which was,
" that they should help the king to some good office,
" for all his officers were rich."

Apophthegms. 449

258. After the defeat of Cyrus the younger, Fa-
linus was sent by the king to the Grsecians, who had
for their part rather victory than otherwise, to com-
mand them to yield their arms ; which when it was
denied, Falinus said to Clearchus, " Well, then, the
" king lets you know, that if you remove from the
" place where you are now encamped, it is war : if
" you stay, it is truce. What shall I say you will do?"
Clearchus answered, " It pleaseth us, as it pleaseth
" the king." " How is that?" saith Falinus. Saith
Clearchus, " If we remove, war : if we stay, truce :"
and so would not disclose his purpose.

259. Alcibiades came to Pericles, and stayed a
while ere he was admitted. When he came in, Pe-
ricles civilly excused it, and said, " I was studying
" how to give mine account." But Alcibiades said
to him, " If you will be ruled by me, study rather
" how to give no account."

260. Mendoza that was viceroy of Peru, was wont
to say, "That the government of Peru was the best
" place that the king of Spain gave, save that it was
" somewhat too near Madrid."

261. When Vespasian passed from Jewry, to take
upon him the .empire, he went by Alexandria, where
remained two famous philosophers, Apollonius and
Euphrates. The emperor heard the discourse, touch-
ing matter of state, in the presence of many. And
when he was weary of them, he brake off, and in a
secret derision, finding their discourses but specula-
tive, and not to be put in practice, said, "O that I
" might govern wise men, and wise men govern me."

262. Cardinal Ximenes, upon a muster, which was
taken against the Moors, was spoken to by a servant
of his to stand a little out of the smoke of the har-
quebuss ; but he said again, " That that was his
" incense."

263. Nero was wont to say of his master Seneca,
" That his stile was like mortar without lime."

264. Augustus Csesar, out of great indignation
against his two daughters, and Posthumus Agrippa,
his grandchild ; whereof the two first were infamous,

vol. 11. 2 G

450 Apophthegms.

and the last otherwise unworthy ; would say, " That
" they were not his seed, but some imposthumes that
" had broken from him."

265. A seaman coming before the judges of the
Admiralty for admittance into an office of a ship bound
for the Indies, was by one of the judges much slighted,
as an insufficient person for that office he sought to
obtain; the judge telling him, " that he believed he
" could not say the points of his compass." The sea-
man answered, " That he could say them, under fa-
" vour, better than he could say his Pater-noster"
The judge replied, " that he would wager twenty
" shillings with him upon that." The seaman taking
him up, it came to tri*al : and the seaman began, and
said all the points of his compass very exactly : the
judge likewise said his Pater-noster : and when he had
finished it, he required the wager, according to agree-
ment ; because the seaman was to say his compass
better than he his Pater-noster, which he had not
performed. " Nay, I pray, Sir, hold," quoth the sea-
man, "the wager is not finished ; for I have but half
done :" and so he immediately said his compass back-
ward very exactly; which the judge failing of in his
Pater-noster, the seaman carried away the prize.

266. There was a conspiracy against the emperor
Claudius, by Scribonianus, examined in the senate;
where Claudius sat in his chair, and one of his freed
servants stood at the back of his chair. In the exa-
mination, that freed servant, who had much power
with Claudius, very saucily, had almost all the words :
and amongst other things, he asked in scorn one of
the examinates, who was likewise a freed servant of
Scribonianus, " I pray, Sir, if Scribonianus had been
" emperor, what would you have done ?" He an-
swered, " I would have stood behind his chair, and
" held my peace."

267 One was saying that his great grandfather,
and grandfather, and father, died at sea ; said an-
other that heard him, " And I were as you, I would
" never come at sea." " Why," saith he, " where
" did your great grandfather, and grandfather, and

Apophthegms. 45 1

" father die ?" He answered, " Where but in their
" beds ?" He answered, " And I were as you, I
" would never come in bed."

268. There was a dispute, whether great heads or
little heads had the better wit? And one said, " It
" must needs be the little ; for that it is a maxim,
" Omne majus continet in se minus."

269. Sir Thomas More, when the counsel of the
party pressed him for a longer day to perform the
decree, said, " Take saint Barnaby's day, which is
" the longest day in the year." Now saint Barnaby's
day was within few days following.

270. One of the fathers saith, " That there is but
" this difference between the death of old men and
" young men ; that old men go to death, and death
" comes to young men."

271. Cassius, after the defeat of Crass us by the
Parthians, whose weapons were chiefly arrows, fled
to the city of Charras, where he durst not stay any
time, doubting to be pursued and besieged. He had
with him an astrologer, who said to him, " Sir, I
" would not have you go hence, while the moon is in
" the sign of Scorpio." Cassius answered, " I am
" more afraid of that of Sagittarius."

272. Jason the Thessalian was wont to say, " that
" some things must be done unjustly, that many
" things may be done justly."

273. Demetrius, king of Macedon, would at times
retire himself from business, and give himself wholly
to pleasures. One of those his retirings, giving out
that he was sick, his father Antigonus came on the
sudden to visit him, and met a fair dainty youth
coming out of his chamber. When Antigonus came
in, Demetrius said, " Sir, the fever left me right
" now." Antigonus replied, " I think it was he that
" I met at the door."

274. Cato Major would say, " That wise men
" learned more by fools, than fools by wise men."

275. When it was said to Anaxagoras, " The
" Athenians have condemned you to die ;" he said
again, And nature them."

2 a 2

452 Apophthegms.

276. Alexander, when his father wished him to
run for the prize of the race at the Olympian games,
for he was very swift, answered, " He would, if he
" might run with kings."

277 Antigonus used often to go disguised, and to
listen at the tents of his soldiers; and at a time heard
some that spoke very ill of him. Whereupon he
opened the tent a little, and said to them; " If you
" would speak ill of me, you should go a little farther
" off."

278. Aristippus said, " That those that studied
" particular sciences, and neglected philosophy, were
" like Penelope's wooers, that made love to the wait-
" ing woman."

279. The ambassadors of Asia Minor came to An-
tonius, after he had imposed upon them a double tax,
and said plainly to him, " That if he would have
" two tributes in one year, he must give them two
" seed-times and two harvests."

280. An orator of Athens said to Demosthenes,
" The Athenians will kill you, if they wax mad."
Demosthenes replied, " And they will kill you, if
" they be in good sense."

281. Epictetus used to say, " That one of the vul-
" gar, in any ill that happens to him, blames others;
" a novice in philosophy blames himself; and a phi-
" losopher blames neither the one nor the other."

282. Caesar, in his book that he made against Cato,
which is lost, did write, to shew the force of opinion
and reverence of a man that had once obtained a po-
pular reputation ; " That there were some that found
" Cato drunk, and were ashamed instead of Cato."

283. There was a nobleman said of a great coun-
sellor, " that he would have made the worst farrier
" in the world; for he never shod horse but he cloyed
" him : for he never commended any man to the king
" for service, or upon occasion of suit, or otherwise,
" but that he would come in, in the end, with a but,
" and drive in a nail to his disadvantage."

284. Diogenes called an ill physician, Cock.
" Why?" saith he. Diogenes answered, " Because
" when vou crow, men use to rise."

Apophthegms. 453

285. There was a gentleman fell very sick, and a
friend of his said to him, " Surely, you are in dan-
" ger ; I pray send for a physician." But the sick
man answered, " It is.no matter ; for if I die, I will
" die at leisure."

286. Cato the elder, what time many of the Ro-
mans had statues erected in their honour, was asked
by one in a kind of wonder, " Why he had none?"
He answered, " He had much rather men should ask
" and wonder why he had no statue, than why he
" had a statue."

287 A certain friend of Sir Thomas More's,
taking great pains about a book, which he intended
to publish, being well conceited of his own wit,
which no man else thought worthy of commendation,
brought it to Sir Thomas More to peruse it, and pass
his judgment upon it ; which he did : and finding
nothing therein worthy the press, he said to him
with a grave countenance, " That if it were in verse,
" it would be more worthy." Upon which words, he
went immediately and turned it into verse, and then
brought it to Sir Thomas again ; who looking there-
on, said soberly, " Yes, marry, now it is somewhat,
" for now it is rhime; whereas before it was neither
" rhime nor reason."

288. Sir Henry Wotton used to say, " That cri-
" tics were likebrushers of noblemen's clothes."

289. Hannibal said of Fabius Maximus, and of
Marcellus, whereof the former waited upon him, that
he could make no progress, and the latter had many
sharp fights with him ; " that he feared Fabius like
" a tutor, and Marcellus like an enemy."

290. When king Edward the Second was amongst
his torturers, who hurried him to and fro, that no man
should know where he was, they set him down upon
a bank : and one time, the more to disguise his face,
shaved him, and washed him with cold water of a
ditch by : the king said ; " Well, yet I will have
" warm water for my beard:" and so shed abun-
dance of tears.

291. One of the Seven was wont to say, " That

454 Apophthegms.

" laws were like cobwebs; where the small flies
" were caught, and the great brake through."

292. Lewis the Eleventh of France, having much
abated the greatness and power of the peers, nobility,
and court of parliament, would say, " That he had
" brought the crown out of ward."

293. There was a cowardly Spanish soldier, that in
a defeat the Moors gave, ran away with the foremost.
Afterwards, when the army generally fled, the soldier
was missing. Whereupon it was said by some, that
he was slain. " No, sure," said one, " he is alive ;
" for the Moors eat no hare's flesh."

294. A gentleman that was punctual of his word,
and loved the same in others, when he heard that
two persons had agreed upon a meeting about seri-
ous affairs, at a certain time and place; and that
the one party failed in the performance, or neglected
his hour ; would usually say of him, " He is a young
" man then."

295. Anacharsis would say, concerning the popular
estates of Grsecia, that " he wondered how at Athens
" wise men did propose, and fools dispose."

His lordship, when he had finished this collection
of Apopthegms, concluded thus : Come, now all is
well : they say, he is not a wise man that will lose
his friend for his wit ; but he is less a wise man that
will lose his friend for another man's wit.

APOPHTHEGMS,

CONTAINED IN THE ORIGINAL EDITION IN OCTAVO, BUT
OMITTED IN LATER COPIES.

1. When queen Elizabeth had advanced Raleigh,
she was one day playing on the virginals, and my
lord of Oxford and another nobleman stood by. It
fell out so, that the ledge before the jacks was
taken away, so as the jacks were seen : my lord of
Oxford and the other nobleman smiled, and a little

Apophthegms. 455

whispered. The queen marked it, and would needs
know what the matter was? My lord of Oxford
answered, " That they smiled to see that when jacks
" went up, heads went down."

22. Sir Thomas More, who was a man, in all his
life-time, that had an excellent vein in jesting, at the
very instant of his death, having a pretty long beard,
after his head was upon the block, lift it up again, and
gently drew his beard aside, and said, " This hath
" not offended the king."

27 Demonax the philosopher, when he died, was
asked touching his burial. He answered, " Never take
" care for burying me, for stink will bury me." He
that asked him, said again, " Why, would you have
" your body left to the dogs and ravens to feed upon?"
Demonax answered, " Why, what great hurt is it, if
" having sought to do good, when I lived, to men,
" my body do some good to beasts, when I am dead."

30. Phocion the Athenian, a man of great severity,
and no ways flexible to the will of the people, one
day, when he spake to the people, in one part of his
speech, was applauded : whereupon he turned to one
of his friends, and asked, " What have I said amiss?"

34. Bion was wont to say; " That Socrates, of all

the lovers of Alcibiades, only held him by the

" ears."

37 There was a philosopher about Tiberius, that
looking into the nature of Caius, said of him, " that
" he was mire mingled with blood."

42. There was a bishop that was somewhat a de-
licate person, and bathed twice a day. A friend of
his said to him, " My lord, why do you bathe twice
" a day? The bishop answered, " Because I can-
not conveniently bathe thrice."

89. When Sir Thomas More was lord chancellor,
he did use, at mass, to sit io the chancel ; and his lady
in a pew And because the pew stood out of sight,
his gentleman-usher, ever after service, came to the
lady's pew, and said, " Madam, my lord is gone."
So when the chancellor's place was taken from him,
the next time they went to church, Sir Thomas him-

456 Apophthegms.

self came to his lady's pew, and said, " Madam, my
" lord is gone."

104. A Grgecian captain advising the confederates
that were united against the Lacedaemonians, touch-
ing their enterprise, gave opinion, that they should
go directly upon Sparta, saying, " That the state of
" Sparta was like rivers; strong when they had run
" a great way, and weak towards their head."

108. One was examined upon certain scandalous
words spoken against the king. He confessed them,
and said, " It is true, I spake them; and if the wine
" had not failed, I had said much more."

110. Trajan would say, " That the king's exche-
" quer was like the spleen; for when that did swell,
" the whole body did pine."

1 1J . Charles the Bald allowed one, whose name
was Scottus, to sit at the table with him, for his plea-
sure: Scottus sat on the other side of the table. One
time the king being merry with him, said to him,
" What is there between Scott and sot?" Scottus
answered, " The table only"

113. There was a marriage between a widow of
great wealth, and a gentleman of a great house, that
had no estate or means. Jack Roberts said, " That
" marriage was like a black pudding : the one brought
" blood, and the other brought suet and oatmeal."

149. Croesus said to Cambyses, " That peace was
" better than war; because in peace the sons did
" bury their fathers; but in the wars the fathers did
" bury their sons."

154. Carvajal, when he was drawn to execution,
being fourscore and five years old, and laid upon
the hurdle, said, " What! young in cradle, old in
" cradle !"

161. Diogenes was asked in a kind of scorn,
" What was the matter, that philosophers haunted
" rich men, and not rich men philosophers?" He
answered, " Because the one knew what they wanted,
" the other did not."

162. Demetrius, king of Macedon, had a petition
offered him divers times by an old woman, and still

Apophthegms. 457

answered, " He had no leisure." Whereupon the
woman said aloud, " Why then give over to be king."
175. There were two gentlemen, otherwise of
equal degree, save that the one was of the ancienter
house. The other in courtesy asked his hand to
kiss : which he gave him ; and he kissed it : but said
withal, to right himself by way of friendship, "Well,
" I and you, against any two of them :" putting him-
self first.

198. Themistocles would say of himself, " That he
" was like a plane-tree, that in tempests men fled to
" him ; and in fair weather men Were ever cropping
" his leaves."

199. Themistocles said of speech, " That it was
" like arras, that spread abroad shews fair images,
" but contracted is but like packs."

211. Lycurgus would say of divers of the heroes of
the heathen, " That he wondered that men should
" mourn upon their days for them as mortal men, and
" yet sacrifice to them as gods."

213. There is an ecclesiastical writer of the Papists,
to prove antiquity of confession in the form that it now
is, doth note, in very ancient times, even in the pri-
mitive times, amongst other foul slanders spread
against the Christians, one was, " That they did adore
" the genitories of their priests. Which, he saith,
" grew from the posture of the confessant, and the
" priest in confession : which is, that the confessant
" kneels down, before the priest sitting in a raised
" chair above him."

216. Fabricius, in conference with Pyrrhus, was
tempted to revolt to him; Pyrrhus telling him, that
he should be partner of his fortunes, and second per-
son to him. But Fabricius answered, in a scorn, to
such a motion, " Sir, that would not be good for your-
" self: for if the Epirotes once know me, they will
" rather desire to be governed by me than by you."

221. Thales said, " that life and death were all
" one." One that was present asked him, " Why do
" not you die then?" Thales said again, " Because
" they are all one."

458 Apophthegms,

223. An ^Egyptian priest having conference with
Solon, said to him, " You Grsecians are ever children;
" you have no knowledge of antiquity, nor antiquity
" of knowledge."

227 Diogenes was one day in the market-place
with a candle in his hand; and being asked, " What
" he sought?" he said, " He sought a man."

228. Bias being asked, How a man should order
his life? answered, " As if a man should live long,
" or die quickly."

229. Queen Elizabeth was entertained by my lord
Burleigh at Theobalds : and at her going away, my
lord obtained of the queen to make seven knights.
They were gentlemen of the country, of my lord's
friends and neighbours. They were placed in a rank,
as the queen should pass by the hall, and to win an-
tiquity of knighthood, in order, as my lord favoured ;
though indeed the more principal gentlemen were
placed lowest. The queen was told of it, and said
nothing; but when she went along, she passed them
all by, as far as the skreen, as if she had forgot it : and
when she came to the skreen, she seemed to take her-
self with the manner, and said, " I had almost forgot
" what I promised." With that she turned back, and
knighted the lowest first, and so upward. Where-
upon Mr. Stanhope, of the privy-chamber, awhile
after told her : " Your majesty was too fine for my
" lord Burleigh." She answered, " I have but ful-
" filled the Scripture; the first shall be last, and the
" last first:'

235. Sir Fulk Grevile had much private access to
queen Elizabeth, which he used honourably, and did
many men good ; yet he would say merrily of himself,
" That he was like Robin Goodfellow; for when the
" maids spilt the milkpans, or kept any racket, they
" would lay it upon Robin: so what tales the ladies
" about the queen told her, or other bad offices that
" they did, they would put it upon him."

240. There was a politic sermon, that had no di-
vinity in it, was preached before the king. The king,
as he came forth, said to bishop Andrews, " Call

Apophthegms. 459

" you this a sermon?" The bishop answered, " And
" it please your majesty, by a charitable construction,
" it may be a sermon."

244. Henry Noel would say, " That courtiers were
" like-fasting days ; they were next the holy- days, but
" in themselves they were the most meagre days of
" the week."

247 Cato said, " The best way to keep good acts
" in memory, was to refresh them with new."

259. Aristippus said, " He took money of his
" friends, not so much to use it himself, as to teach
" them how to bestow their money."

260. A strumpet said to Aristippus, " That she was
" with child by him : " he answered, " You know
" that no more than, if you went through a hedge of
" thorns, you could say, This thorn pricked me."

263. Democritus said, "That truth did lie in pro-
" found pits, and when it was got, it needed much
" refining."

266. Diogenes said of a young man that danced
daintily, and was much commended, " The better,
" the worse."

271 . There was a nobleman that was lean of visage,
but immediately after his marriage he grew pretty
plump and fat. One said to him, " Your lordship
" doth contrary to other married men; for they at the
" first wax lean, and you wax fat." Sir Walter Ra-
leigh stood by, and said, " Why, there is no beast,
" that if you take him from the common, and put him
" into the several, but he will wax fat."

272. Diogenes seeing one that was a bastard, cast-
ing stones among the people, bad him take heed he
hit not his father.

275. It was said by many concerning the canons
of the council of Trent, " That we are beholden to
" Aristotle for many articles of our faith."

460 Apophthegms.

CERTAIN APOPHTHEGMS OF LORD BACON.

FIRST PUBLISHED IN HIS REMAINS.

1. Plutarch said well, "It is otherwise in a
" commonwealth of men than of bees: the hive of a
" city or kingdom is in best condition when there is
" least of noise or buz in it."

2. The same Plutarch said of men of weak abilities
set in great place, " That they were like little statues
" set on great bases, made to appear the less by
" their advancement."

3. He said again, " Good fame is like fire. When
" you have kindled it, you may easily preserve it; but
" if once you extinguish it, you will not easily kindle
" it again; at least, not make it burn as bright as it
" did."

4. Queen Elizabeth seeing Sir Edward in her

garden, looked out at her window, and asked him in
Italian, " What does a man think of when he thinks
" of nothing ?" Sir Edward, who had not had the effect
of some of the queen's grants so soon as he hoped
and desired, paused a little; and then made answer,
" Madam, he thinks of a woman's promise." The
queen shrunk in her head ; but was heard to say,
" Well, Sir Edward, I must not confute you." Anger
makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.

5. When any great officer, ecclesiastical or civil,
was to be made, the queen would inquire after the
piety, integrity, and learning of the man. And when
she was satisfied in these qualifications, she would
consider of his personage. And upon such an occa-
sion she pleased once to say to me, "Bacon, how can
" the magistrate maintain his authority when the
" man is despised?"

6. In eighty-eight, when the queen went from
Temple-bar along Fleet Street, the lawyers were
ranked on one side, and the companies of the city on
the other. Said Mr. Bacon to a lawyer who stood
next to him, " Do but observe the courtiers ; if they

Apophthegms . 461

" bow iirst to the citizens, they are in debt; if first
" to us, they are in law."

7 King James was wont to be very earnest with
the country gentlemen to go from London to their
country houses. And sometimes he would say thus
to them : "Gentlemen, at London you are like ships
" at sea, which shew like nothing; but in your coun-
" try villages you are like ships in a river, which
" look like great things."

8. Soon after the death of a great officer, who was
judged no advancer of the king's matters, the king
said to his solicitor Bacon, who was his kinsman,
" Now tell me truly, what say you of your cousin
" that is gone?" Mr. Bacon answered, "Sir, since
" your majesty doth charge me, I'll e'en deal plainly
" with you, and give you such a character of him, as
" if I were to write his story. I do think he was no
" fit counsellor to make your affairs better; but yet
" he was fit to have kept them from growing worse."
The king said, " On my so'l, man, in the first thou
" speakest like a true man, and in the latter, like a
" kinsman."

9. King James, as he was a prince of great judg-
ment, so he was a prince of marvellous pleasant hu-
mour ; and there now come into my mind two in-
stances of it. As he was going through Lusen, by
Greenwich, he asked what town it was ? They said,
Lusen. He asked a good while after, " What town
" is this we are now in?" They said still, 'twas
Lusen. " On my so'l," said the king, " I will be
" king of Lusen."

10. In some other of his progresses, he asked how
far it was to a town whose name I have forgotten.
They said, Six miles. Half an hour after, he asked
again. One said, Six miles and a half. The king
alighted out of his coach, and crept under the shoulder
of his led horse. And when some asked his majesty
what he meant ? " I must stalk," said he, for yonder
" town is shy, and flies me."

11. Count Gondomar sent a compliment to my
lord St. Alban, wishing him a good Easter. My

462 Apophthegms.

lord thanked the messenger, and said, " He could not
" at present requite the count better than in returning
" him the like ; that he wished his lordship a good
" Passover."

1 2 . My lord chancellor Elsmere, when he had read
a petition which he disliked, would say, " What,
" you would have my hand to this now?" And the
party answering, "Yes," he would say farther,
" Well, so you shall : nay, you shall have both my
" hands to it." And so would, with both his hands,
tear it in pieces.

13. Sir Francis Bacon was wont to say of an angry
man who suppressed his passion, " That he thought
" worse than he spake;" and of an angry man that
would chide, " That he spoke worse than he
" thought."

14. He was wont also to say, " That power in an
" ill man was like the power of a black witch ; he
" could do hurt, but no good with it." And he
would add, " That the magicians could turn water
" into blood, but could not turn the blood again to
" water."

15. When Mr. Attorney Coke, in the exchequer,
gave high words to Sir Francis Bacon, and stood much
upon his higher place, Sir Francis said to him, " Mr.
" Attorney, the less you speak of your own greatness,
" the more I shall think of it : and the more, the less."

16. Sir Francis Bacon coming into the earl of
Arundel's garden, where there were a great number
of ancient statues of naked men and women, made
a stand, and, as astonished, cried out, " The resur-
" rection!"

17 Sir Francis Bacon, who was always for mode-
rate counsels, when one was speaking of such a re-
formation of the Church of England, as would in
effect make it no Church; said thus to him : " Sir, the
" the subject we talk of, is the eye of England ; and if
" there be a speck or two in the eye, we endeavour
" to take them off : but he were a strange oculist who
" would pull out the eye."

18. The same Sir Francis Bacon was wont to

Apophthegms. 463

say, " That those who left useful studies for useless
" scholastic speculations, were like the Olympic
" gamesters, who abstained from necessary labours,
" that they might be fit for such as were not so."

19. He likewise often used this comparison : —
" *The empirical philosophers are like to pismires ;
" they only lay up and use their store. The rational-
" ists are like the spiders ; they spin all out of their
" own bowels. But give me a philosoper, who,
" like the bee, hath a middle faculty ; gathering from
" abroad, but digesting that which is gathered by his
" own virtue."

20. The lord St. Alban, who was not over-hasty
to raise theories, but proceeded slowly by experiments,
was wont to say to some philosophers, who would not
go his pace, " Gentlemen, nature is a labyrinth, in
" which the very haste you move with, will make
" you lose your way "

21. The same lord, when he spoke of the Dutch-
men, used to say, " That we could not abandon
" them for our safety, nor keep them for our profit."
And sometimes he would express the same sense in
this manner ; "We hold the Belgic lion by the ears."

22. The same lord, when a gentleman seemed not
much to approve of his liberality to his retinue, said to
him, " Sir, I am all of a piece ; if the head be lifted
" up, the inferior parts of the body must too."

23. The lord Bacon was wont to commend the ad-
vice of the plain old man at Buxton, that sold besoms :
a proud lazy young fellow came to him for a besom
upon trust ; to whom the old man said, " Friend,
" hast thou no money? borrow of thy back, andbor-
" row of thy belly ; they'll ne'er ask thee again : I shall
" be dunning thee every day."

24. Jack Weeks said of a great man, just then dead,
who pretended to some religion, but was none of the
best livers, " Well, I hope he is in heaven. Every
" man thinks as he wishes ; but if he be in heaven,
" 'twere pity it were known."

* See the substance of this in Novum Organum, and Cogitata
et Visa.

ORNAMENTA RATIONALIA:

OR,

ELEGANT SENTENCES.

SOME MADE, OTHERS COLLECTED BY THE LORD BACON ; AND
BY HIM PUT UNDER THE ABOVESAID TITLE.

COLLECTED OUT OF THE MIMI OF PUBLIUS, AND PUBLISHED IN
THE REMAINS.

1 Aleator, quanto in arte est melior, tanto est ne-

quior
A gamester, the greater master he is in his art,

the worse man he is.

2. Arcum, intensio frangit ; animum, remissio.
Much bending breaks the bow ; much unbend-
ing, the mind.

3. Bis vincit, qui se vincit in victoria.

He conquers twice, who upon victory over-
comes himself.

4. Cum vitia prosint, peccat, qui rectefacit.

If vices were upon the whole matter profitable,
the virtuous man would be the sinner.

5. Bene dormit, qui non sentit quod male dormiat.
He sleeps well, who feels not that he sleeps ill.

6. Deliberate utilia, mora est tutissima.

To deliberate about useful things, is the safest
delay
7 Dolor decrescit, ubi quo crescat non habet.
The flood of grief decreaseth, when it can swell
no higher.
8. Etiam imiocentes cogit mentiri dolor

Pain makes even the innocent man a liar.
9- Etiam celeritas in desiderio, mora est.
!n desire, swiftness itself is delay.

A Collection of Sentences. 465

10. Etiam capillus unus habet umbram suam.
The smallest hair casts a shadow.

1 1 . Fidem qui perdit, quo se servat in reliquum ?
He that has lost his faith, what has he left to

live on ?

12. Formosa fades muta commendatio est.

A beautiful face is a silent commendation.

13. Fortuna nimium quern fovet, stultumfacit.
Fortune makes him a fool, whom she makes

her darling.

14. Fortuna obesse nulli contenta est semel.
Fortune is not content to do a man but one ill

turn.

15. Facit gratum fortuna, quam nemo videt.

The fortune which nobody sees, makes a man
happy and unenvied.

16. Heu ! quam miserum est ab Mo Icedi, de quo

non possis queri.
O ! what a miserable thing it is to be hurt by
such a one of whom it is in vain to com-
plain.

17. Homo toties moritur quoties amittit suos.

A man dies as often as he loses his friends.

18. Hceredis fietus sub persona risus est.

The tears of an heir are laughter under a vizard.

19. Jucundum nihil est, nisi quod reficit varietas.
Nothing is pleasant, to which variety does not

give a relish.

20. Invidiam f err e, autfortis, aut felix potest.
He may bear envy, who is either courageous

or happy.

21. In malis sperare bonum, nisi innocens, nemo

potest.
None but a virtuous man can hope well in ill
circumstances.

22. In vindicando, criminosa est celeritas.

In taking revenge, the very haste we make is
criminal.

23. Incalamitoso risus etiam injuria est.

When men are in calamity, if we do but laugh
we offend.

VOL. II. 2 H

466 A Collection of Sentences.

24. Improbc Neptunum accusat, qui iterum nau-

fragium facit.
He accuseth Neptune unjustly, who makes
shipwreck a second time.

25. Multis minatur, qui uni facit injuriam.
He that injures one, threatens a hundred.

20. Mora omnis ingrata est, sed facit sapientiam.
All delay is ungrateful, but we are not wise
without it.

27. Mori est felicis antequam mortem invocet.
Happy he who dies ere he calls for death to

take him away.

28. Mains ubi bonum se simulat, tunc est pessimus.
An ill man isalways ill ; but he is then worst

of all, when he pretends to be a saint.
22. Magno cum periculo custoditur, quod multis
placet.
Lock and key will scarce keep that secure,
which pleases every body.

30. Male vivunt qui se semper victuros putant.
They think ill, who think of living always.

3 1 . Male secum agit ceger, medicwn qui hceredem

facit.
That sick man does ill for himself, who makes
his physician his heir.

32. Multos timere debet, quern multi timent.

He of whom many are afraid, ought himself to
fear many.

33. Nulla tarn bona est fortuna, de qua nil possis

queri.
There is no fortune so good, but itbates an ace.

34. Pars beneficiiest, quod pet it ur si bene neges.

It is part of the gift, if you deny genteely what
is asked of you.

35. Timidus vocat se cautum, par cum sordidus.
The coward calls himself a wary man ; and the

miser says, he is frugal.

36. O vital miser o longa, felici brevis.

O life ! an age to him that is in misery ; and to
kim that is happy, a moment.

A COLLECTION OF SENTENCES

OUT OF SOME OF THE

WRITINGS OF THE LORD BACON.

1 It is a strange desire which men have, to seek
power, and lose liberty.

2. Children increase the cares of life; but they mi-
tigate the remembrance of death.

3. Round dealing is the honour of man's nature ;
and a mixture of falsehood is like allay in gold and
silver, which may make the metal work the better,
but it embaseth it.

4. Death openeth the gate to good fame, and ex-
tinguished! envy.

5. Schism in the spiritual body of the church is a
greater scandal than a corruption in manners : as, in
the natural body, a wound or solution of continuity
is worse than a corrupt humour.

6. Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the
more a mans nature runs to, the more ought law to
weed it out.

7 He that studieth revenge, keepeth his own
wounds green.

8. Revengeful persons live and die like witches:
their life is mischievous, and their end is unfortunate.

9. It was a high speech of Seneca, after the manner
of the Stoics, that the good things which belong to
prosperity, are to be wished ; but the good things
which belong to adversity, are to be admired.

10. He that cannot see well, let him go softly.

11. If a man be thought secret, it inviteth disco-
very ; as the more close air sucketh in the more open.

1 2 . Keep your authority wholly from your children,
not so your purse.

1 3. Men of noble birth are noted to be envious to-
wards new men when they rise : for the distance is
altered ; and it is like a deceit of the eye, that when
others come on, they think themselves go back.

14. That envy is most malignant which is like

2 h2

468 A Collection of Sentences.

Cain's, who envied his brother, because his sacrifice
was better accepted, when there was nobody but God
to look on.

15. The lovers of great place, are impatient of pri-
vateness, even in age, which requires the shadow :
like old townsmen, that will be still sitting at their
street door, though there they offer age to scorn.

16. In evil, the best condition is, not to will : the
next, not to can.

17 In great place, ask counsel of both times : of
the ancient time what is best ; and of the latter time,
what is fittest.

18. As in nature things move more violently to
their place, and calmly in their place : so virtue in am-
bition is violent ; in authority, settled and calm.

19. Boldness in civil business is like pronunciation
in the orator of Demosthenes ; the first, second, and
third thing.

20. Boldness is blind : wherefore it is ill in counsel,
bvit good in execution. For in counsel it is good to
see dangers ; in execution, not to see them, except
they be very great.

2 1 . Without good-nature, man is but a better kind
of vermin.

22. God never wrought miracle to convince athe-
ism, because his ordinary works convince it.

23. The great atheists indeed are hypocrites, who
are always handling holy things, but without feeling;
so as they must needs be cauterized in the end.

24. The master of superstition is the people. And
in all superstition, wise men follow fools.

25. In removing superstitions, care would be had,
that, as it fareth in ill purgings, the good be not taken
away with the bad : which commonly is done when
the people is the physician.

26. He that goeth into a country before he hath
some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and
not to travel.

27 It is a miserable state of mind, and yet it is
commonly the case of kings, to have few things to
desire, and many things to°fear.

A Collection of Sentences. 469

28. Depression of the nobility may make a king
more absolute, but less safe.

29. All precepts concerning kings are, in effect,
comprehended in these remembrances: remember
thou art a man ; remember thou art God's vicegerent :
the one bridleth their power, and the other their
will.

30. Things will have their first or second agitation :
if they be not tossed upon the arguments of counsel,
they will be tossed upon the waves of fortune.

31. The true composition of a counsellor is, rather
to be skilled in his master's business than his nature ;
for then he is like to advise him, and not to feed his
humour.

32. Private opinion is more free, but opinion be-
fore others is more reverend.

33. Fortune is like a market, where many times, if
you stay a little, the price will fall.

34. Fortune sometimes turneth the handle of the
bottle, which is easy to be taken hold of; and after the
belly, which is hard to grasp.

35. Generally it is good to commit the beginning
of all great actions to Argus with a hundred eyes ;
and the ends of them to Briareus with a hundred
hands ; first to watch, and then to speed.

36. There is great difference betwixt a cunning
man and a wise man. There be that can pack the
cards, who yet cannot play well ; they are good in
canvasses and factions, and yet otherwise mean men.

37 Extreme self-lovers will set a man's house on
fire, though it were but io roast their eggs.

38. New thmgs, like strangers, are more admired,
and less favoured.

39. It were good that men, in their innovations,
would follow the example of time itself, which in-
deed innovateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees
scarce to be perceived.

40. They that reverence too much old time, are
but a scorn to the new .

4 1 . The Spaniards and Spartans have been noted to
be of small dispatch. Mi venga lamuerte de Spagna;

470 A Collection of Sentences.

Let my death come from Spain, for then it will be
sure to be long a coming.

42. You had better take for business a man some-
what absurd, than over-formal.

43. Those who want friends to whom to open their
griefs, are cannibals of their own hearts.

44. Number itself importeth not much in armies,
where the people are of weak courage ; for, as Virgil
says, it never troubles a wolf how many the sheep
be.

45. Let states that aim at greatness, take heed
how their nobility and gentry multiply too fast. In
coppice woods, if you leave your staddles too thick,
you shall never have clean underwood, but shrubs
and bushes.

46. A civil war is like the heat of a fever ; but a
foreign war is like the heat of exercise, and serveth
to keep the body in health.

47 Suspicions among thoughts, are like bats
among birds, they ever fly by twilight.

48. Base natures, if they find themselves once sus-
pected, will never be true.

49. Men ought to find the difference between salt-
ness and bitterness. Certainly he that hath a satirical
vein, as he maketh others afraid of his wit, so he had
need be afraid of others' memory.

50. Discretion in speech is more than eloquence.

51. Men seem neither well to understand their
richeSj nor their strength : of the former they believe
greater things than they should, and of the latter
much less. And from hence certain fatal pillars
have bounded the progress of learning.

52. Riches are the baggage of virtue ; they cannot
be spared, nor left behind, but they hinder the
march.

53. Great riches have sold more men than ever
they have bought out.

54. Riches have wings, and sometimes they fly
away of themselves ; and sometimes they must^be set
flying, to bring in more.

55. He that defers his charity until he is dead, is, if

A Collection of Sentences. 471

a man weighs it rightly, rather liberal of another
man's than of his own.

56. Ambition is like choler; if it can move, it
makes men active ; if it be stopped, it becomes adust,
and makes men melancholy.

57 To take a soldier without ambition, is to pull
off his spurs.

58. Some ambitious men seem as skreens to princes
in matters of danger and envy. For no man will take
such parts, except he be like the seel'd dove, that
mounts and mounts, because he cannot see about him.

59. Princes and states should choose such ministers
as are more sensible of duty than rising; and should
discern a busy nature from a willing mind.

60. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds ;
therefore let him seasonably water the one, and de-
stroy the other.

61. If a man look sharply and attentively, he shall
see fortune; for though she be blind, she is not in-
visible.

62. Usury bringeth the treasure of a realm or state
into few hands : for the usurer being at certainties,
and others at uncertainties ; at the end of the game
most of the money will be in the box.

63. Virtue is best in a body that hath rather dig-
nity of presence, than beauty of aspect. The beau-
tiful prove accomplished, but not of great spirit ; and
study, for the most part, rather behaviour than virtue.

64. The best part of beauty is that which a pic-
ture cannot express.

65. He who builds a fair house upon an ill seat,
commits himself to prison.

66. If you will work on any man, you must either
know his nature and fashions, and so lead him ; or his
ends, and so persuade him; or his weaknesses and
disadvantages, and so awe him ; or those that have
interest in him, and so govern him.

67 Costly followers, among whom we may reckon
those who are importunate in suits, are not to be liked ;
lest, while a nian maketh his train longer, he make
his wings shorter.

472 Short Notes for Civil Conversation.

68. Fame is like a river that beareth up things light
and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.

69. Seneca saith well, that anger is like ruin, which
breaks itself upon that it falls.

70. Excusations, cessions, modesty itself well go-
verned, are but arts of ostentation.

71. High treason is not written in ice; that when
the body relenteth, the impression should go away.

72. The best governments are always subject to
be like the fairest crystals, wherein every icicle or
grain is seen, which, in a fouler stone, is never per-
ceived.

73. Hollow church papists are like the roots of
nettles, which themselves sting not; but yet they bear
all the stinging leaves.

SHORT NOTES

FOR

CIVIL CONVERSATION.

1. To deceive men's expectations generally, with
cautel, argueth a staid mind, and unexpected con-
stancy: viz. in matters of fear, anger, sudden joy, or
grief, and all things which may affect or alter the
mind in public or sudden accidents, or such like.

2. It is necessary to use a steadfast countenance, not
wavering with action, as in moving the head or hand
too much, which sheweth a fantastical, light, and fickle
operation of the spirit, and consequently like mind
as gesture : only it is sufficient, with leisure, to use a
modest action in either.

3. In all kinds of speech, either pleasant, grave, se-
vere, or ordinary, it is convenient to speak leisurely,
and rather drawingly, than hastily; because hasty
speech confounds the memory, and oftentimes, be-
sides unseemliness, drives a man either to a nonplus
or unseemly stammering, harping upon that which

An Essay on Death. 473

should follow ; whereas a slow speech confirmeth the
memory, addeth a conceit of wisdom to the hearers,
besides a seemliness of speech and countenance.

4. To desire in discourse to hold all arguments, is
ridiculous, wanting true judgment; for in all things
no man can be exquisite.

5, 6. To have common places to discourse, and to
want variety, is both tedious to the hearers, and
shews a shallowness of conceit; therefore it is good to
vary, and suit speeches with the present occasions ;
and to have a moderation in all our speeches, espe-
cially in jesting of religion, state, great persons,
weighty and important business, poverty, or any thing
deserving pity.

7 A long-continued speech, without a good speech
of interlocution, sheweth slowness : and a good reply,
without a good set speech, sheweth shallowness and
weakness.

8. To use many circumstances, ere you come to
the matter, is wearisome; and to use none at all, is
but blunt.

9. Bashfulness is a great hindrance to a man, both
of uttering his conceit, and understanding what is
propounded unto him : whereof it is good to press
himself forwards with discretion, both in speech, and
company of the best sort.

Usus prompt os facit .

AN ESSAY ON DEATH.

1. I have often [thought upon death, and I find it
the least of all evils. All that which is past is as a
dream ; and he that hopes or depends upon time com-
ing, dreams waking. So much of our life as we have
discovered is already dead ; and all those hours which
we share, even from the breasts of our mother, until
we return to our grandmother the earth, are part of
our dying days; whereof even this is one, and those
that succeed are of the same nature, for we die daily ;

474 An Essay on Death.

and as others have given place to us, so we must in
the end give way to others.

2. Physicians, in the name of death include all
sorrow, anguish, disease, calamity, or whatsoever can
fall in the life of man, either grievous or unwelcome :
but these things are familiar unto us, and we suffer
them every hour ; therefore we die daily, and I am
older since I affirmed it.

3. I know many wise men that fear to die; for the
change is bitter, and flesh would refuse to prove it :
besides, the expectation brings terror, and that exceeds
the evil. But I do not believe that any man fears
to be dead, but only the stroke of death : and such
are my hopes, that if heaven be pleased, and nature
renew but my lease for twenty-one years more, with-
out asking longer days, I shall be strong enough to
acknowledge, without mourning, that I was begotten
mortal. Virtue walks not in the highway, though she
go per alta ; this is strength and the blood to virtue,
to contemn things that be desired, and to neglect that
which is feared.

4. Why should man be in love with his fetters,
though of gold? Art thou drowned in security?
Then I say thou art perfectly dead. For though thou
movest, yet thy soul is buried within thee, and thy
good angel either forsakes his guard or sleeps. There
is nothing under heaven, saving a true friend, who
cannot be counted within the number of moveables,
unto which my heart doth lean. And this dear free-
dom hath begotten me this peace, that I mourn not
for that end which must be, nor spend one wish
to have one minute added to the incertain date of
my years. It was no mean apprehension of Lucian,
who says of Menippus, that in his travels through
hell he knew not the kings of the earth from other
men, but only by their louder cryings and tears ;
which was fostered in them through the remorseful
memory of the good days they had seen, and the
fruitful havings which they so unwillingly left behind
them : he that was well seated, looked back at his por-
tion, and was loth to forsake his farm; and others

An Essay on Death. 475

either minding marriages, pleasures, profit, or pre-
ferment, desired to be excused from death's banquet :
they had made an appointment with earth, looking at
the blessings, not the hand that enlarged them, for-
getting how unclothedly they came hither, or with
what naked ornaments they were arrayed.

5. But were we servants of the precept given, and
observers of the heathen's rule memento viori, and not
become benighted with this seeming felicity, we
should enjoy it as men prepared to lose, and not
wind up our thoughts upon so perishing a fortune :
he that is not slackly strong, as the servants of plea-
sure, how can he be found unready to quit the veil
and false visage of his perfection ? The soul, having
shaken off her flesh, dost then set up for herself, and
contemning things that are under, shews what finger
hath enforced her ; for the souls of idiots are of the
same piece with those of statesmen : but now and then
nature is at a fault, and this good guest of ours takes
soil in an imperfect body, and so is slackened from
shewing her wonders ; like an excellent musician,
which cannot utter himself upon a defective instru-
ment.

6. But see how I am swerved, and lose my course,
touching at the soul, that doth least hold action with
death, who hath the surest property in this frail act;
his style is the end of all flesh, and the beginning of
incorruption.

This ruler of monuments leads men for the most
part out of this world with their heels forward ; in
token that he is contrary to life ; which being ob-
tained, sends men headlong into this wretched thea-
tre, where being arrived, their first language is that
of mourning. Nor in my own thoughts, can I com-
pare men more fitly to any thing, than to the Indian
fig-tree, which being ripened to his full height, is
said to decline his branches down to the earth ;
whereof she conceives again, and they become roots
in their own stock.

So man having derived his being from the earth,
first lives the life of a tree, drawing his nourishment

476 An Essay on Death.

as a plant, and made ripe for death he tends down-
wards, and is sowed again in his mother the earth,
where he perisheth not, but expects a quickening.

7 So we see death exempts not a man from being,
but only presents an alteration ; yet there are some
men, I think, that stand otherwise persuaded. Death
finds not a worse friend than an alderman, to whose
door I never knew him welcome ; but he is an im-
portunate guest, and will not be said nay.

And though they themselves shall affirm, that they
are not within, yet the answer will not be taken; and
that which heightens their fear is, that they know
they are in danger to forfeit their flesh, but are not
wise of the payment day : which sickly uncertainty
is the occasion that, for the most part, they step out
of this world unfurnished for their general account ;
and being all unprovided, desire yet to hold their
gravity, preparing their souls to answer in scarlet.

Thus I gather, that death is disagreeable to most
citizens, because they commonly die intestate : this
being a rule, that when their will is made, they think
themselves nearer a grave than before : now they, out
of the wisdom of thousands, think to scare destiny,
from which there is no appeal, by not making a will,
or to live longer by protestation of their unwillingness
to die. They are for the most part well made in this
world, accounting their treasure by legions, as men
do devils, their fortune looks toward them, and they
are willing to anchor at it, and desire, if it be possi-
ble, to put the evil day far off from them, and to ad-
journ their ungrateful and killing period.

No, these are not the men which have bespoken
death, or whose looks are assured to entertain a
thought of him.

8. Death arrives gracious only to such as sit in
darkness, or lie heavy burdened with grief and irons;
to the poor Christian, that sits bound in the galley ;
to despairful widows, pensive prisoners, and deposed
kings : to them whose fortune runs back, and whose
spirit mutinies ; unto such death is a redeemer, and
the grave a place for retiredness and rest.

An Essay on Death. All

These wait upon the shore of death, and waft unto
him to draw near, wishing above all others to see his
star, that they might be led to his place, wooing the
remorseless sisters to wind down the watch of their
life, and to break them off before the hour.

9. But death is a doleful messenger to a usurer,
and fate untimely cuts their thread : for it is never
mentioned by him, but when rumours of war and
civil tumults put him in mind thereof.

And when many hands are armed, and the peace
of a city in disorder, and the foot of the common
soldiers sounds an alarm on his stairs, then perhaps
such a one, broken in thoughts of his monies abroad,
and cursing the monuments of coin which are in his
house, can be content to think of death, and, being
hasty of perdition, will perhaps hang himself, lest his
throat should be cut ; provided that he may do it in
his study, surrounded with wealth, to which his eye
sends a faint and languishing salute, even upon the
turning off ; remembering always, that he have time
and liberty, by writing, to depute himself as his own
heir.

For that is a great peace to his end, and reconciles
him wonderfully upon the point.

10. Herein we all dally with ourselves, and are
without proof till necessity- I am not of those that
dare promise to pine away myself in vain-glory, and
I hold such to be but feat boldness, and them that
dare commit it to be vain. Yet, for my part, I think
nature should do me great wrong, if I should be so
long in dying, as I was in being born.

To speak truth, no man knows the lists of his own
patience ; nor can divine how able he shall be in his
sufferings, till the storm come ; the perfectest virtue
being tried in action : but I would, out of a care to
do the best business well, ever keep a guard, and
stand upon keeping faith and a good conscience.

11. And if wishes might find place, I would die
together, and not my mind often, and my body once;
that is, I would prepare for the messengers of death,
sickness, and affliction, and not wait long, or be at-
tempted by the violence of pain.

478 An Euay on Death.

Herein I do not profess myself a Stoic, to hold grief
no evil, but opinion, and a thing indifferent.

But I consent with Caesar, that the suddenest pas-
sage is easiest, and there is nothing more awakens
our resolve and readiness to die, than the quieted
conscience, strengthened with opinion that we shall
be well spoken of upon earth by those that are just,
and of the family of virtue ; the opposite whereof is
a fury to man, and makes even life unsweet.

Therefore, what is more heavy than evil fame de-
served ? Or, likewise, who can see worse days, than
he that yet living doth follow at the funerals of his
own reputation?

I have laid up many hopes that I am privileged
from that kind of mourning, and could wish the like
peace to all those with whom I wage love.

12. I might say much of the commodities that death
can sell a man ; but briefly, death is a friend of ours,
and he that is not ready to entertain him, is not at
home. Whilst I am, my ambition is not to fore-flow
the tide ; I have but so to make my interest of it,
as I may account for it ; I would wish nothing but
what might better my days, nor desire any greater
place than the front of good opinion. I make not
love to the continuance of days, but to the goodness
of them ; nor wish to die, but refer myself to my
hour, which the great Dispenser of all things hath
appointed me ; yet as I am frail, and suffered for the
first fault, were it given me to choose, I should not
be earnest to see the evening of my age ; that extre-
mity of itself being a disease, and a mere return into
infancy : so that if perpetuity of life might be given
me, I should think what the Greek poet said, Such
an age is a mortal evil. And since I must needs be
dead, I require it may not be done before mine ene-
mies, that I be not stript before I be cold ; but be-
fore my friends. The night was even now ; but that
name is lost; it is not now late, but early Mine eyes
begin to discharge their watch, and compound with
this fleshly weakness for a time of perpetual rest; and
I shall presently be as happy for a few hours, as I
had died the first hour I was born.

THEOLOGICAL WORKS.

A

CONFESSION OF FAITH

WRITTEN BY

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FRANCIS BACON,

BARON OF VERULAM, &c.

I believe that nothing is without beginning, but
God ; no nature, no matter, no spirit, but one,
only, and the same God. That God, as he is eter-
nally almighty, only wise, only good, in his nature ;
so he is eternally Father, Son, and Spirit, in
persons.

I believe that God is so holy, pure, and jealous, as
it is impossible for him to be pleased in any creature,
though the work of his own hands ; so that neither
angel, man, nor world, could stand, or can stand,
one moment in his eyes, without beholding the same
in the face of a Mediator; and therefore, that before
him, with whom all things are present, the Lamb of
God was slain before all worlds ; without which eter-
nal counsel of his, it was impossible for him to have
descended to any work of creation ; but he should have
enjoyed the blessed and individual society of three
persons in Godhead for ever.

But that, out of his eternal and infinite goodness
and love purposing to become a Creator, and to com-
municate to his creatures, he ordained in his eternal
counsel, that one person of the Godhead should be
united to one nature, and to one particular of his
creatures : that so, in the person of the Mediator, the
true ladder might be fixed, whereby God might de-
scend to his creatures, and his creatures might ascend
vol. ir. 2 I

482 A Cu/ifessiuti of Faith.

to God : so that God, by the reconcilement of the Me-
diator, turning his countenance towards his creatures,
though not in equal light and degree, made way
unto the dispensation of his most holy and secret will ;
whereby some of his creatures might stand, and keep
their state : others might possibly fall, and be restored ;
and others might fall, and not be restored to their
estate, but yet remain in being, though under wrath
and corruption: all with respect to the Mediator;
which is the great mystery and perfect centre of all
God's ways with his creatures, and unto which all his
other works and wonders do but serve and refer.

That he chose, according to his good pleasure, man
to be that creature, to whose nature the person of the
eternal Son of God should be united ; and amongst
the generations of men. elected a small flock, in whom,
by the participation of himself, he purposed to ex-
press the riches of his glory ; all the ministration of
angels, damnation of devils and reprobates, and uni-
versal administration of all creatures, and dispensa-
tion of all times, having no other end. but as the
ways and ambages of God, to be further glorified
in his saints, who are one with their head the Me-
diator, who is one with God.

That by the virtue of this his eternal counsel he
condescended of his own good pleasure, and according
to the times and seasons to himself known, to be-
come a Creator ; and by his eternal Word created all
things ; and by his eternal Spirit doth comfort and
preserve them.

That he made all things in their first estate good,
and removed from himself the beginning of all evil and
vanity into the liberty of the creature ; but reserved
in himself the beginning of all restitution to the
liberty of his grace ; using, nevertheless, and turning
the falling and defection of the creature, which to his
prescience was eternally known, to make way to his
eternal counsel, touching a Mediator, and the work
he purposed to accomplish in him.

That God created Spirits, whereof some kept their
standing, and others fell : he created heaven and

A Confession of Faith. 483

earth, and all their armies and generations ; and gave
unto them constant and everlasting laws, which we
call nature ; which is nothing but the laws of the
creation ; which laws nevertheless have had three
changes or times, and are to have a fourth or last.
The first, when the matter of heaven and earth was
created without forms : the second, the interim
of perfection of every day's work : the third, by the
curse, which notwithstanding was no new creation :
and the last, at the end of the world, the manner
whereof is not yet fully revealed : so as the laws of
nature, which now remain and govern inviolably till
the end of the world, began to be in force when God
first rested from his works, and ceased to create ; but
received a revocation, in part, by the curse ; since
which time they change not.

That notwithstanding God hath rested and ceased
from creating since the first sabbath, yet, neverthe-
less, he doth accomplish and fulfil his divine will in
all things, great and small, singular and general, as
fully and exactly by providence, as he could by
miracle and new creation, though his working be not
immediate and direct, but by compass; not violating
nature, which is his own law, upon the creature.

That at the first, the soul of man was not pro-
duced by heaven or earth, but was breathed im-
mediately from God : so that the ways and proceed-
ings of God with spirits are not included in nature ;
that is, in the laws of heaven and earth; but are
reserved to the law of his secret will and grace:
wherein God worketh still, and resteth not from the
work of redemption, as he resteth from the work of
creation : but continueth working till the end of the
world; what time that work also shall be accom-
plished, and an eternal sabbath shall ensue, Like-
wise, that whensover God doth transcend the law of
nature by miracles, which may ever seem as new
creations, he never cometh to that point or pass, but in
regard of the work of redemption, which is thegreater,
and whereto all God's signs and miracles do refer.

That God created man in his own image, in

2 i2

484 A Confession of Faith.

a reasonable soul, in innocency, in free-will, and
in sovereignty : that he gave him a law and command-
ment, which was in his power to keep, but he kept it
not : that man made a total defection from God, pre-
suming to imagine that the commandments and pro-
hibitions of God were not the rules of good and
evil, but that good and evil had their own principles
and beginnings, and lusted after the knowledge of
those imagined beginnings ; to the end, to depend no
more upon God's will revealed, but upon himself, and
his own lisrht, as a God ; than the which there could
not be a sin more opposite to the whole law of God :
that yet, nevertheless, this great sin was not originally
moved by the malice of man, but was insinuated by
the suggestion and instigation of the devil, who was
the first defected creature, and fell of malice, and not
by temptation.

That upon the fall of man, death and vanity
entered by the justice of God ; and the image of God
in man was defaced ; and heaven and earth, which
were made for man s use, were subdued to corruption
by his fall ; but then, that instantly, and without inter-
mission of time, after the word of God's law became,
through the fall of man, frustrate as to obedience,
there succeeded the greater word of the promise, that
the righteousness of God might be wrought by faith.

That as well the law of God as the word of his
promise endure the same for ever; but that they have
been revealed in several manners, according to the
dispensation of times. For the law was first im-
printed in that remnant of light of nature, which was
left after the fall, being sufficient to accuse : then it
was more manifestly expressed in the written law ;
and was yet more opened by the prophets ; and, lastly,
expounded in the true perfection by the Son of God,
the great Prophet, and perfect interpreter, as also
fulfiller of the law. That likewise the word of the
promise was manifested and revealed : first, by im-
mediate revelation and inspiration ; after by figures,
which were of two natures : the one, the rites and
ceremonies of the law ; the other, the continual his-

.4 Confession of Faith. 485

tory of the old world, and Church of the Jews; which
though it be literally true, yet is it pregnant of a
perpetual allegory and shadow of the work of the
redemption to follow The same promise or evan-
gile was more clearly revealed and declared by the
prophets, and then by the Son himself, and lastly
by the Holy Ghost, which illuminateth the Church
to the end of the world.

That in the fulness of time, according to the pro-
mise and oath, of a chosen lineage descended the
blessed seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, the only
begotten Son of God and Saviour of the world ;
who was conceived by the power and overshadowing
of the Holy Ghost, and took flesh of the Virgin
Mary: that the Word did not only take flesh, or was
joined to flesh, but was made flesh, though without
confusion of substance or nature : so as the eternal
Son of God and the ever blessed Son of Mary was
one person; so one, as the blessed virgin may be
truly and cafholicly called Deipara, the Mother of
God ; so one, as there is no unity in universal nature,
not that of the soul and body of man, so perfect; for
the three heavenly unities, whereof that is the se-
cond, exceed all natural unities : that is to say, the
unity of the three persons in Godhead ; the unity of
God and man in Christ ; and the unity of Christ and
the Church : the Holy Ghost being the worker of
both these latter unities ; for by the Holy Ghost was
Christ incarnate and quickened in flesh, and by the
Holy Ghost is man regenerate and quickened in
spirit.

That Jesus, the Lord, became in the flesh a sacri-
ficer, and a sacrifice for sin; a satisfaction and price
to the justice of God ; a meriter of glory and the
kingdom; a pattern of all righteousness; a preacher
of the word which himself was; a finisher of the
ceremonies; a corner-stone to remove the separa-
tion between Jew and Gentile ; an intercessor for
the Church ; a lord of nature in his miracles ; a
conqueror of death and the power of darkness in his
resurrection ; and that he fulfilled the «hole counsel

4^6 A Confession of Faith.

of God, performing all his sacred offices and anoint-
ing on earth, accomplished the whole work of the
redemption and restitution of man to a state superior
to the ano-els, whereas the state of man by creation
was inferior, and reconciled and established all things
according to the eternal will of the Father.

That in time, Jesus the Lord was born in the days
of Herod, and suffered under the government of Pon-
tius Pilate, being deputy of the Romans, and under
the high priesthood of Caiaphas, and was betrayed by
Judas, one of the twelve apostles, and was crucified
at Hierusalem : and after a true and natural death,
and his body laid in the sepulchre, the third day he
raised himself from the bonds of death, and arose and
shewed himself to many chosen witnesses, by the
space of divers days ; and at the end of those days,
in the sight of many, ascended into heaven; where
he continueth his intercession ; and shall from thence,
at the day appointed, come in greatest glory to judge
the world.

That the sufferings and merits of Christ, as they
are sufficient to do away the sins of the whole world,
so they are only effectual to those which are regenerate
by the Holy Ghost ; who breatheth where he will of
free grace ; which grace, as a seed incorruptible, quick-
eneth the spirit of man, and conceiveth him anew a son
of God and member of Christ : so that Christ having
man's flesh, and man having Christ's spirit, there is an
open passage and mutual imputation ; whereby sin and
wrath was conveyed to Christ from man, and merit
and life is conveyed to man from Christ: which seed
of the Holy Ghost first figureth in us the image of
Christ slain or crucified, through a lively faith ; and
then reneweth in us the image of God in holiness and
charity; though both imperfectly, and in degrees far
differing even in God's elect, as well in regard of the
fire of the Spirit, as of the illumination thereof; which
is more or less in a large proportion : as namely, in
the Church before Christ; which yet nevertheless
was partaker of one and the same salvation with us,
and of one and the same means of salvation with us.

A Confession of Faith. 487

That the work of the Spirit, though it be not tied
to any means in heaven or earth, yet it is ordinarily
dispensed by the preaching of the word ; the ad-
ministration of the sacraments ; the covenants of
the fathers upon the children, prayer, reading; the
censures of the Church ; the society of the godly ; the
cross and afflictions ; God's benefits ; his judgments
upon others ; miracles ; the contemplation of his
creatures : all which, though some be more principal,
God useth as the means of vocation and conversion
of his elect ; not derogating from his power to call
immediately by his grace, and at all hours and mo-
ments of the day, that is, of man's life, according to
his good pleasure.

That the word of God, whereby his will is reveal-
ed, continued in revelation and tradition until Moses;
and that the Scriptures were from Moses's time to
the times of the apostles and evangelists ; in whose
age, after the coming of the Holy Ghost, the teacher
of all truth, the book of the Scriptures was shut and
closed, so as not to receive any new addition; and
that the Church hath no power over the Scriptures to
teach or command any thing contrary to the written
word, but is as the ark, wherein the tables of the
first testament were kept and preserved : that is to
say, the Church hath only the custody and delivery
over of the Scriptures committed unto the same ; to-
gether with the interpretation of them, but such only
as is conceived from themselves.

That there is a universal or catholic Church of
God, dispersed over the face of the earth, which is
Christ's spouse, and Christ's body; being gathered
of the fathers of the old world, of the Church of the
Jews, of the spirits of the faithful dissolved, and
the spirits of the faithful militant, and of the names
yet to be born, which are already written in the book
of life. That there is also a visible Church, distin-
guished by the outward works of God's covenant,
and the receiving of the holy doctrine, with the use
of the mysteries of God, and the invocation, and
sanctification of hi? holv name. That there is also

488 A Confession of Faith.

a holy succession in the prophets of the New Testa-
ment and fathers of the Church, from the time of the
apostles and disciples which saw our Saviour in the
flesh, unto the consummation of the work of the mi-
nistry ; which persons are called from God by gift, or
inward anointing; and the vocation of God followed
by an outward calling and ordination of the Church.
I believe, that the souls of such as die in the
Lord are blessed, and rest from their labours, and
enjoy the sight of God, yet so, as they are in expecta-
tion of a farther revelation of their glory in the last
day. At which time all flesh of man shall arise and
be changed, and shall appear and receive from Jesus
Christ his eternal judgment; and the glory of the
saints shall then be full : and the kingdom shall be
given up to God the Father: from which time all
things shall continue for ever in that being and state,
which then they shall receive. So as there are three
times, if times they may be called, or parts of eter-,
nity : The first, the time before beginnings, when the
Godhead was only, without the being of any creature :
the second, the time of the mystery, which continueth
from the creation to the dissolution of the world : and
the third, the time of the revelation of the sons of
God ; which time is the last, and is everlasting with-
out change.

A PRAYER, OR PSALM,

MADE BY THE

LORD BACON, CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND.

Most gracious Lord God, my merciful Father, from
my youth up, my Creator, my Redeemer, my Com-
forter. Thou, O Lord, soundest and searchest the
depths and secrets of all hearts: thou acknowledgest
the upright of heart : thou judgest the hypocrite :
thou ponderest men's thoughts and doings as in
a balance: thou measurest their intentions as with
a line : vanity and crooked ways cannot be hid from
thee.

Remember, O Lord, how thy servant hath walked
before thee : remember what I have first sought, and
what hath been principal in my intentions. I have
loved thy assemblies : I have mourned for the divi-
sions of thy Church : I have delighted in the bright-
ness of thy sanctuary. This vine which thy right
hand hath planted in this nation, I have ever prayed
unto thee, that it might have the first and the latter
rain ; and that it might stretch her branches to the
seas and to the floods. The state and bread of the
poor and oppressed have been precious in mine eyes :
I have hated all cruelty and hardness of heart : I have,
though in a despised weed, procured the good of all
men. If any have been my enemies, I thought not
of them ; neither hath the sun almost set upon my
displeasure ; but I have been as a dove, free from
superfluity of maliciousness. Thy creatures have been
my books, but thy Scriptures much more. I have
sought thee in the courts, fields, and gardens, but I
have found thee in thy temples.

Thousands have been my sins, and ten thousands
my transgressions ; but thy sanctifications have re-
mained with me, and my heart, through thy grace,
hath been an unquenched coal upon thine altar. O
Lord, my strength, I have since my youth met with

490 A Prayer.

thee in all my ways, by thy fatherly compassions, by
thy comfortable chastisements, and by thy most visi-
ble providence. As thy favours have increased upon
me, so have thy corrections ; so as thou hast been al-
ways near me, O Lord ; and ever as my worldly bless-
ings were exalted, so secret darts from thee have
pierced me ; and when I have ascended before men,
I have descended in humiliation before thee. And
now, when I thought most of peace and honour, thy
hand is heavy upon me, and hath humbled me ac-
cording to thy former loving kindness, keeping me
still in thy fatherly school, not as a bastard, but as a
child. Just are thy judgments upon me for my sins,
which are more in number than the sands of the sea,
but have no proportion to thy mercies ; for what are
the sands of the sea, earth, heavens, and all these are
nothing to- thy mercies. Besides my innumerable
sins, I confess before thee that I am debtor to thee
for the gracious talent of thy gifts and graces, which
I have neither put into a napkin, nor put it, as I
ought, to exchangers, where it might have made best
profit, but mispent it in things for which I was least
fit : so I may truly say, my soul hath been a stranger
in the course of my pilgrimage. Be merciful unto
me, O Lord, for my Saviour's sake, and receive me
into thy bosom, or guide me in thy ways.

A PRAYER

Made and used by the Lord Chancellor Bacon.

O eternal God, and most merciful Father in
Jesus Christ: Let the words of our mouths, and the
meditations of our hearts be now and ever gracious
in thy sight, and acceptable unto thee, O Lord, our
God, our strength, and our Redeemer.

O Eternal God, and most merciful Father in Jesus

A Prayer. 491

Christ, in whom thou hast made a covenant of grace
and mercy with all those that come unto thee in him;
in his name and mediation we humbly prostrate our-
selves before the throne of thy mercies seat, acknow-
ledging that, by the breach of all thy holy laws and
commandments, we are become wild olive-branches,
strangers to thy covenant of grace ; we have defaced
in ourselves thy sacred image imprinted in us by crea-
tion ; we have sinned against heaven and before thee,
and are no more worthy to be called thy children.
O admit us into the place even of hired servants.
Lord, thou hast formed us in our mothers' wombs,
thy providence hath hitherto watched over us, and
preserved us unto this period of time : O stay not the
course of thy mercies and loving-kindness towards us:
have mercy upon us, O Lord, for thy dear Son Christ
Jesus sake, who is the way, the truth, and the life.
In him, O Lord, we appeal from thy justice to thy
mercy, beseeching thee in his name, and for his sake
only, thou wilt be graciously pleased freely to pardon
and forgive us all our sins and disobedience, whether
in thought, word, or deed, committed against thy di-
vine Majesty; and in his precious blood-shedding,
death, and perfect obedience, free us from the guilt,
the stain, the punishment, and dominion of all our
sins, and clothe us with his perfect righteousness.
There is mercy with thee, O Lord, that thou mayest
be feared ; yea, thy mercies swallow up the greatness
of our sins : speak peace to our souls and consciences ;
make us happy in the free remission of all our sins,
and be reconciled to thy poor servants in Jesus
Christ, in whom thou art well pleased : suffer not the
works of thine own hands to perish ; thou art not de-
lighted in the death of sinners, but in their conversion.
Turn our hearts, and we shall be turned ; convert us,
and we shall be converted ; illuminate the eyes of our
minds and understanding with the bright beams of
thy Holy Spirit, that we may daily grow in the saving
knowledge of the heavenly mystery of our redemp-
tion, wrought by our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ ; sanctify our wills and affection by the same

492 ,4 Prttwr.

Spirit, the most sacred fountain of all grace and good-
ness ; reduce them to the obedience of thy most holy
will in the practice of all piety toward thee, and cha-
rity towards all men. Inflame our hearts with thy
love, cast forth of them what displeaseth thee, all in-
fidelity, hardness of heart, profaneness, hypocrisy,
contempt of thy holy word and ordinances, all un-
cleanness, and whatsoever advanceth itself in opposi-
tion to thy holy will. And grant that henceforth,
through thy grace, we may be enabled to lead a godly,
holy, sober, and Christian life, in true sincerity and
uprightness of heart before thee. To this end, plant
thy holy fear in our hearts, grant that it may never
depart from before our eyes, but continually guide our
feet in the paths of thy righteousness, and in the ways
of thy commandments : increase our weak faith, grant
it may daily bring forth the true fruits of unfeigned
repentance, that by the power of the death of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ we may daily die unto sin,
and by the power of his resurrection we maybe quick-
ened, and raised up to newness of life, may be truly
born anew, and may be effectually made partakers of
the first resurrection, that then the second death may
never have dominion over us. Teach us. O Lord, so to
number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto
wisdom ; make us ever mindful of our last end, and
continually to exercise the knowledge of grace in our
hearts, that in the said divorce of soul and body, we
may be translated here to that kingdom of glory pre-
pared for all those that love thee, and shall trust in
thee ; even then and ever, O Lord, let thy holy angels
pitch their tents round about us, to guard and defend
us from all the malice of Satan, and from all perils
both of soul and body Pardon all our unthankfulness,
make us daily more and more thankful for all thy
mercies and benefits daily poured down upon us.
Let these our humble prayers ascend to the throne of
grace, and be granted not only for these mercies, but
for whatsoever else thy wisdom knows needful for us ;
and for all those that are in need, misery, and distress,
whom, Lord, thou hast afflicted either in soul or

The Student's Prayer 493

body ; grant them patience and perseverance in the
end, and to the end : And that, 0 Lord, not for any
merits of ours, but only for the merits of thy Son, and
our alone Saviour Christ Jesus ; to whom with thee
and the holy spirit be ascribed all glory, &c. Amen.

THE STUDENTS PRAYER.

To God the Father, God the Word, God the Spirit,
we pour forth most humble and hearty supplications ;
that he remembering- the calamities of mankind, and
the pilgrimage of this our life, in which we wear out
days few and evil, would please to open to us new
refreshments out of the fountains of his goodness, for
the alleviating of our miseries. This also we humbly
and earnestly beg, that human things may not pre-
judice such as are divine ; neither that from the
unlocking of the gates of sense, and the kindling
of a greater natural light, any thing of incredulity, or
intellectual night, may arise in our minds towards
divine mysteries. But rather, that by our mind
thoroughly cleansed and purged from fancy and vani-
ties, and yet subject and perfectly given up to the
divine oracles, there may be given unto faith the
things that are faith's. Amen.

THE WRITER'S PRAYER.

Thou, O Father, who gavest the visible light as
the first-born of thy creatures, and didst pour into man
the intellectual light as the top and consummation of
thy workmanship, be pleased to protect and govern
this work, which coming from thy goodness returneth
to thy glory. Thou after thou hadst reviewed the

494 Christian Paradoxes.

works which thy hands had made, beheldest that
every thing was very good, and thou didst rest with
complacency in them. But man, reflecting on the
works which he had made, saw that all was vanity
and vexation of spirit, and could by no means ac-
quiesce in them. Wherefore, if we labour in thy
works with the sweat of our brows, thou wilt make
us partakers of thy vision and thy sabbath. We hum-
bly beg that this mind may be steadfastly in us ; and
that thou, by our hands, and also by the hands of
others, on whom thou shalt bestow the same spirit,
wilt please to convey a largess of new alms to thy
family of mankind. These things we commend to
thy everlasting love, by our Jesus, thy Christ, God
with us. Amen.

THE CHARACTERS OF A BELIEVING
CHRISTIAN,

IN PARADOXES AND SEEMING CONTRADICTIONS.

1. A Christian is one that believes things his
reason cannot comprehend; he hopes for things
which neither he nor any man alive ever saw : he la-
bours for that which he knoweth he shall never ob-
tain ; yet in the issue, his belief appears not to be
false ; his hope makes him not ashamed ; his labour
is not in vain.

2. He believes three to be one, and one to be
three ; a father not to be elder than his son ; a son to
be equal with his father; and one proceeding from
both to be equal with both ; he believing three per-
sons in one nature, and two natures in one person.

3. He believes a virgin to be the mother of a son;
and that very son of her's to be her maker. He be-
lieves him to have been shut up in a narrow room,
whom heaven and earth could not contain. He be-
lieves him to have been born in time, who was and is

Christian Paradoxes. 495

from everlasting. He believes him to have been
a weak child, carried in arms, who is the Almighty;
and him once to have died, who only hath life and
immortality in himself.

4. He believes the God of all grace to have been
angry with one that hath never offended him ; and
that God, that hates sin, to be reconciled to himself,
though sinning continually, and never making, or
being able to make him satisfaction. He believes a
most just God to have punished a most just person,
and to have justified himself though a most ungodly
sinner. He believes himself freely pardoned, and yet
a sufficient satisfaction was made for him.

5. He believes himself to be precious in God's
sight, and yet lothes himself in his own. He dares
not justify himself even in those things wherein he
can find no fault with himself, and yet believes God
accepts him in those services wherein he is able to
find many faults.

6. He praises God for his justice, and yet fears him
for his mercy. He is so ashamed as that he dares not
open his mouth before God ; and yet he comes with
boldness to God, and asks him any thing he needs.
He is so humble as to acknowledge himself to deserve
nothing but evil ; and yet believes that God means
him all good. He is one that fears always, yet is as
bold as a lion. He is often sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing ; many times complaining, yet always giv-
ing of thanks. He is the most lowly-minded, yet the
greatest aspirer; most contented, yet ever craving.

7 He bears a lofty spirit in a mean condition ;
when he is ablest, he thinks meanest of himself. He
is rich in poverty, and poor in the midst of riches.
He believes all the world to be his, yet he dares take
nothing without special leave from God. He cove-
nants with God for nothing, yet looks for a great
reward. He loseth his life and gains by it; and
whilst he loseth it, he saveth it.

8. He lives not to himself, yet of all others he is
most wise for himself. He denieth himself often, yet
no man loveth himself so well as he. He is most re-

496 Christian Paradoxes.

proached, yet most honoured. He hath most afflic-
tions and most comforts.

9. The more injury his enemies do him, the more
advantages he gains by them. The more he forsakes
worldly things, the more he enjoys them.

10. He is the most temperate of all men, yet fares
most deliciously ; he lends and gives most freely, yet
he is the greatest usurer; he is meek towards all men,
yet inexorable by men He is the best child, hus-
band, brother, friend ; yet hates father and mother,
brother and sister. He loves all men as himself, yet
hates some men with a perfect hatred.

11. He desires to have more grace than any man
hath in the world, yet is truly sorrowful when he
seeth any man have less than himself; he knoweth no
man after the flesh, yet gives all men their due
respects ; he knoweth if he please man he cannot be
the servant of Christ; yet for Christ's sake he pleaseth
all men in all things. He is a peace-maker, yet is a
continual fighter, and is an irreconcileable enemy

12. He believes him to be worse than an infidel
that provides not for his family, yet himself lives and
dies without care. He accounts all his superiors, yet
stands stiffly upon authority. He is severe to his
children, because he loveth them ; and by being
favourable unto his enemy, he revengeth himself
upon him.

13. He believes the angels to be more excellent
creatures than himself, and yet accounts them his
servants. He believes that he receives many good
things by their means, and yet he neither prays for
their assistance, nor offers them thanks, which he
doth not disdain to do to the meanest Christian.

14. He believes himself to be a king, how mean
soever he be: and how great soever he be, yet be
thinks himself not too good to be a servant to the
poorest saint.

15. He is often in prison, yet always at liberty;
a freeman, though a servant. He loves not honour
amongst men, yet highly prizeth a good name.

16. He believes that God hath bidden every man

Christian Paradoxes. 497

that doth him good to do so ; he yet of any man is
the most thankful to them that do aught for him.
He would lay down his life to save the soul of his
enemy, yet will not adventure upon one- sin to save
the life of him who saved his.

17 He swears to his own hindrance, and changeth
not; yet knoweth that his oath cannot tie him to
sin.

18. He believes Christ to have no need of any
thing he doth, yet maketh account that he doth re-
lieve Christ in all his acts of charity He knoweth
he can do nothing for himself, yet labours to work out
his own salvation. He professeth he can do nothing,
yet as truly professeth he can do all things : he know-
eth that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom
of God, yetbelieveth he shall go to heaven both body
and soul.

19. He trembles at God's word, yet counts it
sweeter to him than honey and the honey-comb, and
dearer than thousands of gold and silver.

20. He believes that God will never damn him,
and yet fears God for being able to cast him into hell.
He knoweth he shall not be saved by nor for his good
works, yet he doth all the good works he can.

21 . He knoweth God's providence is in all things,
yet is so diligent in his calling and business, as if he
were to cut out the thread of his happiness. He be-
lieves beforehand that God hath purposed what he
shall be, and that nothing can make him to alter his
purpose ; yet prays and endeavours, as if he would
force God to save him for ever.

22. He prays and labours for that which he is con-
fident God means to give; and the more assured he
is, the more earnest he prays for that he knows he
shall never obtain, and yet gives not over. He prays
and labours for that which he knows he shall be no
less happy without ; he prays with all his heart not to
be led into temptation, yetTejoiceth when he is fallen
into it ; he believes his prayers are heard, even when
they are denied, and gives thanks for that which he
prays against.

vol. j i. 2 k

498 Christian Paradoxes.

23. He hath within him both flesh and spirit, yet
he is not a double-minded man; he is often led cap-
tive by the law of sin, yet it never gets dominion
over him ; he cannot sin, yet can do nothing without
sin. He doth nothing against his will, yet maintains
he doth what he would not. He wavers and doubt-
eth, yet obtains.

24. He is often tossed and shaken, yet is as Mount
Sion ; he is a serpent and a dove ; a lamb and a lion ;
a reed and a cedar. He is sometimes so troubled,
that he thinks nothing to be true in religion ; yet if
he did think so, he could not at all be troubled. He
thinks sometimes that God hath no mercy for him,
yet resolves to die in the pursuit of it. He believes,
like Abraham, against hope, and though he cannot
answer God's logic, yet, with the woman of Canaan,
he hopes to prevail with the rhetoric of importunity -

25. He wrestles, and yet prevails; and though
yielding himself unworthy of the least blessing he en-
joys, yet, Jacob-like, he will not let him go without
a new blessing;. He sometimes thinks himself to have
no grace at all, and yet how poor and afflicted soever
he be besides, he would not change conditions with
the most prosperous man under heaven, that is a
manifest worldling.

26. He thinks sometimes that the ordinances of
God do him no good, yet he would rather part with
his life than be deprived of them.

27 He was born dead ; yet so that it had been
murder for any to have taken his life away After he
began to live, he was ever dying.

28. And though he hath an eternal life begun
in him, yet he makes account he hath a death to pass
through.

29. He counts self-murder a heinous sin, yet is
ever busied in crucifying the flesh, and in putting to
death his earthly members ; not doubting but there
will come a time of glory, when he shall be esteemed
precious in the sight of the great God of heaven and
earth, appearing with boldness at his throne, and ask-
ing any thing he needs; being endued with humility,

Of Church Controversies. 499

by acknowledging his great crimes and offences, and
that he deserveth nothing but severe punishment.

30. He believes his soul and body shall be as full
of glory as them that have more ; and no more full
than theirs that have less.

31. He lives invisible to those that see him, and
those that know him best do but guess at him; yet
those many times judge more truly of him than he
doth of himself.

32. The world will sometimes account him a saint,
when God accounteth him a hypocrite; and after-
wards, when the world branded him for an hypocrite,
then God owned him for a saint.

33. His death makes not an end of him. His soul
which was put into his body, is not to be perfected
without his body; yet his soul is more happy when
it is separated from his body, than when it was join-
ed unto it: and his body, though torn in pieces,
burnt to ashes, ground to powder, turned to rotten-
ness, shall be no loser.

34. His Advocate, his Surety shall be his Judge;
his mortal part shall become immortal; and what was
sown in corruption and defilement shall be raised in
incorruption and glory ; and a finite creature shall
possess an infinite happiness. Glory be to God.

AN ADVERTISEMENT

TOUCHING THE

CONTROVERSIES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

It is but ignorance, if any man find it strange,
that the state of religion, especially in the days of
peace, should be exercised and troubled with contro-
versies : for as it is the condition of the Church mili-
tant to be ever under trials, so it cometh to pass, that
when the fiery trial of persecution ceaseth, there suc-

2 k 2

500 Of Church Controversies.

ceedeth another trial, which, as it were, by contrary-
blasts of doctrine, doth sift and winnow men's faithy
and proveth whether they know God aright; even
as that other of afflictions discovereth whether they
love him better than the world. Accordingly was it
foretold by Christ, saying, that in the later times it
should be said, Lo here, lo there is Christ: which is
to be understood, not as if the very person of Christ
should be assumed and counterfeited, but his autho-
rity and pre-eminence, which is to be the truth itself,
should be challenged and pretended. Thus have we
read and seen to be fulfilled that which followeth,
Ecce in deserto, ecce in penetralibus : while some
have sought the truth in the conventicles and con-
ciliables of heretics and sectaries; others in the exter-
nal face and representation of the Church; and both
sorts have been seduced. Were it then that the con-
troversies of the Church of England were such, as
they did divide the unity of the spirit, and not only
such as do unswathe her of her bands, the bands of
peace, yet could it be no occasion for any pretended
Catholic to judge us, or for any irreligious person to
despise us ; or if it be, it shall but happen to us all as
it hath used to do ; to them to be hardened, and to us
to endure the good pleasure of God. But now that
our contentions are such, as we need not so much that
general canon and sentence of Christ pronounced
against heretics; Erratis, nescientes Scripturas, et
potestatem Dei; you do err, not knowing the Scrip-
ture, and the power of God : as we need the admonition
of St. James, Let every man be swift to hear, slow to
speak, slow to wrath; and that the wound is no way
dangerous, except we poison it with our remedies; as
the former sort of men have less reason to make them-
selves music in our discord, so I have good hope that
nothing shall displease ourselves, which shall be sin-
cerely and modestly propounded for the appeasing of
these dissensions. For if any shall be offended at this
voice, Vos estis f rat res; ye are brethren, why strive
ye? he shall give a great presumption against himself,
that he is the party that doth his brethren wrong.

Of Church Controversies. 501

The controversies themselves I will not enter into,
as judging that the disease requireth rather rest than
any other cure. Thus much we all know and confess,
that they be not of the highest nature, for they are not
touching the high mysteries of faith, such as detained
the churches for many years after their first peace,
what time the heretics moved curious questions, and
made strange anatomies of the natures and person of
Christ; and the Catholic fathers were compelled to
follow them with all subtlety of decisions and deter-
minations to exclude them from their evasions, and to
take them in their labyrinths ; so as it is rightly said,
Mis temporibus, ingeniosa res fait, esse Christianum;
in those, days it was an ingenious and subtle thing to
be a Christian.

Neither are they concerning the great parts of the
worship of God, of which it is true, that non servatur
unitas in creclendo, nisi eaclem adsit in colendo; there
will be kept no unity in believing, except it be enter-
tained in worshipping; such as were the controversies
of the east and west churches touching images, and
such as are many of those between the Church of
Rome and us : as about the adoration of the sacra-
ment, and the like ; but we contend about ceremonies
and things indifferent, about the external policy and
government of the Church ; in which kind, if we
would but remember that the ancient and true bonds
of unity are one faith, one baptism, and not one cere-
mony, one policy; if we would observe the league
amongst Christians that is penned by our Saviour, he
that is not against us is with us; if we could but
comprehend that saying, dijferenticE rituum com-
mendant unitatem doctrince ; the diversities of cere-
monies do set forth the unity of doctrine ; and that
habet religio qua sunt a?ternitatis, habet qucE sunt
temporis ; religion hath parts which belong to eter-
nity, and parts which pertain to time : and if we did
but know the virtue of silence and slowness to speak,
commended by St. James, our controversies of them-
selves would close up and grow together : but most
especially, if we would leave the over-weaning and

502 Of Church Controversies.

turbulent humours of these times, and revive the
blessed proceeding of the apostles and fathers of
the primitive Church, which was, in the like and
greater cases, not to enter into assertions and posi-
tions, but to deliver counsels and advices, we should
need no other remedy at all : si eadem consults, /ra-
ter, qua qffirmas, consulenti debetur reverentia,
cum non debeatur Jides affirmants; brother, if that
which you set down as an assertion, you would
deliver by way of advice, there were reverence due to
your counsel, whereas faith is not due to your affir-
mation. St. Paul was content to speak thus. Ego,
non Dominus, I, and not the Lord : Et, secundum
consilium meum ; according to my counsel. But
now men do too lightlv sav, Son ego. sed Dominus:
not I, but the Lord : yea, and bind it with an heavy
denunciation of his judgments, to terrify the simple,
which have not sufficiently understood out of Solo-
mon, that the causeless curse shall not come.

Therefore, seeing the accidents are they which breed
the peril, and not the things themselves in their own
nature, it is meet the remedies be applied unto them,
by opening what it is on either part, that keepeth
the wound green, and formalizeth both sides to a far-
ther opposition, and worketh an indisposition in mens
minds to be reunited : wherein no accusation is pre-
tended ; but I find in reason, that peace is best built
upon a repetition of wrongs : and in example, that the
speeches which have been made by the wisest men, de
concordia ordinum, have not abstained irom reducing
to memory the extremities used on both parts ; so as
it is true which is said, Qui pacem tractat non repe-
titis conditionibus dissidii, is magis amnios hominum
dulcedine pads fallit, quam ce quit ate componit.

And, first of all. it is more than time that there were
an end and surcease made of this immodest and de-
formed manner of writing lately entertained, whereby
matter of religion is handled in the stile of the stage.
Indeed, bitter and earnest writing must not hastily be
condemned; for men cannot contend coldly, and
without affection, about things which they hold dear

Of Church Controversies. 503

and precious. A politic man may write from his
brain without touch and sense of his heart ; as in a
speculation that appertained not unto him ; but a
feeling Christian will express in his words a character
of zeal or love. The latter of which, as I could wish,
rather embraced, being more proper for these times,
yet is the former warranted also by great examples.

But to leave all reverent and religious compassion
towards evils, or indignation towards faults, and to
turn religion into a comedy or satire ; to search and
rip up wounds with a laughing countenance, to inter-
mix Scripture and scurrility sometimes in one sen-
tence, is a thing far from the devout reverence of a
Christian, and scant beseeming the honest regard of
a sober man. Non est major confusio, quam serii et
jocl. There is no greater confusion than the confound-
ing of jest and earnest. The majesty of religion, and
the contempt and deformity of things ridiculous, are
things as distant as things may be. Two principal
causes have I ever known of atheism ; curious con-
troversies, and profane scoffing : now that these two
are joined in one, no doubt that sect will make no
small progression.

And here I do much esteem the wisdom and reli-
gion of that bishop which replied to the first pam-
phlet of this kind, who remembered that a fool was
to be answered, but not by becoming like unto him ;
and considered the matter which he handled, and not
the person with whom he dealt.

Job, speaking of the majesty and gravity of a judge
in himself, saith, If I did smile, they believed it not:
as if he should have said, If I diverted, or glanced
upon conceit of mirth, yet men's minds were so pos-
sessed with a reverence of the action in hand, as they
could not receive it. Much more ought not this to
be amongst bishops and divines disputing about holy
things. And therefore as much do I mislike the in-
vention of him who, as it seemeth, pleased himself in
it as in no mean policy, that these men are to be dealt
withal at their own weapons, and pledged in their
own cup. This seemed to him as profound a device,
as when the cardinal Sansovino counselled Julius the

504 Of Church Controversies.

Second to encounter the council of Pisa with the
council of Lateran; or as lawful a challenge as Mr.
Jewel made to confute the pretended Catholics by the
Fathers : but those things will not excuse the imita-
tion of evil in another. It should be contrariwise
with us, as Caesar said, Nil malo, quam eos similes
esse sui, et me mei. But now, Dum de bonis conten-
dimus, de malis consentimus ; while we differ about
good things, we resemble in evil.

Surely, if I were asked of these men, who were the
more to be blamed, I should percase remember the
proverb, that the second blow maketh the fray, and
the saying of an obscure fellow ; Qui replicat, multi-
plicat; he that replieth, multiplieth. But I would
determine the question with this sentence ; Alter
principium malo dedit, alter modum abstulit; by the
one means -we have a beginning, and by the other we
shall have none end.

And truly, as I do marvel that some of those
preachers which call for reformation, whom I am far
from wronging so far as to join them with these scof-
fers, do not publish some declaration, whereby they
may satisfy the world, that they dislike their cause
should be thus solicited ; so I hope assuredly, that my
lords of the clergy have none intelligence with this
interlibelling, but do altogether disallow that their
credit should be thus defended. For though I observe
in one of them many glosses, whereby the man would
insinuate himself into their favours, yet I find it to be
ordinary, that many pressing and fawning persons do
misconjecture of the humours of men in authority,
and many times, Veneri immolant suem, they seek to
gratify them with that which they most dislike : for
I have great reason to satisfy myself touching the
judgment of my lords the bishops in this matter, by
that which was written by one of them, which I
mentioned before with honour. Nevertheless I note,
there is not an indifferent hand carried towards these
pamphlets as they deserve ; for they one sort flieth in
the dark, and the other is uttered openly ; wherein I
might advise that side out of a wise writer, who hath
set it down, that punitis ingeniis gliscit auctoritas.

Of Church Controversies. 505

And indeed we see it ever falleth out, that the for-
bidden writing is always thought to be certain sparks
of a truth that fly up into the faces of those that seek to
choke it, and tread it out; whereas a book authorised
is thought to be but temporis voces, the language of
the time. But, in plain truth, I do find, to mine under-
standing, these pamphlets as meet to be suppressed
as the other. First, because as the former sort doth
deface the government of the Church in the persons
of the bishops and prelates, so the other doth lead into
contempt the exercises of religion in the persons of
sundry preachers ; so as it disgraceth an higher mat-
ter, though in the meaner person.

Next, I find certain indiscreet and dangerous am-
plifications, as if the civil government itself of this
state had near lost the force of her sinews, and were
ready to enter into some convulsion, all things being
full of faction and disorder; which is as unjustly ac-
knowledged, as untruly affirmed. I know his mean-
ing is to enforce this irreverent and violent impugn-
ing of the government of bishops, to be a suspected
forerunner of a more general contempt. And I grant
there is a sympathy between the estates; but no such
matter in the civil policy, as deserveth so dishonour-
able a taxation.

To conclude this point: As it were to be wished
that these writings had been abortive, and never seen
the sun; so the next is, since they be come abroad,
that they be censured, by all that have understanding
and conscience, as the intemperate extravagancies of
some light persons. Yea farther, that men beware,
except they mean to adventure to deprive themselves
of all sense of religion, and to pave their own hearts,
and make them as the highway, how they may be
conversant in them, and much more how they delight
in that vein; but rather to turn their laughing into
blushing, and to be ashamed, as of a short madness,
that they have in matters of religion taken their dis-
port and solace. But this, perchance, is of these
faults which will be soonest acknowledged; though
I perceive, nevertheless, that there want not some
who seek to blanch and excuse it.

506 Of Church Controversies.

But to descend to a sincere view and consideration
of the accidents and circumstances of these contro-
versies, wherein either part deserveth blame or im-
putation, I find generally, in causes of Church mat-
ters, that men do offend in some or all of these five
points.

The first is, the giving occasion unto the contro-
versies: and also the inconsiderate and ungrounded
taking of occasion.

The next is, the extending and multiplying the
controversies to a more general opposition or contra-
diction than appeareth at the first propounding of
hem, when men's judgments are least partial.

The third is, the passionate and unbrotherly prac-
tices and proceedings of both parts towards the per-
sons each of others, for their discredit and suppres-
sion.

The fourth is, the courses holden and entertained
on either side, for the drawing of their partisans to a
more strait union within themselves, which ever im-
porteth a farther distraction of the intire body.

The last is, the undue and inconvenient propound-
ing, publishing, and debating of the controversies.
In which point the most palpable error hath been al-
ready spoken of, as that, which through the strange-
ness and freshness of the abuse first offereth itself to
the conceits of all men.

Now concerning the occasion of the controversies,
it cannot be denied, but that the imperfections in the
conversation and government of those which have
chief place in the Church, have ever been principal
causes and motives of schisms and divisions. For
whilst the bishops and governors of the Church con-
tinue full of knowledge and good works ; whilst they
feed the flock indeed ; whilst they deal with the secu-
lar states in all liberty and resolution, according to
the majesty of their calling, and the precious care
of souls imposed upon them, so long the Church is
situated as it were upon a hill; no man maketh ques-
tion of it, or seeketh to depart from it: but when
these virtues in the fathers and leaders of the Church
have lost their light, and that they wax worldly,

Of Church Controversies. 507

lovers of themselves, and pleasers of men, then men
begin to grope for the Church as in the dark; they
are in doubt whether they be the successors of the
apostles, or of the Pharisees ; yea, howsoever they sit
in Moses' chair, yet they can never speak, tanquam
auctoritatem habentes, as having authority, because
they have lost their reputation in the consciences of
men, by declining their steps from the way which
they trace out to others ; so as men had need conti-
nually have sounding in their ears this same Nolite
exire, go not out; so ready are they to depart from
the Church upon every voice. And therefore it is
truly noted by one that writeth as a natural man,
that the humility of the friars did, for a great time,
maintain and bear out the irreligion of bishops and
prelates.

For this is the double policy of the spiritual enemy,
either by counterfeit holiness of life to establish and
authorise errors; or by corruption of manners to dis-
credit and draw in question truth and things law-
ful. This concerneth my lords the bishops, unto
whom I am witness to myself, that I stand affected
as I ought. No contradiction hath supplanted in me
the reverence that I owe to their calling; neither
hath any detraction or calumny imbased mine opinion
of their persons. I know some of them, whose names
are most pierced with these accusations, to be men of
great virtues ; although the indisposition of the times,
and the want of correspondence many ways, is enough
to frustrate the best endeavours in the edifying of the
Church. And for the rest, generally, I can condemn
none. I am no judge of them that belong to so high
a Master; neither have I two witnesses. And I know
it is truly said of fame, that

Parker facta, at que infecta canebat.
Their taxations arise not all from one coast ; they
have many and different enemies ready to invent
slander, more ready to amplify it, and most ready to
believe it. And magnes mendacii credulitas; cre-
dulity is the adamant of lies. But if any be, against
whom the Supreme Bishop hath not a few things, but

508 Of Church Controversies.

many things ; if any have lost his first love ; if any
be neither hot nor cold; if any have stumbled too
fondly at the threshold, in such sort that he cannot
sit well, that entered ill ; it is time they return whence
they are fallen, and confirm the things that remain.
Great is the weight of this fault; et eorum causa
abhor rebant homines a sacrificio Domini: and for
their cause did men abhor the adoration of God. But
howsoever it be, those which have sought to deface
them, and cast contempt upon them, are not to be
excused.

It is the precept of Solomon, that the rulers be not
reproached; no, not in our thought: but that we
draw our very conceit into a modest interpretation of
their doings. The holy angel would give no sen-
tence of blasphemy against the common slanderer,
but said, Increpet te Dominus, the Lord rebuke thee.
The apostle St. Paul, though against him that did
pollute sacred justice with tyrannous violence, did
justly denounce the judgment of God, saying, Per-
cutiet te Dominus, the Lord will strike thee ; yet in
saying paries dealbate, he thought he had gone too
far, and retracted it : whereupon a learned father said,
ipsum quamvis inane nomen, et umbram sacerdotis
expavit.

The ancient councils and synods, as is noted by the
ecclesiastical story, when they deprived any bishop,
never recorded the offence ; but buried it in perpetual
silence: only Cham purchased his curse by revealing
his father's disgrace ; and yet a much greater fault is
it to ascend from their person to their calling, and
draw that in question. Many good fathers spake ri-
gorously and severely of the unworthiness of bishops ;
as if presently it did forfeit, and cease their office.
One saith, Sacerdotes nominamur, et non sumus, We
are called priests, but priests we are not. Another
saith, Nisi bonum opus amplectaris, episcopus esse
non potes ; except thou undertake the good work,
thou canst not be a bishop; yet they meant nothing
less than to move doubt of their calling or ordination.

The second occasion of controversies, is the nature

Of Church Controversies. 509

and humour of some men. The Church never wanteth
a kind of persons, which lovethe salutation of Rabbi,
master ; not in ceremony or compliment, but in an
inward authority which they seek over men's minds,
in drawing them to depend upon their opinions, and
to seek knowledge at their lips. These men are the
true successors of Diotrephes, the lover of pre-emi-
nence, and not lord bishops. Such spirits do light
upon another sort of natures, which do adhere to
these men; quorum gloria in obsequio; stiff follow-
ers, and such as zeal marvellously for those whom
they have chosen for their masters. This latter sort,
for the most part, are men of young years, and super-
ficial understanding, carried away with partial re-
spects of persons, or with the enticing appearance of
godly names and pretences; Pauci res ipsas sequun-
tur, plures nomina rerum, plurimi nomina magistro-
rum : few follow the things themselves, more the
names of the things, and most the names of their
masters.

About these general affections are wreathed and
interlaced accidental and private emulations and dis-
contentments, all which together break forth into
contentions ; such as either violate truth, sobriety, or
peace. These generalities apply themselves. The
universities are the seat or the continent of this
disease, whence it hath been, and is derived into the
rest of the realm. There men will no longer be
e numero, of the number. There do others side
themselves before they know their right hand from
their left : so it is true which is said, transeunt ab
ignorantia ad prcejudicium, they skip from ignorance
to a prejudicate opinion, and never take a sound
judgment in their way. But as it is well noted, inter
juvenile judicium et senile prajudicium, omnis Veri-
tas corrumpitur : through want of years, when men
are not indifferent, but partial, then their judgment
is weak and unripe ; and when it groweth to strength
and ripeness, by that time it is forestalled with such
a number of prejudicate opinions, as it is made un-
profitable : so as between these two all truth is cor-
rupted. In the mean while, the honourable names of

510 Of Church Controversies.

sincerity, reformation, and discipline, are put in the
fore-ward : so as contentions and evil zeals cannot be
touched, except these holy things be thought first to
be violated. But howsoever they shall infer the soli-
citation for the peace of the Church to proceed from
carnal sense, yet I will conclude ever with the apostle
Paul, Cum sit inter vos zelus et contentio, nonne
carnales estis? While there is amongst you zeal and
contention, are you not carnal ? And howsoever they
esteem the compounding of controversies to savour of
man's wisdom and human policy, and think them-
selves led by the wisdom which is from above, yet I
say, with St. James, Non est ista sapientia de sur-
sum descendens, sed terrena, animalis, diabolical : ubi
enim zelus et contentio, ibi inconstantia et omne opus
pravum. Of this inconstancy it is said by a learned
father, Procedere volunt non ad perfection em,, sed ad
permutationem ; they seek to go forward still, not to
perfection, but to change.

The third occasion of controversies I observe to be
an extreme and unlimited detestation of some former
heresy or corruption of the Church already acknow-
ledged and convicted. This was the cause that pro-
duced the heresy of Arius, grounded especially upon
detestation of Gentilism, lest the Christian should
seem, by the assertion of the equal divinity of our
Saviour Christ, to approach unto the acknowledge-
ment of more gods than one. The detestation of
the heresy of Arius produced that of Sabellius ; who,
holding for execrable the dissimilitude which Arius
pretended in the Trinity, fled so far from him, as he
fell upon that other extremity, to deny Ihe distinction
of persons ; and to say, they were but only names of
several offices and dispensations, Yea, most of the
heresies and schisms of the Church have sprung up
of this root ; while men have made it as it were their
scale, by which to measure the bounds of the most
perfect religion ; taking it by the farthest distance
from the error last condemned. These be posthicmi
hceresiumjilii ; heresies that arise out of the ashes
of other heresies that are extinct and amortised.
This manner of apprehension doth in some degree

Of Church Controversies. 511

possess many in our times. They think it the true
touchstone to try what is good and evil, by measuring
what is more or less opposite to the institutions of
the church of Rome, be it ceremony, be it policy, or
government ; yea, be it other institutions of greater
weight, that is ever most perfect which is removed
most degrees from that Church ; and that is ever pol-
luted and blemished, which participateth in any ap-
pearance with it. This is a subtile and dangerous
conceit for men to entertain ; apt to delude them-
selves, more apt to delude the people, and most apt of
all to calumniate their adversaries. This surely, but
that a notorious condemnation of that position was
before our eyes, had long since brought us to the re-
baptisation of children baptized according to the pre-
tended Catholic religion : for I see that which is a
matter of much like reason, which is the re-ordaining
of priests, is a matter already resolutely maintained.
It is very meet that men beware how they be abused
by this opinion ; and that they know, that it is a con-
sideration of much greater wisdom and sobriety to be
well advised, whether in general demolition of the in-
stitutions of the Church of Rome, there were not, as
men's actions are imperfect, some good purged with
the bad, rather than to purge the Church, as they
pretend, every day anew ; which is the way to make
a wound in the bowels, as is already begun.

The fourth and last occasion of these controversies,
a matter which did also trouble the Church in former
times, is the partial affectation and imitation of fo-
reign churches. For many of our men, during the
time of persecution, and since, having been conver-
sant in churches abroad, and received a great impres-
sion of the form of government there ordained, have
violently sought to intrude the same upon our Church.
But I answer, Conscntiamus in eo quod convenit, non
in eo quod receptum est ; let us agree in this, that
every church do that which is convenient for the state
of itself, and not in particular customs. Although
their churches had received the better form, yet many
times it is to be sought, non quod optimum, sed e bonis

512 Of Church Controversies.

quid proximum ; not that which is best, but of good
things which is the best and readiest to be had. Our
Church is not now to plant ; it is settled and esta-
blished. It may be, in civil states, a republic is a better
policy than a kingdom : yet, God forbid that lawful
kingdoms should be tied to innovate and make altera-
tions. Qui mala introducit, voluntatem Dei oppugnat
revelatam in verbo ; qui nova introducit, volunta-
tem Dei oppugnat revelatam in rebus ; he that bring-
eth in evil customs, resisteth the will of God revealed
in his word ; he that bringeth in new things, resisteth
the will of God revealed in the things themselves.
Consule providentiam Dei, cum verbo Dei; take
counsel of the providence of God, as well as of his
word. Neither yet do I admit that their form, al-
though it were possible and convenient, is better than
ours, if some abuses were taken away. The parity
and equality of ministers is a thing of wonderful great
confusion, and so is an ordinary government by synods,
which doth necessarily ensue upon the other.

It is hard in all causes, but especially in religion,
when voices shall be numbered and not weighed :
Equidem, saith a wise father, ut vere quod res est
scribam, prorsus decrevi fugere omnem conventum
episcoporum ; nullius enim concilii bonum exitum
unquam vidi ; concilia enim non minuunt mala, sed
augent potius : " To say the truth, I am utterly de-
" termined never to come to any council of bishops :
" for I never yet saw good end of any council ; for
" councils abate not ill things, but rather increase
" them." Which is to be understood not so much of
general councils, as of synods, gathered for the ordi-
nary government of the Church. As for the depri-
vation of bishops, and suchlike causes, this mischief
hath taught the use of archbishops, patriarchs, and
primates ; as the abuse of them since hath taught men
to mislike them.

But it will be said, Look to the fruits of the
churches abroad and ours. To which I say, that I
beseech the Lord to multiply his blessings and graces
upon those churches a hundred fold. But yet it is

Of Church Controversies. 513

not good, that we fall on the numbering of them ; it
may be our peace hath made us more wanton : it
may be also, though I would be loth to derogate from
the honour of those churches, were it not to remove
scandals, that their fruits are as torches in the dark,
which appear greatest afar off. I know they may
have some strict orders for the repressing of sundry
excesses : but when I consider of the censures of some
persons, as well upon particular men as upon churches,
I think on the saying of a Platonist, who saith, Certe
vitia irascibilis partis animcz sunt gradu praviora,
quam concupiscibilis, tametsi occult ior re; a matter that
appeared much by the ancient contentions of bishops.
God grant that we may contend with other churches,
as the vine with the olive, which of us shall bear the
best fruit ; and not as the briar with the thistle, which
of us is most unprofitable. And thus much touching
the occasions of these controversies.

Now, briefly to set down the growth and progres-
sion of the controversies ; whereby will be verified the
saying of Solomon, that the coarse of contention is to be
stopped at the first ; being else as the waters, which if
they gain a breach, it will hardly ever be recovered.

It may be remembered, that on that part, which
calls for reformation, was first propounded some dis-
like of certain ceremonies supposed to be superstitious ;
some complaint of dumb ministers who possess rich
benefices; and some invectives against the idle and mo-
nastical continuance within the universities, by those
who had livings to be resident upon ; and such like
abuses. Thence they went on to condemn the go-
vernment of bishops as an hierarchy remaining to us
of the corruptions of the Roman church, and to except
to sundry institutions in the Church, as not sufficiently
delivered from the pollutions of former times. And
lastly, they are advanced to define of an only and per-
petual form of policy in the Church ; which, without
consideration of possibility, and foresight of peril, and
perturbation of the Church and State, must be erected
and planted by the magistrate. Here they stay
Others, not able to keep footing in so steep ground.

vol. ii. 2 L

514 Of Church Controversies.

descend farther ; That the same must be entered into
and accepted of the people, at their peril, without the
attending of the establishment of authority. And so
in the mean time they refuse to communicate with us,
reputing us to have no Church. This has been the
progression of that side : I mean of the generality.
For, I know, some persons, being of the nature, not
only to love extremities, but also to fall to them with-
out degrees, were at the highest strain at the first.

The other part, which maintaineth the present go-
vernment of the Church, hath not kept one tenor nei-
ther. First, those ceremonies which were pretended
to be corrupt, they maintained to be things indifferent,
and opposed the examples of the good times of the
Church to that challenge which was made unto them^
because they were used in the later superstitious
times. Then were they also content mildly to ac-
knowledge many imperfections in the Church : as tares
come up amongst the corn ; which yet, according to
the wisdom taught by our Saviour, were not with strife
to be pulled up, lest it might spoil and supplant the
good corn, but to grow on together till the harvest.
After, they grew to a more absolute defence and main-
tenance of all the orders of the Church, and stiffly to
hold, that nothing was to be innovated ; partly be-
cause it needed not, partly because it would make a
breach upon the rest. Hence, exasperated through
contentions, they are fallen to a direct condemnation
of the contrary part, as of a sect. Yea, and some in-
discreet persons have been bold in open preaching to
use dishonourable and derogatory speech and censure
of the churches abroad ; and that so far, as some of
our men, as I have heard, ordained in foreign parts,
have been pronounced to be no lawful ministers.
Thus we see the beginnings were modest, but the ex-
tremes are violent; so as there is almost as great a dis-
tance now of either side from itself, as was at the first
of one from the other. And surely, though my mean-
ing and scope be not, as I said before, to enter into
the controversies themselves, yet I do admonish the
maintainers of the alone discipline, to weigh and con-

Of Church Controversies. 515

sider seriously and attentively, how near they are unto
them, with whom, I know, they will not join. It is
very hard to affirm, that the discipline, which they say
we want, is one of the essential parts of the worship
of God ; and not to affirm withal, that the people
themselves, upon peril of salvation, without staying
for the magistrate, are to gather themselves into it. I
demand, If a civil state should receive the preaching
of the word and baptism, and interdict and exclude
the sacrament of the Lord's supper, were not men
bound upon danger of their souls to draw themselves
to congregations, wherein they might celebrate this
mystery, and not to content themselves with that
part of God's worship which the magistrate had au-
thorized ? This I speak, not to draw them into the
mislike of others, but into a more deep consideration
of themselves : Fortasse non redeunt, quia saum pro-
gressum non intelligunt.

Again, to my lords the bishops I say, that it is hard
for them to avoid blame, in the opinion of an indif-
ferent person, in standing so precisely upon altering
nothing : leges, novis legibus non recreate, acescunt ;
laws, not refreshed with new laws, wax sour. Qui
mala non permutat, in bonis non perseverat : without
change of ill, a man cannot continue the good. To
take away many abuses, supplanteth not good orders,
but establisheth them. Morosa moris retentio, res
turbulenta est, ceque ac novitas ; a contentious retain-
ing of custom is a turbulent thing, as well as innova-
tion. A good husband is ever pruning in his vine-
yard or his field ; not unseasonably, indeed, not un-
skilfully, but lightly ; he findeth ever somewhat to
do. We have heard of no offers of the bishops of
bills in parliament ; which, no doubt, proceeding from
them to whom it properly belongeth, would have
every where received acceptation. Their own con-
stitutions and orders have reformed them little. Is
nothing amiss ? Can any man defend the use of ex-
communication as a base process to lackey up and
down for duties and fees ; it being a precursory judg-
ment of the latter day ?

2 l 2

516 Of Church Controversies,

Is there no mean to train and nurse up ministers,,
for the yield of the universities will not serve, though
they were never so well governed ; to train them, I
say, not to preach, for that every man confidently
adventureth to do, but to preach soundly, and to
handle the Scriptures with wisdom and judgment ?
I know prophesying was subject to great abuse, and
would be more abused now; because heat of conten-
tions is increased : but I say the only reason of the
abuse was, because there was admitted to it a popular
auditory ; and it was not contained within a private
conference of ministers. Other things might be spoken
of. I pray God to inspire the bishops with a fervent
love and care of the people ; and that they may not
so much urge things in controversy, as things out of
controversy, which all men confess to be gracious
and good. And thus much for the second point.

Now, as to the third point, of unbrotherly proceed-
ing on either part, it is directly contrary to my pur-
pose to amplify wrongs : it is enough to note and
number them ; which I do also, to move compassion
and remorse on the offending side, and not to animate
challengers and complaints on the other. And this
point, as reason is, doth chiefly touch that side which
can do most: Injuria, potentiorum sunt; injuries
come from them that have the upper hand.

The wrongs of them which are possessed of the go-
vernment of the Church towards the other, may hardly
be dissembled or excused : they have charged them
as though they denied tribute to Caesar, and withdrew
from the civil magistrate the obedience which they
have ever performed and taught. They have sorted
and coupled them with the Family of love, whose
heresies they have laboured to destroy and confute.
They have been swift of credit to receive accusations
against them, from those that have quarrelled with
them, but for speaking against sin and vice. Their
accusations and inquisitions have been strict, swear-
ing men to blanks and generalities, not included with-
in compass of matter certain, which the party which
is to take the oath may comprehend, which is a thing

Of Church Controversies. 517

captious and strainable. Their urging of subscription
to their own articles, is but lacessere, et irritare
morbos Ecclesice, which otherwise would spend and
exercise themselves. Non consensum qucerit sed dis-
sidium, qui, quod factis prcestatur, in verbis exigit :
He seeketh not unity, but division, which exacteth
that in words, which men are content to yield in ac-
tion. And it is true, there are some which, as I am
persuaded, will not easily offend by inconformity, who
notwithstanding make some conscience to subscribe ;
for they know this note of inconstancy and defection
from that which they have long held, shall disable
them to do that good which otherwise they might do :
for such is the weakness of many, that their ministry
should be thereby discredited. As for their easy
silencing of them, in such great scarcity of preachers,
it is to punish the people, and not them. Ought they
not, I mean the bishops, to keep one eye open, to look
upon the good that those men do, not to fix them both
upon the hurt that they suppose cometh by them ?
Indeed, such as are intemperate and incorrigible, God
forbid they should be permitted to preach : but shall
every inconsiderate word, sometimes captiously watch-
ed, and for the most part hardly enforced, be as a
forfeiture of their voice and gift in preaching? As for
sundry particular molestations, I take no pleasure to
recite them. If a minister shall be troubled for saying
in baptism, do you believe? for, dost thou believe? If
another shall be called in question for praying for her
majesty, without the additions of her style; whereas
the very form of prayer in the book of Common-Prayer
hath, " Thy servant Elizabeth," and no more : If a
third shall be accused, upon these words uttered
touching the controversies, tollatur lex, etjiat certa-
men, whereby was meant, that the prejudice of the law
removed, either reasons should be equally compared,
of calling the people to sedition and mutiny, as ifhe had
said, Away with the law, and try it out with force :
If these and other like particulars be true, which I
have but by rumour, and cannot affirm ; it is to be
lamented that they should labour amongst us with so

518 Of Church Controversies.

little comfort. I know restrained governments are
better than remiss ; and I am of his mind that said,
Better is it to live where nothing is lawful, than
where all things are lawful. I dislike that laws should
not be continued, or disturbers be unpunished : but
laws are likened to the grape, that being too much
pressed yields a hard and unwholesome wine. Of
these things I must say ; Ira viri non operaturjusti-
tiam Dei ; the wrath of man worketh not the righte-
ousness of God.

As for the injuries of the other part, they be ictus
inermes ; as it were headless arrows ; they be fiery
and eager invectives, and, in some fond men, uncivil
and irreverent behaviour towards their superiors.
This last invention also, which exposeth them to de-
rision and obloquy by libels, chargeth not, as I am
persuaded; the whole side : neither doth that other,
which is yet more odious, practised by the worst sort
of them ; which is, to call in, as it were to their
aids, certain mercenary bands, which impugn bi-
shops, and other ecclesiastical dignities, to have the
spoil of their endowments and livings : of these I
cannot speak too hardly. It is an intelligence be-
tween incendiaries and robbers, the one to fire the
house, the other to rifle it.

The fourth point wholly pertaineth to them which
impugn the present ecclesiastical government; who
although they have not cut themselves off from the
body and communion of the Church, yet do they affect
certain cognisances and differences, wherein they
seek to correspond amongst themselves, and to be se-
parate from others. And it is truly said, tarn sunt
mores quidam schismatici, quam dogmata schisma-
tica; there be as wellschismatical fashions as opinions.
First, they have impropriated unto themselves the
names of zealous, sincere, and reformed; as if all
others were cold minglers of holy things and profane,
and friends of abuses. Yea, be a man endued with
great, virtues, and fruitful in good works ; yet if he
concur not with them, they term him, in derogation,
a civil and moral man, and compare him to Socrates,

Of Church Controversies. 519

or some heathen philosopher: whereas the wisdom
of the Scriptures teacheth us otherwise ; namely, to
judge and denominate men religious according to
their works of the second table ; because they of the
first are often counterfeit, and practised in hypocrisy
So St. John saith, that a man doth vainly boast of
loving God whom he never saw, if he love not his bro-
ther whom he hath seen. And St. James saith, This is
true religion, to visit the fatherless and the widow.
So as that which is with them but philosophical and
moral, is, in the apostle's phrase, true religion and
Christianity. As in affection they challenge the said
virtues of zeal and the rest ; so in knowledge they
attribute unto themselves light and perfection. They
say, the Church of England in King Edward's time,
and in the beginning of her majesty's reign, was but
in the cradle; and the bishops in those times did
somewhat grope for day-break, but that maturity and
fulness of light proceedeth from themselves. So
Sabinius, bishop of Heraclea, a Macedonian heretic,
said, that the fathers in the council of Nice were but
infants and ignorant men : that the Church was not
so perfect in their decrees as to refuse that farther
ripeness of knowledge which time had revealed. And
as they censure virtuous men by the names of civil
and moral, so do they censure men truly and godly
wise, who see into the vanity of their affections, by
the name of politics ; saying, that their wisdom is
but carnal and savouring of man's brain. So likewise
if a preacher preach with care and meditation, I
speak not of the vain scholastical manner of preach-
ing, but soundly indeed, ordering the matter he
handleth distinctly for memory, deducting and draw-
ing it" down for direction, and authorizing it with
strong proofs and warrants, they censure it as a form
of speaking not becoming the simplicity of the gospel,
and refer it to the reprehension of St. Paul, speaking
of the enticing speech of mans wisdom.

Now for their own manner of preaching, what is
it? Surely they exhort well, and work compunction
of mind, and bring men well to the question, Viri,

520 Of Church Controversies.

fratres, quid faciemus ? But that is not enough, ex-
cept they resolve the question. They handle matters
of controversy weakly, and obiter, and as before a
people that will accept of any thing. In doctrine of
manners there is little but generality and repetition.
The word, the bread of life, they toss up and down,
they break it not : they draw not their directions
down ad casus conscientice ; that a man may be war-
ranted in his particular actions whether they be law-
ful or not ; neither indeed are many of them able to
do it, what through want of grounded knowledge,
what through want of study and time. It is a com-
pendious and easy thing to call for the observation of
the sabbath-day, or to speak against unlawful gain ;
but what actions and works may be done upon the
sabbath, and what not ; and what courses of gain are
lawful, and* in what cases : to set this down, and to
clear the whole matter with good distinctions and de-
cisions, is a matter of great knowledge and labour,
and asketh much meditation and conversing in the
Scriptures, and other helps which God hath provided
and preserved for instruction.

Again, they carry not an equal hand in teaching
the people their lawful liberty, as well as their re-
straints and prohibitions : but they think a man can-
not go too far in that that hath a show of a com-
mandment.

They forget that there are sins on the right hand,
as well as on the left ; and that the word is double-
edged, and cutteth on both sides, as well the profane
transgressions as the superstitious observances. Who
doubteth but that it is as unlawful to shut where God
hath opened, as to open where God hath shut; to bind
where God hath loosed, as to loose where God hath
bound ? Amongst men it is commonly as ill taken
to turn back favours, as to disobey commandments.
In this kind of zeal, for example, they have pro-
nounced generally, and without difference, all un-
truths unlawful ; notwithstanding, that the midwives
are directly reported to have been blessed for their
excuse ; and Rahab is said by faith to have concealed

Of Church Controversies. 52 J

the spies; and Solomon s selected judgment proceeded
upon a simulation ; and our Saviour, the more to
touch the hearts of the two disciples with a holy
dalliance, made as if he would have passed Emmaus.
Farther, I have heard some sermons of mortification,
which, I think, with very good meaning, they have
preached out of their own experience and exercise,
and things in private counsels not unmeet; but surely
no sound conceits, much like to Parsons' Resolution,
or not so good ; apt to breed in men rather weak
opinions and perplexed despairs, than filial and true
repentance which is sought.

Another point of great inconvenience and peril, is
to entitle the people to hear controversies, and all
kinds of doctrine. They say no part of the counsel
of God is to be suppressed, nor the people defrauded :
so as the difference which the Apostle maketh between
milk and strong meat is confounded : and his precept,
that the weak be not admitted unto questions and
controversies, taketh no place.

But most of all is to be suspected, as a seed of
farther inconvenience, their manner of handling the
Scriptures ; for whilst they seek express Scripture
for every thing ; and that they have, in a manner, de-
prived themselves and the Church of a special help
and support, by embasing the authority of the fathers,
they resort to naked examples, conceited inferences,
and forced allusions, such as do mine into all cer-
tainty of religion.

Another extremity is the excessive magnifying of
that, which though it be a principal and most holy
institution, yet hath its limits, as all things else have.
We see wheresoever, in a manner, they find in the
Scriptures the word spoken of, they expound it of
preaching ; they have made it, in a manner, of the
essence of the sacrament of the Lord's supper, to
have a sermon precedent ; they have, in a sort, an-
nihilated the use of liturgies, and forms of divine
service, although the house of God be denominated
of the principal, domus orationis, a house of prayer,
and not a house of preaching. As for the life of the

522 Of Church Controversies.

good monks and hermits in the primitive Church, I
know, they will condemn a man as half a papist, if he
should maintain them as other than profane, because
they heard no sermons. In the mean time, what
preaching is, and who may be said to preach, they
move no question; but, as far as I see, every man that
presumeth to speak in chair, is accounted a preacher.
But I am assured, that not a few that call hotly for
a preaching ministry, deserve to be the first them-
selves that should be expelled. All which errors and
misproceedings they do fortify and intrench by an
addicted respect to their own opinions, and an im-
patience to near contradiction or argument; yea, I
know some of them that would think it a tempting
of God, to hear or read what may be said against
them ; as if there could be a quod bonum est, tenete ;
without an omnia probate, going before.

This may suffice to offer unto themselves a thought
and consideration, whether in these things they do
well or no ? and to correct and assuage the partiality
of their followers. For as for any man that shall
hereby enter into a contempt of their ministry, it is
but his own hardness of heart. I know the work of
exhortation doth chiefly rest upon these men, and
they have zeal and hate of sin : but again, let them
take heed that it be not true which one of their ad-
versaries said, that they have but two small wants,
knowledge and love. And so I conclude this point.

The last point, touching the due publishing and
debating of these controversies, needeth no long
speech. This strange abuse of antiques and pasquils
hath been touched before : so likewise I repeat that
which I said, that a character of love is more proper
for debates of this nature, than that of zeal. As for
all direct or indirect glances, or levels at men's per-
sons, they were ever in these causes disallowed.

Lastly, whatsoever be pretended, the people is no
meet arbitrator, but rather the quiet, modest, and
private assemblies, and conferences of the learned.
Qui apud incapacem loquitur, non disceptat, sed ca-
lumniatur The press and pulpit would be freed and

Of Church Controversies. 523

discharged of these contentions ; neither promotion
on the one side, nor glory and heat on the other side,
ought to continue these challenges and cartels at the
cross and other places ; but rather all preachers, espe-
cially such as be of good temper, and have wisdom
with conscience, ought to inculcate and beat upon a
peace, silence, and surseance. Neither let them fear
Solon's law, which compelled in factions every par-
ticular person to range himself on the one side ; nor
yet the fond calumny of neutrality ; but let them know
that is true which is said by a wise man, That neuters
in contentions are either better or worse than either
side.

These things have I in all sincerity and simplicity
set down, touching the controversies which now trou-
ble the Church of England; and that without all art
and insinuation, and therefore not like to be grateful
to either part : notwithstanding, I trust what hath
been said shall find a correspondence in their minds
which are not embarked in partiality, and which love
the whole better than a part; wherefore I am not out
of hope that it may do good; at the least I shall not
repent myself of the meditation.

CERTAIN CONSIDERATIONS

TOUCHING

THE BETTER PACIFICATION AND EDIFICATION

OF THE

CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

DEDICATED TO HIS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.

The unity of your Church, excellent Sovereign, is a
thing no less precious than the union of your king-
doms ; being both works wherein your happiness may
contend with your worthiness. Having therefore
presumed, "not without your majesty's gracious ac-
ceptation, to say somewhat on the one, I am the
more encouraged not to be silent in the other : the
rather, because it is an argument that I have travelled
in heretofore.* But Solomon commendeth a word
spoken in season; and as our Saviour, speaking of
the discerning of seasons, saith, When you see a cloud
rising in the west, you say it will be a shower: so .your
Majesty's rising to this monarchy in the west parts of
the world, doth promise a sweet and fruitful shower
of many blessings upon this Church and common-
wealth ; a shower of that influence as the very first
dews and drops thereof have already laid the storms
and winds throughout Christendom : reducing; the
very face of Europe to a more peaceable and amiable
countenance. But to the purpose.

It is very true, that these ecclesiastical matters are
things not properly appertaining to my profession ;
which I was not so inconsiderate but to object to my-
self: but finding that it is many times seen that a man
that standeth off, and somewhat removed from a plot
of ground, doth better survey it and discover it than
those which are upon it, I thought it not impossible,
but that I, as a looker-on, might cast mine eyes upon

* Vide p. 499.

Of the Pacification of the Church. 525

some things which the actors themselves, especially
some being interessed, some led and addicted, some
declared and engaged, did not or would not see.
And that knowing in my conscience, whereto God
beareth witness, that the things which I shall speak,
spring out of no vein of popularity, ostentation, de-
sire of novelty, partiality to either side, disposition
to intermeddle, or any the like leaven; I may con-
ceive hope, that what I want in depth of judgment
may be countervailed in simplicity and sincerity of
affection. But of all things this did most animate
me ; that I found in these opinions of mine, which I
have long held and embraced, as may appear by that
which I have many years since written of them, ac-
cording to the proportion nevertheless of my weak-
ness, a consent and conformity with that which your
Majesty hath published of your own most Christian,
most wise, and moderate sense, in these causes ;
wherein you have well expressed to the world, that
there is infused in your sacred breast, from God, that
high principle and position of government, That you
ever hold the whole more dear than any part.

For who seeth not that many are affected, and give
opinion in these matters, as if they had not so much
a desire to purge the evil from the good, as to coun-
tenance and protect the evil by the good? Others
speak as if their scope were only to set forth what is
good, and not to seek what is possible ; which is to
wish, and not to propound. Others proceed as if they
had rather a mind of removing than of reforming. But
howsoever either side, as men, though excellent men,
shall run into extremities ; yet your Majesty, as a most
wise, equal, and Christian moderator, is disposed to
find out the golden mediocrity in the establishment
of that which is sound, and in the reparation of that
which. is corrupt and decayed. To your princely
judgment then I do in all humbleness submit what-
soever I shall propound, offering the same but as a
mite into the treasury of your wisdom. For as the
astronomers do well observe, that when three of the
superior lights do meet in conjunction, it bringeth forth

526 Of the Pacification of the Church.

some admirable effects : so there being joined in your
Majesty the light of nature, the light of learning, and,
above all, the light of God's Holy Spirit; it cannot be
but your government must be as a happy constellation
over the states of your kingdoms. Neither is there
wanting to your Majesty that fourth light, which
though it be but a borrowed light, yet is of singular
efficacy and moment added to the rest, which is the
light of a most wise and well compounded council ;
to whose honourable and grave wisdoms I do like-
wise submit whatsoever I shall speak, hoping that I
shall not need to make protestation of my mind and
opinion; That, until your Majesty doth otherwise
determine and order, all actual and full obedience
is to be given to ecclesiastical jurisdiction as it now
standeth ; and, when your Majesty hath determined
and ordered, that every good subject ought to rest
satisfied, and apply his obedience to your Majesty's
laws, ordinances, and royal commandments ; nor of
the dislike I have of all immodest bitterness, peremp-
tory presumption, popular handling, and other courses,
tending rather to rumour and impression in the vul-
gar sort, than to likelihood of effect joined with
observation of duty

But before I enter into the points controverted, I
think good to remove, if it may be, two opinions,
which directly confront and oppone to reformation :
the one bringing it to a nullity, and the other to an
impossibility The first is, that it is against good
policy to innovate any thing in Church matters ; the
other, that all reformation must be after one plat-
form.

For the first of these, it is excellently said by the
prophet; State super vias antiquas, et videte, qucenam
sit via recta et vera, et ambulate in ea. So as he
doth not say, State super vias antiquas, et ambulate in
eis : For it is true, that with all wise and moderate per-
sons, custom and usage obtaineth that reverence, as
it is sufficient matter to move them to make a stand,
and to discover, and take a view ; but it is no war-
rant to guide and conduct them : a just ground, I say,

Of the Pacification of the Church. 527

it is of deliberation, but not of direction. But on
the other side, who knoweth not, that time is truly
compared to a stream, that carrieth down fresh and
pure waters into that salt sea of corruption which en-
vironeth all human actions? And therefore, if man
shall not by his industry, virtue, and policy, as it
were with the oar, row against the stream and in-
clination of time ; all institutions and ordinances, be
they never so pure, will corrupt and degenerate. But
not to handle this matter common-place like, I would
only ask, why the civil state should be purged and
restored by good and wholesome laws, made every
third or fourth year in parliament assembled ; devis-
ing remedies as fast as time breedeth mischief: and
contrariwise the ecclesiastical state should still con-
tinue upon the dregs of time, and receive no alteration
now for these five-and-forty years and more ? If any
man shall object, that if the like intermission had
been used in civil causes also, the error had not been
great : surely the wisdom of the kingdom hath been
otherwise inexperience for three hundred years space
at the least. But if it be said to me, that there is a
difference between civil causes and ecclesiastical, they
may as well tell me that churches and chapels need no
reparations, though castles and houses do: whereas
commonly, to speak the truth, dilapidations of the in-
ward and spiritual edifications of the Church of God
are in all times as great as the outward and material.
Sure I am that the very word and style of reformation
used by our Saviour, ab initio non fuit sic, was applied
to Church matters, and those of the highest nature,
concerning the law moral.

Nevertheless, he were both unthankful and unwise,
that would deny but that the Church of England,
during the time of Queen Elizabeth, of famous me-
mory, did flourish. If I should compare it with
foreign churches, I would rather the comparison
should be in the virtues, than, as some make it, in the
defects ; rather, I say, as between the vine and the
olive, which should be most fruitful ; and not as be-
tween the briar and the thistle, which should be most

528 Of the Pacification of the Church.

unprofitable. For that reverence should be used to
the Church, which the good sons of Noah used to
their father's nakedness ; that is, as it were to go back-
wards, and to help the defects thereof, and yet to
dissemble them. And it is to be acknowledged, that
scarcely any Church, since the primitive Church,
yielded, in like number of years and latitude of coun-
try, a greater number of excellent preachers, famous
writers, and grave governors. But for the discipline
and orders of the Church, as many, and the chiefest
of them, are holy and good ; so yet, if St. John were to
indite an epistle to the Church of England, as he did
to them of Asia, it would sure have the clause ; habeo
adversus tepauca. And no more for this point, saving,
that as an appendix thereto it is not amiss to touch
that objection, which is made to the time, and not to
the matter ; -pretending, that if reformation were ne-
cessary, yet it were not now seasonable at your Ma-
jesty's first entrance : yet Hippocrates saith, Si quid
moves, a principio move : and the wisdom of all ex-
amples do shew, that the wisest princes, as they have
ever been the most sparing in removing or alteration
of servants and officers upon their coming in ; so for
removing of abuses and enormities, and for reforming
of laws, and the policy of their states, they have chiefly
sought to ennoble and commend their beginnings
therewith ; knowing that the first impression with
people continueth long, and when men's minds are
most in expectation and suspense, then are they best
wrought and managed. And therefore it seemeth to
me, that as the spring of nature, I mean the spring of
the year, is the best time for purging and medicining
the natural body, so the spring of kingdoms is the
most proper season for the purging and rectifying of
politic bodies.

There remaineth yet an object, rather of suspi-
cion than of reason ; and yet such as I think maketh
a great impression in the minds of very wise and
well-afFected persons ; which is, that if way be given
to mutation, though it be in taking away abuses, yet
it may so acquaint men with sweetness of change,

Of the Pacification of the Church. 529

as it will undermine the stability even of that which
is sound and good. This surely had been a good and
true allegation in the ancient contentions and divisions
between the people and the senate of Rome ; where
things were carried at the appetites of multitudes,
which can never keep within the compass of any
moderation : but these things being with us to have
an orderly passage, under a king who hath a royal
power and approved judgment, and knoweth as well
the measure of things as the nature of them ; it is
surely a needless fear. For they need not doubt but
your majesty, with the advice of your council, will
discern what things are intermingled like the tares
amongst the wheat, which have their roots so en-
wrapped and entangled, as the one cannot be pulled
up without endangering the other ; and what are
mingled but as the chaff and the corn, which need
but a fan to sift and sever them. So much therefore
for the first point, of no reformation to be admitted
at all.

For the second point, that there should be but one
form of discipline in all churches, and that imposed
by necessity of a commandment and prescript out of
the word of God ; it is a matter volumes have been
compiled of, and therefore cannot receive a brief re-
dargution. I for my part do confess, that in re-
volving the Scriptures I could never find any such
thing : but that God had left the like liberty to the
Church government, as he had done to the civil
government ; to be varied according to time, and
place, and accidents, which nevertheless his high and
divine providence doth order and dispose. For all
civil governments are restrained from God unto the
general grounds of justice and manners ; but the po-
licies and forms of them are left free : so that mo-
narchies and kingdoms, senates and seignories, popu-
lar states, and communalties, are lawful, and where
they are planted ought to be maintained inviolate.

So likewise in Church matters, the substance of
doctrine is immutable ; and so are the general rules
of government : but for rites and ceremonies, and for

VOL. II. 2 M

530 Of the Pacification of the Church.

the particular hierarchies, policies, and disciplines oi
churches, they be left at large. And therefore it is
good we return unto the ancient bounds of unity in
the Church of God ; which was, one faith, one bap-
tism ; and not, one hierarchy, one discipline ; and
that we observe the league of Christians, as it is pen-
ned by our Saviour ; which is in substance of doc-
trine this : He that is not with us, is against us :
but in things indifferent, and but of circumstance,
this ; He that is not against us, is with us. In these
things, so as the general rules be observed ; that
Christ's flock be fed ; that there be a succession in
bishops and ministers, which are the prophets of the
New Testament ; that there be a due and reverent
use of the power of the keys ; that those that preach
the gospel, live of the gospel ; that all things tend to
edification ; that all things be done in order and
with decency, and the like : the rest is left to the
holy wisdom and spiritual discretion of the master
builders and inferior builders in Christ's Church; as it
is excellently alluded by that father that noted, that
Christ's garment was without seam ; and yet the
Church's garment was of divers colours : and there-
upon setteth down for a rule ; in veste varietas sit,
scissura non sit.

In which variety, nevertheless, it is a safe and wise
course to follow good examples and precedents ; but
then by the rule of imitation and example to con-
sider not only which are best, but which are the
likeliest ; as namely, the government of the Church
in the purest times of the first good emperors that
embraced the faith. For the times of persecution,
before temporal princes received our faith, as they
were excellent times for doctrine and manners, so
they be improper and unlike examples of outward
government and policy. And so much for this point :
now to the particular points of controversies, or rather
of reformation.

Of the Pacification of the Church. 531

CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE GOVERNMENT
OF BISHOPS.

First therefore, for the government of bishops,
I for my part, not prejudging the precedents of other
reformed churches, do hold it warranted by the word
of God, and by the practice of the ancient Church in
the better times, and much more convenient for
kingdoms, than parity of ministers and government by
synods. But then farther, it is to be considered, that
the Church is not now to plant or build ; but only to
be pruned from corruption, and to be repaired and
restored in some decays.

For it is worth the noting, that the Scripture
saith, Translate sacerdotio, necesse est ut et legisfiat
trans latio. It is not possible, in respect of the great
and near sympathy between the state civil and the
state ecclesiastical, to make so main an alteration in
the Church, but it would have a perilous operation
upon the kingdoms ; and therefore it is fit that con-
troversy be in peace and silence.

But there be two circumstances in the administra-
tion of bishops, wherein, I confess, I could never be
satisfied ; the one, the sole exercise of their authority ;
the other, the deputation of their authority.

For the first, the bishop giveth orders alone, ex-
communicateth alone, judgeth alone. This seemeth
to be a thing almost without example in good go-
vernment, and therefore not unlikely .to have crept in
in the degenerate and corrupt times. We see the
greatest kings and monarchs have their councils.
There is no temporal court in England of the higher
sort where the authority doth rest in one person. The
king's bench, common- pleas, and the exchequer, are
benches of a certain number of judges. The chan-
cellor of England hath an assistance of twelve masters
of the chancery. The master of the wards hath a
council of the court : so hath the chancellor of the
duchy. In the exchequer- chamber, the lord treasurer

2 m 2

532 Of the Pacification of the Church.

is joined with the chancellor and the barons. The
masters of the requests are ever more than one. The
justices of assize are two. The lord presidents in the
North and in Wales have councils of divers. The
star-chamber is an assembly of the king's privy coun-
cil, aspersed with the lords spiritual and temporal :
so as in courts the principal person hath ever either
colleagues or assessors.

The like is to be found in other well-governed
commonwealths abroad, where the jurisdiction is yet
more dispersed; as in the court of parliament of
France, and in other places. No man will deny but
the acts that pass the bishop's jurisdiction are of as
great importance as those that pass the civil courts :
for men's souls are more precious than their bodies or
goods ; and so are their good names. Bishops have
their infirmities, and have no exception from that ge-
neral malediction which is pronounced against all men
living-, Vce. soli, nam si occideret, etc. Nay, we see
that the first warrant in spiritual causes is directed
to a number, Die Ecclesia ; which is not so in tem-
poral matters : and we see that in general causes of
Church government, there are as well assemblies of
all the clergy in councils, as of all the states in par-
liament. Whence should this sole exercise of juris-
diction come? Surely I do suppose, and, I think,
upon good ground, that ab initio non fuit ita ; and
that the deans and chapters were councils about the
sees and chairs of bishops at the first, and were unto
them a presbytery or consistory ; and intermeddled
not only in the disposing of their revenues and en-
dowments, but much more in jurisdiction ecclesias-
tical. But it is probable, that the deans and chapters
stuck close to the bishops in matters of profit and
the world, and would not lose their hold ; but in
matters of jurisdiction, which they accounted but
trouble and attendance, they suffered the bishops to
encroach and usurp ; and so the one continueth, and
the other is lost. And we see that the bishop of
Rome, fas enim et ab hoste doceri, and no ques-
tion in that church the first institutions were excel-

Of the Pacification of the Church. 533

lent, performeth all ecclesiastical jurisdiction as in
consistory

And whereof consisteth this consistory, but of the
parish-priests of Rome, which term themselves car-
dinals, a cardinibus mundi ; because the bishop pre-
tendeth to be universal over the whole world? And
hereof again we see many shadows yet remaining :
as, that the dean and chapter, pro forma, chooseth
the bishop, which is the highest point of jurisdiction ;
and that the bishop, when he giveth orders, if there
be any ministers casually present, calleth them to join
with him in imposition of hands, and some other
particulars. And therefore it seemeth to me a thing
reasonable and religious, and according to the first
institution, that bishops, in the greatest causes, and
those which require a spiritual discerning, namely,
in ordaining, suspending, or depriving ministers, in
excommunication, being restored to the true and pro-
per use, as shall be afterwards touched, in sentencing
the validity of marriages and legitimations, in judg-
ing causes criminous, as simony, incest, blasphemy,
and the like, should not proceed sole and unassisted :
which point, as I understand it, is a reformation that
may be planted sine strepitu, without any perturba-
tion at all : and is a matter which will give strength
to the bishops, countenance to the inferior degrees of
prelates or ministers, and the better issue or proceed-
ing to those causes that shall pass.

And as I wish this strength given to the bishops
by council, so it is not unworthy your majesty's con-
sideration, whether you shall not think fit to give
strength to the general council of your clergy, the
convocation-house, which was then restrained when
the state of the clergy was thought a suspected part
of the kingdom, in regard of their late homage to the
bishop of Rome; which state now will give place
to none in their loyalty and devotion to your ma-
jesty

For the second point, which is the deputation of
their authority, I see no perfect and sure ground for
that neither, being somewhat different from the ex-

534 Of the Pacification of the Church.

amples and rules of government. The bishop exer-
ciseth his jurisdiction by his chancellor and commis-
sary official, etc. We see in all laws in the world,
offices of confidence and skill cannot be put over, nor
exercised by deputy, except it be especially contained
in the original grant ; and in that case it is dutiful.
And for experience, there was never any chancellor of
England made a deputy; there was never any judge
in any court made a deputy. The bishop is a judge
and of a high nature ; whence cometh it that he should
depute, considering that all trust and confidence, as
was said, is personal and inherent ; and cannot, nor
ought not to be transposed ? Surely, in this, again,
ab initio nonfuit sic : but it is probable that bishops
when they gave themselves too much to the glory of
the world, and became grandees in kingdoms, and
great counsellors to princes, then did they delegate
their proper jurisdictions, as things of too inferior a
nature for their greatness: and then, after the simi-
litude and imitation of kings and counts palatine,
they would have their chancellors and judges.

But that example of kings and potentates giveth
no good defence. For the reasons why kings admi-
nister by their judges, although themselves are su-
preme judges, are two: the one, because the offices
of kings are for the most part of inheritance ; and it
is a rule in all laws, that offices of inheritance are
rather matters that ground in interest than in confi-
dence : for as much as they may fall upon women, upon
infants, upon lunatics and idiots, persons incapable to
execute judicature in person ; and therefore such of-
fices by all laws might ever be exercised and admi-
nistered by delegation. The second reason is, because
of the amplitude of their jurisdictions ; which is as
great as either their birth-right from their ancestors,
or their sword-right from God maketh it. And there-
fore if Moses, that was governor over no great people,
and those collected together in a camp, and not scat-
tered in provinces and cities, himself of an extraordi-
nary spirit, was nevertheless not able to suffice and
hold out in person to judge the people, but did, by

Of the Pacification of the Church. 535

the advice of Jethro approved from God, substitute
elders and judges; how much more other kings and
princes ?

There is a third reason, likewise, though not much
to the present purpose ; and that is, that kings, either
in respect of the commonwealth, or of the greatness
of their own patrimonies, are usually parties in suits :
and then their judges stand indifferent between them
and the subject: but in the case of bishops, none, of
these reasons hold. For, first, their office is elective,
and for life, and not patrimonial or hereditary ; an
office merely of confidence, science, and qualification.
And for the second reason, it is true, that their juris-
diction is ample and spacious ; and that their time
is to be divided between the labours as well in the
word and doctrine, as in government and jurisdic-
tion : but yet I do not see, supposing the bishop's
courts to be used in corruptly, and without any indi-
rect course held to multiply causes for gain of fees,
but that the bishop might very well, for causes of
moment, supply his judicial function in his own per-
son. For we see before our eyes, that one chancellor
of England dispatcheth the suits in equity of the
whole kingdom : which is not so much by reason of
the excellency of that rare honourable person which
now holdeth the place : but it was ever so, though
more or less burdenous to the suitor, as the chancel-
lor was more or less able to give dispatch. And if
hold be taken of that which was said before, that the
bishop's labour in the word must take up a principal
part of his time ; so I may say again, that matters
of state have ever taken up most of the chancellor's
time ; having been for the most part persons upon
whom the kings of this realm have most relied for
matters of counsel. And therefore there is no doubt
but the bishop, whose circuit is less ample, and the
causes in nature not so multiplying, with the help
of references and certificates to and from fit persons^
for the better ripening of causes in their mean pro-
ceedings, and such ordinary helps incident to juris-
diction, may very well suffice his office. But yet

536 Of the Pacification of the Church.

there is another help : for the causes that come before
him, are these : tithes, legacies, administrations, and
other testamentary causes ; causes matrimonial ; accu-
sations against ministers, tending to their suspension,
deprivation, or degrading ; simony, incontinency, he-
resy, blasphemy, breach of the sabbath, and other like
causes of scandal. The first two of these, in my opi-
nion, differ from the rest ; that is, tithes and testa-
ments : for those be matters of profit, and in their na-
ture temporal ; though, by a favour and connivance
of the temporal jurisdiction, they have been allowed
and permitted to the courts ecclesiastical; the one, to
the end the clergy might sue for that that was their
sustentation before their own judges ; and the other,
in a kind of piety and religion, which was thought
incident to the performance of dead men's wills. And
surely for these two, the bishop, in my opinion, may
with less danger discharge himself upon his ordinary
judges. And I think likewise it will fall out, that
those suits are in the greatest number. But for the
rest, which require a spiritual science and discretion,
in respect of their nature, or of the scandal, it were
reason, in my opinion, there were no audience given
but by the bishop himself; he being also assisted, as
was touched before : but it were necessary also he
were attended by his chancellor, or some others his
officers being learned in the civil laws, for his better
instruction in points of formality, or the courses of
the court : which if it were done, then were there less
use of the official's court, whereof there is now so
much complaint : and causes of the nature aforesaid
being only drawn to the audience of the bishop, it
would repress frivolous and prowling suits, and give
a grave and incorrupt proceeding to such causes as
shall be fit for the court.

There is a third point also, not of jurisdiction, but
of form of proceeding, which may deserve reforma-
tion, the rather, because it is contrary to the laws and
customs of this land and state, which though they do
not rule those proceedings, yet may they be advised
with for better directions ; and that is the oath e,r

Of the Pacification of the Church. 537

officio : whereby men are enforced to accuse them-
selves, and, that that is more, are sworn unto blanks
and not unto accusations and charges declared. By
the law of England no man is bound to accuse him-
self. In the highest cases of treason, torture is used
for discovery, and not for evidence. In capital mat-
ters, no delinquent's answer upon oath is required ;
no, not permitted. In criminal matters not capital,
handled in the star-chamber, and in causes of con-
science, handled in the chancery, for the most part
grounded upon trust and secrecy, the oath of the party
is required. But how ? Where there is an accusa-
tion and an accuser, which we call bills of complaint,
from which the complainant cannot vary, and out of
the compass of the which the defendant may not be
examined, exhibited unto the court, and by process
notified unto the defendant. But to examine a man
upon oath, out of the insinuation of fame, or out of
accusations secret and undeclared, though it have
some countenance from the civil law, yet it is so op-
posite ex diametro to the sense and course of the com-
mon law, as it may well receive some limitation.

CONCERNING THE LITURGY, THE CERE-
MONIES, AND SUBSCRIPTION.

For the liturgy, great respect and heed would be
taken, lest by inveighing against the dumb ministry,
due reverence be not withdrawn from the liturgy
For though the gift of preaching be far above that of
reading; yet the action of the liturgy is as high and
holy as that of the sermon. It is said, Domus mea
domus orationis vocabitur : the house of prayer,
not the house of preaching : and whereas the Apostle
saith, How shall men call upon him, on whom they
have not believed? And how shall they believe unless
they hear? And how shall they hear, without a
preacher ? it appeareth that as preaching is the more
original, so prayer is the more final; as the difference is
between the seed and the fruit: for the keeping of God's
law, is the fruit of the teaching of the law ; and prayer,

538 Of the Pacification of the Church.

or invocation, or divine service, or liturgy, for these be
but varieties of terms, is the immediate hallowing of
the name of God, and the principal work of the first
table, and of the great commandment of the love of
God. It is true that the preaching of the holy word
of God is the sowing of the seed ; it is the lifting up
of the brazen serpent, the ministry of faith, and the
ordinary means of salvation: but yet it is good to take
example, how that the best actions of the worship of
God may be extolled excessively and superstitiously.
As the extolling of the sacrament bred the supersti-
tion of the mass ; the extolling of the liturgy and
prayers bred the superstition of the monastical orders
and oraisons : and so no doubt preaching likewise
may be magnified and extolled superstitiously, as if
all the whole body of God's worship should be turned
into an ear. So as none, as I suppose, of sound judg-
ment, will derogate from the liturgy, if the form
thereof be in all parts agreeable to the word of God,
the example of the primitive Church, and that holy
decency which St. Paul commendeth. And therefore,
first, that there be a set form of prayer, and that it be
not left either to an extemporal form, or to an arbi-
trary form. Secondly, that it consist as well of lauds,
hymns, and thanksgivings, as of petitions, prayers,
and supplications. Thirdly, that the form thereof be
quickened with some shortness and diversities of
prayers and hymns, and with some interchanges of
the voice of the people, as well as of the minister.
Fourthly, that it admit some distinctions of times, and
commemorations of God's principal benefits, as well
general as particular. Fifthly, that prayers likewise
be appropriated to several necessities and occasions
of the Church. Sixthly, that there be a form likewise
of word and liturgy in the administration of the sacra-
ments, and in the denouncing of the censures of the
Church, and other holy actions and solemnities; these
things, I think, will not be much controverted.

But for the particular exceptions to the liturgy in
form as it now standeth, I think divers of them, al-
lowing they were just, yet seem they not to be weigh-
ty ; otherwise than that nothing ought to be counted

Of the Pacification of the Church. 539

light in matters of religion and piety ; as the heathen
himself could say, etiam vultu scepe laditur pietas.
That the word, priest, should not be continued, espe-
cially with offence, the word, minister, being already
made familiar. This may be said that it is a good rule
in translation, never to confound that in one word in
the translation, which is precisely distinguished in two
words in the original, for doubt of equivocation and
traducing. And therefore seeing the word TTpwfivTtpoQ
and upevQ be always distinguished in the original;
and the one used for a sacrificer, the other for a mi-
nister ; the word, priest, being made common to
both, whatsoever the deviation be, yet in use it con-
foundeth the minister with the sacrificer. And for
an example of this kind, I did ever allow the discre-
tion and tenderness of the Rhemish translation in this
point; that finding in the original the word ayaV»j
and never spwc, do ever translate charity, and never
love,be cause of the inditferency and equivocation of
the word with impiire love.

Touching the absolution ; it is not unworthy consi-
deration, whether it may not be thought improper
and unnecessary : for there are but two sorts of abso-
lution ; both supposing an obligation precedent ; the
one upon an excommunication, which is religious and
primitive ; the other upon confession and penance,
which is superstitious, or at least positive ; and both
particular, and neither general. Therefore since the
one is taken away, and the other hath its proper case,
what doth a general absolution, wherein there is nei-
ther penance nor excommunication precedent? for
the Church never looseth, but where the Church hath
bound. And surely I may think this at the first was
allowed in a kind of spiritual discretion, because the
Church thought the people could not be suddenly
weaned from their conceit of assoiling, to which they
had been so long accustomed.

For confirmation, to my understanding, the state
of the question is, whether it be not a matter mistaken
and altered by time ; and whether that be not now
made a subsequent to baptism, which was indeed an

540 Of the Pacification of the Church.

inducement to the communion. For whereas in the
primitive Church children were examined of their
faith before they were admitted to the communion,
time may seem to have turned it to refer as if it had
been to receive a confirmation of their baptism.

For private baptism by women, or lay persons, the
best divines do utterly condemn it; and I hear it not
generally defended ; and I have often marvelled, that
where the book in the preface to public baptism doth
acknowledge that baptism in the practice of the pri-
mitive Church was anniversary, and but at certain
times ; which shewetli that the primitive Church did
not attribute so much to the ceremony, as they would
break an outward and general order for it; the book
should afterwards allow of private baptism, as if the
ceremony were of that necessity, as the very institu-
tion, which committed baptism only to the ministers,
should be broken in regard of the supposed necessity
And therefore this point of all others I think was but
a Concession propter cluritiem cordis.

For the form of celebrating matrimony, the ring
seemeth to many even of vulgar sense and under-
standing, a ceremony not grave, especially to be made,
as the words make it, the essential part of the action ;
besides, some other of the words are noted in speech
to be not so decent and fit.

For music in churches ; that there should be sing-
ing of psalms and spiritual songs, is not denied : so
the question is de modo ; wherein if a man will look at-
tentively into the order and observation of it, it is easy
to discern between the wisdom of the institution and
the excess of the late times. For first there are no songs
or verses sung by the quire, which are not supposed by
continual use to be so familiar with the people, as
they have them without book, whereby the sound
hurteth not the understanding : and those which can-
not read upon the book, are yet partakers of the
sense, and may follow it with their mind. So again,
after the reading of the word, it was thought fit there
should be some pause for holy meditation, before they
proceeded to the rest of the service: which pause was

Of the Pacification of the Church. 541

thought fit to be filled rather with some grave sound,
than with a still silence; which was the reason of the
playing upon the organs after the Scriptures read : all
which was decent and tending to edification. But
then the curiosity of division and reports, and other
figures of music, have no affinity with the reasonable
service of God, but were added in the more pompous
times.

For the cap and surplice, since they be things in
their nature indifferent, and yet by some held su-
perstitious ; and that the question is between science
and conscience, it seemeth to fall within the com-
pass of the apostle's rule, which is, that the stronger
do descend and yield to the weaker Only the dif-
ference is, that it will be materially said, that the
rule holdeth between private man and private man ;
but not between the conscience of a private man,
and the order of a Church. But yet since the ques-
tion at this time is of. a toleration, not by conni-
vance, which may encourage disobedience, but by
law, which may give a liberty ; it is good again to be
advised whether it fall not within the equity of the
former- rule : the rather, because the silencing of mi-
nisters by this occasion is, in this scarcity of good
preachers, a punishment that lighteth upon the peo-
ple as well as upon the party. And for the subscrip-
tion, it seemeth to me in the nature of a confession,
and therefore more proper to bind in the unity of
faith, and to be urged rather for articles of doctrine,
than for rites and ceremonies, and points of outward
government. For howsoever politic considerations
and reasons of state may require uniformity, yet Chris-
tian and divine grounds look chiefly upon unity.

TOUCHING A PREACHING MINISTRY.

To speak of a learned ministry : it is true that the
worthiness of the pastors and ministers is of all other
points of religion the most summary ; I do not say the
greatest, but the most effectual towards the rest : but

542 Of the Pacification of the Church.

herein, to my understanding, while men go on in zeal
to hasten this work, they are not aware of as great or
greater inconvenience, than that which they seek to
remove. For while they inveigh against a dumb mi-
nistry, they make too easy and too promiscuous an al-
lowance of such as they account preachers; having
not respect enough to their learnings in other arts,
which are handmaids to divinity ; not respect enough
to years, except it be in case of extraordinary gift;
not respect enough to the gift itself, which many
times is none at all. For God forbid, that every man
that can take unto himself boldness to speak an hour
together in a Church, upon a text, should be admitted
for a preacher, though he mean never so well. I
know there is a great latitude in gifts, and a great
variety in auditories and congregations ; but yet so as
there is aliquid infimum, below which you ought not
to descend. For you must rather leave the ark to
shake as it shall please God, than put unworthy hands
to hold it up. And when we are in God's temple, we
are warned rather to put our hands upon our mouth,
than to offer the sacrifice of fools. And surely it may
be justly thought, that amongst many causes of athe-
ism, which are miserably met in our age; as schisms
and controversies, profane scoffings in holy matters,
and others ; it is not the least that divers do adventure
to handle the word of God, which are unfit and unwor-
thy And herein I would have no man mistake me,
as if I did extol curious and affected preaching ;
which is as much on the other side to be disliked, and
breedeth atheism and scandal as well as the other :
for who would not be offended at one that cometh into
the pulpit, as if he came upon the stage to play parts
or prizes? neither on the other side, as if I would
discourage any who hath any tolerable gift.

But upon this point I ground three considerations :
first, whether it were not requisite to renew that good
exercise which was practised in this Church, some
years, and afterwards put down by order indeed from
the Church, in regard of some abuse thereof, inconve-
nient for those times; and yet against the advice and

Of the Pacification of the Church. 543

opinion of one of the greatest and gravest prelates of
this land, and was commonly called prophesyino- •
which was this: That the ministers within a precinct
did meet upon a week-day in some principal town
where there was some ancient grave minister that
was president, and an auditory admitted of gentlemen,
or other persons of leisure. Then every minister suc-
cessively, beginning with the youngest, did handle
one and the same part of Scripture, spending severally
some quarter of an hour or better, and in the whole
some two hours : and so the exercise being begun and
concluded with prayer, and the president giving a
text for the next meeting, the assembly was dissolved.
And this was, as I take it, a fortnight's exercise;
which, in my opinion, was the best way to frame and
train up preachers to handle the word of God as it
ought to be handled, that hath been practised. For
we see orators have their declamations, lawyers have
their moots, logicians their sophisms ; and every prac-
tice of science hath an exercise of erudition and ini-
tiation before men come to the life; only preaching,
which is the worthiest, and wherein it is most danger
to do amiss, wanteth an introduction, and is ventured
and rushed upon at the first. But unto this exercise
of the prophecy, I would wish these two additions :
the one, that after this exercise, which is in some
sort public, there were immediately a private meet-
ing of the same ministers, where they might brotherly
admonish the one the other, and especially the elder
sort the younger, of any thing that had passed in the
exercise, in matter or manner, unsound and uncomely ;
and in a word, might mutually use such advice, in-
struction, comfort, or encouragement, as occasion
might minister ; for public reprehension were to be
debarred. The other addition that I mean is, that
the same exercises were used in the universities for
young divines, before they presumed to preach, as
well as in the country for ministers. For they have
in some colleges an exercise called a common-place ;
which can in no degree be so profitable, being but the
speech of one man at one time. And if it be feared

544 Of the Pacification of the Church.

that it may be occasion to whet men's speeches for
controversies, it is easily remedied, by some strict
prohibition, that matters of controversy tending any
way to the violating or disquieting the peace of the
Church, be not handled or entered into ; which pro-
hibition, in regard there is ever to be a grave person
president or moderator, cannot be frustrated. The
second consideration is, whether it were not conve-
nient there should be a more exact probation and
examination of ministers : namely, that the bishops
do not ordain alone, but by advice ; and then that
ancient holy order of the Church might be revived ;
by the which the bishop did ordain ministers but at
four set times of the year; which were called Qitatuor
tempora; which are now called Ember- weeks: it
being thought fit to accompany so high an action
with general fasting and prayer, and sermons, and
all holy exercises ; and the names likewise of those
that were to be ordained, were published some days
before their ordination; to the end exceptions might
be taken, if just cause were. The third consideration
is, that if the case of the Church of England be, that
were a computation taken of all the parochian churches,
allowing the union of such as were too small and
adjacent, and again a computation to be taken of the
persons who were worthy to be pastors ; and upon
the said account if it fall out that there are many
more churches than pastors, then of necessity recourse
must be had to one of these remedies ; either that plu-
ralities must be allowed, especially if you can by per-
mutation make the benefices more compatible ; or that
there be allowed preachers to have a more general
charge, to supply and serve by turn parishes unfur-
nished: for that some churches should be provided of
pastors able to teach, and others wholly destitute,
seemeth to me to be against the communion of saints
and Christians, and against the practice of the pri-
mitive Church.

Of the Pacification of the Church. 545

TOUCHING THE ABUSE OF EXCOMMU-
NICATION.

Excommunication is the greatest judgment
upon eartli ; being that which is ratified in heaven ;
and being a precursory or prelusory judgment of the
great judgment of Christ in the end of the world.
And therefore for this to be used irreverently, and to
be made an ordinary process, to lackey up and down
for fees, how can it be without derogation to God's
honour, and making the power of the keys contemp-
tible ? I know very well the defence thereof, which
hath no great force ; that it issueth forth not for the
thing itself, but for the contumacy I do not deny,
but this judgment is, as I said before, of the nature of
God's judgments ; of the which it is a model. For
as the judgment of God taketh hold of the least sin
of the impenitent, and taketh no hold of the greatest
sin of the convert or penitent ; so excommunication
may in case issue upon the smallest offence, and in
case not issue upon the greatest : but is this contu-
macy such a contumacy as excommunication is now
used for ? For the contumacy must be such as the
party, as far as the eye and wisdom of the Church
can discern, standeth in state of reprobation and dam-
nation : as one that for that time seemeth given over
to final impenitency Upon this observation I ground
two considerations : the one, that this censure be re-
stored to the true dignity and use thereof; which is,
that it proceed not but in causes of great weight; and
that it be decreed not by any deputy or substitute of
the bishop, but by the bishop in person ; and not by
him alone, but by the bishop assisted.

The ether consideration is, that in lieu thereof,
there be given to the ecclesiastical court some ordinary
process, with such force and coercion as appertaineth ;
that so the dignity of so high a sentence being re-
tained, and the necessity of mean process supplied,
the Church may be indeed restored to the ancient
vigour and splendour. To this purpose, joined with

VOL. it. 2 N

546 Of the Pacification of the Church.

some other holy and good purposes, was there a bill
drawn in parliament, in the three- and-twentieth year
of the reign of the queen deceased ; which was the
gravest parliament that I have known ; and the bill
recommended by the gravest counsellor of estate in
parliament ; though afterwards it was staid by the
queen's special commandment, the nature of those
times considered.

TOUCHING NON-RESIDENTS, AND
PLURALITIES.

For non-residence, except it be in case of neces-
sary absence, it seemeth an abuse drawn out of co-
vetousness and sloth : for that men should live of the
flock that they do not feed, or of the altar at which
they do not serve, is a thing that can hardly receive
just defence ;' and to exercise the office of a pastor, in
matter of the word and doctrine, by deputies, is a thing
not warranted, as hath been touched before. The ques-
tions upon this point do arise upon the cases of ex-
ception and excusation, which shall be thought rea-
sonable and sufficient, and which not. For the case
of chaplains, let me speak that with your majesty's
pardon, and with reverence towards the other peers
and grave persons, whose chaplains by statutes are
privileged : I should think, that the attendance which
chaplains give to your majesty's court, and in the
houses and families of their lords, were a juster rea-
son why they should have no benefice, than why they
should be qualified to have two ; for, as it standeth
with Christian policy, that such attendance be in no
wise neglected ; because that good, which ensueth
thereof to the Church of God, may exceed, or coun-
tervail that which may follow of their labours in any,
though never so large a congregation ; so it were
reasonable that their maintenance should honourably
and liberally proceed thence, where their labours be
employed. Neither are there wanting in the Church
dignities and preferments not joined with any exact
cure of souls ; by which, and by the hope of which,
such attendants in ordinary, who ought to be, as for

Of the Pacification of the Church. 547

the most part they are, of the best gifts and sort, may
be farther encouraged and rewarded. And as for ex-
traordinary attendants, they may very well retain the
grace and countenance of their places and duties at
times incident thereunto, without discontinuance or
non-residence in their pastoral charges. Next for the
case of intending studies in the universities, it will
more easily receive an answer ; for studies do but
serve and tend to the practice of those studies : and
therefore for that which is most principal and final to
be left undone, for the attending of that which is sub-
servient and subministrant, seemeth to be against
proportion of reason. Neither do I see, but that they
proceed right well in all knowledge, which do couple
study with their practice ; and do not first study alto-
gether, and then practise altogether ; and therefore
they may very well study at their benefices. Thirdly,
for the case of extraordinary service of the Church ;
as if some pastor be sent to a general council, or here
to a convocation ; and likewise for the case of neces-
sity, as in the particular of infirmity of body, and the
like, no man will contradict, but that there may be
some substitution for such a time. But the general
case of necessity is the case of pluralities ; the want of
pastors and insufficiency of livings considered, posito,
that a man doth faithfully and incessantly divide his
labours between two cures ; which kind of necessity
I come now to speak of in the handling of pluralities.
For pluralities, in case the number of able minis-
ters were sufficient, and the value of benefices were
sufficient, then pluralities were in no sort tolerable.
But we must take heed, we desire not contraries. For
to desire that every parish should be furnished with
a sufficient preacher, and to desire that pluralities be
forthwith taken away, is to desire things contrary;
considering, de facto, there are not sufficient preach-
ers for every parish : whereto add likewise, that there
is not sufficient living and maintenance in many pa-
rishes to maintain a preacher ; and it maketh the im-
possibility yet much the greater. The remedies in
reriim natura are but three; union, permutation, and

2 n 2

548 Of the Pacification of the Church.

supply- Union of such benefices as have the living
too small, and the parish not too great, and are adja-
cent. Permutation, to make benefices more compati-
ble though men be over-ruled to some loss in chang-
ing a better for a nearer. Supply, by stipendiary
preachers, to be rewarded with some liberal stipends,
to supply, as they may, such places which are unfur-
nished of sufficient pastors: as queen Elizabeth,
amongst other her gracious acts, did erect certain of
them in Lancashire ; towards which pensions, I see no
reason but reading ministers, if they have rich bene-
fices, should be charged.

TOUCHING THE PROVISION FOR SUFFICI-
ENT MAINTENANCE IN THE CHURCH.

Touching Church-maintenance, it is well to be
weighed what is jure divino, and what jure positivo.
It is a constitution of the divine law, from which hu-
man laws cannot derogate, that those which feed the
flock should live of the flock ; that those that serve at
the altar should live of the altar ; that those which
dispense spiritual things should reap* temporal
things; of which it is also an appendix, that the
proportion of this maintenance be not small or ne-
cessitous, but plentiful and liberal. So, then, that all
the places and offices of the Church be provided of
such a dotation, that they may be maintained, ac-
cording to their several degrees, is a constitution per-
manent and perpetual : but for particularity of the
endowment, whether it should consist of tithes, or
lands, or pensions, or mixt, might make a question of
convenience, but no question of precise necessity.
Again, that the case of the Church de facto is such,
that there is want in the Church of patrimony, is con-
fessed. For the principal places, namely, the bishops'
livings, are in some particulars not sufficient ; and
therefore enforced to be supplied by toleration of
commendams, things of themselves unfit, and ever
held of no good report. And as for the benefices and

Of the Pacification of the Church. 549

pastors' places, it is manifest that very many of them
are very weak and penurious. On the other side,
that there was a time when the Church was rather
burdened with superfluity, than with lack, that is
likewise apparent ; but it is long since ; so as the
fault was in others, the want redoundeth unto us.
Again, that it were to be wished that impropriations
were returned to the Church as the most proper
and natural endowments thereof, is a thing likewise
wherein men's judgments will not much vary. Never-
theless, that it is an impossibility to proceed now,
either to their resumption or redemption, is as plain
on the other side. For men are stated in them by
the highest assurance of the kingdom, which is, act
of parliament ; and the value of them amounteth
much above ten subsidies ; and the restitution must
of necessity pass their hands, in whose hands they
are now in possession or interest.

But of these things which are manifestly true, to
infer and ground some conclusions. First, in mine
own opinion and sense, I must confess, let me speak
it with reverence, that all the parliaments since 27
and 31 of Henry VIII. who gave away impropria-
tions from the Church, seem to me to stand in a sort
obnoxious, and obliged to God in conscience to do
somewhat for the Church, to reduce the patrimony
thereof to a competency For since they have de-
barred Christ's wife of a great part of her dowry, it
were reason they made her a competent jointure.
Next to say, that impropriations should be only
charged, that carrieth neither possibility nor reason.
Not possibility, for the reasons touched before : not
reason, because if it be conceived, that if any other
person be charged, it should be a re-charge, or double
charge, inasmuch as he payeth tithes already, that is
a thing mistaken. For it must be remembered, that
as the realm gave tithes to the Church, so the realm
since again hath given tithes away from the Church
unto the king, as they may give their eighth sheaf or
ninth sheaf. And therefore the first gift being eva-
cuated, it cannot go in defeasance or discharge of that

550 Of the Pacification of the Church .

perpetual bond, wherewith men are bound to main-
tain God's ministers. And so we see in example, that
divers godly and well-disposed persons, not impro-
priators, are content to increase their preachers' livings ;
which, though in law it be but a benevolence, yet
before God it is a conscience. Farther, that impro-
priation should not be somewhat more deeply charged
than other revenues of like value, methinks, cannot
well be denied, both in regard of the ancient claim of
the Church, and the intention of the first giver : and
again, because they have passed in valuation be-
tween man and man somewhat at the less rate, in re-
gard of the said pretence or claim of the Church in
conscience before God. But of this point, touching
Church-maintenance, I do not think fit to enter into
farther particularity, but reserve the same to a fitter
time.

Thus have I in all humbleness and sincerity of
heart, to the best of my understanding, given your
majesty tribute of my cares and cogitations in this
holy business, so highly tending to God's glory, your
majesty's honour, and the peace and welfare of your
states : insomuch as I am persuaded that the Papists
themselves should not need so much the severity of
penal laws, if the sword of the Spirit were better
edged, by strengthening the authority, and suppress-
ing the abuses in the Church.

To conclude, renewing my most humble sub-
mission of all that I have said to your majesty's most
high wisdom, and again, most humbly craving pardon
for any errors committed in this writing ; which the
same weakness of judgment that suffered me to com-
mit them, would not suffer me to discover them, I
end with my devout and fervent prayer to God, that
as he hath made your majesty the corner-stone, in
joining your two kingdoms, so you may be also as
a corner-stone to unite and knit together these dif-
ferences in the Church of God ; to whose heavenly
grace and never-erring direction, I commend your
majesty's sacred person, and all your doings.

THE

TRANSLATION

OF CERTAIN

PSALMS

INTO

ENGLISH VERSE.

RIGHT HONOURABLE FRANCIS LORD VERULAM,
VISCOUNT ST. ALBAN.

Printed at London, 1625, in Quarto.

TO HIS VERY GOOD FRIEND

MR. GEORGE HERBERT

The pains* that it pleased yon to take about some of
my writings, I cannot forget ; which did put me in
mind to dedicate to you this poor exercise of my sick-
ness. Besides, it being my manner for dedications,
to choose those that I hold most fit for the argument,
I thought, that in respect of divinity and poesy met,
whereof the one is the matter, the other the stile of
this little writing, I could not make better choice : so,
with signification of my love and acknowledgment
I ever rest,

Your affectionate Friend,

FR. ST ALBAN.

* Of translating part of the Advancement of Learning into
Latin.

A Translation of certain Psalms. 553

The TRANSLATION of the 1st PSALM.

Who never gave to wicked reed

A yielding and attentive ear ;
Who never sinners' paths did tread,

Nor sat him down in scorner's chair ;
But maketh it his whole delight

On law of God to meditate ;
And therein spendeth day and night :

That man is in a happy state.

He shall be like the fruitful tree,

Planted along a running spring,
Which, in due season, constantly

A goodly yield of fruit doth bring :
Whose leaves continue always green,

And are no prey to winter's power :
So shall that man not once be seen

Surprised with an evil hour.

With wicked men it is not so,

Their lot is of another kind :
All as the chaff, which too and fro

Is toss'd at mercy of the wind.
And when he shall in judgment plead,

A casting sentence bide he must :
So shall he not lift up his head

In the assembly of the just.

For why ? the Lord hath special eye
To be the godly 's stay at call :

And hath given over, righteously,
The. wicked man to take his fall.

554 A Translation of certain Psalms.

The TRANSLATION of the Xllth PSALM.

Help, Lord, for godly men have took their flight,

And left the earth to be the wicked's den :
Not one that standeth fast to truth and right,

But fears, or seeks to please, the eyes of men.
When one with other falls in talk apart,

Their meaning go'th not with their words, in proof,
But fair they flatter, with a cloven heart,

By pleasing words, to work their own behoof.

But God cut off" the lips, that are all set

To trap the harmless soul, that peace hath vow'd ;
And pierce the tongues, that seek to counterfeit

The confidence of truth, by lying loud :
Yet so they think to reign, and work their will

By subtile speech, which enters ev'ry where ;
And say: Our tongues are ours, to help us still ;

What need we any higher pow'r to fear ?

Now for the bitter sighing of the poor,

The Lord hath said, I will no more forbear
The wicked's kingdom to invade and scour.

And set at large the men restrain'd in fear.
And sure the word of God is pure and fine,

And in the trial never loseth weight ;
Like noble gold, which, since it left the mine,

Hath seven times passed through the fiery strait.

And now thou wilt not first thy word forsake,

Nor yet the righteous man that leans thereto ;
But wilt his safe protection undertake,

In spite of all their force and wiles can do.
And time it is, O Lord, thou didst draw nigh ;

The wicked daily do enlarge their bands ;
And that which makes them follow ill a vie,

Rule is betaken to unworthy hands.

A Translation of certain Psalms. 555

The TRANSLATION of the XCth PSALM.

O Lord, thou art our home, to whom we fly,
And so hast always been from age to age :
Before the hills did intercept the eye,

Or that the frame was up of earthly stage,

One God thou wert, and art, and still shalt be ;
The line of time, it doth not measure thee.

Both death and life obey thy holy lore,

And visit in their turns, as they are sent ;
A thousand years with thee they are no more
Than yesterday, which, ere it is, is spent :

Or as a watch by night, that course doth keep.
And goes and comes, unwares to them that sleep.

Thou carry'st man away as with a tide :

Then down swim all his thoughts that mounted
high :
Much like a mocking dream, that will not bide,
But flies before the sight of waking eye ;
Or as the grass, that cannot term obtain,
To see the summer come about again.

~a"

At morning, fair it musters on the ground ;

At evn it is cut down, and laid along :
And though it spared were, and favour found,
The weather would perform the mower's wrong :
Thus hast thou hang'd our life on brittle pins.
To let us know it will not bear our sins.

Thou bury'st not within oblivion's tomb

Our trespasses, but ent'rest them aright ;
Ev'n those that are conceiv'd in darkness' womb,
To thee appear as done at broad day-light.
As a tale told, which sometimes men attend,
And sometimes not, our life steals to an end.

556 A Translation of certain Psalms.

The life of man is threescore years and ten,

Or, if that he be strong, perhaps fourscore ;
Yet all things are but labour to him then,

New sorrows still come on, pleasures no more.
Why should there be such turmoil and such strife,
To spin in length this feeble line of life ?

But who considers duly of thine ire ?

Or doth the thoughts thereof wisely embrace ?
For thou, O God, art a consuming fire :

Frail man, how can he stand before thy face?
If thy displeasure thou dost not refrain,
A moment brings all back to dust again.

Teach us, O Lord, to number well our days,

Thereby our hearts to wisdom to apply ;
For that which guides man best in all his ways,
Is meditation of mortality.

This bubble light, this vapour of our breath,
Teach us to consecrate to hour of death.

Return unto us, Lord, and balance now,
With days of joy, our days of misery ;
Help us right soon, our knees to thee we bow,
Depending wholly on thy clemency ;

Then shall thy servants both with heart and voice.
All the days of their life in thee rejoice.

Begin thy work, O Lord, in this our age,

Shew it unto thy servants that now live ;
But to our children raise it many a stage,
That all the world to thee may glory give.
Our handy-work likewise, as fruitful tree,
Let it, O Lord, blessed, not blasted be.

A Translation of certain Psalms. 557

The TRANSLATION of the CIVth PSALM.

Father and King of pow'rs, both high and low,

Whose sounding fame all creatures serve to blow ;

My soul shall with the rest strike up thy praise,

And carol of thy works and wondrous ways.

But who can blaze thy beauties, Lord aright ?

They turn the brittle beams of mortal sight.

Upon thy head thou wear'st a glorious crown,

All set with virtues polish'd with renown :

Thence round about a silver veil doth fall

Of crystal light, mother of colours all.

The compass heav'n, smooth without grain, or fold,

All set with spangs of glitt'ring stars untold,

And strip'd with golden beams of power unpent,

Is raised up for a removing tent.

Vaulted and arched are his chamber beams

Upon the seas, the waters, and the streams :

The clouds as chariots swift do scour the sky ;

The stormy winds upon their wings do fly.

His angels spirits are, that wait his will,

As flames of fire his anger they fulfil.

In the beginning, with a mighty hand,

He made the earth by counterpoise to stand,

Never to move, but to be fixed still ;

Yet hath no pillars but his sacred will.

This earth, as with a veil, once cover'd was,

The waters over-flowed all the mass :

But upon his rebuke away they fled,

And then the hills began to shew their head ;

The vales their hollow bosoms open'd plain,

The streams ran trembling down the vales again :

And that the earth no more might drowned be,

He set the sea his bounds of liberty;

And though his waves resound, and beat the shore,

Yet it is bridled by his holy lore.

Then did the rivers seek their proper places,

And found their heads, their issues, and their races ;

558 A Translation of certain Psalms,

The springs do feed the rivers all the way,

And so the tribute to the sea repay :

Running along through many a pleasant field,

Much fruitfulness unto the earth they yield :

That know the beasts and cattle feeding by,

Which for to slake their thirst do thither hie.

Nay, desert grounds the streams do not forsake,

But through the unknown ways their journey take:

The asses wild, that hide in wilderness,

Do thither come, their thirst for to refresh.

The shady trees along their banks do spring,

In which the birds do build, and sit, and sing ;

Stroking the gentle air with pleasant notes,

Plaining, or chirping through their warbling throats.

The higher grounds, where waters cannot rise,

By rain and dews are water'd from the skies ;

Causing the earth put forth the grass for beasts,

And garden herbs, serv'd at the greatest feasts ;

And bread, that is all viands firmament.

And gives a firm and solid nourishment ;

And wine, man's spirits for to recreate ;

And oil, his face for to exhilarate.

The sappy cedars, tall like stately tow'rs,

High-flying birds do harbour in their bow'rs :

The holy storks, that are the travellers,

Choose for to dwell and build within the firs ;

The climbing goats hang on steep mountains'side ;

The digging conies in the rocks do bide.

The moon, so constant in inconstancy,

Doth rule the monthly seasons orderly ;

The sun, eye of the world, doth know his race,

And when to shew, and when to hide his face.

Thou makest darkness, that it may be night,

When as the savage beasts, that fly the light,

As conscious of man's hatred, leave their den,

And range abroad, secur'd from sight of men.

Then do the forests ring of lions roaring,

That ask their meat of God, their strength restoring ;

But when the day appears, they back do fly,

And in their dens again do lurking lie.

A Translation of certain Psalms. §59

Then man goes forth to labour in the field,

Whereby his grounds more rich increase may yield.

O Lord, thy providence sufficeth all;

Thy goodness, not restrained, but general

Over thy creatures : the whole earth doth flow

With thy great largess pour'd forth here below.

Nor is it earth alone exalts thy name,

But seas and streams likewise do spread the same.

The rolling seas unto the lot doth fall

Of beasts innumerable, great and small ;

There do the stately ships plow up the floods,

The greater navies look like walking woods ;

The fishes there far voyages do make,

To divers shores their journey they do take.

There hast thou set the great Leviathan,

That makes the seas to seeth like boiling pan.

All these do ask of thee their meat to live,

Which in due season thou to them dost give.

Ope thou thy hand, and then they have good fare;

Shut thou thy hand, and then they troubled are.

All life and spirit from thy breath proceed,

Thy word doth all things generate and feed.

If thou withdraw'st it, then they cease to be,

And straight return to dust and vanity;

But when thy breath thou dost send forth again,

Then all things do renew and spring amain ;

So that the earth, but lately desolate,

Doth now return unto the former state.

The glorious majesty of God above

Shall ever reign in mercy and in love :

God shall rejoice all his fair works to see,

For as they come from him all perfect be.

The earth shall quake, if aught his wrath provoke;

Let him but touch the mountains they shall smoke.

As long as life doth last I hymns will sing,

With cheerful voice, to the eternal King;

As long as I have being, I will praise

The works of God, and all his wond'rous ways.

I know that he my words will not despise,

Thanksgiving is to him a sacrifice.

560 A Translation of certain Psalms.

But as for sinners, they shall be destroy 'd
From off the earth, their places shall be void.
Let all his works praise him with one accord ;
O praise the Lord, my soul; praise ye the Lord!

The TRANSLATION of the CXXVIth
PSALM.

When God return'd us graciously

Unto our native land,
We seem'd as in a dream to be,

And in a maze to stand.

The heathen likewise they could say :
The God, that these men serve,

Hath done great things for them this day,
Their nation to preserve.

'Tis true; God hath pour'd out his grace

On us abundantly,
For which we yield him psalms and praise,

And thanks with jubilee.

O Lord, turn our captivity,

As winds, that blow at south,
Do pour the tides with violence

Back to the rivers' mouth.

Who sows in tears shall reap in joy,

The Lord doth so ordain ;
So that his seed be pure and good,

His harvest shall be gain.

A Translation of certain Psalms. 561

The TRANSLATION of the CXXXVIIth
PSALM.

When as we sat all sad and desolate,

By Babylon upon the river's side,
Eas'd from the tasks which in our captive state
We were enforced daily to abide,

Our harps we had brought with us to the field,
Some solace to our heavy souls to yield.

But soon we found we fail'd of our account,

For when our minds some freedom did obtain,
Straightways the memory of Sion Mount

Did cause afresh our wounds to bleed again ;
So that with present griefs, and future fears,
Our eyes burst forth into a stream of tears.

As for our harps, since sorrow struck them dumb,
We hang'd them on the willow-trees were near;
Yet did our cruel masters to us come,

Asking of us some Hebrew songs to hear :
Taunting us rather in our misery,
Than much delighting in our melody.

Alas, said we, who can once force or frame
His grieved and oppressed heart to sing
The praises of Jehovah's glorious name,
In banishment, under a foreign king ?
In Sion is his seat and dwelling place,
Thence doth he shew the brightness of his face.

Jerusalem, where God his throne hath set,

Shall any hour absent thee from my mind?
Then let my right-hand quite her skill forget,
Then let my voice and words no passage find ;
Nay, if I do not thee prefer in all,
That in the compass of my thoughts can fall.

vol. II. 2 o

562 A Translation of certain Psalms.

Remember thou, O Lord, the cruel cry

Of Edom's children, which did ring and sound,
Inciting the Chaldean's cruelty,

"Down with it, down with it, even unto the ground."
In that good day repay it unto them,
When thou shalt visit thy Jerusalem.

And thou, O Babylon, shalt have thy turn
By just revenge, and happy shall he be,
That thy proud walls and tow'rs shall waste and burn,
And as thou didst by us, so do by thee.

Yea, happy he, that takes thy children's bones,
And dasheth them against the pavement stones.

The TRANSLATION of the CXLIXth PSALM.

0 sing a new song to our God above,

Avoid prophane ones, 'tis for holy quire:
Let Israel sing songs of holy love

To him that made them, with their hearts on fire :
Let Sion's sons lift up their voice and sing
Carols and anthems to their heav'nly King.

Let not your voice alone his praise forth tell,

But move withal, and praise him in the dance ;
Cymbals and harps let them be tuned well,
'Tis he that doth the poor's estate advance :
Do this not only on the solemn days,
But on your secret beds your spirits raise.

O let the saints bear in their mouth his praise,

And a two-edged sword drawn in their hand,
Therewith for to revenge the former days
Upon all nations that their zeal withstand ;
To bind their kings in chains of iron strong,
And manacle their nobles for their wrong.

Expect the time, for 'tis decreed in heav'n,
Such honour shall unto his saints be giv'n.

END OF VOL. II.

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