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 EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY 
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 THEOLOGY & 
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 BROWNE'S RELIGIO MEDICI 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
 BY PROF. C. H. HERFORD
 
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 FIRST ISSUE OF THIS EDITION . 1906 
 REPRINTED ..... 1909, 1912
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE modern visitor to Norwich who has found his way 
 through steep, winding streets or staircased alleys into the 
 most romantic of English market-places is within a stone's 
 throw of the spot in which the famous physician whose 
 tercentenary East Anglia was celebrating lately spent the 
 greater part of his long and fortunate life. A very ordinary 
 house, distinguished, however, with a memorial tablet, 
 occupies the site. The garden, too, with its rareties, which 
 Evelyn, when he visited Browne in 1671, thought " a 
 paradise," has long since disappeared. But close at hand 
 towers the great east window of St. Peter Mancroft, the mag- 
 nificent church in which the medicus religiosus worshipped ; 
 and Old Norwich affords not a few glimpses from crowded 
 streets into venerable courtyards with vistas of greener} 7 
 beyond, which make it easy to imagine the circumstances 
 of his abode. 
 
 Although Norwich took the lead in commemorating his 
 birth, he was not, as is often imagined, born there. His 
 father, also a Thomas, came of a stock of Cheshire squires. 
 He was a younger son, and had gone up to London to push 
 his fortune in trade. At the beginning of the century we 
 find him settled in or near Cheapside as a mercer. Here, 
 on October 19, 1605, the author of the Religio Medici was 
 born. Of his early years almost nothing is known, beyond 
 the fact that he passed his schooldays at Winchester, and 
 thence, in 1623, entered as a fellow-commoner at Pembroke 
 (then known as Broadgates Hall), Oxford the college in 
 which, a hundred years later, his great eighteenth-century 
 devotee, Samuel Johnson, passed fourteen months of proudly
 
 viii Introduction 
 
 concealed poverty. Browne's means appear to have been 
 at. this, as at all other times, ample, and he was able to 
 gratify, as Johnson never could, the varied thirst of an 
 intellect yet more encyclopaedic than his, and far more 
 adventurous in the temper of its curiosity. At Oxford, 
 indeed, in those, as in Johnson's and in Shelley's, days a 
 mind of this type found less than no help from the studies 
 of the place. The great naturalists of the Restoration 
 period were infants or unborn ; even the " universally 
 curious " Doctor Wilkins and his like-minded friend, John 
 Evelyn, the diarist, were boys at school; and Francis 
 Bacon had only just sounded, in the Novum Organum, 
 the summons to the methodic interpretation of Nature. 
 Browne, whose sympathetic imagination assimilated so 
 much, never comprehended Bacon ; but he was not un- 
 touched by the Baconian ardour of discovery, and it was 
 scientific enthusiasm more than professional ambition 
 which sent the young Oxford graduate abroad in 1630 to 
 pursue the study of medicine and natural history in the 
 three foreign universities Montpellier, Padua, and Leyden 
 which were then the focuses of advanced research. 
 
 The greater part of the following three years was thus 
 spent. Of the details of his life in France, Italy, and 
 Flanders we have little knowledge ; but the Religio permits 
 us one or two significant glimpses. We see the English 
 Protestant student of medicine as he paces the streets of 
 Montpellier or Padua with a crowd of companions even 
 now, in the very heyday of dogmatic youth, listening, 
 with lifted heart, to the Ave Mary bell, and moved, even 
 to the point of "weeping abundantly," as some solemn 
 procession passes by, " while my consorts, blind with 
 opposition and prejudice, have fallen into an excess of 
 scorn and laughter." Or we find him arguing with an 
 Italian physician " who could not believe perfectly the 
 immortality of the soul, because Galen seemed to make a 
 doubt thereof." 
 
 These glimpses indicate, in the zealous student who took 
 his doctor's degree at Leyden, a temperament of decided
 
 Introduction ix 
 
 originality ; they also make it easy to understand the mood 
 in which, a year or two after his return to England, Browne 
 composed, as a sort of private confession, for his own 
 behoof, the Religio Medici. According to the most authentic 
 tradition it was written at Shipden Hall, Halifax an old 
 house and park, since somewhat rudely encroached upon by 
 industry. Its date is fixed with some precision in the 
 year 1635 by one of the spacious stellar similitudes its 
 author loves. " As yet," he remarks incidentally, " I have 
 not seen one revolution of Saturn, nor hath my pulse beat 
 thirty years ;" a double mode of reckoning in which we 
 seem to catch the far-off murmur of generations of mediaeval 
 doctors, prescribing for the unhappy patient with their 
 eyes on the midnight horizon, and cupping him at the 
 bidding of the stars. But the mediaeval chord vibrates 
 incessantly in Browne, by whatever richer and rarer notes 
 it be accompanied and outsung. 
 
 The Religio Medici was not designed for publication ; and 
 it had been read with delight in MS. by a steadily enlarging 
 circle of friends for several years before the indiscretion 
 of one of them gave the eager printer his chance. A pirated 
 edition appeared in December, 1642, followed, early in 1643, 
 by the appearance of the authentic text, which Browne in 
 alarm had hastened to supply, characteristically enough, tc 
 no other than the erring but scarcely penitent pirate him- 
 self. The book's fame spread with a rapidity then almost 
 unexampled. Sir Kenelm Digby's account of how he sent 
 his man out to buy a copy, received it at bed-time, read 
 it in rapt excitement through the night-watches, and rose 
 early to write his hundred and more pages of Observations, 
 takes us across two centuries to the days when people 
 fought for Old Mortality and the Heart of Midlothian. A 
 Latin translation, made in Holland, gave the Religio the 
 franchise of the Continent. 
 
 The harsher dogmatisms of the age did not fail to resent 
 Browne's sweet reasonableness to heretics and papists ; 
 and the formidable Alexander Ross, in the Medicus 
 Medicatus, drove his heavy bludgeon this way and that
 
 x Introduction 
 
 through the tenuous fabric of the Religio without damaging 
 a whit its spiritual substance : 
 
 " For it was as the air invulnerable, 
 And these vain blows malicious mockery." 
 
 When the Religio was thus at length tardily sent forth, 
 Brown had been for some years established as a physician 
 at Norwich, with a thriving practice and considerable 
 private means. He had also married, in 1641, and the 
 mild scorn expressed in the Religio for " that trivial and 
 vulgar way of union " does not appear to have prevented 
 Thomas and Dorothy Browne from enjoying an exceedingly 
 happy married life. Browne's view of woman and her 
 place was, indeed, as uncompromisingly masculine as 
 Milton's, if more quaintly and pleasantly expressed. For 
 him, too, Man was " the whole World, and the Breath of 
 God ; Woman the Rib and crooked piece of man." He 
 wrote this while still a bachelor, but even after four years 
 of marriage we find him, in the Vulgai Errors, speculating 
 curiously on God's purpose in creating Eve " as a help- 
 meet " to Adam. It can only have been, he opines, in view 
 of their function as the future parents of mankind ; " for as 
 for any other help, it had been better to have made another 
 man." It is clear that Browne, who showed in his 
 speculative enterprises so much of the temper of romance, 
 was not dangerously romantic in private life. He loved to 
 feed his imagination on mysteries, and brood ecstatically 
 in a Platonic page of the Religio (ii. 6) over the mystery of 
 friendship, two bodies and one soul. But one suspects 
 that love and friendship alike were in him only specialized 
 varieties of that diffused kindliness which he extended to 
 all forms of sentient life except " the Devil " and " the 
 Multitude," embracing in his sympathy the Spaniard and 
 the Jew, and owning a benign fellowship with the Viper 
 and the Toad. Such a temperament promised a life not 
 very rich in the drama of conflict which for many men 
 makes three-fourths of its interest, but one securely and 
 serenely harmonious. And such was, in fact, the subse-
 
 Introduction xi 
 
 quent life of Browne, cast though it was in a stormy 
 time. 
 
 The civil troubles did not disturb his tranquil labours ; 
 amid the " drums and tramplings of conquest," to apply 
 his own famous phrase, he had his " quiet rest "; for the 
 Parliament was from the first securely established in 
 Norfolk, and Browne, though a convinced Royalist, was 
 the most practicable of partisans. Hardly an allusion to 
 politics crosses his page. During the first fury of the 
 struggle he offered the world, in the Religio, his serene 
 exposition of a religious faith utterly remote in temper, if 
 not in substance, from any of the contending creeds. 
 When the Royal cause was tottering towards its final 
 fall he came forward again to make known the results 
 of his inquiries into the reality of the phcenix and the 
 griffin, whether swans sing before they die, and whether 
 the right and the left legs of badgers are equally long. 
 When the death of Cromwell at length opened a prospect 
 of the "joyful Restoration," Browne, silent through the 
 whole Commonwealth period, found his voice again in 
 a meditation upon the cinerary urns and the "elegant 
 co-ordination of vegetables," as majestically irrelevant as 
 Paradise Lost itself to the passions and policies of the hour. 
 For twenty-four years after the publication of the Hydrio- 
 taphia and the Garden of Cyrus Browne lived on, famous, 
 wealthy, indisputably the first man in Norwich, bringing 
 up a large family of sons who distinguished themselves, 
 and daughters who married well. He died on his seventy- 
 seventh birthday, October 19, 1682. To the last he 
 occasionally wrote. But it was not until 1690 that the 
 world read his Lettet to a Friend, and not until the lapse 
 of a generation that his Christian Morals was at length (in 
 1716) made known. 
 
 Men whose lives pass in such complete and unbroken 
 harmony are not often so detached and lonely in their 
 thought. There is no work of Browne's which can be 
 said to reflect, or to stand in any direct relation with, any 
 dominant body of opinion, any prevailing method of
 
 xii Introduction 
 
 speculation, or any defined literary tradition. Even his 
 enthusiastic Anglicanism was, like Hobbes's theory of 
 absolute monarchy, too deeply dyed in the curious idio- 
 syncrasy of the thinker's brain to be congenial to plain- 
 minded adherents. In the very title of his first book, 
 The Religion of a Physician, there lay, for contemporary 
 ears, a certain element of paradox ; for the profession was 
 commonly reputed to have no religion. A course of 
 medical study, he himself hints, furnished a presumption of 
 Atheism. " In despite of which," he adds, " I dare with- 
 out usurpation assume the honourable style of a Christian." 
 Our interest, as Blougram says, is " on the dangerous edge 
 of things": 
 
 The honest thief, the tender murderer, 
 The superstitious Atheist." 
 
 And the seventeenth century would have added, " the 
 devout physician." Browne affords this piquant interest 
 in rich measure. Two great intellectual traditions which 
 had for the most part run counter met in his mind in a 
 curious, unexpected harmony a harmony obtained with- 
 out apparent commotion or forced diversion of either 
 from its course ; as if the contending streams which in 
 other intellects jostled each other aside or settled their 
 differences by compromise and subterfuge had in his been 
 transmuted into a warp and woof of differently-coloured 
 threads, whose crossing only evolved a brilliant pattern. 
 
 Browne does, no doubt, recognise distinct provinces and 
 procedures for his " religion " and his " philosophy," but it is 
 misleading to class him with the " water-tight compartment " 
 theorists, more common in the Catholic Church than in 
 Protestantism, who allow their " reason " to have no 
 dealings with their " faith," nor their " faith " with their 
 "reason." The "water-tight compartments" with him 
 have many valves and sluices, and the sustaining water 
 flows readily to and fro. What was most vital both in his 
 religion and in his speculation sprang from the same root 
 an imaginative sympathy with every form of existence,
 
 Introduction xiii 
 
 allured by the remote, arrested by the singular, fascinated 
 by the marvellous. " I am of a constitution so general," 
 he tells us in one of the famous opening sentences of the 
 second part of the Religio, "that it consorts and sym- 
 pathizeth with all things. ... I was born in the eighth 
 Climate, but seem for to be framed and constellated 
 unto all. . . . All places, all airs, make unto me one 
 Country ; I am in England everywhere and under any 
 Meridian." 
 
 This is not the temperament of a keen critic, and 
 Browne's intellect was always rather the servant and 
 minister of his temperamental needs and impulses than 
 their controller and curb. A useful and efficient servant, 
 inexhaustible in the quest of curious learning, posting over 
 land and ocean without rest at the bidding of that lordly 
 and eager imagination, and always ready, when its superior 
 needed exhilarating exercise, to take the foils and be 
 discreetly overcome. " 'Tis my solitary recreation," cries 
 Browne, in a sort of epicurean rapture, " to pose my 
 apprehension with those involved ^Enigmas and riddles 
 of the Trinity. ... I can answer all the Objections of 
 Satan and my rebellious reason with that odd resolution I 
 learned of Tertullian, ' Certum est, quia impossibile est.' " 
 It might be said of Browne that he thought with his 
 imagination, so potent are its intuitions in determining the 
 texture of his faith. A suggestive similitude will at any 
 time more than half capture his assent. The allegorical 
 description of God as a circle whose centre is everywhere 
 and its circumference nowhere "pleaseth me beyond all 
 the Metaphysical definitions of Divines." And no visionary 
 speculation of mystic or Platonist appealed in vain to 
 Sir Thomas Browne. Man was the microcosm of the 
 universe ; the visible world a picture of the invisible ; and 
 in " that vulgar and Tavern musick, which makes one man 
 merry, another mad," he discovered, with awed rapture, 
 " an Hieroglyphical and shadowed lesson of the whole 
 World. . . . Such a melody to the ear as the whole 
 World, well understood, would afford the understanding ;
 
 xiv Introduction 
 
 in brief, a sensible fit of that harmony which intellectually 
 sounds in the ears of God." 
 
 To say that Browne " thought with his imagination" is 
 only to say that his supreme merit belongs to literature, 
 not to philosophy. Still less did it belong to science. If 
 the author of the Religio Medici stood aloof from his age, 
 the laborious inquirer into "Vulgar Errors" stood far 
 behind it. The lofty assumption, in the preface, of 
 Baconian phrases about the need of first-hand experience 
 and the fallacies of tradition and authority, is in piquant 
 contrast with the meanderings of Browne's inquiring 
 intellect, just one step more emancipated than the " vulgar," 
 whose erroneous beliefs about phoenixes and griffins, after 
 anxiously weighing all the possibilities, he decides, as it 
 were by the turning of a hair, to be wrong. It is the old 
 story of Apollo leaving his Parnassian haunts to stray 
 across the severe threshold of Academe, insufficiently 
 equipped with the geometry requisite there. And the 
 sages of the English Academe did not hesitate to make 
 the respected intruder understand that he was out of 
 place. In an interesting section of his admirable life of 
 Browne, just published, Mr. Gosse has plausibly surmised 
 that his absence from the roll of members of the Royal 
 Society was due to a deliberate determination of the 
 committee to exclude him. 
 
 The line between literature and science was then 
 indecisively drawn, and Browne's letters to the secretary 
 make it tolerably evident that he would have liked to join 
 a body few of whom could rival the natural history 
 collections of his Norwich home, while still fewer probably 
 could claim, as he could, to have dared dyspepsia or 
 worse, for Science's sake, by experimental meals upon 
 spiders and bees. A distinguished son of his own was, 
 moreover, a member. But it may be that the real rock of 
 offence was just that which has become the corner-stone 
 of his fame his style. It is well known how peremptorily 
 the newly-founded Royal Society set its face against the 
 old sumptuous and elaborate prose, with its " amplifica-
 
 Introduction xv 
 
 tions, digressions, and swellings of style," and did its best 
 to recover " the primitive purity and shortness, when men 
 delivered so many things almost in an equal number of 
 words." It accordingly " exacted from all its members a 
 close, naked, natural way of speaking ; positive expressions 
 . . bringing all things as near the mathematical plain- 
 ness as they can." So writes Sprat, the historian of the 
 Society, and one of its earliest Fellows. It is hard to 
 believe that Browne's splendour of apparel was not 
 expressly glanced at by this advocate of nakedness. But 
 we are not further concerned with his criticism. For 
 Browne's ends and aims his writing is incomparable. It 
 is not a cumbrous and artificial way of conveying facts, 
 any more than a symphony is a vague and equivocal way 
 of telling a story. Like music, it creates and suggests 
 more than it articulately expresses. If there is any 
 English prose which it is not wholly profane to compare 
 with a symphony of Beethoven, it is surely the magnificent 
 discourse of the Hydriotaphia, with its vast undulations of 
 rhythmic sound, its triumphal processions, its funereal 
 pageants, its abysmal plunges into unfathomable depths, 
 its ecstatic soarings to the heights of heaven. 
 
 C. H. HERFORD. 
 
 EDITOR'S NOTE. The foregoing introduction is based upon an 
 essay written for Browne's Tercentenary and published in the 
 Manchester Guardian; and some passages of it are here repro- 
 duced by kind permission of the Editor and publishers of that 
 journal. 
 
 The following list comprises the published works of Sir 
 Thomas Browne (1605-1682) as originally issued : 
 
 Religio Medici, probably written in 1635, published, surrepti- 
 tiously, 1642 ; authorised edition, 1643 ; Pseudodoxia Epi- 
 demica, or Enquiries into very many received tenets and com- 
 monly-presumed truths, which examined prove but Vulgar and 
 Common Errors, 1646 ; Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial ; or a Dis- 
 course of the Sepulchral Urns lately found in Norfolk, 1658 ; 
 The Garden of Cyrus ; or the Quincuncial Lozenge, network
 
 xvi Introduction 
 
 plantations of the Ancients, Artificially, Naturally, Mystically 
 Considered, 1658. 
 
 Miscellany Tracts, being mostly letters on a variety of sub- 
 jects, the greater number of which are addressed to Sir Nicholas 
 Bacon, 1684. 
 
 Letter to a Friend upon occasion of the death of his intimate 
 friend, 1690 ; Posthumous Works, 1712 ; Christian Morals, 1716. 
 
 Works : Folio Edition, 1686 ; Complete Collections, ed. 
 Pickering, 1835-36.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 RELIGIO MEDICI ...... 3 
 
 HYDRIOTAPHIA. DRNE BURIALL ; OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE 
 
 SEPULCHRALL URNES LATELY FOUND IN NORFOLK - QI 
 
 CONCERNING SOME URNES FOUND IN BRAMPTON-FIELD, IN 
 
 NORFOLK, ANNO 1667 - - 14! 
 
 LETTER TO A FRIEND UPON OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF 
 
 HIS INTIMATE FRIEND - - 149 
 
 THE GARDEN OF CYRUS ; OR, THE QUINCUNCIALL, LOZENGE, 
 OR NET-WORK PLANTATIONS OF THE ANCIENTS, ARTI- 
 FICIALLY, NATURALLY, MYSTICALLY CONSIDERED - 167 
 CHRISTIAN MORALS - - 231 
 GLOSSARY ...... 288
 
 TO THE READER 
 
 CERTAINLY that man were greedy of Life, who 
 should desire to live when all the world were at an 
 end ; and he must needs be very impatient, who would 
 repine at death in the society of all things that suffer 
 under it. Had not almost every man suffered by the 
 Press, or were not the tyranny thereof become uni- 
 versal, I had not wanted reason for complaint : but in 
 times wherein I have lived to behold the highest per- 
 version of that excellent invention, the name of his 
 Majesty defamed, the Honour of Parliament depraved, 
 the Writings of both depravedly, anticipatively, counter- 
 feitly imprinted; complaints may seem ridiculous in 
 private persons ; and men of my condition may be as 
 incapable of affronts, as hopeless of their reparations. 
 And truely, had not the duty I owe unto the impor- 
 tunity of friends, and the allegiance I must ever 
 acknowledge unto truth, prevailed with me, the in- 
 activity of my disposition might have made these 
 sufferings continual, and time, that brings other things 
 to light, should have satisfied me in the remedy of its 
 oblivion. But because things evidently false are not 
 onely printed, but many things of truth most falsely 
 set forth, in this latter I could not but think my self 
 engaged : for, though we have no power to redress the 
 former, yet in the other the reparation being within 
 our selves, I have at present represented unto the 
 world a full and intended Copy of that Piece, which 
 was most imperfectly and surreptitiously published 
 before. 
 
 This, I confess, about seven years past, with some 
 others of affinity thereto, for my private exercise and 
 satisfaction, I had at leisurable hours composed ; which 
 being communicated unto one, it became common unto 
 many, and was by Transcription successively corrupted,
 
 2 To the Reader 
 
 untill it arrived in a most depraved Copy at the Press. 
 He that shall peruse that work, and shall take notice of 
 sundry particularities and personal expressions therein, 
 will easily discern the intention was not publick ; and, 
 being a private Exercise directed to my self, what is 
 delivered therein, was rather a memorial unto me, than 
 an Example or Rule unto any other ; and therefore, if 
 there be any singularity therein correspondent unto the 
 private conceptions of any man, it doth not advantage 
 them ; or if dissentaneous thereunto, it no way over- 
 throws them. It was penned in such a place, and with 
 such disadvantage, that, (I ' protest,) from the first 
 setting of pen unto paper, I had not the assistance of 
 any good Book whereby to promote my invention or 
 relieve my memory ; and therefore there might be 
 many real lapses therein, which others might take 
 notice of, and more than I suspected my self. It was 
 set down many years past, and was the sense of my 
 conceptions at that time, not an immutable Law unto 
 my advancing judgement at all times ; and therefore 
 there might be many things therein plausible unto my 
 passed apprehension, which are not agreeable unto 
 my present self. There are many things delivered 
 Rhetorically, many expressions therein meerly Tropical, 
 and as they best illustrate my intention ; and therefore 
 also there are many things to be taken in a soft and 
 flexible sense, and not to be called unto the rigid test 
 of Reason. Lastly, all that is contained therein is in 
 submission unto maturer discernments ; and, as I have 
 declared, shall no further father them than the best 
 and learned judgments shall authorize them : under 
 favour of which considerations I have made its secrecy 
 publick, and committed the truth thereof to every 
 Ingenuous Reader. 
 
 THO. BROWNE.
 
 RELIGIO MEDICI 
 
 THE FIRST PART 
 
 FOR my Religion, though there be several Circum- 
 stances that might perswade the World I have none 
 at all, (as the general scandal of my Profession, the 
 natural course of my Studies, the indifferency of my 
 Behaviour and Discourse in matters of Religion, 
 neither violently Defending one, nor with that common 
 ardour and contention Opposing another ;) yet, in 
 despight hereof, I dare without usurpation .assume the 
 honourable Stile of a Christian. Not that I meerly 
 owe this Title to the Font, my Education, or the 
 clime wherein I was born, (as being bred up either to 
 confirm those Principles my Parents instilled into my 
 unwary Understanding, or by a general consent proceed 
 in the Religion of my Country ;) but having in my 
 riper years and confirmed Judgment seen and examined 
 all, I find my self obliged by the Principles of Grace, 
 and the Law of mine own Reason, to embrace no 
 other Name but this. Neither doth herein my zeal 
 so far make me forget the general Charity I owe unto 
 Humanity, as rather to hate than pity Turks, Infidels, 
 and (what is worse,) Jews ; rather contenting my self 
 to enjoy that happy Stile, than maligning those who 
 refuse so glorious a Title. 
 
 But, because the Name of a Christian is become 
 too general to express our Faith, (there being a Geo- 
 graphy of Religions as well as Lands, and every Clime 
 distinguished not only by their Laws and Limits, but 
 circumscribed by their Doctrines and Rules of Faith ;) 
 to be particular, I am of that Reformed new-cast 
 Religion, wherein I dislike nothing but the Name ; of 
 the same belief our Saviour taught, the Apostles dis-
 
 4 Religio Medici 
 
 seminated, the Fathers authorized, and the Martyrs 
 confirmed ; but by the sinister ends of Princes, the 
 ambition and avarice of Prelates, and the fatal cor- 
 ruption of times, so decayed, impaired, and fallen from 
 its native Beauty, that it required the careful and 
 charitable hands of these times to restore it to its 
 primitive Integrity. Now the accidental occasion 
 whereupon, the slender means whereby, the low and 
 abject condition of the Person by whom so good a 
 work was set on foot, which in our Adversaries beget 
 contempt and scorn, fills me with wonder, and is the 
 very same Objection the insolent Pagans first cast at 
 CHRIST and His Disciples. 
 
 Yet have I not so shaken hands with those desperate 
 Resolutions, (who had rather venture at large their 
 decayed bottom, than bring her in to be new trimm'd 
 in the Dock ; who had rather promiscuously retain all, 
 than abridge any, and obstinately be what they are, 
 than what they have been,) as to stand in Diameter 
 and Swords point with them. We have reformed from 
 them, not against them ; for (omitting those Improper- 
 ations and Terms of Scurrility betwixt us, which only 
 difference our Affections, and not our Cause,) there is 
 between us one common Name and Appellation, one 
 Faith and necessary body of Principles common to us 
 both ; and therefore I am not scrupulous to converse 
 and live with them, to enter their Churches in defect 
 of ours, and either pray with them, or for them. I 
 could never perceive any rational Consequence from 
 those many Texts which prohibit the Children of 
 Israel to pollute themselves with the Temples of the 
 Heathens ; we being all Christians, and not divided 
 by such detested impieties as might prophane our 
 Prayers, or the place wherein we make them ; or that 
 a resolved Conscience may not adore her Creator any 
 where, especially in places devoted to His Service ; 
 where, if their Devotions offend Him, mine may please 
 Him ; if theirs prophane it, mine may hallow it. Holy- 
 water and Crucifix (dangerous to the common people,) 
 deceive not my judgment, nor abuse my devotion at
 
 Religio Medici 5 
 
 all. I am, I confess, naturally inclined to that which 
 misguided Zeal terms Superstition. My common con- 
 versation I do acknowledge austere, my behaviour full 
 of rigour, sometimes not without morosity ; yet at my 
 Devotion I love to use the civility of my knee, my hat, 
 and hand, with all those outward and sensible motions 
 which may express or promote my invisible Devotion. 
 I should violate my own arm rather than a Church ; 
 nor willingly deface the name of Saint or Martyr. At 
 the sight of a Cross or Crucifix I can dispense with my 
 hat, but scarce with the thought or memory of my 
 Saviour. I cannot laugh at, but rather pity, the fruit- 
 less journeys of Pilgrims, or contemn the miserable 
 condition of Fryars ; for, though misplaced in Circum- 
 stances, there is something in it of Devotion. I could 
 never hear the Ave-Mary Bell without an elevation ; 
 or think it a sufficient warrant, because they erred in 
 one circumstance, for me to err in all, that is, in silence 
 and dumb contempt. Whilst, therefore, they directed 
 their Devotions to Her, I offered mine to GOD, and 
 rectified the Errors of their Prayers by rightly ordering 
 mine own. At a solemn Procession I have wept abun- 
 dantly, while my consorts, blind with opposition and 
 prejudice, have fallen into an excess of scorn and 
 laughter. There are, questionless, both in Greek, 
 Roman, and African Churches, Solemnities and Cere- 
 monies, whereof the wiser Zeals do make a Christian 
 use, and stand condemned by us, not as evil in them- 
 selves, but as allurements and baits of superstition to 
 those vulgar heads that look asquint on the face of 
 Truth, and those unstable Judgments that cannot 
 consist in the narrow point and centre of Virtue 
 without a reel or stagger to the Circumference. 
 
 As there were many Reformers, so likewise many 
 Reformations ; every Country proceeding in a parti- 
 cular way and method, according as their national 
 Interest, together with their Constitution and Clime, 
 inclined them ; some angrily, and with extremity ; 
 others calmly, and with mediocrity ; not rending, but 
 easily dividing the community, and leaving an honest
 
 Religio Medici 
 
 possibility of a reconciliation ; which though peaceable 
 Spirits do desire, and may conceive that revolution of 
 time and the mercies of GOD may effect, yet that 
 judgment that shall consider the present antipathies 
 between the two extreams, their contrarieties in con- 
 dition, affection, and opinion, may with the same hopes 
 expect an union in the Poles of Heaven. 
 
 But (to difference my self nearer, and draw into a 
 lesser Circle,) there is no Church whose every part so 
 squares unto my Conscience ; whose Articles, Con- 
 stitutions, and Customs seem so consonant unto reason, 
 and as it were framed to my particular Devotion, as 
 this whereof I hold my Belief, the Church of England; 
 to whose Faith I am a sworn Subject, and therefore 
 in a double Obligation subscribe unto her Articles, and 
 endeavour to observe her Constitutions. Whatsoever 
 is beyond, as points indifferent, I observe according 
 to the rules of my private reason, or the humour and 
 fashion of my Devotion ; neither believing this, because 
 Luther affirmed it, or disproving that, because Calvin 
 hath disavouched it. I condemn not all things in the 
 Council of Trent, nor approve all in the Synod of Dort. 
 In brief, where the Scripture is silent, the Church is 
 my Text ; where that speaks, 'tis but my Comment : 
 where there is a joynt silence of both, I borrow not the 
 rules of my Religion from Rome or Geneva, but the 
 dictates of my own reason. It is an unjust scandal of 
 our adversaries, and a gross errour in our selves, to 
 compute the Nativity of our Religion from Henry the 
 Eighth, who, though he rejected the Pope, refus'd not 
 the faith of Rome, and effected no more than what his 
 own Predecessors desired and assayed in Ages past, 
 and was conceived the State of Venice would have 
 attempted in our days. It is as uncharitable a point 
 in us to fall upon those popular scurrilities and oppro- 
 brious scoffs of the Bishop of Rome, to whom, as a 
 temporal Prince, we owe the duty of good language. 
 I confess there is cause of passion between us : by his 
 sentence I stand excommunicated ; Hevetick is the best 
 language he affords me ; yet can no ear witness I ever
 
 Religio Medici 7 
 
 returned him the name of Antichrist, Man of Sin, or 
 Whore of Babylon. It is the method of Charity to suffer 
 without reaction : those usual Satyrs and invectives of 
 the Pulpit may perchance produce a good effect on the 
 vulgar, whose ears are opener to Rhetorick than 
 Logick ; yet do they in no wise confirm the faith of 
 wiser Believers, who know that a good cause needs 
 not to be patron'd by passion, but can sustain it self 
 upon a temperate dispute. 
 
 I could never divide my self from any man upon the 
 difference of an opinion, or be angry with his judgment 
 for not agreeing with me in that from which perhaps 
 within a few days I should dissent my self. I have no 
 Genius to disputes in Religion, and have often thought 
 it wisdom to decline them, especially upon a disadvan- 
 tage, or when the cause of Truth might suffer in the 
 weekness of my patronage. Where we desire to be 
 informed, 'tis good to contest with men above our 
 selves ; but to confirm and establish our opinions, 'tis 
 best to argue with judgments below our own, that the 
 frequent spoils and Victories over their reasons may 
 settle in ourselves an esteem and confirmed Opinion 
 of our own. Every man is not a proper Champion for 
 Truth, nor fit to take up the Gauntlet in the cause of 
 Verity : many, from the ignorance of these Maximes, 
 and an inconsiderate Zeal unto Truth, have too rashly 
 charged the troops of Error, and remain as Trophies 
 unto the enemies of Truth. A man may be in as just 
 possession of Truth as of a City, and yet be forced to 
 surrender ; 'tis therefore far better to enjoy her with 
 peace, than to hazzard her on a battle. If, therefore, 
 there rise any doubts in my way, I do forget them, or 
 at least defer them till my better setled judgement and 
 more manly reason be able to resolve them ; for I per- 
 ceive every man's own reason is his best CEdipus, and 
 will, upon a reasonable truce, find a way to loose those 
 bonds wherewith the subtleties of error have enchained 
 our more flexible and tender judgements. In Philo- 
 sophy, where Truth seems double-fac'd, there is no 
 man more Paradoxical than my self : but in Divinity
 
 8 Religio Medici 
 
 I love to keep the Road ; and, though not in an im- 
 plicite, yet an humble faith, follow the great wheel of 
 the Church, by which I move, not reserving any proper 
 Poles or motion from the Epicycle of my own brain. 
 By this means I leave no gap for Heresies, Schismes, 
 or Errors, of which at present I hope I shall not injure 
 Truth to say I have no taint or tincture. I must con- 
 fess my greener studies have been polluted with two 
 or three ; not any begotten in the latter Centuries, but 
 old and obsolete, such as could never have been 
 revived, but by such extravagant and irregular heads 
 as mine : for indeed Heresies perish not with their 
 Authors, but, like the river Arethusa, though they lose 
 their currents in one place, they rise up again in 
 another. One General Council is not able to extirpate 
 one single Heresie: it may be cancell'd for the present; 
 but revolution of time, and the like aspects from 
 Heaven, will restore it, when it will flourish till it be 
 condemned again. For as though there were a Me- 
 tempsuchosis, and the soul of one man passed into 
 another, Opinions do find, after certain Revolutions, 
 men and minds like those that first begat them. To 
 see our selves again, we need not look for Plato's year : 
 every man is not only himself ; there hath been many 
 Diogenes, and as many Timons, though but few of 
 that name : men are liv'd over again, the world is now 
 as it was in Ages past ; there was none then, but there 
 hath been some one since that parallels him, and is, as 
 it were, his revived self. 
 
 Now the first of mine was that of the Arabians, 
 That the Souls of men perished with their Bodies, but 
 should yet be raised again at the last day. Not that I 
 did absolutely conceive a mortality of the Soul ; but if 
 that were, (which Faith, not Philosophy, hath yet 
 throughly disproved,) and that both entred the grave 
 together, yet I held the same conceit thereof that we 
 all do of the body, that it should rise again. Surely it 
 is but the merits of our unworthy Natures, if we sleep 
 in darkness until the last Alarum. A serious reflex 
 upon my own unworthiness did make me backward
 
 Religio Medici 9 
 
 from challenging this prerogative of my Soul : so that 
 I might enjoy my Saviour at the last, I could with 
 patience be nothing almost unto Eternity. 
 
 The second was that of Origen, That GOD would 
 not persist in His vengeance for ever, but after a 
 definite time of His wrath, He would release the 
 damned Souls from torture. Which error I fell into 
 upon a serious contemplation of the great Attribute of 
 GOD, His Mercy ; and did a little cherish it in my self, 
 because I found therein no malice, and a ready weight 
 to sway me from the other extream of despair, where- 
 unto Melancholy and Contemplative Natures are too 
 easily disposed. 
 
 A third there is, which I did never positively main- 
 tain or practise, but have often wished it had been 
 consonant to Truth, and not offensive to my Religion, 
 and that is, the Prayer for the Dead ; whereunto I was 
 inclin'd from some charitable inducements, whereby I 
 could scarce contain my Prayers for a friend at the 
 ringing of a Bell, or behold his Corps without an 
 Orison for his Soul. 'Twas a good way, methought, 
 to be remembred by posterity, and far more noble 
 than an History. 
 
 These opinions I never maintained with pertinacy, 
 or endeavoured to enveagle any mans belief unto mine, 
 nor so much as ever revealed or disputed them with 
 my dearest friends ; by which means I neither propa- 
 gated them in others, nor confirmed them in my self ; 
 but suffering them to flame upon their own substance, 
 without addition of new fuel, they went out insensibly 
 of themselves. Therefore these Opinions, though 
 condemned by lawful Councels, were not Heresies in 
 me, but bare Errors, and single Lapses of my under- 
 standing, without a joynt depravity of my will. Those 
 have not onely depraved understandings, but diseased 
 affections, which cannot enjoy a singularity without an 
 Heresie, or be the Author of an Opinion without they 
 be of a Sect also. This was the villany of the first 
 Schism of Lucifer, who was not content to err alone, 
 but drew into his Faction many Legions of Spirits ;
 
 io Religio Medici 
 
 and upon this experience he tempted only Eve, as well 
 understanding the Communicable nature of Sin, and 
 that to deceive but one, was tacitely and upon conse- 
 quence to delude them both. 
 
 That Heresies should arise, we have the Prophesie 
 of CHRIST ; but that oM ones should be abolished, we 
 hold no prediction. That there must be Heresies, is 
 true, not only in our Church, but also in any other : 
 even in doctrines heretical, there will be super-heresies ; 
 and Arians not only divided from their Church, but 
 also among themselves. For heads that are disposed 
 unto Schism and complexionally prepense to innova- 
 tion, are naturally indisposed for a community, nor will 
 be ever confined unto the order or ceconomy of one 
 body ; and, therefore, when they separate from others, 
 they knit but loosely among themselves; nor contented 
 with a general breach or dichotomy with their Church 
 do subdivide and mince themselves almost into Atoms. 
 'Tis true, that men of singular parts and humours 
 have not been free from singular opinions and conceits 
 in all Ages ; retaining something, not only beside the 
 opinion of his own Church or any other, but also any 
 particular Author ; which, notwithstanding, a sober 
 Judgment may do without offence or heresie ; for there 
 is yet, after all the Decrees of Councils and the niceties 
 of the Schools, many things untouch'd, unimagin'd, 
 wherein the liberty of an honest reason may play and 
 expatiate with security, and far without the circle of an 
 Heresie. 
 
 As for those wingy Mysteries in Divinity, and airy 
 subtleties in Religion, which have unhing'd the brains 
 of better heads, they never stretched the Pia Mater of 
 mine. Methinks there be not impossibilities enough 
 in Religion for an active faith ; the deepest Mysteries 
 ours contains have not only been illustrated, but main- 
 tained, by Syllogism and the rule of Reason. I love 
 to lose my self in a mystery, to pursue my Reason to 
 an altitude ! 'Tis my solitary recreation to pose my 
 apprehension with those involved /Enigmas and riddles 
 of the Trinity, with Incarnation, and Resurrection. I
 
 Religio Medici n 
 
 can answer all the Objections of Satan and my rebel- 
 lious reason with that odd resolution I learned of Ter- 
 tullian, Cerium est, quia impossibilc est. I desire to exercise 
 my faith in the difficultest point ; for to credit ordinary 
 and visible objects is not faith, but perswasion. Some 
 believe the better for seeing CHRIST'S Sepulchre ; and, 
 when they have seen the Red Sea, doubt not of the 
 Miracle. Now, contrarily, I bless my self and am thank- 
 ful that I lived not in the days of Miracles, that I never 
 saw CHRIST nor His Disciples. I would not have 
 been one of those Israelites that pass'd the Red Sea, 
 nor one of CHRIST'S patients on whom He wrought 
 His wonders ; then had my faith been thrust upon me, 
 nor should I enjoy that greater blessing pronounced to 
 all that believe and saw not. "Pis an easie and neces- 
 sary belief, to credit what our eye and sense hath 
 examined. I believe He was dead, and buried, and 
 rose again ; and desire to see Him in His glory, rather 
 than to contemplate Him in His Cenotaphe or 
 Sepulchre. Nor is this much to believe ; as we have 
 reason, we owe this faith unto History : they only had 
 the advantage of a bold and noble Faith, who lived 
 before His coming, who upon obscure prophesies and 
 mystical Types could raise a belief, and expect apparent 
 impossibilities. 
 
 'Tis true, there is an edge in all firm belief, and with 
 an easie Metaphor we may say, the Sword of Faith ; 
 but in these obscurities I rather use it in the adjunct 
 the Apostle gives it, a Buckler ; under which I conceive 
 a wary combatant may lye invulnerable. Since I was 
 of understanding to know we knew nothing, my reason 
 hath been more pliable to the will of Faith ; I am now 
 content to understand a mystery without a rigid defini- 
 tion, in an easie and Platonick description. That alle- 
 gorical description of Hermes pleaseth me beyond all 
 the Metaphysical definitions of Divines. Where I 
 cannot satisfy my reason, I love to humour my fancy : 
 I had as live you tell me that anima est angelus Jiominis, 
 est Corpus DEI, as Entelechia ; Lux est umbra DEI, as 
 actus perspicui. Where there is an obscurity too deep
 
 12 Religio Medici 
 
 for our Reason, 'tis good to sit down with a description, 
 periphrasis, or adumbration ; for by acquainting our 
 Reason how unable it is to display the visible and 
 obvious effects of Nature, it becomes more humble and 
 submissive unto the subtleties of Faith ; and thus I 
 teach my haggard and unreclaimed Reason to stoop 
 unto the lure of Faith. I believe there was already a 
 tree whose fruit our unhappy Parents tasted, though, 
 in the same Chapter when GOD forbids it, 'tis positively 
 said, the plants of the field were not yet grown, for 
 GOD had not caus'd it to rain upon the earth. I believe 
 that the Serpent, (if we shall literally understand it,) 
 from his proper form and figure, made his motion on 
 his belly before the curse. I find the tryal of the 
 Pucellage and virginity of Women, which GOD ordained 
 the Jews, is very fallible. Experience and History 
 informs me, that not onely many particular Women, 
 but likewise whole Nations, have escaped the curse of 
 Childbirth, which GOD seems to pronounce upon the 
 whole Sex. Yet do I believe that all this is true, which 
 indeed my Reason would perswade me to be false ; 
 and this I think is no vulgar part of Faith, to believe 
 a thing not only above but contrary to Reason, and 
 against the Arguments of our proper Senses. 
 In my solitary and retired imagination 
 
 (neque enim cum porticus aut me 
 Lectulus accepit, desum mihi,) 
 
 I remember I am not alone, and therefore forget not to 
 contemplate Him and His Attributes Who is ever 
 with me, especially those two mighty ones, His Wisdom 
 and Eternity. With the one I recreate, with the other 
 I confound, my understanding ; for who can speak of 
 Eternity without a solcecism, or think thereof without 
 an Extasie ? Time we may comprehend ; 'tis but five 
 days elder then our selves, and hath the same Horo- 
 scope with the World ; but to retire so far back as to 
 apprehend a beginning, to give such an infinite start 
 forwards as to conceive an end, in an essence that we 
 affirm hath neither the one nor the other, it puts my
 
 Religio Medici 13 
 
 Reason to St. Paul's Sanctuary. My Philosophy 
 dares not say the Angels can do it GOD hath not 
 made a Creature that can comprehend Him ; 'tis a 
 privilege of His own nature. I AM THAT I AM, was 
 His own definition unto Moses ; and 'twas a short one, 
 to confound mortality, that durst question GOD, or ask 
 Him what He was. Indeed, He onely is ; all others 
 have and shall be. But in Eternity there is no distinc- 
 tion of Tenses ; and therefore that terrible term Pre- 
 destination, which hath troubled so many weak heads to 
 conceive, and the wisest to explain, is in respect to 
 GOD no prescious determination of our Estates to 
 come, but a definitive blast of His Will already fulfilled, 
 and at the instant that He first decreed it ; for to His 
 Eternity, which is indivisible and all together, the last 
 Trump is already sounded, the reprobates in the flame, 
 and the blessed in Abraham's bosome. St. Peter 
 speaks modestly, when he saith, a thousand years to GOD 
 are but as one day ; for, to speak like a Philosopher, 
 those continued instances of time which flow into a 
 thousand years, make not to Him one moment : what 
 to us is to come, to His Eternity is present, His whole 
 duration being but one permanent point, without Suc- 
 cession, Parts, Flux, or Division. 
 
 There is no Attribute that adds more difficulty to the 
 mystery of the Trinity, where, though in a relative way 
 of Father and Son, we must deny a priority. I wonder 
 how Aristotle could conceive the World eternal, or 
 how he could make good two Eternities. His simili- 
 tude of a Triangle comprehended in a square doth 
 somewhat illustrate the Trinity of our Souls, and that 
 the Triple Unity of GOD ; for there is in us not three, 
 but a Trinity of Souls ; because there is in us, if not 
 three distinct Souls, yet differing faculties, that can and 
 do subsist apart in different Subjects, and yet in us are 
 so united as to make but one Soul and substance. If 
 one Soul were so perfect as to inform three distinct 
 Bodies, that were a petty Trinity : conceive the distinct 
 number of three, not divided nor separated by the 
 intellect, but actually comprehended in its Unity, and
 
 14 Religio Medici 
 
 that is a perfect Trinity. I have often admired the 
 mystical way of Pythagoras, and the secret Magick of 
 numbers. Beware of Philosophy, is a precept not to be 
 received in too large a sense ; for in this Mass of 
 Nature there is a set of things that carry in their 
 Front (though not in Capital Letters, yet in Steno- 
 graphy and short Characters,) something of Divinity, 
 which to wiser Reasons serve as Luminaries in the 
 Abyss of Knowledge, and to judicious beliefs as 
 Scales and Roundles to mount the Pinacles and highest 
 pieces of Divinity. The severe Schools shall never 
 laugh me out of the Philosophy of Hermes, that this 
 visible World is but a Picture of the invisible, wherein, 
 as in a Pourtraict, things are not truely, but in equivocal 
 shapes, and as they counterfeit some more real sub- 
 stance in that invisible fabrick. 
 
 That other Attribute wherewith I recreate my devo- 
 tion, is His Wisdom, in which I am happy ; and for 
 the contemplation of this only, do not repent me that 
 I was bred in the way of Study : the advantage I have 
 of the vulgar, with the content and happiness I con- 
 ceive therein, is an ample recompence for all my 
 endeavours, in what part of knowledge soever. Wisdom 
 is His most beauteous Attribute ; no man can attain 
 unto it, yet Solomon pleased GOD when he desired it. 
 He is wise, because He knows all things; and He 
 knoweth all things, because He made them all: but 
 His greatest knowledge is in comprehending that He 
 made not, that is, Himself. And this is also the 
 greatest knowledge in man. For this do I honour my 
 own profession, and embrace the Counsel even of the 
 Devil himself : had he read such a Lecture in Paradise 
 as he did at Delphos, we had better known our selves, 
 nor had we stood in fear to know him. I know He is 
 wise in all, wonderful in what we conceive, but far 
 more in what we comprehend not ; for we behold Him 
 but asquint, upon reflex or shadow ; our understanding 
 is dimmer than Moses Eye; we are ignorant of the 
 back-parts or lower side of His Divinity ; therefore to 
 prie into the maze of His Counsels is not only folly in
 
 Religio Medici 15 
 
 man, but presumption even in Angels. Like us, they 
 are His Servants, not His Senators ; He holds no 
 Counsel, but that mystical one of the Trinity, wherein, 
 though there be three Persons, there is but one mind 
 that decrees without contradiction. Nor needs He 
 any : His actions are not begot with deliberation, His 
 Wisdom naturally knows what's best ; His intellect 
 stands ready fraught with the superlative and purest 
 Ideas of goodness ; consultation and election, which are 
 two motions in us, make but one in Him, His actions 
 springing from His power at the first touch of His 
 will. These are Contemplations metaphysical : my 
 humble speculations have another Method, and are 
 content to trace and discover those expressions He 
 hath left in His Creatures, and the obvious effects of 
 Nature. There is no danger to profound these mys- 
 teries, no sanctum sanctorum in Philosophy. The World 
 was made to be inhabited by Beasts, but studied and 
 contemplated by Man : 'tis the Debt of our Reason we 
 owe unto GOD, and the homage we pay for not being 
 Beasts. Without this, the World is still as though it 
 had not been, or as it was before the sixth day, when 
 as yet there was not a Creature that could conceive or 
 say there was a World. The Wisdom of GOD receives 
 small honour from those vulgar Heads that rudely 
 stare about, and with a gross rusticity admire His 
 works : those highly magnifie Him, whose judicious 
 inquiry into His Acts, and deliberate research into His 
 Creatures, return the duty of a devout and learned 
 admiration. Therefore, 
 
 Search while them wilt, and let thy Reason go, 
 
 To ransome Truth, even to th' Abyss below; 
 
 Rally the scattered Causes ; and that line, 
 
 Which Nature twists, be able to untwine. 
 
 It is thy Makers will, for unto none 
 
 But unto Reason can He e'er be known. 
 
 The Devils do know Thee, but those damned Meteors 
 
 Build not Thy Glory, but confound Thy Creatures. 
 
 Teach my indeavours so Thy works to read, 
 
 That learning them in Thee, I may proceed. 
 
 Give Thou my reason that instructive flight, 
 
 Whose weary wings may on Thy hands still light
 
 1 6 Religio Medici 
 
 Teach me to soar aloft, yet ever so 
 
 When neer the Sun, to stoop again below. 
 
 Thus shall my humble Feathers safely hover, 
 
 And, though near Earth, more than the Heavens discover. 
 
 And then at last, when homeward I shall drive, 
 
 Rich with the Spoils of Nature, to my Hive, 
 
 There will I sit like that industrious Flie, 
 
 Buzzing Thy praises, which shall never die, 
 
 Till Death abrupts them, and succeeding Glory 
 
 Bid me go on in a more lasting story. 
 
 And this is almost all wherein an humble Creature 
 may endeavour to requite and some way to retribute 
 unto his Creator : for if not he that saith, " Lord, Lord," 
 but he that doth the will of his Father, shall be saved ; 
 certainly our wills must be our performances, and our 
 intents make out our Actions ; otherwise our pious 
 labours shall find anxiety in our Graves, and our best 
 endeavours not hope, but fear, a resurrection. 
 
 There is but one first cause, and four second causes 
 of all things. Some are without efficient, as GOD ; 
 others without matter, as Angels ; some without form, 
 as the first matter : but every Essence, created or 
 uncreated, hath its final cause, and some positive end 
 both of its Essence and Operation. This is the cause 
 I grope after in the works of Nature ; on this hangs 
 the Providence of GOD. To raise so beauteous a 
 structure as the World and the Creatures thereof, was 
 but His Art ; but their sundry and divided operations, 
 with their predestinated ends, are from the Treasure 
 of His Wisdom. In the causes, nature, and affections 
 of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon, there is most 
 excellent speculation ; but to profound farther, and to 
 contemplate a reason why His Providence hath so 
 disposed and ordered their motions in that vast circle 
 as to conjoyn and obscure each other, is a sweeter 
 piece of Reason, and a diviner point of Philosophy. 
 Therefore sometimes, and in some things, there 
 appears to me as much Divinity in Galen his books 
 De Usu Partium, as in Suarez Metaphysicks. Had 
 Aristotle been as curious in the enquiry of this cause 
 as he was of the other, he had not left behind him an
 
 Religio Medici 17 
 
 imperfect piece of Philosophy, but an absolute tract of 
 Divinity. 
 
 Nattira nihil agit fnistra, is the only indisputed 
 Axiome in Philosophy. There are no Grotesques in 
 Nature ; not anything framed to fill up empty Cantons, 
 and unnecessary spaces. In the most imperfect 
 Creatures, and such as were not preserved in the Ark, 
 but, having their Seeds and Principles in the womb of 
 Nature, are everywhere, where the power of the Sun 
 is, in these is the Wisdom of His hand discovered. 
 Out of this rank Solomon chose the object of his 
 admiration. Indeed, what Reason may not go to 
 School to the wisdom of Bees, Ants, and Spiders ? 
 what wise hand teacheth them to do what Reason 
 cannot teach us ? T Ruder heads stand amazed at those 
 prodigious pieces of Nature, Whales, Elephants, 
 Dromidaries and Camels ; these, I confess, are the 
 Colossus and majestick pieces of her hand : but in 
 these narrow Engines there is more curious Mathe- 
 maticks ; and the civility of these little Citizens more 
 neatly sets forth the Wisdom of their Maker. Who 
 admires not Regio-Montanus his Fly beyond his Eagle, 
 or wonders not more at the operation of two Souls in 
 those little Bodies, than but one in the Trunk of a 
 Cedar ? I could never content my contemplation with 
 those general pieces of wonder, the Flux and Reflux 
 of the Sea, the increase of Nile, the conversion of the 
 Needle to the North ; and have studied to match and 
 and parallel those in the more obvious and neglected 
 pieces of Nature, which without further travel I can 
 do in the Cosmography of myself. We carry with us 
 the wonders we seek without us : there is all Africa 
 and her prodigies in us ; we are that bold and ad- 
 venturous piece of Nature, which he that studies 
 wisely learns in a compendium what others labour at 
 in a divided piece and endless volume. 
 
 Thus there are two Books from whence I collect 
 my Divinity ; besides that written one of GOD, another 
 of His servant Nature, that universal and publick 
 Manuscript, that lies expans'd unto the Eyes of all: 
 
 B
 
 1 8 Religio Medici 
 
 those that never saw him in the one, have disco ver'd 
 Him in the other. This was the Scripture and 
 Theology of the Heathens : the natural motion of the 
 Sun made them more admire Him than its supernatural 
 station did the Children of Israel ; the ordinary effects 
 of Nature wrought more admiration in them than in 
 the other all His Miracles. Surely the Heathens 
 knew better how to joyn and read these mystical 
 Letters than we Christians, who cast a more careless 
 Eye on these common Hieroglyphicks, and disdain to 
 suck Divinity from the flowers of Nature. Nor do I 
 so forget GOD as to adore the name of Nature ; which 
 I define not, with the Schools, to be the principle of 
 motion and rest, but that streight and regular line, 
 that settled and constant course the Wisdom of GOD 
 hath ordained the actions of His creatures, according 
 to their several kinds. To make a revolution every 
 day is the Nature of the Sun, because of that 
 necessary course which GOD hath ordained it, from 
 which it cannot swerve but by a faculty from that 
 voice which first did give it motion. Now this course 
 of Nature GOD seldome alters or perverts, but, like an 
 excellent Artist, hath so contrived His work, that with 
 the self same instrument, without a new creation, He 
 may effect His obscurest designs. Thus He sweetneth 
 the Water with a Wood, preserveth the Creatures in 
 the Ark, which the blast of His mouth might have as 
 easily created ; for GOD is like a skilful Geometrician, 
 who, when more easily and with one stroak of his 
 Compass he might describe or divide a right line, had 
 yet rather do this in a circle or longer way, according 
 to the constituted and fore-laid principles of his Art. 
 Yet this rule of His He doth sometimes pervert, to 
 acquaint the World with His Prerogative, lest the 
 arrogancy of our reason should question His power, 
 and conclude He could not. And thus I call the 
 effects of Nature the works of GOD, Whose hand and 
 instrument she only is ; and therefore to ascribe His 
 actions unto her, is to devolve the honour of the 
 principal agent upon the instrument ; which if with
 
 Religio Medici 19 
 
 reason we may do, then let our hammers rise up and 
 boast they have built our houses, and our pens receive 
 the honour of our writings. I hold there is a general 
 beauty in the works of GOD, and therefore no deform- 
 ity in any kind or species of creature whatsoever. I 
 cannot tell by what Logick we call a Toad, a Bear, or 
 an Elephant ugly; they being created in those out- 
 ward shapes and figures which best express the actions 
 of their inward forms, and having past that general 
 Visitation of GOD, Who saw that all that He had 
 made was good, that is, conformable to His Will, 
 which abhors deformity, and is the rule of order and 
 beauty. There is no deformity but in Monstrosity ; 
 wherein, notwithstanding, there is a kind of Beauty; 
 Nature so ingeniously contriving the irregular parts, 
 as they become sometimes more remarkable than the 
 principal Fabrick. To speak yet more narrowly, there 
 was never any thing ugly or mis-shapen, but the 
 Chaos ; wherein, notwithstanding, (to speak strictly,) 
 there was no deformity, because no form ; nor was it 
 yet impregnant by the Toice of GOD. Now Nature is 
 not at variance with Art, nor Art with Nature, they 
 being both servants of His Providence. Art is the 
 perfection of Nature. Were the World now as it was 
 the sixth day, there were yet a Chaos. Nature hath 
 made one World, and Art another. In brief, all things 
 are artificial ; for Nature is the Art of GOD. 
 
 This is the ordinary and open way of His Providence, 
 which Art and Industry have in a good part dis- 
 covered; whose effects we may foretel without an 
 Oracle : to foreshew these, is not Prophesie, but Prog- 
 nostication. There is another way, full of Meanders 
 and Labyrinths, whereof the Devil and Spirits have 
 no exact Ephemerides ; and that is a more particular 
 and obscure method of His Providence, directing the 
 operations of individuals and single Essences : this we 
 call Fortune, that serpentine and crooked line, whereby 
 He draws those actions His Wisdom intends, in a 
 more unknown and secret way. This cryptick and 
 involved method of His Providence have I ever
 
 2O Religio Medici 
 
 admired ; nor can I relate the History of my life, the 
 occurrences of my days, the escapes of dangers, and 
 hits of chance, with a Bezo las Manos to Fortune, or a 
 bare Gramercy to my good Stars. Abraham might have 
 thought the Ram in the thicket came thither by acci- 
 dent ; humane reason would have said that meer chance 
 conveyed Moses in the Ark to the sight of Pharaoh's 
 Daughter : what a Labyrinth is there in the story of 
 Joseph, able to convert a Stoick ! Surely there are in 
 every man's Life certain rubs, doublings, and wrenches, 
 which pass a while under the effects of chance, but at 
 the last, well examined, prove the meer hand of GOD. 
 'Twas not dumb chance, that, to discover the Fougade 
 or Powder-plot, contrived a miscarriage in the Letter. 
 I like the Victory of '88 the better for that one occur- 
 rence, which our enemies imputed to our dishonour 
 and the partiality of Fortune, to wit, the tempests and 
 contrariety of Winds. King Philip did not detract 
 from the Nation, when he said, he sent his Armado to 
 fight with men, and not to combate with the Winds. Where 
 there is a manifest disproportion between the powers 
 and forces of two several agents, upon a Maxime of 
 reason we may promise the victory to the Superiour ; 
 but when unexpected accidents slip in, and unthought 
 of occurrences intervene, these must proceed from a 
 power that owes no obedience to those Axioms; where, 
 as in the writing upon the wall, we may behold the 
 hand, but see not the spring that moves it. The suc- 
 cess of that petty Province of Holland (of which the 
 Grand Seignour proudly said, if they should trouble him 
 as they did the Spaniard, he would send his men with shovels 
 and pick-axes, and throw it into the Sea,} I cannot alto- 
 gether ascribe to the ingenuity and industry of the 
 people, but the mercy of GOD, that hath disposed them 
 to such a thriving Genius ; and to the will of His 
 Providence, that disposeth her favour to each Country 
 in their pre-ordinate season. All cannot be happy at 
 once ; for, because the glory of one State depends upon 
 the ruine of another, there is a revolution and vicissitude 
 of their greatness, and must obey the swing of that
 
 Religio Medici 21 
 
 wheel, not moved by Intelligences, but by the hand of 
 GOD, whereby all Estates arise to their Zenith and 
 Vertical points according to their predestinated periods. 
 For the lives, not only of men, but of Commonwealths, 
 and the whole World, run not upon an Helix that still 
 enlargeth, but on a Circle, where, arriving to their 
 Meridian, they decline in obscurity, and fall under the 
 Horizon again. 
 
 These must not therefore be named the effects of 
 Fortune, but in a relative way, and as we term the 
 works of Nature. It was the ignorance of man's reason 
 that begat this very name, and by a careless term mis- 
 called the Providence of GOD ; for there is no liberty 
 for causes to operate in a loose and stragling way ; nor 
 any effect whatsoever, but hath its warrant from some 
 universal or superiour Cause. 'Tis not a ridiculous 
 devotion to say a prayer before a game at Tables ; for 
 even in sortilegies and matters of greatest uncertainty, 
 there is a setled and pre-ordered course of effects. It is 
 we that are blind, not Fortune : because our Eye is too 
 dim to discover the mystery of her effects, we foolishly 
 paint her blind, and hoodwink the Providence of the 
 Almighty. I cannot justifie that contemptible Proverb, 
 That fools only are Fortunate, or that insolent Paradox, 
 That a wise man is out of the reach of Fortune ; much less 
 those opprobrious epithets of Poets, Whore, Bawd, and 
 Strumpet. 'Tis, I confess, the common fate of men of 
 singular gifts of mind to be destitute of those of 
 Fortune, which doth not any way deject the Spirit of 
 wiser judgements, who thoroughly understand the 
 justice of this proceeding; and being inriched with 
 higher donatives, cast a more careless eye on these 
 vulgar parts of felicity. It is a most unjust ambition 
 to desire to engross the mercies of the Almighty, not to 
 be content with the goods of mind, without a possession 
 of those of body or Fortune ; and it is an error worse 
 than heresie, to adore these complemental and circum- 
 stantial pieces of felicity, and undervalue those per- 
 fections and essential points of happiness wherein we 
 resemble our Maker. To wiser desires it is satisfaction
 
 22 Religio Medici 
 
 enough to deserve, though not to enjoy, the favours of 
 Fortune : let Providence provide for Fools. 'Tis not 
 partiality, but equity in GOD, Who deals with us but 
 as our natural Parents : those that are able of Body 
 and Mind He leaves to their deserts; to those of weaker 
 merits He imparts a larger portion, and pieces out the 
 defect of one by the excess of the other. Thus have 
 we no just quarrel with Nature for leaving us naked ; 
 or to envy the Horns, Hoofs, Skins, and Furs of other 
 Creatures, being provided with Reason, that can supply 
 them all. We need not labour with so many Argu- 
 ments to confute Judicial Astrology ; for, if there be a 
 truth therein, it doth not injure Divinity. If to be born 
 under Mercury disposeth us to be witty, under Jupiter 
 to be wealthy ; I do not owe a Knee unto these, but 
 unto that merciful Hand that hath ordered my in- 
 different and uncertain nativity unto such benevolous 
 Aspects. Those that hold that all things are governed 
 by Fortune, had not erred, had they not persisted 
 there. The Romans, that erected a Temple to Fortune, 
 acknowledged therein, though in a blinder way, some- 
 what of Divinity ; for, in a wise supputation, all things 
 begin and end in the Almighty. There is a nearer 
 way to Heaven than Homer's Chain ; an easie Logic 
 may conjoyn Heaven and Earth in one Argument, and 
 with less than a Sorites resolve all things into GOD. 
 For though we christen effects by their most sensible 
 and nearest Causes, yet is GOD the true and infallible 
 Cause of all ; whose concourse, though it be general, 
 yet doth it subdivide itself into the particular Actions 
 of every thing, and is that Spirit, by which each 
 singular Essence not only subsists, but performs its 
 operation. 
 
 The bad construction and perverse comment on 
 these pair of second Causes, or visible hands of GOD, 
 have perverted the Devotion of many unto Atheism ; 
 who, forgetting the honest Advisees of Faith, have 
 listened unto the conspiracy of Passion and Reason. 
 I have therefore always endeavoured to compose those 
 Feuds and angry Dissentions between Affection, Faith ;
 
 Religio Medici 23 
 
 and Reason ; for there is in our Soul a kind of Trium- 
 virate, or triple Government of three Competitors, 
 which distract the Peace of this our Commonwealth, 
 not less than did that other the State of Rome. 
 
 As Reason is a Rebel unto Faith, so Passion unto 
 Reason : as the propositions of Faith seem absurd unto 
 Reason, so the Theorems of Reason unto Passion, 
 and both unto Reason. Yet a moderate and peaceable 
 discretion may so state and order the matter, that they 
 may be all Kings, and yet make but one Monarchy, 
 every one exercising his Soveraignty and Prerogative 
 in a due time and place, according to the restraint and 
 limit of circumstance. There is, as in Philosophy, so 
 in Divinity, sturdy doubts and boisterous Objections, 
 wherewith the unhappiness of our knowledge too nearly 
 acquainteth us. More of these no man hath known 
 than myself, which I confess I conquered, not in a 
 martial posture, but on my Knees. For our endeavours 
 are not only to combat with doubts, but always to 
 dispute with the Devil. The villany of that Spirit 
 takes a hint of Infidelity from our Studies, and, by 
 demonstrating a naturality in one way, makes us mis- 
 trust a miracle in another. Thus, having perused the 
 Archidoxis and read the secret Sympathies of things, 
 he would disswade my belief from the miracle of the 
 Brazen Serpent, make me conceit that Image worked 
 by Sympathy, and was but an ^Egyptian trick to cure 
 their Diseases without a miracle. Again, having seen 
 some experiments of Bitumen, and having read far more 
 of Naphtha, he whispered to my curiosity the fire of the 
 Altar might be natural ; and bid me mistrust a miracle 
 in Elias, when he entrenched the Altar round with 
 Water ; for that inflamable substance yields not easily 
 unto Water, but flames in the Arms of its Antagonist. 
 And thus would he inveagle my belief to think the 
 combustion of Sodom might be natural, and that there 
 was an Asphaltick and Bituminous nature in that Lake 
 before the Fire of Gomorrah. I know that Manna is 
 now plentifully gathered in Calabria ; and Josephus 
 tells me, in his days it was as plentiful in Arabia ; the
 
 24 Religio Medici 
 
 Devil therefore made the quare, Where was then the 
 miracle in the days of Moses ? the Israelites saw but that in 
 his time, the Natives of those Countries behold in ours. 
 Thus the Devil played at Chess with me, and yielding 
 a Pawn, thought to gain a Queen of me, taking advan- 
 tage of my honest endeavours ; and whilst I laboured 
 to raise the structure of my Reason, he strived to 
 undermine the edifice of my Faith. 
 
 Neither had these or any other ever such advantage 
 of me, as to incline me to any point of Infidelity or 
 desperate positions of Atheism ; for .1 have been these 
 many years of opinion there was never any. Those 
 that held Religion was the difference of Man from 
 Beasts, have spoken probably, and proceed upon a 
 principle as inductive as the other. That doctrine of 
 Epicurus, that denied the Providence of GOD, was no 
 Atheism, but a magnificent and high strained conceit 
 of His Majesty, which he deemed too sublime to mind 
 the trivial Actions of those inferiour Creatures. That 
 aftal Necessity of the Stoicks is nothing but the immu- 
 table Law of His Will. Those that heretofore denied 
 the Divinity of the HOLY GHOST, have been con- 
 demned but as Hereticks ; and those that now deny 
 our Saviour, (though more than Hereticks,) are not so 
 much as Atheists ; for, though they deny two persons 
 in the Trinity, they hold, as we do, there is but one 
 GOD. 
 
 That Villain and Secretary of Hell, that composed 
 that miscreant piece Of tlie Three Impostors, though 
 divided from all Religions, and was neither Jew, Turk, 
 nor Christian, was not a positive Atheist. I confess 
 every Country hath its Machiavel, every Age its 
 Lucian, whereof common Heads must not hear, nor 
 more advanced Judgments too rashly venture on : it 
 is the Rhetorick of Satan, and may pervert a loose or 
 prejudicate belief. 
 
 I confess I have perused them all, and can discover 
 nothing that may startle a discreet belief ; yet are 
 there heads carried off with the Wind and breath of 
 such motives. I remember a Doctor in Physick, of
 
 Religio Medici 25 
 
 Italy, who could not perfectly believe the immortality 
 of the Soul, because Galen seemed to make a doubt 
 thereof. With another I was familiarly acquainted in 
 France, a Divine, and a man of singular parts, that on 
 the same point was so plunged and gravelled with three 
 lines of Seneca, that all our Antidotes, drawn from 
 both Scripture and Philosophy, could not expel the 
 poyson of his errour. There are a set of Heads, that 
 can credit the relations of Mariners, yet question the 
 Testimonies of St. Paul; and peremptorily maintain 
 the traditions of ^Elian or Pliny, yet in Histories of 
 Scripture raise Queries and Objections, believing no 
 more than they can parallel in humane Authors. I 
 confess there are in Scripture Stories that do exceed 
 the Fables of Poets, and to a captious Reader sound 
 like Garagantua or Bevis. Search all the Legends of 
 times past, and the fabulous conceits of these present, 
 and 'twill be hard to find one that deserves to carry 
 the Buckler unto Sampson ; yet is all this of an easie 
 possibility, if we conceive a Divine concourse, or an 
 influence but from the little Finger of the Almighty. 
 It is impossible that either in the discourse of man, or 
 in the infallible Voice of GOD, to the weakness of our 
 apprehensions, there should not appear irregularities, 
 contradictions, and antinomies : my self could shew a 
 Catalogue of doubts, never yet imagined nor ques- 
 tioned, as I know, which are not resolved at the first 
 hearing ; not fantastick Queries or Objections of Air ; 
 for I cannot hear of Atoms in Divinity. I can read 
 the History of the Pigeon that was sent out of the 
 Ark, and returned no more, yet not question how she 
 found out her Mate that was left behind : that Lazarus 
 was raised from the dead, yet not demand where in the 
 interim his Soul awaited ; or raise a Law-case, whether 
 his Heir might lawfully detain his inheritance be- 
 queathed unto him by his death, and he, though 
 restored to life, have no Plea or Title unto his former 
 possessions. Whether Eve was framed out of the 
 left side of Adam, I dispute not ; because I stand not 
 yet assured.which is the right side of a man, or whether
 
 26 Religio Medici 
 
 there be any such distinction in Nature : that she was 
 edified out of the Rib of Adam I believe, yet raise no 
 question who shall arise with that Rib at the Resur- 
 rection. Whether Adam was an Hermaphrodite, as 
 the Rabbins contend upon the Letter of the Text, 
 because it is contrary to reason, there should be an 
 Hermaphrodite before there was a Woman, or a com- 
 position of two Natures before there was a second 
 composed. Likewise, whether the World was created 
 in Autumn, Summer, or the Spring, because it was 
 created in them all ; for whatsoever Sign the Sun pos- 
 sesseth, those four Seasons are actually existent. It 
 is the nature of this Luminary to distinguish the 
 several Seasons of the year, all which it makes at one 
 time in the whole Earth, and successive in any part 
 thereof. There are a bundle of curiosities, not only in 
 Philosophy, but in Divinity, proposed and discussed 
 by men of most supposed abilities, which indeed are 
 not worthy our vacant hours, much less our serious 
 Studies: Pieces only fit to be placed in PantagrueVs 
 Library, or bound up with Tartaretus De modo Cacandi. 
 
 These are niceties that become not those that peruse 
 so serious a Mystery. There are others more generally 
 questioned and called to the Bar, yet methinks of an 
 easie and possible truth. 
 
 Tis ridiculous to put off or drown the general Flood 
 of Noah in that particular inundation of Deucalion. 
 That there was a Deluge once, seems not to me so 
 great a Miracle, as that there is not one always. How 
 all the kinds of Creatures, not only in their own bulks, 
 but with a competency of food and sustenance, might 
 be preserved in one Ark, and within the extent of 
 three hundred Cubits, to a reason that rightly examines 
 it, will appear very feasible. There is another secret, 
 not contained in the Scripture, which is more hard to 
 comprehend, and put the honest Father to the refuge 
 of a Miracle ; and that is, not only how the distinct 
 pieces of the World, and divided Islands, should be 
 first planted by men, but inhabited by Tigers, Panthers, 
 and Bears. How America abounded with Beasts of
 
 Religio Medici 27 
 
 prey and noxious Animals, yet contained not in it that 
 necessary Creature, a Horse, is very strange. By 
 what passage those, not only Birds, but dangerous and 
 unwelcome Beasts, came over ; how there be Creatures 
 there, which are not found in this Triple Continent ; 
 (all which must needs be strange unto us, that hold but 
 one Ark, and that the Creatures began their progress 
 from the Mountains of Ararat:) they who, to salve 
 this, would make the Deluge particular, proceed upon 
 a principle that I can no way grant ; not only upon the 
 negative of Holy Scriptures, but of mine own Reason, 
 whereby I can make it probable, that the world was 
 as well peopled in the time of Noah as in ours ; and 
 fifteen hundred years to people the World, as full a 
 time for them, as four thousand years since have been 
 to us. 
 
 There are other assertions and common Tenents 
 drawn from Scripture, and generally believed as Scrip- 
 ture, whereunto, notwithstanding, I would never betray 
 the liberty of my Reason. 'Tis a Postulate to me, 
 that Methusalem was the longest liv'd of all the 
 Children of Adam ; and no man will be able to prove 
 it, when, from the process of the Text, I can manifest 
 it may be otherwise. That Judas perished by hanging 
 himself, there is no certainty in Scripture : though in 
 one place it seems to affirm it, and by a doubtful word 
 hath given occasion to translate it ; yet in another 
 place, in a more punctual description, it makes it 
 improbable, and seems to overthrow it. That our 
 Fathers, after the Flood, erected the Tower of Babel 
 to preserve themselves against a second Deluge, is 
 generally opinioned and believed ; yet is there another 
 intention of theirs expressed in Scripture : besides, it 
 is improbable from the circumstance of the place, 
 that is, a plain in the Land of Shinar. These are no 
 points of Faith, and therefore may admit a free 
 dispute. 
 
 There are yet others, and those familiarly concluded 
 from the text, wherein (under favour,) I see no conse- 
 quence. The Church of Rome confidently proves the
 
 28 Religio Medici 
 
 opinion of Tutelary Angels from that Answer, when 
 Peter knockt at the Door, 'Tis not he, but his Angel ; 
 that is, (might some say,) his Messenger, or some body 
 from him ; for so the Original signifies, and is as 
 likely to be the doubtful Families meaning. This 
 exposition I once suggested to a young Divine, that 
 answered upon this point ; to which I remember the 
 Franciscan Opponent replyed no more, but That it was 
 a new, and no authentick interpretation. 
 
 These are but the conclusions and fallible discourses 
 of man upon the Word of GOD, for such I do believe 
 the Holy Scriptures : yet, were it of man, I could not 
 chuse but say, it was the singularest and superlative 
 piece that hath been extant since the Creation. Were 
 I a Pagan, I should not refrain the Lecture of it ; and 
 cannot but commend the judgment of Ptolomy, that 
 thought not his Library compleat without it. The 
 Alcoran of the Turks (I speak without prejudice,) is 
 an ill composed Piece, containing in it vain and 
 ridiculous Errors in Philosophy, impossibilities, fictions, 
 and vanities beyond laughter, maintained by evident 
 and open Sophisms, the Policy of Ignorance, deposition 
 of Universities, and banishment of Learning, that 
 hath gotten Foot by Arms and violence : this without 
 a blow hath disseminated it self through the whole 
 Earth. It is not unremarkable what Philo first 
 observed, that the Law of Moses continued two 
 thousand years without the least alteration ; whereas, 
 we see the Laws of other Common-weals do alter with 
 occasions ; and even those that pretended their original 
 from some Divinity, to have vanished without trace or 
 memory. I believe, besides Zoroaster, there were 
 divers that writ before Moses, who, notwithstanding, 
 have suffered the common fate of time. Mens Works 
 have an age like themselves ; and though they out-live 
 their Authors, yet have they a stint and period to their 
 duration : this only is a work too hard for the teeth of 
 time, and cannot perish but in the general Flames, 
 when all things shall confess their Ashes. 
 
 I have heard some with deep sighs lament the lost
 
 Religio Medici 29 
 
 lines of Cicero ; others with as many groans deplore 
 the combustion of the Library of Alexandria : for my 
 own part, I think there be too many in the World, and 
 could with patience behold the urn and ashes of the 
 Vatican, could I, with a few others, recover the perished 
 leaves of Solomon. I would not omit a Copy of 
 Enoch's Pillars, had they many nearer Authors than 
 Josephus, or did not relish somewhat of the Fable. 
 Some men have written more than others have spoken ; 
 Pineda quotes more Authors in one work, than are 
 necessary in a whole World. Of those three great 
 inventions in Germany, there are two which are not 
 without their incommodities, and 'tis disputable whether 
 they exceed not their use and commodities. 'Tis not 
 a melancholy Utinam of my own, but the desires of 
 better heads, that there were a general Synod ; not to 
 unite the incompatible difference of Religion, but for 
 the benefit of learning, to reduce it as it lay at first, in 
 a few and solid Authors ; and to condemn to the fire 
 those swarms and millions of Rhapsodies, begotten 
 only to distract and abuse the weaker judgements of 
 Scholars, and to maintain the trade and mystery of 
 Typographers. 
 
 I cannot but wonder with what exception the 
 Samaritans could confine their belief to the Penta- 
 teuch, or five Books of Moses. I am ashamed at the 
 Rabbinical Interpretation of the Jews upon the Old 
 Testament, as much as their defection from the New : 
 and truly it is beyond wonder, how that contemptible 
 and degenerate issue of Jacob, once so devoted to 
 Ethnick Superstition, and so easily seduced to the 
 Idolatry of their Neighbours, should now in such an 
 obstinate and peremptory belief adhere unto their own 
 Doctrine, expect impossibilities, and, in the face and 
 eye of the Church, persist without the least hope of 
 Conversion. This is a vice in them, that were a vertue 
 in us ; for obstinacy in a bad Cause is but constancy 
 in a good. And herein I must accuse those of my 
 own Religion, for there is not any of such a fugitive 
 Faith, such an unstable belief, as a Christian ; none
 
 30 Religio Medici 
 
 that do so oft transform themselves, not unto several 
 shapes of Christianity and of the same Species, but 
 unto more unnatural and contrary Forms of Jew and 
 IWahometan ; that, from the name of Saviour, can 
 condescend to the bare term of Prophet ; and, from an 
 old belief that He is come, fall to a new expectation 
 of His coming. It is the promise of CHRIST to make 
 us all one Flock ; but how and when this Union shall 
 be, is as obscure to me as the last day. Of those four 
 Members of Religion we hold a slender proportion. 
 There are, I confess, some new additions, yet small to 
 those which accrew to our Adversaries, and those only 
 drawn from the revolt of Pagans, men but of negative 
 Impieties, and such as deny CHRIST, but because they 
 never heard of Him. But the Religion of the Jew is 
 expressly against the Christian, and the Mahometan 
 against both. For the Turk, in the bulk he now 
 stands, he is beyond all hope of conversion ; if he fall 
 asunder, there may be conceived hopes, but not with- 
 out strong improbabilities. The Jew is obstinate in 
 all fortune ; the persecution of fifteen hundred years 
 hath but confirmed them in their Errour : they have 
 already endured whatsoever may be inflicted, and 
 have suffered in a bad cause, even to the condemnation 
 of their enemies. Persecution is a bad and indirect 
 way to plant Religion : it hath been the unhappy 
 method of angry Devotions, not only to confirm honest 
 Religion, but wicked Heresies, and extravagant 
 Opinions. It was the first stone and Basis of our 
 Faith; none can more justly boast of Persecutions, 
 and glory in the number and valour of Martyrs. For, 
 to speak properly, those are true and almost only 
 examples of fortitude : those that are fetch'd from the 
 field, or drawn from the actions of the Camp, are not 
 oft-times so truely precedents of valour as audacity, 
 and at the best attain but to some bastard piece of 
 fortitude. If we shall strictly examine the circum- 
 stances and requisites which Aristotle requires to true 
 and perfect valour, we shall find the name only in his 
 Master, Alexander, and as little in that Roman Worthy,
 
 Religio Medici 31 
 
 Julius Caesar ; and if any in that easie and active way 
 have done so nobly as to deserve that name, yet in the 
 passive and more terrible piece these have surpassed, 
 and in a more heroical way may claim the honour of 
 that Title. 'Tis not in the power of every honest 
 Faith to proceed thus far, or pass to Heaven 
 through the flames. Every one hath it not in that full 
 measure, nor in so audacious and resolute a temper, as 
 to endure those terrible tests and trials ; who, notwith- 
 standing, in a peaceable way, do truely adore their 
 Saviour, and have (no doubt,) a Faith acceptable in 
 the eyes of GOD. 
 
 Now, as all that dye in the War are not termed 
 Souldiers ; so neither can I properly term all those that 
 suffer in matters of Religion, Martyrs. The Council of 
 Constance condemns John Huss for an Heretick ; the 
 Stories of his own Party stile him a Martyr : he must 
 needs offend the Divinity of both, that says he was 
 neither the one nor the other. There are many 
 (questionless,) canonized on earth, that shall never be 
 Saints in Heaven ; and have their names in Histories 
 and Martyrologies, who in the eyes of GOD are not so 
 perfect Martyrs as was that wise Heathen, Socrates, 
 that suffered on a fundamental point of Religion, the 
 Unity of GOD. I have often pitied the miserable 
 Bishop that suffered in the cause of Antipodes ; yet 
 cannot chuse but accuse him of as much madness, for 
 exposing his living on such a trifle, as those of ignorance 
 and folly, that condemned him. I think my conscience 
 will not give me the lye, if I say there are not many 
 extant that in a noble way fear the face of death less 
 than myself ; yet, from the moral duty I owe to the 
 Commandment of GOD, and the natural respects that 
 I tender unto the conservation of my essence and 
 being, I would not perish upon a Ceremony, Politick 
 points, or indifferency : nor is my belief of that un- 
 tractible temper, as not to bow at their obstacles, or 
 connive at matters wherein there are not manifest im- 
 pieties. The leaven, therefore, and ferment of all, not 
 only civil but Religious actions, is Wisdom ; without
 
 32 Religio Medici 
 
 which, to commit ourselves to the flames is Homicide, 
 and (I fear,) but to pass through one fire into another. 
 That Miracles are ceased, I can neither prove, nor 
 absolutely deny, much less define the time and period 
 of their cessation. That they survived CHRIST, is 
 manifest upon the Record of Scripture ; that they out- 
 lived the Apostles also, and were revived at the Con- 
 version of Nations many years after, we cannot deny, 
 if we shall not question those Writers whose testi- 
 monies we do not controvert in points that make for 
 our own opinions. Therefore that may have some 
 truth in it that is reported by the Jesuites of their 
 Miracles in the Indies ; I could wish it were true, or 
 had any other testimony than their own Pens. They 
 may easily believe those Miracles abroad, who daily 
 conceive a greater at home, the transmutation of those 
 visible elements into the Body and Blood of our 
 Saviour. For the conversion of Water into Wine, 
 which He wrought in Cana, or, what the Devil would 
 have had Him done in the Wilderness, of Stones into 
 Bread, compared to this, will scarce deserve the name 
 of a Miracle : though indeed, to speak properly, there 
 is not one Miracle greater than another, they being the 
 extraordinary effects of the Hand of GOD, to which all 
 things are of an equal facility ; and to create the 
 World, as easie as one single Creature. For this is 
 also a Miracle, not onely to produce effects against or 
 above Nature, but before Nature ; and to create Nature, 
 as great a Miracle as to contradict or transcend her. 
 We do too narrowly define the Power of GOD, restrain- 
 ing it to our capacities. I hold that GOD can do all 
 things ; how He should work contradictions, I do not 
 understand, yet dare not therefore deny. I cannot see 
 why the Angel of GOD should question Esdras to recal 
 the time past, if it were beyond His own power ; or 
 that GOD should pose mortality in that which He was 
 not able to perform Himself. I will not say GOD 
 cannot, but He will not, perform many things, which 
 we plainly affirm He cannot. This, I am sure, is the 
 mannerliest proposition, wherein, notwithstanding, I
 
 Religio Medici 33 
 
 hold no Paradox ; for, strictly, His power is the same 
 with His will, and they both, with all the rest, do make 
 but one GOD. 
 
 Therefore that Miracles have been, I do believe ; 
 that they may yet be wrought by the living, I do not 
 deny ; but have no confidence in those which are 
 fathered on the dead. And this hath ever made me 
 suspect the efficacy of reliques, to examine the bones, 
 question the habits and appurtenances of Saints, and 
 even of CHRIST Himself. I cannot conceive why the 
 Cross that Helena found, and whereon CHRIST Him- 
 self dyed, should have power to restore others unto life. 
 I excuse not Constantine from a fall off his Horse, or 
 a mischief from his enemies, upon the wearing those 
 nails on his bridle, which our Saviour bore upon the 
 Cross in His Hands. I compute among your Pice 
 fraudes, nor many degrees before consecrated Swords 
 and Roses, that which Baldwyn, King of Jerusalem, 
 returned the Genovese for their cost and pains in his 
 War, to wit, the ashes of John the Baptist. Those 
 that hold the sanctity of their Souls doth leave behind 
 a tincture and sacred faculty on their bodies, speak 
 naturally of Miracles, and do not salve the doubt. 
 Now one reason I tender so little Devotion unto 
 Reliques, is, I think, the slender and doubtful respect 
 I have always held unto Antiquities. For that indeed 
 which I admire, is far before Antiquity, that is, 
 Eternity ; and that is, GOD Himself ; Who, though 
 He be styled the Ancient of Days, cannot receive the 
 adjunct of Antiquity; Who was before the World, 
 and shall be after it, yet is not older than it ; for in 
 His years there is no Climacter ; His duration is 
 Eternity, and far more venerable than Antiquity. 
 
 But above all things I wonder how the curiosity of 
 wiser heads could pass that great and indisputable 
 Miracle, the cessation of Oracles ; and in what swoun 
 their Reasons lay, to content themselves and sit down 
 with such a far-fetch'd and ridiculous reason as Plu- 
 tarch alleadgeth for it. The Jews, that can believe 
 the supernatural Solstice of the Sun in the days of 
 
 c
 
 34 Religio Medici 
 
 Joshua, have yet the impudence to deny the Eclipse^ 
 which every Pagan confessed, at His death : but for 
 this, it is evident beyond all contradiction, the Devil 
 himself confessed it. Certainly it is not a warrantable 
 curiosity, to examine the verity of Scripture by the 
 concordance of humane history, or seek to confirm the 
 Chronicle of Hester or Daniel, by the authority of 
 Megasthenes or Herodotus. I confess, I have had an 
 unhappy curiosity this way, till I laughed my self out 
 of it with a piece of Justine, where he delivers that the 
 Children of Israel for being scabbed were banished 
 out of Egypt. And truely since I have understood the 
 occurrences of the World, and know in what counter- 
 feit shapes and deceitful vizards times present repre- 
 sent on the stage things past, I do believe them little 
 more then things to come. Some have been of my 
 opinion, and endeavoured to write the History of their 
 own lives ; wherein Moses hath outgone them all, and 
 left not onely the story of his life, but (as some will 
 have it,) of his death also. 
 
 It is a riddle to me, how this story of Oracles hath 
 not worm'd out of the World that doubtful conceit of 
 Spirits and Witches ; how so many learned heads 
 should so far forget their Metaphysicks, and destroy 
 the ladder and scale of creatures, as to question the 
 existence of Spirits. For my part, I have ever believed 
 and do now know, that there are Witches : they that 
 doubt of these, do not onely deny them, but Spirits ; 
 and are obliquely and upon consequence a sort not of 
 Infidels, but Atheists. Those that to confute their 
 incredulity desire to see apparitions, shall questionless 
 never behold any, nor have the power to be so much 
 as Witches ; the Devil hath them already in a heresie 
 as capital as Witchcraft ; and to appear to them, were 
 but to convert them. Of all the delusions wherewith 
 he deceives mortality, there is not any that puzzleth 
 me more than the Legerdemain of Changelings. I do 
 not credit those transformations of reasonable creatures 
 into beasts, or that the Devil hath a power to transpe- 
 ciate a man into a Horse, who tempted CHRIST (as a
 
 Religio Medici 35 
 
 trial of His Divinity,) to convert but stones into bread. 
 I could believe that Spirits use wfth man the act of 
 carnality, and that in both sexes ; I conceive they may 
 assume, steal, or contrive a body, wherein there may 
 be action enough to content decrepit lust, or passion 
 to satisfie more, active veneries ; yet, in both, without 
 a possibility or generation : and therefore that opinion 
 that Antichrist should be born of the Tribe of Dan by 
 conjunction with the Divil, is ridiculous, and a conceit 
 fitter for a Rabbin than a Christian. I hold that the 
 Devil doth really possess some men, the spirit of 
 Melancholly others, the spirit of Delusion others ; 
 that, as the Devil is concealed and denyed by some, 
 so GOD and good Angels are pretended by others, 
 whereof the late defection of the Maid of Germany 
 hath left a pregnant example. 
 
 Again, I believe that all that use sorceries, incanta- 
 tions, and spells, are not Witches, or, as we term them, 
 Magicians. I conceive there is a traditional Magick, 
 not learned immediately from the Devil, but at second 
 hand from his Scholars, who, having once the secret 
 betrayed, are able, and do emperically practise without 
 his advice, they both proceeding upon the principles of 
 Nature ; where actives, aptly conjoyned to disposed 
 passives, will under any Master produce their effects. 
 Thus I think at first a great part of Philosophy was 
 Witchcraft ; which, being afterward derived to one 
 another, proved but Philosophy, and was indeed no 
 more but the honest effects of Nature : what, invented 
 by us, is Philosophy, learned from him, is Magick. 
 We do surely owe the discovery of many secrets to 
 the discovery of good and bad Angels. I could never 
 pass that sentence of Paracelsus without an asterisk 
 or annotation ; Asccndens constellatum multa revelat qua- 
 rcntibiis magnolia nature, (i.e. opera DEI.) I do think 
 that many mysteries ascribed to our own inventions 
 have been the courteous revelations of Spirits; (for 
 those noble essences in Heaven bear a friendly regard 
 unto their fellow Natures on Earth ;) and therefore 
 believe that those many prodigies and ominous prog-
 
 36 Religio Medici 
 
 nosticks, which fore-run the mines of States, Princes, 
 and private persons, are the charitable premonitions of 
 good Angels, which more careless enquiries term but 
 the effects of chance and nature. 
 
 Now, besides these particular and divided Spirits, 
 there may be (for ought I know,) an universal and 
 common Spirit to the whole World. It was the opinion 
 of Plato, and it is yet of the Hermetical Philosophers. 
 If there be a common nature that unites and tyes the 
 scattered and divided individuals into one species, why 
 may there not be one that unites them all ? However, 
 I am sure there is a common Spirit that plays within 
 us, yet makes no part of us ; and that is, the Spirit of 
 GOD, the fire and scintillation of that noble and mighty 
 Essence, which is the life and radical heat of Spirits, 
 and those essences that know not the vertue of the 
 Sun ; a fire quite contrary to the fire of Hell. This is 
 that gentle heat that brooded on the waters, and in six 
 days hatched the World ; this is that irradiation that 
 dispels the mists of Hell, the clouds of horrour, fear, 
 sorrow, despair ; and preserves the region of the mind 
 in serenity. Whosoever feels not the warm gale and 
 gentle ventilation of this Spirit, though I feel his pulse, 
 I dare not say he lives : for truely, without this, to me 
 there is no heat under the Tropick ; nor any light, 
 though I dwelt in the body of the Sun. 
 
 As, when the labouring Sun hath wrought his track 
 
 Up to the top of lofty Cancers back, 
 
 The ycie Ocean cracks, the frozen pole 
 
 Thaws with the heat of the Celestial coale ; 
 
 So, when Thy absent beams begin t' impart 
 
 Again a Solstice on my frozen heart, 
 
 My winter's ov'r, my drooping spirits sing, 
 
 And every part revives into a Spring. 
 
 But if Thy quickning beams a while decline, 
 
 And with their light bless not this Orb of mine, 
 
 A chilly frost surpriseth every member, 
 
 And in the midst of June I feel December. 
 
 O how this earthly temper both debase 
 
 The noble Soul, in this her humble place ; 
 
 Whose wingy nature ever doth aspire 
 
 To reach that place whence first it took its fire.
 
 Religio Medici 37 
 
 These flames I feel, which in my heart do dwell, 
 Are not Thy beams, but take their fire from Hell : 
 O quench them all, and let Thy Light divine 
 Be as the Sun to this poor Orb of mine ; 
 And to Thy sacred Spirit convert those fires, 
 Whose earthly fumes choak my devout aspires. 
 
 Therefore for Spirits, I am so far from denying 
 their existence, that I could easily believe, that not 
 onely whole Countries, but particular persons, have 
 their Tutelary and Guardian Angels. It is not a new 
 opinion of the Church of Rome, but an old one of 
 Pythagoras and Plato ; there is no heresie in it ; and 
 if not manifestly defin'd in Scripture, yet is it an 
 opinion of a good and wholesome use in the course 
 and actions of a mans life, and would serve as an 
 Hypothesis to salve many doubts, whereof common 
 Philosophy affordeth no solution. Now, if you demand 
 my opinion and Metaphy sicks of their natures, I 
 confess them very shallow ; most of them in a negative 
 way, like that of GOD ; or in a comparative, between 
 ourselves and fellow-creatures ; for there is in this 
 Universe a Stair, or manifest Scale of creatures, rising 
 not disorderly, or in confusion, but with a comely 
 method and proportion. Between creatures of meer 
 existence, and things of life, there is a large dispro- 
 portion of nature ; between plants, and animals or 
 creatures of sense, a wider difference ; between them 
 and Man, a far greater : and if the proportion hold 
 one, between Man and Angels there should be yet a 
 greater. We do not comprehend their natures, who 
 retain the first definition of Porphyry, and distinguish 
 them from our selves by immortality ; for before his 
 Fall, 'tis thought, Man also was Immortal ; yet must 
 we needs affirm that he had a different essence from 
 the Angels. Having therefore no certain knowledge 
 of their Natures, 'tis no bad method of the Schools, 
 whatsoever perfection we find obscurely in our selves, 
 in a more compleat and absolute way to ascribe unto 
 them. I believe they have an extemporary knowledge, 
 and upon the first motion of their reason do what we
 
 38 Religio Medici 
 
 cannot without study or deliberation ; that they know 
 things by their forms, and define by specifical differ- 
 ence what we describe by accidents and properties ; 
 and therefore probabilities to us may be demonstra- 
 tions unto them : that they have knowledge not onely 
 of the specifical, but numerical forms of individuals, 
 and understand by what reserved difference each single 
 Hypostasis (besides the relation to its species,) becomes 
 its numerical self : that, as the Soul hath a power to 
 move the body it informs, so there's a faculty to move 
 any, though inform none : ours upon restraint of time, 
 place, and distance ; but that invisible hand that con- 
 veyed Habakkuk to the Lyons Den, or Philip to 
 Azotus, infringeth this rule, and hath a secret con- 
 veyance, wherewith mortality is not acquainted. If 
 they have that intuitive knowledge, whereby as in 
 reflexion they behold the thoughts of one another, 
 I cannot peremptorily deny but they know a great 
 part of ours. They that, to refute the Invocation of 
 Saints, have denied that they have any knowledge of 
 our affairs below, have proceeded too far, and must 
 pardon my opinion, till I can thoroughly answer that 
 piece of Scripture, At the conversion of a sinner the Angels 
 in Heaven rejoyce. I cannot, with those in that great 
 Father, securely interpret the work of the first day, 
 Fiat lux, to the creation of Angels ; though I confess, 
 there is not any creature that hath so neer a glympse 
 of their nature as light in the Sun and Elements. We 
 stile it a bare accident ; but, where it subsists alone, 'tis 
 a spiritual Substance, and may be an Angel : in brief, 
 conceive light invisible, and that is a Spirit. 
 
 These are certainly the Magisterial and master- 
 pieces of the Creator, the Flower, or (as we may say,) 
 the best part of nothing ; actually existing, what we 
 are but in hopes and probability. We are onely that 
 amphibious piece between a corporal and spiritual 
 Essence, that middle form that links those two to- 
 gether, and makes good the Method of GOD and 
 Nature, that jumps not from extreams, but unites the 
 incompatible distances by some middle and partici-
 
 Religio Medici 39 
 
 pating natures. That we are the breath and similitude 
 of GOD, it is indisputable, and upon record of Holy 
 Scripture ; but to call ourselves a Microcosm, or little 
 World, I thought it only a pleasant trope of Rhetorick, 
 till my neer judgement and second thoughts told me 
 there was a real truth therein. For first we are a 
 rude mass, and in the rank of creatures which onely 
 are, and have a dull kind of being, not yet priviledged 
 with life, or preferred to sense or reason ; next we live 
 the life of Plants, the life of Animals, the life of Men, 
 and at last the life of Spirits, running on in one mys- 
 sterious nature those five kinds of existences, which 
 comprehend the creatures, not onely of the World, but 
 of the Universe. Thus is Man that great and true 
 Amphibium, whose nature is disposed to live, not onely 
 like other creatures in divers elements, but in divided 
 and distinguished worlds : for though there be but one 
 to sense, there are two to reason, the one visible, the 
 other invisible ; whereof Moses seems to have left 
 description, and of the other so obscurely, that some 
 parts thereof are yet in controversie. And truely, for 
 the first chapters of Genesis, I must confess a great 
 deal of obscurity ; though Divines have to the power 
 of humane reason endeavoured to make all go in a 
 literal meaning, yet those allegorical interpretations are 
 also probable, and perhaps the mystical method of 
 Moses bred up in the Hieroglyphical Schools of the 
 Egyptians. 
 
 Now for that immaterial world, methinks we need 
 not wander so far as beyond the first moveable ; for 
 even in this material Fabrick the Spirits walk as freely 
 exempt from the affection of time, place, and motion, 
 as beyond the extreamest circumference. Do but 
 extract from the corpulency of bodies, or resolve 
 things beyond their first matter, and you discover the 
 habitation of Angels, which if I call the ubiquitary and 
 omnipresent Essence of GOD, I hope I shall not offend 
 Divinity : for before the Creation of the World GOD 
 was really all things. For the Angels He created no 
 new World, or determinate mansion, and therefore
 
 4O Religio Medici 
 
 they are everywhere where is His Essence, and dc 
 live at a distance even in Himself. That GOD made 
 all things for Man, is in some sense true, yet not so 
 far as to subordinate the Creation of those purer 
 Creatures unto ours, though as ministring Spirits they 
 do, and are willing to fulfil the will of GOD in these 
 lower and sublunary affairs of Man. GOD made all 
 things for Himself, and it is impossible He should 
 make them for any other end than His own Glory ; it 
 is all He can receive, and all that is without Himself. 
 For, honour being an external adjunct, and in the 
 honourer rather than in the person honoured, it was 
 necessary to make a Creature, from whom He might 
 receive this homage ; and that is, in the other world, 
 Angels, in this, Man; which when we neglect, we 
 forget the very end of our Creation, and may justly 
 provoke GOD, not onely to repent that He hath made 
 the World, but that He hath sworn He would not 
 destroy it. That there is but one World, is a con- 
 clusion of Faith : Aristotle with all his Philosophy 
 hath not been able to prove it, and as weakly that the 
 World was eternal. That dispute much troubled the 
 Pen of the ancient Philosophers, but Moses decided 
 that question, and all is salved with the new term of a 
 Creation, that is, a production of something out of 
 nothing. And what is that ? whatsoever is opposite to 
 something ; or more exactly, that which is truely con- 
 trary unto GOD : for He onely is, all others have an 
 existence with dependency, and are something but by 
 a distinction. And herein is Divinity conformant unto 
 Philosophy, and generation not onely founded on con- 
 trarieties, but also creation ; GOD, being all things, is 
 contrary unto nothing, out of which were made all 
 things, and so nothing became something, and Omneity 
 informed Nullity into an Essence. 
 
 The whole Creation is a Mystery, and particularly 
 that of Man. At the blast of His mouth were the 
 rest of the Creatures made, and at His bare word they 
 started out of nothing : but in the frame of Man (as 
 the Text describes it,) He played the sensible operator,
 
 Religio Medici 41 
 
 and seemed not so much to create, as make him. When 
 He had separated the materials of other creatures, 
 there consequently resulted a form and soul ; but, 
 having raised the walls of Man, He was driven to a 
 second and harder creation of a substance like Himself, 
 an incorruptible and immortal Soul. For these two 
 affections we have the Philosophy and opinion of the 
 Heathens, the flat affirmative of Plato, and not a 
 negative from Aristotle. There is another scruple 
 cast in by Divinity concerning its production, much 
 disputed in the Germane auditories, and with that 
 indifferency and equality of arguments, as leave the 
 controversie undetermined. I am not of Paracelsus 
 mind, that boldly delivers a receipt to make a man 
 without conjunction ; yet cannot but wonder at the 
 multitude of heads that do deny traduction, having no 
 other argument to confirm their belief then that Rhe- 
 torical sentence and Antimetathesis of Augustine, Cre- 
 ando infunditur, infundendo creatur. Either opinion will 
 consist well enough with Religion : yet I should rather 
 incline to this, did not one objection haunt me, (not 
 wrung from speculations and subtilties, but from 
 common sense and observation ; not pickt from the 
 leaves of any Author, but bred amongst the weeds and 
 tares of mine own brain ;) and this is a conclusion from 
 the equivocal and monstrous productions in the con- 
 junction of Man with Beast : for if the Soul of man be 
 not transmitted and transfused in the seed of the 
 Parents, why are not those productions meerly beasts, 
 but have also an impression and tincture of reason in 
 as high a measure as it can evidence it self in those 
 improper Organs? Nor, truely, can I peremptorily 
 deny that the Soul, in this her sublunary estate, is 
 wholly and in all acceptions inorganical ; but that for 
 the performance of her ordinary actions there is 
 required not onely a symmetry and proper disposition 
 of Organs, but a Crasis and temper correspondent to 
 its operations : yet is not this mass of flesh and visible 
 structure the instrument and proper corps of the Soul, 
 but rather of Sense, and that the hand of Reason. In
 
 42 Religio Medici 
 
 our study of Anatomy there is a mass of mysterious 
 Philosophy, and such as reduced the very Heathens to 
 Divinity : yet, amongst all those rare discoveries and 
 curious pieces I find in the Fabrick of Man, I do not 
 so much content myself, as in that I find not, there is 
 no Organ or Instrument for the rational Soul ; for in 
 the brain, which we term the seat of Reason, there is 
 not any thing of moment more than I can discover in 
 the crany of a beast : and this is a sensible and no 
 inconsiderable argument of the inorganity of the Soul, 
 at least in that sense we usually so receive it. Thus 
 we are men, and we know not how : there is some- 
 thing in us that can be without us, and will be 
 after us ; though it is strange that it hath no history 
 what it was before us, nor cannot tell how it entred 
 in us. 
 
 Now, for these walls of flesh, wherein the Soul doth 
 seem to be immured before the Resurrection, it is noth- 
 ing but an elemental composition, and a Fabrick that 
 must fall to ashes. All flesh is grass, is not onely meta- 
 phorically, but litterally, true ; for all those creatures 
 we behold are but the herbs of the field, digested into 
 flesh in them, or more remotely carnified in our selves. 
 Nay further, we are what we all abhor, Anthropophagi 
 and Cannibals, devourers not onely of men, but of our 
 selves; and that not in an allegory, but a positive 
 truth ; for all this mass of flesh which we behold, 
 came in at our mouths ; this frame we look upon, hath 
 been upon our trenchers ; in brief, we have devour'd 
 our selves. I cannot believe the wisdom of Pytha- 
 goras did ever positively, and in a literal sense, affirm 
 his Metempsychosis, or impossible transmigration of 
 the Souls of men into beasts. Of all Metamorphoses 
 or transmigrations, I believe only one, that is of Lots 
 wife ; for that of Nebuchodonosor proceeded not so 
 far : in all others I conceive there is no further verity 
 than is contained in their implicite sense and morality. 
 I believe that the whole frame of a beast doth perish, 
 and is left in the same state after death as before it was 
 materialled unto life: that the Souls of men know
 
 Religio Medici 43 
 
 neither contrary nor corruption ; that they subsist 
 beyond the body, and outlive death by the priviledge of 
 their proper natures, and without a Miracle ; that the 
 Souls of the faithful, as they leave Earth, take posses- 
 sion of Heaven : that those apparitions and ghosts of 
 departed persons are not the wandring souls of men, 
 but the unquiet walks of Devils, prompting and sug- 
 gesting us unto mischief, blood, and villainy ; instilling 
 and stealing into our hearts that the blessed Spirits are 
 not at rest in their graves, but wander sollicitous of the 
 affairs of the World. But that those phantasms appear 
 often, and do frequent Ccemeteries, Charnel-houses, 
 and Churches, it is because those are the dormitories 
 of the dead, where the Devil, like an insolent 
 Champion, beholds with pride the spoils and Trophies 
 of his Victory over Adam. 
 
 This is that dismal conquest we all deplore, that 
 makes us so often cry, O Adam, quid fecisti ? L thank 
 GOD I have not those strait ligaments, or narrow 
 obligations to the World, as to dote on life, or be 
 convulst and tremble at the name of death. Not that 
 I am insensible of the dread and horrour thereof ; or 
 by raking into the bowels of the deceased, continual 
 sight of Anatomies, Skeletons, or Cadaverous reliques, 
 like Vespilloes, or Grave-makers, I am become stupid, 
 or have forgot the apprehension of Mortality ; but that, 
 marshalling all the horrours, and contemplating the 
 extremities thereof, I find not anything therein able to 
 daunt the courage of a man, much less a well-resolved 
 Christian ; and therefore am not angry at the errour of 
 our first Parents, or unwilling to bear a part of this 
 common fate, and like the best of them to dye, that is, 
 to cease to breathe, to take a farewel of the elements, 
 to be a kind of nothing for a moment, to be within one 
 instant of a Spirit. When I take a full view and circle 
 of my self without this reasonable moderator, and 
 equal piece of Justice, Death, I do conceive my self 
 the miserablest person extant. Were there not another 
 life that I hope for, all the vanities of this World 
 should not intreat a moments breath from me : could
 
 44 Religio Medici 
 
 the Devil work my belief to imagine I could never dye, 
 I would not outlive that very thought. I have so 
 abject a conceit of this common way of existence, this 
 retaining to the Sun and Elements, I cannot think this 
 is to be a Man, or to live according to the dignity of 
 humanity. In exspectation of a better, I can with 
 patience embrace this life, yet in my best meditations 
 do often defie death ; I honour any man that contemns 
 it, nor can I highly love any that is afraid of it : this 
 makes me naturally love a Souldier, and honour those 
 tattered and contemptible Regiments that will die at 
 the command of a Sergeant. For a Pagan there may 
 be some motives to be in love with life ; but for a 
 Christian to be amazed at death, I see not how he can 
 escape this Dilemma, that he is too sensible of this 
 life, or hopeless of the life to come. 
 
 Some Divines count Adam thirty years old at his 
 Creation, because they suppose him created in the 
 perfect age and stature of man. And surely we are 
 all out of the computation of our age, and every man 
 is some months elder than he bethinks him ; for we 
 live, move, have a being, and are subject to the actions 
 of the elements, and the malice of diseases, in that 
 other World, the truest Microcosm, the Womb of our 
 Mother. For besides that general and common exist- 
 ence we are conceived to hold in our Chaos, and whilst 
 we sleep within the bosome of our causes, we enjoy a 
 being and life in three distinct worlds, wherein we 
 receive most manifest graduations. In that obscure 
 World and Womb of our Mother, our time is short, 
 computed by the Moon, yet longer than the days of 
 many creatures that behold the Sun ; our selves being 
 not yet without life, sense, and reason ; though for the 
 manifestation of its actions, it awaits the opportunity 
 of objects, and seems to live there but in its root and 
 soul of vegetation. Entring afterwards upon the scene 
 of the World, we arise up and become another creature, 
 performing the reasonable actions of man, and ob- 
 scurely manifesting that part of Divinity in us; but 
 not in complement and perfection, till we have once
 
 Religio Medici 45 
 
 more cast our secondine, that is, this slough of flesh, 
 and are delivered into the last World, that is, that 
 ineffable place of Paul, that proper ubi of Spirits. The 
 smattering I have of the Philosophers Stone (which is 
 something more then the perfect exaltation of gold,) 
 hath taught me a great deal of Divinity, and instructed 
 my belief, how that immortal spirit and incorruptible 
 substance of my Soul may lye obscure, and sleep a 
 while within this house of flesh. Those strange and 
 mystical transmigrations that I have observed in Silk- 
 worms, turned my Philosophy into Divinity. There is 
 in these works of nature, which seem to puzzle reason, 
 something Divine, and hath more in it than the eye of 
 a common spectator doth discover. 
 
 I am naturally bashful ; nor hath conversation, age, 
 or travel, been able to effront or enharden me ; yet I 
 have one part of modesty which I have seldom dis- 
 covered in another, that is, (to speak truely,) I am not 
 so much afraid of death, as ashamed thereof. 'Tis the 
 very disgrace and ignominy of our natures, that in a 
 moment can so disfigure us, that our nearest friends, 
 Wife, and Children, stand afraid and start at us : the 
 Birds and Beasts of the field, that before in a natural 
 fear obeyed us, forgetting all allegiance, begin to prey 
 upon us. This very conceit hath in a tempest disposed 
 and left me willing to be swallowed up in the abyss of 
 waters, wherein I had perished unseen, unpityed, with- 
 out wondering eyes, tears of pity, Lectures of mortality, 
 and none had said, 
 
 Quantum mutatus db illo I 
 
 Not that I am ashamed of the Anatomy of my parts, 
 or can accuse Nature for playing the bungler in any 
 part of me, or my own vitious life for contracting any 
 shameful disease upon me, whereby I might not call 
 my self as wholesome a morsel for the worms as any. 
 Some, upon the courage of a fruitful issue, wherein, 
 as in the truest Chronicle, they seem to outlive them- 
 selves, can with greater patience away with death. 
 This conceit and counterfeit subsisting in our progenies
 
 46 Religio Medici 
 
 seems to me a meer fallacy, unworthy the desires of a 
 man that can but conceive a thought of the next 
 World; who, in a nobler ambition, should desire to 
 live in his substance in Heaven, rather than his name 
 and shadow in the earth. And therefore at my death 
 I mean to take a total adieu of the World, not caring 
 for a Monument, History, or Epitaph, not so much as 
 the bare memory of my name to be found any where 
 but in the universal Register of GOD. I am not yet 
 so Cynical as to approve the Testament of Diogenes ; 
 nor do I altogether allow that Rodomontade of Lucan, 
 
 Calo tegitur, qui non habet urnam. 
 
 He that unburied lies wants not his Herse, 
 For unto him a Tomb's the Universe. 
 
 but commend in my calmer judgement those ingenuous 
 intentions that desire to sleep by the urns of their 
 Fathers, and strive to go the neatest way unto corrup- 
 tion. I do not envy the temper of Crows and Daws, 
 nor the numerous and weary days of our Fathers 
 before the Flood. If there be any truth in Astrology, 
 I may outlive a Jubilee : as yet I have not seen one 
 revolution of Saturn, nor hath my pulse beat thirty 
 years; and yet, excepting one, have seen the Ashes 
 and left under ground all the Kings of Europe ; have 
 been contemporary to three Emperours, four Grand 
 Signiours, and as many Popes. Methinks I have out- 
 lived my self, and begin to be weary of the Sun ; I 
 have shaken hands with delight, in my warm blood 
 and Canicular days, I perceive I do anticipate the 
 vices of age ; the World to me is but a dream or 
 mock-show, and we all therein but Pantalones and 
 Anticks, to my severer contemplations. 
 
 It is not, I confess, an unlawful Prayer to desire to 
 surpass the days of our Saviour, or wish to outlive 
 that age wherein He thought fittest to dye ; yet if (as 
 Divinity affirms,) there shall be no gray hairs in 
 Heaven, but all shall rise in the perfect state of men, 
 we do but outlive those perfections in this World, to 
 be recalled unto them by a greater Miracle in the next,
 
 Religio Medici 47 
 
 and run on here but to be retrograde hereafter. Were 
 there any hopes to outlive vice, or a point to be super- 
 annuated from sin, it were worthy our knees to implore 
 the days of Methuselah. But age doth not rectify, but 
 incurvate our natures, turning bad dispositions into 
 worser habits, and (like diseases,) brings on incurable 
 vices ; for every day as we grow weaker in age, we 
 grow stronger in sin, and the number of our days doth 
 but make our sins innumerable. The same vice com- 
 mitted at sixteen, is not the same, though it agree 
 in all other circumstances, at forty, but swells and 
 doubles from the circumstance of our ages ; wherein, 
 besides the constant and inexcusable habit of trans- 
 gressing, the maturity of our judgment cuts off pre- 
 tence unto excuse or pardon. Every sin, the oftner it 
 is committed, the more it acquireth in the quality of 
 evil ; as it succeeds in time, so it proceeds in degrees of 
 badness ; for as they proceed they ever multiply, and, 
 like figures in Arithmetick, the last stands for more 
 than all that went before it. And though I think no 
 man can live well once, but he that could live twice, 
 yet for my own part I would not live over my hours 
 past, or begin again the thread of my days : not upon 
 Cicero's ground, because I have lived them well, but 
 for fear I should live them worse. I find my growing 
 Judgment daily instruct me how to be better, but my 
 untamed affections and confirmed vitiosity makes me 
 daily do worse. I find in my confirmed age the same 
 sins I discovered in my youth ; I committed many 
 then, because I was a Child ; and because I commit 
 them still, I am yet an infant. Therefore I perceive 
 a man may be twice a Child, before the days of dotage ; 
 and stand in need of ^Esons Bath before threescore. 
 
 And truly there goes a great deal of providence to 
 produce a mans life unto threescore : there is more re- 
 quired than an able temper for those years ; though the 
 radical humour contain in it sufficient oyl for seventy, 
 yet I perceive in some it gives no light past thirty : 
 men assign not all the causes of long life, that w r rite 
 whole Books thereof. They that found themselves on.
 
 48 Religio Medici 
 
 the radical balsome, or vital sulphur of the parts, 
 determine not why Abel lived not so long as Adam. 
 There is therefore a secret glome or bottome of our 
 days : 'twas His wisdom to determine them, but His 
 perpetual and waking providence that fulfils and 
 accomplisheth them; wherein the spirits, ourselves, 
 and all the creatures of GOD in a secret and disputed 
 way do execute His will. Let them not therefore com- 
 plain of immaturity that die about thirty ; they fall but 
 like the whole World, whose solid and well-composed 
 substance must not expect the duration and period of 
 its constitution : when all things are completed in it, 
 its age is accomplished ; and the last and general fever 
 may as naturally destroy it before six thousand, as 
 me before forty. There is therefore some other hand 
 that twines the thread of life than that of Nature : we 
 are not onely ignorant in Antipathies and occult 
 qualities ; our ends are as obscure as our beginnings ; 
 the line of our days is drawn by night, and the various 
 effects therein by a pensil that is invisible ; wherein 
 though we confess our ignorance, I am sure we do not 
 err if we say it is the hand of GOD. 
 
 I am much taken with two verses of Lucan, since I 
 have been able not onely, as we do at School, to 
 construe, but understand : 
 
 Victurosque Dei celant, ut vivere durent, 
 Felix esse mori. 
 
 We're all deluded, vainly searching ways 
 To make us happy by the length of days ; 
 For cunningly to make's protract this breath, 
 The Gods conceal the happiness of Death. 
 
 There be many excellent strains in that Poet, where- 
 with his Stoical Genius hath liberally supplied him; 
 and truely there are singular pieces in the Philosophy 
 of Zeno, and doctrine of the Stoicks, which I perceive, 
 delivered in a Pulpit, pass for current Divinity : yet 
 herein are they in extreams, that can allow a man to be 
 liis own Assassine, and so highly extol the end and 
 suicide of Cato. This is indeed not to fear death, but
 
 Religio Medici 49 
 
 yet to be afraid of life. It is a brave act of valour to 
 contemn death ; but where life is more terrible than 
 death, it is then the truest valour to dare to live. And 
 herein Religion hath taught us a noble example ; for all 
 the valiant acts of Curtius, Scevola, or Codrus, do not 
 parallel or match that one of Job ; and sure there is no 
 torture to the rack of a disease, nor any Ponyards in 
 death it self like those in the way or prologue to it. 
 
 Emori nolo, sed me esse mortuum nihil euro. 
 I would not die, but care not to be dead. 
 
 Were I of Caesar's Religion, I should be of his desires, 
 and wish rather to go off at one blow, then to be sawed 
 in pieces by the grating torture of a disease. Men 
 that look no farther than their outsides, think health 
 an appurtenance unto life, and quarrel with their con- 
 stitutions for being sick; but I, that have examined 
 the parts of man, and know upon what tender filaments 
 that Fabrick hangs, do wonder that we are not always 
 so; and, considering the thousand doors that lead to 
 death, do thank my GOD that we can die but once. 
 'Tis not onely the mischief of diseases, and the villany 
 of poysons, that make an end of us ; we vainly accuse 
 the fury of Guns, and the new inventions of death ; it 
 is in the power of every hand to destroy us, and we are 
 beholding unto every one we meet, he doth not kill us. 
 There is therefore but one comfort left, that, though it 
 be in the power of the weakest arm to take away life, 
 it is not in the strongest to deprive us of death : GOD 
 would not exempt Himself from that, the misery of 
 immortality in the flesh, He undertook not that was 
 immortal. Certainly there is no happiness within this 
 circle of flesh, nor is it in the Opticks of these eyes to 
 behold felicity. The first day of our Jubilee is Death ; 
 the Devil hath therefore failed of his desires : we are 
 happier with death than we should have been without 
 it : there is no misery but in himself, where there is no 
 end of misery ; and so indeed, in his own sense, the 
 Stoick is in the right. He forgets that he can dye who 
 
 D
 
 50 Religio Medici 
 
 complains of misery ; we are in the power of no 
 calamity while death is in our own. 
 
 Now, besides this literal and positive kind of death, 
 there are others whereof Divines make mention, and 
 those, I think, not meerly Metaphorical, as mortifica- 
 tion, dying unto sin and the World. Therefore, I 
 say, every man hath a double Horoscope, one of his 
 humanity, his birth; another of his Christianity, his 
 baptism ; and from this do I compute or calculate my 
 Nativity, not reckoning those Horce combusta and odd 
 days, or esteeming my self any thing, before I was my 
 Saviours, and inrolled in the Register of CHRIST. 
 Whosoever enjoys not this life, I count him but an 
 apparition, though he wear about him the sensible 
 affections of flesh. In these moral acceptions, the way 
 to be immortal is to dye daily : nor can I think I have 
 the true Theory of death, when I contemplate a skull, 
 or behold a Skeleton, with those vulgar imaginations it 
 casts upon us ; I have therefore enlarged that common 
 Memento mori, into a more Christian memorandum, 
 Memento quatuor Novissima, those four inevitable points 
 of us all, Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell. Neither 
 did the contemplations of the Heathens rest in their 
 graves, without a further thought of Rhadamanth, or 
 some judicial proceeding after death, though in another 
 way, and upon suggestion of their natural reasons. I 
 cannot but marvail from what Sibyl or Oracle they 
 stole the Prophesie of the Worlds destruction by fire, 
 or whence Lucan learned to say, 
 
 Communis mundo super est rogus, ossibus astra 
 Misturus. 
 
 There yet remains to th' World one common Fire, 
 Wherein our bones with stars shall make one Pyre. 
 
 I believe the World grows near its end, yet is neither 
 old nor decayed, nor shall ever perish upon the ruines 
 of its own Principles. As the work of Creation was 
 above Nature, so is its adversary, annihilation ; with- 
 out which the World hath not its end, but its mutation. 
 Now what force should be able to consume it thus far,
 
 Religio Medici 51 
 
 without the breath of GOD, which is the truest con- 
 suming flame, my Philosophy cannot inform me. 
 Some believe there went not a minute to the Worlds 
 creation, nor shall there go to its destruction ; those six 
 days, so punctually described, make not to them one 
 moment, but rather seem to manifest the method and 
 Idea of the great work of the intellect of GOD, than the 
 manner how He proceeded in its operation. I cannot 
 dream that there should be at the last day any such 
 Judicial proceeding, or calling to the Bar, as indeed the 
 Scripture seems to imply, and the literal Commentators 
 do conceive : for unspeakable mysteries in the Scrip- 
 tures are often delivered in a vulgar and illustrative 
 way ; and, being written unto man, are delivered, not 
 as they truely are, but as they may be understood ; 
 wherein, notwithstanding, the different interpretations 
 according to different capacities may stand firm with 
 our devotion, nor be any way prejudicial to each single 
 edification. 
 
 Now to determine the day and year of this inevitable 
 time, is not onely convincible and statute-madness, but 
 also manifest impiety. How shall we interpret Elias 
 six thousand years, or imagine the secret communicated 
 to a Rabbi, which GOD hath denyed unto His Angels ? 
 It had been an excellent Quaere to have posed the 
 Devil of Delphos, and must needs have forced him to 
 some strange amphibology. It hath not onely mocked 
 the predictions of sundry Astrologers in Ages past, but 
 the prophesies of many melancholy heads in these 
 present ; who, neither understanding reasonably things 
 past or present, pretend a knowledge of things to come ; 
 heads ordained onely to manifest the incredible effects 
 of melancholy, and to fulfil old prophecies rather than 
 be the authors of new. In those days there shall come 
 Wars and vumouvs of Wars, to me seems no prophecy, 
 but a constant truth, in all times verified since it was 
 pronounced. There shall be signs in the Moon and Stars; 
 how comes He then like a Thief in the night, when He 
 gives an item of His coming ? That common sign 
 drawn from the revelation of Antichrist, is as obscure
 
 52 Religio Medici 
 
 as any : in our common compute He hath been come 
 these many years : but for my own part, (to speak 
 freely,) I am half of opinion that Antichrist is the 
 Philosopher's stone in Divinity, for the discovery and 
 invention whereof, though there be prescribed rules and 
 probable inductions, yet hath hardly any man attained 
 the perfect discovery thereof. That general opinion 
 that the World grows near its end, hath possessed all 
 ages past as nearly as ours. I am afraid that the 
 Souls that now depart, cannot escape that lingring 
 expostulation of the Saints under the Altar, Quousque, 
 DOMINE ? How long, O LORD ? and groan in the 
 expectation of that great Jubilee. 
 
 This is the day that must make good that great 
 attribute of GOD, His Justice ; that must reconcile 
 those unanswerable doubts that torment the wisest 
 understandings ; and reduce those seeming inequalities 
 and respective distributions in this world, to an equality 
 and recompensive Justice in the next. This is that 
 one day, that shall include and comprehend all that 
 went before it ; wherein, as in the last scene, all the 
 Actors must enter, to compleat and make up the 
 Catastrophe of this great piece. This is the day whose 
 memory hath onely power to make us honest in the 
 dark, and to be vertuous without a witness. 
 
 Ipsa sui pretium virtus sibi, 
 
 that Vertue is her own reward, is but a cold principle, 
 and not able to maintain our variable resolutions in a 
 constant and settled way of goodness. I have prac- 
 tised that honest artifice of Seneca, and in my retired 
 and solitary imaginations, to detain me from the foul- 
 ness of vice, have fancied to my self the presence of 
 my dear and worthiest friends, before whom I should 
 lose my head, rather than be vitious : yet herein I 
 found that there was nought but moral honesty, and 
 this was not to be vertuous for His sake Who must 
 reward us at the last. I have tryed if I could reach 
 that great resolution of his, to be honest without a 
 thought of Heaven or Hell : and indeed I found, upon
 
 Religio Medici 53 
 
 a natural inclination and inbred loyalty unto virtue, 
 that I could serve her without a livery ; yet not in that 
 resolved and venerable way, but that the frailty of my 
 nature, upon an easie temptation, might be induced to 
 forget her. The life, therefore, and spirit of all our 
 actions is the resurrection, and a stable apprehension 
 that our ashes shall enjoy the fruit of our pious 
 endeavours : without this, all Religion is a Fallacy, 
 and those impieties of Lucian, Euripides, and Julian, 
 are no blasphemies, but subtle verities, and Atheists 
 have been the onely Philosophers. 
 
 How shall the dead arise, is no question of my 
 Faith ; to believe only possibilities, is not Faith, but 
 meer Philosophy. Many things are true in Divinity, 
 which are neither inducible by reason, nor confirmable 
 by sense ; and many things in Philosophy confirmable 
 by sense, yet not inducible by reason. Thus it is im- 
 possible by any solid or demonstrative reasons to 
 perswade a man to believe the conversion of the Needle 
 to the North ; though this be possible, and true, and 
 easily credible, upon a single experiment unto the 
 sense. I believe that our estranged and divided ashes 
 shall unite again ; that our separated dust, after so 
 many Pilgrimages and transformations into the parts 
 of Minerals, Plants, Animals, Elements, shall at the 
 Voice of GOD return into their primitive shapes, and 
 joyn again to make up their primary and predestinate 
 forms. As at the Creation there was a separation of 
 that confused mass into its species ; so at the destruc- 
 tion thereof there shall be a separation into its distinct 
 individuals. As at the Creation of the World, all the 
 distinct species that we behold lay involved in one 
 mass, till the fruitful Voice of GOD separated this 
 united multitude into its several species ; so at the last 
 day, when those corrupted reliques shall be scattered 
 in the Wilderness of forms, and seem to have forgot 
 their proper habits, GOD by a powerful Voice shall 
 command them back into their proper shapes, and call 
 them out by their single individuals. Then shall 
 appear the fertility of Adam, and the magick of that
 
 54 Religio Medici 
 
 sperm that hath dilated into so many millions. I have 
 often beheld as a miracle, that artificial resurrection 
 and revivification of Mercury, how being mortified into 
 a thousand shapes, it assumes again its own, and 
 returns into its numerical self. Let us speak naturally 
 and like Philosophers, the forms of alterable bodies in 
 these sensible corruptions perish not; nor, as we 
 imagine, wholly quit their mansions, but retire and con- 
 tract themselves into their secret and unaccessible 
 parts, where they may best protect themselves from 
 the action of their Antagonist. A plant or vegetable 
 consumed to ashes to a contemplative and school- 
 Philosopher seems utterly destroyed, and the form to 
 have taken his leave for ever ; but to a sensible Artist 
 the forms are not perished, but withdrawn into their 
 incombustible part, where they lie secure from the 
 action of that devouring element. This is made good 
 by experience, which can from the Ashes of a Plant 
 revive the plant, and from its cinders recall it into its 
 stalk and leaves again. What the Art of man can do 
 in these inferiour pieces, what blasphemy is it to affirm 
 the finger of GOD cannot do in these more perfect and 
 sensible structures ! This is that mystical Philosophy, 
 from whence no true Scholar becomes an Atheist, but 
 from the visible effects of nature grows up a real 
 Divine, and beholds not in a dream, as Ezekiel, but in 
 an ocular and visible object, the types of his resurrec- 
 tion. 
 
 Now, the necessary Mansions of our restored selves 
 are those two contrary and incomparable places we 
 call Heaven and Hell. To define them, or strictly to 
 determine what and where these are, surpasseth my 
 Divinity. That elegant Apostle, which seemed to 
 have a glimpse of Heaven, hath left but a negative 
 description thereof; which neither eye hath seen, nor ear 
 hath heard, nor can enter into the heart of man : he was 
 translated out of himself to behold it ; but, being 
 returned into himself, could not express it. St. John's 
 description by Emerals, Chrysolites, and precious 
 Stones, is too weak to express the material Heaven we
 
 Religio Medici 55 
 
 behold. Briefly therefore, where the Soul hath the full 
 measure and complement of happiness ; where the 
 boundless appetite of that spirit remains compleatly 
 satisfied, that it can neither desire addition nor altera- 
 tion ; that, I think, is truly Heaven : and this can onely 
 be in the injoyment of that essence, whose infinite 
 goodness is able to terminate the desires of it self, and 
 the unsatiable wishes of ours : wherever GOD will thus 
 manifest Himself, there is Heaven, though within the 
 circle of this sensible world. Thus the Soul of man 
 may be in Heaven any where, even within the limits 
 of his own proper body ; and when it ceaseth to live 
 in the body, it may remain in its own soul, that is, its 
 Creator : and thus we may say that St. Paul, whether 
 in the body, or out of the body, was yet in Heaven. To 
 place it in the Empyreal, or beyond the tenth sphear, 
 is to forget the world's destruction ; for, when this 
 sensible world shall be destroyed, all shall then be here 
 as it is now there, an Empyreal Heaven, a quasi 
 vacuity ; when to ask where Heaven is, is to demand 
 where the presence of GOD is, or where we have the 
 glory of that happy vision. Moses, that was bred up 
 in all the learning of the Egyptians, committed a gross 
 absurdity in Philosophy, when with these eyes of flesh 
 he desired to see GOD, and petitioned his Maker, that 
 is, Truth it self, to a contradiction. Those that imagine 
 Heaven and Hell neighbours, and conceive a vicinity 
 between those two extreams, upon consequence of the 
 Parable, where Dives discoursed with Lazarus in 
 Abraham's bosome, do too grosly conceive of those 
 glorified creatures, whose eyes shall easily out-see the 
 Sun, and behold without a perspective the extreamest 
 distances : for if there shall be in our glorified eyes, 
 the faculty of sight and reception of objects, I could 
 think the visible species there to be in as unlimitable 
 a way as now the intellectual. I grant that two bodies 
 placed beyond the tenth sphear, or in a vacuity, ac- 
 cording to Aristotle's Philosophy, could not behold 
 each other, because there wants a body or Medium to 
 hand and transport the visible rays of the object unto
 
 56 Religio Medici 
 
 the sense ; but when there shall be a general defect of 
 either Medium to convey, or light to prepare and 
 dispose that Medium, and yet a perfect vision, we 
 must suspend the rules of our Philosophy, and make all 
 good by a more absolute piece of opticks. 
 
 I cannot tell how to say that fire is the essence of 
 Hell : I know not what to make of Purgatory, or 
 conceive a flame that can either prey upon, or purifie 
 the substance of a Soul. Those flames of sulphur 
 mention'd in the Scriptures, I take not to be under- 
 stood of this present Hell, but of that to come, where 
 fire shall make up the complement of our tortures, and 
 have a body or subject wherein to manifest its tyranny. 
 Some, who have had the honour to be textuary in 
 Divinity, are of opinion it shall be the same specifical 
 fire with ours. This is hard to conceive ; yet can I 
 make good how even that may prey upon our bodies, 
 and yet not consume us : for in this material World 
 there are bodies that persist invincible in the power- 
 fullest flames ; and though by the action of fire they 
 fall into ignition and liquation, yet will they never 
 suffer a destruction. I would gladly know how Moses 
 with an actual fire calcined or burnt the Golden Calf 
 unto powder : for that mystical metal of Gold, whose 
 solary and celestial nature I admire, exposed unto the 
 violence of fire, grows onely hot, and liquifies, but 
 consumeth not ; so, when the consumable and volatile 
 pieces of our bodies shall be refined into a more im- 
 pregnable and fixed temper like Gold, though they 
 suffer from the action of flames, they shall never perish, 
 but lye immortal in the arms of fire. And surely, if 
 this frame must suffer onely by the action of this 
 element, there will many bodies escape ; and not onely 
 Heaven, but Earth will not be at an end, but rather a 
 beginning. For at present it is not earth, but a com- 
 position of fire, water, earth, and air ; but at that time, 
 spoiled of these ingredients, it shall appear in a sub- 
 stance more like it self, its ashes. Philosophers that 
 opinioned the worlds destruction by fire, did never 
 dream of annihilation, which is beyond the power of
 
 Religio Medici 57 
 
 sublunary causes; for the last and proper action of 
 that element is but vitrification, or a reduction of a 
 body into glass ; and therefore some of our Chymicks 
 facetiously affirm, that at the last fire all shall be 
 christallized and reverberated into glass, which is the 
 utmost action of that element. Nor need we fear this 
 term, annihilation, or wonder that GOD will destroy the 
 works of his Creation ; for man subsisting, who is, and 
 will then truely appear, a Microcosm, the world cannot 
 be said to be destroyed. For the eyes of GOD, and 
 perhaps also of our glorified selves, shall as really 
 behold and contemplate the World in its Epitome or 
 contracted essence, as now it doth at large and in its 
 dilated substance. In the seed of a Plant to the 
 eyes of GOD, and to the understanding of man, there 
 exists, though in an invisible way, the perfect leaves, 
 flowers, and fruit thereof ; for things that are in posse 
 to the sense, are actually existent to the understanding. 
 Thus GOD beholds all things, Who contemplates as 
 fully His works in their Epitome, as in their full 
 volume ; and beheld as amply the whole world in that 
 little compendium of the sixth day, as in the scattered 
 and dilated pieces of those five before. 
 
 Men commonly set forth the torments of Hell by 
 fire, and the extremity of corporal afflictions, and 
 describe Hell in the same method that Mahomet doth 
 Heaven. This indeed makes a noise, and drums in 
 popular ears : but if this be the terrible piece thereof, 
 it is not worthy to stand in diameter with Heaven, 
 whose happiness consists in that part that is best able 
 to comprehend it, that immortal essence, that translated 
 divinity and colony of GOD, the Soul. Surely, though 
 we place Hell under Earth, the Devil's walk and 
 purlue is about it : men speak too popularly who place 
 it in those flaming mountains, which to grosser appre- 
 hensions represent Hell. The heart of man is the place 
 Devils dwell in : I feel sometimes a Hell within my 
 self ; Lucifer keeps his Court in my breast, Legion is 
 revived in me. There are as many Hells, as Anax- 
 agoris conceited worlds. There was more than one
 
 58 Religio Medici 
 
 Hell in Magdalene, when there were seven Devils, for 
 every Devil is an Hell unto himself ; he holds enough 
 of torture in his own ubi, and needs not the misery of 
 circumference to afflict him : and thus a distracted 
 Conscience here, is a shadow or introduction unto Hell 
 hereafter. Who can but pity the merciful intention 
 of those hands that do destroy themselves ? the Devil, 
 were it in his power, would do the like ; which being 
 impossible, his miseries are endless, and he suffers 
 most in that attribute wherein he is impassible, his 
 immortality. 
 
 I thank GOD, and with joy I mention it, I was 
 never afraid of Hell, nor never grew pale at the 
 description of that place. I have so fixed my con- 
 templations on Heaven, that I have almost forgot the 
 Idea of Hell, and am afraid rather to lose the Joys of 
 the one, than endure the misery of the other : to be 
 deprived of them is a perfect Hell, and needs, 
 methinks, no addition to compleat our afflictions. 
 That terrible term hath never detained me from sin, 
 nor do I owe any good action to the name thereof. I 
 fear GOD, yet am not afraid of Him : His Mercies 
 make me ashamed of my sins, before His Judgements 
 afraid thereof. These are the forced and secondary 
 method of His wisdom, which He useth but as the 
 last remedy, and upon provocation ; a course rather 
 to deter the wicked, than incite the virtuous to His 
 worship. I can hardly think there was ever any 
 sacred into Heaven ; they go the fairest way to Heaven 
 that would serve GOD without a Hell ; other 
 Mercenaries, that crouch into Him in fear of Hell, 
 though they term themselves the servants, are indeed 
 but the slaves, of the Almighty. 
 
 And to be true, and speak my soul, when I survey 
 the occurrences of my life, and call into account the 
 Finger of GOD, I can perceive nothing but an abyss 
 and mass of mercies, either in general to mankind, or 
 in particular to my self. And (whether out of the 
 prejudice of my affection, or an inverting and partial 
 conceit of His mercies, I know not ; but) those which
 
 Religio Medici 59 
 
 others term crosses, afflictions, judgements, misfortunes, 
 to me, who inquire farther into them then their visible 
 effects, they both appear, and in event have ever 
 proved, the secret and dissembled favours of His 
 affection. It is a singular piece of Wisdom to appre- 
 hend truly, and without passion, the Works of GOD, 
 and so well to distinguish His Justice from His Mercy, 
 as not to miscall those noble Attributes : yet it is like- 
 wise an honest piece of Logick, so to dispute and 
 argue the proceedings of GOD, as to distinguish even 
 His judgments into mercies. For GOD is merciful 
 unto all, because better to the worst than the best 
 deserve ; and to say He punisheth none in this World, 
 though it be a Paradox, is no absurdity. To one that 
 hath committed Murther, if the Judge should only 
 ordain a Fine, it were a madness to call this a punish- 
 ment, and to repine at the sentence, rather than 
 admire the clemency of the Judge. Thus, our offences 
 being mortal, and deserving not only Death, but 
 Damnation, if the goodness of GOD be content to 
 traverse and pass them over with a loss, misfortune, 
 or disease, what frensie were it to term this a punish- 
 ment rather than an extremity of mercy, and to groan 
 under the rod of His Judgements, rather than admire 
 the Scepter of His Mercies ! Therefore to adore, 
 honour, and admire Him, is a debt of gratitude due 
 from the obligation of our nature, states, and condi- 
 tions ; and with these thoughts, He that knows them 
 best, will not deny that I adore Him. That I obtain 
 Heaven, and the bliss thereof, is accidental, and not 
 the intended work of my devotion ; it being a felicity 
 I can neither think to deserve, nor scarce in modesty 
 to expect. For these two ends of us all, either as 
 rewards or punishments, are mercifully ordained and 
 disproportionably disposed unto our actions ; the one 
 being so far beyond our deserts, the other so infinitely 
 below our demerits. 
 
 There is no Salvation to those that believe not in 
 CHRIST, that is, say some, since His Nativity, and, as 
 Divinity affirmeth, before also ; which makes me much
 
 6o Religio Medici 
 
 apprehend the ends of those honest Worthies and 
 Philosophers which dyed before His Incarnation. It 
 is hard to place those Souls in Hell, whose worthy lives 
 do teach us Virtue on Earth ; methinks, amongst those 
 many subdivisions of Hell, there might have been one 
 Limbo left for these. What a strange vision will it be 
 to see their Poetical fictions converted into Verities, 
 and their imagined and fancied Furies into real Devils ! 
 How strange to them will sound the History of Adam, 
 when they shall suffer for him they never heard of ! 
 when they who derive their genealogy from the Gods, 
 shall know they are the unhappy issue of sinful man ! 
 It is an insolent part of reason, to controvert the 
 Works of GOD, or question the Justice of His pro- 
 ceedings. Could Humility teach others, as it hath 
 instructed me, to contemplate the infinite and incom- 
 prehensible distance betwixt the Creator and the 
 Creature ; or did we seriously perpend that one simile 
 of St. Paul, Shall the Vessel say to the Potter, " Why hast 
 thou made me thus ?" it would prevent these arrogant 
 disputes of reason ; nor would we argue the definitive 
 sentence of GOD, either to Heaven or Hell. Men that 
 live according to the right rule and law of reason, live 
 but in their own kind, as beasts do in theirs ; who 
 justly obey the prescript of their natures, and therefore 
 cannot reasonably demand a reward of their actions, 
 as onely obeying the natural dictates of their reason. 
 It will, therefore, and must at last appear, that all 
 salvation is through CHRIST ; which verity, I fear, 
 these great examples of virtue must confirm, and make 
 it good how the perfectest actions of earth have no title 
 or claim unto Heaven. 
 
 Nor truely do I think the lives of these, or of any 
 other, were ever correspondent, or in all points con- 
 formable, unto their doctrines. It is evident that 
 Aristotle transgressed the rule of his own Ethicks. 
 The Stoicks that condemn passion, and command a 
 man to laugh in Phalaris his Bull, could not endure 
 without a groan a fit of the Stone or Colick. The 
 Scepticks that affirmed they knew nothing, even in
 
 Religio Medici 61 
 
 that opinion confute themselves, and thought they 
 knew more than all the World beside. Diogenes I 
 hold to be the most vain-glorious man of his time, and 
 more ambitious in refusing all Honours, than Alexander 
 in rejecting none. Vice and the Devil put a Fallacy 
 upon our Reasons, and, provoking us too hastily to run 
 from it, entangle and profound us deeper in it. The 
 Duke of Venice, that weds himself unto the Sea by a 
 Ring of Gold, I will not argue of prodigality, because 
 it is a solemnity of good use and consequence in the 
 State : but the Philosopher that threw his money into 
 the Sea to avoid Avarice, was a notorious prodigal. 
 There is no road or ready way to virtue : it is not an 
 easie point of art to disentangle our selves from this 
 riddle, or web of Sin. To perfect virtue, as to 
 Religion, there is required a Panoplia, or compleat 
 armour ; that, whilst we lye at close ward against one 
 Vice, we lye not open to the venny of another. And 
 indeed wiser discretions that have the thred of reason 
 to conduct them, offend without pardon ; whereas 
 under-heads may stumble without dishonour. There 
 go so many circumstances to piece up one good action, 
 that it is a lesson to be good, and we are forced to be 
 virtuous by the book. Again, the Practice of men 
 holds not an equal pace, yea, and often runs counter to 
 their Theory : we naturally know what is good, but 
 naturally pursue what is evil : the Rhetorick wherewith 
 I perswade another, cannot perswade my self. There 
 is a depraved appetite in us, that will with patience 
 hear the learned instructions of Reason, but yet 
 perform no farther than agrees to its own irregular 
 humour. In brief, we all are monsters, that is, a 
 composition of Man and Beast, wherein we must 
 endeavour to be as the Poets fancy that wise man 
 Chiron, that is, to have the Region of Man above that 
 of Beast, and Sense to sit but at the feet of Reason. 
 Lastly, I do desire with GOD that all, but yet affirm 
 with men that few, shall know Salvation ; that the 
 bridge is narrow, the passage strait, unto life : yet 
 those who do confine the Church of GOD, either to
 
 62 Religio Medici 
 
 particular Nations, Churches, or Families, have made 
 it far narrower than our Saviour ever meant it. 
 
 The vulgarity of those judgements that wrap the 
 Church of GOD in Strabo's cloak, and restrain it unto 
 Europe, seem to me as bad Geographers as Alexander, 
 who thought he had Conquer 'd all the World, when he 
 had not subdued the half of any part thereof. For we 
 cannot deny the Church of GOD both fc Asia and 
 Africa, if we do not forget the Peregrinations of the 
 Apostles, the deaths of the Martyrs, the Sessions of 
 many and (even in our reformed judgement) lawful 
 Councils, held in those parts in the minority and 
 nonage of ours. Nor must a few differences, more 
 remarkable in the eyes of man than perhaps in the 
 judgement of GOD, excommunicate from Heaven one 
 another ; much less those Christians who are in a 
 manner all Martyrs, maintaining their Faith in the 
 noble way of persecution, and serving GOD in the 
 Fire, whereas we honour him but in the Sunshine. 
 'Tis true we all hold there is a number of Elect, and 
 many to be saved ; yet, take our Opinions together, and 
 from the confusion thereof there will be no such thing 
 as salvation, nor shall any one be saved. For first, the 
 Church of Rome condemneth us, we likewise them ; 
 the Subreformists and Sectaries sentence the Doctrine 
 of our Church as damnable ; the Atomist, or Familist, 
 reprobates all these ; and all these, them again. Thus, 
 whilst the Mercies of GOD do promise us Heaven, our 
 conceits and opinions exclude us from that place. 
 There must be, therefore, more than one St. Peter : 
 particular Churches and Sects usurp the gates of 
 Heaven, and turn the key against each other ; and thus 
 we go to Heaven agamst each others wills, conceits, 
 and opinions, and, with as much uncharity as ignor- 
 ance, do err, I fear, in points not only of our own, but 
 one anothers salvation. 
 
 I believe many are saved, who to man seem repro- 
 bated ; and many are reprobated, who, in the opinion 
 and sentence of man, stand elected. There will appear 
 at the Last day strange and unexpected examples both
 
 Religio Medici 63 
 
 of His Justice and His Mercy ; and therefore to define 
 either, is folly in man, and insolency even in the Devils. 
 Those acute and subtil spirits, in all their sagacity, can 
 hardly divine who shall be saved ; which if they could 
 Prognostick, their labour were at an end, nor need 
 they compass the earth seeking whom they may devour. 
 Those who, upon a rigid application of the Law, sen- 
 tence Solomon unto damnation, condemn not onely 
 him, but themselves, and the whole World : for, by 
 the Letter and written Word of GOD, we are without 
 exception in the state of Death ; but there is a pre- 
 rogative of GOD, and an arbitrary pleasure above the 
 Letter of His own Law, by which alone we can pre- 
 tend unto Salvation, and through which Solomon might 
 be as easily saved as those who condemn him. 
 
 The number of those who pretend unto Salvation, 
 and those infinite swarms who think to pass through 
 the eye of this Needle, have much amazed me. That 
 name and compellation of little Flock, doth not comfort, 
 but deject, my Devotion ; especially when I reflect 
 upon mine own unworthiness, wherein, according to 
 my humble apprehensions, I am below them all. I 
 believe there shall never be an Anarchy in Heaven ; 
 but, as there are Hierarchies amongst the Angels, so 
 shall there be degrees of priority amongst the Saints. 
 Yet is it (I protest,) beyond my ambition to aspire unto 
 the first ranks ; my desires onely are (and I shall be 
 happy therein,) to be but the last man, and bring up 
 the Rere in Heaven. 
 
 Again, I am confident and fully perswaded, yet dare 
 not take my oath, of my Salvation. I am as it were 
 sure, and do believe without all doubt, that there is 
 such a City as Constantinople ; yet for me to take my 
 Oath thereon were a kind of Perjury, because I hold 
 no infallible warrant from my own sense to confirm 
 me in the certainty thereof. And truly, though many 
 pretend an absolute certainty of their Salvation, yet, 
 when an humble Soul shall contemplate her own un- 
 worthiness, she shall meet with many doubts, and sud- 
 denly find how little we stand in need of the Precept
 
 64 Religio Medici 
 
 of St. Paul, Work out your salvation with fear and 
 trembling. That which is the cause of my Election, I 
 hold to be the cause of my Salvation, which was the 
 mercy and beneplacit of GOD, before I was, or the 
 foundation of the World. Before Abraham was, I am, 
 is the saying of CHRIST ; yet is it true in some sense, 
 if I say it of my self ; for I was not onely before my 
 self, but Adam, that is, in the Idea of GOD, and the 
 decree of that Synod held from all Eternity. And in 
 this sense, I say, the World was before the Creation, 
 and at an end before it had a beginning ; and thus was 
 I dead before I was alive : though my grave be Eng- 
 land, my dying place was Paradise: and Eve mis- 
 carried of me before she conceiv'd of Cain. 
 
 Insolent zeals, that do decry good Works and rely 
 onely upon Faith, take not away merit : for, depending 
 upon the efficacy of their Faith, they enforce the con- 
 dition of GOD, and in a more sophistical way do seem 
 to challenge Heaven. It was decreed by GOD, that 
 only those that lapt in the water like Dogs, should 
 have the honour to destroy the Midianites ; yet could 
 none of those justly challenge, or imagine he deserved, 
 that honour thereupon. I do not deny but that true 
 Faith, and such as GOD requires, is not onely a mark 
 or token, but also a means, of our Salvation; but 
 where to find this, is as obscure to me as my last end. 
 And if our Saviour could object unto His own Dis- 
 ciples and Favourites, a Faith, that, to the quantity of 
 a grain of Mustard-seed, is able to remove Mountains; 
 surely, that which we boast of, is not any thing, or at 
 the most, but a remove from nothing. This is the 
 Tenor of my belief ; wherein though there be many 
 things singular, and to the humour of my irregular 
 self, yet, if they square not with maturer Judgements, 
 I disclaim them, and do no further father them, than 
 the learned and best judgements shall authorize them.
 
 Religio Medici 65 
 
 THE SECOND PART 
 
 Now for that other Virtue of Charity, without which 
 Faith is a meer notion, and of no existence, I have 
 ever endeavoured to nourish the merciful disposition 
 and humane inclination I borrowed from my Parents, 
 and regulate it to the written and prescribed Laws of 
 Charity. And if I hold the true Anatomy of my self, 
 I am delineated and naturally framed to such a piece 
 of virtue ; for I am of a constitution so general, that 
 it consorts and sympathiseth with all things. I have 
 no antipathy, or rather Idiosyncrasie, in dyet, humour, 
 air, any thing. I wonder not at the French for their 
 dishes of Frogs, Snails and Toadstools, nor at the Jews 
 for Locusts and Grasshoppers ; but being amongst 
 them, make them my common Viands, and I find they 
 agree with my Stomach as well as theirs. I could 
 digest a Salad gathered in a Church-yard, as well as 
 in a Garden. I cannot start at the presence of a 
 Serpent, Scorpion, Lizard, or Salamander: at the 
 sight of a Toad or Viper, I find in me no desire to 
 take up a stone to destroy them. I feel not in my self 
 those common Antipathies that I can discover in 
 others : those National repugnances do not touch me, 
 nor do I behold with prejudice the French, Italian, 
 Spaniard, or Dutch : but where I find their actions in 
 balance with my Countrymen's, I honour, love, and 
 embrace them in the same degree. I was born in the 
 eighth Climate, but seem for to be framed and con- 
 stellated unto all. I am no Plant that will not prosper 
 out of a Garden. All places, all airs, make unto me 
 one Countrey ; I am in England every where, and 
 under any Meridian. I have been shipwrackt, yet am 
 not enemy with the Sea or Winds ; I can study, play, 
 or sleep in a Tempest. In brief, I am averse from 
 nothing : my Conscience would give me the lye if I 
 should say I absolutely detest or hate any essence but 
 the Devil ; or so at least abhor any thing, but that we 
 
 E
 
 66 Religio Medici 
 
 might come to composition. If there be any among 
 those common objects of hatred I do contemn and 
 laugh at, it is that great enemy of Reason, Virtue and 
 Religion, the Multitude : that numerous piece of mon- 
 strosity, which, taken asunder, seem men, and the 
 reasonable creatures of GOD ; but, confused together, 
 make but one great beast, and a monstrosity more pro- 
 digious than Hydra. It is no breach of Charity to call 
 these Fools ; it is the style all holy Writers have 
 afforded them, set down by Solomon in Canonical 
 Scripture, and a point of our Faith to believe so. 
 Neither in the name of Multitude do I onely include 
 the base and minor sort of people ; there is a rabble 
 even amongst the Gentry, a sort of Plebeian heads, 
 whose fancy moves with the same wheel as these ; 
 men in the same Level with Mechanicks, though their 
 fortunes do somewhat guild their infirmities, and their 
 purses compound for their follies. But as, m casting 
 account, three or four men together come short in 
 account of one man placed by himself below them ; so 
 neither are a troop of these ignorant Doradoes of that 
 true esteem and value, as many a forlorn person, whose 
 condition doth place him below their feet. Let us 
 speak like Politicians : there is a Nobility without 
 Heraldry, a natural dignity, whereby one man is 
 ranked with another, another filed before him, accord- 
 ing to the quality of his Desert, and preheminence of 
 his good parts. Though the corruption of these times 
 and the byas of present practice wheel another way, 
 thus it was in the first and primitive Commonwealths, 
 and is yet in the integrity and Cradle of well-order'd 
 Polities, till corruption getteth ground ; ruder desires 
 labouring after that which wiser considerations con- 
 temn, every one having a liberty to amass and heap 
 up riches, and they a licence or faculty to do or pur- 
 chase any thing. 
 
 This general and indifferent temper of mine doth 
 more neerly dispose me to this noble virtue. It is a 
 happiness to be born and framed unto virtue, and to 
 grow up from the seeds of nature, rather than the in-
 
 Religio Medici 67 
 
 oculation and forced graffs of education : yet if we are 
 directed only by our particular Natures, and regulate 
 our inclinations by no higher rule than that of our 
 reasons, we are but Moralists ; Divinity will still call 
 us Heathens. Therefore this great work of charity 
 must have other motives, ends, and impulsions. I 
 give no alms only to satisfie the hunger of my Brother, 
 but to fulfil and accomplish the Will and Command 
 of my GOD : I draw not my purse for his sake that 
 demands it, but His That enjoyned it : I relieve no 
 man upon the Rhetorick of his miseries, nor to content 
 mine own commiserating disposition ; for this is still 
 but moral charity, and an act that oweth more to 
 passion than reason. He that relieves another upon 
 the bare suggestion and bowels of pity, doth not this, 
 so much for his sake as for his own ; for by compassion 
 we make others misery our own, and so, by relieving 
 them, we relieve our selves also. It is as erroneous a 
 conceit to redress other Mens misfortunes upon the 
 common considerations of merciful natures, that it 
 may be one day our own case ; for this is a sinister 
 and politick kind of charity, whereby we seem to 
 bespeak the pities of men in the like occasions. And 
 truly I have observed that those professed Eleemosy- 
 naries, though in a croud or multitude, do yet direct 
 and place their petitions on a few and selected persons : 
 there is surely a Physiognomy, which those experi- 
 enced and Master Mendicants observe, whereby they 
 instantly discover a merciful aspect, and will single 
 out a face wherein they spy the signatures and marks 
 of Mercy. For there are mystically in our faces 
 certain Characters which carry in them the motto of 
 our Souls, wherein he that cannot read A. B. C. may 
 read our natures. I hold moreover that there is a 
 Phytognomy, or Physiognomy, not only of Men, but 
 of Plants and Vegetables ; and in every one of them 
 some outward figures which hang as signs or bushes 
 of their inward forms. The Finger of GOD hath left 
 an Inscription upon all His works, not graphical or 
 composed of Letters, but of their several forms, con-
 
 68 Religio Medici 
 
 stitutions, parts, and operations, which, aptly joyned 
 together, do make one word that doth express their 
 natures. By these Letters GOD calls the Stars by 
 their names ; and by this Alphabet Adam assigned to 
 every creature a name peculiar to its Nature. Now 
 there are, besides these Characters in our Faces, 
 certain mystical figures in our Hands, which I dare 
 not call meer dashes, strokes a la volee, or at random, 
 because delineated by a Pencil that never works in 
 vain ; and hereof I take more particular notice, 
 because I carry that in mine own hand which I could 
 never read of nor discover in another. Aristotle, I 
 confess, in his acute and singular Book of Physiognomy, 
 hath made no mention of Chiromancy ; yet I believe 
 the Egyptians, who were neerer addicted to those 
 abstruse and mystical sciences, had a knowledge therein, 
 to which those vagabond and counterfeit Egyptians 
 did after pretend, and perhaps retained a few cor- 
 rupted principles, which sometimes might verifie their 
 prognosticks. 
 
 It is the common wonder of all men, how among so 
 many millions of faces, there should be none alike : 
 now contrary, I wonder as much how there should be 
 any. He that shall consider how many thousand 
 several words have been carelesly and without study 
 composed out of twenty-four Letters ; withal, how 
 many hundred lines there are to be drawn in the 
 Fabrick of one Man, shall easily find that this variety 
 is necessary ; and it will be very hard that they shall 
 so concur as to make one portract like another. Let 
 a Painter carelessly limb out a million of Faces, and 
 you shall find them all different ; yea, let him have his 
 Copy before him, yet after all his art there will remain 
 a sensible distinction ; for the pattern or example of 
 every thing is the perfectest in that kind, whereof we 
 still come short, though we transcend or go beyond it, 
 because herein it is wide, and agrees not in all points 
 unto the copy. Nor doth the similitude of Creatures 
 disparage the variety of Nature, nor any way confound 
 the Works of GOD. For even in things alike there is
 
 Religio Medici 69 
 
 diversity ; and those that do seem to accord do mani- 
 festly disagree. And thus is man like GOD ; for in the 
 same things that we resemble Him, we are utterly 
 different from Him. There was never anything so 
 like another as in all points to concur : there will ever 
 some reserved difference slip in, to prevent the identity ; 
 without which, two several things would not be alike, 
 but the same, which is impossible. 
 
 But to return from Philosophy to Charity : I hold 
 not so narrow a conceit of this virtue, as to conceive 
 that to give Alms is onely to be Charitable, or think a 
 piece of Liberality can comprehend the Total of 
 Charity. Divinity hath wisely divided the act thereof 
 into many branches, and hath taught us in this narrow 
 way many paths unto goodness ; as many ways as we 
 may do good, so many ways we may be charitable. 
 There are infirmities not onely of Body, but of Soul, 
 and Fortunes, which do require the merciful hand of 
 our abilities. I cannot contemn a man for ignorance, 
 but behold him with as much pity as I do Lazarus. 
 It is no greater Charity to cloath his body, than 
 apparel the nakedness of his Soul. It is an honour- 
 able object to see the reasons of other men wear our 
 Liveries, and their borrowed understandings do homage 
 to the bounty of ours : it is the cheapest way of bene- 
 ficence, and, like the natural charity of the Sun, illu- 
 minates another without obscuring itself. To be 
 reserved and caitiff in this part of goodness, is the 
 sordidest piece of covetousness, and more contemptible 
 than pecuniary Avarice. To this (as calling my self a 
 Scholar,) I am obliged by the duty of my condition : I 
 make not therefore my head a grave, but a treasure, of 
 knowledge ; I intend no Monopoly, but a community, 
 in learning ; I study not for my own sake only, but 
 for theirs that study not for themselves. I envy no 
 man that knows more than my self, but pity them that 
 know less. I instruct no man as an exercise of my 
 knowledge, or with an intent rather to nourish and 
 keep it alive in mine own head then beget and propa- 
 gate it in his : and in the midst of all my endeavours
 
 yo Religio Medici 
 
 there is but one thought that dejects me, that my 
 acquired parts must perish with my self, nor can be 
 Legacied among my honoured Friends. I cannot fall 
 out or contemn a man for an errour, or conceive why 
 a difference in Opinion should divide an affection ; for 
 Controversies, Disputes, and Argumentations, both in 
 Philosophy and in Divinity, if they meet with discreet 
 and peaceable natures, do not infringe the Laws of 
 Charity. In all disputes, so much as there is of passion, 
 so much as there is of nothing to the purpose ; for 
 then Reason, like a bad Hound, spends upon a false 
 Scent, and forsakes the question first started. And 
 this is one reason why Controversies are never deter- 
 mined ; for, though they be amply proposed, they are 
 scarce at all handled, they do so swell with unnecessary 
 Digressions ; and the Parenthesis on the party is often 
 as large as the main discourse upon the subject. The 
 Foundations of Religion are already established, and 
 the Principles of Salvation subscribed unto by all : 
 there remains not many controversies worth a Passion ; 
 and yet never any disputed without, not only in 
 Divinity, but in inferiour Arts. What a /JaT/oaxoftuo/iaxta 
 and hot skirmish is betwixt S. and T. in Lucian ! How 
 do Grammarians hack and slash for the Genitive case 
 in Jupiter! How do they break their own pates to 
 salve that of Priscian ! 
 
 Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus. 
 
 Yea, even amongst wiser militants, how many wounds 
 have been given, and credits slain, for the poor victory 
 of an opinion, or beggarly conquest of a distinction ! 
 Scholars are men of Peace, they bear no Arms, but 
 their tongues are sharper than Actius his razor ; their 
 Pens carry farther, and give a louder report than 
 Thunder : I had rather stand the shock of a Basilisco, 
 than the fury of a merciless Pen. It is not meer Zeal 
 to Learning, or Devotion to the Muses, that wiser 
 Princes Patron the Arts, and carry an indulgent aspect 
 anto Scholars; but a desire to have their names 
 eternized by the memory of their writings, and a fear
 
 Religio Medici 71 
 
 of the revengeful Pen of succeeding ages ; for these 
 are the men, that, when they have played their parts, 
 and had their exits, must step out and give the moral 
 of their Scenes, and deliver unto Posterity an In- 
 ventory of their Virtues and Vices. And surely there 
 goes a great deal of Conscience to the compiling of an 
 History : there is no reproach to the scandal of a 
 Story ; it is such an authentick kind of falshood that 
 with authority belies our good names to all Nations 
 and Posterity. 
 
 There is another offence unto Charity, which no 
 Author hath ever written of, and few take notice of ; 
 and that's the reproach, not of whole professions, 
 mysteries, and conditions, but of whole Nations, 
 wherein by opprobious Epithets we miscall each other, 
 and by an uncharitable Logick, from a disposition in 
 a few, conclude a habit in all. 
 
 Le mutin A nglois, et le bravache Escossois, 
 
 Et le jol Francois, 
 
 Le poultron Remain, le larron de Gascongne, 
 L'Espagnol superbe, et I' A leman yvrongne. 
 
 St. Paul, that calls the Cretians lyars, doth it but in- 
 directly, and upon quotation of their own Poet. It is 
 as bloody a thought in one way, as Nero's was in 
 another ; for by a word we wound a thousand, and at 
 one blow assassine the honour of a Nation. It is as 
 compleat a piece of madness to miscal and rave against 
 the times, or think to recal men to reason by a fit of 
 passion. Democritus, that thought to laugh the times 
 into goodness, seems to me as deeply Hypochondriack 
 as Heraclitus, that bewailed them. It moves not my 
 spleen to behold the multitude in their proper humours, 
 that is, in their fits of folly and madness ; as well 
 understanding that wisdom is not prophan'd unto the 
 World, and 'tis the priviledge of a few to be Vertuous. 
 They that endeavour to abolish Vice, destroy also 
 Virtue ; for contraries, though they destroy one another, 
 are yet the life of one another. Thus Virtue (abolish 
 vice,) is an Idea. Again, the community of sin doth
 
 72 Religio Medici 
 
 not disparage goodness ; for when Vice gains upon the 
 major part, Virtue, in whom it remains, becomes more 
 excellent ; and being lost in some, multiplies its good- 
 ness in others which remain untouched and persist 
 intire in the general inundation. I can therefore 
 behold Vice without a Satyr, content only with an 
 admonition, or instructive reprehension ; for Noble 
 Natures, and such as are capable of goodness, are 
 railed into vice, that might as easily be admonished 
 into virtue ; and we should all be so far the Orators of 
 goodness, as to protect her from the power of Vice, 
 and maintain the cause of injured truth. No man can 
 justly censure or condemn another, because indeed no 
 man truly knows another. This I perceive in my self; 
 for I am in the dark to all the world, and my nearest 
 friends behold me but in a cloud. Those that know 
 me but superficially, think less of me than I do of my 
 self ; those of my neer acquaintance think more ; GOD, 
 Who truly knows me, knows that I am nothing ; for 
 He only beholds me and all the world, Who looks not 
 on us through a derived ray, or a trajection of a sensible 
 species, but beholds the substance without the helps of 
 accidents, and the forms of things as we their opera- 
 tions. Further, no man can judge another, because 
 no man knows himself : for we censure others but as 
 they disagree from that humour which we fancy laud- 
 able in our selves, and commend others but for that 
 wherein they seem to quadrate and consent with us. 
 So that, in conclusion, all is but that we all condemn, 
 Self-love. 'Tis the general complaint of these times, 
 and perhaps of those past, that charity grows cold ; 
 which I perceive most verified in those which most do 
 manifest the fires and flames of zeal ; for it is a virtue 
 that best agrees with coldest natures, and such as are 
 complexioned for humility. But how shall we expect 
 Charity towards others, when we are uncharitable to 
 our selves ? Chanty begins at home, is the voice of the 
 World ; yet is every man his greatest enemy, and, as 
 it were, his own Executioner. Non occides, is the Com- 
 mandment of GOD, yet scarce observed by any man ;
 
 Religio Medici 73 
 
 for I perceive every man is his own Atropos, and lends 
 a hand to cut the thred of his own days. Cain was 
 not therefore the first Murtherer, but Adam, who 
 brought in death ; whereof he beheld the practice and 
 example in his own son Abel, and saw that verified in 
 the experience of another, which faith could not per- 
 swade him in the Theory of himself. 
 
 There is, I think, no man that apprehends his own 
 miseries less than my self, and no man that so neerly 
 apprehends anothers. I could lose an arm without a 
 tear, and with few groans, methinks, be quartered into 
 pieces ; yet can I weep most seriously at a Play, and 
 receive with true passion the counterfeit grief of those 
 known and professed Impostures. It is a barbarous 
 part of inhumanity to add unto any afflicted parties 
 misery, or indeavour to multiply in any man a passion 
 whose single nature is already above his patience. 
 This was the greatest affliction of Job, and those 
 oblique expostulations of his Friends a deeper injury 
 than the down-right blows of the Devil. It is not the 
 tears of own our eyes only, but of our friends also, that 
 do exhaust the current of our sorrows ; which, falling into 
 many streams, runs more peaceably, and is contented 
 with a narrower channel. It is an act within the 
 power of charity, to translate a passion out of one 
 breast into another, and to divide a sorrow almost out 
 of it self ; for an affliction, like a dimension, may be 
 so divided, as, if not indivisible, at least to become 
 insensible. Now with my friend I desire not to share 
 or participate, but to engross, his sorrows; that, by 
 making them mine own, I may more easily discuss 
 them ; for in mine own reason, and within my self, I 
 can command that which I cannot intreat without my 
 self, and within the circle of another. I have often 
 thought those noble pairs and examples of friendship 
 not so truly Histories of what had been, as fictions of 
 what should be ; but I now perceive nothing in them 
 but possibilities, nor anything in the Heroick examples 
 of Damon and Pythias, Achilles and Patroclus, which 
 methinks upon some grounds I could not perform
 
 74 Religio Medici 
 
 within the narrow compass of my self. That a man 
 should lay down his life for his Friend, seems strange 
 to vulgar affections, and such as confine themselves 
 within that Worldly principle, Chanty begins at home. 
 For mine own pait I could never remember the rela- 
 tions that I held unto my self, nor the respect that I 
 owe unto my own nature, in the cause of GOD, my 
 Country, and my Friends. Next to these three, I do 
 embrace my self. I confess I do not observe that 
 order that the Schools ordain our affections, to love our 
 Parents, Wives, Children, and then our Friends ; for, 
 excepting the injunctions of Religion, I do not find in 
 my self such a necessary and indissoluble Sympathy to 
 all those of my blood. I hope I do not break the fifth 
 Commandment, if I conceive I may love my friend 
 before the nearest of my blood, even those to whom I 
 owe the principles of life. I never yet cast a true 
 affection on a woman ; but I have loved my friend as 
 I do virtue, my soul, my GOD. From hence me thinks 
 I do conceive how GOD loves man, what happiness 
 there is in the love of GOD. Omitting all other, there 
 are three most mystical unions : i. two natures in one 
 person ; 2. three persons in one nature ; 3. one soul 
 in two bodies ; for though indeed they be really 
 divided, yet are they so united, as they seem but one, 
 and make rather a duality than two distinct souls. 
 
 There are wonders in true affection : it is a body of 
 Enigma's, mysteries, and riddles ; wherein two so 
 become one, as they both become two. I love my 
 friend before my self, and yet methinks I do not love 
 him enough : some few months hence my multiplied 
 affection will make me believe I have not loved him at 
 all. When 1 am from him, I am dead till I be with 
 him ; when I am with him, I am not satisfied, but 
 would still be nearer him. United souls are not 
 satisfied with imbraces, but desire to be truly each 
 other ; whi> h being impossible, their desires are 
 infinite, and must proceed without a possibility of 
 satisfaction. Another misery there is in affection, that 
 whom we truly love like our own selves, we forget
 
 Religio Medici 75 
 
 their looks, nor can our memory retain the Idea of 
 their faces ; and it is no wonder, for they are our 
 selves, and our affection makes their looks our own. 
 This noble affection falls not on vulgar and common 
 constitutions, but on such as are mark'd for virtue : he 
 that can love his friend with this noble ardour, will in 
 a competent degree affect all. Now, if we can bring 
 our affections to look beyond the body, and cast an eye 
 upon the soul, we have found out the true object, not 
 only of friendship, but Charity ; and the greatest 
 happiness that we can bequeath the soul, is that 
 wherein we all do place our last felicity, Salvation ; 
 which though it be not in our power to bestow, it is in 
 our charity and pious invocations to desire, if not 
 procure and further. I cannot contentedly frame a 
 prayer for my self in particular, without a catalogue for 
 my friends; nor request a happiness, wherein my 
 sociable disposition doth not desire the fellowship of 
 my neighbour. I never hear the Toll of a passing 
 Bell, though in my mirth, without my prayers and 
 best wishes for the departing spirit; I cannot go to 
 cure the body of my patient, but I forget my profession, 
 and call unto GOD for his soul ; I cannot see one say 
 his prayers, but, in stead of imitating him, I fall into 
 a supplication for him, who perhaps is no more to me 
 than a common nature : and if GOD hath vouchsafed 
 an ear to my supplications, there are surely many 
 happy that never saw me, and enjoy the blessing of 
 mine unknown devotions. To pray for Enemies, that 
 is, for their salvation, is no harsh precept, but the 
 practice of our daily and ordinary devotions. I cannot 
 believe the story 'of the Italian: our bad wishes and 
 uncharitable desires proceed no further than this life ; 
 it is the Devil, and the uncharitable votes of Hell, 
 that desire our misery in the World to come. 
 
 To do no injury, nor take none, was a principle, 
 which to my former years and impatient affections 
 seemed to contain enough of Morality ; but my more 
 setled years and Christian constitution have fallen 
 upon severer resolutions. I can hold there is no such
 
 76 Religio Medici 
 
 thing as injury ; that, if there be, there is no such 
 injury as revenge, and no such revenge as the con- 
 tempt of an injury ; that to hate another, is to malign 
 himself ; that the truest way to love another, is to 
 despise our selves. I were unjust unto mine own 
 Conscience, if I should say I am at variance with any 
 thing like my self. I find there are many pieces in 
 this one fabrick of man ; this frame is raised upon a 
 mass of Antipathies. I am one methinks, but as the 
 World ; wherein notwithstanding there are a swarm 
 of distinct essences, and in them another World of 
 contrarieties ; we carry private and domestick enemies 
 within, publick and more hostile adversaries without. 
 The Devil, that did but buffet St. Paul, plays methinks 
 at sharp with me. Let me be nothing, if within the 
 compass of my self I do not find the battail of Lepanto, 
 Passion against Reason, Reason against Faith, Faith 
 against the Devil, and my Conscience against all. 
 There is another man within me, that's angry with me, 
 rebukes, commands, and dastards me. I have no 
 Conscience of Marble to resist the hammer of more 
 heavy offences ; nor yet so soft and waxen, as to take 
 the impression of each single peccadillo or scrape of 
 infirmity. I am of a strange belief, that it is as easie 
 to be forgiven some sins, as to commit some others. 
 For my Original sin, I hold it to be washed away in 
 my Baptism : for my actual transgressions, I compute 
 and reckon with GOD but from my last repentance, 
 Sacrament, or general absolution ; and therefore am 
 not terrified with the sins or madness of my youth. I 
 thank the goodness of GOD, I have no sins that want a 
 name ; I am not singular in offences ; my transgressions 
 are Epidemical, and from the common breath of our 
 corruption. For there are certain tempers of body, 
 which, matcht with an humorous depravity of mind, 
 do hatch and produce vitiosities, whose newness and 
 monstrosity of nature admits no name : this was the 
 temper of that Lecher that fell in love with a Statua, 
 and the constitution of Nero in his Spintrian recrea- 
 tions. For the Heavens are not only fruitful in new
 
 Religio Medici 77 
 
 and unheard-of stars, the Earth in plants and animals, 
 but mens minds also in villainy and vices. Now the 
 dulness of my reason, and the vulgarity of my disposi- 
 tion, never prompted my invention, nor solicited my 
 affection unto any of these ; yet even those common 
 and quotidian infirmities that so necessarily attend me, 
 and do seem to be my very nature, have so dejected 
 me, so broken the estimation that I should have other- 
 wise of my self, that I repute my self the most 
 abjectest piece of mortality. Divines prescribe a fit 
 of sorrow to repentance : there goes indignation, anger, 
 sorrow, hatred, into mine ; passions of a contrary 
 nature, which neither seem to sute with this action, 
 nor my proper constitution. It is no breach of charity 
 to our selves, to be at variance with our Vices, nor to 
 abhor that part of us which is an enemy to the ground 
 of charity, our GOD ; wherein we do but imitate our 
 great selves, the world, whose divided Antipathies and 
 contrary faces do yet carry a charitable regard unto 
 the whole, by their particular discords preserving the 
 common harmony, and keeping in fetters those 
 powers, whose rebellions, once Masters, might be the 
 ruine of all. 
 
 I thank GOD, amongst those millions of Vices I do 
 inherit and hold from Adam, I have escaped one, and 
 that a mortal enemy to Charity, the first and father-sin, 
 not onely of man, but of the devil, Pride : a vice whose 
 name is comprehended in a Monosyllable, but in its 
 nature not circumscribed with a World. I have 
 escaped it in a condition that can hardly avoid it. 
 Those petty acquisitions and reputed perfections that 
 advance and elevate the conceits of other men, add no 
 feathers unto mine. I have seen a Grammarian towr 
 and plume himself over a single line in Horace, and 
 shew more pride in the construction of one Ode, than 
 the Author in the composure of the whole book. For 
 my own part, besides the Jargon and Patois of several 
 Provinces, I understand no less than six Languages ; 
 yet I protest I have no higher conceit of my self, than 
 had our Fathers before the confusion of Babel, when
 
 j8 Religio Medici 
 
 there was but one Language in the World, and none 
 to boast himself either Linguist or Critick. I have 
 not onely seen several Countries, beheld the nature of 
 their Climes, the Chorography of their Provinces, 
 Topography of their Cities, but understood their 
 several Laws, Customs, and Policies ; yet cannot all 
 this perswade the dulness of my spirit unto such an 
 opinion of my self, as I behold in nimbler and con- 
 ceited heads, that never looked a degree beyond their 
 Nests. I know the names, and somewhat more, of all 
 the constellations in my Horizon ; yet I have seen a 
 prating Mariner, that could onely name the pointers 
 and the North Star, out-talk me, and conceit himself 
 a whole Sphere above me. I know most of the Plants 
 of my Countrey, and of those about me ; yet methinks 
 I do not know so many as when I did but know a 
 hundred, and had scarcely ever Simpled further than 
 Cheapside. For, indeed, heads of capacity, and such as 
 are not full with a handful or easie measure of know- 
 ledge, think they know nothing till they know all ; which 
 being impossible, they fall upon the opinion of Socrates, 
 and only know they know not any thing. I cannot 
 think that Homer pin'd away upon the riddle of the 
 fishermen ; or that Aristotle, who understood the un- 
 certainty of knowledge, and confessed so often the 
 reason of man too weak for the works of nature, did 
 ever drown himself upon the flux and reflux of Euripus. 
 We do but learn to-day what our better advanced 
 judgements will unteach to morrow ; and Aristotle doth 
 but instruct us, as Plato did him ; that is, to confute 
 himself. I have run through all sorts, yet find no rest 
 in any : though our first studies and junior endeavours 
 may style us Peripateticks, Stoicks, or Academicks; 
 yet I perceive the wisest heads prove, at last, almost 
 all Scepticks, and stand like Janus in the field of 
 knowledge. I have therefore one common and 
 authentick Philosophy I learned in the Schools, 
 whereby I discourse and satisfy the reason of other 
 men; another more reserved, and drawn from ex- 
 perience, whereby I content mine own. Solomon,
 
 Religio Medici 79 
 
 that complained of ignorance in the height of know- 
 ledge, hath not only humbled my conceits, but dis- 
 couraged my endeavours. There is yet another conceit 
 that hath sometimes made me shut my books, which 
 tells me it is a vanity to waste our days in the blind 
 pursuit of knowledge ; it is but attending a little 
 longer, and we shall enjoy that by instinct and in- 
 fusion, which we endeavour at here by labour and 
 inquisition. It is better to sit down in a modest 
 ignorance, and rest contented with the natural blessing 
 of our own reasons, than buy the uncertain knowledge 
 of this life with sweat and vexation, which Death 
 gives every fool gratis, and is an accessary of our 
 glorification. 
 
 I was never yet once, and commend their resolutions 
 who never marry twice : not that I disallow of second 
 marriage ; as neither, in all cases, of Polygamy, which, 
 considering some times, and the unequal number of 
 both sexes, may be also necessary. The whole World 
 was made for man, but the twelfth part of man for 
 woman : Man is the whole World, and the Breath of 
 GOD ; Woman the Rib and crooked piece of man. I 
 could be content that we might procreate like trees, 
 without conjunction, or that there were any way to 
 perpetuate the World without this trivial and vulgar 
 way of union: it is the foolishest act a wise man 
 commits in all his life ; nor is there any thing that will 
 more deject his cool'd imagination, when he shall 
 consider what an odd and unworthy piece of folly he 
 hath committed. I speak not in prejudice, nor am 
 averse from that sweet Sex, but naturally amorous of 
 all that is beautiful. I can look a whole day with 
 delight upon a handsome Picture, though it be but of 
 an Horse. It is my temper, and I like it the better, 
 to affect all harmony ; and sure there is musick even 
 in the beauty, and the silent note which Cupid strikes, 
 far sweeter than the sound of an instrument. For 
 there is a musick where ever there is a harmony, order, 
 or proportion : and thus far we may maintain the 
 music of the Sphears ; for those well-ordered motions,
 
 8o Religio Medici 
 
 and regular paces, though they give no sound unto the 
 ear, yet to the understanding they strike a note most 
 full of harmony. Whosoever is harmonically com- 
 posed delights in harmony ; which makes me much 
 distrust the symmetry of those heads which declaim 
 against all Church- Musick. For my self, not only 
 from my obedience, but my particular Genius, I do 
 embrace it : for even that vulgar and Tavern-Musick, 
 which makes one man merry, another mad, strikes in 
 me a deep fit of devotion, and a profound contempla- 
 tion of the First Composer. There is something in it 
 of Divinity more than the ear discovers: it is an Hiero- 
 glyphical and shadowed lesson of the whole World, and 
 creatures of GOD ; such a melody to the ear, as the 
 whole World, well understood, would afford the under- 
 standing. In brief, it is a sensible fit of that harmony 
 which intellectually sounds in the ears of GOD. I will 
 not say, with Plato, the soul is an harmony, but 
 harmonical, and hath its nearest sympathy unto 
 Musick : thus some, whose temper of body agrees, and 
 humours the constitution of their souls, are born Poets, 
 though indeed all are naturally inclined unto Rhythme. 
 This made Tacitus, in the very first line of his Story, 
 fall upon a verse ; and Cicero, the worst of Poets, but 
 declaiming for a Poet, falls in the very first sentence 
 upon a perfect Hexameter. I feel not in me those 
 sordid and unchristian desires of my profession ; I do 
 not secretly implore and wish for Plagues, rejoyce at 
 Famines, revolve Ephemerides and Almanacks in 
 expectation of malignant Aspects, fatal Conjunctions, 
 and Eclipses. I rejoyce not at unwholesome Springs, 
 nor unseasonable Winters : my Prayer goes with the 
 Husbandman's ; I desire every thing in its proper 
 season, that neither men nor the times be put out of 
 temper. Let me be sick my self, if sometimes the 
 malady of my patient be not a disease unto me. I 
 desire rather to cure his infirmities than my own 
 necessities. Where I do him no good, methinks it is 
 scarce honest gain ; though I confess 'tis but the 
 worthy salary of our well-intended endeavours. I am
 
 Religio Medici 81 
 
 not only ashamed, but heartily sorry, that, besides 
 death, there are diseases incurable : yet not for my own 
 sake, or that they be beyond my Art, but for the general 
 cause and sake of humanity, whose common cause I 
 apprehend as mine own. And to speak more generally, 
 those three Noble Professions which all civil Common- 
 wealths do honour, are raised upon the fall of Adam, 
 and are not any way exempt from their infirmities ; 
 there are not only diseases incurable in Physick, but 
 cases indissolvable in Laws, Vices incorrigible in 
 Divinity. If General Councils may err, I do not see 
 why particular Courts should be infallible : their per- 
 fectest rules are raised upon the erroneous reasons of 
 Man, and the Laws of one do but condemn the rules 
 of another ; as Aristotle oft-times the opinions of his 
 Predecessours, because, though agreeable to reason, 
 yet were not consonant to his own rules, and the 
 Logick of his proper Principles. Again, (to speak 
 nothing of the Sin against the HOLY GHOST, whose 
 cure not onely, but whose nature is unknown,) I can 
 cure the Gout or Stone in some, sooner than Divinity, 
 Pride, or Avarice in others. I can cure Vices by 
 Physick when they remain incurable by Divinity, and 
 shall obey my Pills when they contemn their precepts. 
 I boast nothing, but plainly say, we all labour against 
 our own cure ; for death is the cure of all diseases. 
 There is no Catholicon or universal remedy I know, 
 but this ; which, though nauseous to queasie stomachs, 
 yet to prepared appetites is Nectar, and a pleasant 
 potion of immortality. 
 
 For my Conversation, it is like the Sun's, with all 
 men, and with a friendly aspect to good and bad. 
 Methinks there is no man bad, and the worst, best ; 
 that is, while they are kept within the circle of those 
 qualities wherein they are good: there is no man's 
 mind of such discordant and jarring a temper, to which 
 a tunable disposition may not strike a harmony. Magna 
 virtutes, nee minora vitia ; it is the posie of the best 
 natures, and may be inverted on the worst ; there are 
 in the most depraved and venemous dispositions, 
 
 F
 
 82 Religio Medici 
 
 certain pieces that remain untoucht, which by an 
 Antiperistasis become more excellent, or by the excel- 
 lency of their antipathies are able to preserve them- 
 selves from the contagion of their enemy vices, and 
 persist intire beyond the general corruption. For it is 
 also thus in nature : the greatest Balsomes do lie 
 enveloped in the bodies of most powerful Corrosives. 
 I say, moreover, and I ground upon experience, that 
 poisons contain within themselves their own Antidote, 
 and that which preserves them from the venome of 
 themselves, without which they were not deleterious 
 to others onely, but to themselves also. But it is the 
 corruption that I fear within me, not the contagion of 
 commerce without me. 'Tis that unruly regiment 
 within me, that will destroy me ; 'tis I that do infect 
 my self ; the man without a Navel yet lives in me ; I 
 feel that original canker and corrode and devour me ; 
 and therefore Defenda me Dios de me, " LORD deliver 
 me from my self," is a part of my Letany, and the 
 first voice of my retired imaginations. There is no 
 man alone, because every man is a Microcosm, and 
 carries the whole World about him. Nunquam minus 
 solus quam cum solus, though it be the Apothegme of a 
 wise man, is yet true in the mouth of a fool. Indeed, 
 though in a Wilderness, a man is never alone, not only 
 because he is with himself and his own thoughts, but 
 because he is with the Devil, who ever consorts with 
 our solitude, and is that unruly rebel that musters up 
 those disordered motions which accompany our 
 sequestred imaginations. And to speak more narrowly, 
 there is no such thing as solitude, nor any thing that 
 can be said to be alone and by itself, but GOD, Who 
 is His own circle, and can subsist by Himself; all 
 others, besides their dissimilary and Heterogeneous 
 parts, which in a manner multiply their natures, cannot 
 subsist without the concourse of GOD, and the society 
 of that hand which doth uphold their natures. In 
 brief, there can be nothing truly alone and by it self, 
 which is not truly one ; and such is only GOD : all others 
 do transcend an unity, and so by consequence are many.
 
 Religio Medici 83 
 
 Now for my life, it is a miracle of thirty years, 
 which to relate, were not a History, but a piece of 
 Poetry, and would sound to common ears like a Fable. 
 For the World, I count it not an Inn, but an Hospital; 
 and a place not to live, but to dye in. The world that 
 I regard is my self ; it is the Microcosm of my own 
 frame that I cast mine eye on ; for the other, I use it 
 but like my Globe, and turn it round sometimes for 
 my recreation. Men that look upon my outside, 
 perusing only my condition and Fortunes, do err in 
 my Altitude ; for I am above Atlas his shoulders. 
 The earth is a point not only in respect of the Heavens 
 above us, but of that heavenly and celestial part within 
 us ; that mass of Flesh that circumscribes me, limits 
 not my mind : that surface that tells the Heavens it 
 hath an end, cannot persuade me I have any : I take 
 my circle to be above three hundred and sixty ; though 
 the number of the Ark do measure my body, it com- 
 prehendeth not my mind : whilst I study to find how I 
 am a Microcosm, or little World, I find my self some- 
 thing more than the great. There is surely a piece of 
 Divinity in us, something that was before the Elements, 
 and owes no homage unto the Sun. Nature tells me I 
 am the Image of GOD, as well as Scripture : he that 
 understands not thus much, hath not his introduction 
 or first lesson, and is yet to begin the Alphabet of man. 
 Let me not injure the felicity of others, if I say I am 
 as happy as any : Ruat cctlum, fiat voluntas Tua, salveth 
 all ; so that whatsoever happens, it is but what our 
 daily prayers desire. In brief, I am content; and 
 what should Providence add more ? Surely this is it 
 we call Happiness, and this do I enjoy ; with this 
 I am happy in a dream, and as content to enjoy a 
 happiness in a fancy, as others in a more apparent 
 truth and realty. There is surely a neerer apprehension 
 of any thing that delights us in our dreams, than in 
 our waked senses : without this I were unhappy ; for 
 my awaked judgment discontents me, ever whisper- 
 ing unto me, that I am from my friend ; but my 
 friendly dreams in the night requite me, and make me
 
 84 Religio Medici 
 
 think I am within his arms. I thank GOD for my 
 happy dreams, as I do for my good rest ; for there is 
 a satisfaction in them unto reasonable desires, and 
 such as can be content with a fit of happiness : and 
 surely it is not a melancholy conceit to think we are 
 all asleep in this World, and that the conceits of this 
 life are as meer dreams to those of the next ; as the 
 Phantasms of the night, to the conceits of the day. 
 There is an equal delusion in both, and the one doth 
 but seem to be the embleme or picture of the other : 
 we are somewhat more than our selves in our sleeps, 
 and the slumber of the body seems to be but the 
 waking of the soul. It is the ligation of sense, but 
 the liberty of reason ; and our waking conceptions do 
 not match the Fancies of our sleeps. At my Nativity 
 my Ascendant was the watery sign of Scorpius; I 
 was born in the Planetary hour of Saturn, and I think 
 I have a piece of that Leaden Planet in me. I am no 
 way facetious, nor disposed for the mirth and galliard- 
 ize of company ; yet in one dream I can compose a 
 whole Comedy, behold the action, apprehend the jests, 
 and laugh my self awake at the conceits thereof. 
 Were my memory as faithful as my reason is then 
 fruitful, I would never study but in my dreams ; and 
 this time also would I chuse for my devotions : but 
 our grosser memories have then so little hold of our 
 abstracted understandings, that they forget the story, 
 and can only relate to our awaked souls, a confused 
 and broken tale of that that hath passed. Aristotle, 
 who hath written a singular Tract Of Sleep, hath not, 
 methinks, throughly defined it ; nor yet Galen, though 
 he seem to have corrected it ; for those Noctambuloes 
 and night-walkers, though in their sleep, do yet injoy 
 the action of their senses. We must therefore say 
 that there is something in us that is not in the juris- 
 diction of Morpheus; and that those abstracted and 
 ecstatick souls do walk about in their own corps, as 
 spirits with the bodies they assume, wherein they seem 
 to hear, see, and feel, though indeed the Organs are 
 destitute of sense, and their natures of those faculties
 
 Religio Medici 85 
 
 that should inform them. Thus it is observed, that 
 men sometimes, upon the hour of their departure, do 
 speak and reason above themselves ; for then the soul, 
 beginning to be freed from the ligaments of the body, 
 begins to reason like her self, and to discourse in a 
 strain above mortality. 
 
 We term sleep a death ; and yet it is waking that 
 kills us, and destroys those spirits that are the house 
 of life. 'Tis indeed a part of life that best expresseth 
 death ; for every man truely lives, so long as he acts 
 his nature, or some way makes good the faculties of 
 himself. Themistocles, therefore, that slew his Soldier 
 in his sleep, was a merciful Executioner : 'tis a kind of 
 punishment the mildness of no laws hath invented : I 
 wonder the fancy of Lucan and Seneca did not 
 discover it. It is that death by which we may be 
 literally said to dye daily ; a death which Adam dyed 
 before his mortality ; a death whereby we live a 
 middle and moderating point between life and death : 
 in fine, so like death, I dare not trust it without my 
 prayers, and an half adieu unto the World, and take 
 my farewel in a Colloquy with GOD. 
 
 The night is come, like to the day, 
 Depart not Thou, great GOD, away. 
 Let not my sins, black as the night, 
 Eclipse the lustre of Thy light : 
 Keep still in my Horizon ; for to me 
 The Sun makes not the day, but Thee. 
 Thou, Whose nature cannot sleep, 
 On my temples Gentry keep ; 
 Guard me 'gainst those watchful foes, 
 Whose eyes are open while mine close. 
 Let no dreams my head infest, 
 But such as Jacob's temples blest. 
 While I do rest, my Soul advance ; 
 Make my sleep a holy trance ; 
 That I may, my rest being wrought, 
 Awake into some holy thought ; 
 And with as active vigour run 
 My course, as doth the nimble Sun. 
 Sleep is a death ; O make me try, 
 By sleeping, what it is to die ; 
 And as gently lay my head 
 On my grave, as now my bed.
 
 86 Religio Medici 
 
 Howere I rest, great GOD, let me 
 Avrake again at last with Thee ; 
 And thus assur'd, behold I lie 
 Securely, or to awake or die. 
 These are my drowsie days ; in vain 
 I do now wake to sleep again : 
 O come that hour, when I shall never 
 Sleep again, but wake for ever. 
 
 This is the Dormative I take to bedward ; I need no 
 other Laudanum than this to make me sleep ; after 
 which I close mine eyes in security, content to take 
 my leave of the Sun, and sleep unto the Resurrection. 
 The method I should use in distributive Justice, I 
 often observe in commutative ; and keep a Geomet- 
 rical proportion in both, whereby becoming equable to 
 others, I become unjust to my self, and supererogate 
 in that common principle, Do unto others as thou wouldst 
 be done unto thy self. I was not born unto riches, 
 neither is it, I think, my Star to be wealthy ; or, if it 
 were, the freedom of my mind, and frankness of my 
 disposition, were able to contradict and cross my 
 fates : for to me, avarice seems not so much a vice, as 
 a deplorable piece of madness ; to conceive ourselves 
 pipkins, or be perswaded that we are dead, is not so 
 ridiculous, nor so many degrees beyond the power of 
 Hellebore, as this. The opinions of Theory, and 
 positions of men, are not so void of reason as 
 their practised conclusions. Some have held that 
 Snow is black, that the earth moves, that the Soul is 
 air, fire, water ; but all this is Philosophy, and there is 
 no delirium, if we do but speculate the folly and 
 indisputable dotage of avarice to that subterraneous 
 Idol, and God of the Earth. I do confess I am an 
 Atheist ; I cannot perswade myself to honour that the 
 World adores ; whatsoever virtue its prepared sub- 
 stance may have within my body, it hath no influence 
 nor operation without I would not entertain a base 
 design, or an action that should call me villain, for the 
 Indies ; and for this only do I love and honour my 
 own soul, and have methinks two arms too few to 
 embrace myself. Aristotle is too severe, that will not
 
 Religio Medici 87 
 
 allow us to be truely liberal without wealth, and the 
 bountiful hand of Fortune. If this be true, I must 
 confess I am charitable only in my liberal intentions, 
 and bountiful well-wishes ; but if the example of the 
 Mite be not only an act of wonder, but an example of 
 the noblest Charity, surely poor men may also build 
 Hospitals, and the rich alone have not erected Cathe- 
 drals. I have a private method which others observe 
 not ; I take the opportunity of my self to do good ; I 
 borrow occasion of Charity from mine own necessities, 
 and supply the wants of others, when I am in most 
 need my self : for it is an honest stratagem to take 
 advantage of our selves, and so to husband the acts of 
 vertue, that, where they are defective in one circum- 
 stance, they may repay their want and multiply their 
 goodness in another. I have not Peru in my desires, 
 but a competence, and ability to perform those good 
 works to which He hath inclined my nature. He is 
 rich, who hath enough to be charitable ; and it is hard 
 to be so poor, that a noble mind may not find a way 
 to this piece of goodness. He that giveth to the poor, 
 lendeth to the LORD : there is more Rhetorick in that 
 one sentence, than in a Library of Sermons ; and 
 indeed, if those Sentences were understood by the 
 Reader, with the same Emphasis as they are delivered 
 by the Author, we needed not those Volumes of 
 instructions, but might be honest by an Epitome. 
 Upon this motive only I cannot behold a Beggar 
 without relieving his Necessities with my Purse, or 
 his Soul with my Prayers ; these scenical and acci- 
 dental differences between us, cannot make me forget 
 that common and untoucht part of us both : there is 
 under these Centoes and miserable outsides, these 
 mutilate and semi-bodies, a soul of the same alloy 
 with our own, whose Genealogy is GOD as well as 
 ours, and in as fair a way to Salvation as our selves. 
 Statists that labour to contrive a Common-wealth 
 without poverty, take away the object of charity, not 
 understanding only the Common-wealth of a Christian, 
 but forgetting the prophecie of CHRIST.
 
 88 Religio Medici 
 
 Now, there is another part of charity, which is the 
 Basis and Pillar of this, and that is the love of GOD, 
 for Whom we love our neighbour ; for this I think 
 charity, to love GOD for Himself, and our neighbour 
 for GOD. All that is truly amiable is GOD, or as it 
 were a divided piece of Him, that retains a reflex or 
 shadow of Himself. Nor is it strange that we should 
 place affection on that which is invisible : all that we 
 truly love is thus ; what we adore under affection of 
 our senses, deserves not the honour of so pure a title. 
 Thus we adore Virtue, though to the eyes of sense 
 she be invisible : thus that part of our noble friends 
 that we love, is not that part that we imbrace, but 
 that insensible part that our arms cannot embrace. 
 GOD, being all goodness, can love nothing but Him- 
 self ; He loves us but for that part which is as it were 
 Himself, and the traduction of His Holy Spirit. Let 
 us call to assize the loves of our parents, the affection 
 of our wives and children, and they are all dumb 
 shows and dreams, without reality, truth, or constancy. 
 For first there is a strong bond of affection between 
 us and our Parents ; yet how easily dissolved ! We 
 betake our selves to a woman, forget our mother in a 
 wife, and the womb that bare us, in that that shall 
 bear our Image. This woman blessing us with 
 children, our affection leaves the level it held before, 
 and sinks from our bed unto our issue and picture of 
 Posterity, where affection holds no steady mansion. 
 They, growing up in years, desire our ends ; or 
 applying themselves to a woman, take a lawful way to 
 love another better than our selves. Thus I perceive 
 a man may be buried alive, and behold his grave in 
 his own issue. 
 
 I conclude therefore, and say, there is no happiness 
 under (or, as Copernicus will have it, above) the Sun, 
 nor any Crambe in that repeated verity and burthen 
 of all the wisdom of Solomon, All is vanity and vexation 
 of Spirit. There is no felicity in that the World 
 adores. Aristotle, whilst he labours to refute the 
 Idea's of Plato, falls upon one himself; for his
 
 Religio Medici 89 
 
 summuin bonum is a Chimaera, and there is no such 
 thing as his Felicity. That wherein GOD Himself is 
 happy, the holy Angels are happy, in whose defect 
 the Devils are unhappy, that dare I call happiness : 
 whatsoever conduceth unto this, may with an easy 
 Metaphor deserve that name ; whatsoever else the 
 World terms Happiness, is to me a story out of Pliny, 
 a tale of Boccace or Malizspini, an apparition, or neat 
 delusion, wherein there is no more of Happiness than 
 the name. Bless me in this life with but peace of my 
 Conscience, command of my affections, the love of 
 Thy self and my dearest friends, and I shall be happy 
 enough to pity Cassar. These are, O LORD, the 
 humble desires of my most reasonable ambition, and 
 all I dare call happiness on earth ; wherein I set no 
 rule or limit to Thy Hand or Providence. Dispose of 
 me according to the wisdom of Thy pleasure : Thy 
 will be done, though in my own undoing. 
 
 FINIS
 
 HYDRIOTAPHIA 
 
 URNE BURIALL; OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE SEPULCHRALL 
 URNES LATELY FOUND IN NORFOLK.
 
 TO MY WORTHY AND HONOURED FRIEND, 
 
 THOMAS LE GROS, OF CROSTWICK, ESQUIRE 
 
 WHEN the Funerall pyre was out, and the last 
 valediction over, men took a lasting adieu of their 
 interred Friends, little expecting the curiosity of 
 future ages should comment upon their ashes, and, 
 having no old experience of the duration of their 
 Reliques, held no opinion of such after-considerations. 
 
 But who knows the fate of his bones, or how often 
 he is to be buried ? who hath the Oracle of his ashes, 
 or whither they are to be scattered ? The Reliques of 
 many lie like the ruines of Pompeys, 1 in all parts of 
 the earth ; And when they arrive at your hands, 
 these may seem to have wandred far, who in a direct 2 
 and Meridian Travel, have but few miles of known 
 Earth between yourself and the Pole. 
 
 That the bones of Theseus should be seen again in 
 Athens 3 was not beyond conjecture, and hopeful expec- 
 tation ; but that these should arise so opportunely to 
 serve your self, was an hit of fate and honour beyond 
 prediction. 
 
 We cannot but wish these Urnes might have the 
 effect of Theatrical vessels, and great Hippodrome 
 Urnes 4 in Rome; to resound the acclamations and 
 honour due unto you. But these are sad and 
 sepulchral Pitchers, which have no joyful voices ; 
 silently expressing old mortality, the ruines of for- 
 gotten times, and can only speak with life, how long 
 in this corruptible frame, some parts may be uncor- 
 
 1 Pompeios juvenes Asia, atque Europa,sed ipsum terrd tegit Libyos. 
 
 2 Little directly, but Sea between your house and Greenland. 
 8 Brought back by Cimon Plutarch. 
 
 4 The great Urnes in the Hippodrome at Rome conceived to 
 resound the voices of people at their shows.
 
 The Epistle Dedicatory 93 
 
 rupted ; yet able to outlast bones long unborn, and 
 noblest pyle among us. 1 
 
 We present not these as any strange sight or 
 spectacle unknown to your eyes, who have beheld the 
 best of Urnes and noblest variety of Ashes ; Who are 
 yourself no slender master of Antiquities, and can 
 daily command the view of so many Imperiall faces ; 
 Which raiseth your thoughts unto old things, and 
 consideration of times before you, when even living 
 men were Antiquities ; when the living might exceed 
 the dead, and to depart this world, could not be 
 properly said, to go unto the greater number. 2 And 
 so run up your thoughts upon the ancient of dayes, 
 the Antiquaries truest object, unto whom the eldest 
 parcels are young, and earth itself an Infant ; and 
 without ^Egyptian 3 account makes but small noise in 
 thousands. 
 
 We were hinted by the occasion, not catched the 
 opportunity to write of old things, or intrude upon the 
 Antiquary. We are coldly drawn unto discourses of 
 Antiquities, who have scarce time before us to com- 
 prehend new things, or make out learned Novelties. 
 But seeing they arose as they lay, almost in silence 
 among us, at least in short account suddenly passed 
 over ; we were very unwilling they should die again, 
 and be buried twice among us. 
 
 Beside, to preserve the living, and make the dead 
 to live, to keep men out of their Urnes, and discourse 
 of humane fragments in them, is not impertinent unto 
 our profession ; whose study is life and death, who 
 daily behold examples of mortality, and of all men 
 least need artificial mementos, or coffins by our bedside, 
 to minde us of our graves. 
 
 'Tis time to observe Occurrences, and let nothing 
 remarkable escape us ; The Supinity of elder dayes 
 hath left so much in silence, or time hath so martyred 
 
 1 Worthily possessed by that true Gentleman, Sir Horatio 
 Townshend, my honored Friend. 
 
 2 Abiit ad plures. 
 
 Which makes the world so many years old.
 
 94 The Epistle Dedicatory 
 
 the Records, that the most industrious heads 1 do find 
 no easie work to erect a new Britannia. 
 
 'Tis opportune to look back upon old times, and 
 contemplate our Forefathers. Great examples grow 
 thin, and to be fetched from the passed world. 
 Simplicity flies away, and iniquity comes at long 
 strides upon us. We have enough to do to make up 
 ourselves from present and passed times, and the 
 whole stage of things scarce serveth for our instruc- 
 tion. A compleat peece of vertue must be made from 
 the Centos of all ages, as all the beauties of Greece 
 could make but one handsome Venus. 
 
 When the bones of King Arthur were digged up, 2 
 the old Race might think, they beheld therein some 
 Originals of themselves; Unto these of our Urnes 
 none here can pretend relation, and can only behold 
 the Reliques of those persons who in their life giving 
 the Laws unto their predecessors, after long obscurity, 
 now lye at their mercies. But, remembring the early 
 civility they brought upon these Countreys, and for- 
 getting long passed mischiefs ; We mercifully preserve 
 their bones, and pisse not upon their ashes. 
 
 In the offer of these Antiquities we drive not at 
 ancient Families, so long out-lasted by them ; We are 
 farre from erecting your worth upon the pillars of 
 your Fore-fathers, whose merits you illustrate. We 
 honour your old Virtues, conformable unto times before 
 you, which are the Noblest Armoury. And, having 
 long experience of your friendly conversation, void of 
 empty Formality, full of freedome, constant and 
 Generous Honesty. I look upon you as a Gemme of 
 the Old Rock, 8 and must professe myself even to 
 Urne and Ashes, 
 
 Your ever faithful Friend and Servant, 
 
 THOMAS BROWNE. 
 
 Norwich, May i. 
 
 1 Wherein Mr. Dugdale hath excellently well endeavoured, and 
 worthy to be countenanced by ingenuous and noble persons. 
 
 2 In the time of Henry the second. Camden. 
 1 Adamas derufe veteri prastantissimus.
 
 HYDRIOTAPHIA 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 IN the deep discovery of the Subterranean world, a 
 shallow part would satisfie some enquirers ; who, if two 
 or three yards were open about the surface, would not 
 care to rake the bowels of Potosi, 1 and regions towards 
 the Centre. Nature hath furnished one part of the 
 Earth, and man another. The treasures of time lie 
 high, in Urnes, Coynes, and Monuments, scarce below 
 the roots of some vegetables. Time hath endlesse 
 rarities, and shows of all varieties ; which reveals old 
 things in heaven, makes new discoveries in earth, and 
 even earth itself a discovery. That great Antiquity 
 America lay buried for a thousand years ; and a large 
 part of the earth is still in the Urne unto us. 
 
 Though if Adam were made out of an extract of the 
 Earth, all parts might challenge a restitution, yet few 
 have returned their bones farre lower then they might 
 receive them ; not affecting the graves of Giants, under 
 hilly and heavy coverings, but content with lesse than 
 their owne depth, have wished their bones might lie 
 soft, and the earth be light upon them ; Even such as 
 hope to rise again, would not be content with centrall 
 interrment, or so desperately to place their reliques as 
 to lie beyond discovery, and in no way to be seen 
 again ; which happy contrivance hath made communi- 
 cation with our forefathers, and left unto our view some 
 parts, which they never beheld themselves. 
 
 Though earth hath engrossed the name yet water 
 hath proved the smartest grave ; which in forty dayes 
 swallowed almost mankinde, and the living creation ; 
 Fishes not wholly escaping, except the Salt Ocean 
 
 1 The rich Mountain of Peru.
 
 96 Hydriotaphia 
 
 were handsomely contempered by a mixture of the 
 fresh Element. 
 
 Many have taken voluminous pains to determine 
 the state of the soul upon disunion ; but men have 
 been most phantasticall in the singular contrivances of 
 their corporall dissolution : whilst the sobrest Nations 
 have rested in two wayes, of simple inhumation and 
 burning. 
 
 That carnall interment or burying was of the elder 
 date, the old examples of Abraham and the Patriarchs 
 are sufficient to illustrate; And were without com- 
 petition, if it could be made out, that A dam was buried 
 near Damascus, or Mount Calvary, according to some 
 Tradition. God himself, that buried but one, was 
 pleased to make choice of this way, collectible from 
 Scripture -expression, and the hot contest between 
 Satan and the Arch-Angel, about discovering the body 
 of Moses. But the practice of Burning was also of 
 great Antiquity, and of no slender extent. For (not 
 to derive the same from Hercules) noble descriptions 
 there are hereof in the Grecian Funerals of Homer, in 
 the formall Obsequies of Patroclus, and Achilles; and 
 somewhat elder in the Theban warre, and solemn com- 
 bustion of Meneceus, and A rchemorus, contemporary unto 
 Jair the Eighth Judge of Israel. Confirmable also 
 among the Trojans, from the Funerall Pyre of Hector, 
 burnt before the gates of Troy, And the burning of 
 Penthesilea, 1 the Amazonean Queen : and long continuance 
 of that practice, in the inward Countries of A sia ; while 
 as low as the Reign of Julian, we find that the King of 
 Chionia* burnt the body of his Son, and interred the 
 ashes in a silver Urne. 
 
 The same practice extended also farre West, 3 and 
 besides Herulians, Getes, and Thracians, was in use with 
 most of the Cclta, Sarmatians, Germans, Gauls, Danes, 
 
 1 Q. Calaber, lib. i. 
 
 2 Gumbrates king of Chionia a Countrey near Persia. 
 Ammianus Marcellinus. 
 
 3 Arnold. Montan. not. in Caes. Commentar. L. L. Gyraldus 
 Kirkmannus.
 
 Urn Burial 97 
 
 Swedes, Norwegians ; not to omit some use thereof 
 among Carthaginians and Americans: Of greater An- 
 tiquity among the Romans then most opinion, or Pliny 
 seems to allow. For (beside the old Table Laws of 
 burning or burying within the City, 1 of making the 
 Funerall fire with plained wood, or quenching the fire 
 with wine.) Manlius the Consul burnt the body of his 
 Son : Numa by special clause of his Will, was not 
 burnt but buried ; and Remus was solemnly buried, 
 according to the description of Ovid. 2 
 
 Cornelius Sylla was not the first whose body was 
 burned in Rome, but of the Cornelian family ; which, 
 being indifferently, not frequently used before ; from 
 that time spread, and became the prevalent practice. 
 Not totally pursued in the highest runne of Cremation ; 
 For when even Crows were funerally burnt, Poppcea 
 the wife of Nero found a peculiar grave enterment. 
 Now as all customes were founded upon some bottome 
 of Reason, so there wanted not grounds for this ; 
 according to severall apprehensions of the most rational! 
 dissolution. Some being of the opinion of T hales, that 
 water was the originall of all things, thought it most 
 equall to submit unto the principle of putrefaction, and 
 conclude in a moist relentment. Others conceived it 
 most natural to end in fire, as due unto the master 
 principle in the composition, according to the doctrine 
 of Heraclitus. And therefore heaped up large piles, 
 more actively to waft them toward that Element, 
 whereby they also declined a visible degeneration into 
 worms, and left a lasting parcell of their composition. 
 
 Some apprehended a purifying virtue in fire, refining 
 the grosser commixture, and firing out the ^Ethereall 
 particles so deeply immersed in it And such as by 
 tradition or rationall conjecture held any hint of the 
 
 1 12 Tabul. part i. de jure sacro. Hominem mortuum in urbe 
 ne sepelito, neve urito, torn. 2. Rogum ascia ne polito, to. 4. 
 Item vigeneri Annotat. in Livium, et Alex ab Alex cum Tira- 
 quello. Roscinus cum dempstero. 
 
 2 Ultimo prolate subdita flamma rogo. De Fast. lib. iv. cum 
 Car. Neapol. Anaptyxi. 
 
 G
 
 98 Hydriotaphia 
 
 finall pyre of all things ; or that this Element at last 
 must be too hard for all the rest ; might conceive most 
 naturally of the fiery dissolution. Others pretending 
 no natural grounds, politickly declined the malice of 
 enemies upon their buried bodies. Which considera- 
 tion led Sylla unto this practise ; who having thus 
 served the body of Marius, could not but fear a retalia- 
 tion upon his own ; entertained after in the Civil! wars, 
 and revengeful contentions of Rome. 
 
 But as many Nations embraced, and many left it 
 indifferent, so others too much affected, or strictly 
 declined this practice. The Indian Brachmans seemed 
 too great friends unto fire, who burnt themselves alive, 
 and thought it the noblest way to end their dayes in 
 fire ; according to the expression of the Indian, burning 
 himself at Athens, 1 in his last words upon the pyre unto 
 the amazed spectators, Thus I make my-selfe immortall. 
 
 But the Chaldeans, the great Idolaters of fire, abhorred 
 the burning of their carcasses, as a pollution of that 
 Deity. The Persian magi declined it upon the like 
 scruple, and being only solicitous about their bones, 
 exposed their flesh to the prey of Birds and Dogges. 
 And the Persees now in India, which expose their bodies 
 unto Vultures, and endure not so much as feretra or 
 Beers of Wood, the proper fuell of fire, are led on with 
 such niceties. But whether the ancient Germans, who 
 burned their dead, held any such fear to pollute their 
 Deity of Herthus, or the earth, we have no Authentick 
 conjecture. 
 
 The ^Egyptians were afraid of fire, not as a Deity, 
 but a devouring Element, mercilessly consuming their 
 bodies, and leaving too little of them ; and therefore by 
 precious Embalments, depositure in dry earths, or 
 handsome inclosure in glasses, contrived the notablest 
 wayes of integrall conservation. And from such 
 ^Egyptian scruples imbibed by Pythagoras, it may be 
 conjectured that Numa and the Pythagoricall Sect first 
 waved the fiery solution. 
 
 1 And therefore the Inscription of his Tomb was made accord- 
 ingly. Nic. Damasc.
 
 Urn Burial 99 
 
 The Scythians who swore by winde and sword, that 
 is, by life and death, were so farre from burning their 
 bodies, that they declined all interrment, and made 
 their graves in the ayr : and the Ichthyophagi or fish- 
 eating Nations about yEgypt, affected the Sea for their 
 grave : Thereby declining visible corruption, and 
 restoring the debt of their bodies. Whereas the old 
 Heroes in Homer, dreaded nothing more than water or 
 drowning ; probably upon the old opinion of the fiery 
 substance of the soul, only extinguishable by that 
 Element ; And therefore the Poet emphatically implieth 
 the totall destruction in this kinde of death, which 
 happened to Ajax Oileus. 1 
 
 The old Balearians 2 had a peculiar mode, for they 
 used great Urnes and much wood, but no fire in their 
 burials, while they bruised the flesh and bones of the 
 dead, crowded them into Urnes, and laid heapes of 
 wood upon them. And the Chinois 3 without cremation 
 or urnall interrment of their bodies, make use of trees 
 and much burning, while they plant a Pine-tree by 
 their grave, and burn great numbers of printed 
 draughts of slaves and horses over it, civilly content 
 with their companies in effigie which barbarous 
 Nations exact unto reality. 
 
 Christians abhorred this way of obsequies, and 
 though they stickt not to give their bodies to be burnt 
 in their lives, detested that mode after death ; affecting 
 rather a depositure than absumption, and properly 
 submitting unto the sentence of God, to return not 
 unto ashes but unto dust againe, conformable unto 
 the practice of the Patriarchs, the interrment of our 
 Saviour, of Peter, Paul, and the ancient Martyrs. And 
 so farre at last declining promiscuous interrment with 
 Pagans, that some have suffered Ecclesiastical cen- 
 sures for making no scruple thereof.* 
 
 The Musselman beleevers will never admit this fiery 
 
 1 Which Magius 
 
 2 Diodorus Siculus. 
 
 * Ramusius in Navigat. 
 
 4 Martialis the Bishop. Cyprian.
 
 ioo Hydriotaphia 
 
 resolution. For they hold a present trial from their 
 black and white Angels in the grave; which they 
 must have made so hollow, that they may rise upon 
 their knees. 
 
 The Jewish Nation, though they entertained the old 
 way of inhumation, yet sometimes admitted this prac- 
 tice. For the men of Jabesh burnt the body of Saul. 
 And by no prohibited practice to avoid contagion or 
 pollution, in time of pestilence, burnt the bodies of 
 their friends. 1 And when they burnt not their dead 
 bodies, yet sometimes used great burnings neare and 
 about them, deducible from the expressions concern- 
 ing Jehoram, Sedechias, and the sumptuous pyre of Asa : 
 And were so little averse from Pagan burning, that 
 the Jews lamenting the death of Casar their friend, 
 and revenger on Pompey, frequented the place where 
 his body was burnt for many nights together. 2 And 
 as they raised noble Monuments and Mausoleums for 
 their own Nation, 3 so they were not scrupulous in 
 erecting some for others, according to the practice of 
 Daniel, who left that lasting sepulchrall pyle in Echba- 
 tana, for the Medean and Persian Kings. 4 
 
 But even in times of subjection and hottest use, 
 they conformed not unto the Romans practice of burn- 
 ing ; whereby the Prophecy was secured concerning 
 the body of Christ, that it should not see corruption, 
 or a bone should not be broken ; which we beleeve 
 was also providentially prevented, from the Souldier's 
 spear and nails that past by the little bones both in 
 his hands and feet : Not of ordinary contrivance, that 
 it should not corrupt on the Crosse, according to the 
 Laws of Romans crucifixion, or an hair of his head 
 perish, though observable in Jewish customes, to cut 
 the hairs of Malefactors. 
 
 1 Amos vi. ro. 2 Sueton. in vita Jul. Cas. 
 
 3 As that magnificent sepulchral Monument erected by Simon, 
 Mach. i. 13. 
 
 4 KaTa<7Kei/a<r^a ffavjuuriut irsiroirj^vov, whereof a Jewish Priest 
 had alwayes the custody, unto Josephus his dayes. Jos. Aniiq. 
 lib. x.
 
 Urn Burial 101 
 
 Nor in their long co-habitation with ^Egyptians, 
 crept into a custome of their exact embalming, wherein 
 deeply slashing the muscles, and taking out the brains 
 and entrails, they had broken the subject of so entire 
 a Resurrection, nor fully answered the types of Enoch, 
 Elijah, or Jonah, which yet to prevent or restore, was 
 of equall facility unto that rising power, able to break 
 the fasciations and bands of death, to get clear out of 
 the Cerecloth, and an hundred pounds of oyntment, 
 and out of the Sepulchre before the stone was rolled 
 from it. 
 
 But though they embraced not this practice of 
 burning, yet entertained they many ceremonies agree- 
 able unto Greeke and Romane obsequies. And he that 
 observeth their funerall Feasts, their Lamentations at 
 the grave, their musick and weeping mourners ; how 
 they closed the eyes of their friends, how they washed, 
 anointed, and kissed the dead ; may easily conclude 
 these were not meere Pagan-Civilities. But whether 
 that mournfull burthen, and treble calling out after 
 Absalom, had any reference unto the last conclamation, 
 and triple valediction, used by other Nations, we hold 
 but a wavering conjecture. 
 
 Civilians make sepulture but of the Law of Nations, 
 others doe naturally found it and discover it also in 
 animals. They that are so thick skinned as still to 
 credit the story of the Phcenix, may say something for 
 animall burning : More serious conjectures finde some 
 examples of sepulture in elephants, cranes, the sepulchrall 
 Cells of Pismires, and practice of Bees ; which civill 
 society carrieth out their dead, and hath exequies, if 
 not interrments. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE Solemnities, Ceremonies, Rites of their Crema- 
 tion or enterrment, so solemnly delivered by Authours, 
 we shall not disparage our Reader to repeat. Only 
 the last and lasting part in their Urns, collected bones 
 and Ashes, we cannot wholly omit or decline that
 
 IO2 Hydriotaphia 
 
 Subject, which occasion lately presented, in some dis- 
 covered among us. 
 
 In a Field of old Walsingham, not many moneths 
 past, were digged up between fourty and fifty Urnes, 
 deposited in a dry and sandy soil, not a yard deep, nor 
 farre from one another : Not all strictly of one figure, 
 but most answering these described : some containing 
 two pounds of bones, distinguishable in skulls, ribs, 
 jawes, thigh-bones, and teeth, with fresh impressions 
 of their combustion. Besides the extraneous sub- 
 stances, like peeces of small boxes, or combes hand- 
 somely wrought, handles of small brasse instruments, 
 brazen nippers, and in one some kinde of Opale. 1 
 
 Near the same plot of ground, for about six yards 
 compasse, were digged up coals and incinerated sub- 
 stances, which begat conjecture that this was the 
 Ustrina or place of burning their bodies, or some sacri- 
 ficing place unto the Manes, which was properly below 
 the surface of the ground, as the Arcs and Altars unto 
 the gods and Heroes above it. 
 
 That these were the urnes of Romanies from the 
 common custome and place where they were found, is 
 no obscure conjecture, not farre from a Romans Garri- 
 son, and but five Miles from Brancaster, set down by 
 ancient Record under the name of Brannodunum. And 
 where the adjoyning Towne, containing seven Parishes, 
 in no very different sound, but Saxon Termination, 
 still retains the name of Burnham, which being an 
 early station, it is not improbable the neighbour parts 
 were filled with habitations, either of Romanes them- 
 selves, or Brittains Romanised, which observed the 
 Romane customs. 
 
 Nor is it improbable, that the Romanes early pos- 
 sessed this Countrey ; for though we meet not with 
 such strict particulars of these parts before the new 
 Institution of Constantine, and military charge of the 
 Count of the Saxon shore, and that about the Saxon 
 Invasions, the Dalmatian Horsemen were in the Garri- 
 
 1 In one sent me by my worthy friend, Dr. Thomas Witherley 
 of Walsingham.
 
 Urn Burial 103 
 
 son of Brancaster : Yet in the time of Claudius, Vespa- 
 sian, and Severus, we finde no lesse than three Legions 
 dispersed through the Province of Brittain. And as 
 high as the Reign of Claudius a great overthrow was 
 given unto the Iceni, by the Romane Lieutenant Os- 
 torius. Not long after, the Countrey was so molested, 
 that, in hope of a better state, Prastaagus bequeathed 
 his Kingdome unto New and his Daughters ; and 
 Boadicea, his Queen fought the last decisive Battle 
 with Paulinus. After which time and Conquest of 
 Agricola, the Lieutenant of Vespasian, probable it is 
 they wholly possessed this countrey, ordering it into 
 Garrisons or Habitations best suitable with their 
 securities. And so some Romane Habitations, not 
 improbable in these parts, as high as the time of Ves- 
 pasian, where the Saxons after seated, in those thin-fill'd 
 Mappes we yet finde the Name of WalsingJiam. Now 
 if the Iceni were but Gammadims, Anconians, or mei? 
 that lived in an angle, wedge, or Elbow of Brittain, 
 according to the Originall Etymologic, this countrey 
 will challenge the Emphaticall appellation, as most 
 properly making the Elbow or Iken of Icenia. 
 
 That Britain was notably populous is undeniable, 
 from that expression of Ctzsar. 1 That the Romans 
 themselves were early in no small Numbers Seventy 
 Thousand, with their associats slain by Boadicea, 
 affords a sure account. And though many Roman 
 habitations are now knowne, yet some by old works, 
 Rampiers, Coyns, and Urnes, doe testifie their Pos- 
 sessions. Some Urnes have been found at Castor, 
 some also about Southcreake, and not many years past, 
 no lesse than ten in a Field at Buxton, 2 not near any 
 recorded Garison. Nor is it strange to find Romane 
 Coynes of Copper and Silver among us ; of Vespasian, 
 Trajan, Adrian, Commodus, Antoninus, Severus, &c. But 
 
 1 Hominum infinita multitude est, creberrimaque cedificia fcri Gallicis 
 consimilia. Cass. de Bella Gall. 1. v. 
 
 a In the ground of my worthy friend Rob. Jfgon, Esq. wherein 
 some things contained were preserved by the most worthy Sit 1 
 William Fasten, Bart.
 
 IO4 Hydriotaphia 
 
 the greater number of Dioclesian, Constantine, Constans, 
 Valens, with many of Victorinus Posthumius, Tetricus, 
 and the thirty Tyrants in the Reigne of Gallienus ; and 
 some as high as Adrianus have been found about 
 Thetford, or Sitomagus, mentioned in the itinerary of 
 Antoninus, as the way from Venta or Castor unto 
 London. 1 But the most frequent discovery is made 
 at the two Casters by Norwich and Yarmouth? at Burgh- 
 castle, and Brancaster. 5 
 
 Besides the Norman, Saxon, and Danish peeces of 
 Cuthred, Canutus, William, Matilda,* and others, some 
 Brittish Coynes of gold have been dispersedly found ; 
 and no small number of silver peeces near Norwich ; 5 
 with a rude head upon the obverse, and an ill formed 
 horse on the reverse, with inscriptions Ic. Duro. T. ; 
 whether implying Iceni, Durotriges, Tascia, or Trino- 
 bantes, we leave to higher conjecture. Vulgar Chro- 
 nology will have Norwich Castle as old as Julius Ccesar ; 
 but his distance from these parts, and its Gothick form 
 of structure, abridgeth such Antiquity. The British 
 Coyns afford conjecture of early habitation in these 
 parts, though the City of Norwich arose from the 
 ruines of Venta, and though perhaps not without some 
 habitation before, was enlarged, builded, and nominated 
 by the Saxons. In what bulk or populosity it stood 
 in the old East- Angle Monarchy tradition and history 
 are silent. Considerable it was in the Danish Erup- 
 tions, when Sueno burnt Thetford and Norwich, 6 and 
 
 1 From Castor to Thetford the Romanes accounted thirty-two 
 miles, and from thence observed not our common road to London, 
 but passed by Combretonium ad Ansam, Canonium,Casaromagus, 
 &-c. by Bretenham, Coggeshall, Chelmeford, Burntwood, &c. 
 
 2 Most at Caster by Yarmouth, found in a place called East- 
 bloudyburgh furlong, belonging to Mr. Thomas Wood, a person of 
 civility, industry and knowledge in this way, who hath made 
 observation of remarkable things about him, and from whom we 
 have received divers Silver and Copper Coynes. 
 
 3 Belonging to that Noble Gentleman, and true example of 
 worth, Sir Ralph Hare, Baronet, my honoured Friend. 
 
 4 A peece of Maud, the Empresse, said to be found in Bucken- 
 ham Castle, with this Inscription, Elle n' a elle. 
 
 5 At Thorpe. 6 Brampton Abbas Journallensis,
 
 Urn Burial 105 
 
 Ulfketel, the Governour thereof, was able to make 
 some resistance, and after endeavoured to burn the 
 Danish navy. 
 
 How the Romanes left so many Coynes in Countreys 
 of their Conquests, seems of hard resolution, except 
 we consider how they buried them under ground when 
 upon barbarous invasions they were fain to desert 
 their habitations in most part of their Empire, and the 
 strictness of their laws forbidding to transfer them to 
 any other uses ; wherein the Spartans 1 were singular, 
 who, to make their Copper money uselesse, contem- 
 pered it with vinegar. That the Brittains left any, 
 some wonder ; since their money was iron and Iron 
 rings before Casar ; and those of after stamp by per- 
 mission, and but small in bulk and bigness ; that so 
 few of the Saxons remain, because, overcome by suc- 
 ceeding Conquerours upon the place, their Coynes, by 
 degrees, passed into other stamps and the marks of 
 after-ages. 
 
 Than the time of these Urnes deposited, or precise 
 Antiquity of these Reliques, nothing of more un- 
 certainty. For since the Lieutenant of Claudius seems 
 to have made the first progresse into these parts, 
 since Boadicea was overthrown by the Forces of Nero, 
 and Agricola put a full end to these Conquests ; it is 
 not probable the Countrey was fully garrison'd or 
 planted before ; and therefore however these Urnes 
 might be of later date, not likely of higher Antiquity. 
 
 And the succeeding Emperours desisted not from 
 their Conquests in these and other parts ; as testified 
 by history and medall inscription yet extant ; The 
 Province of Brittain in so divided a distance from 
 Rome, beholding the faces of many Imperiall persons, 
 and in large account no fewer than Casar, Claudius, 
 Britannicus, Vespasian, Titus, A drian, Severus, Commodus, 
 Get a, and Caracalla. 
 
 A great obscurity herein, because no medall or 
 Emperours Coyne enclosed, which might denote the 
 date of their interrments, observable in many Urnes, 
 1 Plut. in vita Lycurg.
 
 io6 Hydriotaphia 
 
 and found in those of Spittle Fields, by London, 1 which 
 contained the Coynes of Claudius, Vespasian, Commodus, 
 Antoninus, attended with Lacrymatories, Lamps, 
 Bottles of Liquor, and other appurtenances of affec- 
 tionate superstition, which in these rurall interrments 
 were wanting. 
 
 Some uncertainty there is from the period or term 
 of burning, or the cessation of that practise. Macro- 
 bius affirmeth it was disused in his days. But most 
 agree, though without authentick record, that it ceased 
 with the Antonini. Most safely to be understood 
 after the Reigne of those Emperours, which assumed 
 the name of Antoninus, extending unto Heliogabahis. 
 Not strictly after Marcus ; For about fifty years later 
 we find the magnificent burning, and consecration of 
 S ever us ; and if we so fix this period or cessation, 
 these Urnes will challenge above thirteen hundred 
 years. 
 
 But whether this practise was onely then left by 
 Emperours and great persons, or generally about 
 Rome, and not in other Provinces, we hold no authen- 
 tick account. For after Tertullian, in the dayes of 
 Minucius it was obviously objected upon Christians, 
 that they condemned the practise of burning. 2 And 
 we find a passage in Sidonius, 3 which asserteth that 
 practise in France unto a lower account. And perhaps 
 not fully disused till Christianity fully established, 
 which gave the finall extinction to these sepulchral! 
 Bonefires. 
 
 Whether they were the bones of men or women or 
 children, no authentick decision from ancient custome 
 in distinct places of buriall. Although not improb- 
 ably conjectured, that the double Sepulture or bury- 
 ing place of Abraham, had in it such intention. But 
 from exility of bones, thinnesse of skulls, smallnesse 
 of teeth, ribbes, and thigh-bones ; not improbable 
 that many thereof were persons of minor age, or 
 
 1 Stowe's Survey of London. 
 
 8 Execrantur rogos, et damnant igniwn $epulturam. Min. in Oct. 
 
 3 Sidon. Apollinaris.
 
 Urn Burial 107 
 
 women. Confirmable also from things contained in 
 them : In most were found substances resembling 
 Combes, Plates like Boxes, fastened with Iron pins, 
 and handsomely overwrought like the necks or Bridges 
 of Musicall Instruments, long brasse plates over- 
 wrought like the handles of neat implements, brazen 
 nippers to pull away hair, and in one a kinde of Opale, 
 yet maintaining a blewish colour. 
 
 Now that they accustomed to burn or bury with 
 them, things wherein they excelled, delighted, or 
 which were dear unto them, either as farewells unto 
 all pleasure, or vain apprehension that they might use 
 them in the other world, is testified by all Antiquity. 
 Observable from the Gemme or Berill Ring upon the 
 finger of Cynthia, the Mistresse of Propertius, when 
 after her Funerall Pyre her Ghost appeared unto him. 
 And notably illustrated from the Contents of that 
 Romans Urne preserved by Cardinal Farnese, 1 wherein 
 besides great number of Gemmes with heads of Gods 
 and Goddesses, were found an Ape of Agath, a Grass- 
 hopper, an Elephant of Ambre, a Crystall Ball, three 
 glasses, two Spoones, and six Nuts of Crystall, and 
 beyond the content of Urnes, in the Monument of 
 Childerick, the first, 2 and fourth King from Pharatnond, 
 casually discovered three years past at Tournay, restor- 
 ing unto the world much gold richly adorning his 
 Sword, two hundred rubies, many hundred Imperial 
 Coyns, three hundred golden Bees, the bones and 
 horse shoe of his horse interred with him, according 
 to the barbarous magnificence of those dayes in their 
 sepulchral Obsequies. Although if we steer by the 
 conjecture of many and Septuagint expression ; some 
 trace thereof may be found even with the ancient 
 Hebrews, not only from the Sepulchrall treasure of 
 David, but the circumcision knives which Joshua also 
 buried. 
 
 Some men considering the contents of these Urnes, 
 lasting peeces and toyes included in them, and the 
 
 1 Vigencri Annot. in 4 Liv. 
 " Chifflet. in Anast. Childer.
 
 io8 Hydriotaphia 
 
 custome of burning with many other Nations, might 
 somewhat doubt whether all Urnes found among us, 
 were properly Romane Reliques, or some not belonging 
 unto our Brittish, Saxon, or Danish Forefathers. 
 
 In the form of Buriall among the ancient Brittains, 
 the large Discourses of C&sar, Tacitus, and Strabo are 
 silent : For the discovery whereof, with other parti- 
 culars, we much deplore the losse of that Letter which 
 Cicero expected or received from his Brother Quintus, 
 as a resolution of Brittish customes ; or the account 
 which might have been made by Scribonius Largus, the 
 Physician, accompanying the Emperour Claudius, who 
 might have also discovered that frugall Bit of the Old 
 Brittains, which in the bignesse of a Bean could satisfie 
 their thirst and hunger. 1 
 
 But that the Druids and ruling Priests used to burn 
 and bury, is expressed by Pomponius ; That Bellimis, the 
 Brother of Brennus, and King of the Brittains, was 
 burnt, is acknowledged by Polydorus, as also by 
 Amandus Zierexensis in Historia, and Pineda in his 
 Universa historia Spanish That they held that practise 
 in Gallia, Casar expressly delivereth. Whether the 
 Brittains (probably descended from them, of like 
 Religion, Language and Manners) did not sometimes 
 make use of burning ; or whether at least such as were 
 after civilized unto the Romane life and manners, con- 
 formed not unto this practise, we have no historicall 
 assertion or deniall. But since, from the account of 
 Tacitus the Romanes early wrought so much civility 
 upon the British stock, that they brought them to 
 build Temples, to wear the Gowne, and study the 
 Romane Laws and language, that they conformed also 
 unto their religious rites and customes in burials, 
 seems no improbable conjecture. 
 
 That burning the dead was used in Sarmatia, is 
 affirmed by Gaguinus, that the Sueons and Gothlanders 
 used to burne their Princes and great persons, is 
 delivered by Saxo and Olaus ; that this was the old 
 Germane practise, is also asserted by Tacitus. And 
 1 Dionis excerpta per Xiphilin. in Severe.
 
 Urn Burial 109 
 
 though we are bare in historical particulars of such 
 obsequies in this Island, or that the Saxons, Jutes, and 
 Angles burnt their dead, yet came they from parts 
 where 'twas of ancient practise ; the Germanes using it, 
 from whom they were descended. And even in Jutland 
 and Sleswick in Anglia Cymbrica, Urnes with bones were 
 found not many years before us. 
 
 But the Danish and Northern Nations have raised 
 an yVa or point of compute from their Custome 01 
 burning their dead :* Some deriving it from Unguinus, 
 some from Frotho the great ; who ordained by Law, 
 that Princes and Chief Commanders should be com- 
 mitted unto the fire, though the common sort had the 
 common grave interrment. So Starkatterus, that old 
 Heroe, was burnt, and Ringo royally burnt the body 01 
 Harold the King slain by him. 
 
 What time this custome generally expired in that 
 Nation, we discern no assured period ; whether it 
 ceased before Christianity, or upon their Conversion, 
 by Ausgurius the Gaul, in the time of Ludovicus Pius 
 the Sonne of Charles the Great, according to good 
 computes ; or whether it might not be used by some 
 persons, while for a hundred and eighty years Paganisme 
 and Christianity were promiscuously embraced among 
 them, there is no assured conclusion. About which 
 times the Danes were busie in England, and particu- 
 larly infested this Countrey; Where many Castles and 
 strongholds, were built by them, or against them, and 
 great number of names and Families still derived 
 from them. But since this custome was probably dis- 
 used before their Invasion or Conquest, and the 
 Romanes confessedly practised the same, since their 
 possession of this Island, the most assured account will 
 fall upon the Romanes, or Bnttains Romanized. 
 
 However, certain it is, that Urnes conceived of no 
 Romane Originall, are often digged up both in Norway, 
 and Denmark, handsomely described, and graphically 
 represented by the Learned Physician Wormius. 2 And 
 
 1 Roisold, Brendttiide. lid tyde. 
 
 J Olai Wormii Monumenta et Antiquitat. Dan.
 
 no Hydriotaphia 
 
 in some parts of Denmark in no ordinary number, as 
 stands delivered by Authours exactly describing those 
 Countreys. 1 And they contained not only bones, but 
 many other substances in them, as Knives, peeces of 
 Iron, Brasse and Wood, and one of Norwayc a brasse 
 gilded Jewes-harp. 
 
 Nor were they confused or carelesse in disposing 
 the noblest sort, while they placed large stones in 
 circle about the Urnes, or bodies which they interred : 
 Somewhat answerable unto the monument of Rollrich 
 stones in England? or sepulcrall Monument probably 
 erected by Rollo, who after conquered Normandy, Where 
 'tis not improbable somewhat might be discovered. 
 Mean while to what Nation or person belonged that 
 large Urne found atAshbtirie, 3 containing mighty bones, 
 and a Buckler; What those large Urnes found at 
 Little Massingham ; 4 or why the Anglesea Urnes are 
 placed with their mouths downward, remains yet 
 undiscovered. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 PLAYSTERED and whited Sepulchres were anciently 
 affected in cadaverous, and corruptive Burials ; and the 
 rigid Jews were wont to garnish the Sepulchres of the 
 righteous ; 5 Ulysses in Hecuba 6 cared not how meanly 
 he lived, so he might finde a noble Tomb after death. 
 Great Princes affected great Monuments, And the fair 
 and larger Urnes contained no vulgar ashes, which 
 makes that disparity in those which time discovereth 
 among us. The present Urnes were not of one 
 capacity, the largest containing above a gallon, Some 
 not much above half that measure ; nor all of one 
 figure, wherein there is no strict conformity, in the 
 same or different Countreys ; Observable from those 
 
 1 Adolphus Cyprius in Annal. Sleswic. urnis adeo abundabat collis, 
 &>c. 
 
 2 In Oxfordshire, Camdtn. 
 
 8 In Cheshire, Tiuinus de rebus Albionicis. 
 
 4 In Norfolk, Hollingshead. e Matt, xxiii. 8 Euripides.
 
 Urn Burial in 
 
 represented by Casalius, Bosio, and others, though all 
 found in Italy ; While many have handles, ears, and 
 long necks, but most imitate a circular figure, in a 
 sphericall and round composure , whether from any 
 mystery, best duration or capacity, were but a con- 
 jecture. But the common form with necks was a 
 proper figure, making our last bed like our first ; nor 
 much unlike the Urnes of our Nativity, while we lay 
 in the nether part of the Earth, 1 and inward vault of 
 our Microcosme, Many Urnes are red, these but of a 
 black colour, somewhat smooth, and dully sounding, 
 which begat some doubt, whether they were burnt, or 
 only baked in Oven or Sunne: According to the 
 ancient way, in many bricks, tiles, pots, and testaceous 
 works ; and as the word testa is properly to be taken, 
 when occurring without addition : And chiefly intended 
 by Pliny, when he commendeth bricks and tiles of two 
 years old, and to make them in the spring. Nor only 
 these concealed peeces, but the open magnificence of 
 Antiquity, ran much in the Artifice of Clay. Hereof 
 the house of Mausolus was built, thus old Jupiter stood 
 in the Capitoll and the Statua of Hercules, made in the 
 Reign of Tarquinius Priscus, was extant in Plinies dayes. 
 And such as declined burning or Funeral Urnes, 
 affected Coffins of Clay, according to the mode of 
 Pythagoras, a way preferred by Varro, But the spirit 
 of great ones was above these circumscriptions, affect- 
 ing copper, silver, gold, and Porphyrie Urnes, wherein 
 Severus lay, after a serious view and sentence on that 
 which should contain him. 2 Some of these Urnes were 
 thought to have been silvered over, from sparklings in 
 several pots, with small Tinsell parcels ; uncertain 
 whether from the earth, or the first mixture in them. 
 
 Among these Urnes we could obtain no good 
 account of their coverings ; only one seemed arched 
 over with some kinde of brickwork. Of those found 
 at Buxton, some were covered with flints, some, in 
 other parts, with tiles, those at Yarmouth Caster were 
 
 1 Psal. Ixiii. 
 
 bv Avdpuirov, $v ij olKovfj-ivt) od/c t-xupr)<rev . Dion,
 
 H2 Hydriotaphia 
 
 closed with Romane bricks, and some have proper 
 earthen covers adapted and fitted to them. But in the 
 Homericall Urne of Patrochis, whatever was the solid 
 Tegument, we finde the immediate covering to be a 
 purple peece of silk : and such as had no covers might 
 have the earth closely pressed into them, after which 
 disposure were probably some of these, wherein we 
 found the bones and ashes half mortered unto the sand 
 and sides of the Urne, and some long roots of Quich, 
 or Dog's-grass, wreathed about the bones. 
 
 No Lamps, included Liquors, Lacrymatories, or 
 Tear-bottles, attended these rurall Urnes, either as 
 sacred unto the Manes, or passionate expressions of 
 their surviving friends. While with rich flames, and 
 hired tears they solemnized their Obsequies, and in 
 the most lamented Monuments made one part of their 
 Inscriptions. 1 Some finde sepulchrall Vessels contain- 
 ing liquors, which time hath incrassated into gellies. 
 For besides these Lacrymatories, notable Lamps, 
 with Vessels of Oyles, and aromaticall Liquors 
 attended noble Ossuaries. And some yet retaining a 
 Vinosity, 2 and spirit in them, which if any have tasted 
 they have farre exceeded the Palats of Antiquity. 
 Liquors not to be computed by years of annuall Magis- 
 trates, but by great conjunctions and the fatall periods 
 of kingdomes. 8 The draughts of Consulary date, were 
 but crude unto these, and Opimian wine 4 but in the 
 must unto them. 
 
 In sundry Graves and Sepulchres, we meet with 
 Rings, Coynes, and Chalices. Ancient frugality was 
 so severe, that they allowed no gold to attend the 
 corps, but only that which served to fasten their 
 teeth. 6 Whether the Opaline stone in this Urne were 
 burnt upon the finger of the dead, or cast into the fire 
 by some affectionate friend, it will consist with either 
 
 1 Cum lacrymis posuere. * Lazius. 
 
 3 About five hundred years. Plato. 
 * Vinum Opiminianum annorum centum. Petron. 
 5 12 Tahiti. 1. xi. De Jure Sacro. Neve aurum addito ast quoi aurt 
 denies vincti erunt im cum illo sepelire < urere, se fraude esto.
 
 Urn Burial 113 
 
 custome. But other incinerable substances were 
 found so fresh, that they could feel no sindge from 
 fire. These upon view were judged to be wood, but 
 sinking in water and tried by the fire, we found them 
 to be bone or Ivory. In their hardnesse and yellow 
 colour they most resembled Box, which, in old expres- 
 sions found the Epithete of Eternall, 1 and perhaps in 
 such conservatories might have passed uncorrupted. 
 
 That Bay-leaves were found green in the Tomb of 
 S. Humbert, 2 after an hundred and fifty years, was 
 looked upon as miraculous. Remarkable it was unto 
 old Spectators, that the Cypresse of the temple of 
 Diana, lasted so many hundred years : The wood of 
 the Ark and Olive Rod of Aaron, were older at the 
 Captivity. But the Cypresse of the Ark of Noah, was 
 the greatest vegetable Antiquity, if Josephus were not 
 deceived, by some fragments of it in his dayes. To 
 omit the Moore-logs and firre-trees found under-ground 
 in many parts of England ; the undated ruines of 
 windes, flouds, or earthquakes ; and which in Flanders 
 still shew from what quarter they fell, as generally 
 lying in a North-East position. 3 
 
 But though we found not these peeces to be Wood, 
 according to first apprehension, yet we missed not 
 altogether of some woody substance ; For the bones 
 were not so clearly pickt but some coals were found 
 amongst them ; A way to make wood perpetuall, and 
 a fit associat for metall whereon was laid the founda- 
 tion of the great Ephesian Temple, and which were 
 made the lasting tests of old boundaries and Land- 
 marks. Whilest we look on these, we admire not 
 Observations of Coals found fresh, after four hundred 
 years. 4 In a long-deserted habitation 5 even egg-shells 
 have been found fresh, not tending to corruption. 
 
 In the Monument of King Childerick the Iron 
 
 1 Plin. 1. xvi. Inter tf\a affatrij numerat Theophrastus. 
 
 2 Surius. 
 
 3 Goi-op. Becanus in Niloscopio. 
 
 4 Of Beringuccio nella pyrotechnia. 
 
 3 At Elmham.
 
 H4 ' Hydriotaphia 
 
 Reliques were found all rusty and crumbling into 
 peeces. But our little Iron pins which fastened the 
 Ivory works, held well together, and lost not their 
 Magneticall quality, though wanting a tenacious 
 moisture for the firmer union of parts, although it be 
 hardly drawn into fusion, yet that metall soon sub- 
 mitteth unto rust and dissolution. In the brazen 
 peeces we admired not the duration, but the freedome 
 from rust, and ill savour ; upon the hardest attrition, 
 but now exposed unto the piercing atomes of ayre ; in 
 the space of a few moneths, they begin to spot and 
 betray their green entrals. We conceive not these 
 Urnes to have descended thus naked as they appear, 
 or to have entred their graves without the old habit of 
 flowers. The Urne of Philopoemen was so laden with 
 flowers and ribbons, that it afforded no sight of itself. 
 The rigid Lycurgus allowed Olive and Myrtle. The 
 Athenians might fairly except against the practise of 
 Democritus, to be buried up in honey ; as fearing to 
 embezzle a great commodity of their Countrey, and 
 the best of that kinde in Europe. But Plato seemed 
 too frugally politick, who allowed no larger Monument 
 than would contain for Heroick Verses, and designed 
 the most barren ground for sepulture: Though we 
 cannot commend the goodnesse of that sepulchrall 
 ground which was set at no higher rate then the mean 
 salary of Judas. Though the earth had confounded 
 the ashes of these Ossuaries, yet the bones were so 
 smartly burnt, that some thin plates of brasse were 
 found half melted among them : whereby we appre- 
 hend they were not of the meanest carcasses, perfunc- 
 torily fired as sometimes in military, and commonly in 
 pestilence, burnings ; or after the manner of abject 
 corps, hudled forth and carelessly burnt, without the 
 Esquiline Port at Rome ; which was an affront con- 
 tinued upon Tiberius, while they but half burnt his 
 body, 1 and in the amphitheatre, according to the custome 
 in notable Malefactors ; whereas Nero seemed not so 
 
 1 Sueton. in vitd Tib. Et in amphitheatre semiustulandum, not. 
 Casaub.
 
 Urn Burial 115 
 
 much to feare his death as that his head should be cut 
 off, and his body not burnt entire. 
 
 Some finding many fragments of sculs in these 
 Urnes, suspected a mixture of bones; in none we 
 searched was there cause of such conjecture, though 
 sometimes they declined not that practise. The ashes 
 of Domitian 1 were mingled with those of Julia, of 
 Achilles with those of Patroclus : All Urnes contained 
 not single ashes; Without confused burnings they 
 affectionately compounded their bones ; passionately 
 endeavouring to continue their living Unions. And 
 when distance of death denied such conjunctions, un- 
 satisfied affections, conceived some satisfaction to be 
 neighbours in the grave, to lye Urne by Urne, and 
 touch but in their names. And many were so curious 
 to continue their living relations, that they contrived 
 large, and family Urnes, wherein the Ashes of their 
 nearest friends and kindred might successively be 
 received, 2 at least some parcels thereof, while their 
 collaterall memorials lay in minor vessels about 
 them. 
 
 Antiquity held too light thoughts from Objects of 
 mortality, while some drew provocatives of mirth from 
 Anatomies, 3 and Jugglers showed tricks with Skeletons. 
 When Fidlers made not so pleasant mirth as Fencers, 
 and men could sit with quiet stomacks, while hanging 
 was plaied before them. 4 Old considerations made 
 few memento's by sculs and bones upon their monu- 
 ments. In the ^Egyptian Obelisks and Hieroglyphicall 
 figures is not easie to meet with bones. The sepul- 
 chrall Lamps speak nothing lesse then sepulture ; and 
 in their literall draughts prove often obscene and 
 
 1 Sueton. in vitd Domitian. 
 
 2 See the most learned and worthy Mr. M. Casaubon upon 
 Antoninus. 
 
 8 Sic erimus cuncti, &>c. Ergo dum vivintus vivamus. 
 
 4 'Ayuvor ira/few. A barbarous pastime at Feasts, when men 
 stood upon a rolling Globe, with their necks in a Rope, and a 
 knife in their hands, ready tcT^ut it when the stone was rolled 
 away, wherein if they failed, they lost their lives to the laughter 
 of their spectators. A thenaus.
 
 1 1 6 Hydriotaphia 
 
 antick peeces : Where we finde D. M. 1 it is obvious 
 to meet with sacrificing patera's and vessels of libation, 
 upon old sepulchrall Monuments. In the Jewish 
 Hypogtnm* and subterranean Cell at Rome, was little 
 observable beside the variety of Lamps, and frequent 
 draughts of the holy Candlestick. In authentick 
 draughts of Anthony and Jerome we meet with thigh- 
 bones and deaths-heads; but the cemeterial Cels of 
 ancient Christians and Martyrs, were filled with 
 draughts of Scripture Stories; not declining the 
 flourishes of Cypresse, Palmes, and Olive ; and the 
 mysticall Figures of Peacocks, Doves and Cocks. 
 But iterately affecting the pourtraits of Enoch, Lazarus, 
 Jonas, and the Vision of Ezechiel, as hopefull draughts, 
 and hinting imagery of the Resurrection ; which is the 
 life of the grave, and sweetens our habitations in the 
 Land of Moles and Pismires. 
 
 Gentile Inscriptions precisely delivered the extent 
 of mens lives, seldome the manner of their deaths, 
 which history itself so often leaves obscure in the 
 records of memorable persons. There is scarce any 
 Philosopher but dies twice or thrice in Laertius ; Nor 
 almost any life without two or three deaths in Plu- 
 tarch; which makes the tragicall ends of noble persons 
 more favourably resented by compassionate Readers, 
 who finde some relief in the Election of such differ- 
 ences. 
 
 The certainty of death is attended with uncertainties, 
 in time, manner, places. The variety of Monuments 
 hath often obscured true graves ; and cenotaphs con- 
 founded Sepulchres. For beside their reall Tombs, 
 many have found honorary and empty Sepulchres. 
 The variety of Homers Monuments made him of various 
 Countreys. Euripides 3 had his Tomb in Africa, but 
 his sepulture in Macedonia. And Severus* found his 
 real Sepulchre in Rome, but his empty grave in 
 Gallia. 
 
 1 Diis manibus. * Bosio. 
 
 3 Pausan. in Atticis. 4 Lamprid. in vit. Alexand. Seven,
 
 Urn Burial 117 
 
 He that lay in a golden Urne, 1 eminently above the 
 Earth, was not like to finde the quiet of these bones. 
 Many of these Urnes were broke by a vulgar discoverer 
 in hope of inclosed treasure. The ashes of Marcellus 2 
 were lost above ground, upon the like account. Where 
 profit hath prompted, no age hath wanted such miners. 
 For which the most barbarous Expilators found the 
 most civill Rhetorick. Gold once out of the earth is 
 no more due unto it ; What was unreaonably com- 
 mitted to the ground is reasonably resumed from it : 
 Let Monuments and rich Fabricks, not Riches adorn 
 mens ashes. The commerce of the living is not to 
 be transferred unto the dead; It is not injustice to 
 take that which none complains to lose, and no man 
 is wronged where no man is possessor. 
 
 What virtue yet sleeps in this terra damnata and 
 aged cinders, were petty magick to experiment ; These 
 crumbling reliques and long-fired particles superannate 
 such expectations ; Bones, hairs, nails, and teeth of 
 the dead, were the treasures of old Sorcerers. In vain 
 we revive such practices; present superstition too 
 visibly perpetuates the folly of our Fore-fathers, wherein 
 unto old Observation 8 this Island was so complete, 
 that it might have instructed Persia. 
 
 Plato's historian of the other world, lies twelve 
 dayes incorrupted, while his soul was viewing the 
 large stations of the dead. How to keep the corps 
 seven dayes from corruption by anointing and washing, 
 without exenteration, were an hazardable peece of art, 
 in our choicest practise. How they made distinct 
 separation of bones and ashes from fiery admixture, 
 hath found no historicall solution. Though they 
 seemed to make a distinct collection, and overlooked 
 not Pyrrhus his toe. Some provision they might make 
 by fictile Vessels, Coverings, Tiles, or flat stones, 
 
 1 Trajanus. Dion. 
 
 2 Plut. in vit. Marcelli. The commission of the Gothish King 
 Theodoric for finding out sepulchrall treasure. Cassiodor. var. 1. 4. 
 
 8 Britannia hodie earn attonite celebrat tantis ceremoniis, ut dedisse 
 Persis vidcri possit. Plin. I. 29.
 
 n8 Hydriotaphia 
 
 upon and about the body. And in the same Field, 
 not farre from these Urnes, many stones were found 
 under ground, as also by carefull separation of ex- 
 traneous matter, composing and raking up the burnt 
 bones with forks, observable in that notable lamp of 
 Galvanus. 1 Martianus, who had the sight of the Vas 
 Ustrinum 2 or vessel 1 wherein they burnt the dead, 
 found in the Esquiline Field at Rome, might have 
 afforded clearer solution. But their insatisfaction 
 herein begat that remarkable invention in the Funerall 
 Pyres of some Princes, by incombustible sheets made 
 with a texture of Asbestos, incremable flax, or Sala- 
 mander's wool, which preserved their bones and ashes 
 incommixed. 
 
 How the bulk of a man should sink into so few 
 pounds of bones and ashes, may seem strange unto 
 any who considers not its constitution, and how 
 slender a masse will remain upon an open and urging 
 fire of the carnall composition. Even bones them- 
 selves reduced into ashes, do abate a notable propor- 
 tion. And consisting much of a volatile salt, when 
 that is fired out, make a light kind of cinders. Although 
 their bulk be disproportionable to their weight, when 
 the heavy principle of Salt is fired out, and the Earth 
 almost only remaineth ; Observable in sallow, which 
 makes more Ashes than Oake; and discovers the 
 common fraud of selling Ashes by measure, and not 
 by ponderation. 
 
 Some bones make best Skeletons, 8 some bodies 
 quick and speediest ashes. Who would expect a 
 quick flame from Hydropicall Heraclitus P The 
 poysoned Souldier, when his Belly brake, put out two 
 pyres in Plutarch.* But in the plague of Athens, 5 one 
 private pyre served two or three Intruders ; and the 
 
 1 To be seen in Licet, de reconditis veterum lucernis. 
 
 2 Typograph. Roma ex Martiano. Erat et vas ustrinum appellatum, 
 quod in eo cadavera combvrerentur. Cap. de Campo Esquilino. 
 
 3 Old bones according to Lyservs. Those of young persons not 
 tall nor fat according to Columbus. 
 
 In vitd GRACC. B Tkucydides.
 
 Urn Burial 119 
 
 Saracens burnt in large heaps, by the King of Castile, 1 
 shewed how little Fuell sufficeth. Though the 
 Funerall pyre of Patroclus took up an hundred foot, 2 a 
 peece of an old boat burnt Pompey ; And if the burthen 
 of Isaac were sufficient for an holocaust, a man may 
 carry his owne pyre. 
 
 From animals are drawn good burning lights, and 
 good medicines against burning ; 3 Though the seminall 
 humour seems of a contrary nature to fire, yet the 
 body compleated proves a combustible lump, wherein 
 fire findes flame even from bones, and some fuell 
 almost from all parts. Though the Metropolis of 
 humidity 4 seems least disposed unto it, which might 
 render the sculls of these Urnes lesse burned than 
 other bones. But all flies or sinks before fire almost 
 in all bodies : when the common ligament is dissolved, 
 the attenuable parts ascend, the rest subside in coal, 
 calx or ashes. 
 
 To burn the bones of the King of Edom for lime, 5 
 seems no irrationall ferity ; But to drink of the ashes 
 of dead relations, 6 a passionate prodigality. He that 
 hath the ashes of his friend, hath an everlasting 
 treasure ; where fire taketh leave, corruption slowly 
 enters ; In bones well burnt, fire makes a wall against 
 itself; experimented in copels, and tests of metals, 
 which consist of such ingredients. What the Sun 
 compoundeth, fire analyseth, not transmuteth. That 
 devouring agent leaves almost always a morsell for 
 the Earth, whereof all things are but a colonie ; and 
 which, if time permits, the mother Element will have 
 in their primitive masse again. 
 
 He that looks for Urnes and old sepulchrall reliques, 
 must not seek them in the ruines of Temples : where 
 no Religion anciently placed them. These were found 
 in a Field, according to ancient custome, hi noble or 
 private buriall ; the old practise of the Canaanites, the 
 
 1 Laurent Valla. 2 "KKarofjiirtSov &6a ?) tvOa.. 
 
 3 Speran. Alb. Ovor. 4 The brain. Hippocrates. 
 
 5 Amos ii. i. 
 8 As Artemisia of her husband Mausolus.
 
 I2O Hydriotaphia 
 
 Family of A braham, and the burying-place of Josua, in 
 the borders of his possessions ; and also agreeable 
 unto Roman practice to bury by highwayes, whereby 
 their Monuments were under eye ; Memorials of them- 
 selves, and memento's of mortality unto living pas- 
 sengers ; whom the Epitaphs of great ones were fain 
 to beg to stay and look upon them ; A language 
 though sometimes used, not so proper in Church- 
 Inscriptions. 1 The sensible Rhetorick of the dead, to 
 exemplarity of good life, first admitted the bones of 
 pious men, and Martyrs within Church wals ; which 
 in succeeding ages crept into promiscuous practise. 
 While Constantine was peculiarly favoured to be 
 admitted into the Church Porch ; and the first thus 
 buried in England was in the dayes of Cuthred. 
 
 Christians dispute how their bodies should lye in 
 the grave. 2 In urnall interrment they clearly escaped 
 this controversie ; though we decline the Religious 
 consideration, yet in cemiteriall and narrower burying- 
 places, to avoid confusion and crosse position, a certain 
 posture were to be admitted ; which even Pagan 
 civility observed. The Persians lay North and South, 
 the Megarians and Phoenicians placed their heads to the 
 East ; The Athenians, some think, towards the West, 
 which Christians still retain. And Beda will have it 
 to be the posture of our Saviour. That he was 
 crucified with his face toward the West, we will not 
 contend with tradition and probable account ; But we 
 applaud not the hand of the Painter, in exalting his 
 Crosse so high above those on either side ; since 
 hereof we finde no authentick account in history, and 
 even the crosses found by Helena, pretend no such 
 distinction from longitude or dimension. 
 
 To be knav'd out of our graves, to have our sculs 
 made drinking-bowls, and our bones turned into Pipes, 
 to delight and sport our Enemies, are Tragical! 
 abominations escaped in burning Burials. 
 
 Urnall interrments and burnt Reliques lye not in 
 fear of worms, or to be an heritage for Serpents ; In 
 1 Siste viator. 2 Kirkmannus de funer.
 
 Urn Burial 121 
 
 carnall sepulture, corruptions seem peculiar unto parts, 
 and some speak of snakes out of the spinall marrow. 
 But while we suppose common wormes in graves, 
 'tis not easie to finde any there ; few in Churchyards 
 above a foot deep, fewer or none in Churches, though 
 in fresh decayed bodies. Teeth, bones, and hair, give 
 the most lasting defiance to corruption. In an Hy- 
 dropicall body, ten years buried in the Church-yard, 
 we met with a fat concretion, where the nitre of the 
 Earth, and the salt and lixivious liquor of the body, 
 had coagulated large lumps of fat, into the consistence 
 of the hardest castle-soap ; whereof part remaineth 
 with us. After a battle with the Persians, the Roman 
 Corps decayed in few dayes, while the Persian bodies 
 remained dry and uncorrupted. Bodies in the same 
 ground do not uniformly dissolve, nor bones equally 
 moulder ; whereof in the opprobrious disease we 
 expect no long duration. The body of the Marquesse 
 of Dorset seemed sound and handsomely cereclothed, 
 that after seventy-eight years was found uncorrupted. 1 
 Common Tombs preserve not beyond powder : A 
 firmer consistence and compage of parts might be 
 expected from Aref action, deep buriall or charcoal. 
 The greatest Antiquities of mortall bodies may remain 
 in putrefied bones, whereof, though we take not in the 
 pillar of Lot's wife, or Metamorphosis of Ortelius, 2 
 some may be older than Pyramids, in the putrefied 
 Reliques of the generall inundation. When A lexander 
 opened the Tomb of Cyrus, the remaining bones dis- 
 covered his proportion, whereof urnall fragments afford 
 but a bad conjecture, and have this disadvantage of 
 grave enterrments, that they leave us ignorant of most 
 personal discoveries. For since bones afford not only 
 rectitude and stability, but figure unto the body ; it is 
 
 1 Of Thomas, Marquesse of Dorset, whose body being buried 
 1530, was 1608, upon the 'cutting open of the Cerecloth, found 
 perfect and nothing corrupted, the flesh not hardened, but in 
 colour, proportion, and softnesse like an ordinary corps newly 
 to be interred. Burton's descript. of Leicestershire. 
 
 2 In his Map of Russia.
 
 122 Hydriotaphia 
 
 no impossible Physiognomy to conjecture at fleshy 
 appendencies ; and after what shape the muscles and 
 carnous parts might hang in their full consistences. A 
 full-spread Cariola 1 shows a well-shaped horse behinde 
 handsome formed sculls give some analogy to fleshy 
 resemblance. A criticall view of bones makes a good 
 distinction of sexes. Even colour is not beyond con- 
 jecture ; since it is hard to be deceived in the distinc- 
 tion of Negro's sculls. 2 Dante's 3 Characters are to be 
 found in sculls as well as faces. Hercules is not only 
 known by his foot. Other parts make out their corn- 
 proportions and inferences upon whole or parts. And 
 since the dimensions of the head measure the whole 
 body, and the figure thereof gives conjecture of the 
 principall faculties ; Physiognomy outlives ourselves, 
 and ends not in our graves. 
 
 Severe contemplators observing these lasting 
 reliques, may think them good monuments of persons 
 past, little advantage to future beings. And consider- 
 ing that power which subdueth all things unto itself, 
 that can resume the scattered Atomes, or identifie out 
 of any thing, conceive it superfluous to expect a 
 resurrection out of Reliques. But the soul subsisting, 
 other matter, clothed with due accidents, may salve 
 the individuality : Yet the Saints we observe arose 
 from graves and monuments, about the holy City. 
 Some think the ancient Patriarchs so earnestly desired 
 to lay their bones in Canaan, as hoping to make a part 
 of that Resurrection, and, though thirty miles from 
 
 1 That part in the skeleton of a horse, which is made by the 
 haunch-bones. 
 
 2 For their extraordinary thickness. 
 
 3 The poet Dante in his view of Purgatory, found gluttons so 
 meagre, and extenuated, that he conceited them to have been in 
 the Siege of Jerusalem, and that it was easie to have discovered 
 Homo or Onto in their faces : M being made by the two lines of 
 their cheeks, arching over the Eye-brows to the nose, and their 
 sank eyes making O O which makes up Omo. 
 
 Paren I'occhiaje anella senza gemme : 
 Chi, nel visa degli uomini legge OMO, 
 Bent avria quivi conosciuto I'emme. Purgat. xxiii. 31.
 
 Urn Burial 123 
 
 Mount Calvary, at least to lie in that Region which 
 should produce the first-fruits of the dead. And if 
 according to learned conjecture, the bodies of men 
 shall rise where their greatest Reliques remain, many 
 are not like to erre in the Topography of their Resurrec- 
 tion, though their bones or bodies be after translated 
 by Angels into the field of Ezechiel's vision, or as some 
 will order it, into the Valley of Judgement, or 
 Jchosaphat. 1 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 CHRISTIANS have handsomely glossed the deformity 
 of death, by careful consideration of the body, and civil 
 rites which take off brutall terminations. And though 
 they conceived all reparable by a resurrection, cast 
 not off all care of enterrment. And since the ashes of 
 Sacrifices burnt upon the Altar of God were carefully 
 carried out by the Priests, and deposed in a clean 
 field ; since they acknowledged their bodies to be the 
 lodging of Christ, and temples of the holy Ghost, they 
 devolved not all upon the sufficiency of soul-existence ; 
 and therefore with long services and full solemnities 
 concluded their last Exequies, wherein to all dis- 
 tinctions the Greek devotion seems most pathetically 
 ceremonious. 2 
 
 Christian invention hath chiefly driven at Rites, 
 which speak hopes of another life, and hints of a 
 Resurrection. And if the ancient Gentiles held not 
 the immortality of their better part, and some subsist- 
 ence after death ; in severall rites, customes, actions 
 and expressions, they contradicted their own opinions : 
 wherein Democritus went high, even to the thought of 
 a resurrection, as scoffingly recorded by Pliny. 3 What 
 can be more expresse than the expression of Phocyl- 
 
 1 Tirin. in Ezek. 
 
 2 Ritualf Gracum , operd J. Goar, in officio exequiarum. 
 
 8 Similis * * * * reviviscendi promissa Democrito vanitas, qui non 
 revixit ipse. Qua (malum) ista dementia est, iterari vitam morte ? 
 Plin. 1, vii. c. 55.
 
 124 Hydriotaphia 
 
 tides ? l Or who would expect from Lucretius 2 a sentence 
 of Ecclesiastes ? Before Plato could speak, the soul had 
 wings in Homer, which fell not, but flew out of the 
 body into the mansions of the dead ; who also observed 
 that handsome distinction of Demas and Soma, for the 
 body conjoyned to the soul, and body separated from 
 it. Lucian spoke much truth in jest, when he said 
 that part of Hercules which proceeded from Alchmena 
 perished, that from Jupiter remained immortall. Thus 
 Socrates 3 was content that his friends should bury his 
 body, so they would not think they buried Socrates, and 
 regarding only his immortall part, was indifferent to 
 be burnt or buried. From such Considerations, 
 Diogenes might contemn Sepulture. And being satis- 
 fied that the soul could not perish, grow carelesse of 
 corporall enterrment. The Stoicks who thought the 
 souls of wise men had their habitation about the moon, 
 might make slight account of subterraneous deposition ; 
 whereas the Pythagoreans and transcorporating Philo- 
 sophers, who were to be often buried, held great care 
 of their enterrment. And the Platonicks rejected not 
 a due care of the grave, though they put their ashes 
 to unreasonable expectations, in their tedious term of 
 return and long set revolution. 
 
 Men have lost their reason in nothing so much as 
 their religion, wherein stones and clouts make martyrs ; 
 and, since the religion of one seems madnesse unto 
 another, to afford an account or rationall of old Rites 
 requires no rigid Reader. That they kindled the pyre 
 aversely, or turning their face from it, was an hand- 
 some Symbole of unwilling ministration ; That they 
 washed their bones with wine and milk, that the 
 mother wrapped them in linnen and dryed them in her 
 bosome, the first fostering part, and place of their 
 nourishment ; that they opened their eyes towards 
 heaven, before they kindled the fire, as the place of 
 
 1 Kai rdxo- 5' K yalrjs t\iri{o(j.ei> is 0<fos tXdeiv Xetyav a.iro(.-)(ofJ.tv<>}v, 
 et deinceps. 
 
 * Cedit enim retro de terrd quod fuit ante in terram, etc. Lucret. 
 3 Plato in Phced.
 
 Urn Burial 125 
 
 their hopes or original!, were no improper Ceremonies. 
 Their last valediction, 1 thrice uttered by the attendants, 
 was also very solemn, and somewhat answered by 
 Christians, who thought it too little, if they threw not 
 the earth thrice upon the enterred body. That in 
 strewing their Tombs the Romans affected the Rose, 
 the Greeks Amaranthus and myrtle ; that the Funerall 
 pyre consisted of sweet fuell Cypresse, Firre, Larix, 
 Yewe, and Trees perpetually verdant, lay silent ex- 
 pressions of their surviving hopes. Wherein Christians, 
 who deck their Coffins with Bays, have found a more 
 elegant Embleme. For that he seeming dead, will 
 restore itself from the root, and its dry and exuccous 
 leaves resume their verdure again ; which, if we 
 mistake not, we have also observed in furze. Whether 
 the planting of yewe in Churchyards hold not its 
 originall from ancient Funerall rites, or as an Embleme 
 of Resurrection, from its perpetual verdure, may also 
 admit conjecture. 
 
 They made use of Musick to excite or quiet the 
 affections of their friends, according to different 
 harmonies. But the secret and symbolicall hint was 
 the harmonical nature of the soul ; which delivered 
 from the body, went again to enjoy the primitive 
 harmony of heaven, from whence it first descended ; 
 which according to its progresse traced by antiquity, 
 came down by Cancer, and ascended by Capricornus. 
 
 They burnt not children before their teeth appeared, 
 as apprehending their bodies too tender a morsell for 
 fire, and that their gristly bones would scarce leave 
 separable reliques after the pyrall combustion. That 
 they kindled not fire in their houses for some dayes 
 after was a strict memoriall of the late afflicting fire. 
 And mourning without hope, they had an happy fraud 
 against excessive lamentation, by a common opinion 
 that deep sorrows disturb their ghosts. 2 
 
 That they buried their dead on their backs, or in a 
 supine position, seems agreeable unto profound sleep, 
 
 1 Vale, vale, nos te ordine quo natura permittet sequemur. 
 a Tu manes ne lade meos.
 
 1 26 Hydriotaphia 
 
 and common posture of dying ; contrary to the most 
 naturall way of birth ; Nor unlike our pendulous 
 posture, in the doubtful! state of the womb. Diogenes 
 was singular, who preferred a prone situation in the 
 grave, and some Christians 1 like neither, who decline 
 the figure of rest, and make choice of an erect 
 posture. 
 
 That they carried them out of the world with their 
 feet forward, not inconsonant unto reason : As contrary 
 unto the native posture of man, and his production 
 first into it. And also agreeable unto their opinions, 
 while they bid adieu unto the world, not to look again 
 upon it ; whereas Mahometans who think to return to 
 a delightfull life again, are carried forth with their 
 heads forward, and looking toward their houses. 
 
 They closed their eyes as parts which first die or 
 first discover the sad effects of death. But their 
 iterated clamations to excitate their dying or dead 
 friends, or revoke them unto life again, was a vanity 
 of affection ; as not presumably ignorant of the criticall 
 tests of death, by apposition of feathers, glasses, and 
 reflection of figures, which dead eyes represent not; 
 which however not strictly verifiable in fresh and 
 warm cadavers, could hardly elude the test, in corps of 
 four or five dayes. 2 
 
 That they suck'd in the last breath of their expiring 
 friends, was surely a practice of no medical institution, 
 but a loose opinion that the soul passed out that way, 
 and a fondnesse of affection from some Pythagoricall 
 foundation, 3 that the spirit of one body passed into 
 another ; which they wished might be their own. 
 
 That they powred oyle upon the pyre, was a 
 tolerable practise, while the intention rested in facilitat- 
 ing the accension ; But to place good Omens in the 
 quick and speedy burning, to sacrifice unto the windes 
 for a dispatch in this office, was a low form of super- 
 stition. 
 
 The Archimime, or Jester, attending the Funerall 
 
 1 Russians, &>c. 2 At least by some difference from living eyes. 
 8 Francesco Perucci, Pompc funebri.
 
 Urn Burial 127 
 
 train, and imitating the speeches, gesture, and manners 
 of the deceased, was too light for such solemnities, 
 contradicting their Funerall Orations and dolefull rites 
 of the grave. 
 
 That they buried a peece of money with them as a 
 Fee of the Elysian Ferriman, was a practise full of folly. 
 But the ancient custome of placing coynes in con- 
 siderable Urnes, and the present practise of burying 
 medals in the Noble Foundations of Europe, are laudable 
 wayes of historicall discoveries, in actions, persons, 
 Chronologies ; and posterity will applaud them. 
 
 We examine not the old Laws of Sepulture, exempt- 
 ing certain persons from buriall or burning. But 
 hereby we apprehend that these were not the bones of 
 persons planet-struck or burnt with fire from Heaven; 
 No reliques of Traitors to their Countrey, Self-killers, 
 or Sacrilegious Malefactors ; Persons in old appre- 
 hension unworthy of the earth; condemned unto the 
 Tartaras of Hell, and bottomlesse pit of Pluto, from 
 whence there was no redemption. 
 
 Nor were only many customes questionable in order 
 to their Obsequies, but also sundry practises, fictions, 
 and conceptions, discordant or obscure, of their state 
 and future beings ; whether unto eight or ten bodies of 
 men to adde one of a woman, as being more inflam- 
 mable, and unctuously constituted for the better pyrall 
 combustion, were any rationall practise ; Or whether 
 the complaint of Perianders Wife be tolerable, that 
 wanting her Funerall burning, she suffered intolerable 
 cold in Hell, according to the constitution of the 
 infernall house of Pluto, wherein cold makes a great 
 part of their tortures ; it cannot passe without some 
 question. 
 
 Why the Female Ghosts appear unto Ulysses, before 
 the Heroes and masculine spirits ? Why the Psyche or 
 soul of Tiresias is of the masculine gender, 1 who being 
 blinde on earth, sees more than all the rest in hell ; 
 Why the Funerall Suppers consisted of Egges, Beans, 
 Smallage, and Lettuce, since the dead are made to eat 
 1 In Homer : ^vxjl QTjfiaiov Teipfffiao ffKiJTrrpov fx. u *
 
 128 Hydriotaphia 
 
 Asphodels 1 about the Elyzian medows? "Why since 
 there is no Sacrifice acceptable, nor any propitiation 
 for the Covenant of the grave ; men set up the Deity 
 of Morta, and fruitlessly adored Divinities without 
 ears ? it cannot escape some doubt. 
 
 The dead seem all alive in the human Hades of 
 Homer, yet cannot well speak, prophesie, or know the 
 living, except they drink bloud, wherein is the life of 
 man. And therefore the souls of Penelope's Paramours, 
 conducted by Mercury, chirped like bats, and those 
 which followed Hercules, made a noise but like a flock 
 of birds. 
 
 The departed spirits know things past and to come, 
 yet are ignorant of things present. Agamemnon fore- 
 tels what should happen unto Ulysses, yet ignorantly 
 enquires what is become of his own Son. The Ghosts 
 are afraid of swords in Homer, yet Sibylla tells ^Eneas 
 in Virgil, the thin habit of spirits was beyond the force 
 of weapons. The spirits put off their malice with 
 their bodies, and Cczsar and Pompey accord in Latine 
 Hell, yet Ajax in Homer endures not a conference with 
 Ulysses ; And Deiphobus appears all mangled in Virgils 
 Ghosts, yet we meet with perfect shadows among the 
 wounded ghosts of Homer. 
 
 Since Charon mLucian applauds his condition among 
 the dead, whether it be handsomely said of Achilles, 
 that living contemner of death, that he had rather be 
 a plowman's servant, than Emperour of the dead ? 
 How Hercules his soul is in hell, and yet in heaven, and 
 Julius his soul in a Starre, yet seen by tineas in hell, 
 except the Ghosts were but Images and shadows of 
 the soul, received in higher mansions, according to the 
 ancient division of body, soul, and image, or simu- 
 lachrum of them both. The particulars of future beings 
 must needs be dark unto ancient Theories, which 
 Christian Philosophy yet determines but in a Cloud of 
 opinions. A Dialogue between two Infants in the 
 womb concerning the state of this world, might hand- 
 somely illustrate our ignorance of the next, whereof 
 1 In Lucian.
 
 Urn Burial 129 
 
 methinks we yet discourse in Platoes denne, and are 
 but Embryon Philosophers. 
 
 Pythagoras escapes in the fabulous hell of Dante, 1 
 among that swarm of Philosophers, wherein whilest 
 we meet with Plato and Socrates, Cato is to be found in 
 no lower place than Purgatory. Among all the set, 
 Epicurus is most considerable, whom men make honest 
 without an Elyzium, who contemned life without en- 
 couragement of immortality, and making nothing after 
 death, yet made nothing of the King of terrours. 
 
 Were the happiness of the next world as closely 
 apprehended as the felicities of this, it were a martyr- 
 dome to live; and unto such as consider none hereafter, 
 it must be more than death to dye, which makes us 
 amazed at those audacities, that durst be nothing, and 
 return into their Chaos again. Certainly such spirits 
 as could contemn death, when they expected no better 
 being after, would have scorned to live, had they known 
 any. And therefore we applaud not the judgment of 
 Machiavel, that Christianity makes men cowards, or 
 that with the confidence of but half dying, the despised 
 virtues of patience and humility, have abased the 
 spirits of men, which Pagan principles exalted, but 
 rather regulated the wildenesse of audacities, in the 
 attempts, grounds, and eternall sequels of death ; 
 wherein men of the boldest spirits are often prodigiously 
 temerarious. Nor can we extenuate the valour of 
 ancient Martyrs, who contemned death in the uncom- 
 fortable scene of their lives, and in their decrepit 
 Martyrdomes did probably lose not many moneths of 
 their dayes, or parted with life when it was scarce 
 worth the living. For (beside that long time past 
 holds no consideration unto a slender time to come) 
 they had no small disadvantage from the constitution 
 of old age, which naturally makes men fearfull ; And 
 complexionally superannuated from the bold and 
 courageous thoughts of youth and fervent years. But 
 the contempt of death from corporall animosity, pro- 
 moteth not our felicity. They may sit in the Orchestra, 
 1 Del Inferno, cant. 4. 
 
 I
 
 130 Hydriotaphia 
 
 and noblest Seats of Heaven, who have held up 
 shaking hands in the fire, and humanely contended 
 for glory. 
 
 Meanwhile Epicurus lyes deep in Dante's hell, 
 wherein we meet with Tombs enclosing souls which 
 denied their immortalities. But whether the virtuous 
 heathen, who lived better than he spake, or erring in 
 the principles of himself, yet lived above Philosophers 
 of more specious Maximes, lye so deep as he is placed; 
 at least so low as not to rise against Christians, who 
 beleeving or knowing that truth, have lastingly denied 
 it in their practise and conversation, were a quaery too 
 sad to insist on. 
 
 But all or most apprehensions rested in Opinions of 
 some future being, which, ignorantly or coldly beleeved, 
 begat those perverted conceptions, Ceremonies, Say ings, 
 which Christians pity or laugh at. Happy are they, 
 which live not in that disadvantage of time, when men 
 could say little for futurity, but from reason. Whereby 
 the noblest minds fell often upon doubtfull deaths, and 
 melancholly dissolutions ; With these hopes Socrates 
 warmed his doubtfull spirits against that cold potion, 
 and Cato before he durst give the fatall stroak, spent 
 part of the night in reading the immortality of Plato, 
 thereby confirming his wavering hand unto the 
 animosity of that attempt. 
 
 It is the heaviest stone that melancholy can throw 
 at a man, to tell him he is at the end of his nature ; or 
 that there is no further state to come, unto which this 
 seems progressionall, and otherwise made in vaine ; 
 Without this accomplishment the naturall expectation 
 and desire of such state, were but a fallacy in nature, 
 unsatisfied Considerators ; would quarrell the justice 
 of their constitutions, and rest content that Adam had 
 fallen lower, whereby by knowing no other Originall, 
 and deeper ignorance of themselves, they might have 
 enjoyed the happinesse of inferiour creatures, who in 
 tranquillity possesse their Constitutions, as having not 
 the apprehension to deplore their own natures, And 
 being framed below the circumference of these hopes,
 
 Urn Burial 131 
 
 or cognition of better being, the wisedom of God hath 
 necessitated their Contentment : But the superior 
 ingredient and obscured part of our selves, whereto all 
 present felicities afford no resting contentment, will 
 be able at last to tell us, we are more than our present 
 selves ; and evacuate such hopes in the fruition of 
 their own accomplishments. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Now since these dead bones have already out-lasted 
 the living ones of Methuselah, and in a yard under 
 ground, and thin walls of clay, out-worn all the strong 
 and specious buildings above it ; and quietly rested 
 under the drums and tramplings of three conquests ; 
 what Prince can promise such diuturnity unto his 
 Reliques, or might not gladly say, 
 
 Sic ego componi versus in ossa velim. 1 
 
 Time which antiquates Antiquities, and hath an art to 
 make dust of all things, hath yet spared these minor 
 Monuments. 
 
 In vain we hope to be known by open and visible 
 conservatories, when to be unknown was the means of 
 their continuation and obscurity their protection : If 
 they dyed by violent hands, and were thrust into their 
 Urues, these bones become considerable, and some old 
 Philosophers would honour them, 2 whose souls they 
 conceived most pure, which were thus snatched from 
 their bodies ; and to retain a stranger propension unto 
 them : whereas they weariedly left a languishing 
 corps, and with faint desires of re-union. If they fell 
 by long and aged decay, yet wrapt up in the bundle of 
 time, they fall into indistinction, and make but one 
 blot with Infants. If we begin to die when we live, 
 
 1 Tibullvs. 
 
 2 Oracula Chaldaica cum scholiis Pselli et Phcthonis. Bt'ij \nr6vTu 
 fZfjM. ^-vxcu Ka.6apJrra.Tai. Vi corpus relinquentium anima puns- 
 simif.
 
 132 Hydriotaphia 
 
 and long life be but a prolongation of death ; our life 
 is a sad composition ; We live with death, and die not 
 in a moment. How many pulses made up the life of 
 Methuselah, were work for Archimedes: Common 
 Counters summe up the life of Moses his man. 1 Our 
 dayes become considerable like petty sums by minute 
 accumulations ; where numerous fractions make up 
 but small round numbers ; and our dayes of a span 
 long make not one little finger. 2 
 
 If the nearnesse of our last necessity, brought a 
 nearer conformity into it, there were a happinesse in 
 hoary hairs, and no calamity in half senses. But the 
 long habit of living indisposeth us for dying ; when 
 Avarice makes us the sport of death ; When even 
 David grew politickly cruell ; and Solomon could hardly 
 be said to be the wisest of men. But many are too 
 early old, and before the date of age. Adversity 
 stretcheth our dayes, misery makes Alcmenas nights, 3 
 and time hath no wings unto it. But the most tedious 
 being is that which can unwish itself, content to be 
 nothing, or never to have been, which was beyond the 
 malecontent of Job, who cursed not the day of his life, 
 but his Nativity : Content to have so farre been, as 
 to have a Title to future being ; Although he had lived 
 here but in an hidden state of life, and as it were an 
 abortion. 
 
 What Song the Syrens sang, or what name Achilles 
 assumed when he hid himself among women, though 
 puzling Questions, 4 are not beyond all conjecture. 
 What time the persons of these Ossuaries entred the 
 famous Nations of the dead, 5 and slept with Princes 
 and Counsellours, might admit a wide solution. But 
 who were the proprietaries of these bones, or what 
 
 1 In the Psalme of Moses. 
 
 a According to the ancient Arithmetick of the hand, wherein 
 the little finger of the right hand contracted, signified an 
 hundred. Pierius in Hieroglyph. 
 
 3 One night as long as three. 
 
 * The puzzling questions of Tiberius unto Grammarians. 
 Marcel. Donatus in Suet. 
 
 6 KXi/ro IQvta. vfKpC>v. Horn. Job.
 
 Urn Burial 133 
 
 bodies these ashes made up, were a question above 
 Antiquarism. Not to be resolved by man, nor easily 
 perhaps by spirits, except we consult the Provincial! 
 Guardians, or tutellary Observators. Had they made 
 as good provision for their names, as they have done 
 for their Reliques, they had not so grosly erred in the 
 art of perpetuation. But to subsist in bones, and be 
 but Pyramidally extant, is a fallacy in duration. Vain 
 ashes, which in the oblivion of names, persons, times, 
 and sexes, have found unto themselves, a fruitless 
 continuation, and only arise unto late posterity, as 
 Emblemes of mortall vanities ; Antidotes against pride, 
 vain-glory, and madding vices. Pagan vain-glories 
 which thought the world might last for ever, had en- 
 couragement for ambition, and, finding no Atropos unto 
 the immortality of their Names, were never dampt 
 with the necessity of oblivion. Even old ambitions 
 had the advantage of ours, in the attempts of their 
 vain-glories, who acting early, and before the probable 
 Meridian of time, have by this time found great 
 accomplishment of their designes, whereby the ancient 
 Htroes have already out-lasted their Monuments, and 
 Mechanicall preservations. But in this latter Scene 
 of time, we cannot expect such mummies unto our 
 memories, when ambition may fear the Prophecy of 
 Elias, 1 and Charles the fifth can never hope to live 
 within two Methuselas of Hector? 
 
 And therefore restlesse inquietude for the diuturnity 
 of our memories unto present considerations, seems a 
 vanity almost out of date, and superannuated peece of 
 folly. We cannot hope to live so long in our names, 
 as some have done in their persons, one face of Janus 
 holds no proportion unto the other. 'Tis too late to 
 be ambitious. The great mutations of the world are 
 acted, or time may be too short for our designes. To 
 extend our memories by Monuments, whose death we 
 daily pray for, and whose duration we cannot hope, 
 
 1 That the world may last but six thousand years. 
 
 2 Hector's fame lasting above two lives of Methuselah, before 
 that famous Prince was extant.
 
 134 Hydriotaphia 
 
 without injury to our expectations, in the advent of 
 the last day, were a contradiction to our beliefs. We 
 whose generations are ordained in this setting part of 
 time, are providentially taken off from such imagina- 
 tions ; And being necessitated to eye the remaining 
 particle of futurity, are naturally constituted unto 
 thoughts of the next world, and cannot excusably 
 decline the consideration of that duration, which 
 maketh Pyramids pillars of snow, and all that's past a 
 moment. 
 
 Circles and right lines limit and close all bodies, 
 and the mortall right-lined circle 1 must conclude and 
 shut up all. There is no antidote against the Opium 
 of time, which temporally considereth all things ; Our 
 Fathers finde their graves in our short memories, and 
 sadly tell us how we may be buried in our Survivors. 
 Grave-stones tell truth scarce fourty years. 2 Genera- 
 tions passe while some trees stand, and old families 
 last not three oaks. To be read by bare Inscriptions 
 like many in Gntterf to hope for Eternity by ^Enigma- 
 ticall Epithetes or first letters of our names, to be 
 studied by Antiquaries, who we were, and have new 
 Names given us like many of the Mummies, 4 are cold 
 consolations unto the Students of perpetuity, even by 
 everlasting Languages. 
 
 To be content that times to come should only know 
 there was such a man, not caring whether they knew 
 more of him, was a frigid ambition in Cardan : 5 dis- 
 paraging his horoscopal inclination and judgement of 
 himself, who cares to subsist like Hippocrates Patients, 
 or Achilles horses in Homer, under naked nominations, 
 without deserts and noble acts, which are the balsame 
 of our memories, the Entelechia and soul of our subsist- 
 
 1 The character of death. 
 
 2 Old ones being taken up, and other bodies laid under them. 
 
 * Gruteri Inscriptions Antiques. 
 
 * Which men show in several countries, giving them what 
 names they please ; and unto some the names of the old 
 Egyptian kings, out of Herodotus. 
 
 5 Cvperem notvm esse quod sim, non opto ut sciatur qualis sim. 
 Card, in vita propria.
 
 Urn Burial 135 
 
 ences. To be namelesse in worthy deeds exceeds an 
 infamous history. The Canaanitish woman lives more 
 happily without a name, than Herodias with one. And 
 who had not rather have been the good theef, then 
 Pilate ? 
 
 But the iniquity of oblivion blindely scattereth her 
 poppy, and deals with the memory of men without 
 distinction to merit of perpetuity. Who can but pity 
 the founder of the Pyramids ? Herostratus lives that 
 burnt the Temple of Diana, he is almost lost that built 
 it ; Time hath spared the Epitaph of Adrians horse, 
 confounded that of himself. In vain we compute our 
 felicities by the advantage of our good names, since 
 bad have equall durations ; and Thersites is like to live 
 as long as Agamemnon, Who knows whether the best of 
 men be known ? or whether there be not more remark- 
 able persons forgot, then any that stand remembred 
 in the known account of time ? Without the favour 
 of the everlasting register, the first man had been as 
 unknown as the last, and Methuselahs long life had 
 been his only Chronicle. 
 
 Oblivion is not to be hired : The greater part must 
 be content to be as though they had not been, to be 
 found in the Register of God, not in the record of man. 
 Twenty-seven Names make up the first story before 
 the flood, and the recorded names ever since contain 
 not one living Century. The number of the dead long 
 exceedeth all that shall live. The night of time far 
 surpasseth the day, and who knows when was the 
 ^Equinox ? Every hour adds unto that current 
 Arithmetique which scarce stands one moment. And 
 since death must be the Lucina of life, and even 
 Pagans 1 could doubt, whether thus to live, were to 
 dye. Since our longest sunne sets at right descen- 
 sions, and makes but winter arches, and therefore it 
 cannot be long before we lie down in darknesse, and 
 have our light in ashes. 2 Since the brother of death 
 
 1 Euripides. 
 
 2 According to the custom of the Jews, who place a lighted 
 wax-candle in a pot of ashes by the corpse. Leo.
 
 136 Hydriotaphia 
 
 daily haunts us with dying memento's, and time that 
 grows old in it self, bids us hope no long duration : 
 Diuturnity is a dream and folly of expectation. 
 
 Darknesse and light divide the course of time, and 
 oblivion shares with memory, a great part even of our 
 living beings ; we slightly remember our felicities, and 
 the smartest stroaks of affliction leave but short smart 
 upon us. Sense endureth no extremities, and sorrows 
 destroy us or themselves. To weep into stones are 
 fables. Afflictions induce callosities, miseries are 
 slippery, or fall like snow upon us, which notwith- 
 standing is no unhappy stupidity. To be ignorant of 
 evils to come, and forgetfull of evils past, is a mercifull 
 provision in nature, whereby we digest the mixture of 
 our few and evil dayes, and our delivered senses not 
 relapsing into cutting remembrances, our sorrows are 
 not kept raw by the edge of repetitions. A great part 
 of Antiquity contented their hopes of subsistency with 
 a transmigration of their souls. A good way to con- 
 tinue their memories, while having the advantage of 
 plurall successions, they could not but act something 
 remarkable in such variety of beings, and enjoying 
 the fame of their passed selves, make accumulation of 
 glory unto their last durations. Others, rather then 
 be lost in the uncomfortable night of nothing, were 
 content to recede into the common being, and make 
 one particle of the public soul of all things, which was 
 no more then to return into their unknown and divine 
 Originall again. ^Egyptian ingenuity was more un- 
 satisfied, contriving their bodies in sweet consistencies, 
 to attend the return of their souls. But all was 
 vanity, 1 feeding the winde, and folly. The ^Egyptian 
 Mummies, which Cambyses or time hath spared, 
 avarice now consumeth. Mummie is become Mer- 
 chandise, Mizraim cures wounds, and Pharaoh is sold 
 for balsoms. 
 
 In vain do individuals hope for Immortality, or any 
 
 1 Omnia vanitas et pastio venti, vo/j.ri avtjjiov ical /36<TK?7<nj, ut olim 
 Aquila et Symmachus. v. Drus. Eccles.
 
 Urn Burial 137 
 
 patent from oblivion, in preservations below the Moon : 
 Men have been deceived even in their flatteries above 
 the Sun, and studied conceits to perpetuate their names 
 in heaven. The various Cosmography of that part 
 hath already varied the names of contrived constella- 
 tions ; Nimrod is lost in Orion, and Osyris in the Dogge- 
 starre. While we look for incorruption in the heavens, 
 we finde they are but like the Earth ; Durable in 
 their main bodies, alterable in their parts : whereof 
 beside Comets and new Stars, perspectives begin to 
 tell tales. And the spots that wander about the 
 Sun, with Phaetons favour, would make clear convic- 
 tion. 
 
 There is nothing strictly immortall, but immor- 
 tality ; whatever hath no beginning, may be confident 
 of no end which is the peculiar of that necessary 
 essence that cannot destroy itself; And the highest 
 strain of omnipotency, to be so powerfully constituted 
 as not to suffer even from the power of itself : All 
 others have a dependent being, and within the reach 
 of destruction, But the sufficiency of Christian 
 Immortality frustrates all earthly glory, and the 
 quality of either state after death, makes a folly of 
 posthumous memory. God who can only destroy our 
 souls, and hath assured our resurrection, either of our 
 bodies or names hath directly promised no duration. 
 Wherein there is so much of chance, that the boldest 
 Expectants have found unhappy frustration ; and to 
 hold long subsistence, seems but a scape in oblivion. 
 But man is a Noble Animal, splendid in ashes, and 
 pompous in the grave, solemnizing Nativities and 
 Deaths with equal lustre, nor omitting Ceremonies of 
 bravery in the infamy of his nature. 
 
 Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible 
 Sun within us. A small fire sufficeth for life, great 
 flames seemed too little after death, while men vainly 
 affected precious pyres, and to burn like Sardanapalus, 
 but the wisedom of funerall Laws found the folly of 
 prodigall blazes, and reduced undoing fires unto the 
 rule of sober obsequies, wherein few could be so mean
 
 138 Hydriotaphia 
 
 as not to provide wood, pitch, a mourner, and an 
 Urne. 1 
 
 Five Languages secured not the Epitaph of Gor- 
 diamis. 2 The man of God lives longer without a 
 Tomb then any by one, invisibly interred by Angels, 
 and adjudged to obscurity, though not without some 
 marks directing humane discovery. Enoch and Elias, 
 without either tomb or buriall, in an anomalous state 
 of being, are the great Examples of perpetuity, in their 
 long and living memory, in strict account being still 
 on this side death, and having a late part yet to act 
 upon this stage of earth. If in the decretory term of 
 the world we shall not all dye but be changed, accord- 
 ing to received translation ; the last day will make but 
 few graves ; at least quick Resurrections will antici- 
 pate lasting Sepultures ; Some Graves will be opened 
 before they be quite closed, and Lazarus be no wonder. 
 When many that feared to dye, shall groane that they 
 can dye but once, the dismal! state is the second and 
 living death, when life puts despair on the damned ; 
 when men shall wish the coverings of Mountaines, 
 not of Monuments, and annihilations shall be courted 
 
 While some have studied Monuments, others have 
 studiously declined them : and some have been so 
 vainly boisterous, that they durst not acknowledge 
 their Graves ; wherein A laricus 3 seems most subtle, 
 who had a River turned to hide his bones at the 
 bottome. Even Sylla, that thought himself safe in 
 his Urne, could not prevent revenging tongues, and 
 stones thrown at his Monument. Happy are they 
 whom privacy makes innocent, who deal so with men 
 
 1 According to the epitaph of Rufus and Beronica, in Gruterus. 
 
 nee ex 
 
 Eorum bonis plus inventum est, quam 
 Quod sufficeret ad emendam pyram 
 Et picem quibus corpora cremarentur, 
 Et praefica conducta, et olla empta. 
 
 2 In Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Egyptian, Arabic ; defaced by 
 Licinius the emperor. 
 
 3 Jornandes de rebus Get ids.
 
 Urn Burial 139 
 
 in this world, that they are not afraid to meet them in 
 the next, who when they dye, make no commotion 
 among the dead, and are not touched with that poetical 
 taunt of Isaiah}- 
 
 Pyramids, Arches, Obelisks, were but the irregularities 
 of vain-glory, and wilde enormities of ancient mag- 
 nanimity. But the most magnanimous resolution 
 rests in the Christian Religion, which trampleth upon 
 pride, and sits on the neck of ambition, humbly pursu- 
 ing that infallible perpetuity, unto which all others 
 must diminish their diameters, and be poorly seen in 
 Angles of contingency. 2 
 
 Pious spirits who passed their dayes in raptures of 
 futurity, made little more of this world, then the 
 world that was before it, while they lay obscure in the 
 Chaos of pre-ordination, and night of their fore-beings. 
 And if any have been so happy as truly to understand 
 Christian annihilation, extasis, exolution, liquefaction, 
 transformation, the kisse of the Spouse, gustation of 
 God, and ingression into the divine shadow, they have 
 already had an handsome anticipation of heaven ; the 
 glory of the world is surely over, and the earth in 
 ashes unto them. 
 
 To subsist in lasting Monuments, to live in their 
 productions, to exist in their names and praedicament 
 of chymera's, was large satisfaction unto old expecta- 
 tions, and made one part of their Elyziums. But all 
 this is nothing in the Metaphysicks of true belief. To 
 live indeed is to be again ourselves, which being not 
 only an hope but an evidence in noble beleevers ; 'Tis 
 all one to lye in St. Innocents* churchyard, as in the 
 Sands of &gypt : Ready to be anything, in the ecstasie 
 of being ever, and as content with six foot as the Mole 
 of Adrianus.* 
 
 Tabesne cadavera solvat 
 
 An rogiis hand refert. LUCAN 
 
 1 Isa. xiv. 2 Angulus contingently, the least of Angles. 
 
 3 In Paris, where bodies soon consume. 
 
 * A stately Mausoleum or sepulchral pyle, built by Adrianus in 
 Rome, where now standeth the Castle of St. Angela.
 
 CONCERNING SOME URNES 
 
 FOUND IN BRAMPTON-FIELD, IN 
 
 NORFOLK, ANNO: 1667
 
 BRAMPTON URNS 
 
 I THOUGHT I had taken leave of urnes, when I had 
 some Years past given a short Account of those found 
 at Walsingham, 1 but a New Discovery being made, I 
 readily obey your Commands in a brief Description 
 thereof. 
 
 In a large Arable Field, lying between Buxton and 
 Brampton, but belonging to Brampton, and not much 
 more than a Furlong from Oxnead Park, divers Urnes 
 were found. A Part of the Field being designed to 
 be inclosed, while the Workmen made several Ditches, 
 they fell upon divers Urnes, but earnestly, and care- 
 lessly digging, they broke all they met with, and find- 
 ing nothing but Ashes, or burnt Cinders, they scattered 
 what they found. Upon Notice given unto me, I 
 went unto the Place, and though I used all Care with 
 the Workmen, yet they were broken in the taking 
 out, but many, without doubt, are still remaining in 
 that Ground. 
 
 Of these Pots none were found above Three 
 Quarters of a Yard in the Ground, whereby it ap- 
 peareth, that in all this Time the Earth hath little 
 varied its Surface, though this Ground hath been 
 Plowed to the utmost Memory of Man. Whereby it 
 may be also conjectured, that this hath not been a 
 Wood-Land, as some conceive all this Part to have 
 been ; for in such Lands they usually made no common 
 
 1 See Hydriotaphia, Urne Burial : or, a Discourse of the Sepulchral 
 Urnes lately found in Norfolk. 8vo. Lond., printed 1658.
 
 Brampton Urns 143 
 
 Burying-places, except for some special Persons in 
 groves, 1 and likewise that there hath been an Ancient 
 Habitation about these Parts ; for at Buxton also, not 
 a Mile off, urnes have been found in my Memory, but 
 in their Magnitude, Figure, Colour, Posture, &c., 
 there was no small Variety, some were large and 
 capacious, able to contain above Two Gallons, some 
 of a middle, others of a smaller Size ; the great ones 
 probably belonging to greater Persons, or might be 
 Family Urnes, fit to receive the Ashes successively of 
 their Kindred and Relations, and therefore of these, 
 some had Coverings of the same Matter, either fitted 
 to them, or a thin flat stone, like a Grave Slate, laid 
 over them ; and therefore also great Ones were but 
 thinly found, but others in good Number ; some were 
 of large wide Mouths, and Bellies proportionable, with 
 short Necks, and bottoms of Three Inches Diameter, 
 and near an Inch thick ; some small, with Necks like 
 Juggs, and about that Bigness ; the Mouths of some 
 few were not round, but after the Figure of a Circle 
 compressed ; though some had small, yet none had 
 pointed Bottoms, according to the Figures of those 
 which are to be seen in Roma Soterranea, Viginerus, 
 or Mascardus. 
 
 In the Colours also there was great Variety, some 
 were Whitish, some Blackish, and inclining to a Blue, 
 others Yellowish, or dark Red, arguing the Variety of 
 their Materials. Some Fragments, and especially 
 Bottoms of Vessels, which seem'd to be handsome 
 neat Pans, were also found of a fine Coral-like red, 
 somewhat like Portugal Vessels, as tho' they had been 
 made out of some fine Bolary Earth, and very smooth ; 
 but the like had been found in divers Places, as 
 Dr. Casaubon hath observed about the Pots found at 
 Newington in Kent, and as other Pieces do yet testifie, 
 which are to be found at Burrow Castle, an Old Roman 
 station, not far from Yarmouth. 
 
 Of the Urnes, those of the larger Sort, such as had 
 Coverings, were found with their Mouths placed 
 1 Original Graves.
 
 144 Brampton Urns 
 
 upwards, but great Numbers of the others were, as 
 they informed me, (and One I saw myself,) placed 
 with their Mouths downward, which were probably 
 such as were not to be opened again, or receive the 
 Ashes of any other Person ; though some wonder'd at 
 this Position, yet I saw no Inconveniency in it ; for 
 the Earth being closely pressed, and especially in 
 Minor-mouth'd pots, they stand in a Posture as like 
 to continue as the other, as being less subject to have 
 the Earth fall in, or the Rain to soak into them ; and 
 the same Posture has been observed in some found in 
 other places, as Holingshead delivers, of divers found 
 in Anglesea. 
 
 Some had Inscriptions, the greatest Part none ; 
 those with Inscriptions were of the largest Sort, which 
 were upon the reverted Verges thereof ; the greatest 
 part of those which I could obtain were somewhat 
 obliterated ; yet some of the Letters to be made out : 
 the Letters were between Lines, either Single or 
 Double, and the Letters of some few after a fair 
 Roman Stroke, others more rudely and illegibly 
 drawn, wherein there seemed no great Variety, 
 NUON being upon very many of them; only upon 
 the inside of the bottom of a small Red Pan-like 
 Vessel, were legibly set down in embossed Letters, 
 CRACUNA. F. which might imply Cracuna figuli, or 
 the Name of the Manufactor, for Inscriptions com- 
 monly signified the Name of the Person interr'd, the 
 Names of Servants Official to such Provisions, or the 
 Name of the Artificer, or Manufactor of such Vessels; 
 all which are particularly exemplified by the Learned 
 Licetus, 1 where the same Inscription is often found, it 
 is probably, of the Artificer, or where the Name also 
 is in the Genitive Case, as he also observeth. 
 
 Out of one was brought unto me a Silver Denarius, 
 with the Head of Diva Faustina on the Obverse side, 
 on the Reverse the Figures of the Emperor and Em- 
 press joining their Right Hands, with this Inscription, 
 Concordia ; the same is to be seen in Augustino ; I 
 1 Vid. Licet, de Lucernis.
 
 Brampton Urns 145 
 
 also received from some Men and Women then present 
 Coins of Posthumus and Tetricus, two of the Thirty 
 Tyrants in the Reign of Gallienus, which being of 
 much later Date, begat an Inference, that Urne-Burial 
 lasted longer, at least in this Country, than is com- 
 monly supposed. Good Authors conceive, that this 
 Custom ended with the Reigns of the Antonini, 
 whereof the last was Antoninus Heliogabalus, yet 
 these Coins extend about Fourscore Years lower ; and 
 since the Head of Tetricus is made with a radiated 
 Crown, it must be conceived to have been made after 
 his Death, and not before his Consecration, which as 
 the Learned Tristan Conjectures, was most probably 
 in the Reign of the Emperor Tacitus, and the Coin 
 not made, or at least not issued Abroad, before the 
 Time of the Emperor Probus, for Tacitus Reigned 
 but Six Months and an Half, his Brother Florianus 
 but Two Months, unto whom Probus succeeding, 
 Reigned Five Years. 
 
 There were also found some pieces of Glass, and 
 finer Vessels, which might contain such Liquors as 
 they often Buried in, or by, the Urnes ; divers Pieces 
 of Brass, of several Figures; and in one Urne was 
 found a Nail Two Inches long ; whither to declare the 
 Trade or Occupation of the Person, is uncertain. But 
 upon the Monuments of Smiths, in Gruter, we meet 
 with the Figures of Hammers, Pincers, and the like ; 
 and we find the Figure of a Cobler's Awl on the 
 Tomb of one of that Trade, which was in the Custody 
 of Berini, as Argulus hath set it down in his Notes 
 upon Onuphrius, Of the Antiquities of Verona. 
 
 Now, though Urnes have been often discovered in 
 former Ages, many think it strange there should be 
 many still found, yet assuredly there may be great 
 Numbers still concealed. For tho' we should not 
 reckon upon any who were thus buried before the Time 
 ot the Romans (altho* that the Druids were thus buried, 
 it may be probable, and we read of the Urne of Chin- 
 donactes, a Druid, found near Dijon in Burgundy, 
 largely discoursed of by Licetus), and tho', I say, we 
 
 K
 
 146 Brampton Urns 
 
 take not in any Infant which was Minor igne rogi, before 
 Seven Months, or Appearance of Teeth, nor should 
 account this Practice of burning among the Britains 
 higher than Vespasian, when it is said by Tacitus, that 
 they conformed unto the Manners and Customs of the 
 Romans, and so both Nations might have one Way of 
 Burial ; yet from his Days, to the Dates of these 
 Urnes, were about Two Hundred Years. And there- 
 fore if we fall so low, as to conceive there were buried 
 in this Nation but Twenty Thousand Persons, the 
 Account of the buried Persons would amount unto 
 Four Millions, and consequently so great a Number of 
 Urnes dispersed through the Land, as may still satisfy 
 the Curiosity of succeeding Times, and arise unto all 
 Ages. 
 
 The bodies, whose Reliques these Urnes contained, 
 seemed thoroughly burned ; for beside pieces of Teeth, 
 there were found few Fragments of Bones, but rather 
 Ashes in hard Lumps, and pieces of Coals, which were 
 often so fresh, that one sufficed to make a good draught 
 of its Urne, which still remaineth with me. 
 
 Some persons digging at a little Distance from the 
 Urne Places, in hopes to find something of Value, 
 after they had digged about Three- Quarters of a Yard 
 deep, fell upon an observable Piece of Work. The 
 Work was Square, about Two Yards and a Quarter 
 on each Side. The Wall, or outward Part, a Foot 
 thick, in Colour Red, and looked like Brick; but it was 
 solid, without any Mortar or Cement, or figur'd Brick 
 in it, but of an whole Piece, so that it seemed to be 
 Framed and Burnt in the same Place where it was 
 found. In this kind of Brick-work were Thirty-two 
 Holes, of about Two Inches and an Half Diameter, 
 and Two above a Quarter of a Circle in the East and 
 West Sides. Upon Two of these Holes, on the East 
 Side, were placed Two Pots, with their Mouths down- 
 ward; putting in their Arms they found the Work 
 hollow below, and the Earth being clear' d off, much 
 Water was found below them, to the Quantity of 
 a Barrel, which was conceived to have been the
 
 Brampton Urns 147 
 
 Rain-water which soaked in through the Earth above 
 them. 
 
 The upper Part of the Work being broke, and 
 opened, they found a Floor about Two Foot below, and 
 then digging onward, Three Floors successively under 
 one another, at the Distance of a Foot and Half, the 
 Stones being of a Slatty, not Bricky, Substance ; in 
 these Partitions some Pots were found, but broke by 
 the Workmen, being necessitated to use hard Blows 
 for the breaking of the Stones ; and in the last Par- 
 tition but one, a large Pot was found of a very narrow 
 Mouth, short Ears, of the Capacity of Fourteen Pints, 
 which lay in an inclining Posture, close by, and some- 
 what under a kind of Arch in the solid Wall, and by 
 the great Care of my worthy Friend, Mr. William 
 Masham, who employed the Workmen, was taken up 
 whole, almost full of Water, clean, and without Smell, 
 and insipid, which being poured out, there still remains 
 in the Pot a great Lump of an heavy crusty sub- 
 stance. What Work this was we must as yet reserve 
 unto better Conjecture. Meanwhile we find in Gruter 
 that some Monuments of the Dead had divers Holes 
 successively to let in the Ashes of their Relations, but 
 Holes in such a great Number to that Intent, we have 
 not anywhere met with. 
 
 About Three Months after, my Noble and Honoured 
 friend, Sir Robert Paston, had the Curiosity to open 
 a Piece of Ground in his Park at Oxnead, which 
 adjoined unto the former Field, where Fragments of 
 Pots were found, and upon one the Figure of a well- 
 made Face; But probably this Ground had been 
 opened and digged before, though out of the Memory 
 of Man, for we found divers small Pieces of Pots, 
 Sheeps Bones, sometimes an Oyster-shell a Yard deep 
 in the Earth, an unusual Coin of the Emperor Volu- 
 sianus, having on the Obverse the head of the Emperor, 
 with a Radiated Crown, and this Inscription, hup. 
 Cas. C. Volusiano Aug.; that is, Imperatori Casari Caio 
 Vibio Volusiano Augusta. On the Reverse an Human 
 Figure, with the Arms somewhat extended, and at the
 
 148 Brampton Urns 
 
 Right Foot an Altar, with the Inscription Pietas, This 
 Emperor was Son unto Caius Vibius Tribonianus 
 Gallus, with whom he jointly reigned after the Decii, 
 about the Year 254 ; both he, himself, and his Father, 
 were slain by the Emperor ^Emilianus. By the 
 Radiated Crown this Piece should be Coined after his 
 Death and Consecration, but in whose Time it is not 
 clear in History.
 
 TO A FRIEND, 
 
 UPON OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF HIS INTIMATE 
 FRIEND 
 
 GIVE me leave to wonder that News of this nature 
 should have such heavy Wings, that you should hear 
 so little concerning your dearest Friend, and that I 
 must make that unwilling Repetition to tell you, 
 Ad povtam rigidos calces extendit, that he is Dead and 
 Buried, and by this time no Puny among the mighty 
 Nations of the Dead ; for tho he left this World not 
 very many days past, yet every hour you know largely 
 addeth unto that dark Society ; and considering the 
 incessant Mortality of Mankind, you cannot conceive 
 there dieth in the whole Earth so few as a thousand 
 an hour. 
 
 Altho at this distance you had no early Account or 
 Particular of his Death ; yet your Affection may cease 
 to wonder that you had not some secret Sense or 
 Intimation thereof by Dreams, thoughtful Whisperings, 
 Mercurisms, Airy Nuncios or sympathetical Insinua- 
 tions, which many seem to have had at the Death of 
 their dearest Friends : for since we find in that famous 
 Story, that Spirits themselves were fain to tell their 
 Fellows at a distance, that the great Antonio was dead, 
 we have a sufficient Excuse for our Ignorance in such 
 Particulars, and must rest content with the common 
 Road, and Appian way of Knowledge by Information. 
 Tho the uncertainty of the End of this World hath 
 confounded all Humane Predictions ; yet they who 
 shall live to see the Sun and Moon darkned, and the 
 Stars to fall from Heaven, will hardly be deceived in 
 the Advent of the last Day ; and therefore strange it 
 is, that the common Fallacy of consumptive Persons, 
 who feel not themselves dying, and therefore still hope 
 to live, should also reach their Friends in perfect Health
 
 150 Letter to a Friend 
 
 and Judgment. That you should be so little acquainted 
 with Plautus's sick Complexion, or that almost an 
 Hippocratical Face should not alarum you to higher 
 fears, or rather despair of his Continuation in such an 
 emaciated State, wherein medical Predictions fail not, 
 as sometimes in acute Diseases, and wherein 'tis as 
 dangerous to be sentenced by a Physician as a 
 Judge. 
 
 Upon my first Visit I was bold to tell them who had 
 not let fall all hopes of his Recovery, That in my sad 
 Opinion he was not like to behold a Grashopper, much 
 less to pluck another Fig ; and in no long time after 
 seemed to discover that odd mortal Symptom in him 
 not mention'd by Hippocrates, that is, to lose his own 
 Face and look like some of his near Relations ; for he 
 maintained not his proper Countenance, but looked 
 like his Uncle, the Lines of whose Face lay deep and 
 invisible in his healthful Visage before : for as from our 
 beginning we run through variety of Looks, before we 
 come to consistent and settled Faces ; so before our 
 End, by sick and languishing Alterations, we put on 
 new Visages : and in our Retreat to Earth, may fall 
 upon such Looks which from community of seminal 
 Originals were before latent in us. 
 
 He was fruitlessly put in hope of advantage by 
 change of Air, and imbibing the pure Aerial Nitre of 
 these Parts ; and therefore being so far spent, he quickly 
 found Sardinia in Tivoli, 1 and the most healthful Air 
 of little effect, where Death had set her Broad Arrow ; 2 
 for he lived not unto the middle of May, and confirmed 
 the Observation of Hippocrates 3 of that mortal time of 
 the Year when the Leaves of the Fig-tree resemble a 
 Daw's Claw. He is happily seated who lives in 
 Places whose Air, Earth, and Water, promote not the 
 Infirmities of his weaker Parts, or is early removed 
 into Regions that correct them. He that is tabidly 
 
 1 Cum mors venerit, in medio Tibure Sardinia est. 
 a In the King's forests they set the figure of a broad arrow 
 upon trees that are to be cut down. 
 * Hippoc. Epidem.
 
 Letter to a Friend 151 
 
 inclined, were unwise to pass his days in Portugal ; 
 Cholical Persons will find little Comfort in Austria or 
 Vienna : He that is Weak-legg'd must not be in Love 
 with Rome, nor an infirm Head with Venice or Paris. 
 Death hath not only particular Stars in Heaven, but 
 malevolent Places on Earth, which single out our 
 Infirmities, and strike at our weaker Parts ; in which 
 Concern, passager and migrant Birds have the great 
 Advantages ; who are naturally constituted for distant 
 Habitations, whom no Seas nor Places limit, but in 
 their appointed Seasons will visit us from Greenland 
 and Mount Atlas, and as some think, even from the 
 Antipodes. 1 
 
 Tho we could not have his Life, yet we missed 
 not our desires in his soft Departure, which was scarce 
 an Expiration ; and his End not unlike his Beginning, 
 when the salient Point scarce affords a sensible motion, 
 and his Departure so like unto Sleep, that he scarce 
 needed the civil Ceremony of closing his Eyes ; con- 
 trary unto the common way wherein Death draws up, 
 Sleep lets fall the Eye-lids. With what strife and 
 pains we came into the World we know not ; but 'tis 
 commonly no easie matter to get out of it : yet if it 
 could be made out, that such who have easie Nativities 
 have commonly hard Deaths, and contrarily ; his 
 Departure was so easie, that we might justly suspect 
 his Birth was of another nature, and that some Juno 
 sat cross-legg'd at his Nativity. 
 
 Besides his soft Death, the incurable state of his 
 Disease might somewhat extenuate your Sorrow, who 
 know that Monsters but seldom happen, Miracles 
 more rarely, in physick, 2 Angelus Victorious gives a 
 serious Account of a Consumptive, Hectical, Pthysical 
 Woman, who was suddenly cured by the Intercession 
 of Ignatius. 3 We read not of any in Scripture who in 
 this case applied unto our Saviour, though some may be 
 
 1 Bellonius de A vibus. 
 
 2 Monstra contingunt in medicina. Hippoc. " Strange and 
 rare escapes there happen sometimes in physick." 
 
 8 Angeli Victorii Consultations.
 
 152 Letter to a Friend 
 
 contained in that large Expression, That he went about 
 Galilee healing all manner of Sickness, and all manner 
 of Diseases. 1 Amulets, Spells, Sigils, and Incanta- 
 tions, practised in other Diseases, are seldom pre- 
 tended in this ; and we find no Sigil in the Archidoxis 
 of Paracelsus to cure an extreme Consumption or 
 marasmus, which, if other Diseases fail, will put a 
 period unto long Livers, and at last make dust of 
 all. And therefore the Stoicks could not but think 
 that the firy Principle would wear out all the rest, and 
 at last make an end of the World, which notwithstand- 
 ing without such a lingring period the Creator may 
 effect at his Pleasure : and to make an end of all 
 things on Earth, and our Planetical System of the 
 World, he need but put out the Sun. 
 
 I was not so curious to entitle the Stars unto any 
 concern of his Death, yet could not but take notice 
 that he died when the Moon was in motion from the 
 Meridian ; at which time, an old Italian long ago would 
 persuade me, that the greatest part of Men died ; but 
 herein I confess I could never satisfy my Curiosity; 
 although from the time of Tides in Places upon or 
 near the Sea, there may be considerable Deductions ; 
 and Pliny 2 hath an odd and remarkable Passage con- 
 cerning the Death of Men and Animals upon the 
 Recess or Ebb of the Sea. However, certain it is he 
 died in the dead and deep part of the Night, when 
 Nox might be most apprehensibly said to be the 
 Daughter of Chaos, the Mother of Sleep and Death, 
 according to old Genealogy ; and so went out of this 
 World about that hour when our blessed Saviour 
 entered it, and about what time many conceive he will 
 return again unto it. Cardan hath a peculiar and no 
 hard Observation from a Man's Hand, to know whether 
 he was born in the day or night, which I confess hold- 
 eth in my own. And Scaliger to that purpose hath 
 
 1 Matt. iv. 25. 
 
 2 Aristoteles nullum animal nisi aestu recedente expirare 
 affirmat ; observatum id multum in Galiico Oceano et duntaxat 
 in homine compertum, lib. 2, cap. 101.
 
 Letter to a Friend 153 
 
 another from the tip of the Ear : l most men are be- 
 gotten in the night, most animals in the day ; but 
 whether more Persons have been born in the Night or 
 the Day, were a Curiosity undecidable, tho more have 
 perished by violent Deaths in the Day ; yet in natural 
 Dissolutions both Times may hold an Indifferency, at 
 least but contingent Inequality. The whole course of 
 Time runs out in the Nativity and Death of Things ; 
 which whether they happen by Succession or Coin- 
 cidence, are best computed by the natural, not artificial 
 Day. 
 
 That Charles the Fifth was Crowned upon the Day 
 of his Nativity, it being in his own power so to order 
 it, makes no singular Animadversion ; but that he 
 should also take King Francis Prisoner upon that day, 
 was an unexpected Coincidence, which made the same 
 remarkable. Antipater who had an Anniversary Feast 
 every Year upon his Birth-day, needed no Astrological 
 Revolution to know what day he should dye on. 
 When the fixed stars have made a Revolution unto 
 the points from whence they first set out, some of the 
 Ancients thought the World would have an end ; 
 which was a kind of dying upon the day of its Nativity. 
 Now the disease prevailing and swiftly advancing 
 about the time of his Nativity, some were of Opinion, 
 that he would leave the World on the day he entred 
 into it ; but this being a lingring Disease, and creep- 
 ing softly on, nothing critical was found or expected, 
 and he died not before fifteen days after. Nothing is 
 more common with Infants than to dye on the day of 
 their Nativity, to behold the worldly Hours and but 
 the Fractions thereof ; and even to perish before their 
 Nativity in the hidden World of the Womb, and before 
 their good Angel is conceived to undertake them. But 
 in Persons who out-live many Years, and when there 
 are no less than three hundred and sixty-five days to 
 determine their Lives in every Year ; that the first day 
 
 1 Auris pars pendula lobus dicitur, non omnibus ea pars est 
 auribus ; non enim iis qui noctu nati sunt, sed qui interdiu, 
 maxima ex parte. Com. in Aristot. de Animal, lib. i.
 
 154 Letter to a Friend 
 
 should make the last, that the Tail of the Snake should 
 return into its Mouth precisely at that time, and they 
 should wind up upon the day of their Nativity, 1 is 
 indeed a remarkable Coincidence, which tho Astrology 
 had taken witty pains to salve, yet hath it been very 
 wary in making Predictions of it. 
 
 In this consumptive Condition and remarkable 
 Extenuation he came to be almost half himself, and 
 left a great part behind him which he carried not to 
 the Grave. And tho that story of Duke John Ernestus 
 Mansfield 2 be not so easily swallowed, that at his 
 Death his Heart was found not to be so big as a Nut ; 
 yet if the Bones of a good Sceleton weigh little more 
 than twenty pounds, his Inwards and Flesh remaining 
 could make no Bouffage, but a light bit for the Grave. 
 I never more lively beheld the starved Characters of 
 Dante 3 in any living Face; an Aruspex might have 
 read a Lecture upon him without Exenteration, his 
 Flesh being so consumed that he might, in a manner, 
 have discerned his Bowels without opening of him : so 
 that to be carried sexta cervicc to the Grave, was but a 
 civil unnecessity ; and the Complements of the Coffin 
 might outweigh the Subject of it. 
 
 Omnibonus Ferrarius* in mortal Dysenteries of 
 Children looks for a Spot behind the Ear ; in con- 
 sumptive Diseases some eye the Complexion of Moals ; 
 Cardan eagerly views the Nails, some the Lines of the 
 Hand, the Thenar or Muscle of the Thumb ; some 
 are so curious as to observe the depth of the Throat- 
 pit, how the proportion varieth of the Small of the 
 Legs unto the Calf, or the compass of the Neck unto 
 the Circumference of the Head : but all these, with 
 many more, were so drowned in a mortal Visage and 
 last Face of Hippocrates, that a weak Physiognomist 
 might say at first eye, This was a Face of Earth, and 
 that Morta 5 had set her Hard- Seal upon his Temples, 
 
 1 According to the Egyptian hieroglyphic. 
 
 2 Turkish history. 
 
 3 In the poet Dante's description. 
 
 4 De Morbis Puerorum. 
 
 6 Morta, the deity of death or fate.
 
 Letter to a Friend 155 
 
 easily perceiving what caricatura 1 Draughts Death 
 makes upon pined Faces, and unto what an unknown 
 degree a Man may live backward. 
 
 Tho the beard be only made a distinction of Sex 
 and sign of masculine Heat by Ulmus, 2 yet the Pre- 
 cocity and early growth thereof in him, was not to be 
 liked in reference unto long life. Lewis, that virtuous 
 but unfortunate king of Hungary, who lost his Life at 
 the Battle of Mohacz, was said to be born without a 
 Skin, to have bearded at Fifteen, and to have shewn 
 some gray Hairs about Twenty ; from whence the 
 Diviners conjectured that he would be spoiled of his 
 Kingdom, and have but a short Life : but hairs make 
 fallible Predictions, and many Temples early gray 
 have out-lived the Psalmist's Period. 3 Hairs which 
 have most amused me have not been in the Face or 
 Head but on the Back, and not in Men but Children, as 
 I long ago observed in that Endemial Distemper of little 
 children in Languedock, called the Morgellons,* wherein 
 they critically break out with harsh Hairs on their 
 Backs, which takes off the unquiet Symptoms of the 
 Disease, and delivers them from Coughs and Convul- 
 sions. 
 
 The Egyptian Mummies that I have seen, have had 
 their Mouths open, and somewhat gaping, which 
 affordeth a good opportunity to view and observe their 
 Teeth, wherein 'tis not easie to find any wanting or 
 decayed : and therefore in Egypt, where one Man 
 practised but one Operation, or the Diseases but of 
 single Parts, it must needs be a barren Profession to 
 confine unto that of drawing of Teeth, and little better 
 than to have been Tooth-drawer unto King Pyrrhus, 5 
 who had but two in his Head. How the Bannyans 
 of India maintain the Integrity of those parts, I find 
 not particularly observed ; who notwithstanding have 
 
 1 When men's faces are drawn with resemblance to some 
 other animals, the Italians call it, to be drawn in caricatura. 
 
 2 Ulmus de usu barba hitmana. 
 
 3 The life of a man is three-score and ten. 
 
 4 See Picotus de Rheumatismo. 
 
 * His upper and lower jaw being solid, and without distinct 
 rows of teeth.
 
 156 
 
 Letter to a Friend 
 
 an Advantage of their Preservation by abstaining from 
 all Flesh, and employing their Teeth in such Food 
 unto which they may seem at first framed, from their 
 Figure and Conformation : but sharp and corroding 
 Rheums had so early mouldred those Rocks and 
 hardest part of his Fabrick, that a Man might well 
 conceive that his Years were never like to double or 
 twice tell over his Teeth. 1 Corruption had dealt more 
 severely with them, than sepulchral Fires and smart 
 Flames with those of burnt Bodies of old ; for in the 
 burnt Fragments of Urns which I have enquired into, 
 although I seem to find few Incisors or Shearers, yet 
 the Dog Teeth and Grinders do notably resist those 
 Fires. 2 
 
 1 Twice tell over his teeth, never live to threescore years. 
 * In the MS. Sloan. 1862, occurs the following paragraph : 
 " Affection had so blinded some of his nearest relations, as to 
 retain some hope of a postliminious life, and that he might come 
 to life again, and therefore would not have him coffined before 
 the third day. Some such verbiasses [so in M.S.], I confess, we 
 find in story, and one or two I remember myself, but they lived 
 not long after. Some contingent reanimations are to be hoped 
 in diseases wherein the lamp of life is but puffed out and seem- 
 ingly choaked, and not where the oil is quite spent and exhausted. 
 Though Nonnus will have it a fever, yet of what diseases Lazarus 
 first died, is uncertain from the text, as his second death from 
 good authentic history ; but since some persons conceived to be 
 dead do sometimes return again unto evidence of life, that 
 miracle was wisely managed by our Saviour ; for had he not 
 been dead four days and under corruption, there had not wanted 
 enough who would have cavilled [at] the same, which the scrip- 
 ture now puts out of doubt : and tradition also confirmeth, that 
 he lived thirty years after, and being pursued by the Jews, came 
 by sea into Provence, by Marseilles, with Mary Magdalen, 
 Maximinus, and others ; where remarkable places carry their 
 names unto this day. But to arise from the grave to return 
 again into it, is but an uncomfortable reviction. Few men 
 would be content to cradle it once again ; except a man can 
 lead his second life better than the first, a man may be doubly 
 condemned for living evilly twice, which were but to make the 
 second death in scripture the third, and to accumulate in the 
 punishment of two bad livers at the last day. To have per- 
 formed the duty of corruption in the grave, to live again as far 
 from sin as death, and arise like our Saviour for ever, are the 
 only satisfactions of well-weighed expectations. ' '
 
 Letter to a Friend 157 
 
 In the Years of his Childhood he had languished 
 under the Disease of his Country, the Rickets ; after 
 which notwithstanding many have become strong and 
 active Men ; but whether any have attained unto very 
 great Years the Disease is scarce so old as to afford 
 good Observation. Whether the Children of the 
 English Plantations be subject unto the same In- 
 firmity, may be worth the observing. Whether 
 Lameness and Halting do still increase among the 
 Inhabitants of Rovigno in Istria, I know not ; yet 
 scarce twenty Years ago Monsieur du Loyr observed, 
 that a third part of that People halted : but too certain 
 it is, that the Rickets encreaseth among us; the 
 Small-pox grows more pernicious than the Great : 
 the King's Purse knows that the King's Evil grows 
 more common. Quartan Agues are become no 
 Strangers in Ireland ; more common and mortal in 
 England : and though the Ancients gave that Disease 1 
 very good Words, yet now that Bell makes no strange 
 sound which rings out for the Effects thereof. 2 
 
 Some think there were few Consumptions in the 
 Old World, when Men lived much upon Milk ; and 
 that the ancient Inhabitants of this Island were less 
 troubled with Coughs when they went naked, and 
 slept in Caves and Woods, than Men now in Chambers 
 and Feather-beds. Plato will tell us, that there was 
 no such Disease as a catarrh in Homer's time, and 
 that it was but new in Greece in his Age. Polydore 
 Virgil delivereth that Pleurisies were rare in England, 
 who lived but in the days of Henry the Eighth. Some 
 will allow no Diseases to be new, others think that 
 many old ones are ceased ; and that such which are 
 esteemed new, will have but their time : However, 
 the Mercy of God hath scattered the great heap of 
 Diseases, and not loaded any one Country with all : 
 some may be new in one Country which have been 
 old in another. New discoveries of the Earth discover 
 new Diseases : for besides the common swarm, there 
 
 1 'A(r<f>a\{(rTa.Tos xal pi}i<rroj, securissima et facillima. Hippocrat. 
 1 Pro febre quartana raro sonat campana.
 
 158 
 
 Letter to a Friend 
 
 are endemial and local Infirmities proper unto certain 
 Regions, which in the who)e Earth make no small 
 number : and if Asia, Africa, and America should 
 bring in their List, Pandora's Box would swell, and 
 there must be a strange Pathology. 
 
 Most Men expected to find a consumed kell, empty 
 and bladder-like Guts, livid and marbled Lungs, and 
 a withered Pericardium in this exuccous Corps : but 
 some seemed too much to wonder that two Lobes of 
 his Lungs adhered unto his side ; for the like I have 
 often found in Bodies of no suspected Consumptions 
 or difficulty of Respiration. And the same more often 
 happeneth in Men than other Animals: and some 
 think, in Women than in Men : but the most remark- 
 able I have met with, was in a Man, after a Cough of 
 almost fifty Years, in whom all the Lobes adhered 
 unto the Pleura, 1 and each Lobe unto another ; who 
 having also been much troubled with the Gout, brake 
 the Rule of Cardan, 2 and died of the Stone in the 
 Bladder. Aristotle makes a query, Why some 
 animals cough as Man, some not, as Oxen. If cough- 
 ing be taken as it consisteth of a natural and voluntary 
 motion, including expectoration and spitting out, it 
 may be as proper unto Man as bleeding at the Nose ; 
 otherwise we find that Vegetius and Rural Writers 
 have not left so many Medicines in vain against the 
 Coughs of Cattel ; and men who perish by Coughs 
 dye the Death of Sheep, Cats, and Lyons: and though 
 Birds have no Midriff, yet we meet with divers 
 Remedies in Arrianus against the Coughs of Hawks. 
 And tho it might be thought, that all Animals who 
 have Lungs do cough ; yet in cetaceous Fishes, 
 who have large and strong Lungs, the same is not 
 observed ; nor yet in oviparous Quadrupeds : and in 
 the greatest thereof, the Crocodile, although we read 
 much of their Tears, we find nothing of that motion. 
 
 1 So A. F. 
 
 3 Cardan in his Encomium Podagra reckoneth this among the 
 Dona Podagra, that they are delivered thereby from the phthisis 
 and stone in the bladder.
 
 Letter to a Friend 159 
 
 From the Thoughts of Sleep, when the Soul was 
 conceived nearest unto Divinity, the Ancients erected 
 an Art of Divination, wherein while they too widely 
 expatiated in loose and inconsequent Conjectures, 
 Hippocrates 1 wisely considered Dreams as they pre- 
 saged Alterations in the Body, and so afforded hints 
 toward the preservation of Health, and prevention of 
 Diseases ; and therein was so serious as to advise 
 Alteration of Diet, Exercise, Sweating, Bathing, and 
 Vomiting ; and also so religious, as to order Prayers 
 and Supplications unto respective Deities, in good 
 dreams unto Sol, Jupiter ccelestis, Jupiter opulentus, 
 Minerva, Mercurius, and Apollo ; in bad unto Tellus 
 and the Heroes. 
 
 And therefore I could not but take notice how his 
 Female Friends were irrationally curious so strictly to 
 examine his Dreams, and in this low state to hope for 
 the Fantasms of Health. He was now past the 
 healthful Dreams, of the Sun, Moon, and Stars in 
 their Clarity and proper Courses. 'Twas too late to 
 dream of Flying, of Limpid Fountains, smooth Waters, 
 white Vestments, and fruitful green Trees, which are 
 the Visions of healthful Sleeps, and at good distance 
 from the Grave. 
 
 And they were also too deeply dejected that he 
 should dream of his dead Friends, inconsequently 
 divining, that he would not be long from them ; for 
 strange it was not that he should sometimes dream of 
 the dead whose Thoughts run always upon Death ; 
 beside, to dream of the dead, so they appear not in 
 dark Habits, and take nothing away from us, in Hippo- 
 crates his Sense was of good signification : for we live 
 by the dead, and every thing is or must be so before it 
 becomes our Nourishment. And Cardan, who dream'd 
 that he discoursed with his dead Father in the Moon, 
 made thereof no mortal Interpretation : and even to 
 dream that we are dead, was no condemnable Fantasm 
 in old oneirocriticism, as having a signification of 
 Liberty, vacuity from Cares, exemption and freedom 
 from Troubles, unknown unto the dead. 
 1 Hippoc. de Insomniis.
 
 160 Letter to a Friend 
 
 Some Dreams I confess may admit of easie and 
 feminine Exposition : he who dreamed that he could 
 not see his right Shoulder, might easily fear to lose 
 the sight of his right Eye ; he that before a Journey 
 dreamed that his Feet were cut off, had a plain warn- 
 ing not to undertake his intended Journey. But why 
 to dream of Lettuce should presage some ensuing 
 disease, why to eat figs should signify foolish Talk, 
 why to eat Eggs great Trouble, and to dream of Blind- 
 ness should be so highly commended, according to the 
 oneirocritical Verses of Astrampsychus and Nice- 
 phorus, I shall leave unto your Divination. 
 
 He was willing to quit the World alone and alto- 
 gether, leaving no Earnest behind him for Corruption 
 or Aftergrave, having small content in that common 
 satisfaction to survive or live in another, but amply 
 satisfied that his Disease should dye with himself, nor 
 revive in a Posterity to puzzle Physick, and make sad 
 mementos of their Parent hereditary. Leprosy awakes 
 not sometimes before Forty, the Gout and Stone often 
 later ; but consumptive and tabid 1 Roots sprout more 
 early, and at the fairest make seventeen Years of our 
 Life doubtful before that Age. They that enter the 
 World with original Diseases as well as Sin, have not 
 only common Mortality but sick Traductions to 
 destroy them, make commonly short Courses, and live 
 not at length but in Figures ; so that a sound Caesarean 
 Nativity 2 may out-last a natural Birth, and a Knife 
 may sometimes make way for a more lasting fruit 
 than a Midwife ; which makes so few Infants now 
 able to endure the old Test of the River, 3 and many 
 to have feeble Children who could scarce have been 
 married at Sparta, and those provident States who 
 studied strong and healthful Generations ; which 
 happen but contingently in mere pecuniary Matches, 
 
 1 Tabes maxime contingunt ab anno decimo octavo ad trigesi- 
 mum quintum. Hippoc. 
 
 2 A sound child cut out of the body of the mother 
 
 * Natos ad flumina primum deferimus saevoque gelu duramus 
 et undis.
 
 Letter to a Friend 161 
 
 or Marriages made by the Candle, wherein notwith- 
 standing there is little redress to be hoped from an 
 Astrologer or a Lawyer, and a good discerning physi- 
 cian were like to prove the most successful Counsellor. 
 
 Julius Scaliger, who in a sleepless Fit of the Gout 
 could make two hundred Verses in a Night, would 
 have but five plain Words upon his Tomb. 1 And this 
 serious Person, though no minor Wit, left the Poetry 
 of his Epitaph unto others ; either unwilling to com- 
 mend himself, or to be judged by a Distich, and 
 perhaps considering how unhappy great Poets have 
 been in versifying their own Epitaphs; wherein 
 Petrarca, Dante, and Ariosto, have so unhappily 
 failed, that if their Tombs should out-last their Works, 
 Posterity would find so little of Apollo on them, as to 
 mistake them for Ciceronian Poets. 
 
 In this deliberate and creeping progress unto the 
 Grave, he was somewhat too young, and of too noble 
 a mind, to fall upon that stupid Symptom observable 
 in divers Persons near their Journey's end, and which 
 may be reckoned among the mortal Symptoms of their 
 last Disease ; that is, to become more narrow-minded, 
 miserable and tenacious, unready to part with anything 
 when they are ready to part with all, and afraid to 
 want when they have no time to spend ; meanwhile 
 Physicians, who know that many are mad but in a 
 single depraved Imagination, and one prevalent De- 
 cipiency ; and that beside and out of such single 
 Deliriums a Man may meet with sober Actions and 
 good Sense in Bedlam ; cannot but smile to see the 
 Heirs and concerned Relations, gratulating themselves 
 on the sober departure of their Friends ; and though 
 they behold such mad covetous Passages, content to 
 think they dye in good Understanding, and in their 
 sober Senses. 
 
 Avarice, which is not only Infidelity but Idolatry, 
 either from covetous Progeny or questuary Education, 
 had no root in his Breast, who made good Works the 
 
 1 Julii Cassaris Scaligeri quod fuit. Joseph. Scaliger in vita 
 patris. 
 
 L
 
 1 62 Letter to a Friend 
 
 Expression of his Faith, and was big with desires 
 unto public and lasting Charities ; and surely where 
 good Wishes and charitable Intentions exceed Abilities, 
 Theorical Beneficency may be more than a Dream. 
 They build not Castles in the Air who would build 
 Churches on Earth : and tho they leave no such 
 Structures here, may lay good Foundations in Heaven. 
 In brief, his Life and Death were such, that I could 
 not blame them who wished the like, and almost to 
 have been himself ; almost, I say ; for tho we may 
 wish the prosperous Appurtenances of others, or to be 
 another in his happy Accidents, yet so intrinsical is 
 every Man unto himself, that some doubt may be 
 made, whether any would exchange his Being, or 
 substantially become another Man. 
 
 He had wisely seen the World at home and abroad, 
 and thereby observed under what variety Men are 
 deluded in the pursuit of that which is not here to be 
 found. And altho he had no Opinion of reputed 
 Felicities below, and apprehended Men widely out in 
 the estimate of such Happiness, yet his sober contempt 
 of the World wrought no Democratism or Cynicism, 
 no laughing or snarling at it, as well understanding 
 there are not Felicities in this World to satisfy a 
 serious Mind ; and therefore to soften the stream of 
 our Lives, we are fain to take in the reputed Conten- 
 tations of this World, to unite with the Crowd in their 
 Beatitudes, and to make ourselves happy by Consor- 
 tion, Opinion, or Co-existimation : for strictly to 
 separate from received and customary Felicities, and 
 to confine unto the rigour of Realities, were to contract 
 the Consolation of our Beings unto too uncomfortable 
 Circumscriptions. 
 
 Not to fear Death, 1 nor desire it, was short of his 
 Resolution : to be dissolved, and be with Christ, was 
 his dying ditty. He conceived his Thred long, in no 
 long course of Years, and when he had scarce out-lived 
 the second Life of Lazarus ; 2 esteeming it enough to 
 
 1 Summum nee metuas diem nee optes. 
 
 8 Who upon some accounts, and tradition, is said to have 
 lived thirty years after he was raised by our Saviour. Baronius.
 
 Letter to a Friend 163 
 
 approach the Years of his Saviour, who so ordered 
 his own humane State, as not to be old upon Earth. 
 
 But to be content with Death may be better than to 
 desire it : a miserable Life may make us wish for 
 Death, but a virtuous one to rest in it ; which is the 
 Advantage of those resolved Christians, who looking 
 on Death not only as the sting, but the period and 
 end of Sin, the Horizon and Isthmus between this 
 Life and a better, and the Death of this World but as 
 a Nativity of another, do contentedly submit unto the 
 common Necessity, and envy not Enoch or Elias. 
 
 Not to be content with Life is the unsatisfactory 
 state of those who destroy themselves ; l who being 
 afraid to live, run blindly upon their own Death, 
 which no Man fears by Experience : and the Stoicks 
 had a notable Doctrine to take away the fear thereof ; 
 that is, In such Extremities, to desire that which is 
 not to be avoided, and wish what might be feared ; 
 and so made Evils voluntary, and to suit with their 
 own Desires, which took off the terror of them. 
 
 But the ancient Martyrs were not encouraged by 
 such Fallacies ; who, though they feared not Death, 
 were afraid to be their own Executioners ; and there- 
 fore thought it more Wisdom to crucify their Lusts 
 than their Bodies, to circumcise than stab their 
 Hearts, and to mortify than kill themselves. 
 
 His willingness to leave this World about that Age 
 when most Men think they may best enjoy it, though 
 paradoxical unto worldly Ears, was not strange unto 
 mine, who have so often observed, that many, though 
 old, oft stick fast unto the World, and seem to be 
 drawn like Cacus's Oxen, backward with great strug- 
 gling and reluctancy unto the Grave. The long habit 
 of Living makes meer Men more hardly to part with 
 Life, and all to be nothing, but what is to come. To 
 
 1 In the speech of Vulteius in Lucan, animating his soldiers 
 in a great struggle to kill one another. " Decernite lethum, et 
 metus omnis abest, cupias quodcunque necesse est." "All 
 fear is over, do but resolve to die, and make your desires meet 
 necessity. ' '
 
 1 64 
 
 Letter to a Friend 
 
 live at the rate of the old World, when some could 
 scarce remember themselves young, may afford no 
 better digested Death than a more moderate period. 
 Many would have thought it an Happiness to have 
 had their lot of Life in some notable Conjunctures of 
 Ages past ; but the uncertainty of future Times hath 
 tempted few to make a part in Ages to come. And 
 surely, he that hath taken the true Altitude of Things, 
 and rightly calculated the degenerate state of this Age, 
 is not like to envy those that shall live in the next, 
 much less three or four hundred Years hence, when 
 no Man can comfortably imagine what Face this 
 World will carry : and therefore since every Age 
 makes a step unto the end of all things, and the 
 scripture affords so hard a Character of the last 
 Times; quiet Minds will be content with their Gene- 
 rations, and rather bless Ages past than be ambitious 
 of those to come. 
 
 Tho Age had set no Seal upon his Face, yet a dim 
 Eye might clearly discover Fifty in his Actions ; and 
 therefore since Wisdom is the gray Hair, and an 
 unspotted Life old Age ; altho his Years came short, 
 he might have been said to have held up with longer 
 Livers, and to have been Solomon's 1 Old Man. And 
 surely if we deduct all those days of our Life which 
 we might wish unlived, and which abate the comfort 
 of those we now live ; if we reckon up only those days 
 which God hath accepted of our Lives, a Life of good 
 Years will hardly be a span long : the Son in this 
 sense may out-live the Father, and none be climateri- 
 cally old. He that early arriveth unto the Parts and 
 Prudence of Age, is happily old without the un- 
 comfortable Attendants of it ; and 'tis superfluous to 
 live unto gray Hairs, when in a precocious Temper 
 we anticipate the Virtues of them. In brief, he cannot 
 be accounted young who out-liveth the old Man. He 
 that hath early arrived unto the measure of a perfect 
 Stature in Christ, hath already fulfilled the prime and 
 longest Intention of his Being: and one day lived 
 1 Wisdom, cap. iv.
 
 Letter to a Friend 165 
 
 after the perfect Rule of Piety, is to be preferred 
 before sinning Immortality. 
 
 Although he attained not unto the Years of his 
 Predecessors, yet he wanted not those preserving 
 Virtues which confirm the thread of weaker Constitu- 
 tions. Cautelous Chastity and crafty sobriety were 
 far from him ; those Jewels were Paragon, without 
 Flaw, Hair. Ice, or Cloud in him : which affords me 
 a hint to proceed in these good Wishes and few Me- 
 mentos unto you. 
 
 %* The remainder of this letter was included, with few 
 alterations, in " Christian Morals."
 
 THE GARDEN OF CYRUS; 
 
 OR, THE QUINCUNCIALL, LOZENGE, OR NET-WORK 
 
 PLANTATIONS OF THE ANCIENTS, 
 ARTIFICIALLY, NATURALLY, MYSTICALLY CONSIDERED
 
 TO MY WORTHY AND HONOURED FRIEND 
 
 NICHOLAS BACON, OF GILLINGHAM, ESQUIRE 
 
 HAD I not observed that Purblind 2 men have dis- 
 coursed well of Sight, and some without Issue, 3 
 excellently of Generation ; I that was never Master of 
 any considerable Garden, had not attempted this 
 Subject. But the Earth is the Garden of Nature, and 
 each fruitful Country a Paradise. Dioscorides made 
 most of his Observations in His march about with 
 Antonius ; and Theophrastus raised his Generalities 
 chiefly from the Field. 
 
 Besides, we write no Herbal, nor can this Volume 
 deceive you, who have handled the Massiest 4 thereof ; 
 who know that three 5 Folios are yet too little, and 
 how New Herbals fly from America upon us, from 
 persevering Enquirers, and old 6 in those singularities, 
 we expect such Descriptions. Wherein England 7 is 
 now so exact, that it yields not to other Countries. 
 
 We pretend not to multiply Vegetable Divisions by 
 Quincuncial and Reticulate Plants ; or erect a New 
 
 1 Nicholas Bacon, of Gillingham, Esq.~\ Created a baronet, 
 Feb. 7, 1661, by Charles II. His father was the sixth son of 
 Sir Nicholas Bacon, who was created premier baronet of 
 England, May 22, 1611, by James I., and was the eldest son of 
 the lord keeper of Queen Elizabeth, and half-brother of Francis, 
 Lord Bacon, the lord keeper's youngest son by a second 
 marriage. 
 
 2 Plempius, Cabeus, &c. 8 Dr. Harvey. 
 
 4 Besleri Hortus Eystetensis. 
 
 5 Bauhini Theatrum Botanicum, &c. 
 
 fi My worthy friend M. Godier, an ancient and learned 
 Botanist. 
 
 7 As in London and divers parts, whereof we mention none, 
 lest we seem to omit any.
 
 The Epistle Dedicatory 169 
 
 Phytology. The Field of Knowledge hath been so 
 traced, it is hard to spring any Thing new. Of old 
 Things we write something new, if Truth may receive 
 addition, or Envy will allow any Thing new; since 
 the Ancients knew the late Anatomical Discoveries, 
 and Hippocrates the Circulation. 
 
 You have been so long out of trite Learning, that it 
 is hard to find a Subject proper for you ; and if you 
 have met with a Sheet upon this, we have missed our 
 Intention. In this Multiplicity of Writing, bye and 
 barren Themes are best fitted for Invention ; Subjects 
 so often discoursed confine the Imagination, and fix 
 our Conceptions unto the Notions of Forewriters. 
 Beside, such Discourses allow Excursions, and venially 
 admit of collateral Truths, though at some distance 
 from their Principals. Wherein if we sometimes take 
 wide liberty, we are not single, but err by great 
 Example. 1 
 
 He that will illustrate the Excellency of this Order, 
 may easily fail upon so spruce a Subject, wherein we 
 have not affrighted the common reader with any other 
 Diagrams, than of itself; and have industriously 
 declined Illustrations from rare and unknown Plants. 
 
 Your discerning Judgment, so well acquainted with 
 that Study, will expect herein no Mathematical Truths, 
 as well understanding how few Generalities and 
 U Finitas there are in Nature. How Scaliger hath 
 found Exceptions in most Universals of Aristotle and 
 Theophrastus. How botanical Maxims must have 
 fair Allowance, and are tollerably Current, if not over- 
 ballanced by Exceptions. 
 
 You have wisely ordered your Vegetable Delights, 
 beyond the Reach of Exception. The Turks who 
 passed their Days in Gardens here, will have Gardens 
 also hereafter ; and delighting in Flowers on Earth, 
 must have Lillies and Roses in Heaven. In Garden 
 Delights it is not easy to hold a Mediocrity ; that 
 insinuating Pleasure is seldom without some Extremity. 
 The Ancients venially delighted in flourishing Gardens: 
 1 Hippocrates de Super fcetatione, de Dentitiont.
 
 170 The Epistle Dedicatory 
 
 Many were Florists that knew not the true Use of a 
 Flower : And in Plinys Days none had directly treated 
 of that Subject. Some commendably affected Planta- 
 tions of venomous Vegetables; some confined their 
 Delights unto single Plants ; and Cato seemed to doat 
 upon Cabbage ; While the ingenious Delight of Tulip- 
 ists, stands saluted with hard Language, even by their 
 own Professors. 1 
 
 That in this Garden Discourse, we range into ex- 
 traneous Things, and many Parts of Art and Nature, 
 we follow herein the Example of old and new Planta- 
 tions, wherein noble Spirits contented not themselves 
 with Trees ; but by the Attendance of Aviaries, Fish- 
 ponds, and all Variety of Animals, they made their 
 Gardens the Epitome of the Earth, and some re- 
 semblance of the secular Shows of old. 
 
 That we conjoin these Parts of different Subjects 2 
 your Judgment will admit without impute of Incon- 
 gruity ; since the delightful World comes after Death, 
 and Paradise succeeds the Grave. Since the verdant 
 State of Things is the Symbol of the Resurrection, 
 and to flourish in the State of Glory, we must first be 
 sown in Corruption. Beside, the ancient Practice of 
 Noble Persons, to conclude in Garden- Graves, and 
 Urn themselves of old, to be wrapt up in Flowers 
 and Garlands. 
 
 Nullum sine venia placuisse eloquium, is more sensibly 
 understood by Writers, than by Readers ; nor well 
 apprehended by either, till Works have hanged out 
 like Apelles his Pictures ; wherein even common Eyes 
 will find something for Emendation. 
 
 To wish all Readers of your Abilities, were un- 
 reasonably to multiply the Number of Scholars beyond 
 the Temper of these Times. But unto this ill-judging 
 Age, we charitably desire a Portion of your Equity, 
 Judgment, Candour, and Ingenuity ; wherein you are 
 
 1 Tulipo-mania, Narrencruiid, Laurenberg. Pet. Hondius in lib. 
 Belg. 
 
 2 Alluding to his joining this Tract to his Hydriotaphia, with 
 which it was originally published.
 
 The Epistle Dedicatory 171 
 
 so rich, as not to lose by diffusion. And being a 
 flourishing branch of that noble family, 1 unto which 
 we owe so much Observance, you are not new set, but 
 long rooted in such Perfection ; whereof having had 
 so lasting confirmation in your worthy Conversation, 
 constant Amity and Expression ; and knowing you a 
 serious Student in the highest arcanas of Nature, with 
 much excuse we bring these low Delights, and poor 
 Maniples to your Treasure. 
 
 Your affectionate Friend and Servant, 
 
 THOMAS BROWNE. 
 Norwich, May i, 1658. 
 
 1 Of the most worthy Sir Edmund Bacon, prime Baronet, my 
 true and noble friend.
 
 THE GARDEN OF CYRUS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THAT Vulcan gave arrows unto Apollo and Diana the 
 fourth day after their Nativities, according to Gentile 
 Theology, may passe for no blinde apprehension of 
 the Creation of the Sunne and Moon, in the work of 
 the fourth day ; when the diffused light contracted into 
 Orbes, and shooting rayes, of those Luminaries. 
 Plainer Descriptions there are from Pagan pens, of 
 the creatures of the fourth day ; while the divine 
 Philosopher 1 unhappily omitteth the noblest part of 
 the third; and Ovid (whom many conceive to have 
 borrowed his description from Moses) coldly deserting 
 the remarkable account of the text, in three words 2 
 describeth this work of the third day ; the vegetable 
 creation, and first ornamentall scene of nature ; the 
 primitive food of animals, and first story of Physick, 
 in Dietetical conservation. 
 
 For though Physick may pleade high, from that 
 medicall act of God, in casting so deep a sleep upon 
 our first Parent ; and chirurgery 3 finde its whole art, 
 in that one passage concerning the Rib of Adam, yet 
 is there no rivality with Garden contrivance and 
 Herbery. For if Paradise were planted the third 
 day of the Creation, as wiser Divinity concludeth, the 
 Nativity thereof was too early for Horoscopy ; Gardens 
 were before Gardiners, and but some hours after the 
 earth. 
 
 1 Plato in Timao. 2 Fronde tegi stlvas. 
 
 3 Siaipeo-is, in opening the flesh ; ^alpecns, in taking out the rib ; 
 fftivOtau, in closing up the part again.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 173 
 
 Of deeper doubt is its Topography, and local de- 
 signation, yet being the primitive garden, and without 
 much controversie 1 seated in the East ; it is more than 
 probable the first curiosity, and cultivation of plants, 
 most flourished in those quarters. And since the Ark 
 of Noah first toucht upon some mountains of A rmenia, 
 the planting art arose again in the East, and found its 
 revolution not far from the place of its Nativity, about 
 the Plains of those Regions. And if Zoroaster were 
 either Cham, Chus, or Mizraim, they were early 
 proficients therein, who left (as Pliny delivereth,) a 
 work of Agriculture. 
 
 However the account of the Pensill or hanging 
 gardens of Babylon, if made by Semiramis, the third or 
 fourth from Nimrod, is of no slender antiquity ; which 
 being not framed upon ordinary levell of ground, but 
 raised upon pillars, admitting under-passages, we 
 cannot accept as the first Babylonian Gardens ; but a 
 more eminent progress and advancement in that art, 
 than any that went before it : Somewhat answering 
 or hinting the old Opinion concerning Paradise itself, 
 with many conceptions elevated, above the plane of 
 the Earth. 2 
 
 1 For some there is from the ambiguity of the word Mikedcm, 
 whether ab Orients, or a principle. 
 
 2 In MS. SLOAN. 1847, occurs the following passage, evidently 
 intended for this work : " We are unwilling to diminish or loose 
 the credit of Paradise, or only pass it over with [the Hebrew 
 word for] Eden, though the Greek be of a later name. In this 
 excepted, we know not whether the ancient gardens do equal 
 those of late times, or those at present in Europe. Of the 
 gardens of Hesperides. we know nothing singular, but some 
 golden apples. Of Alcinous his garden, we read nothing beyond 
 figgs, apples, and olives ; if we allow it to be any more than a 
 fiction of Homer, unhappily placed in Corfu, where the sterility 
 of the soil makes men believe there was no such thing at all. 
 The gardens of Adonis were so empty that thev afforded pro- 
 verbial expression, and the principal part thereof was empty 
 spaces, with herbs and flowers in pots. I think we little under- 
 stand the pensile gardens of Semiramis, which made one of the 
 wonders of it [Babylon], wherein probably the structure ex- 
 ceeded the plants contained in them. The excellency thereof 
 was probably in the trees, and if the descension of the roots be
 
 174 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 Nebuchcdonosor whom some will have to be the 
 famous Syrian King of Diodorus, beautifully repaired 
 that City ; and so magnificently built his hanging 
 gardens, 1 that from succeeding Writers he had the 
 honour of the first. From whence overlooking 
 Babylon, and all the Region about it, he found no 
 circumscription to the eye of his ambition, till over- 
 delighted with the bravery of this Paradise ; in his 
 melancholy metamorphosis, he found the folly of that 
 delight, and a proper punishment, in the contrary 
 habitation, in wild plantations and wanderings of the 
 fields. 
 
 The Persian Gallants who destroyed this Monarchy, 
 maintained their Botanicall bravery. Unto whom we 
 owe the very name of Paradise : wherewith we meet 
 not in Scripture before the time of Solomon, and con- 
 ceived originally Persian. The word for that disputed 
 Garden, expressing in the Hebrew no more than a 
 Field enclosed, which from the same Root is content 
 to derive a garden and a Buckler. 
 
 Cyrus .the elder brought up in Woods and Moun- 
 tains, when time and power enabled, pursued the 
 dictate of his education, and brought the treasures of 
 the field into rule and circumscription. So nobly 
 beautifying the hanging Gardens of Babylon, that he 
 was also thought to be the authour thereof. 
 
 Ahasuerus (whom many conceive to have been 
 Artaxerxes Longi-tnanus) in the Countrey and City of 
 Flowers, 2 and in an open Garden, entertained his 
 Princes and people, while Vashti more modestly treated 
 the Ladies within the Palace thereof. 
 
 But if (as some opinion) 3 King A hasuertts were Arta- 
 xerxes Mnemon, that found a life and reign answerable 
 unto his great memory, our magnified Cyrus was his 
 second Brother : who gave the occasion of that 
 
 equal to the height of trees, it was not [absurd] of Strebaeus to 
 think the pillars were hollow that the roots might shoot into 
 them." 
 
 1 Josephus. 2 Sushan in Susiana. 
 
 8 Plutarch, in the Life of Artaxerxes.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 175 
 
 memorable work, and almost miraculous retreat of 
 Xenophon. A person of high spirit and honour, 
 naturally a King, though fatally prevented by the 
 harmlesse chance of />0.rt-geniture : Not only a Lord 
 of Gardens, but a manual! planter thereof : disposing 
 his trees, like his armies in regular ordination. So 
 that while old Laertes hath found a name in Homer 
 for pruning hedges, and clearing away thorns and 
 bryars; while King Attains lives for his poysonous 
 plantations of Aconites, Henbane, Hellebore, and plants 
 hardly admitted within the walls of Paradise ; While 
 many of the ancients do poorly live in the single 
 names of Vegetables ; All stories do look upon Cyrus 
 as the splendid and regular planter. 
 
 According whereto Xenophon 1 describeth his gallant 
 plantation at Sardis, thus rendered by Strebaus. 
 Arbores pan intervallo sitas, rectos or dines, et omnia per- 
 pulchre in Quincuncem directa. Which we shall take 
 tor granted as being accordingly rendred by the most 
 elegant of the Latines, 2 and by no made term, but in 
 use before by Varro. That is the rows and orders so 
 handsomely disposed ; or five trees so set together, 
 that a regular angularity, and through prospect, was 
 left on every side. Owing this name not only unto 
 the Quintuple number of Trees, but the figure declaring 
 that number, which being doubled at the angle, makes 
 up the letter X, that is the Emphatical decussation, 
 or fundamentall figure. 
 
 Now though in some ancient and modern practice 
 the area or decussated plot, might be a perfect square, 
 answerable to a Tuscan Pedestall, and the Quinquernio 
 or Cinque point of a dye ; wherein by diagonall lines 
 the intersection was regular ; accommodable unto 
 Plantations of large growing Trees ; and we must not 
 deny ourselves the advantage of this order ; yet shall we 
 chiefly insist upon that of Curtius and Porta, a in their 
 brief description hereof. Wherein the decussis is made 
 within a longilaterall square, with opposite angles,, 
 
 1 In CEconomico. a Cicero in Cat. Major. 
 
 8 Benedict. Curtius de Hortis. Bapt. Porto, in villa.
 
 176 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 acute and obtuse at the intersection ; and so upon 
 progression making a Rhombus or Lozenge figuration, 
 which seemeth very agreeable unto the Original! 
 figure; Answerable whereunto we observe the de- 
 cussated characters in many consulary Coynes, and 
 even in those of Constantine and his Sons, which 
 pretend their pattern in the Sky ; the crucigerous 
 Ensigne carried this figure, not transversely or rect- 
 angularly intersected, but in a decussation, after the 
 form of an Andrean or Burgundian cross, which 
 answereth this description. 
 
 Where by the way we shall decline the old Theme, 
 so traced by antiquity, of crosses and crucifixion : 
 Whereof some being right, and of one single peece 
 without transversion or transome, do little advantage 
 our subject. Nor shall we take in the mysticall Tan, 
 or the Crosse of our blessed Saviour, which having in 
 some descriptions an Empedon or crossing footstay, 
 made not one single transversion. And since the 
 Learned Lipsius hath made some doubt even of the 
 Crosse of St. Andrew, since some Martyrologicall 
 Histories deliver his death by the general Name of a 
 crosse, and Hippolytus will have him suffer by the 
 sword ; we should have enough to make out the 
 received Crosse of that Martyr. Nor shall we urge 
 the labarum, and famous Standard of Constantine, or 
 make further use thereof, then as the first Letters in 
 the Name of our Saviour Christ, in use among 
 Christians, before the dayes of Constantine, to be 
 observed in Sepulchral Monuments 1 of Martyrs, in 
 the reign of Adrian and Antoninus ; and to be found in 
 the Antiquities of the Gentiles, before the advent of 
 Christ, as in the Medall of King Ptolemy, signed with 
 the same characters, and might be the beginning of 
 some word or name, which Antiquaries have not 
 hit on. 
 
 We will not revive the mysterious crosses of /Egypt, 
 with circles on their heads, in the breast of Serapis, 
 , and the hands of their Geniall spirits, not unlike the 
 1 Of Marius, Alexander. Roma Sotterranea.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 177 
 
 character of Venus, and looked on by ancient Christians, 
 with relation unto Christ. Since however they first 
 began, the ^Egyptians thereby expressed the processe 
 and motion of the spirit of the world, and the diffusion 
 thereof upon the Celestiall and Elementall nature ; 
 implyed by a circle and right-lined intersection. A 
 secret in their Telesmes and magicall Characters 
 among them. Though he that considereth the plain 
 cross 1 upon the head of the owl in the Lateran obelisk, 
 or the cross 2 erected upon a picher diffusing streams 
 of water into two basins, with sprinkling branches in 
 them, and all described upon a two-footed Altar, as in 
 the Hieroglyphicks of the brasen Table of B embus ; 
 will hardly decline all thought of Christian signality 
 in them. 
 
 We shall not call in the Hebrew Tenupha, or cere- 
 mony of their Oblations, waved by the Priest unto the 
 four quarters of the world, after the form of a cross ; 
 as in the peace-offerings. And if it were clearly made 
 out what is remarkably delivered from the Traditions 
 of the Rabbins, that as the Oyle was powred coronally 
 or circularlly upon the head of Kings, so the High- 
 Priest was anointed decussatively or in the form of an 
 X ; though it could not escape a typicall thought of 
 Christ, from mysticall considerators ; yet being the 
 conceit is Hebrew, we should rather expect its verifi- 
 cation from Analogy in that language, than to confine 
 the same unto the unconcerned Letters of Greece, or 
 make it out by the characters of Cadmus or Palanicdes. 
 
 Of this Quincuncial Ordination the Ancients 
 practised much, discoursed little ; and the Moderns 
 have nothing enlarged ; which he that more nearly 
 considereth, in the form of its square Rhombus, and 
 decussation, with the several commodities, mysteries, 
 parallelismes, and resemblances, both in Art and 
 Nature, shall easily discern the elegancy of this order. 
 
 1 Wherein the lower part is somewhat longer, as defined by 
 Upton de studio militari, and Johannes de Bado Aureo, cum comment, 
 clariss. et doctiss. Bissai. 
 
 2 Casal. de Ritibus. Bosio nella Trionfante croce. 
 
 M
 
 178 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 That this was in some wayes of practice in diverse 
 and distant Nations, hints or deliveries there are from 
 no slender Antiquity. In the hanging Gardens of 
 Babylon, from Abydenus, Eusebius, and others, 1 Curtius 
 describeth this Rule of decussation. In the memorable 
 Garden of Alcinous anciently conceived an originall 
 phancy, from Paradise, mention there is of well- 
 contrived order ; For so hath Didymus and Eustachius 
 expounded the emphatical word. Diomedes describing 
 the Rural possessions of his father, gives account in 
 the same Language of Trees orderly planted. And 
 Ulysses being a boy was promised by his Father fourty 
 figge-trees, and fifty 2 rows of Vines producing all kinde 
 of grapes. 
 
 That the Eastern Inhabitants of India, made use of 
 such order, even in open Plantations, is deducible from 
 TJieophrastus ; who describing the trees whereof they 
 made their garments, plainly delivereth that they were 
 planted KO.T' opxovs, and in such order that at a 
 distance men would mistake them for Vineyards. 
 The same seems confirmed in Greece from a singular 
 expression in Aristotle 3 concerning the order of Vines, 
 delivered by a military term representing the orders 
 of Souldiers, which also confirmeth the antiquity of 
 this form yet used in vineall plantations. 
 
 That the same was used in Latine plantations is 
 plainly confirmed from the commending penne of 
 Varro Quintilian, and handsome Description of Virgil.* 
 
 That the first Plantations not long after the Floud 
 were disposed after this manner, the generality and 
 antiquity of this order observed in Vineyards, and 
 Wine plantations, affordeth some conjecture. And 
 since from judicious enquiry, Saturn, who divided the 
 world between his three sonnes, who beareth a Sickle 
 
 1 Decussatio ipsa jucundum ac peramanum conspectum prabuit. Curt. 
 H or tar. 1. vi. 
 
 * 6pxot, ffrixoi d./j.ir\ui>, <f>vruv ffrixos, 17 /card, rdS-iv (purtia. 
 Phavorinus. Philoxenus. 
 
 3 ffuffrdSas ciyitTr^Xco*'. Polit. vii. 
 
 * Indulge ordmibus, nee secius omnis in unguem 
 
 Atboribus positis, secto via limite quadret. Georg. ii.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 179 
 
 in his hand, who taught the plantations of Vines, 
 the setting, grafting of trees, and the best part of 
 Agriculture, is discovered to be Noah, whether this 
 early dispersed Husbandry in Vineyards had not its 
 Originall in that Patriarch, is no such Paralogicall 
 doubt. 
 
 And if it were clear that this was used by Noah after 
 the Floud, I could easily beleeve it was in use before 
 it ; Not willing to fix to such ancient inventions no 
 higher originall than Noah ; nor readily conceiving 
 those aged Heroes, whose diet was vegetable, and 
 only, or chiefly consisted in the fruits of the earth, 
 were much deficient in their splendid cultivations ; or 
 after the experience of fifteen hundred years, left much 
 for future discovery in Botanicall Agriculture. Nor 
 fully perswaded that Wine was the invention of Noah, 
 that fermented Liquors, which often make themselves, 
 so long escaped their Luxury or experience ; that the 
 first sinne of the new world was no sin of the old. 
 That Cain and A bel were the first that offered Sacrifice ; 
 or because the Scripture is silent that Adam or Isaac 
 offered none at all. 
 
 Whether Abraham, brought up in the first planting 
 Countrey, observed not some rule hereof, when he 
 planted a grove at Betr-sheba ; or whether at least a 
 like ordination were not in the Garden of Solomon, 
 probability may contest. Answerably unto the wisedom 
 of that eminent Botanologer, and orderly disposer of 
 all his other works. Especially since this was one 
 piece of Gallantry, wherein he pursued the specious 
 part of felicity, according to his own description. " I 
 made me Gardens and Orchards, and planted Trees 
 in them of all kindes of fruits. I made me Pools of 
 water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth 
 Trees," 1 which was no ordinary plantation, if accord- 
 ing to the Targum, or Chaldee paraphrase, it contained 
 all kinds of Plants, and some fetched as far as India ; 
 and the extent thereof were from the wall of Jerusalem 
 unto the water of Silo ah. 
 
 1 Eccles. ii.
 
 180 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 And if Jordan were but Jaar Eden, that is, the River 
 of Eden, Genesar but Gansar or the Prince of Gardens ; 
 and it could be made out, that the Plain of Jordan 
 were watered not comparatively, but causally, and 
 because it was the Paradise of God, as the Learned 
 Abramas 1 hinteth, he was not far from the Prototype 
 and originall of Plantations. And since even in 
 Paradise itself, the tree of knowledge was placed in the 
 middle of the Garden, whatever was the ambient 
 figure, there wanted not a centre and rule of decussa- 
 tion. Whether the groves and sacred Plantations of 
 Antiquity, were not thus orderly placed, either by gua- 
 ternios, or quintuple ordinations, may favourably be 
 doubted. For since they were so methodicall in the 
 constitutions of their temples, as to observe the due 
 scituation, aspect, manner, form, and order in Archi- 
 tectonicall relations, whether they were not as distinct 
 in their groves and Plantations about them, in form 
 and species respectively unto their Deities, is not with- 
 out probability of conjecture. And in their groves of 
 the Sunne this was a fit number, by multiplication to 
 denote the dayes of the year; and might Hierogly- 
 phically speak as much, as the mysticall statua of 
 Janus z in the Language of his fingers. And since they 
 were so criticall in the number of his horses, the strings 
 of his Harp, and rayes about his head, denoting the 
 orbes of heaven, the Seasons and Moneths of the Yeare; 
 witty Idolatry would hardly be flat in other appro- 
 priations. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 NOR was this only a form of practise in Plantations, 
 but found imitation from high Antiquity, in sundry 
 artificiall contrivances and manuall operations. For 
 to omit the position of squared stones, cuneatim or 
 wedgwise, in the Walls of Roman and Gothick buildings ; 
 
 1 Vet. Testamenti Pharus. 
 
 2 Which king Numa set up with his fingers so disposed that 
 they numerically denoted 365. Pliny.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 181 
 
 and the lithostrata or figured pavements of the ancients, 
 which consisted not all of square stones, but were 
 divided into triquetrous segments, honeycombs, and 
 sexangular figures, according to Vitruvius; The squared 
 stones and bricks, in ancient fabricks, were placed after 
 this order. And two above or below, conjoyned by a 
 middle stone or Plinthus, observable in the ruines of 
 Forum Nerva, the Mausoleum of Augustus, the Pyramid 
 of Cestius, and the sculpture draughts of the larger 
 Pyramids of JEgypt. And therefore in the draughts 
 of eminent fabricks, Painters do commonly imitate 
 this order in the lines of their description. 
 
 In the Laureat draughts of sculpture and picture, 
 the leaves and foliate works are commonly thus con- 
 trived, which is but in imitation of the Pulvinaria, and 
 ancient pillow- work, observable in lonick peeces, about 
 columns, temples and altars. To omit many other 
 analogies, in Architectonicall draughts, which art itself 
 is founded upon 1 fives, as having its subject, and most 
 gracefull peeces divided by this number. 
 
 The Triumphal Oval, and Civicall Crowns of Laurel, 
 Oake, and Myrtle, when fully made, were pleated after 
 this order. And to omit the crossed Crowns of Christ- 
 ian Princes; what figure that was which Anastatius 
 described upon the head of Leo the third ; or who first 
 brought in the Arched Crown ; That of Charles the 
 great (which seems the first remarkably closed Crown,) 
 was framed after this 2 manner ; with an intersection in 
 the middle from the main crossing barres, and the 
 interspaces, unto the frontal circle, continued by hand- 
 some net-work plates, much after this order. Whereon 
 we shall not insist, because from greater Antiquity, 
 and practice of consecration, we meet with the radiated, 
 and starry Crown, upon the head of Augustus, and 
 
 1 Of a structure five parts, Fundamentum , parietes, apertures, 
 Compartitio, tectum. Leo Alberti. Five Columes, Tuscan, 
 Dorick, lonick, Corinthian, Compound. Five different inter- 
 columniations, Pycnostylos, dystylos, Systylos. Areostylos, Eustylos. 
 Vitruv. 
 
 - Uti constat ex pergamena, apud Chifflet. in B. R. Bruxelli, et Icon. 
 f. Stradtz.
 
 1 82 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 many succeeding Emperors. Since the Armenians and 
 Parthians had a peculiar royall Capp; and the Grecians 
 from Alexander another kinde of diadem. And even 
 Diadems themselves were but fasciations, and hand- 
 some ligatures, about the heads of Princes ; nor wholly 
 omitted in the mitrall Crown, which common picture 
 seems to set too upright and forward upon the head of 
 Aaron: Worne 1 sometimes singly, or doubly by Princes, 
 according to their Kingdomes; and no more to be 
 expected from two Crowns at once upon the head of 
 Ptlomy. And so easily made out when historians tell 
 us", some bound up wounds, some hanged themselves 
 with diadems. 
 
 The beds of the antients were corded somewhat after 
 this fashion : That is not directly, as ours at present, 
 but obliquely, from side to side, and after the manner 
 of network ; whereby they strengthened the spondae or 
 bedsides, and spent less cord in the work : as is demon- 
 strated by Blancanus? 
 
 And as they lay in crossed beds, so they sat upon 
 seeming crosselegg'd seats : in which form the noblest 
 thereof were framed : Observable in the triumphall 
 seats, the sella curulis, or AZdyle Chayres ; in the coyns 
 of Cestius, Sylla, and Julius. That they sat also crosse- 
 legg'd, many nobler draughts declare ; and in this 
 figure the sitting gods and goddesses are drawn in 
 medalls and medallions. And, beside this kinde of 
 <vork in Retiarie and hanging textures, in embroideries, 
 and eminent needle-works ; the like is obvious unto 
 every eye in glass-windows. Nor only in Glassie con- 
 trivances, but also in Lattice and Stone work, con- 
 ceived in the Temple of Solomon ; wherein the windows 
 are termed fenestra reticulate, or lights framed like nets. 
 And agreeable unto the Greek expression 3 concerning 
 Christ in the Canticles, 4 looking through the nets, 
 which ours hath rendered, " he looketh forth at the 
 windows, shewing himself through the lattesse ;" that 
 is, partly seen and unseen, according to the visible and 
 
 1 Mace. i. xi. z Aristot. Mechan. Quasi. 
 
 3 SiKTvurii. * Cant. ii.
 
 1 83 
 
 invisible sides of his nature. To omit the noble reticu- 
 late work, in the chapters of the pillars of Solomon, 
 with Lillies, and Pomegranats upon a net- work ground; 
 and the Graticula or grate through which the ashes fell 
 in the altar of burnt offerings. 
 
 That the networks and nets of antiquity were little 
 different in the form from ours at present, is con- 
 firmable from the nets in the hands of the Retiarie 
 gladiators, the proper combatants with the secutores. 
 To omit the ancient Conopeion or gnat-net, of the 
 Egyptians, the inventors of that Artifice : the rushey 
 labyrinths of Theocritus ; the nosegay nets, which hung 
 from the head under the nostrils of Princes ; and that 
 uneasie metaphor of Reticulum Jecoris, which some 
 expound the lobe, we the caule above the liver. As 
 for that famous net-work of Vulcan, which inclosed 
 Mars and Venus, and caused that 1 unextinguishable 
 laugh in heaven ; since the gods themselves could not 
 discern it, we shall not prie into it ; Although why 
 Vulcan bound them, Neptune loosed them, and Apollo 
 should first discover them, might afford no vulgar 
 mythologie. Heralds have not omitted this order or 
 imitation thereof, while they Symbolically adorn their 
 Scuchions with Mascles, Fusils, and Saltyrs, and while 
 they dispose the figures of Ermins, and vaired coats in 
 this Quincuncial method. 
 
 The same is not forgot by Lapidaries, while they 
 cut their gemms pyramidally, or by aequicrurai 
 triangles. Perspective pictures, in their Base, Horison, 
 and lines of distances, cannot escape these Rhomboidall 
 decussations. Sculptors in their strongest shadows, 
 after this order do draw their double Haches. And 
 the very Americans do naturally fall upon it, in their 
 neat and curious textures, which is also observed in 
 the elegant artifices of Europe. But this is no law unto 
 the woof of the neat Retiarie Spider, which seems to 
 weave without transversion, and by the union of right 
 lines to make out a continued surface, which is beyond 
 the common art of Textury, and may still nettle 
 1 Acr/Sea-ros 5' dp' Ivupro y\us. Horn.
 
 184 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 Minerva, 1 the goddesse of that mystery. And he that 
 shall hatch the little seeds, either found in small webs, 
 or white round Egges, carried under the bellies of 
 some Spiders, and behold how at their first production 
 in boxes, they will presently fill the same with their 
 webbs, may observe the early, and untaught finger of 
 nature, and how they are natively provided with a 
 stock, sufficient for such Texture. 
 
 The Rurall charm against Dodder, Tetter, and 
 strangling weeds, was contrived after this order, while 
 they placed a chalked Tile at the four corners, and 
 one in the middle of their fields, which though ridi- 
 culous in the intention, was rational in the contrivance, 
 and a good way to diffuse the magick through all 
 parts of the A rea. 
 
 Somewhat after this manner they ordered the little 
 stones in the old game of Pentalithismus, or casting up 
 five stones to catch them on the back of their hand. 
 And with some resemblance hereof, the Prod or 
 Prodigall Paramours disposed their men, when they 
 played at Penelope? For being themselves an hundred 
 and eight, they set fifty-four stones on either sides, 
 and one in the middle, which they called Penelope, 
 which he that hit was master of the game. 
 
 In Chesse-boards and Tables we yet find Pyramids 
 and Squares. I wish we had their true and ancient 
 description, farre different from ours, or the Chet mat 
 of the Persians, which might continue some elegant 
 remarkables, as being an invention as High as Hermes 
 the Secretary of Osyris, figuring the whole world, the 
 motion of the Planets, with Eclipses of sunne and 
 Moon. 
 
 Physicians are not without the use of this decussa- 
 tion in severall operations, in ligatures and union of 
 dissolved continuities. Mechanicks make use hereof 
 in forcipall Organs, and Instruments of Incision ; 
 wherein who can but magnifie the power of decussa- 
 tion, inservient to contrary ends, solution and con- 
 
 1 As in the contention between Minerva and Arachne. 
 
 2 In Eustachius.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 185 
 
 solidation, union, and division, illustrable from Aris- 
 totle in the old Nucifragium or nutcracker, and the 
 Instruments of Evulsion, compression or Incision ; 
 which consisting of two Vectes or armes, converted 
 towards each other, the Innitency 1 and stresse being 
 made upon the hypomochlion, or fulciment 2 in the decus- 
 sation, the greater compression is made by the union 
 of two impulsors. 
 
 The Roman batalia 3 was ordered after this manner, 
 whereof as sufficiently known Virgil hath left but an 
 hint, and obscure intimation. For thus were the 
 maniples and cohorts of the Hastati, principes, and 
 Triarii placed in their bodies, wherein consisted the 
 strength of the Roman battle. By this Ordination 
 they readily fell into each other ; the Hastati being 
 pressed, handsomely retired into the intervalls of the 
 Principes, these into that of the Triarii, which making 
 as it were a new body, might joyntly renew the battle, 
 wherein consisted the secret of their successes. And 
 therefore it was remarkably 4 singular in the battle of 
 Africa, that Scipio, fearing a rout from the Elephants 
 of the Enemy, left not the Principes in their alternate 
 distances, whereby the Elephants, passing the vacuities 
 of the Hastati, might have run upon them, but drew 
 his battle into right order, and leaving the passages 
 bare, defeated the mischief intended by the Elephants. 
 Out of this figure were made two remarkable forms of 
 Battle, the Cuneus and Forceps, or the sheare and wedge 
 battles, each made of half a Rhombus, and but dif- 
 ferenced by position. The wedge invented to break 
 or work into a body, the forceps to environ and defeat 
 the power thereof, composed out of the selectest 
 Souldiery, and disposed into the form of an V, wherein 
 receiving the wedge, it inclosed it on both sides. After 
 
 1 His own synonym for "stress." 2 Fulcrum. 
 
 3 In the disposure of the Legions in the Wars of the Republike, 
 before the division of the Legion into ten Cohorts by the 
 Emperours. Salmas. in his epistle a Mounsieur de Peyresc. et de 
 Re Militari Romanorum. 
 
 4 Pdylius. Appianus.
 
 1 86 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 this form the famous Nassfs 1 ordered his battle against 
 the Franks, and by this figure the Almans were 
 enclosed, and cut in peeces. 
 
 The Rhombus or Lozenge-figure so visible in this 
 order, was also a remarkable form of battle in the 
 Grecian Cavalry, 2 observed by the Thessalians, and 
 Philip king of Macedon, and frequently by the Parthians, 
 As being most ready to turn every way, and best 
 to be commanded, as having its ductors, or Com- 
 manders at each Angle. 
 
 The Macedonian Phalanx (a long time thought invin- 
 cible), consisted of a long square. For though they 
 might be sixteen in Rank and file, yet when they shut 
 close, so that the sixt pike advanced before the first, 
 though the number might be square, the figure was 
 oblong, answerable unto the Quincuncial quadrate of 
 Curtius. According to this square, Thucydides delivers, 
 the Athenians disposed their battle against the Lace- 
 demonians, brickwise, 8 and by the same word the 
 Learned Guellius expoundeth the quadrate of Virgil,* 
 after the form of a brick or tile. 
 
 And as the first station and position of trees, so was 
 the first habitation of men, not in round Cities, as of 
 later foundation ; For the form of Babylon the first 
 City was square, and so shall also be the last, accord- 
 ing to the description of the holy City in the Apoca- 
 lyps. The famous pillars of Seth, before the floud, 
 had also the like foundation, if they were but ante- 
 diluvian Obelisks, and such as Cham and his Egyptian 
 race imitated after the Floud. 
 
 But Nineveh which Authours acknowledge to have 
 exceeded Babylon, was of a longilaterall figure, 5 ninety- 
 five Furlongs broad, and an hundred and fifty long, 
 and so making about sixty miles in circuit, which is 
 the measure of three dayes journey, according unto 
 military marches, or castrensial mansions. So that if 
 Jonas entred at the narrower side, he found enough for 
 
 1 Agathius, Ammianus. - JElian. Tact. 
 
 8 lv ir\a.tfft(t). 
 
 4 Secto via Unite quadret. Comment, in Virgil. 5 Diod. Sic.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 187 
 
 one dayes walk to attain the heart of the City, to make 
 his Proclamation. And if we imagine a City extend- 
 ing from Ware to London, the expression will be 
 moderate of six score thousand Infants, although we 
 allow vacuities, fields, and intervals of habitation, as 
 there needs must be when the monument of Ninus 
 took up no lesse then ten furlongs. 
 
 And, though none of the seven wonders, yet a noble 
 peece of Antiquity, and made by a Copy exceeding all 
 the rest, had its principall parts disposed after this 
 manner, that is, the Labyrinth of Crete, built upon a 
 long quadrate, containing five large squares com- 
 municating by right inflexions, terminating in the 
 centre of the middle square, and lodging of the 
 Minotaur, if we conform unto the description of the 
 elegant medall thereof in Agostino. 1 And though in 
 many accounts we reckon grosly by the square, yet is 
 that very often to be accepted as a long-sided quadrate, 
 which was the figure of the Ark of the Covenant, the 
 table of the Shew-bread, and the stone wherein the 
 names of the twelve Tribes were engraved, that is, 
 three in a row, naturally making a longilaterall Figure, 
 the perfect quadrate being made by nine. 
 
 What figure the stones themselves maintained, 
 tradition and Scripture are silent, yet Lapidaries in 
 precious stones affect a Table or long square, and in 
 such proportion, that the two laterall and also the 
 three inferiour Tables are equall unto the superiour ; 
 and the angles of the laterall Tables contain and con- 
 stitute the hypothenusa, or broader sides subtending. 
 
 That the Tables of the Law were of this figure, 
 general imitation and tradition hath confirmed ; yet 
 are we unwilling to load the shoulders of Moses with 
 such massie stones, as some pictures lay upon them, 
 since 'tis plainly delivered that he came down with 
 them in his hand ; since the word strictly taken implies 
 no such massie hewing, but cutting, and fashioning of 
 them into shape and surface ; since some will have 
 them Emeralds, and if they were made of the material? 
 1 Antonio Agostino Delle Medaglie.
 
 1 88 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 of Mount Sina, not improbable that they were marble: 
 Since the words were not many, the letters short of 
 seven hundred, and the Tables, written on both sides, 
 required no such capacity. 
 
 The beds of the Ancients were different from ours 
 at present, which are almost square, being framed 
 oblong, and about a double unto their breadth ; not 
 much unlike the area, or bed of this Quincuncial 
 quadrate. The single beds of Greece were six foot 1 
 and a little more in length, three in breadth ; the 
 Giant-like bed of Og, which had four cubits of bredth, 
 nine and a half in length, varied not much from this 
 proportion. The Funeral bed of King Cheops, in the 
 greater Pyramid, which holds seven in length, and 
 four feet in bredth, had no great difformity from this 
 measure ; And whatsoever were the bredth, the length 
 could hardly be lesse, of the tyrannical bed of Pro- 
 crustes, since in a shorter measure he had not been 
 fitted with persons for his cruelty of extension. But 
 the old sepulchral bed, or Amazonian Tomb, 2 in the 
 market place of Megara, was in the form of a Lozenge; 
 readily made out by the composure of the body. For 
 the arms not lying fasciated or wrapt up after the 
 Grecian manner, but in a middle distention, the in- 
 cluding lines will strictly make out that figure. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Now although this elegant ordination of vegetables, 
 hath found coincidence or imitation in sundry works 
 of Art, yet is it not also destitute of naturall examples, 
 and, though overlooked by all, was elegantly ob- 
 servable, in severall works of nature. 
 
 Could we satisfie ourselves in the position of the 
 lights above, or discover the wisedom of that order so 
 invariably maintained in the fixed Stars of heaven ; 
 Could we have any light, why the stellary part of the 
 first masse, separated into this order, that the Girdle 
 
 1 Aristot. Median. * Pint, in vit. Thes.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 189 
 
 of Orion should ever maintain its line, and the two 
 Starres in Charles's Wain never leave pointing at the 
 Pole-starre, we might abate the Pythagoricall Musick 
 of the Spheres, the sevenfold Pipe of Pan ; and the 
 strange Cryptography of Gaffarel in his starrie Booke 
 of Heaven. 
 
 But not to look so high as Heaven or the single 
 Quincunx of the Hyades upon the neck of Taurus, the 
 Triangle, and remarkable Crusero about the foot of the 
 Centaur ; observable rudiments there are hereof in sub- 
 terraneous concretions, and bodies in the Earth ; in 
 the Gypsum or Taleum Rhomboides. in the Favaginites 
 or honey-comb-stone, in the Asteria and Astroites, and 
 in the crucigerous stone of S. lago of Gallicia. 
 
 The same is observably effected in the Julus, catkins, 
 or pendulous excrescencies of severall Trees, of Wall- 
 nuts, Alders, and Hazels, which hanging all the 
 Winter, and maintaining their Net-worke close, by the 
 expansion thereof are the early foretellers of the Spring, 
 discoverable also in long Pepper, and elegantly in the 
 Julus of Calamus Aromaticus, so plentifully growing 
 with us, in the first Palmes of Willowes, and in the 
 Flowers of Sycamore, Petasites, Asphodelus, and Blat- 
 taria, before explication. After such order stand the 
 flowery Branches in our best spread Verbascum, and 
 the seeds about the spicous head or torch of Tapsas 
 Barbatus, in as fair a regularity as the circular and 
 wreathed order will admit, which advanceth one side 
 of the square, and makes the same Rhomboidall. 
 
 In the squamous heads of Scabious, Knapweed, and 
 the elegant Jacea Pinea, and in the Scaly composure of 
 the Oak-Rose, 1 which some years most aboundeth. 
 After this order hath Nature planted the Leaves in 
 the Head of the common and prickled Artichoak ; 
 wherein the black and shining Flies do shelter them- 
 selves, when they retire from the purple Flower about 
 it ; The same is also found in the pricks, sockets, and 
 
 1 Capitula sq'.tamrnata Quercum, Bauhini, whereof though he 
 saith ferraro reperiuntur bis tantum invenimus, yet we finde them 
 commonly with us and in great numbers.
 
 190 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 impressions of the seeds, in the pulp or bottome 
 thereof; wherein do elegantly stick the Fathers of 
 their Mother. 1 To omit the Quincunciall Specks on 
 the top of the Miscle-berry, especially that which 
 grows upon the Tilia, or Lime-Tree. And the remark- 
 able disposure of those yellow fringes about the purple 
 Pestill of Aaron, and elegant clusters of Dragons, so 
 peculiarly secured by nature, with an umbrella or 
 skreening Leaf about them. 
 
 The Spongy leaves of some Sea-wracks, Fucus, 
 Oaks, in their several kindes, found about the Shoar, 2 
 with ejectments of the Sea, are over- wrought with Net- 
 work elegantly containing this order, which plainly 
 declareth the naturality of this texture ; And how the 
 needle of nature delighteth to work, even in low and 
 doubtful vegetations. 
 
 The Arbustetum or Thicket on the head of the Teazell, 
 may be observed in this order : And he that con- 
 sidereth that fabrick so regularly palisadoed, and 
 stemm'd with flowers of the royall colour; in the 
 house of the solitary maggot, may finde the Seraglio 
 of Solomon. And contemplating the calicular shafts, 
 and uncous disposure of their extremities, so accommod- 
 able unto the office of abstersion, not condemne as 
 wholly improbable the conceit of those who accept it, 
 for the herbe Borith. 3 Where by the way, we could 
 with much inquiry never discover any transfiguration, 
 in this abstemious insect, although we have kept them 
 long in their proper houses, and boxes. Where some 
 wrapt up in their webbs, have lived upon their own 
 bowels, from September unto July. 
 
 In such a grove doe walke the little creepers about 
 the head of the burre. And such an order is observed 
 in the aculeous prickly plantation, upon the heads of 
 several common thistles, remarkably in the notable 
 
 1 Anlho. Grac. Inter Epigrammata. ypi<f>aStj ivSbv lfj.Civ, \ay6vuf 
 pbs txu irartpa.. 
 
 Especially the porus cervinus, Imptrati, Sporosa, or Alga 
 Xari//fepws Baukini. 
 3 Jer. ii. 22.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 191 
 
 palisados about the flower of the milk Thistle ; and 
 he that inquireth into the little bottome of the globe- 
 thistle, may finde that gallant bush arise from a 
 scalpe of like disposure. 
 
 The white umbrella or medicall bush of Elder, is an 
 Epitome of this order : arising from five main stemms 
 Quincuncially disposed, and tollerably maintained in 
 their subdivisions. To omit the lower observations in 
 the seminal spike of Mercuric wild, and plantane. 
 
 Thus hath nature ranged the flowers of Santfoyne, 
 and French honeysuckle ; and somewhat after this 
 manner hath ordered the bush in Jupiters beard, or 
 houseleek ; which old superstition set on the tops of 
 houses, as a defensative against lightning, and thunder. 
 The like in Fenny Seagreen, or the water Souldier, 1 
 which, though a military name from Greece, makes 
 out the Roman order. 
 
 A like ordination there is in the favaginous Sockets, 
 and Lozenge seeds of the noble flower of the Sunne. 
 Wherein in Lozenge figured boxes nature shuts up 
 the seeds, and balsame which is. about them. 
 
 But the firre and Pine tree from their fruits doe 
 naturally dictate this position. The Rhomboidall pro- 
 tuberances in Pine apples maintaining this Quincuncial 
 order unto each other, and each Rhombus in it selfe. 
 Thus are also disposed the triangular foliations, in the 
 conical fruit of the firre tree orderly shadowing and 
 protecting the winged seeds below them. 
 
 The like so often occurreth to the curiosity of ob- 
 servers, especially in spicated seeds and flowers, that 
 we shall not need to take in the single Quincunx of 
 Fuchsius in the grouth of the male 2 fearn, the seedy 
 disposure of Gramen Ischemon, and the trunk or neat 
 Reticulate work in the codde of the Sachell palme. 
 
 For even in very many round stalk plants, the leaves 
 are set after a Quintuple ordination, the first leaf 
 answering the fifth, in lateral disposition. Wherein 
 the leaves successively rounding the stalke, in foure at 
 the furthest the compass is absolved, and the fifth leafe 
 1 Stratiotes. a Orig. masle.
 
 192 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 or sprout, returns to the position of the other fifth 
 before it ; as in accounting upward is often observable 
 in furze, pellitorye, Ragweed, the sproutes of Oaks, 
 and thorns, upon pollards, and very remarkably in the 
 regular disposure of the rugged excrescencies in the 
 yearly shoots of the Pine. 
 
 But in square stalked plants, the leaves stand re- 
 spectively unto each other, either in crosse or decussa- 
 tion to those above or below them, arising at crosse 
 positions ; whereby they shadow not each other, and 
 better resist the force of winds, which in a parallel 
 situation, and upon square stalkes would more forcibly 
 bear upon them. 
 
 And to omit, how leaves and sprouts which com- 
 passe not the stalk, are often set in a Rhomboides, 
 and making long and short Diagonals, doe stand like 
 the leggs of Quadrupeds when they goe : Nor to urge 
 the thwart enclosure and furdling of flowers, aud 
 blossomes, before explications, as in the multiplyed 
 leaves of pionie ; and the Chiasmus in five-leaved 
 flowers, while one lies wrapt about the staminous 
 beards, the other foure obliquely shutting and closing 
 upon each other ; and how even flowers which consist 
 of foure leaves, stand not ordinarily in three and one, 
 but two, and two crossewise, unto the Stylus ; even 
 the Autumnal budds, which awaite the returne of 
 the sun, doe after the winter solstice multiply their 
 calicular leaves, making little Rhombuses, and net- 
 work figures, as in the Sycamore and lilac. 
 
 The like is discoverable in the original production of 
 plants, which first putting forth two leaves, those which 
 succeed, bear not over each other, but shoot obliquely 
 or crossewise, untill the stalke appeareth ; which 
 sendeth not forth its first leaves without all order unto 
 them ; and he that from hence can discover in what 
 position the two first leaves did arise, is no ordinary 
 observator. 
 
 Where by the way, he that observeth the rudimental 
 spring of seeds, shall finde strict rule, although not 
 after this order. How little is required unto effectual
 
 Garden of Cyrus 193 
 
 generation, and in what diminutives the plastick 
 principle lodgeth, is exemplified in seeds, wherein the 
 greater mass affords so little comproduction. In 
 Beanes the leaf and root sprout from the Germen, the 
 main sides split, and lye by, and in some pull'd up 
 near the time of blooming, we have found the pulpous 
 sides intire or little wasted. In Acorns the nebb 
 dilating splitteth the two sides, which sometimes lye 
 whole, when the Oak is sprouted two handfuls. In 
 Lupins these pulpy sides do sometimes arise with the 
 stalk in the resemblance of two fat leaves. Wheat 
 and Rye will grow up, if after they have shot some 
 tender Roots, the adhering pulp be taken from them. 
 Beanes will prosper though a part be cut away, and 
 so much set as sumceth to contain and keep the 
 Germen close. From this superfluous pulp in un- 
 kindely, and wet years, may arise that multiplicity of 
 little insects, which infest the Roots and Sprouts of 
 tender Graines and pulses. 
 
 In the little nebbe or fructifying principle, the 
 motion is regular, and not transvertible, as to make 
 that ever the leaf, which nature intended the root ; 
 observable from their conversion, until they attain 
 their right position, if seeds be set inversedly. 
 
 In vain we expect the production of plants from 
 different parts of the seed, from the same corculum or 
 little original proceed both germinations ; and in the 
 power of this slender particle lye many Roots, that 
 though the same be pull'd away, the generative 
 particle will renew them again, and proceed to a 
 perfect plant ; And malt may be observed to grow, 
 though the Cummes be fallen from it. 
 
 The seminall nebbe hath a denned and single place, 
 and not extended unto both extremes. And therefore 
 many too vulgarly conceive that Barley and Oats 
 grow at both ends ; For they arise from one punctilio 
 or generative nebbe, and the speare sliding under the 
 husk, first appeareth nigh the toppe. But in Wheat 
 and Rye being bare the sprouts are seen together. 
 If Barley unhulled would grow, both would appear at 
 
 N
 
 194 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 once. But in this and Oat-meal the nebbe is broken 
 away, which makes them the milder food, and less apt 
 to raise fermentation in Decoctions. 
 
 Men taking notice of what is outwardly visible, 
 conceive a sensible priority in the Root. But as they 
 begin from one part, so they seem to start and set out 
 upon one signall of nature. In Beanes yet soft, in 
 Pease while they adhere unto the Cod, the rudimentall 
 Leafe and Root are discoverable. In the seeds of 
 Rocket and Mustard, sprouting in Glasses of water, 
 when the one is manifest the other is also perceptible. 
 In muddy waters apt to breed Duckweed, and Peri- 
 winkles, if the first and rudimentall streaks of Duck- 
 weed be observed, the Leaves and Root anticipate 
 not each other. But in the Date-stone the first sprout 
 is neither root nor leaf distinctly, but both together ; 
 For the Germination being to passe through the 
 narrow Navell and hole about the midst of the stone, 
 the generative germ is faine to enlengthen itself, and 
 shooting out about an inch, at that distance divideth 
 into the ascending and descending portion. 
 
 And though it be generally thought that Seeds will 
 root at the end, where they adhere to their Originals, 
 and observable it is that the nebbe sets most often 
 next the stalk, as in Grains, Pulses, and most small 
 Seeds, yet is it hardly made out in many greater 
 plants. For in Acornes, Almonds, Pistachios, Wall- 
 nuts, and accuminated shells, the germ puts forth at 
 the remotest part of the pulp. And therefore to set 
 Seeds in that posture, wherein the Leaf and Roots 
 may shoot right without contortion, or forced circum- 
 volution, which might render them strongly rooted, 
 and straighter, were a Criticisme in Agriculture. And 
 nature seems to have made some provision hereof in 
 many from their figure, that as they fall from the tree 
 they may lye in Positions agreeable to such advantages. 
 
 Besides the open and visible Testicles of plants, the 
 seminall powers lie in great part invisible, while the 
 Sun findes polypody in stone-wals, the little stinging 
 Nettle, and night-shade in barren sandy High-wayes,
 
 Garden of Cyrus 195 
 
 Scurvy-grasse in Gveeneland, and unknown plants in 
 earth brought from remote Countries. Beside the 
 known longevity of some Trees, what is the most 
 lasting herb, or seed, seems not easily determinable. 
 Mandrakes upon known account have lived near an 
 hundred yeares. Seeds found in Wilde-Fowls Gizards 
 have sprouted in the earth. The Seeds of Marjorane 
 and stramonium carelessly kept, have grown after seven 
 years. Even in Garden-plots long fallow, and digged 
 up, the seeds of Blattana and yellow henbane, after 
 twelve years burial have produced themselves again. 
 
 That bodies are first spirits Paracelsus could affirm, 
 which in the maturation of Seeds and fruits, seem 
 obscurely implied by Aristotle, 1 when he delivereth, that 
 the spirituous parts are converted into water, and the 
 water into earth, and attested by observation in the 
 maturative progresse of Seeds, wherein at first may be 
 discerned a flatuous distension of the husk, afterwards 
 a thin liquor, which longer time digesteth into a pulp 
 or kern ell observable in Almonds and large Nuts. 
 And some way answered in the progressionall perfec- 
 tion of animal semination, in its spermaticall matura- 
 tion, from crude pubescency unto perfection. And 
 even that seeds themselves in their rudimentall dis- 
 coveries, appear in foliaceous surcles, or sprouts within 
 their coverings, in a diaphanous gellie, before deeper 
 incrassation, is also visibly verified in Cherries, Acorns, 
 Plums. 
 
 From seminall considerations, either in reference 
 unto one mother, or distinction from animall produc- 
 tion, the holy Scripture describeth the vegetable crea- 
 tion ; and while it divideth plants but into Herb and 
 Tree, though it seemeth to make but an accidental 
 division, from magnitude, it tacitely containeth the 
 naturall distinction of vegetables, observed by Her- 
 balists, and comprehending the four kinds. For since 
 the most naturall distinction is made from the produc- 
 tion of leaf or stalk, and plants after the two first 
 seminall leaves, do either proceed to send forth more 
 1 In Met. cum Cabeo.
 
 196 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 leaves, or a stalk, and the folious and stalky emission 
 distinguisheth herbs and trees ; in a large acception 
 it compriseth all vegetables : for the frutex and suffrutcx 
 are under the progression of trees, and stand Authen- 
 tically differenced, but from the accidents of the 
 stalk. 
 
 The ^Equivocall production of things under undis- 
 cerned principles, makes a large part of generation, 
 though they seem to hold a wide univocacy in their 
 set and certain Originals, while almost every plant 
 breeds its peculiar insect, most a Butterfly, moth or 
 fly, wherein the Oak seems to contain the largest 
 seminality, while Julus, Oak, Apple, dill, woolly tuft, 
 foraminous roundles upon the leaf, and grapes under- 
 ground make a Fly with some difference. The great 
 variety of Flyes lyes in the variety of their originals, in 
 the seeds of Caterpillars or Cankers their lyeth not 
 only a Butterfly or Moth, but if they be sterill or 
 untimely cast, their production is often a Fly, which 
 we have also observed from corrupted and mouldred 
 Egges both of Hens and Fishes ; to omit the genera- 
 tion of Bees out of the bodies of dead Heifers, or what 
 is strange yet well attested, the production of Eeles 
 in the backs of living Cods and Perches. 1 
 
 The exiguity and smallnesse of some seed extending 
 to large productions is one of the magnalities of nature, 
 somewhat illustrating the work of the Creation, and 
 vast production from nothing. The true 2 seeds of 
 Cypresse and Rampions are indistinguishable by old 
 eyes. Of the seeds of Tobacco a thousand make not 
 one grain. The disputed seeds of Hartstongue and 
 Maidenhair, require a great number. From such 
 undiscernable seminalities arise spontaneous produc- 
 tions. He that would discern the rudimentall stroak 
 of a plant, may behold it in the originall of Duckweed, 
 at the bignesse of a pins point, from convenient water 
 in glasses, wherein a watchful! eye may also discover 
 the puncticular Originals of Periwincles and Gnats. 
 
 That seeds of some Plants are lesse than any animals, 
 
 1 Schonevcldus de Pise. a Doctissim. Lauremburg. Hott.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 197 
 
 seems of no clear decision ; That the biggest of Veget- 
 ables exceedeth the biggest of Animals, in full bulk, 
 and all dimensions, admits exception in the Whale, 
 which in length and above ground measure, will also 
 contend with tall Oakes. That the richest odour of 
 plants, surpasseth that of Animals, may seem of some 
 doubt, since animall-musk, seems to excell the veget- 
 able, and we finde so noble a scent in the Tulip-fly, 
 and Goat-Beetle. 1 
 
 Now whether seminall nebbes hold any sure pro- 
 portion unto seminall enclosures, why the form of the 
 germe doth not answer the figure of the enclosing pulp, 
 why the nebbe is seated upon the solid, and not the 
 channeld side of the seed as in grains, why since we 
 often meet with two yolks in one shell, and sometimes 
 one egge within another, we do not oftener meet with 
 two nebbes in one distinct seed : why since the Egges 
 of a Hen laid at one course, do commonly out-weigh 
 the bird, and some moths coming out of their cases, 
 without assistance of food, will lay so many egges as 
 to outweigh their bodies, trees rarely bear their fruit, 
 in that gravity or proportion : Whether in the ger- 
 mination of seeds according to the Hippocrates, the 
 lighter part ascendeth, and maketh the sprout, the 
 heaviest tending downward frameth the root ; Since 
 we observe that the first shoot of seeds in water, will 
 sink or bow down at the upper and leafing end : 
 Whether it be not more rational Epicurisme to con- 
 trive whole dishes out of the nebbes and spirited 
 particles of plants, then from the Gallatures and 
 treddles of Egges ; since that part is found to hold 
 no seminal share Oval Generation, are quaeries which 
 might enlarge but must conclude this digression. 
 
 And though not in this order, yet now nature de- 
 lighteth in this number, and what consent and co- 
 ordination there is in the leaves and parts of flowers, 
 it cannot escape our observation in no small number 
 of plants. For the calicular or supporting and closing 
 
 1 The long and tender green capricornus, rarely found, we could 
 never meet with but two.
 
 198 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 leaves, do answer the number of the flowers, especially 
 in such as exceed not the number of Swallows Egges ; 
 as in Violets, Stichwort, Blossomes, and flowers of 
 one leaf have often five divisions, answered by a like 
 number of calicular leaves ; as Gentianella, Convol- 
 vulus, Bell-flowers. In many the flowers, blades, or 
 staminous shootes and leaves are all equally five, as 
 in cockle, mullein and Blattana ; wherein the flowers 
 before explication are pentagonally wrapped up, with 
 some resemblance of the blatta or moth from whence 
 it hath its name : But the contrivance of nature is 
 singular in the opening and shutting of Bindeweeds, 
 performed by five inflexures, distinguishable by pyra- 
 midall figures, and also different colours. 
 
 The rose at first is thought to have been of five 
 leaves, as it yet groweth wilde among us ; but in the 
 most luxuriant, the calicular leaves do still maintain 
 that number. But nothing is more admired than the 
 five Brethren of the Rose, 1 and the strange disposure 
 of the Appendices or Beards, in the calicular leaves 
 thereof, which in despair of resolution is tolerably 
 salved from this contrivance, best ordered and suited 
 for the free closure of them before explication. For 
 those two which are smooth, and of no beard are con- 
 trived to lye undermost, as without prominent parts, 
 and fit to be smoothly covered ; the other two which 
 are beset with Beards on either side, stand outward 
 and uncovered, but the fifth or half-bearded leaf is 
 covered on the bare side but on the open side stands 
 free, and bearded like the other. 
 
 Besides a large number of leaves have five divisions, 
 and may be circumscribed by a pentagon or figure of 
 five Angles, made by right lines from the extremity of 
 their leaves, as in Maple, Vine, Figge-tree : But five- 
 leaved flowers are commonly disposed circularly about 
 
 1 Alluding to a rustic rhyme : 
 
 On a summer's day, in sultry weather, 
 Five brethren were born together, 
 Two had beards, and two had none, 
 And the other had but half a one. Jeff.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 199 
 
 the Stylus; according to the higher Geometry of 
 nature, dividing a circle by five radii, which concurre 
 not to make Diameters, as in Quadrilaterall and 
 sexangular Intersections. 
 
 Now the number of five is remarkable in every 
 circle, not only as the first sphaerical number, but the 
 measure of sphaerical motion. For sphaerical bodies 
 move by fives, and every globular figure placed upon 
 a plane, in direct volutation, returns to the first point 
 of contaction in the fifth touch, accounting by the 
 Axes of the Diameters or Cardinall points of the four 
 quarters thereof. And before it arriveth unto the 
 same point again, it maketh five circles equall unto 
 itself, in each progresse from those quarters absolving 
 an equall circle. 
 
 By the same number doth nature divide the circle 
 of the Sea-Starre, and in that order and number 
 disposeth these elegant Semi- Circles, or dentall sockets 
 and egges in the Sea Hedgehogge. And no mean 
 Observations hereof there is in the Mathematicks of 
 the neatest Retiary Spider, which concluding in fourty- 
 four Circles, from five Semidiameters beginneth that 
 elegant texture. 
 
 And after this manner both lay the foundation of 
 the circular branches of the Oak, which being five- 
 cornered, in the tender annual sprouts, and manifest- 
 ing upon incision the signature of a Starre, is after 
 made circular, and swel'd into a round body : Which 
 practice of nature is become a point of art, and makes 
 two Problemes in Euclide. 1 But the Bryar which 
 sends forth shoots and prickles from its angles, 
 maintain its pentagonall figure, and the unobserved 
 signature of a handsome porch within it. To omit 
 the five small buttons dividing the Circle of the Ivy- 
 berry, and the five characters in the Winter stalk of 
 the Walnut, with many other Observables, which 
 cannot escape the eyes of signal discerners ; Such as 
 know where to find, Ajax his name in Gallitricum, or 
 Aarons Mitre in Henbane. 
 
 1 Elem. lib. 4.
 
 2oo Garden of Cyrus 
 
 Quincuncial forms and ordinations are also ob- 
 servable in animal figurations. For to omit the hioides 
 or throat-bone of animals, the furcula or merry -thought 
 in birds, which supporteth the scapula, affording a 
 passage for the winde-pipe and the gullet, the wings of 
 Flyes, and disposure of their legges in their first forma- 
 tion from maggots, and the position of their horns, 
 wings and legges, in their Aurelian cases and swadling 
 clouts : The back of the Cimex Arboreus, found often 
 upon Trees and lesser plants, doth elegantly discover 
 the Burgundian decussation ; And the like is observable 
 in the belly of the Notonecton, or water-Beetle, which 
 swimmeth on its back, and the handsome Rhombusses 
 of the Sea-poult or weazel on either side the Spine. 
 
 The sexangular Cels in the Honeycombs of Bees, 
 are disposed after this order, much there is not of 
 wonder in the confused Houses of Pismires, though 
 much in their busie life and actions, more in the edificial 
 Palaces of Bees and Monarchical spirits ; who make 
 their combs six-corner'd, declining a circle, whereof 
 many stand not close together, and compleatly fill the 
 area of the place ; But rather affecting a six-sided 
 figure, whereby every cell affords a common side unto 
 six more, and also a fit receptacle for the Bee itself, 
 which gathering into a Cylindrical Figure, aptly enteis 
 its sexangular house, more nearly approaching a 
 circular Figure, then either doth the Square or 
 Triangle. And the Combes themselves so regularly 
 contrived, that their mutual intersections make three 
 Lozenges at the bottome of every Cell ; which 
 severally regarded make three Rows of neat Rhom- 
 boidall Figures, connected at the angles, and so 
 continue three several chains throughout the whole 
 comb. 
 
 As for the Favago, found commonly on the Sea 
 shoar, though named from an honey comb, it but 
 rudely makes out the resemblance, and better agrees 
 with the round Cels of humble Bees. He that would 
 exactly discern the shape of a Bees mouth, needs 
 observing eyes, and good augmenting glasses ; wherein
 
 Garden of Cyrus 201 
 
 is discoverable one of the neatest peeces in nature, 
 and he must have a more piercing eye than mine, who 
 finds out the shape of Buls heads, in the guts of 
 Drones pressed out behinde, according to the experi- 
 ment of Gomesius ; l wherein notwithstanding there 
 seemeth somewhat which might a pliant fancy to 
 credulity of similitude. 
 
 A resemblance hereof there is in the orderly and 
 rarely disposed Cels made by Flyes and Insects, which 
 we have often found fastened about small sprigs, and 
 in those cottonary and woolly pillows, which some- 
 times we meet with fastened unto Leaves, there is 
 included an elegant Net-work Texture, out of which 
 come many small Flies. And some resemblance there 
 is of this order in the Egges of some Butterflies and 
 moths, as they stick upon leaves, and other substances; 
 which being dropped from behinde, nor directed by 
 the eye, doth neatly declare how nature Geometrizeth, 
 and observeth order in all things. 
 
 A like correspondency in figure is found in the skins 
 and outward teguments of animals, whereof a regard- 
 able part are beautiful by this texture. As the backs 
 of several Snakes and Serpents, elegantly remarkable 
 in the Aspis, and the Dart-snake, in the Chiasmus and 
 larger decussations upon the back of the Rattle-snake, 
 and in the close and finer texture of the mater formi- 
 carum, or snake that delights in Ant-hils ; whereby upon 
 approach of outward injuries, they can raise a thicker 
 Phalanx on their backs, and handsomely contrive 
 themselves into all kindes of flexures ; Whereas their 
 bellies are commonly covered with smooth semicircular 
 divisions, as best accommodable unto their quick and 
 gliding motion. 
 
 This way is followed by nature in the peculiar and 
 remarkable tayl of the Bever, wherein the scaly par- 
 ticles are disposed, somewhat after this order, which 
 is the plainest resolution of the wonder of Bellonius, 
 while he saith, with incredible Artifice hath Nature 
 framed the tayl or Oar of the Bever: where by the way 
 1 Gom. de Sale.
 
 2O2 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 we cannot but wish a model of their houses, so much 
 extolled by some Describers : wherein since they are 
 so bold as to venture upon three stages, we might 
 examine their Artifice in the contignations, the rule 
 and order in the compartitions ; or whether that mag- 
 nified structure be any more than a rude rectangular 
 pyle or meer hovell-building. 
 
 Thus works the hand of nature in the feathery 
 plantation about birds. Observable in the skins of the 
 breast, 1 legs, and Pinions of Turkies, Geese, and 
 Ducks, and the Oars or finny feet of Water-Fowl : and 
 such a naturall Net is the scaly covering of Fishes, of 
 Mullets, Carps, Tenches, &c., even in such as are 
 excoriable and consist of smaller scales, as Bretts, 
 soals, and Flounders. The like Reticulate grain is 
 observable in some Russia leather. To omit the ruder 
 Figures of the ostracion, the triangular or cunny-fish, 
 or the pricks of the Sea- Porcupine. 
 
 The same is also observable in some part of the skin 
 of man, in habits of neat texture, and therefore not 
 unaptly compared unto a Net : We shall not affirm 
 that from such grounds, the Egyptian Embalmers 
 imitated this texture, yet in their linnen folds the same 
 is still observable among their neatest Mummies, in 
 the figures of Isis and Osyris, and the Tutelary spirits 
 in the Bembine Table. Nor is it to be overlooked how 
 Orus, the Hieroglyphick of the world, is described in 
 a Net-work covering, from the shoulder to the foot. 
 And (not to enlarge upon the cruciated character of 
 Trismegistus, or handed crosses, so often occurring in 
 the Needles of Pharoah, and Obelisks of Antiquity) 
 the Statute Isiaca, Teraphims, and little Idols, found 
 about the Mummies, do make a decussation of Jacob's 
 Crosse, with their armes, like that on the head of 
 Ephraim and Manasses, and this decussis is also graphic- 
 ally described between them. 
 
 This Reticulate or Net- work was also considerable 
 in the inward parts of man, not only from the first 
 
 1 Elegantly conspicuous on the inside of the stripped skins of 
 the Dive-Fowl, of Cormorant, Goshonder, Weasell, Loon, &c.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 203 
 
 subtegmen or warp of his formation, but in the netty 
 fibres of the veins and vessels of life ; wherein according 
 to common Anatomy the right and transverse fibres 
 are decussated, by the oblique fibres ; and so must 
 frame a Reticulate and Quincuncial Figure by their 
 Obliquations, Emphatically extending that Elegant 
 expression of Scripture " Thou hast curiously em- 
 broydered me," thou hast wrought me up after the 
 finest way of Texture, and as it were with a Needle. 
 
 Nor is the same observable only in some parts, but 
 in the whole body of man, which upon the extension 
 of arms and legges, doth make out a square, whose 
 intersection is at the genitals. To omit the fantastical 
 Quincunx in Plato of the first hermaphrodite or 
 double man, united at the Loynes, which Jupiter after 
 divided. 
 
 A rudimental resemblance hereof there is in the 
 cruciated and rugged folds of the Reticulum, or Net- 
 like Ventricle of ruminating horned animals, which is 
 the second in order, and culinarily called the Honey- 
 comb. For many divisions there are in the stomack 
 of severall animals: what number they maintain in 
 the Scarus and ruminating Fish, common description, 
 or our own experiment hath made no discovery. But 
 in the Ventricle of Porpuses there are three divisions. 
 In many Birds a crop, Gizzard, and little receptacle 
 before it ; but in Cornigerous animals, which chew the 
 cudd, there are no less than four of distinct position 
 and office. 
 
 The Reticulum by these crossed eels, makes a further 
 digestion, in the dry and exuccous part of the Aliment 
 received from the first Ventricle. For at the bottom 
 of the gullet there is a double Orifice ; What is first 
 received at the mouth descendeth into the first and 
 greater stomack, from whence it is returned into the 
 mouth again ; and after a fuller mastication, and 
 salivous mixture, what part thereof descendeth again, 
 in a moist and succulent body, it slides down the 
 softer and more permeable Orifice, into the Omasus 
 or third stomack ; and from thence conveyed into the
 
 204 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 fourth, receives its last digestion. The other dry and 
 exuccous part after ruminating by the larger and 
 stronger orifice beareth into the first stomack, from 
 thence into the Reticulum, and so progressively into 
 the other divisions. And therefore in Calves newly 
 calved, there is little or no use of the two first Ven- 
 tricles, for the milk and liquid aliment slippeth down 
 the softer Orifice, into the third stomach ; where 
 making little or no stay, it passeth into the fourth, 
 the seat of the Coagulum, or Runnet, or that division 
 of stomack which seems to bear the name of the 
 whole, in the Greek translation of the Priests Fee, in 
 the Sacrifice of Peace-offerings. 
 
 As for those Rhomboidal Figures made by the 
 cartilagineous part of the Wezon, in the Lungs of 
 great Fishes, and other animals, as Rondeletius dis- 
 covered, we have not found them so to answer our 
 figure as to be drawn into illustration ; Something 
 we expected in the more discernable texture of the 
 lungs of frogs, which notwithstanding being but two 
 curious bladders not weighing above a grain, we found 
 interwoven with veins, not observing any just order. 
 More orderly situated are those cretaceous and chalky 
 concretions found sometimes in the bignesse of a small 
 vetch 1 on either side their spine ; which being not 
 agreeable unto our order, nor yet observed by any, 
 we shall not here discourse on. 
 
 But had we found a better account and tolerable 
 Anatomy of that prominent jowle of the Sperma Ceti 
 Whale then questuary operation, 2 or the stench of the 
 last cast upon our shoar, permitted, we might have 
 perhaps discovered some handsome order in those 
 Net-like seases and sockets, made like honey combs, 
 containing that medicall matter. 
 
 Lastly, The Incession or locall motion of animals 
 is made with analogy unto this figure, by decussative 
 diametrals, Quincuncial Lines and angles. For to 
 omit the enquiry how Butterflies and breezes move 
 
 1 Orig. fech. 
 
 3 1652, described in our Pseudo. Epidcm, Edit. 3.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 205 
 
 their four wings, how birds and fishes in ayre and 
 water move by joynt stroaks of opposite wings and 
 Finnes, and how salient animals in jumping forward 
 seem to arise and fall upon a square base ; As the 
 station of most Quadrupeds is made upon a long 
 square, so in their motion they make a rhomboides ; 
 their common progression being performed Diamet- 
 rally, by decussation and crosse advancement of their 
 legges, which not observed, begot that remarkable 
 absurdity in the position of the legges of Castors horse 
 in the Capitol. The Snake which moveth circularly 
 makes his spires in like order, the convex and concave 
 spirals answering each other at alternate distances; 
 In the motion of man the armes and legges observe 
 this thwarting position, but the legges alone do move 
 Quincuncially by single angles with some resemblance 
 of a V measured by successive advancement from 
 each foot, and the angle of indenture greater or lesse, 
 according to the extent or brevity of the stride. 
 
 Studious Observators may discover more analogies 
 in the orderly book of nature, and cannot escape the 
 Elegancy of her hand in other correspondencies. 1 
 The Figures of nails and crucifying appurtenances, 
 are but precariously made out in the Granadilla or 
 flower of Christs passion : And we despair to behold 
 in these parts that handsome draught of crucifixion 
 in the fruit of the Barbado Pine. The seminal Spike 
 of Phalaris, or great shaking grasse, more nearly 
 
 1 In MSS. Sloan. 1847, occurs the following passage : " Con- 
 siderations are drawne from the signatures in the rootes of plants 
 resembling sometimes orderly shapes and figures ; those are 
 made according as the pores or ascending fibres are posited in 
 the plants. Wherby alimental juce and stablishing fibre ascend. 
 The brake makes an handsome figure of a tree ; the osmund 
 royall a semicircle or raynebowe ; the sedge a neate print ; the 
 annual surcles of the oake a five poynted starre according to the 
 figure of the twigge ; the stalk of the figge a triangle ; carrots 
 and many other a flosculous figure ; the first rudiments of the 
 sprouts of pyonie give starres of an handsome posie ; the budds 
 of plants with large leaves and many flowers cutt, show the 
 artificiall complications in a wonderfull manner."
 
 2o6 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 answers the tayl of a Rattle-Snake, then many re- 
 semblances in Porta : And if the man Orchis 1 of 
 Columna be well made out, it excelleth all analogies. 
 In young Wallnuts cut athwart, it is not hard to 
 apprehend strange characters ; and in those of some- 
 what elder growth, handsome ornamental draughts 
 about a plain crosse. In the root of Osmond or Water- 
 fern, every eye may discern the form of a Half Moon, 
 Rain-bow, or half the character of Pisces. Some find 
 Hebrew, Arabick, Greek, and Latine Characters in 
 Plants ; In a common one among us we seem to read 
 Ac aia, Viviu, Lilil. 
 
 Right lines and circles make out the bulk of plants ; 
 In the parts thereof we finde heliacal or spiral roundles, 
 volutas, conicall Sections, circular Pyramids, and 
 frustums of Archimedes; And cannot overlook the 
 orderly hand of nature, in the alternate succession 
 of the flat and narrower sides in the tender shoots of 
 the Ashe, or the regular inequality of bignesse in the 
 five-leaved flowers of Henbane, and something like in 
 the calicular leaves of Tutsan. How the spots of 
 Persicaria do manifest themselves between the sixt 
 and tenth ribbe. How the triangular capp in the 
 stemme or stylus of Tuleps doth constantly point at 
 three outward leaves. That spicated flowers do open 
 first at the stalk. That white flowers have yellow 
 thrums or knops. That the nebbe of Beans and 
 Pease do all look downward, and so presse not upon 
 each other ; And how the seeds of many pappous or 
 downy flowers lock-up in sockets after a gomphosis or 
 myfos-articulation, diffuse themselves circularly into 
 branches of rare order, observable in Tvagopogon or 
 Goats-beard, conformable to the Spider's web, and 
 the Radii in like manner telarely inter-woven. 
 
 And how in animall natures, even colours hold cor- 
 respondencies, and mutual correlations. That the 
 colour of the Caterpillar will shew again in the 
 Butterfly, with some latitude is allowable. Though 
 the regular spots in their wings seem but a mealie 
 1 Orchis Anthropophora, Fabii Columna.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 207 
 
 adhesion, and such as may be wiped away, yet since 
 they come in this variety, out of their cases, there 
 must be regular pores in those parts and membrances, 
 defining such Exudations. 
 
 That Augustus 1 had native notes on his body and 
 belly, after the order and number in the Starres of 
 Charles wayne, will not seem strange unto astral 
 Physiognomy, which accordingly considereth moles 
 in the body of man, or Physicall Observators, who 
 from the position of moles in the face, reduce them to 
 rule and correspondency in other parts. Whether 
 after the like method medicall conjecture may not be 
 raised, upon parts inwardly affected ; since parts about 
 the lips are the critical seats of Pustules discharged in 
 Agues ; and scrofulous tumours about the neck do so 
 often speak the like about the Mesentery, may also be 
 considered. 
 
 The russet neck in young Lambs seems but ad- 
 ventitious, and may owe its tincture to some contrac- 
 tion in the womb ; But that if sheep have any black 
 or deep russet in their faces, they want not the same 
 about their legges and feet ; that black Hounds have 
 mealy mouths and feet ; that black Cows which have 
 any white in their tayls, should not misse of some in 
 their bellies ; and if all white in their bodies, yet if 
 black-mouth'd, their ears and feet maintain the same 
 colour, are correspondent tinctures not ordinarily fail- 
 ing in nature, which easily unites the accidents of 
 extremities, since in some generations she transmutes 
 the parts themselves, while in the Aurelian Metamor- 
 phosis the head of the canker becomes the Tayl of the 
 Butterfly. Which is in some way not beyond the 
 contrivance of Art, in submersions and Inlays, invert- 
 ing the extremes of the plant, and fetching the root 
 from the top, and also imitated in handsome columnary 
 work, in the inversion of the extremes ; wherein the 
 Capitel, and the Base, hold such near correspondency. 
 
 In the motive parts of animals may be discovered 
 mutual proportions ; not only in those of Quadrupeds, 
 1 Suet, in vit. Aug.
 
 208 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 but in the thigh-bone, legge, foot-bone, and claws of 
 Birds. The legs of spiders are made after a sesqui- 
 tertian proportion, and the long legs of some locusts, 
 double unto some others. But the internodial parts 
 of Vegetables, or spaces between the joints, are con- 
 trived with more uncertainty ; though the joints them- 
 selves, in many plants, maintain a regular number. 
 
 In vegetable composure, the unition of prominent 
 parts seems most to answer the Apophyses or processes 
 of Animall bones, whereof they are the produced parts 
 or prominent explantations. And though in the parts 
 of plants which are not ordained for motion, we do not 
 expect correspondent Articulation : yet in the setting 
 on of some flowers and seeds in their sockets, and the 
 lineal commissure of the pulpe of severall seeds, may 
 be observed some shadow of the Harmony ; some 
 show of the Gomphosis or nwrtis-articu\a.tion. 
 
 As for the Diorthrosis or motive Articulation, there 
 is expected little Analogy, though long-stalked leaves 
 doe move by long lines, and have observable motions, 
 yet are they made by outward impulsion, like the 
 motion of pendulous bodies, while the parts themselves 
 are united by some kinde of symphysis unto the stock. 
 
 But standing vegetables, void of motive-Articula- 
 tions, are not without many motions. For beside the 
 motion of vegetation upward, and of radiation unto all 
 quarters, that of contraction, dilatation, inclination, 
 and contortion, is discoverable in many plants. To 
 omit the rose of Jericho, the ear of Rye, which moves 
 with change of weather, and the Magical spit, made 
 of no rare plants, which windes before the fire, and 
 rosts the bird without turning. 
 
 Even Animals near the Classis of plants, seem to 
 have the most restless motions. The Summer-worm 
 of Ponds and plashes, makes a long waving motion, 
 the hair-worm seldome lies still. He that would 
 behold a very anomalous motion, may observe it in 
 the Tortile and tiring stroaks of Gnat-worms. 1 
 
 1 Found often in some form of red maggot in the standing 
 waters of cisterns in the summer.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 209 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 As for the delights, commodities, mysteries, with 
 other concernments of this order, we are unwilling to 
 fly them over, in the short deliveries of Virgil, Varro, 
 or others, and shall therefore enlarge with additional! 
 ampliations. 
 
 By this position they had a just proportion of 
 Earth, to supply an equality of nourishment. The 
 distance being ordered, thick or thin, according to the 
 magnitude or vigorous attraction of the plant, the 
 goodnesse, leannesse or propriety of the soyle, and 
 therefore the rule of Solon, concerning the territory of 
 Athens, not extendible unto all; allowing the distance 
 of six foot unto common Trees, and nine for the Figge 
 and Olive. 
 
 They had a due diffusion of their roots on all or 
 both sides, whereby they maintained some proportion 
 to their height, in Trees of large radication. For that 
 they strictly make good their profundeur or depth unto 
 their height, according to common conceit, and that 
 expression of Virgil, 1 though confirmable from the 
 plane Tree in Pliny, and some few examples, is not to 
 be expected from the generation of Trees almost in 
 any kinde, either of side-spreading, or tap roots : 
 Except we measure them by lateral and opposite 
 diffusions : nor commonly to be found in minor or 
 hearby plants ; If we except Sea-holly, Liquorice, Sea- 
 rush, and some others. 
 
 They had a commodious radiation in their growth ; 
 and a due expansion of their branches, for shadow or 
 delight. For trees thickly planted, do runne up in 
 height and branch with no expansion, shooting un- 
 equally or short, and thinne upon the neighbouring 
 side. And therefore Trees are inwardly bare, and 
 spring, and leaf from the outward and Sunny side of 
 their branches. 
 
 1 Quantum vertice ad auras sEthereas, tantum radice ad Tartara 
 tendit.
 
 2io Garden of Cyrus 
 
 Whereby they also avoided 
 or one tree perishing with another, as it happeneth 
 ofttimes from the sick effluviums or entanglements of 
 the roots, falling foul with each other. Observable in 
 elmes set in hedges, where if one dieth, the neighbour- 
 ing Tree prospereth not long after. 
 
 In this situation divided into many intervals and 
 open unto six passages, they had the advantage of a 
 fair perflation from windes, brushing and cleansing 
 their surfaces, relaxing and closing their pores unto 
 due perspiration. For that they afford large effluviums 
 perceptible from odours, diffused at great distances, is 
 observable from Onyons out of the earth ; which 
 though dry, and kept until the spring, as they shoot 
 forth large and many leaves, do notably abate of 
 their weight. And mint growing in glasses of water, 
 until it arriveth unto the weight of an ounce, in 
 a shady place, will sometimes exhaust a pound of 
 water. 
 
 And as they send much forth, so may they receive 
 somewhat in : For beside the common way and road 
 of reception by the root, there may be a refection and 
 imbibition from without ; For gentle showrs refresh 
 plants, though they enter not their roots ; And the 
 good and bad effluviums of Vegetables, promote or 
 debilitate each other. So Epithymum and Dodder, 
 rootlesse and out of the ground, maintain themselves, 
 upon Thyme, Savory, and plants whereon they hang. 
 And Ivy divided from the root, we have observed to 
 live some years, by the cirrous parts commonly con- 
 ceived but as tenacles and holdfasts unto it. The 
 stalks of mint cropt from the root stripped from the 
 leaves, and set in glasses with the root end upward, 
 and out of the water, we have observed to send forth 
 sprouts and leaves without the aid of roots, and 
 scordium to grow in like manner, the leaves set down- 
 ward in water. To omit severall Sea plants, which 
 grow on single roots from stones, although in very 
 many there are side shoots and fibres, beside the 
 fastening root.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 211 
 
 By this open position they were fairly exposed unto 
 the rayes of Moon and Sunne, so considerable in the 
 growth of Vegetables. For though Poplars, Willows, 
 and severall Trees be made to grow about the brinks 
 of A charon, and dark habitations of the dead ; Though 
 some plants are content to grow in obscure Wells ; 
 wherein also old elme pumps afford sometimes long 
 bushy sprouts, not observable in any above ground : 
 And large fields of Vegetables are able to maintain 
 their verdure at the bottome and shady part of the 
 Sea ; yet the greatest number are not content without 
 the actual rayes of the Sunne, but bend, incline, and 
 follow them ; As large lists of solisequious or sun 
 following plants. And some observe the method of 
 its motion in their owne growth and conversion, 
 twining towards the West by the South, 1 as Bryony, 
 Hops, Woodbine, and several kindes of Bindeweed, 
 which we shall more admire ; when any can tell us, they 
 observe another motion, and twist by the North at 
 the Antipodes. The same plants rooted against an 
 erect North-wall full of holes, will finde a way through 
 them to look upon the Sunne. And in tender plants 
 from mustard seed, sown in the winter, and in a pot 
 of earth placed inwardly against a South-window, the 
 tender stalks of two leaves arose not erect, but bend- 
 ing towards the window, nor looking much higher 
 than the Meridian Sun. And if the pot were turned 
 they would work themselves into their former declina- 
 tions, making their conversion by the East. That the 
 Leaves of the Olive and some other Trees solstitially 
 turn, and precisely tell us, when the Sun is entred Cancer, 
 is scarce expectable in any Climate ; and Theophrastus 
 warily observes it ; Yet somewhat thereof is observable 
 in our own, in the leaves of Willows and Sallows, 
 some weeks after the Solstice. But the great Con- 
 volvulus, or white flower 'd Bindweed, observes both 
 motions of the sunne, while the flower twists ^Equinoc- 
 
 1 Fkctat ad Aquilonem, et declinit ad Austrum, is Solon's descrip- 
 tion of the motion of the sun. Author's note, from MS. Sloan. 
 1847.
 
 212 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 tionially from the left hand to the right, according to 
 the daily revolution ; The stalk twineth ecliptically 
 from the right to the left, according to the annual 
 conversion. 
 
 Some commend the exposure of these orders unto 
 the Western gales, as the most generative and fructi- 
 fying breath of heaven. But we applaud the Husbandry 
 of Solomon, whereto agreeth the doctrine of Theophrastus. 
 Arise O north winde, and blow thou South upon my 
 garden, that the spices thereof may flow out ; For the 
 north-winde closing the pores, and shutting up the 
 effluviums, when the South doth after open and relax 
 them ; the Aromaticall gummes do drop, and sweet 
 odours fly actively from them. And if his garden had 
 the same situation, which mapps, and charts afford it, 
 on the East side of Jerusalem, and having the wall on 
 the west ; these were the windes unto which it was well 
 exposed. 
 
 By this way of plantation they increased the number 
 of their trees, which they lost in Quaternions, and square 
 orders, which is a commodity insisted on by Varro, and 
 one great intent of nature, in this position of flowers 
 and seeds in the elegant formation of plants, and the 
 former Rules observed in naturall and artificial 
 Figurations. 
 
 Whether in this order and one Tree in some measure 
 breaking the cold, and pinching gusts of windes from 
 the other, trees will not better maintain their inward 
 circles, and either escape or moderate their eccen- 
 tricities, may also be considered. For the circles in 
 Trees are naturally concentricall parallell unto the 
 bark, and unto each other, till frost and piercing windes 
 contract and close them on the weather side, the 
 opposite semicircle widely enlarging, and at a comely 
 distance, which hindreth ofttimes the beauty and 
 roundnesse of Trees, and makes the Timber lesse ser- 
 viceable ; whiles the ascending juyce, not readily 
 passing, settles in knots and inequalities. And there- 
 fore it is no new course of Agriculture, to observe the
 
 Garden of Cyrus 213 
 
 native position of Trees according to North and South 
 in their transplantations. 1 
 
 The same is also observable under ground in the 
 circinations and sphaerical rounds of Onyons, wherein 
 the circles of the orbes are oft times larger, and the 
 meridionall lines stand wider upon one side than the 
 other. And where the largenesse will make up the 
 number of planetical Orbes, that of Luna, and the 
 lower planets exceed the dimensions of Satuvne, and 
 the higher; Whether the like be not verified in the 
 Circles of the large roots of Briony and Mandrakes, or 
 why in the knotts of Deale or Firre, the Circles are 
 often eccentricall, although not in a plane, but vertical 
 and right position, deserves a further enquiry. 
 
 Whether there be not some irregularity of round- 
 nesse in most plants according to their position ? 
 Whether some small compression of pores be not per- 
 ceptible in parts which stand against the current of 
 waters, as in Reeds, Bullrushes, and other vegetables 
 toward the streaming quarter, may also be observed, 
 and therefore such as are long and weak, are commonly 
 contrived into a roundnesse of figure, whereby the 
 water presseth lesse, and slippeth more smoothly from 
 them, and even in flags of flat-figured leaves, the 
 greater part obvert their sharper sides unto the current 
 in ditches. 
 
 But whether plants which float upon the surface of 
 the water, be for the most part of cooling qualities, 
 those which shoot above it of heating vertues, and 
 
 1 In MS. Sloan. 1847, is the following passage:" The sap in 
 trees observes the circle and right line. Trees being to grow up 
 tall, were made long and strong ; of the strongest columnar 
 figure, round. The lines are strongest for the most part, and in 
 many equidistant, as in firs ; the circles homocentrical, except 
 perverted by situation ; the circles on the northern, or side 
 exposed to cold winds, being more contracted. In the knots of 
 fir, the right lines broken from their course do run into homo- 
 centrical circles, whether in round or oval knots." 
 
 In MS. Sloan. 1847, occurs also the following passage : 
 1 ' Trees set under a north wall will be larger circled than that 
 side exposed unto the weather : trees set in open high places, near 
 the sea, will close their circles on that side which respecteth it."
 
 214 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 why ? whether Sargasso for many miles floating upon 
 the Western Ocean, or Sea- Lettuce and Phasganium 
 at the bottome of our Seas, make good the like quali- 
 ties ? Why Fenny waters afford the hottest and 
 sweetest plants, as Calamus, Cyperus, and Crow-foot, 
 and mudd cast out of ditches most naturally produceth 
 Arsmart ? Why plants so greedy of water so little 
 regard oyl ? Why since many seeds contain much 
 oyle within them, they endure it not well without, 
 either in their growth or production ? Why since 
 Seeds shoot commonly under ground, and out of the 
 ayre, those which are let fall in shallow glasses, upon 
 the surface of the water, will sooner sprout than those 
 at the bottom ? And if the water be covered with 
 oyle, those at the bottome will hardly sprout at all, 
 we have not room to conjecture. 
 
 Whether Ivy would not lesse offend the Trees in 
 this clean ordination, and well-kept paths, might per- 
 haps deserve the question. But this were a quaery 
 only unto some habitations, and little concerning Cyrus 
 or the Babylonian territory ; wherein by no industry 
 Harpalus could make Ivy grow ; And Alexander hardly 
 found it about those parts to imitate the pomp of 
 Bacchus. And though in these Northern Regions we 
 are too much acquainted with one Ivy, we know too 
 little of another, whereby we apprehend not the ex- 
 pressions of Antiquity, the Splenetick medicine 1 of 
 Galen, and the Emphasis of the Poet, in the beauty of 
 the white Ivy. 2 
 
 The like concerning the growth of Misseltoe, which 
 dependeth not only of the species, or kinde of Tree, but 
 much also of the Soil. And therefore common in 
 some places, not readily found in others, frequent in 
 France, not so common in Spain, and scarce at all in 
 the Territory of Ferrara ; Nor easily to be found where 
 it is most required, upon Oaks, less on Trees con- 
 tinually verdant. Although in some places the Olive 
 escapeth it not, requiting its detriment, in the delight- 
 full view of its red Berries; as Clusius observed in 
 
 1 Galen, de Med. secundum loc. a Hederd formosior alba.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 215 
 
 Spain, and Bellonius about Hicrusalem. But tnis Para- 
 siticall plant suffers nothing to grow upon it, by any 
 way of art; nor could we ever make it grow where 
 nature had not planted it ; as we have in vain attempted 
 by inoculation and incision, upon its native or forreign 
 stock. And though there seems nothing improbable 
 in the seed, it hath not succeeded by sation in any 
 manner of ground, wherein we had no reason to 
 despair, since we reade of vegetable horns, and how 
 Rams horns will root about Goa. 1 
 
 But besides these rurall commodities, it cannot be 
 meanly delectable in the variety of Figures, which 
 these orders, open and closed, do make. Whilest 
 every inclosure makes a Rhombus, the figures obliquely 
 taken a Rhomboides, the intervals bounded with 
 parallell lines, and each intersection built upon a 
 square, affording two Triangles or Pyramids vertically 
 conjoyned ; which in the strict Quincunciall order doe 
 oppositely make acute and blunt Angles. 
 
 And though therein we meet not with right angles, 
 yet every Rhombus containing four Angles equall unto 
 two right, it virtually contains two right in every one. 
 Nor is this strange unto such as observe the naturall 
 lines of Trees, and parts disposed in them. For 
 neither in the root doth nature affect this angle, which 
 shooting downward for the stability of the plant, doth 
 best effect the same by Figures of Inclination ; Nor 
 in the Branches and stalky leaves, which grow most 
 at acute angles ; as declining from their head the root, 
 and diminishing their Angles with their altitude : 
 Verified also in lesser Plants, whereby they better 
 support themselves, and bear not so heavily upon the 
 stalk ; So that while near the root they often make an 
 Angle of seventy parts, the sprouts near the top will 
 often come short of thirty. Even in the nerves and 
 master veins of the leaves the acute angle ruleth ; the 
 obtuse but seldome found, and in the backward part 
 of the leaf, reflecting and arching about the stalk. 
 But why ofttimes one side of the leaf is unequall unto 
 1 Linschoten,
 
 216 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 the other, as in Hazell and Oaks, why on either side 
 the master vein the lesser and derivative channels 
 stand not directly opposite, nor at equall angles, 
 respectively unto the adverse side, but those of one 
 part do often exceed the other, as the Wallnut and 
 many more, deserves another enquiry. 
 
 Now if for this order we affect coniferous and taper- 
 ing Trees, particularly the Cypresse, which grows in 
 a conicall figure ; we have found a Tree not only of 
 great Ornament, but, in its Essentials, of affinity unto 
 this order. A solid Rhombus being made by the con- 
 version of two Equicrural Cones, as Archimedes hath 
 defined. And these were the common Trees about 
 Babylon, and the East, whereof the Ark was made ; 
 and Alexander found no Trees so accommodable to 
 build his Navy ; and this we rather think to be the 
 Tree mentioned in the Canticles, which stricter 
 Botanology will hardly allow to be Camphire. 
 
 And if delight or ornamentall view invite a comely 
 disposure by circular amputations, as is elegantly per- 
 formed in Hawthorns ; then will they answer the 
 figures made by the conversion of a Rhombus, which 
 maketh two concentricall Circles ; the greater Circum- 
 ference being made by the lesser angles, the lesser by 
 the greater. 
 
 The Cylindrical figure of Trees is virtually contained 
 and latent in this order. A Cylinder or long round 
 being made by the conversion or turning of a Paral- 
 lelogram, and most handsomely by a long square, 
 which makes an equall, strong, and lasting figure in 
 Trees, agreeable unto the body and motive parts of 
 animals, the greatest number of Plants, and almost all 
 roots, though their stalks be angular, and of many 
 corners, which seem not to follow the figure of their 
 Seeds; Since many angular Seeds send forth round 
 stalks, and sphaericall seeds arise from angular spindles, 
 and many rather conform unto their Roots, as the 
 round stalks of bulbous Roots ; and in tuberous Roots 
 stemmes of like figure. But why since the largest 
 number of Plants maintain a circular Figure, there
 
 Garden of Cyrus 217 
 
 are so few with teretous or long round leaves ; why 
 coniferous Trees are tenuifolious or narrow-leaved ; 
 why Plants of few or no joynts have commonly round 
 stalks, why the greatest number of hollow stalks are 
 round stalks ; or why in this variety of angular stalks 
 the quadrangular most exceedeth, were too long a 
 speculation ; Meanwhile obvious experience may finde, 
 that in Plants of divided leaves above, nature often 
 beginneth circularly in the two first leaves below, 
 while in the singular plant of Ivy she exerciseth a 
 contrary Geometry, and beginning with angular leaves 
 below, rounds them in the upper branches. 
 
 Nor can the rows in this order want delight, as 
 carrying an aspect answerable unto the dipteros 
 hypathros, or double order of columns open above ; the 
 opposite ranks of Trees standing like pillars in the 
 Cavedia of the Courts of famous buildings, and the 
 Portico's of the Templa subdialia of old ; Somewhat 
 imitating the Peristylia or Cloyster buildings, and 
 the JLxedvcE of the Ancients, wherein men discoursed, 
 walked and exercised ; For that they derived the rule 
 of Columnes from Trees, especially in their propor- 
 tionall diminutions, is illustrated by Vitruvius from 
 the shafts of Firre and Pine. And though the inter- 
 arboration do imitate the Areostylos, or thin order, not 
 strictly answering the proportion of inter-columnia- 
 tions ; yet in many Trees they will not exceed the 
 intermission of the Columnes in the Court of the 
 Tabernacle ; which being an hundred cubits long, and 
 made up by twenty pillars, will afford no lesse than 
 intervals of five cubits. 
 
 Beside, in this kinde of aspect the sight being not 
 diffused but circumscribed between long parallels and 
 the eVtcrKtacr/zbs and adumbration from the branches, 
 it frameth a penthouse over the eye, and maketh a 
 quiet vision : And therefore in diffused and open 
 aspects, men hollow their hand above their eye, and 
 make an artificiall brow, whereby they direct the dis- 
 persed rayes of sight, and by this shade preserve a 
 moderate light in the chamber of the eye ; keeping the
 
 218 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 piipilla plump and fair, and not contracted or shrunk 
 as in light and vagrant vision. 
 
 And therefore providence hath arched and paved 
 the great house of the world, with colours of medi- 
 ocrity, that is, blew and green, above and below the 
 sight, moderately terminating the acies of the eye. 
 For most plants, though green above-ground, maintain 
 their Originall white below it, according to the candour 
 of their seminall pulp, and the rudimental leaves do 
 first appear in that colour ; observable in Seeds sprout- 
 ing in water upon their first foliation. Green seeming 
 to be the first supervenient, or above-ground com- 
 plexion of Vegetables, separable in many upon ligature 
 or inhumation, as Succory, Endive, Artichoaks, and 
 which is also lost upon fading in the Autumn. 
 
 And this is also agreeable unto water itself, the 
 alimental vehicle of plants, which first altereth into 
 this colour; And containing many vegetable semin- 
 alities, revealeth their Seeds by greennesse ; and there- 
 fore soonest expected in rain or standing water, not 
 easily found in distilled or water strongly boiled ; 
 wherein the Seeds are extinguished by fire and decoc- 
 tion, and therefore last long and pure without such 
 alteration, affording neither uliginous coats, gnat- 
 worms, Acari, hair-worms, like crude and common 
 water ; And therefore most fit for wholesome beverage, 
 and with malt makes Ale and Beer without boyling. 
 What large water-drinkers some Plants are, the 
 Canary-Tree and Birches in some Northern Countries, 
 drenching the Fields about them, do sufficiently demon- 
 strate. How water itself is able to maintain the 
 growth of Vegetables, and without extinction of their 
 generative or medicall vertues ; Beside the experiment 
 of Helmonts tree, we have found in some which have 
 lived six years in glasses. The seeds of Scurvy-grasse 
 growing in water- pots, have been fruitful in the Land; 
 and Asarum after a years space, and once casting its 
 leaves in water, in the second leaves, hath handsomely 
 performed its vomiting operation. 
 
 Nor are only dark and green colours, but shades
 
 Garden of Cyrus 219 
 
 and shadows contrived through the great Volume of 
 nature, and trees ordained not only to protect and 
 shadow others, but by their shades and shadowing 
 parts, to preserve and cherish themselves. The whole 
 radiation or branchings shadowing the stock and the 
 root, the leaves, the branches and fruit, too much 
 exposed to the windes and scorching Sunne. The 
 calicular leaves inclose the tender flowers, and the 
 flowers themselves lye wrapt about the seeds, in their 
 rudiment and first formations, which being advanced 
 the flowers fall away ; and are therefore contrived in 
 variety of figures, best satisfying the intention ; Hand- 
 somely observable in hooded and gaping flowers, and 
 the Butterfly bloomes of leguminous plants, the lower 
 leaf closely involving the rudimental Cod, and the 
 alary or wingy divisions embracing or hanging over it. 
 
 But Seeds themselves do lie in perpetual shades, 
 either under the leaf, or shut up in coverings ; and 
 such as lye barest, have their husks, skins, and pulps 
 about them, wherein the nebbe and generative particle 
 lyeth moist and secured from the injury of ayre and 
 Sunne. Darknesse and light hold interchangeable 
 dominions, and alternately rule the seminal state of 
 things. Light unto Pluto 1 is darkness unto Jupiter. 
 Legions of seminall Ideas lye in their second Chaos 
 and Orcus of Hipocrates; till putting on the habits of 
 their forms, they shew themselves upon the stage of 
 the world, and open dominion of Jove. They that 
 held the Stars of heaven were but rayes and flashing 
 glimpses of the Empyreall light, through holes and 
 perforations of the upper heaven, took of the natural 
 shadows of stars, while according to better discovery 
 the poor Inhabitants of the Moone have but a polary 
 life, 2 and must passe half their dayes in the shadow of 
 that Luminary. 
 
 Light that makes things seen, makes some things 
 invisible, were it not for darknesse and the shadow 
 of the earth, the noblest part of the Creation had re- 
 
 1 Lux orco, (enebrts Jovi ; tenebra orco, lux Jovi. Hippocr. de Dicta. 
 
 2 S. Hevelii Selmographia.
 
 220 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 mained unseen, and the Stars in heaven as invisible as 
 on the fourth day, when they were created above the 
 Horizon, with the Sun, or there was not an eye to 
 behold them. The greatest mystery of Religion is ex- 
 pressed by adumbration, and in the noblest part of 
 Jewish Types, we find the Cherubims shadowing the 
 Mercy-seat : Life itself is but the shadow of death, 
 and souls departed but the shadows of the living : All 
 things fall under this name. The Sunne itself is but 
 the dark simulachmm, and light but the shadow of 
 God. 
 
 Lastly, it is no wonder that this Quincunciall order 
 was first and is still affected as gratefull unto the eye : 
 For all things are seen Quincuncially ; for at the eye 
 the Pyramidal rayes, from the object, receive a decus 
 sation, and so strike a second base upon the Retina or 
 hinder coat, the proper organ of Vision ; wherein the 
 pictures from objects are represented, answerable to 
 the paper, or wall in the dark chamber ; after the 
 decussation of the rayes at the hole of the horny-coat, 
 and their refraction upon the Christalline humour, 
 answering the foramen of the window, and the convex 
 or burning-glasses, which refract the rayes that enter 
 it. And if ancient Anatomy would hold, a like dispo- 
 sure there was of the optick or visual nerves in the 
 brain, wherein Antiquity conceived a concurrence by 
 decussation. And this not only observable in the 
 Laws of direct Vision, but in some part also verified 
 in the reflected rayes of sight. For making the angle 
 of incidence equal to that of reflection, the visuall 
 raye returneth Quincuncially, and after the form of a 
 V, and the line of reflection being continued unto the 
 place of vision, there ariseth a semi - decussation, 
 which makes the object seen in a perpendicular unto 
 itself, and as farre below the reflectent, as it is from it 
 above ; observable in the Sun and Moon beheld in 
 water. 
 
 And this is also the law of reflection in moved 
 bodies and sounds, which though not made by decus- 
 sation, observe the rule of equality between incidence
 
 Garden of Cyrus 221 
 
 and reflexion ; whereby whispering places are framed 
 by Ellipticall arches laid sidewise ; where the voice 
 being delivered at the focus of one extremity, observing 
 an equality unto the angle of incidence, it will reflect 
 unto the focus of the other end, and so escape the ears 
 of the standers in the middle. 
 
 A like rule is observed in the reflection of the vocall 
 and sonorous line in Ecchoes, which cannot therefore 
 be heard in all stations. But happening in woody 
 plantations, by waters, and able to return some words 
 if reacht by a pleasant and well-dividing voice, there 
 may be heard the softest notes in nature. 
 
 And this not only verified in the way of sence, but 
 in animall and intellectuall receptions. Things entring 
 upon the intellect by a Pyramid from without, and 
 thence into the memory by another from within, the 
 common decussation being in the understanding as is 
 delivered by Bovillus. 1 Whether the intellectual and 
 phantastical lines be not thus rightly disposed, but 
 magnified, diminished, distorted, and ill placed in the 
 Mathematicks of some brains, whereby they have 
 irregular apprehensions of things, perverted notions, 
 conceptions, and incurable hallucinations, were no 
 unpleasant speculation. 
 
 And if ^Egyptian Philosophy may obtain, the scale 
 of influences was thus disposed, and the geniall spirits 
 of both worlds do trace their way in ascending and 
 descending Pyramids, mystically apprehended in the 
 letter X, and the open Bill and stradling Legges of a 
 Stork, which was imitated by that Character. 
 
 Of this Figure Plato made choice to illustrate the 
 motion of the soul, both of the world and man ; while 
 he delivereth that God divided the whole conjunction 
 length-wise, according to the figure of a Greek X* 
 and then turning it about reflected it into a circle ; By 
 the circle implying the uniform motion of the first Orb, 
 and by the right lines, the planetical and various 
 motions within it. And this also with application unto 
 the soul of man, which hath a double aspect, one right, 
 1 Car. Bovillus de Intellects..
 
 222 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 whereby it beholdeth the body, and objects without ; 
 another circular and reciprocal, whereby it beholdeth 
 itself. The circle declaring the motion of the indi- 
 visible soul, simple, according to the divinity of its 
 nature, and returning into itself; the right lines re- 
 specting the motion pertaining unto sense, and vegeta- 
 tion, and the central decussation, the wondrous 
 connexion of the severall faculties conjointly in one 
 substance. And so conjoyned the unity and duality 
 of the soul, and made out the three substances so much 
 considered by him ; That is, the indivisible or divine, 
 the divisible or corporeal, and that third, which was 
 the Systasis or harmony of those two, in the mystical 
 decussation. 
 
 And if that were clearly made out which Justin 
 Martyr took for granted, this figure hath had the 
 honour to characterize and notifie our blessed Saviour, 
 as he delivereth in that borrowed expression frojn 
 Plato ; Decussavit eum in universe, the hint whereof he 
 would have Plato derive from the figure of the brazen 
 Serpent, and to have mistaken the Letter X for T, 
 whereas it is not improbable, he learned these and 
 other mystical expressions in his Learned Observa- 
 tions of ^Egypt, where he might obviously behold the 
 Mercurial characters, the handed crosses, and other 
 mysteries not thoroughly understood in the sacred 
 Letter X ; which being derivative from the Stork, one 
 of the ten sacred animals, might be originally ^Egyp- 
 tian, and brought into Greece by Cadmus of that 
 Countrey. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 To enlarge this contemplation unto all the mysteries 
 and secrets, accommodable unto this number, were 
 inexcusable Pythagorisme, yet cannot omit the ancient 
 conceit of five surnamed the number of justice; 1 as 
 justly dividing between the digits, and hanging in the 
 centre of Nine, described by square numeration, which 
 1 Sim}.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 223 
 
 angularly divided will make the decussated number ; 
 and so agreeable unto the Quincunciall Ordination, 
 and rowes divided by Equality, and just decorum, in 
 the whole corn-plantation ; And might be the original! 
 of that common game among us, wherein the fifth 
 place is Soveraigne, and carrieth the chief intention. 
 The Ancients wisely instructing youth, even in their 
 recreations unto virtue, that is, early to drive at the 
 middle point and Central Seat of justice. 
 
 Nor can we omit how agreeable unto this number 
 an handsome division is made in Trees and Plants, 
 since Plutarch, and the Ancients have named it the 
 Divisive Number, justly dividing the Entities of the 
 world, many remarkable things in it, and also compre- 
 hending the generall division of Vegetables. 1 And he 
 that considers how most blossomes of Trees, and 
 greatest number of Flowers, consist of five leaves; 
 and therein doth rest the setled rule of nature ; So 
 that in those which exceed there is often found, or 
 easily made a variety ; may readily discover how nature 
 rests in this number, which is indeed the first rest and 
 pause of numeration in the fingers, the naturall Organs 
 thereof. Nor in the division of the feet of perfect 
 animals doth nature exceed this account. And even 
 in the joints of feet, which in birds are most multiplied, 
 surpasseth not this number ; So progressionally 
 making them out in many, that from five in the 
 fore-claw she descendeth unto two in the hindemost ; 
 and so in fewer feet makes up the number of joynts, 
 in the five fingers or toes of man. 
 
 Not to omit the Quintuple section of a Cone 2 of 
 handsome practise in Ornamentall Garden-plots, and 
 in some way discoverable in so many works of Nature ; 
 In the leaves, fruits, and seeds of Vegetables, and 
 scales of some Fishes, so much considerable in glasses, 
 
 1 Atvdpov, Qdnvos, Qptyavov, H6a, Arbor, frutex, suffrutex, herba, 
 and that fifth which comprehendeth the fungi and tubera, whether 
 to be named 'A.<r%i.ov or yiip^ov, comprehending also conferva 
 marina salsa, and Sea-cords, of so many yards length. 
 
 2 Elleipsis, parabola, hyperbole, circulus, triangulum.
 
 224 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 and the optick doctrine ; wherein the learned may con- 
 sider the Crystalline humour of the eye in the cuttle- 
 fish and Loligo. 
 
 He that forgets not how Antiquity named this the 
 Conjugall or wedding number, and made it the 
 Embleme of the most remarkable conjunction, will 
 conceive it duely appliable unto this handsome Eco- 
 nomy, and vegetable combination ; May hence appre- 
 hend the allegoricall sence of that obscure expression 
 of Hesiod, 1 and afford no improbable reason why Plato 
 admitted his Nuptiall guests by fives, in the kindred 
 of the married couple. 2 
 
 And though a sharper mystery might be implied in 
 the Number of the five wise and foolish Virgins, which 
 were to meet the Bridegroom, yet was the same agree- 
 able unto the Conjugal Number, which ancient Nu- 
 merists made out by two and three, the first parity 
 and imparity, the active and passive digits, the 
 materiall and formall principles in generative So- 
 cieties. And not discordant even from the customs of 
 the Romans, who admitted but five Torches in their 
 Nuptiall solemnities. 3 Whether there were any mys- 
 tery or not implied, the most generative animals were 
 created on this day, and had accordingly the largest 
 benediction : And under a Quintuple consideration, 
 wanton Antiquity considered the Circumstances of 
 generation, while by this number of five they naturally 
 divided the Nectar of the fifth Planet. 4 
 
 The same number in the Hebrew mysteries and 
 Cabalistical accounts was the character of generation ; 5 
 declared by the Letter He, the fifth in their Alphabet ; 
 According to that Cabalistical Dogma: If Abram had 
 not had this Letter added unto his Name, he had 
 remained fruitlesse, and without the power of genera- 
 tion : Not only because hereby the number of his 
 
 s, id cst. nuptias, multas. Rhodig. 
 Plato de Leg. 6. 3 Plutarch. Problem. Rom. i. 
 
 ....... oscula qucB Venus 
 
 Quinta parte sui nectaris imbuit. Hor. lib. i. od. 13. 
 Archang. Dog. Cabal,
 
 Garden of Cyrus 225 
 
 Name attained two hundred fourty eight, the number 
 of the affirmative precepts, but because as in created 
 natures there is a male and female, so in divine and 
 intelligent productions, the mother of Life and Foun- 
 tain of souls in Cabalisticall Technology is called 
 Binah ; whose seal and character was He. So that 
 being sterill before, he received the power of genera- 
 tion from that measure and mansion in the Archetype ; 
 and was made conformable unto Binah. And upon 
 such involved considerations, the ten of Sarai was 
 exchanged into five. 1 If any shall look upon this as a 
 stable number, and fitly appropriable unto Trees, as 
 Bodies of Rest and Station, he hath herein a great 
 Foundation in nature, who observing much variety in 
 legges and motive Organs of Animals, as two, four, 
 six, eight, twelve, fourteen, and more, hath passed 
 over five and ten, and assigned them unto none, or 
 very few, as the Phalangium monstrosum Brasilianum 
 (Clusii et Jac, de Laet. Cur. Poster. America Descript.}. 
 If perfectly described. And for the stability of this 
 Number, he shall not want the sphericity of its nature, 
 which multiplied in itself, will return into its own 
 denomination, and bring up the reare of the account. 
 Which is also one of the Numbers that makes up the 
 mysticall Name of God, which consisting of Letters 
 denoting all the sphaericall Numbers, ten, five, and 
 six ; Emphatically sets forth the Notion of Trismegistus, 
 and that intelligible Sphere, which is the Nature of 
 God. 
 
 Many Expressions by this Number occurre in Holy 
 Scripture, perhaps unjustly laden with mysticall Ex- 
 positions, and little concerning our order. That the 
 Israelites were forbidden to eat the fruit of their new 
 planted Trees, before the fifth yeare, was very agree- 
 able unto the naturall Rules of Husbandry : Fruits 
 being unwholsome and lash, before the fourth, or 
 fifth Yeare. In the second day or Feminine part of 
 five, there was added no approbation. For in the 
 third or masculine day, the same is twice repeated ; 
 1 Jod into He. 
 
 P
 
 226 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 and a double benediction inclosed both Creations, 
 whereof the one, in some part was but an accomplish- 
 ment of the other. That the Trespasser 1 was to pay 
 a fifth part above the head or principall, makes no 
 secret in this Number, and implied no more than one 
 part above the principall ; which being considered in 
 four parts, the additional forfeit must bear the Name 
 of a fift. The five golden mice had plainly their 
 determination from the number of the Princes ; That 
 five should put to flight an hundred might have 
 nothing mystically implyed ; considering a rank of 
 Souldiers could scarce consist of a lesser number. 
 Saint Paul had rather speak five words in a known 
 than ten thousand in an unknowne tongue : That is 
 as little as could well be spoken. A simple proposi- 
 tion consisting of three words and a complexed one 
 not ordinarily short of five. 
 
 More considerable there are in this mysticall 
 account, which we must not insist on. And therefore 
 why the radicall Letters in the Pentateuch, should 
 equall the number of the Souldiery of the Tribes ; 
 Why our Saviour in the wilderness fed five thousand 
 persons with five Barley Loaves, and again, but four 
 thousand with no lesse than seven of Wheat ? Why 
 Joseph designed five changes of Rayment unto Benja- 
 min and David took just five pibbles 2 out of the Brook 
 against the Pagan Champion ? We leave it unto 
 Arithmeticall Divinity, and Theologicall explanation. 
 
 Yet if any delight in new Problemes, or think it 
 worth the enquiry, whether the Criticall Physician 
 hath rightly hit the nominall notation of Quinque ; 
 Why the Ancients mixed five or three but not four 
 parts of water unto their Wine : And Hippocrates 
 observed a fifth proportion in the mixture of water 
 with milk, as in Dysenteries and bloudy fluxes ? Under 
 what abstruse foundation Astrologers do Figure the 
 good or bad fate from our Children, in good Fortune ; 3 
 
 1 Lev. vi. 
 
 " r^ffffapa fvKe four and one, or five. Scalig. 
 
 9 'AyaOri r\jyT\ bona jortuna, the name of the fifth house.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 227 
 
 or the fifth house of their Celestiall Schemes. Whether 
 the ^Egyptians described a Starre by a Figure of five 
 points, with reference unto the five Capitall aspects, 1 
 whereby they transmit their Influences, or abstruser 
 Considerations ? Why the Cabalisticall Doctors, who 
 conceive the whole Sephiroth, or divine emanations to 
 have guided the ten-stringed Harp of David, whereby 
 he pacified the evil spirit of Saul, in strict numeration 
 doe begin with the Perihypate Meson, or si fa ut, and so 
 place the Tiphereth answering C sol fa ut, upon the 
 fifth string : Or whether this number be oftner applied 
 unto bad things and ends, then good in holy Scripture, 
 and why ? He may meet with abstrusities of no 
 ready resolution. 
 
 If any shall question the rationality of that Magick, 
 in the cure of the blind man by Serapis, commanded 
 to place five fingers on his Altar, and then his hand 
 on his Eyes ? Why since the whole Comcedy is 
 primarily and naturally comprised in four parts, 2 and 
 Antiquity permitted not so many persons to speak in 
 one Scene, yet would not comprehend the same in 
 more or lesse then five acts? Why amongst Sea- 
 starres nature chiefly delighteth in five points ? And 
 since there are found some of no fewer than twelve^ 
 and some of seven, and nine, there are few or none 
 discovered of six or eight ? If any shall enquire why 
 the Flowers of Rue properly consist of four Leaves, 
 The first and third Flower have five ? Why since 
 many Flowers have one leaf or none, 3 as Scaliger will 
 have it, diverse three, and the greatest number consist 
 of five divided from their bottoms ; there are yet so 
 few of two : or why nature generally beginning or 
 setting out with two opposite leaves at the Root, doth 
 so seldome conclude with that order and number at 
 the Flower ? he shall not pass his hours in vulgar 
 speculations. 
 
 If any shall further quasry why magneticall Philo- 
 
 1 Conjunct, opposite, sextile, trigonal, tetragonal. 
 
 Uni folium, nulli folium. 
 
 KaraffTOffis,
 
 228 Garden of Cyrus 
 
 sophy excludeth decussations, and needles transversely 
 placed do naturally distract their verticities ? Why 
 Geomancers do imitate the Quintuple Figure, in their 
 Mother Characters of Acquisition and Arnission, &c., 
 somewhat answering the Figures in the Lady or 
 speckled Beetle ? With what Equity, Chiromantical 
 conjecturers decry these decussations in the Lines and 
 Mounts of the hand ? What that decussated Figure 
 mtendeth in the medall of Alexander the Great ? Why 
 the goddesses sit commonly crosse-legged in ancient 
 draughts, Since Juno is described in the same as a vene- 
 ficial posture to hinder the birth of Hercules ? If any 
 shall doubt why at the Amphidromicall Feasts, on the 
 fifth day after the Childe was born, presents were sent 
 from friends, of Polipusses and Cuttle-fishes ? Why 
 five must be only left in that Symbolicall mutiny 
 among the men of Cadmus ? Why Proteus in Homer 
 the Symbole of the first matter, before he setled him- 
 self in the midst of his Sea-monsters, doth place them 
 out by fives ? Why the fifth years Oxe was acceptable 
 Sacrifice unto Jupiter? Or why the Noble Antoninus 
 in some sence doth call the soul itself a Rhombus ? 
 He shall not fall on trite or triviall disquisitions. And 
 these we invent and propose unto acuter enquirers, 
 nauseating crambe verities and questions over-queried. 
 Flat and flexible truths are beat out by every hammer; 
 but Vulcan and his whole forge sweat to work out A chilles 
 his armour. A large field is yet left unto sharper dis- 
 cerners to enlarge upon this order, to search out the 
 quaternios and figured draughts of this nature, and 
 moderating the study of names, and meer nomencla- 
 ture of plants, to erect generalities, disclose unobserved 
 proprieties, not only in the vegetable shop, but the 
 whole volume of nature ; affording delightful Truths, 
 confirmable by sense and ocular Observation, which 
 seems to me the surest path, to trace the Labyrinth of 
 Truth. For though discursive enquiry and rationall 
 conjecture, may leave handsome gashes and flesh- 
 wounds ; yet without conjunction of this expect no 
 mortal or dispatching blows unto errour.
 
 Garden of Cyrus 229 
 
 But the Quincunx 1 of Heaven runs low, and 'tis 
 time to close the five ports of knowledge; We are 
 unwilling to spin out our awaking thoughts into the 
 phantasmes of sleep, which often continueth praecogi- 
 tations ; making Cables of Cobwebbes, and Wilder- 
 nesses of handsome Groves. Beside Hippocrates* hath 
 spoke so little, and the Oneirocriticall 3 Masters, have 
 left such frigid Interpretations from plants, that there 
 is little encouragement to dream of Paradise itself. 
 Nor will the sweetest delight of Gardens afford much 
 comfort in sleep ; wherein the dulnesse of that sense 
 shakes hands with delectable odours ; and though in 
 the Bed of Cleopatra* can hardly with any delight raise 
 up the ghost of a Rose. 
 
 Night which Pagan Theology could make the 
 daughter of Chaos, affords no advantage to the de- 
 scription of order: Although no lower then that Masse 
 can we derive its Genealogy. All things began in 
 order, so shall they end, and so shall they begin again ; 
 according to the ordainer of order and mystical Mathe- 
 maticks of the City of Heaven. 
 
 Though Somnus in Homer be sent to rowse up Aga- 
 memnon, I finde no such effects in these drowsy ap- 
 proaches of sleep. To keep our eyes open longer were 
 but to act our Antipodes. The Huntsmen are up in 
 America, and they are already past their first sleep in 
 Persia. But who can be drowsie at that howr which 
 freed us from everlasting sleep ? or have slumbering 
 thoughts at that time, when sleep itself must end, and 
 as some conjecture all shall awake again. 
 
 1 Ilyades, near the Horizon about midnight, at that time. 
 
 - De Insomniis. 3 Artemidorus et Apomazar. 
 
 * Strewed with roses.
 
 THE STATIONER TO THE READER 
 
 I CANNOT omit to advertise, that a Book was pub- 
 lished not long since, Entituled, Natures Cabinet Un- 
 lockt, bearing the name of this Authour : If any man 
 have been benefited thereby this Authour is not so 
 ambitious as to challenge the honour thereof, as having 
 no hand in that Work. To distinguish of true and 
 spurious Peeces was the Originall Criticisme, and 
 some were so handsomely counterfeited, that the En- 
 titled Authours needed not to disclaime them. But 
 since it is so, that either he must write himself, or 
 Others will write for him, I know no better Prevention 
 then to act his own part with lesse intermission of his 
 Pen.
 
 CHRISTIAN MORALS 
 
 PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINAL AND CORRECT MANU- 
 SCRIPT OF THE AUTHOR ', 
 
 BY JOHN JEFFERY, D.D. 
 
 AJtCHDEACON OF NORWICH.
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 DAVID, EARL OF BUCHAN, 
 
 VISCOt'NT AUCHTERHOUSE, LORD CARDROSS AND GLENDOVACHIE, ONE OF THE 
 
 LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF POLICE, AND LORD LIEUTENANT OF THE 
 
 COUNTIES OF STIRLING AND CLACKMANNAN, IN NORTH BRITTAIN. 
 
 MY LORD, The Honour you have done our Family 
 Obligeth us to make all just Acknowledgments of it : 
 and there is no Form of Acknowledgment in our power, 
 more worthy of Your Lordship's Acceptance, than this 
 Dedication of the Last Work of our Honoured and 
 Learned Father. Encouraged hereunto by the Know- 
 ledge we have of Your Lordship's Judicious Relish of 
 universal Learning, and sublime Virtue ; we beg the 
 Favour of Your Acceptance of it, which will very much 
 Oblige our Family in general, and Her in particular, 
 who is, 
 
 My Lord, 
 Your Lordship's most humble Servant, 
 
 ELIZABETH LITTLETON.
 
 THE PREFACE 
 
 IF any One, after he has read Religio Medici and 
 the ensuing Discourse, can make Doubt, whether the 
 same Person was the Author of them both, he may be 
 Assured by the Testimony of Mrs. Littleton, Sir 
 Thomas Browne's Daughter, who Lived with her 
 Father, when it was composed by Him ; and who, at 
 the time, read it written by his own hand ; and also by 
 the Testimony of Others, (of whom I am One) who read 
 the MS. of the Author, immediately after his Death, 
 and who have since Read the Same ; from which it 
 hath been faithfully and exactly Transcribed for the 
 Press. The Reason why it was not Printed sooner is, 
 because it was unhappily Lost, by being Mislay'd 
 among Other MSS., for which Search was lately made 
 in the Presence of the Lord Arch Bishop of Canterbury, 
 of which his Grace, by Letter, informed Mrs. Littleton, 
 when he sent the MS. to her. There is nothing printed 
 in the Discourse, or in the short notes, but what is 
 found in the Original MS. of the Author, except only 
 where an Oversight had made the Addition or Trans- 
 position of some words necessary. 
 
 JOHN JEFFERY, 
 
 Archdeacon of Norwich.
 
 PART THE FIRST 
 
 SECT. i. Tread softly and circumspectly in this 
 f unambulatory Track and narrow Path of Goodness : 
 Pursue Virtue virtuously : Leven not good Actions nor 
 render Virtues disputable. Stain not fair Acts with 
 foul Intentions : Maim not Uprightness by halting 
 Concomitances, nor circumstantially deprave substan- 
 tial Goodness. 
 
 Consider whereabout thou art in Cebes's table, or that 
 old Philosophical Pinax 1 of the Life of Man : whether 
 thou are yet in the Road of uncertainties ; whether 
 thou hast yet entred the narrow Gate, got up the Hill 
 and asperous way, which leadeth unto the House of 
 Sanity, or taken that purifying Potion from the hand 
 of sincere Erudition, which may send Thee clear and 
 pure away unto a virtuous and happy Life. 
 
 In this virtuous Voyage of thy Life hull not about 
 like the Ark, without the use of Rudder, Mast, or Sail, 
 and bound for no Port. Let not Disappointment cause 
 Despondency, nor difficulty despair. Think not that 
 you are Sailing from Lima to Manillia, when you may 
 fasten up the Rudder, and sleep before the Wind ; but 
 expect rough Seas, Flaws, and contrary Blasts: and 
 'tis well, if by many cross Tacks and Veerings, you 
 arrive at the Port ; for we sleep in lyons Skins in 
 our Progress unto Virtue, and we slide not, but climb 
 unto it. 
 
 Sit not down in the popular Forms and common 
 Level of Virtues. Offer not only Peace -Offerings but 
 Holocausts unto God: where all is due make no 
 reserve, and cut not a Cummin-seed with the Almighty : 
 
 1 Pinax. Picture. Dr. J.
 
 Christian Morals 235 
 
 to serve Him singly to serve ourselves were too partial 
 a piece of Piety, not like to place us in the illustrious 
 Mansions of Glory. 
 
 SECT. ii. Rest not in an Ovation 1 but a Triumph 
 over thy Passions. Let Anger walk hanging down the 
 head ; Let Malice go Manicled, and Envy fetter'd after 
 thee. Behold within thee the long train of thy Trophies 
 not without thee. Make the quarrelling Lapithytes 
 sleep, and Centaurs within lye quiet. Chain up the 
 unruly Legion of thy breast. Lead thine own captivity 
 captive, and be Ccesar within thyself. 
 
 SECT. in. He that is Chast and Continent not to 
 impair his strength, or honest for fear of Contagion, 
 will hardly be Heroically virtuous. Adjourn not this 
 virtue untill that temper when Cato could lend out his 
 Wife, and impotent Satyrs write Satyrs upon Lust ; 
 but be chast in thy flaming Days, when Alexander dar'd 
 not trust his eyes upon the fair Sisters of Darius, and 
 when so many think there is no other \va/ but Origen's.* 
 
 SECT. iv. Show thy Art in Honesty, and loose not 
 thy Virtue by the bad Managery of it. Be Temperate 
 and Sober, not to preserve your body in an ability for 
 wanton ends, not to avoid the infamy of common trans- 
 gressors that way, and thereby to hope to expiate or 
 palliate obscure and closer vices, not to spare your 
 purse, nor simply to enjoy health ; but in one word 
 that thereby you may truly serve God, which every 
 sickness will tell you you cannot well do without 
 health. The sick Man's Sacrifice is but a lame Obla- 
 tion. Pious Treasures, lay'd up in healthful days, 
 plead for sick non-performances : without which we 
 must needs look back with anxiety upon the lost 
 opportunities of health, and may have cause rather to 
 envy than pity the ends of penitent publick Sufferers, - 
 who go with healthfull prayers unto the last Scene of 
 their lives, and in the Integrity of their faculties return 
 their Spirit unto God that gave it. 
 
 SECT. v. Be Charitable before wealth make thee 
 
 1 Ovation, a petty and minor Kind of Triumph. 
 '-' Who is said to have Castrated himself.
 
 236 Christian Morals 
 
 covetous, and loose not the glory of the Mite. If 
 Riches encrease, let thy mind hold pace with them, 
 and think it not enough to be Liberal, but Munificent. 
 Though a Cup of cold water from some hand may not 
 be without it's reward, yet stick not thou for Wine and 
 Oyl for the Wounds of the Distressed ; and treat the 
 poor, as our Saviour did the Multitude, to the reliques 
 of some baskets. Diffuse thy beneficence early, and 
 while thy Treasures call thee Master : there may be 
 an Atropos of thy Fortunes before that of thy Life, 
 and thy wealth cut off before that hour, when all Men 
 shall be poor ; for the Justice of Death looks equally 
 upon the dead, and Charon expects no more from 
 A lexander than from Irus. 
 
 SECT. vi. Give not only unto seven, but also unto 
 eight, that is unto more than many. 1 Though to give 
 unto every one that asketh may seem severe advice, 2 
 yet give thou also before asking, that is, where want is 
 silently clamorous, and mens Necessities not their 
 Tongues do loudly call for thy Mercies. For though 
 sometimes necessitousness be dumb, or misery speak 
 not out, yet true Charity is sagacious, and will find out 
 hints for beneficence. Acquaint thyself with the 
 Physiognomy of Want, and let the Dead colours and 
 first lines of necessity suffise to tell thee there is an 
 object for thy bounty. Spare not where thou canst 
 not easily be prodigal, and fear not to be undone by 
 mercy. For since he who hath pity on the poor lendeth 
 unto the Almighty Rewarder, who observes no Ides 
 but every day for his payments ; Charity becomes 
 pious Usury, Christian Liberality the most thriving 
 industry, and what we adventure in a Cockboat may 
 return in a Carrack unto us. He who thus casts his 
 bread upon the Water shall surely find it again ; for 
 though it falleth to the bottom, it sinks but like the Ax 
 of the Prophet, to arise again unto him. 
 
 SECT. vn. If Avarice be thy Vice, yet make it not 
 thy Punishment. Miserable men commiserate not 
 themselves, bowelless unto others, and merciless unto 
 1 Ecclesiasticus. 2 Luke.
 
 Christian Morals 237 
 
 their own bowels. Let the fruition of things bless the 
 possession of them, and think it more satisfaction to 
 live richly than dye rich. For since thy good works, 
 not thy goods, will follow thee ; since wealth is an 
 appertinance of life, and no dead Man is Rich ; to 
 famish in Plenty, and live poorly to dye Rich, were a 
 multiplying improvement in Madness, and use upon 
 use in Folly. 
 
 SECT. vin. Trust not to the Omnipotency of Gold, 
 and say not unto it Thou art my Confidence. Kiss 
 not thy hand to that Terrestrial Sun, nor bore thy ear 
 unto its servitude. A Slave unto Mammon makes no 
 servant unto God. Covetousness cracks the sinews of 
 Faith ; nummes the apprehension of anything above 
 sense, and only affected with the certainty of things 
 present makes a peradventure of things to come ; lives 
 but unto one World, nor hopes but fears another ; 
 makes their own death sweet unto others, bitter unto 
 themselves ; brings formal sadness, scenical mourning, 
 and no wet eyes at the grave. 
 
 SECT. ix. Persons lightly dipt, not grain'd in 
 generous Honesty, are but pale in Goodness, and 
 faint hued in Integrity. But be thou what thou 
 vertuously art, and let not the Ocean wash away thy 
 Tincture. Stand magnetically upon that Axis, when 
 prudent simplicity hath fixt there ; and let no attraction 
 invert the Poles of thy Honesty. That Vice may be 
 uneasy and even monstrous unto thee, let iterated good 
 Acts and long-confirmed habits make Virtue almost 
 natural, or a second nature in thee. Since virtuous 
 superstructions have commonly generous foundations, 
 dive into thy inclinations, and early discover what 
 nature bids thee to be, or tells thee thou may'st be. 
 They who thus timely descend into themselves, and 
 cultivate the good seeds which nature hath set in them, 
 prove not shrubs but Cedars in their generation. And 
 to be in the form of the best of the Bad 1 or the worst 
 of the Good, will be no satisfaction unto them. 
 
 SECT. x. Make not the consequence of Virtue the 
 1 Optimi malorum pessimi bonorum.
 
 238 Christian Morals 
 
 ends thereof. Be not beneficent for a name or Cymbal 
 of applause, nor exact and just in Commerce for the 
 advantages of Trust and Credit, which attend the 
 reputation of true and punctual dealing. For these 
 Rewards, though unsought for, plain Virtue will bring 
 with her. To have other by-ends in good actions 
 sowers Laudable performances, which must have 
 deeper roots, motives, and instigations, to give them 
 the stamp of Virtues. 
 
 SECT. xi. Let not the Law of thy Country be the 
 non ultra of thy Honesty ; nor think that always good 
 enough which the Law will make good. Narrow not 
 the Law of Charity, Equity, Mercy. Joyn Gospel 
 Righteousness with Legal Right. Be not a mere 
 Gamaliel in the Faith, but let the Sermon in the 
 Mount be thy Targum unto the Law of Sinah. 
 
 SECT. xn. Live by old Ethicks and the classical 
 Rules of Honesty. Put no new names or notions 
 upon Authentic Virtues and Vices. Think not that 
 Morality is Ambulatory ; that Vices in one age are not 
 Vices in another ; or that Virtues, which are under the 
 everlasting Seal of right Reason, may be Stamped by 
 Opinion. And therefore, though vicious times invert 
 the opinions of things, and set up new Ethicks against 
 Virtue, yet hold thou unto old Morality ; and rather 
 than follow a multitude to do evil, stand like Pompey's 
 Pillar conspicuous by thyself, and single in Integrity. 
 And since the worst of times afford imitable Examples 
 of Virtue ; since no Deluge of Vice is like to be so 
 general, but more than eight will escape ; Eye well 
 those Heroes who have held their Heads above Water, 
 who have touched Pitch, and not been defiled, and in 
 the common Contagion have remained uncorrupted. 
 
 SECT. xni. Let Age not Envy draw wrinkles on thy 
 cheeks, be content to be envy'd, but envy not. Emu- 
 lation may be plausible and Indignation allowable, but 
 admit no treaty with that passion which no circumstance 
 can make good. A displacency at the good of others 
 because they enjoy it, though not unworthy of it, is an 
 absurd depravity, sticking fast unto corrupted nature,
 
 Christian Morals 239 
 
 and often too hard for Humility and Charity, the great 
 Suppressors of Envy. This surely is a lyon not to be 
 strangled but by Hercules himself, or the highest stress 
 of our minds, and an Atom of that power which sub- 
 dueth all things unto itself. 
 
 SECT. xiv. Owe not thy Humility unto humiliation 
 from adversity, but look humbly down in that State 
 when others look upwards upon thee. Think not thy 
 own shadow longer than that of others, nor delight to 
 take the Altitude of thyself. Be patient in the age of 
 Pride, when Men live by short intervals of Reason 
 under the dominion of Humour and Passion, when it's 
 in the Power of every one to transform thee out of thy- 
 self, and run thee into the short madness. If you 
 cannot imitate Job, yet come not short of Socrates, and 
 those patient Pagans who tired the Tongues of their 
 Enemies, while they perceived they spit their malice 
 at brazen Walls and Statues. 
 
 SECT. xv. Let not the sun in Capricorn 1 go down 
 upon thy wrath, but write thy wrongs in Ashes. Draw 
 the curtain of Night upon injuries, shut them up in the 
 Tower of Oblivion, 2 and let them be as though they 
 had not been. To forgive our Enemies, yet hope that 
 God will punish them, is not to forgive enough. To 
 forgive them ourselves, and not to pray God to forgive 
 them, is a partial piece of Charity. Forgive thine 
 enemies totally, and without any reserve, that however 
 God will revenge thee. 
 
 SECT. xvi. While thou so hotly disclaimest the 
 Devil, be not guilty of Diabolism. Fall not into one 
 name with that unclean Spirit, nor act his nature 
 whom thou so much abhorrest ; that is, to Accuse, 
 Calumniate, Backbite, Whisper, Detract, or sinis- 
 trously interpret others. Degenerous depravities, and 
 narrow-minded vices ! not only below St. Paul's noble 
 
 1 Even when the days are shortest. 
 
 2 Alluding unto the tower of oblivion mentioned by Procopios, 
 which was the name of a Tower of Imprisonment among the 
 Persians ; whoever was put therein was as it were buried alive, 
 and it was death for any but to name him.
 
 240 Christian Morals 
 
 Christian but Aristotle's true Gentleman. 1 Trust not 
 with some that the Epistle of St. James is Apocryphal, 
 and so read with less fear than Stabbing Truth, that in 
 company with this vice thy Religion is in vain. Moses 
 broke the Tables without breaking of the Law ; but 
 where Charity is broke, the Law itself is shattered, 
 which cannot be whole without Love, which is the 
 fulfilling of it. Look humbly upon thy Virtues, and 
 though thou art Rich in some, yet think thyself Poor 
 and Naked without that Crowning Grace, which 
 thinketh no evil, which envieth not, which beareth, 
 hopeth, believeth, endureth all things. With these 
 sure Graces, while busy Tongues are crying out for a 
 drop of cold Water, mutes may be in happiness, and 
 sing the Trisagion* in Heaven. 
 
 SECT. xvn. However thy understanding may 
 waver in the Theories of True and False, yet fasten 
 the Rudder of thy Will, steer strait unto good and fall 
 not foul on evil. Imagination is apt to rove, and con- 
 jecture to keep no bounds. Some have run out so far, 
 as to fancy the Stars might be but the light of the 
 Crystalline Heaven shot through perforations on the 
 bodies of the Orbs. Others more Ingeniously doubt 
 whether there hath not been a vast tract of Land in 
 the Atlantick Ocean, which Earthquakes and violent 
 causes have long ago devoured. Speculative Misap- 
 prehensions may be innocuous, but immorality per- 
 nicious ; Theoretical mistakes and Physical Deviations, 
 may condemn our Judgments, not lead us into Judg- 
 ment. But perversity of Will, immoral and sinfull 
 enormities walk with Adraste and Nemesis at their 
 Backs, pursue us into Judgment, and leave us viciously 
 miserable. 
 
 SECT. xvin. Bid early defiance unto those Vices 
 which are of thine inward Family, and having a root 
 in thy Temper plead a right and propriety in thee. 
 Raise timely batteries against those strongholds built 
 upon the Rock of Nature, and make this a great part 
 
 1 See Aristotle's Ethics, chapter of Magnanimity. 
 
 2 Holy, holy, holy.
 
 Christian Morals 241 
 
 of the Militia of thy life. Delude not thyself into 
 iniquities from participation or community, which 
 abate the sense but not the obliquity of them. To 
 conceive sins less, or less of sins, because others also 
 Transgress, were Morally to commit that natural 
 fallacy of Man, to take comfort from Society, and 
 think adversities less, because others also suffer them. 
 The politick nature of Vice must be opposed by Policy. 
 And therefore, wiser Honesties project and plot against 
 it. Wherein, notwithstanding, we are not to rest in 
 generals, or the trite Stratagems of Art. That may 
 succeed with one which may prove successless with 
 another : There is no community or commonweal of 
 Virtue : Every man must study his own ceconomy, 
 and adapt such rules unto the figure of himself. 
 
 SECT. xix. Be substantially great in thyself, and 
 more than thou appearest unto others ; and let the 
 World be deceived in thee, as they are in the Lights 
 of Heaven. Hang early plummets upon the heels of 
 Pride, and let Ambition have but an Epicycle and 
 narrow circuit in thee. Measure not thyself by thy 
 morning shadow, but by the extent of thy grave, and 
 Reckon thyself above the Earth by the line thou must 
 be contented with under it. Spread not into boundless 
 Expansions either of designs or desires. Think not 
 that mankind liveth but for a few, and that the rest 
 are born but to serve those Ambitions, which make 
 but flies of Men and wildernesses of whole Nations. 
 Swell not into vehement actions which imbroil and 
 confound the Earth ; but be one of those violent ones 
 which force the kingdom of heaven. 1 If thou must 
 needs rule, be Zeno's king, and enjoy that Empire 
 which every Man gives himself. He who is thus his 
 own Monarch contentedly sways the Sceptre of him- 
 self, not envying the Glory of Crowned Heads and 
 Elohims of the Earth. Could the World unite in the 
 practice of that despised train of Virtues, which the 
 Divine Ethicks of our Saviour hath so inculcated upon 
 us, the furious face of things must disappear, Eden 
 1 Matthew xi.
 
 242 Christian Morals 
 
 would be yet to be found, and the Angels might look 
 down, not with pity, but Joy upon us. 
 
 SECT. xx. Though the Quickness of thine Ear were 
 able to reach the noise of the Moon, which some 
 think it maketh in it's rapid revolution ; though the 
 number of thy ears should equal A rgus his Eyes ; yet 
 stop them all with the wise man's wax, and be deaf 
 unto the suggestions of Tale-bearers, Calumniators, 
 Pickthank or Malevolent Delators, who while quiet 
 Men sleep, sowing the Tares of discord and division, 
 distract the tranquillity of Charity and all friendly 
 Society. These are the Tongues that set the world 
 on fire, cankers of reputation, and like that of Jonas his 
 Gourd, wither a good name in a night. Evil Spirits 
 may sit still, while these Spirits w ilk about and per- 
 form the business of Hell. To speak more strictly, 
 our corrupted hearts are the Factories of the Devil, 
 which may be at work without his presence. For 
 when that circumventing Spirit hath drawn Malice, 
 Envy, and all unrighteousness unto well rooted habits 
 in his disciples, iniquity then goes on upon its own 
 legs, and if the gate of Hell were shut up for a time, 
 Vice would still be fertile and produce the fruits of 
 Hell. Thus when God forsakes us, Satan also leaves 
 us. For such offenders he looks upon as sure and 
 sealed up, and his temptations then needless unto 
 them. 
 
 SECT. xxi. Annihilate not the Mercies of God by 
 the Oblivion of Ingratitude. For Oblivion is a kind 
 of Annihilation, and for things to be as though they 
 had not been is like unto never being. Make not thy 
 Head a Grave, but a Repository of God's mercies. 
 Though thou hadst the Memory of Seneca, or Simonides, 
 and Conscience, the punctual Memorist within us, yet 
 trust not to thy Remembrance in things which need 
 Phylacteries. Register not only strange but merciful 
 occurrences : Let Ephemerides not Olympiads give thee 
 account of his mercies. Let thy Diaries stand thick 
 with dutiful Mementos and Asterisks of acknowledg- 
 ment. And to be complete and forget nothing, date
 
 Christian Morals 243 
 
 not his mercy from thy nativity, Look beyond the 
 World, and before the ./Era of Adam. 
 
 SECT. xxn. Paint not the sepulcher of thyself, and 
 strive not to beautify thy corruption. Be not an 
 Advocate for thy Vices, nor call for many Hour- 
 Glasses to justify thy imperfections. Think not that 
 always good which thou thinkest thou canst always 
 make good, nor that concealed which the Sun doth not 
 behold. That which the Sun doth not now see will be 
 visible when the Sun is out, and the Stars are fallen 
 from Heaven. Meanwhile there is no darkness unto 
 Conscience, which can see without Light, and in the 
 deepest obscurity give a clear Draught of things, 
 which the Cloud of dissimulation hath conceal'd from 
 all eyes. There is a natural standing Court within us, 
 examining, acquitting, and condemning at the Tribunal 
 of ourselves, wherein iniquities have their natural 
 Thetas 1 and no nocent 2 is absolved by the verdict of 
 himself. And therefore although our transgressions 
 shall be tryed at the last bar, the process need not be 
 long: for the judge of all knoweth all, and every Man 
 will nakedly know himself. And when so few are 
 like to plead not Guilty, the Assize must soon have 
 an end. 
 
 SECT. xxin. Comply with some humors, bear with 
 others, but serve none. Civil complacency consists 
 with decent honesty : Flattery is a Juggler, and no Kin 
 unto Sincerity. But while thou maintainest the plain 
 path, and scornest to flatter others, fall not into self 
 Adulation, and become not thine own Parasite. Be 
 deaf unto thy self, and be not betrayed at home. Self- 
 credulity, pride, and levity lead unto self -Idolatry. 
 There is no Damocles like unto self opinion, nor any 
 Siren to our own fawning Conceptions. To magnify 
 our minor things, or hug ourselves in our apparitions ; 
 to afford a credulous Ear unto the clawing suggestions 
 
 1 9 a theta inscribed upon the judge's tessera or ballot was a 
 cnark for death or capital condemnation. Dr. J. 
 
 2 ? e 
 Judice nemo nocens absolvitur. Juv. Dr. J.
 
 244 Christian Morals 
 
 of fancy ; to pass our days in painted mistakes of our- 
 selves ; and though we behold our own blood, to think 
 ourselves sons of Jupiter ; l are blandishments of self- 
 love, worse than outward delusion. By this Imposture 
 Wise Men sometimes are Mistaken in their Elevation, 
 and look above themselves. And Fools, which are 
 Antipodes unto the Wise, conceive themselves to 
 be but their Fenced, and in the same parallel with 
 them. 
 
 SECT. xxiv. Be not a Hercules furens abroad, and a 
 Poltroon within thyself. To chase our Enemies out of 
 the Field, and be led captive by our Vices ; to beat 
 down our Foes, and fall down to our Concupiscences ; 
 are Solecisms in Moral Schools, and no Laurel attends 
 them. To well manage our Affections, and wild 
 Horses of Plato, are the highest Circenses: and the 
 noblest Digladiation 2 is in the Theater of ourselves ; 
 for therein our inward Antagonists, not only like 
 common Gladiators, with ordinary Weapons and down 
 right Blows make at us, but also like Retiary and 
 Laqueary 3 Combatants, with Nets, Frauds, and En- 
 tanglements fall upon us. Weapons for such combats 
 are not to be forged at Lipara : Vulcan's Art doth 
 nothing in this internal Militia; wherein not the 
 armour of Achilles, but the Armature of St. Paul, gives 
 the Glorious day, and Triumphs not Leading up into 
 Capitols, but up into the highest Heavens. And 
 therefore while so many think it the only valour to 
 command and master others, study thou the Dominion 
 of thyself, and quiet thine own Commotions. Let 
 Right reason be thy Lycurgus, and lift up thy hand 
 unto the Law of it : move by the Intelligences of the 
 superior Faculties, not by the Rapt of Passion, nor 
 merely by that of Temper and Constitution. They who 
 are merely carried on by the Wheel of such inclinations, 
 
 1 As Alexander the Great did. 
 
 2 Digladiation. Fencing match. Dr. J. 
 
 3 Retiary and laqueary. The retiarius or laquearius was a prize- 
 fighter, who entangled his opponent in a net, which by some 
 dextrous management he threw upon him. Dr. J.
 
 Christian Morals 245 
 
 without the Hand and Guidance of Sovereign Reason, 
 are but the Automatous part of mankind, rather lived 
 than living, or at least underliving themselves. 
 
 SECT. xxv. Let not Fortune, which hath no name in 
 Scripture, have any in thy Divinity. Let Providence,not 
 Chance, have the honour of thy acknowledgments, and 
 be thy CEdipus in Contingencies. Mark well the Paths 
 and winding Ways thereof ; but be not too wise in the 
 Construction, or sudden in the Application. The Hand 
 of Providence writes often by Abbreviatures, Hiero- 
 glyphics or short Characters, which, like the Laconism 
 on the Wall, are not to be made out but by a Hint or 
 Key from that Spirit which indicted them. Leave 
 future occurrences to their uncertainties, think that 
 which is present thy own ; and since 'tis easier to 
 foretell an Eclipse, than a foul Day at some distance, 
 Look for little Regular below. Attend with patience 
 the uncertainty of Things, and what lieth yet unexerted 
 in the Chaos of Futurity. The uncertainty and ignor- 
 ance of Things to come makes the World new unto us 
 by unexpected Emergences, whereby we pass not our 
 days in the trite road of affairs affording no Novity ; 
 for the novellizing Spirit of Man lives by variety, and 
 the new Faces of Things. 
 
 SECT. xxvi. Though a contented Mind enlargeth the 
 dimension of little things, and unto some 'tis Wealth 
 enough not to be Poor, and others are well content, if 
 they be but Rich enough to be Honest, and to give 
 every Man his due : yet fall not into that obsolete 
 Affectation of Bravery to throw away thy Money, and 
 to reject all Honours or Honourable stations in this 
 courtly and splendid World. Old Generosity is super- 
 annuated, and such contempt of the World out of date. 
 No Man is now like to refuse the favour of great ones, 
 or be content to say unto Princes, stand out of my sun. 
 And if any there be of such antiquated Resolutions, 
 they are not like to be tempted out of them by great 
 ones ; and 'tis fair if they escape the name of Hypo- 
 chondriacks from the Genius of latter times, unto 
 whom contempt of the World is the most contemptible
 
 246 Christian Morals 
 
 opinion, and to be able, like Bias, to carry all they have 
 about them were to be the eighth wise-man. However, 
 the old tetrick Philosophers look'd always with Indigna- 
 tion upon such a Face of Things, and observing the 
 unnatural current of Riches, Power, and Honour in the 
 World, and withal the imperfection and demerit of 
 persons often advanced unto them, were tempted unto 
 angry Opinions, that Affairs were ordered more by 
 Stars than Reason, and that things went on rather by 
 Lottery, than Election. 
 
 SECT. xxvn. If thy Vessel be but small in the Ocean 
 of this World, if Meanness of Possessions be thy 
 allotment upon Earth, forget not those Virtues which 
 the great disposer of all bids thee to entertain from thy 
 Quality and Condition ; that is, Submission, Humility, 
 Content of mind, and Industry. Content may dwell in 
 all Stations. To be low, but above contempt, may be 
 high enough to be Happy. But many of low Degree 
 may be higher than computed, and some Cubits above 
 the common Commensuration ; for in all States Virtue 
 gives Qualifications, and Allowances, which make out 
 defects. Rough Diamonds are sometimes mistaken 
 for Pebbles, and Meanness may be Rich in Accom- 
 plishments, which Riches in vain desire. If our merits 
 be above our Stations, if our intrinsical Value be 
 greater than what we go for, or our Value than our 
 Valuation, and if we stand higher in God's than in the 
 Censor's book ; it may make some equitable balance 
 in the inequalities of this World, and there may be no 
 such vast Chasm or Gulf between disparities as 
 common Measures determine. The Divine Eye looks 
 upon high and low differently from that of Man. They 
 who seem to stand upon Olympus, and high mounted 
 unto our eyes, may be but in the Valleys, and low 
 Ground unto his ; for he looks upon those as highest 
 who nearest approach his Divinity, and upon those as 
 lowest, who are farthest from it. 
 
 SECT, xxvni. When thou lookest upon the Imper- 
 fections of others, allow one Eye for what is Laudable 
 in them, and <he balance they have from some ex-
 
 Christian Morals 247 
 
 cellency, which may render them considerable. While 
 we look with fear or hatred upon the Teeth of the 
 Viper, we may behold his Eye with love. In venomous 
 Natures something may be amiable : Poysons afford 
 Antipoysons : nothing is totally, or altogether uselessly 
 bad. Notable Virtues are sometimes dashed with 
 notorious Vices, and in some vicious tempers have been 
 found illustrious Acts of Virtue ; which makes such 
 observable worth in some actions of King Demetrius, 
 Antonius, and Ahab, as are not to be found in the same 
 kind in Aristides, Numa, or David. Constancy, Gene- 
 rosity, Clemency, and Liberality have been highly 
 conspicuous in some Persons not marked out in other 
 concerns for Example or Imitation. But since Good- 
 ness is exemplary in all, if others have not our Virtues, 
 let us not be wanting in theirs, nor scorning them for 
 their Vices whereof we are free, be condemned by 
 their Virtues, wherein we are deficient. There is 
 Dross, Alloy, and Embasement in all human Temper ; 
 and he flieth without Wings, who thinks to find Ophyr 
 or pure Metal in any. For perfection is not like Light 
 center'd in any one Body, but like the dispersed Semi- 
 nalities of Vegetables at the Creation scattered through 
 the whole Mass of the Earth, no place producing all 
 and almost all some. So that 'tis well, if a perfect 
 Man can be made out of many Men, and, to the 
 perfect Eye of God, even out of Mankind. Time, 
 which perfects some Things, imperfects also others. 
 Could we intimately apprehend the Ideated Man, and 
 as he stood in the intellect of God upon the first 
 exertion by Creation, we might more narrowly compre- 
 hend our present Degeneration, and how widely we are 
 fallen from the pure Exemplar and Idea of our nature : 
 for after this the corruptive Elongation from a primitive 
 and pure Creation, we are almost lost in Degeneration ; 
 and Adam hath not only fallen from his Creator, but 
 we ourselves from Adam, our Tycho and primary 
 Generator. 
 
 SECT. xxix. Quarrel not rashly with Adversities 
 not yet understood ; and overlook not the Mercies often
 
 248 Christian Morals 
 
 bound up in them : for we consider not sufficiently the 
 good of Evils, nor fairly compute the Mercies of Pro- 
 vidence in things afflictive at first hand. The famous 
 Andreas Doria being invited to a Feast by Aloysio 
 Fieschi, with design to Kill him, just the night before, 
 fell mercifully into a fit of the Gout and so escaped that 
 mischief. When Cato intended to Kill himself, from 
 a blow which he gave his servant, who would not reach 
 his Sword unto him, his Hand so swell'd that he had 
 much ado to Effect his design. Hereby any one but a 
 resolved Stoick might have taken a fair hint of con- 
 sideration, and that some mercifull Genius would have 
 contrived his preservation. To be sagacious in such 
 intercurrences is not Superstition, but wary and pious 
 Discretion, and to contemn such hints were to be deaf 
 unto the speaking hand of God, wherein Socrates and 
 Cardan would hardly have been mistaken. 
 
 SECT. xxx. Break not open the gate of Destruction, 
 and make no haste or bustle unto Ruin. Post not 
 heedlessly on unto the non ultra of Folly, or precipice 
 of Perdition. Let vicious ways have their Tropicks 
 and Deflections, and swim in the Waters of Sin but as 
 in the Asphaltick Lake, though smeared and defiled, 
 not to sink to the bottom. If thou hast dipt thy foot 
 in the Brink, yet venture not over Rubicon. Run not 
 into Extremities from whence there is no regression. 
 In the vicious ways of the World it mercifully falleth 
 out that we become not extempore wicked, but it 
 taketh some time and pains to undo our selves. We 
 fall not from Virtue, like Vulcan from Heaven, in a 
 day. Bad Dispositions require some time to grow 
 into bad Habits, bad Habits must undermine good, and 
 often-repeated acts make us habitually evil : so that by 
 gradual depravations, and while we are but stagger- 
 ingly evil, we are not left without Parentheses of con- 
 siderations, thoughtful rebukes, and merciful interven- 
 tions, to recall us unto our selves. For the Wisdom 
 of God hath methodiz'd the course of things unto the 
 best advantage of goodness, and thinking Considerators 
 overlook not the tract thereof.
 
 Christian Morals 249 
 
 SECT. xxxi. Since Men and Women have their 
 proper Virtues and Vices ; and even Twins of different 
 sexes have not only distinct coverings in the Womb, 
 but differing qualities and Virtuous Habits after ; 
 transplace not their Proprieties and confound not their 
 Distinctions. Let Masculine and feminine accomplish- 
 ments shine in their proper Orbs, and adorn their 
 Respective subjects. However unite not the Vices of 
 both Sexes in one ; be not Monstrous in Iniquity, nor 
 Hermaphroditically Vitious. 
 
 SECT. xxxn. If generous Honesty, Valour, and 
 plain Dealing be the Cognisance of thy Family or 
 Characteristick of thy Country, hold fast such inclina- 
 tions suckt in with thy first Breath, and which lay in 
 the Cradle with thee. Fall not into transforming 
 degenerations, which under the old name create a new 
 Nation. Be not an Alien in thine own Nation ; bring 
 not Orontes into Tiber ; learn the Virtues not the 
 Vices of thy foreign Neighbours, and make thy imita- 
 tion by discretion not contagion. Feel something of 
 thyself in the noble Acts of thy Ancestors, and find in 
 thine own Genius that of thy Predecessors. Rest not 
 under the Expired merits of others, shine by those of 
 thy own. Flame not like the central fire which 
 enlightneth no Eyes, which no Man seeth, and most 
 men think there's no such thing to be seen. Add one 
 Ray unto the common Lustre ; add not only to the 
 Number, but the Note of thy Generation ; and prove 
 not a Cloud but an Asterisk in thy region. 
 
 SECT, xxxni. Since thou hast an Alarum in thy 
 Breast, which tells thee thou hast a Living Spirit in 
 thee above two thousand times in an hour ; dull not 
 away thy Days in sloathful supinity and the tedious- 
 ness of doing nothing. To strenuous Minds there is 
 an inquietude in over quietness, and no laboriousness 
 in labour ; and to tread a mile after the slow pace of 
 a Snail, or the heavy measures of the Lazy of Brazilia, 
 were a most tiring Pennance, and worse than a Race 
 of some furlongs at the Olympicks. The rapid courses 
 of the heavenly bodies are rather imitable by our
 
 250 Christian Morals 
 
 Thoughts than our corporeal Motions ; yet the solemn 
 motions of our lives amount unto a greater measure 
 than is commonly apprehended. Some few men have 
 surrounded the Globe of the Earth ; yet many in the 
 set Locomotions and movements of their days have 
 measured the circuit of it, and twenty thousand miles 
 have been exceeded by them. Move circumspectly 
 not meticulously, and rather carefully sollicitous than 
 anxiously sollicitudinous. Think not there is a Lyon 
 in the way, nor walk with Leaden Sandals in the 
 paths of Goodness ; but in all Virtuous motions let 
 Prudence determine thy measures. Strive not to run 
 like Hercules a furlong in a breath : Festination may 
 prove Precipitation ; Deliberating delay may be wise 
 cunctation, and slowness no sloathfulness. 
 
 SECT, xxxiv. Since Virtuous Actions have their 
 own Trumpets, and without any noise from thy self 
 will have their resound abroad ; busy not thy best 
 Member in the Encomium of thy self. Praise is a 
 debt we owe unto the Virtues of others, and due unto 
 our own from all, whom Malice hath not made Mutes, 
 or Envy struck Dumb. Fall not however into the 
 common prevaricating way of self-commendation and 
 boasting, by denoting the imperfections of others. He 
 who discommendeth others obliquely commendeth 
 himself. He who whispers their infirmities proclaims 
 his own Exemptions from them, and consequently says, 
 I am not as this Publican, or Hie Niger, 1 whom I talk 
 of. Open ostentation and loud vain-glory is more 
 tolerable than this obliquity, as but containing some 
 Froath, no Ink, as but consisting of a personal piece 
 of folly, nor complicated with uncharitableness. Super- 
 fluously we seek a precarious applause abroad : every 
 good Man hath his plaudite within himself ; and though 
 his Tongue be silent, is not without loud Cymbals in 
 his Breast. Conscience will become his Panegyrist, 
 and never forget to crown and extol him unto himself. 
 
 SECT. xxxv. Bless not thyself only that thou wert 
 
 1 Hie niger est, hunc tu Romane caveto. Hor.
 
 Christian Morals 251 
 
 born in Athens; 1 but, among thy multiplyed acknow- 
 ledgments lift up one hand unto Heaven, that thou 
 wert born of Honest Parents, that Modesty, Humility, 
 Patience, and Veracity, lay in the same Egg, and 
 came into the World with thee. From such founda- 
 tions thou may'st be Happy in a virtuous precocity, 
 and make an early and long walk in Goodness; so 
 may'st thou more naturally feel the contrariety of Vice 
 unto Nature, and resist some by the Antidote of thy 
 Temper. As charity covers, so Modesty preventeth a 
 multitude of sins ; withholding from noon day Vices 
 and brazen-brow'd Iniquities, from sinning on the 
 house-top, and painting our follies with the rays of the 
 Sun. Where this Virtue reigneth, though Vice may 
 show its Head, it cannot be in its Glory : where shame 
 of sin sets, look not for Virtue to arise; for when 
 Modesty taketh Wing, Astrea? goes soon after. 
 
 SECT, xxxvi. The Heroical vein of Mankind runs 
 much in the Souldiery, and courageous part of the 
 World ; and in that form we oftenest find Men above 
 Men. History is full of the gallantry of that Tribe ; 
 and when we read their notable Acts, we easily find 
 what a difference there is between a Life in Plutarch 
 and in Laertius. Where true Fortitude dwells, Loyalty, 
 Bounty, Friendship, and Fidelity may be found. A 
 man may confide in persons constituted for noble ends, 
 who dare do and suffer, and who have a Hand to burn 
 for their Country and their Friend. Small and creeping 
 things are the product of petty Souls. He is like to be 
 mistaken, who makes choice of a covetous Man for a 
 Friend, or relieth upon the Reed of narrow and poltron 
 Friendship. Pityful things are only to be found in the 
 cottages of such Breasts ; but bright Thoughts, clear 
 Deeds, Constancy, Fidelity, Bounty, and generous 
 Honesty are the Gems of noble Minds ; wherein, to 
 derogate from none, the true Heroick English Gentle- 
 man hath no Peer. 
 
 3 As Socrates did. Athens a place of learning and civility. 
 2 Astrea Goddess of Justice and consequently of all Virtue.
 
 252 Christian Morals 
 
 PART THE SECOND 
 
 SECT. i. Punish not thyself with Pleasure ; Glut not 
 thy sense with palative Delights ; nor revenge the 
 contempt of Temperance by the penalty of Satiety. 
 Were there an Age of delight or any pleasure durable, 
 who would not honour Volupia? but the Race of 
 Delight is short, and Pleasures have mutable faces. 
 The pleasures of one age are not pleasures in another, 
 and their Lives fall short of our own. Even in our 
 sensual days the strength of delight is in its seldom- 
 ness or rarity, and sting in its satiety : Mediocrity 
 is its Life, and immoderacy its Confusion. The 
 Luxurious Emperors of old inconsiderately satiated 
 themselves with the Dainties of Sea and Land, till, 
 wearied through all varieties, their refections became 
 a study unto them, and they were fain to feed by 
 Invention. Novices in true Epicurism ! which, by 
 mediocrity, paucity, quick and healthful Appetite, 
 makes delights smartly acceptable ; whereby Epicurus 
 himself found Jupiter's brain in a piece of Cytheridian 
 Cheese, 1 and the Tongues of Nightingals in a dish of 
 Onyons. Hereby healthful and temperate poverty 
 hath the start of nauseating Luxury ; unto whose clear 
 and naked appetite every meal is a feast, and in one 
 single dish the first course of Metellus ; a who are 
 cheaply hungry, and never loose their hunger, or 
 advantage of a craving appetite, because obvious food 
 contents it ; while Nero, 3 half famish'd, could not feed 
 upon a piece of Bread, and ling' ring after his snowed 
 water, hardly got down an ordinary cup of Calda. 4 
 By such circumscriptions of pleasure the contemned 
 Philosophers reserved unto themselves the secret of 
 Delight, which the Helluos* of those days lost in their 
 
 1 Cerebrum Jovis, for a delicious bit. 
 
 2 Metellus his riotous Pontifical Supper, the great variety 
 whereat is to be seen in Mocrobius (see note). 
 
 a Nero in his flight. Sueton. * Caldse gelidaeque Minister. 
 8 Helluos. Gluttons. Dr. /.
 
 Christian Morals 253 
 
 exorbitances. In vain- we study Delight : It is at the 
 command of every sober Mind, and in every sense 
 born with us : but Nature, who teacheth us the rule 
 of pleasure, instructeth also in the bounds thereof, and 
 where its line expireth. And therefore Temperate 
 Minds, not pressing their pleasures until the sting 
 appeareth, enjoy their contentations contentedly, and 
 without regret, and so escape the folly of excess, to be 
 pleased unto displacency. 
 
 SECT. ii. Bring candid Eyes unto the perusal of 
 mens works, and let not Zoilism or Detraction blast 
 well-intended labours. He that endureth no faults in 
 men's writings must only read his own, wherein for 
 the most part all appeareth White. Quotation mis- 
 takes, inadvertency, expedition, and human Lapses 
 may make not only Moles but Warts in Learned 
 Authors, who notwithstanding being judged by the 
 capital matter admit not of disparagement. I should 
 unwillingly affirm that Cicero was but slightly versed in 
 Homer, because in his work De Gloria he ascribed those 
 verses unto Ajax, which were delivered by Hector. 
 What if Plautus, in the account of Hercules, mistaketh 
 nativity for conception ? Who would have mean 
 thoughts of Apollinaris Sidonius, who seems to mistake 
 the river Tigris for Euphrates ; and, though a good 
 Historian and learned Bishop of Auvergne had the 
 misfortune to be out in the Story of David, making 
 mention of him when the Ark was sent back by the 
 Philstins upon a Cart ; which was before his time. 
 Though I have no great opinion of MachiaveVs Learn- 
 ing, yet I shall not presently say, that he was but a 
 Novice in Roman History, because he was mistaken 
 in placing Comnwdus after the Emperor Severus. Capital 
 Truths are to be narrowly eyed, collateral Lapses and 
 circumstantial deliveries not to be too strictly sifted. 
 And if the substantial subject be well forged out, we 
 need not examine the sparks, which irregularly fly 
 from it. 
 
 SECT. in. Let well weighed Considerations, not 
 stiff and peremptory Assumptions, guide thy dis-
 
 254 Christian Morals 
 
 courses, Pen, and Actions. To begin or continue our 
 works like Trismegistus of old, verum cevte verum atque 
 verissimum est, 1 would sound arrogantly unto present 
 Ears in this strict enquiring Age, wherein, for the most 
 part, Probably, and Perhaps, will hardly serve to 
 mollify the Spirit of captious Contradictors. If Cardan 
 saith that a Parrot is a beautiful Bird, Scaliger will 
 set his Wits o' work to prove it a deformed Animal. 
 The Compage of all Physical Truths is not so closely 
 jointed, but opposition may find intrusion, nor always 
 so closely maintained, as not to suffer attrition. Many 
 Positions seem quodlibetically constituted, and like a 
 Delphian Blade, will cut on both sides. Some Truths 
 seem almost Falsehoods and some Falsehoods almost 
 Truths ; wherein Falsehood and Truth seem almost 
 aequilibriously stated, and but a few grains of distinc- 
 tion to bear down the ballance. Some have digged 
 deep, yet glanced by the Royal Vein, and a Man may 
 come unto the Pericardium, but not the Heart of Truth. 
 Besides, many things are known, as some are seen, 
 that is by Parallaxis, or at some distance from their 
 true and proper beings, the superficial regard of things 
 having a different aspect from their true and central 
 Natures. And this moves sober Pens unto suspensory 
 and timorous assertions, nor presently to obtrude them 
 as Sybils leaves, which after considerations may find 
 to be but folious appearances, and not the central and 
 vital interiours of Truth. 
 
 SECT. iv. Value the Judicious, and let not mere 
 acquests in minor parts of Learning gain thy pre- 
 existimation. 'Tis an unjust way of compute to 
 magnify a weak Head for some Latin abilities, and to 
 undervalue a solid Judgment, because he knows not 
 the genealogy of Hector. When that notable king of 
 France 2 would have his Son to know but one sentence 
 in Latin, had it been a good one, perhaps it had been 
 enough. Natural parts and good Judgments rule the 
 
 1 In Tabula Smaragdina. 
 
 2 Lewis the Eleventh. Qui nescit dissimulare nescit Regnart.
 
 Christian Morals 255 
 
 World. States are not governed by Ergotisms. 1 Many 
 have Ruled well who could not perhaps define a 
 Commonwealth, and they who understand not the 
 Globe of the Earth, command a great part of it. 
 Where natural logick prevails not, Artificial too often 
 faileth. Where Nature fills the Sails, the Vessel goes 
 smoothly on, and when Judgment is the Pilot, the 
 Ensurance need not be high. When Industry builds 
 upon Nature, we may expect Pyramids : where that 
 foundation is wanting, the structure must be low. 
 They do most by Books, who could do much without 
 them, and he that chiefly owes himself unto himself, 
 is the substantial Man. 
 
 SECT. v. Let thy Studies be free as thy Thoughts 
 and Contemplations : but fly not only upon the wings 
 of Imagination ; Joyn Sense unto Reason, and Experi- 
 ment unto Speculation, and so give life unto Embryon 
 Truths, and Verities yet in their Chaos. There is 
 nothing more acceptable unto the Ingenious World, 
 than this noble Eluctation 2 of Truth ; wherein, against 
 the tenacity of Prejudice and Prescription, this 
 Century now prevaileth. What Libraries of new 
 Volumes after times will behold, and in what a new 
 World of Knowledge the eyes of our Posterity may be 
 happy, a few Ages may joyfully declare ; and is but a 
 cold thought unto those, who cannot hope to behold 
 this Exantlation of Truth, or that obscured Virgin 
 half out of the Pit. Which might make some content 
 with a commutation of the time of their lives, and to 
 commend the fancy of the Pythagorean metempsychosis ; 
 whereby they might hope to enjoy this happiness in 
 their third or fourth selves, and behold that in 
 Pythagoras, which they now but foresee in Euphorbtis. 3 
 The World, which took but six days to make, is like to 
 take six thousand to make out : meanwhile old Truths 
 
 1 Ergotisms. Conclusions deduced according to the forms of 
 logic. Dr. J. 
 8 Eluctation. Forcible eruption. Dr.J. 
 
 3 Ipse ego, nam memini, Trojani tempore belli, 
 Panthoides Euphorbus eram. OVID.
 
 256 
 
 Christian Morals 
 
 voted down begin to resume their places, and new 
 ones arise upon us ; wherein there is no comfort in 
 the happiness of Tultys Elysium, 1 or any satisfaction 
 from the Ghosts of the Ancients, who knew so little 
 of what is now well known. Men disparage not 
 antiquity, who prudently exalt new Enquiries, and 
 make them the Judges of Truth, who were but fellow 
 Enquirers of it. Who can but magnify the Endeavors 
 of Aristotle, and the noble start which Learning had 
 under him ; or less than pity the slender progression 
 made upon such advantages ? while many Centuries 
 were lost in repetitions and transcriptions sealing up 
 the Book of Knowledge. And therefore rather than 
 to swell the leaves of Learning by fruitless Repetitions, 
 to sing the same Song in all Ages, nor adventure at 
 Essays beyond the attempt of others, many would be 
 content that some would write like Helmont or Para- 
 celsus ; and be willing to endure the monstrosity of 
 some opinions, for diveres singular notions requiting 
 such aberrations. 
 
 SECT. vi. Despise not the obliquities of younger 
 ways, nor despair of better things whereof there is yet 
 no prospect. Who would imagine that Diogenes, who 
 in his younger days was a falsifier of Money, should 
 in the after course of his Life be so great a contemner 
 of Metal ? Some Negros, who believe the Resur- 
 rection, think that they shall rise white. 2 Even in 
 this life Regeneration may imitate Resurrection, our 
 black and vitious tinctures may wear of, and goodness 
 cloath us with candour. Good Admonitions Knock 
 not always in vain. There will be signal Examples of 
 God's mercy, and the Angels must not want their 
 charitable Rejoyces for the conversion of lost Sinners. 
 Figures of most Angles do nearest approach unto 
 Circles which have no Angles at all. Some may be 
 near unto goodness, who are conceived far from it, 
 and many things happen, not likely to ensue from any 
 
 1 Who comforted himself that he should there converse with 
 the old philosophers. 
 a Mandelslo's travels.
 
 Christian Morals 257 
 
 promises of Antecedencies. Culpable beginnings have 
 found commendable conclusions, and infamous courses 
 pious retractations. Detestable Sinners have proved 
 exemplary Converts on Earth, and may be Glorious 
 in the Apartment of Mary Magdalen in Heaven. Men 
 are not the same through all divisions of their Ages. 
 Time, Experience, self Reflections, and God's mercies 
 make in some well-temper'd minds a kind of transla- 
 tion before Death, and Men to differ from themselves 
 as well as from other Persons. Hereof the old World 
 afforded many Examples, to the infamy of latter Ages, 
 wherein Men too often live by the rule of their inclina- 
 tions ; so that, without any Astral prediction, the first 
 day gives the last, 1 Men are commonly as they were, 
 or rather, as bad dispositions run into worser habits, 
 the Evening doth not crown, but sowerly conclude 
 the Day. 
 
 SECT. vn. If the Almighty will not spare us accord- 
 ing to his merciful capitulation at Sodom, if his Good- 
 ness please not to pass over a great deal of Bad for a 
 small pittance of Good, or to look upon us in a Lump ; 
 there is slender hope for Mercy, or sound presumption 
 of fulfilling half his Will, either in Persons or Nations : 
 they who excel in some Virtues being so often de- 
 fective in others ; few Men driving at the extent and 
 amplitude of Goodness, but computing themselves by 
 their best parts, and others by their worst, are content 
 to rest in those Virtues, which others commonly want. 
 Which makes this speckled Face of Honesty in the 
 World ; and which was the imperfection of the old 
 Philosophers and great pretenders unto Virtue, who 
 well declining the gaping Vices of Intemperance, In- 
 continency, Violence and Oppression, were yet blindly 
 peccant in iniquities of closer faces, were envious, 
 malicious, contemners, scoffers, censurers, and stuffed 
 with Vizard Vices, no less depraving the Ethereal 
 particle and diviner portion of Man. For Envy, 
 Malice, Hatred, are the qualities of Satan, close and 
 dark like himself; and where such brands smoak, the 
 1 Primusque dies dedit extremum.
 
 2 5 8 
 
 Christian Morals 
 
 Soul cannot be White. Vice may be had at all prices ; 
 expensive and costly iniquities, which make the noise, 
 cannot be every Man's sins : but the soul may be 
 foully inquinated 1 at a very low rate, and a Man may 
 be cheaply vitious, to the perdition of himself. 
 
 SECT. viii. Opinion rides upon the neck of Reason, 
 and Men are Happy, Wise, or Learned, according as 
 that Empress shall set them down in the Register of 
 Reputation. However weigh not thyself in the scales 
 of thy own opinion, but let the Judgment of the 
 Judicious be the Standard of thy Merit. Self-estima- 
 tion is a flatterer too readily entitling us unto Know- 
 ledge and Abilities, which others sollicitously labour 
 after, and doubtfully think they attain. Surely such 
 confident tempers do pass their days in best tran- 
 quillity, who, resting in the opinion of their own 
 abilities, are happily gull'd by such contentation ; 
 wherein Pride, Self-conceit, Confidence, and Opinia- 
 trity will hardly suffer any to complain of imperfection. 
 To think themselves in the right, or all that right, 
 or only that, which they do or think, is a fallacy of 
 high content ; though others laugh in their sleeves, 
 and look upon them as in a deluded state of Judg- 
 ment. Wherein, notwithstanding 'twere but a civil 
 piece of complacency to suffer them to sleep who 
 would not wake, to let them rest in their securities, 
 nor by dissent or ^opposition to stagger their content- 
 ments. 
 
 SECT. ix. Since the Brow speaks often true, since 
 Eyes and Noses have Tongues, and the countenance 
 proclaims the Heart and inclinations ; let observation 
 so far instruct thee in Physiognomical lines, as to be 
 some Rule for thy distinction, and Guide for thy 
 affection unto such as look most like Men. Mankind, 
 methinks, is comprehended in a few Faces, if we 
 exclude all Visages, which any way participate of 
 Symmetries and Schemes of Look common unto 
 other Animals. For as though Man were the extract 
 of the World, in whom all were in coag^llato, which in 
 1 Inquinated. Defiled. Dr.].
 
 Christian Morals 259 
 
 their forms were in soluto and at Extension ; we often 
 observe that Men do most act those Creatures, whose 
 constitution, parts, and complexion do most pre- 
 dominate in their mixtures. This is a corner-stone in 
 Physiognomy, and holds some Truth not only in 
 particular Persons, but also in whole Nations. There 
 are therefore Provincial Faces, National Lips and 
 Noses, which testify not only the Natures of those 
 Countries, but of those which have them elsewhere. 
 Thus we may make England the whole Earth, dividing 
 it not only into Europe, Asia, Africa, but the particular 
 Regions thereof, and may in some latitude affirm, that 
 there are ^Egyptians, Scythians, Indians among us; 
 who though born in England, yet carry the Faces 
 and Air of those Countries, and are also agreeable 
 and correspondent unto their Natures. Faces look 
 uniformly unto our Eyes : how they appear unto 
 some Animals of a more piercing or differing sight, 
 who are able to discover the inequalities, rubbs, and 
 hairiness of the Skin, is not without good doubt. 
 And, therefore in reference unto man Cupid is said to 
 be blind. Affection should not be too sharp-Eyed, 
 and Love is not to be made by magnifying Glasses. 
 If things were seen as they truly are, the beauty of 
 bodies would be much abridged. And therefore the 
 wise Contriver hath drawn the pictures and outsides 
 of things softly and amiably unto the natural Edge of 
 our Eyes, not leaving them able to discover those 
 uncomely asperities, which make Oyster-shells in good 
 Faces, and Hedghoggs even in Venus' s moles. 
 
 SECT. x. Court not Felicity too far, and weary not 
 the favourable hand of Fortune. Glorious actions have 
 their times, extent, and non ultras. To put no end unto 
 Attempts were to make prescription of Successes, and 
 to bespeak unhappiness at the last. For the Line of 
 our Lives is drawn with white and black vicissitudes, 
 wherein the extremes hold seldom one complexion. 
 That Pompey should obtain the sirname of Great at 
 twenty five years, that Men in their young and active 
 days should be fortunate and perform notable th ; ngs,
 
 260 Christian Morals 
 
 is no observation of deep wonder, they having the 
 strength of their fates before them, nor yet acted 
 their parts in the World, for which they were brought 
 into it : whereas Men of years, matured for counsels 
 and designs, seem to be beyond the vigour of their 
 active fortunes, and high exploits of life, providentially 
 ordained unto Ages best agreeable unto them. And 
 therefore many brave men finding their fortune grow 
 faint, and feeling its declination, have timely with- 
 drawn themselves from great attempts, and so escaped 
 the ends of mighty Men, disproportionable to their 
 beginnings. But magnanimous Thoughts have so 
 dimmed the eyes of many, that forgetting the very 
 essence of Fortune, and the vicissitude of good and 
 evil, they apprehend no bottom in felicity ; and so 
 have been still tempted on unto mighty Actions, 
 reserved for their destructions. For Fortune lays the 
 Plot of our Adversities in the foundation of our 
 Felicities, blessing us in the first quadrate, to blast us 
 more sharply in the last. And since in the highest 
 felicities there lieth a capacity of the lowest miseries, 
 she hath this advantage from our happiness to make 
 us truly miserable. For to be become acutely miser- 
 able we are to be first happy. Affliction smarts most 
 in the most happy state, as having somewhat in it of 
 Bellisarius at Beggers bush, or Bajazet in the grate. 
 And this the fallen Angels severely understand, who 
 having acted their first part in Heaven, are made 
 sharply miserable by transition, and more afflictively 
 feel the contrary state of Hell. 
 
 SECT. xi. Carry no careless Eye upon the unex- 
 pected scenes of things ; but ponder the acts of Provi- 
 dence in the publick ends of great and notable Men, 
 set out unto the view of all for no common memoran- 
 dums. The Tragical Exits and unexpected periods of 
 some eminent Persons cannot but amuse considerate 
 Observators ; wherein notwithstanding most Men 
 seem to see by extramission, without reception or 
 self-reflexion, and conceive themselves unconcerned by 
 the fallacy of their Exemption : Whereas the Mercy
 
 Christian Morals 261 
 
 of God hath singled out but few to be the signals of 
 his Justice, leaving the generality of Mankind to the 
 pedagogy of Example. But the inadvertency of our 
 Natures not well apprehending this favourable method 
 and merciful decimation, and that he sheweth in some 
 what others also deserve ; they entertain no sense of 
 his hand beyond the stroak of themselves. Where- 
 upon the whole becomes necessarily punished, and the 
 contracted Hand of God extended unto universal 
 Judgments : from whence nevertheless the stupidity 
 of our tempers receives but faint impressions, and in 
 the most Tragical state of times holds but starts of 
 good motions. So that to continue us in goodness 
 there must be iterated returns of misery, and a circula- 
 tion in afflictions is necessary. And since we cannot 
 be wise by warnings, since plagues are insignificant, 
 except we be personally plagued, since also we cannot 
 be punish'd unto Amendment by proxy or commuta- 
 tion, nor by vicinity, but contraction ; there is an un- 
 happy necessity that we must smart in our own Skins, 
 and the provoked arm of the Almighty must fall upon 
 our selves. The capital sufferings of others are rather 
 our monitions than acquitments. There is but one 
 who dyed salvifically for us, and able to say unto 
 Death, hitherto shalt thou go and no farther ; only 
 one enlivening Death, which makes Gardens of Graves, 
 and that which was sowed in Corruption to arise and 
 flourish in Glory ; when Death it self shall dye, and 
 living shall have no Period, when the damned shall 
 mourn at the funeral of Death, when Life not Death 
 shall be the wages of sin, when the second Death shall 
 shall prove a miserable Life, and destruction shall be 
 courted. 
 
 SECT. xii. Although their Thoughts may seem too 
 severe, who think that few ill natur'd men go to 
 Heaven ; yet it may be acknowledged that good- 
 natur'd Persons are best founded for that place ; who 
 enter the World with good Dispositions and natural 
 Graces, more ready to be advanced by impressions 
 from above, and christianized unto pieties ; who carry
 
 262 Christian Morals 
 
 about them plain and downright dealing Minds, 
 Humility, Mercy, Charity, and Virtues acceptable 
 unto God and Man. But whatever success they may 
 have as to Heaven, they are the acceptable Men on 
 Earth, and happy is he who hath his quiver full of 
 them for his Friends. These are not the Dens 
 wherein Falshood lurks, and Hypocrisy hides its 
 Head, wherein Frowardness makes its Nest, or where 
 Malice, Hard-heartedness, and Oppression love to 
 dwell ; nor those by whom the Poor get little, and the 
 Rich sometimes loose all ; Men not of retracted Looks, 
 but who carry their Hearts in their Faces, and need 
 not to be look'd upon with perspectives ; not sordidly 
 or mischievously ingrateful ; who cannot learn to ride 
 upon the neck of the afflicted, nor load the heavy 
 laden, but who keep the Temple of Janus shut by 
 peaceable and quiet tempers ; who make not only the 
 best Friends, but the best Enemies, as easier to forgive 
 than offend, and ready to pass by the second offence, 
 before they avenge the first ; who make natural Royal- 
 ists, obedient Subjects, kind and merciful Princes, 
 verified in our own, one of the best natur'd kings of 
 this Throne. Of the old Roman Emperours the best 
 were the best-natur'd ; though they made but a small 
 number, and might be writ in a Ring. Many of the 
 rest were as bad Men as Princes ; Humorists rather 
 than of good humors ; and of good natural parts, 
 rather than of good natures ; which did but arm their 
 bad inclinations, and make them wittily wicked. 
 
 SECT. xni. With what shift and pains we come 
 into the World, we remember not ; but 'tis commonly 
 found no easy matter to get out of it. Many have 
 studied to exasperate the ways of Death, but fewer 
 hours have been spent to soften that necessity. That 
 the smoothest way unto the grave is made by bleed- 
 ing, as common opinion presumeth, beside the sick 
 and fainting Languors, which accompany that effusion, 
 the experiment in Lucan and Seneca will make us 
 doubt ; under which the noble Stoick so deeply 
 laboured, that to conceal his affliction, he was fain to
 
 Christian Morals 263 
 
 retire from the sight of his Wife, and not ashamed to 
 implore the merciful hand of his Physician to shorten 
 his misery therein. Ovid, 1 the old Heroes, and the 
 Stoicks, who were so afraid of drowning, as dreading 
 thereby the extinction of their Soul, which they con- 
 ceived to be a Fire, stood probably in fear of an easier 
 way of Death ; wherein the Water, entring the pos- 
 sessions of Air, makes a temperate suffocation, and 
 kills as it were without a Fever. Surely many, who 
 have had the Spirit to destroy themselves, have not 
 been ingenious in the contrivance thereof. 'Twas a 
 dull way practised by Themistocles, to overwhelm him- 
 self with Bulls-blood, 2 who, being an Athenian, might 
 have held an easier Theory of Death from the State 
 potion of his Country ; from which Socrates in Plato 
 seemed not to suffer much more than from the fit of an 
 Ague. Cato is much to be pitied, who mangled him- 
 self with poyniards ; and Hannibal seems more subtle, 
 who carried his delivery, not in the point, but the 
 pummel of his sword. 3 
 
 The Egyptians were merciful contrivers, who de- 
 stroyed their malefactors by Asps, charming their 
 senses into an invincible sleep, and killing as it were 
 with Hermes his rod. The Turkish Emperour, 4 odious 
 for other Cruelty, was herein a remarkable Master of 
 Mercy, killing his Favourite in his sleep, and sending 
 him from the shade into the house of darkness. He 
 who had been thus destroyed would hardly have bled 
 at the presence of his destroyer ; when Men are 
 already dead by metaphor, and pass but from one 
 sleep unto another, wanting herein the eminent part 
 of severity, to feel themselves to dye, and escaping 
 the sharpest attendant of Death, the lively apprehen- 
 sion thereof. But to learn to dye is better than to 
 study the ways of dying. Death will find some ways 
 
 1 Demito naufragium, mors mihi munus erit. 2 Plutarch. 
 
 3 Pummel, wherein he is said to have carried something, 
 whereby upon a struggle or despair he might deliver himself 
 from all misfortunes. Juvenal says, it was carried in a ring. 
 
 4 Solyman.
 
 264 
 
 Christian Morals 
 
 to unty or cut the most Gordian Knots of Life, and 
 make men's miseries as mortal as themselves : 
 whereas evil Spirits, as undying Substances, are un- 
 separable from their calamities ; and therefore they 
 everlastingly struggle under their Angustias, and bound 
 up with immortality can never get out of themselves. 
 
 PART THE THIRD 
 
 SECT. i. 'Tis hard to find a whole Age to imitate, 
 or what Century to propose for Example. Some have 
 been far more approveable than others ; but Virtue 
 and Vice, Panegyricks and Satyrs, scatteringly to be 
 found in all. History sets down not only things 
 laudable, but abominable ; things which should never 
 have been or never have been known : So that noble 
 patterns must be fetched here and there from single 
 Persons, rather than whole Nations, and from all 
 Nations, rather than anyone. The World was early 
 bad, and the first sin the most deplorable of any. The 
 younger World afforded the oldest Men, and perhaps 
 the Best and the Worst, when length of days made 
 virtuous habits Heroical and immoveable, vitious, in- 
 veterate and irreclaimable. And since 'tis said that 
 the imaginations of their hearts were evil, only evil, 
 and continually evil ; it may be feared that their sins 
 held pace with their lives ; and their Longevity 
 swelling their Impieties, the Longanimity of God 
 would no longer endure such vivacious abominations. 
 Their Impieties were surely of a deep dye, which re- 
 quired the whole Element of Water to wash them 
 away, and overwhelmed their memories with them- 
 selves ; and so shut up the first Windows of Time, 
 leaving no Histories of those longevous generations, 
 when Men might have been properly Historians, when 
 Adam might have read long Lectures unto Methuselah, 
 and Methuselah unto Noah. For had we been happy 
 in just Historical accounts of that unparallel'd World, 
 we might have been acquainted with Wonders, and
 
 Christian Morals 265 
 
 have understood not a little of the Acts and under- 
 takings of Moses his mighty Men, and Men of renown 
 of old ; which might have enlarged our Thoughts, and 
 made the World older unto us. For the unknown 
 part of time shortens the estimation, if not the com- 
 pute of it. What hath escaped our Knowledge, falls 
 not under our Consideration, and what is and will be 
 latent is little better than non-existent. 
 
 SECT. ii. Some things are dictated for our In- 
 struction, some acted for our Imitation, wherein 'tis 
 best to ascend unto the highest conformity, and to the 
 honour of the Exemplar. He honours God who 
 imitates him. For what we virtuously imitate we 
 approve and Admire ; and since we delight not to 
 imitate Inferiors, we aggrandize and magnify those we 
 imitate; since also we are most apt to imitate those 
 we love, we testify our affection in our imitation of the 
 Inimitable. To affect to be like may be no imitation. 
 To act, and not to be what we pretend to imitate, is 
 but a mimical conformation, and carrieth no Virtue in 
 it. Lucifer imitated not God, when he said he would 
 be like the Highest, and he imitated not Jupiter, who 
 counterfeited thunder. Where Imitation can go no 
 farther, let Admiration step on, whereof there is no 
 end in the wisest form of Men. Even Angels and 
 Spirits have enough to admire in their sublimer 
 Natures, Admiration being the act of the Creature, 
 and not of God, who doth not Admire himself. Created 
 Natures allow of swelling Hyperboles ; nothing can 
 be said Hyperbolically of God, nor will his Attributes 
 admit of expressions above their own Exuperances. 
 Trismegistus his Circle, whose center is everywhere, 
 and circumference nowhere, was no Hyperbole. 
 Words cannot exceed, where they cannot express 
 enough. Even the most winged Thoughts fall at the 
 setting out, and reach not the portal of Divinity. 
 
 SECT. in. In Bivious Theorems, and Janus-faced 
 Doctrines, let Virtuous considerations state the deter- 
 mination. Look upon Opinions as thou dost upon 
 the Moon, and chuse not the dark hemisphere for thy
 
 266 Christian Morals 
 
 contemplation. Embrace not the opacous and blind 
 side of Opinions, but that which looks most Lucifer- 
 ously or influentially unto Goodness. 'Tis better to 
 think that there are Guardian Spirits, than that there 
 are no Spirits to Guard us ; that vicious Persons are 
 Slaves, than that there is any servitude in Virtue ; that 
 times past have been better than times present, than 
 that times were always bad, and that to be Men it 
 sufficeth to be no better than Men in all Ages, and so 
 promiscuously to swim down the turbid stream, and 
 make up the grand confusion. Sow not thy under- 
 standing with Opinions, which make nothing of 
 Iniquities, and fallaciously extenuate Transgressions. 
 Look upon Vices and vicious Objects with Hyper- 
 bolical Eyes, and rather enlarge their dimensions, that 
 their unseen Deformities may not escape thy sense, 
 and their Poysonous parts and stings may appear 
 massy and monstrous unto thee ; for the undiscerned 
 Particles and Atoms of Evil deceive us, and we are 
 undone by the Invisibles of seeming Goodness. We 
 are only deceived in what is not discerned, and to 
 Err is but to be Blind or Dim-sighted as to some 
 Perceptions. 
 
 SECT. iv. To be Honest in a right Line, 1 and 
 Virtuous by Epitome, be firm unto such Principles of 
 Goodness, as carry in them Volumes of instruction 
 and may abridge thy Labour. And since instructions 
 are many, hold close unto those, whereon the rest 
 depend. So may we have all in a few, and the Law 
 and the Prophets in a Rule, the Sacred Writ in Steno- 
 graphy, and the Scripture in a Nut-Shell. To pursue 
 the osseous and solid part of Goodness, which gives 
 Stability and Rectitude to all the rest ; To settle on 
 fundamental Virtues, and bid early defiance unto 
 Mother- Vices, which carry in their Bowels the seminals 
 of other Iniquities, makes a short cut in Goodness, 
 and strikes not off an Head but the whole Neck of 
 Hydra. For we are are carried into the dark Lake, 
 like the ^Egyptian River into the Sea, by seven prin- 
 1 Linea recta brevissima.
 
 Christian Morals 267 
 
 cipal Ostiaries. The mother-sins of that number are 
 the Deadly engins of Evil Spirits that undo us, and 
 even evil Spirits themselves, and he who is under the 
 Chains thereof is not without a possession. Mary 
 Magdalen had more than seven Devils, if these with 
 their Imps were in her, and he who is thus possessed 
 may literally be named Legion, Where such Plants 
 grow and prosper, look for no Champain or Region 
 void of Thorns, but productions like the tree of Goa, 1 
 and Forrests of abomination. 
 
 SECT. v. Guide not the Hand of God, nor order 
 the Finger of the Almighty unto thy will and pleasure; 
 but sit quiet in the soft showers of Providence, and 
 Favourable distributions in this World, either to 
 thyself or others. And since not only Judgments 
 have their Errands, but Mercies their Commissions ; 
 snatch not at every Favour, nor think thyself passed 
 by, if they fall upon thy Neighbour. Rake not up 
 envious displacences at things successful unto others, 
 which the wise Disposer of all thinks not fit for thyself. 
 Reconcile the events of things unto both beings, that 
 is, of this World and the next : so will there not seem 
 so many Riddles in Providence, nor various inequalities 
 in the dispensation of things below. If thou doest not 
 anoint thy Face, yet put not on sackcloth at the 
 felicities of others. Repining at the Good draws on 
 rejoicing at the evils of others, and so falls into that 
 inhumane vice, 2 for which so few Languages have a 
 name. The blessed Spirits above rejoice at our happi- 
 ness below ; but to be glad at the evils of one another 
 is beyond the malignity of Hell, and falls not on evil 
 Spirits, who, though they rejoice at our unhappiness, 
 takes no pleasure at the afflictions of their own Society 
 or of their fellow Natures. Degenerous Heads ! who 
 must be fain to learn from such Examples, and to be 
 Taught from the School of Hell. 
 
 1 Arbor Goa de Ruyz, or Ficus Indica, whose branches send 
 down shoots which root in the ground, from whence there suc- 
 cessively rise others, till one Tree becomes a wood. 
 
 2 'Eiri/ccupe/ca/cia.
 
 268 Christian Morals 
 
 SECT. vi. Grain not thy vicious stains, nor deepen 
 those swart Tinctures, which Temper, Infirmity, or 
 ill habits have set upon thee ; and fix not, by iterated 
 depravations what time might Efface, or Virtuous 
 washes expunge. He, who thus still advanceth in 
 Iniquity, deepneth his deformed hue, turns a Shadow 
 into Night, and makes himself a Negro in the black 
 Jaundice ; and so becomes one of those Lost ones, 
 the disproportionate pores of whose Brains afford no 
 entrance unto good Motions, but reflect and frustrate 
 all Counsels, Deaf unto the Thunder of the Laws, and 
 Rocks unto the Cries of charitable Commiserators. 
 He who hath had the Patience of Diogenes, to make 
 Orations unto Statues, may more sensibly apprehend 
 how all Words fall to the Ground, spent upon such a 
 surd and Earless Generation of Men, stupid unto all 
 Instruction, and rather requiring an Exorcist, than an 
 Orator for their Conversion. 
 
 SECT. vn. Burden not the back of Aries, Leo, or 
 Taurus, with thy faults, nor make Saturn, Mars, or 
 Venus, guilty of thy Follies. Think not to fasten thy 
 imperfections on the Stars, and so despairingly con- 
 ceive thy self under a fatality of being evil. Calculate 
 thyself within, seek not thyself in the Moon, but in 
 thine own Orb or Microcosmical Circumference. Let 
 celestial aspects admonish and advertise, not conclude 
 and determine thy ways. For since good and bad 
 Stars moralize not our Actions, and neither excuse or 
 commend, acquit or condemn our Good or Bad Deeds 
 at the present or last Bar, since some are Astro- 
 logically well disposed who are morally highly vicious; 
 not Celestial Figures, but Virtuous Schemes, must 
 denominate and state our Actions. If we rightly 
 understood the Names whereby God calleth the Stars, 
 if we knew his Name for the Dog-Star, or by what 
 appellation Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn obey his Will, it 
 might be a welcome accession unto Astrology, which 
 speaks great things, and is fain to make use of appel- 
 lations from Greek and Barbarick Systems. What- 
 ever Influences, Impulsions, or Inclinations there be
 
 Christian Morals 269 
 
 from the Lights above, it were a piece of wisdom to 
 make one of those Wise men who overrule their Stars, 1 
 and with their own Militia contend with the Host 
 of Heaven. Unto which attempt there want not 
 Auxiliaries from the whole strength of Morality, 
 supplies from Christian Ethicks, influences also and 
 illuminations from above, more powerful than the 
 Lights of Heaven. 
 
 SECT. viii. Confound not the distinctions of thy 
 Life which Nature hath divided : that is, Youth, 
 Adolescence, Manhood, and old Age, nor in these 
 divided Periods, wherein thou art in a manner Four, 
 conceive thyself but One. Let every division be 
 happy in its proper Virtues, nor one Vice run through 
 all. Let each distinction have its salutary transition, 
 and critically deliver thee from the imperfections of 
 the former, so ordering the whole, that Prudence and 
 Virtue may have the largest Section. Do as a Child 
 but when thou art a Child, and ride not on a Reed at 
 twenty. He who hath not taken leave of the follies 
 of his Youth, and in his maturer state scarce got out 
 of that division, disproportionately divideth his Days, 
 crowds up the latter part of his Life, and leaves too 
 narrow a corner for the Age of Wisdom, and so hath 
 room to be a Man scarce longer than he hath been a 
 Youth. Rather than to make this confusion, anti- 
 cipate the Virtues of Age, and live long without the 
 infirmities of it. So mayst thou count up thy days as 
 some do Adams, 2 that is, by anticipation; so mayst 
 thou be coetaneous unto thy Elders, and a Father 
 unto thy contemporaries. 
 
 SECT. ix. While others are curious in the choice of 
 good Air, and chiefly sollicitous for healthful habita- 
 tions, Study thou Conversation, and be critical in thy 
 Consortion. The aspects, conjunctions, and configura- 
 tions of the Stars, which mutually diversify, intend, or 
 qualify their influences, are but the varieties of their 
 
 1 Sapiens dominabitur astris. 
 
 2 Adam thought to be created in the State of Man about thirty 
 years Old.
 
 270 Christian Morals 
 
 nearer or farther conversation with one another, and 
 like the Consortion of Men, whereby they become 
 better or worse, and even Exchange their Natures. 
 Since Men live by Examples, and will be imitating 
 something ; order thy imitation to thy Improvement, 
 not thy Ruin. Look not for Roses in Attains his 
 garden, 1 or wholsome Flowers in a venomous Planta- 
 tion. And since there is scarce any one bad, but some 
 others are the worse for him ; tempt not Contagion by 
 proximity, and hazard not thy self in the shadow of 
 Corruption. He who hath not early suffered this 
 Shipwrack, and in his Younger Days escaped this 
 Charybdis, may make a happy Voyage, and not come 
 in with black Sails into the port. Self conversation, or 
 to be alone, is better than such Consortion. Some 
 School-men tell us, that he is properly alone, with 
 whom in the same place there is no other of the same 
 Species. Nabuchodonozor was alone, though among 
 the Beasts of the Field ; and a Wise Man may be 
 tolerably said to be alone though with a Rabble of 
 People, little better than Beasts about him. Un- 
 thinking Heads, who have not learn'd to be alone, are 
 in a Prison to themselves, if they be not also with 
 others : Whereas on the contrary, they whose thoughts 
 are in a fair, and hurry within, are sometimes fain to 
 retire into Company, to be out of the crowd of them- 
 selves. He who must needs have Company, must 
 needs have sometimes bad Company. Be able to be 
 alone. Loose not the advantage of Solitude, and the 
 Society of thy self, nor be only content, but delight to 
 be alone and single with Omnipresency. He who is 
 thus prepared, the Day is not uneasy nor the Night 
 black unto him. Darkness may bound his Eyes, not 
 his Imagination. In his Bed he may ly, like Pompey 
 and his Sons, 2 in all quarters of the Earth, may specu- 
 late the Universe, and enjoy the whole World in the 
 
 1 Attains made a Garden which contained only venomous 
 Plants. 
 
 2 Pompeios Juvenes Asia atque Europa, sed ipsum Terra tegit 
 Libyes.
 
 Christian Morals 271 
 
 Hermitage of himself. Thus the old Ascetick Christians 
 found a Paradise in a Desert, and with little converse 
 on Earth held a conversation in Heaven ; thus they 
 Astronomiz'd in Caves, and, though they beheld not 
 the Stars, had the Glory of Heaven before them. 
 
 SECT. x. Let the Characters of good things stand 
 indelibly in Thy mind, and thy Thoughts be active on 
 them. Trust not too much unto suggestions from 
 Reminiscential Amulets, or Artificial Memorandums. 
 Let the mortifying Janus of Covarrubias 1 be in thy daily 
 Thoughts, not only on thy Hand and Signets. Rely 
 not alone upon silent and dumb remembrances. Behold 
 not Death's Heads till thou doest not see them, nor 
 look upon mortifying Objects till thou overlook'st 
 them. Forget not how assuefaction unto anything 
 minorates the passion from it, how constant Objects 
 lose their hints, and steal an inadvertisement upon us. 
 There is no excuse to forget what everything prompts 
 unto us. To thoughtful Observators, the whole World 
 is a Phylactery, and everything we see an Item of the 
 Wisdom, Power, or Goodness of God. Happy are 
 they who verify their Amulets, and make their Phylac- 
 teries speak in their Lives and Actions. To run on in 
 despight of the Revulsions and Pul-backs of such 
 Remoras aggravates our transgressions. When Death's 
 Heads on our Hands have no influence upon our 
 Heads, and fleshless Cadavers abate not the exorbi- 
 tances of the Flesh ; when Crucifixes upon Mens Hearts 
 suppress not their bad Commotions, and his Image 
 who was murdered for us withholds not from Blood 
 and Murder ; Phylacteries prove but formalities, and 
 their despised hints sharpen our condemnation. 
 
 SECT. xi. Look not for Whales in the Euxine Sea, 
 or expect great matters where they are not to be 
 
 1 Don Sebastian de Covarrnbias writ three Centuries of moral 
 Emblems in Spanish. In the 88th of the second Century he 
 sets down two Faces averse, and conjoined Janus-like ; the one, 
 a Gallant Beautiful Face, the other, a Death's Head Face, with 
 this Motto out of Ovid's Metamorphosis : 
 
 Quid fuerim quid simque vide.
 
 272 Christian Morals 
 
 found. Seek not for Profundity in Shallowness, or 
 Fertility in a Wilderness. Place not the expectations 
 of great Happiness here below, or think to find Heaven 
 on Earth ; wherein we must be content with Embryon- 
 felicities, and fruitions of doubtful Faces. For the 
 Circle of our felicities makes but short Arches. In 
 every clime we are in a periscian state, and with our 
 Light our Shadow and Darkness walk about us. Our 
 Contentments stand upon the tops of Pyramids ready 
 to fall off, and the insecurity of their enjoyments 
 abrupteth our Tranquillities. What we magnify is 
 Magnificent, but like to the Colossus, noble without, 
 stuft with rubbidge and coarse Metal within. Even 
 the Sun, whose Glorious outside we behold, may have 
 dark and smoaky Entrails. In vain we admire the 
 Lustre of anything seen : that which is truly glorious 
 is invisible. Paradise was but a part of the Earth, 
 lost not only to our Fruition but our Knowledge. 
 And if, according to old Dictates, no Man can be said 
 to be happy before Death, the happiness of this Life 
 goes for nothing before it be over, and while we think 
 ourselves happy we do but usurp that Name. Cer- 
 tainly true Beatitude groweth not on Earth, nor hath 
 this World in it the Expectations we have of it. He 
 Swims in Oil, and can hardly avoid sinking, who hath 
 such light Foundations to support him. 'Tis therefore 
 happy that we have two Worlds to hold on. To 
 enjoy true happiness we must travel into a very far 
 Countrey, and even out of ourselves ; for the Pearl 
 we seek for is not to be found in the Indian but in the 
 Empyrean ocean. 
 
 SECT. xn. Answer not the Spur of Fury, and be 
 not prodigal or prodigious in Revenge. Make not one 
 in the Historia Horribilis ;* Flay not thy Servant for 
 a broken Glass,' nor pound him in a Mortar who 
 offendeth thee ; supererogate not in the worst sense, 
 and overdo not the necessities of evil ; humour not the 
 injustice of Revenge. Be not Stoically mistaken in 
 the equality of sins, nor commutatively iniquitous in 
 
 1 A book so intituled wherein are sundry horrid accounts.
 
 Christian Morals 273 
 
 the valuation of transgressions ; but weigh them in the 
 Scales of Heaven, and by the weights of righteous 
 Reason. Think that Revenge too high, which is but 
 level with the offence. Let thy Arrows of Revenge 
 fly short, or be aimed like those of Jonathan, to fall 
 beside the mark. Too many there be to whom a 
 dead enemy smells well, and who find Musk and Amber 
 in Revenge. The ferity of such minds holds no rule 
 in Retaliations, requiring too often a Head for a 
 Tooth, and the Supreme revenge for trespasses, which 
 a night's rest should obliterate. But patient Meek- 
 ness takes injuries like Pills, not chewing but swallow- 
 ing them down, Laconically suffering, and silently 
 passing them over, while angered Pride makes a 
 noise, like Homerican Mars, 1 at every scratch of 
 offences. Since Women do most delight in Revenge, 
 it may seem but feminine manhood to be vindictive. 
 If thou must needs have thy Revenge of thine enemy, 
 with a soft Tongue break his Bones, 2 heap Coals of 
 Fire on his Head, forgive him, and enjoy it. To for- 
 give our Enemies is a charming way of Revenge, and 
 a short Ccesavian Conquest overcoming without a blow ; 
 laying our Enemies at our Feet, under sorrow, shame, 
 and repentance; leaving our Foes our Friends, and 
 solicitously inclined to grateful Retaliations. Thus to 
 Return upon our Adversaries is a healing way of 
 Revenge, and to do good for evil a soft and melting 
 ultion, a method Taught from Heaven to keep all 
 smooth on Earth. Common forceable ways make 
 not an end of Evil, but leave Hatred and Malice 
 behind them. An Enemy thus reconciled is little 
 to be trusted, as wanting the foundation of Love and 
 Charity, and but for a time restrained by disadvantage 
 or inability. If thou hast not Mercy for others, yet 
 be not Cruel unto thyself. To ruminate upon evils, 
 to make critical notes upon injuries, and to be too 
 acute in their apprehensions, is to add unto our own 
 
 1 Tu tamen exclamas ut Stentora vincere possis 
 
 Vel saltern quantum Gradivus Homericus. Juv. 
 8 A soft Tongue breaketh the bones. PROV. xxv. 15. 
 
 S
 
 274 Christian Morals 
 
 Tortures, to feather the Arrows of our Enemies, to 
 lash our selves with the Scorpions of our Foes, and 
 to resolve to sleep no more. For injuries long dreamt 
 on take away at last all rest ; and he sleeps but like 
 Regulus who busieth his Head about them. 
 
 SECT. xui. Amuse not thyself about the Riddles 
 of future things. Study Prophecies when they are 
 become Histories, and past hovering in their causes, 
 Eye well things past and present, and let conjectural 
 sagacity suffise for things to come. There is a sober 
 Latitude for prescience in contingences of discoverable 
 Tempers, whereby discerning Heads see sometimes 
 beyond their Eyes, and Wise Men become Prophetical. 
 Leave Cloudy predictions to their Periods, and let 
 appointed Seasons have the lot of their accomplish- 
 ments. 'Tis too early to study such Prophecies before 
 they have been long made, before some train of their 
 causes have already taken Fire, laying open in part 
 what lay obscure and before buryed unto us. For the 
 voice of Prophecies is like that of Whispering-places : 
 They who are near or at a little distance hear nothing, 
 those at the farthest extremity will understand all. 
 But a Retrograde cognition of times past, and things 
 which have already been, is more satisfactory than a 
 suspended Knowledge of what is yet unexistent. And 
 the greatest part of Time being already wrapt up in 
 things behind us ; it's now somewhat late to bait after 
 things before us ; for futurity still shortens, and time 
 present sucks in time to come. What is Prophetical 
 in one Age proves Historical in another, and so must 
 hold on unto the last of time ; when there will be no 
 room for Prediction, when Janus shall loose one Face, 
 and the long beard of time shall look like those of 
 David's Servants, shorn away upon one side, and 
 when, if the expected Elias should appear, he might 
 say much of what is past, not much of what's to 
 come. 
 
 SECT. xiv. Live unto the Dignity of thy Nature, 
 and leave it not disputable at last, whether thou hast 
 been a Man or since thou art a composition of Man
 
 Christian Morals 275 
 
 and Beast, how thou hast predominantly passed thy 
 days, to state the denomination. Un-man not there- 
 fore thy self by a Beastial transformation, nor realize 
 old Fables. Expose not thyself by four-footed man- 
 ners unto monstrous draughts, and Caricatura repre- 
 sentations. Think not after the old Pythagorean 
 conceit, what Beast thou may'st be after death. Be 
 not under any Brutal metempsychosis while thou livest, 
 and walkest about erectly under the scheme of Man. 
 In thine own circumference, as in that of the Earth, 
 let the Rational Horizon be larger than the sensible, 
 and the Circle of Reason than of Sense. Let the 
 Divine part be upward, and the Region of Beast 
 below. Otherwise, 'tis but to live invertedly, and 
 with thy Head unto the Heels of thy Antipodes. Desert 
 not thy title to a Divine particle and union with 
 invisibles. Let true Knowledge and Virtue tell the 
 lower World thou art a part of the higher. Let thy 
 Thoughts be of things which have not entred into the 
 Hearts of Beasts : Think of things long past, and long 
 to come : Acquaint thyself with the choragium of the 
 Stars, and consider the vast expansion beyond them. 
 Let Intellectual Tubes give thee a glance of things, 
 which visive Organs reach not. Have a glimpse of 
 incomprehensibles, and Thoughts of things, which 
 Thoughts but tenderly touch. Lodge immaterials in 
 thy Head : ascend unto invisibles : fill thy Spirit with 
 Spirituals, with the mysteries of Faith, the magnalities 
 of Religion, and thy Life with the Honour of God ; 
 without which, though Giants in Wealth and Dignity, 
 we are but Dwarfs and Pygmies in Humanity, and 
 may hold a pitiful rank in that triple division of man- 
 kind into Heroes, Men, and Beasts. For though 
 human Souls are said to be equal, yet is there no small 
 inequality in their operations ; some maintain the 
 allowable Station of Men ; many are far below it ; 
 and some have been so divine, as to approach the 
 Apogeum of their Natures, and to be in the Confinium 
 of Spirits. 
 
 SECT. xv. Behold thyself by inward Opticks and
 
 276 
 
 Christian Morals 
 
 the Crystalline of thy Soul. Strange it is, that in the 
 most perfect sense there should be so many fallacies, 
 that we are fain to make a doctrine, and often to see 
 by Art. But the greatest imperfection is in our inward 
 sight, that is, to be Ghosts unto our own Eyes, and 
 while we are so sharp-sighted as to look thorough 
 others, to be invisible unto ourselves ; for the inward 
 Eyes are more fallacious than the outward. The 
 Vices we scoff at in others laugh at us within our- 
 selves. Avarice, Pride, Falsehood lye undiscerned 
 and blindly in us, even to the Age of blindness : and, 
 therefore, to see ourselves interiourly, we are fain to 
 borrow other Mens Eyes ; wherein true Friends are 
 good Informers, and Censurers no bad Friends. Con- 
 science only, that can see without Light, sits in the 
 Anopagy and dark Tribunal of our Hearts, surveying 
 our Thoughts and condemning their obliquities. 
 Happy is that state of vision that can see without 
 Light, though all should look as before the Creation, 
 when there was not an Eye to see, or Light to actuate 
 a Vision : wherein notwithstanding obscurity is only 
 imaginable respectively unto Eyes ; for unto God 
 there was none, Eternal Light was ever, created Light 
 was for the creation, not himself, and as he saw before 
 the Sun may still also see without it. In the City of 
 the new Jerusalem there is neither Sun nor Moon ; 
 where glorifyed Eyes must see by the Archetypal Sun, 
 or the Light of God, able to illuminate intellectual 
 Eyes, and make unknown Visions. Intuitive percep- 
 tions in Spiritual beings may perhaps hold some 
 Analogy unto Vision : but yet how they see us, or one 
 another, what Eye, what Light, or what perception is 
 required unto their intuition, is yet dark unto our ap- 
 prehension ; and even how they see God, or how unto 
 our glorified Eyes the Beatifical Vision will be cele- 
 brated, another World must tell us, when perceptions 
 will be new, and we may hope to behold invisibles. 
 
 SECT. xvi. When all looks fair about, and thou 
 seest not a cloud so big as a Hand to threaten thee, 
 forget not the Wheel of things : Think of sullen
 
 Christian Morals 277 
 
 vicissitudes, but beat not thy brains to fore know them. 
 Be armed against such obscurities rather by submis- 
 sion than fore-knowledge. The Knowledge of future 
 evils mortifies present felicities, and there is more 
 content in the uncertainty or ignorance of them. This 
 favour our Saviour vouchsafed unto Peter, when he 
 fore told not his Death in plain terms, and so by an 
 ambiguous and cloudy delivery dampt not the Spirit 
 of his Disciples. But in the assured fore-knowledge 
 of the Deluge, Noah lived many Years under the 
 affliction af a Flood, and Jerusalem was taken unto 
 Jeremy before it was besieged. And therefore the 
 Wisdom of Astrologers, who speak of future things, 
 hath wisely softned the severity of their Doctrines ; 
 and even in their sad predictions, while they tell us of 
 inclination not coaction from the Stars, they Kill us 
 not with Stygian Oaths and merciless necessity, but 
 leave us hopes of evasion. 
 
 SECT. xvii. If thou hast the brow to endure the 
 Name of Traytor, Perjur'd, or Oppressor, yet cover 
 thy Face when Ingratitude is thrown at thee. If that 
 degenerous Vice possess thee, hide thyself in the 
 shadow of thy shame, and pollute not noble society. 
 Grateful Ingenuities are content to be obliged within 
 some compass of Retribution, and being depressed by 
 the weight of iterated favours may so labour under 
 their inabilities of Requital, as to abate the content 
 from Kindnesses. But narrow self-ended Souls make 
 prescription of good Offices, and obliged by often 
 favours think others still due unto them : whereas, if 
 they but once fail, they prove so perversely ungrateful, 
 as to make nothing of former courtesies, and to bury 
 all that's past. Such tempers pervert the generous 
 course of things ; for they discourage the inclinations 
 of noble minds, and make Beneficency cool unto acts 
 of obligation, whereby the grateful World should 
 subsist, and have their consolation. Common grati- 
 tude must be kept alive by the additionary fewel of 
 new courtesies : but generous Gratitudes, though but 
 once well obliged, without quickening repetitions or 
 
 S 2
 
 278 
 
 Christian Morals 
 
 expectation of new Favours, have thankful minds for 
 ever ; for they write not their obligations in sandy but 
 marble memories, which wear not out but with them- 
 selves. 
 
 SECT. xvin. Think not Silence the wisdom of 
 Fools, but, if rightly timed, the honour of Wise Men, 
 who have not the Infirmity, but the Virtue of Taci- 
 turnity, and speak not out of the abundance, but the 
 well-weighed thoughts of their Hearts. Such Silence 
 may be Eloquence, and speak thy worth above the 
 power of Words. Make such a one thy friend, in 
 whom Princes may be happy, and great Counsels 
 successful. Let him have the Key of thy Heart, who 
 hath the Lock of his own, which no Temptation can 
 open ; where thy Secrets may lastingly ly, like the 
 Lamp in Olybius his Urn, 1 alive, and light, but close 
 and invisible. 
 
 SECT. xix. Let thy Oaths be sacred and Promises 
 be made upon the Altar of thy Heart. Call not Jove 2 
 to witness with a Stone in one Hand, and a Straw in 
 another, and so make Chaff and Stubble of thy Vows. 
 Worldly Spirits, whose interest is their belief, make 
 Cobwebs of Obligations, and, if they can find ways to 
 elude the Urn of the Prator, will trust the Thunder- 
 bolt of Jupiter : and therefore if they should as deeply 
 swear as Osman to Bethlem Gabor ; 3 yet whether they 
 would be bound by those chains, and not find ways to 
 cut such Gordian Knots, we could have no just assur- 
 ance. But Honest Men's words are Stygian Oaths, 
 and Promises inviolable. These are not the Men for 
 whom the fetters of Law were first forged : they 
 needed not the solemness of Oaths ; by keeping their 
 Faith they swear, and evacuate such confirmations. 4 
 
 SECT. xx. Though the World be Histrionical, and 
 
 1 Which after many hundred years was found burning under 
 ground, and went out as soon as the air came to it. 
 
 2 Jovem lapidem jurare. 
 
 3 See the Oath of Sultan Osman in his life, in the addition to 
 Knolls his Turkish history. 
 
 4 Cokndo fidemjurant. CURTIUS.
 
 Christian Morals 279 
 
 most Men live Ironically, yet be thou what thou singly 
 art, and personate only thy self. Swim smoothly in 
 the stream of thy Nature, and live but one Man. To 
 single Hearts doubling is discruciating : such tempers 
 must sweat to dissemble, and prove but hypocritical 
 Hypocrites. Simulation must be short : Men do not 
 easily continue a counterfeiting Life, or dissemble 
 unto Death. He who counterfeiteth, acts a part, and 
 is as it were out of himself : which, if long, proves so 
 ircksome, that Men are glad to pull off their Vizards, 
 and resume themselves again ; no practice being able 
 to naturalize such unnaturals, or make a Man rest 
 content not to be himself. And, therefore, since 
 Sincerity is thy Temper, let veracity be thy Virtue, in 
 Words, Manners, and Actions. To offer at iniquities, 
 which have so little foundations in thee, were to be 
 vitious up hill, and strain for thy condemnation. 
 Persons vitiously inclined want no Wheels to make 
 them actively vitious ; as having the Elater and Spring 
 of their own Natures to facilitate their Iniquities. 
 And therefore so many, who are sinistrous unto Good 
 Actions, are Ambi-dexterous unto bad, and Vulcans in 
 virtuous Paths, Achilkses in vitious motions. 
 
 SECT. xxi. Rest not in the high strain'd Paradoxes 
 of old Philosophy, supported by naked Reason, and 
 the reward of mortal Felicity, but labour in the 
 ethicks of Faith, built upon Heavenly assistance, and 
 the happiness of both beings. Understand the Rules, 
 but swear not unto the Doctrines of Zeno or Epicurus. 
 Look beyond Antoninus, and terminate not thy Morals 
 in Seneca or Epictetus. Let not the twelve but the 
 two Tables be thy Law: let Pythagoras be thy 
 Remembrancer, not thy textuary and final Instructor; 
 and learn the Vanity of the World, rather from 
 Solomon than Phocylydes. Sleep not in the Dogmas of 
 the Peripatus, Academy, or Porticus. Be a moralist 
 of the Mount, an Epictetus in the faith, and christianize 
 thy Notions. 
 
 SECT. xxii. In seventy or eighty years a Man 
 may have a deep Gust of the World, Know what it
 
 280 Christian Morals 
 
 is, what it can afford, and what 'tis to have been a 
 Man. Such a latitude of years may hold a consider- 
 able corner in the general Map of Time ; and a Man 
 may have a curt Epitome of the whole course thereof 
 in the days of his own Life, may clearly see he hath 
 but acted over his Fore-fathers, what it was to live in 
 Ages past, and what living will be in all ages to 
 come. 
 
 He is like to be the best judge of Time who hath 
 lived to see about the sixtieth part thereof. Persons 
 of short times may Know what 'tis to live, but not the 
 life of Man, who, having little behind them, are but 
 Januses of one Face, and Know not singularities 
 enough to raise Axioms of this World : but such a 
 compass of Years will show new Examples of old 
 Things, Parallelisms of occurrences through the 
 whole course of Time, and nothing be monstrous 
 unto him ; who may in that time understand not only 
 the varieties of men, but the variation of himself, and 
 how many Men he hath been in that extent of time. 
 
 He may have a close apprehension what is to be 
 forgotten, while he hath lived to find none who could 
 remember his Father, or scarce the friends of his 
 youth, and may sensibly see with what a face in no 
 long time oblivion will look upon himself. His 
 Progeny may never be his Posterity ; he may go out 
 of the World less related than he came into it, and 
 considering the frequent mortality in Friends and 
 Relations, in such a Term of Time, he may pass 
 away divers years in sorrow and black habits, and 
 leave none to mourn for himself ; Orbity may be his 
 inheritance, and Riches his Repentance. 
 
 In such a thred of Time, and long observation of 
 Men, he may acquire a Physiognomical intuitive Know- 
 ledge, Judge the interiors by the outside, and raise 
 conjectures at first sight ; and knowing what Men 
 have been, what they are, what Children probably 
 will be, may in the present Age behold a good part, 
 and the temper of the next ; and since so many live 
 by the Rules of Constitution, and so few overcome
 
 Christian Morals 281 
 
 their temperamental Inclinations, make no improbable 
 predictions. 
 
 Such a portion of Time will afford a large prospect 
 backward, and Authentic Reflections how far he hath 
 performed the great intention of his Being, in the 
 Honour of his Maker ; whether he hath made good 
 the Principles of his Nature, and what he was made 
 to be ; what Characteristick and special Mark he hath 
 left, to be observable in his Generation ; whether he 
 hath Lived to purpose or in vain, and what he hath 
 added, acted, or performed, that might considerably 
 speak him a Man. 
 
 In such an Age Delights will be undelightful and 
 Pleasures grow stale unto him ; antiquated Theorems 
 will revive, and Solomon's Maxims be Demonstrations 
 unto him ; Hopes or presumptions be over, and 
 despair grow up of any satisfaction below. And 
 having been long tossed in the Ocean of this World, 
 he will by that time feel the In-draught of another, 
 unto which this seems but preparatory, and without it 
 of no high value. He will experimentally find the 
 Emptiness of all things, and the nothing of what is 
 past ; and wisely grounding upon true Christian 
 Expectations, finding so much past, will wholly fix 
 upon what is to come. He will long for Perpetuity, 
 and live as though he made haste to be happy. The 
 last may prove the prime part of his life, and those 
 his best days which he lived nearest Heaven. 
 
 SECT, xxiii. Live happy in the Elizium of a 
 virtuously composed Mind, and let Intellectual Con- 
 tents exceed the Delights wherein mere Pleasurists 
 place their Paradise. Bear not too slack reins upon 
 Pleasure, nor let complexion or contagion betray thee 
 unto the exorbitancy of Delight. Make pleasure thy 
 Recreation or intejmissive Relaxation, not thy Diana, 
 Life, and Profession. Voluptuousness is as insatiable 
 as Covetousness. Tranquillity is better than jollity, 
 and to appease pain than to invent pleasure. Our 
 hard entrance into the World, our miserable going out 
 of it, our sicknesses, disturbances, and sad Rencounters
 
 282 Christian Morals 
 
 in it, do clamorously tell us we come not into the 
 World to run a Race of Delight, but to perform the 
 sober Acts and serious purposes of Man ; which to 
 omit were foully to miscarry in the advantage of 
 humanity, to play away an uniterable Life, and to 
 have lived in vain. Forget not the capital end, and 
 frustrate not the opportunity of once Living. Dream 
 not of any kind of Metempsychosis or transanimation, 
 but into thine own body, and that after a long time, 
 and then also unto wail or bliss, according to thy first 
 and fundamental Life. Upon a Curricle in this World 
 depends a long course of the next, and upon a narrow 
 Scene here an endless expansion hereafter. In vain 
 some think to have an end of their Beings with their 
 Lives. Things cannot get out of their natures, or be 
 or not be in despite of their constitutions. Rational 
 existences in Heaven perish not at all, and but 
 partially on Earth : That which is thus once will in 
 some way be always : the first Living human Soul 
 is still alive, and all Adam hath found no Period. 
 
 SECT. xxiv. Since the Stars of Heaven do differ in 
 glory ; since it hath pleased the Almighty hand to 
 honour the North Pole with Lights above the South ; 
 since there are some Stars so bright that they can 
 hardly be looked on, some so dim that they can scarce 
 be seen, and vast numbers not to be seen at all even 
 by Artificial Eyes ; Read thou the Earth in Heaven, 
 and things below from above. Look contentedly 
 upon the scattered difference of things, and expect 
 not equality in lustre, dignity, or perfection, in Regions 
 or Persons below ; where numerous numbers must be 
 content to stand like Lacteous or Nebulous Stars, little 
 taken notice of, or dim in their generations. All which 
 may be contentedly allowable in the affairs and ends 
 of this World, and in suspension unto what will be in 
 the order of things hereafter, and the new Systeme of 
 Mankind which will be in the World to come ; when 
 the last may be the first and the first the last ; when 
 Lazarus may sit above Casar, and the just obscure on 
 Earth shall shine like the Sun in Heaven ; when per-
 
 Christian Morals 283 
 
 sonations shall cease, and Histrionism of happiness be 
 over ; when Reality shall rule, and all shall be as they 
 shall be for ever. 
 
 SECT. xxv. When the Stoick said that life would 
 not be accepted, if it were offered unto such as knew 
 it, 1 he spoke too meanly of that state of being which 
 placeth us in the form of Men. It more depreciates 
 the value of this life, that Men would not live it over 
 again ; for although they would still live on, yet few 
 or none can endure to think of being twice the same 
 Men upon Earth, and some had rather never have 
 lived than to tread over their days once more. Cicero 
 in a prosperous state had not the patience to think of 
 beginning in a cradle again. Job would not only curse 
 the day of his Nativity, but also of his Renascency, 
 if he were to act over his Disasters, and the miseries 
 of the dung-hil. But the greatest underweening of 
 this life is to undervalue that, unto which this is but 
 Exordial or a Passage leading unto it. The great 
 advantage of this mean life is thereby to stand in a 
 capacity of a better ; for the Colonies of Heaven must 
 be drawn from Earth, and the Sons of the first Adam 
 are only heirs unto the second. Thus Adam came 
 into this World with the power also of another ; not 
 only to replenish the Earth, but the everlasting 
 Mansions of Heaven. Where we were when the 
 foundations of the Earth were layd, when the morning 
 Stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted 
 for Joy, 2 He must answer who asked it ; who under- 
 stands Entities of preordination, and beings yet un- 
 being ; who hath in his Intellect the Ideal Existences 
 of things, and Entities before their Extances. Though 
 it looks but like an imaginary kind of existency to be 
 before we are ; yet since we are under the decree or 
 prescience of a sure and Omnipotent Power, it may be 
 somewhat more than a non-entity to be in that mind, 
 unto which all things are present. 
 
 SECT. xxvi. If the end of the World shall have the 
 
 1 Vitam nemo acciperet si daretur scientibus. Seneca. 
 8 Job xxxviii.
 
 284 
 
 Christian Morals 
 
 same foregoing Signs, as the period of Empires, States, 
 and Dominions in it, that is, Corruption of Manners, 
 inhuman degenerations, and deluge of iniquities ; it 
 may be doubted whether that final time be so far off, 
 of whose day and hour there can be no prescience. 
 But while all men doubt and none can determine how 
 long the World shall last, some may wonder that it 
 hath spun out so long and unto our days. For if the 
 Almighty had not determin'd a fixed duration unto it, 
 according to his mighty and merciful designments in 
 it, if he had not said unto it, as he did unto a part of 
 it, hitherto shalt thou go and no farther; if we consider 
 the incessant and cutting provocations from the Earth, 
 it is not without amazement how his patience hath 
 permitted so long a continuance unto it, how he, who 
 cursed the Earth in the first days of the first Man, and 
 drowned it in the tenth Generation after, should thus 
 lastingly contend with Flesh and yet defer the last 
 flames. For since he is sharply provoked every 
 moment, yet punisheth to pardon, and forgives to for- 
 give again,; what patience could be content to act over 
 such vicissitudes, or accept of repentances which must 
 have after penitences, his goodness can only tell us. 
 And surely if the Patience of Heaven were not pro- 
 portionable unto the provocations from Earth ; there 
 needed an Intercessor not only for the sins, but the 
 duration of this World, and to lead it up unto the 
 present computation. Without such a merciful Long- 
 animity, the Heavens would never be so aged as to 
 grow old like a Garment ; it were in vain to infer from 
 the Doctrine of the Sphere, that the time might come, 
 when Capella, a noble Northern Star, would have its 
 motion in the ^Equator, that the northern Zodiacal 
 Signs would at length be the Southern, the Southern 
 the Northern, and Capricorn become our Cancer. How- 
 ever therefore the Wisdom of the Creator hath ordered 
 the duration of the World, yet since the end thereof 
 brings the accomplishment of our happiness, since 
 some would be content that it should have no end, 
 since Evil Men and Spirits do fear it may be too short,
 
 Christian Morals 285 
 
 since Good Men hope it may not be too long ; the 
 prayer of the Saints under the Altar will be the sup- 
 plication of the Righteous World. That his mercy 
 would abridge their languishing Expectation and hasten 
 the accomplishment of their happy state to come. 
 
 SECT, xxvii. Though Good Men are often taken 
 away from the Evil to come, though some in evil 
 days have been glad that they were old, nor long to 
 behold the iniquities of a wicked World, or Judgments 
 threatened by them ; yet is it no small satisfaction unto 
 honest minds to leave the World in virtuous well- 
 temper'd times, under a prospect of good to come, and 
 continuation of worthy ways acceptable unto God and 
 Man. Men who dye in deplorable days, which they 
 regretfully behold, have not their Eyes closed with the 
 like content ; while they cannot avoid the thoughts of 
 proceeding or growing enormities, displeasing unto 
 that Spirit unto whom they are then going, whose 
 honour they desire in all times and throughout all 
 generations. If Lucifer could be freed from his dismal 
 place, he would little care though the rest were left 
 behind. Too many there may be of Nero's mind, who, 
 if their own turn were served, would not regard what 
 became of others, and, when they dye themselves, 
 care not if all perish. But good Men's wishes extend 
 beyond their lives, for the happiness of times to come, 
 and never to be known unto them. And therefore 
 while so many question prayers for the dead, they 
 charitably pray for those who are not yet alive ; they 
 are not so enviously ambitious to go to heaven by 
 themselves ; they cannot but humbly wish, that the 
 little Flock might be greater, the narrow Gate wider, 
 and that, as many are called, so not a few might be 
 chosen. 
 
 SECT, xxvni. That a greater number of Angels 
 remained in Heaven, than fell from it, the School-men 
 will tell us ; that the number of blessed Souls will not 
 come short of that vast number of fallen Spirits, we 
 have the favourable calculation of others. What Age 
 or Century hath sent most Souls unto Heaven, he can
 
 286 Christian Morals 
 
 tell who vouchsafeth that honour unto them. Though 
 the Number of the blessed must be compleat before 
 the World can pass away, yet since the World it self 
 seems in the wane, and we have no such comfortable 
 prognosticks of Latter times, since a greater part of 
 time is spun than is to come, and the blessed Roll 
 already much replenished ; happy are those pieties, 
 which solicitously look about, and hasten to make one 
 of that already much filled and abbreviated List to 
 come. 
 
 SECT. xxix. Think not thy time short in this 
 World since the World itself is not long. The created 
 World is but a small parenthesis in Eternity, and a 
 short interposition for a time between such a state of 
 duration as was before it and may be after it. And if 
 we should allow of the old Tradition, that the World 
 should last Six Thousand years, it could scarce have 
 the name of old, since the first man lived near a sixth 
 part thereof, and seven Methuselas would exceed its 
 whole duration. However to palliate the shortness of 
 our Lives, and somewhat to compensate our brief 
 term in this World, it's good to know as much as we 
 can of it, and also so far as possibly in us lieth to hold 
 such a Theory of times past, as though we had seen 
 the same. He who hath thus considered the World, 
 as also how therein things long past have been answered 
 by things present, how matters in one Age have been 
 acted over in another, and how there is nothing new 
 under the Sun may conceive himself in some manner 
 to have lived from the beginning, and be as old as the 
 world ; and if he should still live on, 'twould be but 
 the same thing. 
 
 SECT. xxx. Lastly, if length of Days be thy Portion, 
 make it not thy Expectation. Reckon not upon long 
 Life : think every day the last, and live always beyond 
 thy account. He that so often surviveth his Expecta- 
 tion lives many Lives, and will scarce complain of 
 the shortness of his days. Time past is gone like a 
 Shadow ; make time to come present. Approximate 
 thy latter times by present apprehensions of them : be
 
 Christian Morals 287 
 
 like a neighbour unto the Grave, and think there is 
 but little to come. And since there is something of 
 us that will still live on, join both lives together, and 
 live in one but for the other. He who thus ordereth 
 the purposes of this Life will never be far from the 
 next, and is in some manner already in it, by a happy 
 conformity, and close apprehension of it. And if, as 
 we have elsewhere declared, any have been so happy 
 as personally to understand Christian Annihilation, 
 Extasy, Exolution, Transformation, the Kiss of the 
 Spouse, and Ingression into the Divine Shadow, ac- 
 cording to Mystical Theology, they have already 
 had an handsome Anticipation of Heaven ; the World 
 is in a manner over, and the Earth in Ashes unto 
 them.
 
 GLOSSARY 
 
 ABBREVIATIONS, ETC. 
 
 J.= Johnson. 
 
 H. E. D. = New "English Dictionary on Historical Principles" (Murray, 
 Bradley). 
 
 Webster = International Dictionary. 
 
 Greenhill= Glossary to edition of " Hydriotaphia and Garden of Cyrus" 
 (1896). 
 
 ABRUPT, to break off. 
 
 ABSTERSION, cleansing. 
 
 ASSUMPTION, consumption. 
 
 ACCEPTIONS, acceptations. 
 
 ACCUMINATED, sharp-pointed. 
 
 ACTIVES, sub., active principles. 
 
 ACULEOUS, needle-like. 
 
 ADAM, QUID FECISTI ? Adam, what 
 hast thou done ? 2 Esdras vii. 
 
 ADRASTE AND NEMESIS, the powers of 
 vengeance (J.). 
 
 ADRIANUS (" the moles of "), " A 
 stately mausoleum or sepulchral 
 pile, built by Adrianus in Rome, 
 where now standetli the castle of 
 St. Angelo." [Note by Sir T. B.] 
 
 ADUMBRATION, faint resemblance, as 
 of a shadow to the object it repre- 
 sents. 
 
 ADVISOES, admonitions. 
 
 .lEguiCRURAL, of equal length of leg. 
 
 /ESON'S BATH. Son of Cretheus and 
 Tyro, and father of Jason ; accord- 
 ing to Ovid, he survived the return 
 of the Argonauts, and was made 
 young again by Medea. 
 
 AFFECTION, influence. 
 
 AFFECTIONS, qualities, passions, feel- 
 ings, men of affection. 
 
 ALCMENA'S nights, " one night as long 
 as three." [Note by Sir T. B.] 
 
 AMAZED, confounded. 
 
 AMBIDEXTEROUS, able to use both 
 hands alike. 
 
 AMBITIONS, ambitious men. This use 
 of the abstract for the concrete in 
 the plural occurs frequently in Sir 
 Thomas Browne, as " desires," 
 " affections," " devotions," " zeals," 
 etc. 
 
 AMISSION, loss. 
 
 AMPHIBOLOGY, an ambiguous phrase. 
 
 AMPHIDROMICAL FEASTS, held at the 
 naming of a child. 
 
 ANAXAGORAS. Several editors have 
 wrongly printed " Anaxarchus," 
 who actually held the opinions at- 
 tributed by Browne to Anaxagoras. 
 
 ANGUSTIAS, agonies (J.). 
 
 ANIMA EST DEI, " the soul is the angel 
 of man, the body of God." 
 
 ANIMOSITY, courage. 
 
 ANTICHRIST ("should be born of the 
 tribe of Dan "). A belief held by 
 the Ancient Church, based partly 
 on the omission of the name of Dan 
 from the list of tribes in the 
 Apocalypse, and partly on the men- 
 tion of him as " adder " and " ser- 
 pent " in Jacob's last blessing of his 
 sons. [Condensed from Greenhill.] 
 
 ANTICIPATIVELY, prematurely. 
 
 ANTICKS, clowns. 
 
 ANTINOMIES, contradictions to law. 
 
 ANTIPODES, opposites (J.). 
 
 APOGEUM, to the utmost point of dis- 
 tance from earth and earthly things 
 (J.)- 
 
 APPARITIONS, appearances without 
 realities (J.). 
 
 APPREHEND, to dread, to conceive, 
 comprehend. 
 
 APPREHENSION, reason, conception ; 
 PASSED APPREHENSION, former 
 opinion ; GROSSER APPREHENSIONS, 
 men of grosser apprehension. 
 
 ARCANA, mysteries. 
 
 AKCHIDOXIS, a work of Paracelsus, 
 translated into English in 1662. 
 
 ARCHIMIME, chief jester. 
 
 AREFACTION, drying. 
 
 AREOPAGY, the great court, like the 
 Areopagus at Athens (J.). 
 
 ARUSPEX, soothsayer, diviner.
 
 Glossary 
 
 289 
 
 ASCENDENS . . . NATURE (i.e., OPERA 
 
 DEI). " A planet in the ascendant 
 reveals to those who seek many of 
 the great things of nature (i.e., the 
 works of God)." Paracelsus, " De 
 Imaginibus." " Thereby is meant 
 our good Angel appointed us from 
 our nativity." [Note by Sir T. B.] 
 
 ASPEROUS, rough. 
 
 ASPHALTICK LAKE, Lake of Sodom, 
 the waters of which, being very salt, 
 and therefore heavy, will scarcely 
 suffer an animal to sink (J.). 
 
 ASPIRES, aspirations. 
 
 ASQUINT, askance. 
 
 ASSASSINE, vb., to assassinate. 
 
 ASSIZE (" to call to "), to summon to 
 judgment. 
 
 ASSUCFACTION, habituation. 
 
 ASTERISK, small star. 
 
 ATTENDANCE, accompaniment, 
 
 ATTENUABLE, liable to diminution. 
 
 ATTRITION, friction. 
 
 AUDACITIES, bold persons. 
 
 AUDITORIES, lecture-rooms. 
 
 AURELIA, chrysalis, " aurelion." 
 
 AVE-MARY bell. " A church-bell, 
 that tolls every day at six and 
 twelve of the clock, at the hearing 
 whereof, everyone, in what place 
 soever, either of house or street, 
 betakes himself to his prayer, which 
 is commonly directed to the Virgin." 
 [Note by Sir T. B.] 
 
 BASILISO, a piece of ordnance. 
 
 BELIEFS, believers. 
 
 BELISARIUS AND BAJAZET, the former, 
 after many victories, said, owing to 
 incurring the Emperor's displeasure, 
 to have been reduced to beggary ; 
 the latter to have been l< 'ade cap- 
 tive by Tamerlane and s^ it up in 
 cage ; " both stories are faise " (J.). 
 
 BENEPLACIT, good pleasure. 
 
 BENEVOLOUS, favourable. 
 
 BEVIS, a famous \ant-kiUer of South- 
 ampton, a hero of medieval English 
 romances. 
 
 BEZO LES MANOS, a salute, a kiss of 
 the hand. 
 
 BISHOP (" the miserable "). Virgi- 
 lius, Bishop of Salzburg in the 
 eighth century, said to have been 
 burnt for asserting the existence of 
 Antipodes. 
 
 BIVIOUS, which open different tracks 
 to the mind ; lead two ways (J.) ; 
 " bivious theorems." 
 
 BLOOD, " though we behold our own 
 blood," though we bleed when we 
 are wounded (J.). 
 
 BOLARY, of the nature of bole, a clayey 
 substance. 
 
 BOTTOM, a ship, a ball of yarn. 
 BOUFFAGE, " a satisfying meal " 
 
 (H. E. D.). 
 BRAVACHE (French), boaster. The 
 
 characteristic Scotchman. 
 BREEZE, gad-fly. 
 BUSHES, alluding to the bushes or 
 
 wreaths of ivy formerly hung by 
 
 vintners at their doors. 
 
 CACUS'S OXEN, stolen from Hercules, 
 and drawn backwards by Cacus 
 into his cave to avoid suspicion of 
 theft. 
 
 CALDA, warm water (J.). 
 
 CALICULAR, in form of calix or cup. 
 
 CALLOSITIES, " calluses," or hard spots 
 in the soul. 
 
 CANDLE, " by the candle," term bor- 
 rowed from the auction-room where 
 certain sales were held, at which the 
 bidding went on as long as a small 
 piece of candle continued to burn. 
 
 CANDOUR, whiteness. 
 
 CANTONS, corners of a shield in 
 heraldry. 
 
 CARIOLA. " That part of the skeleton 
 of a horse which is made by the 
 haunch-bones." [Note by Sir T. B.] 
 
 CARNOUS, fleshy. 
 
 CARRACK, large merchantman. 
 
 CASTRENSIAL, belonging to a camp. 
 
 CATHOLICON, universal medicine. 
 
 CAUSALLY, for a special reason 
 (Greenhill). 
 
 CAUSES (" four second "), of all 
 things. That is, the " efficient," 
 the " material," the " formal," and 
 the " final." 
 
 CAUTELOUS, cautious. 
 
 CEBES" TABLE, an allegorical repre- 
 sentation of the characters and 
 conditions of mankind (J.). 
 
 CENTOES, patched garments, used 
 metaphorically. 
 
 CERTUM EST QUIA IMPOSSIBLE, " it is 
 certain, because it is impossible " 
 ('.., to human reason). Tertullian, 
 " De Came Christi," c. 5. 
 
 CHIASMUS, decussation (Greenhill). 
 
 CHIONIA (" the King of "), Gum- 
 brates, King of Chionia, a country 
 near Persia. 
 
 CHIROMANCY, palmistry. 
 
 CHORAGIUM, dance (J.). 
 
 CHOROGRAPHY, description of places 
 and countries. 
 
 CHYMICKS, chemists. 
 
 CIRCENSES, Roman horse-races (J.). 
 
 CIRCINNATIONS, spherical rounds 
 (Greenhill). 
 
 CIRCUMSTANTIAL, accidental. 
 
 CIRROUS, bearing tendrils. 
 
 CIVILITY, state of civil society.
 
 290 
 
 Glossary 
 
 CLAMATION, shouting. 
 
 CLAWING, tickling, flattering. 
 
 CLIMACTER, the point in a man's life 
 (supposed to be his sixty-third 
 year) when his powers begin to fail. 
 
 CODRUS, the last King of Athens. 
 
 COMMISSURE, juncture, joining. 
 
 COMMODITIES, advantages. 
 
 CoMPAGE, framework or system of 
 conjoined parts (H. E. D.). 
 
 COMPLEMENT, completeness. 
 
 COMPLEMENTAL, slight and subsidiary, 
 merely making up weight. 
 
 COMPLEXIONALLY, by temperament. 
 
 COMPOSITION, compounding, but in 
 the next line (by a play of words) 
 composed = created. 
 
 COMPRODUCTION, joint production. 
 
 COMPROPORTIONS, proportions to- 
 gether. 
 
 COMPUTE, computation. 
 
 CONCEIT, conception, idea, jest 
 
 CONCEIT, to imagine. 
 
 CONCLAMATION, noise made by several 
 people shouting together. 
 
 CONCOMITANCIES, accompaniments. 
 
 CONCOURSE, help. 
 
 CONSIDERATION UNTO, value when 
 compared with. 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS, considerers. 
 
 CONSORTION, the consorting with 
 others. 
 
 CONSTELLATED UNTO, by the constel- 
 lation of my birth adaptive to. 
 
 CONTEMPERED, diluted. 
 
 CONTIGNATION, framing together Of 
 
 beams. 
 
 CONTINGENCY (angles of), the smallest 
 angles. 
 
 CONTRACTION, " we cannot be pun- 
 ished . . . but contraction," by 
 having punishment brought to bear 
 upon ourselves. 
 
 CONVERSATION, behaviour. 
 
 CONVERSION, revolution, " annual 
 conversion." 
 
 CONVINCIBLE, demonstrable. 
 
 CORNIGEROUS, horned. 
 
 CORPULENCY, solid character of 
 bodies. 
 
 CRAMBE, tiresome repetitions ; 
 CRAMBE REPETITIA (Juvenal). 
 
 CRANY, cranium, skull. 
 
 CRASIS, lit. mixture ; here, mixture 
 of bodily humours. 
 
 CRUCIATED, crossed. 
 
 CRUCIFEROUS, marked with a cross. 
 
 CRUSERO, Southern Cross (Greenhill). 
 
 CRYSTALLINE, alluding to the crystal- 
 line humour of the eye (J.). 
 
 CUNCTATION, delay. 
 
 CUPELS, refining glasses used in the 
 melting down of gold and silver 
 with lead. 
 
 DAMOCLES,a flatterer of Dionysius (J.). 
 
 DASTARD, vb., to make craven. 
 
 DECIMATION, selection of every tenth 
 man for punishment (J.). 
 
 DECIPIENCY, state of being deceived, 
 hallucination (Webster). 
 
 DECUSSATION, crossing of lines in the 
 form of the figure X. 
 
 DELATOR, informer. 
 
 DEMONSTRATIONS, truths capable of 
 demonstration. 
 
 DEPRAVE, to malign, to spoil ; DE- 
 PRAVEDLY, in a corrupt form. 
 
 DERIVED, secondary in source (i.e., 
 from the sun ?) 
 
 DESIRES, desirers. 
 
 DEVOTIONS, devout men. 
 
 DIAMETER WITH (to stand in), to be 
 diametrically opposed to. 
 
 DICHOTOMY, division into two. 
 
 DIFFERENCE, vb., to show the differ- 
 ence between, to define. 
 
 DIGLADIATION, fencing match (J.). 
 
 DIOGENES (testament of). " Who 
 willed his friend not to bury him, 
 but to hang him up, with a stage in 
 his hand, to frighten away the 
 crowes." [Note by Sir T. B.] 
 
 DISCRUCIATING, excruciating. 
 
 DISSENTANEOUS unto, contrary to. 
 
 DITTY, speech. 
 
 DIUTURNITY, long duration. 
 
 DONATIVES, gifts. 
 
 DORADO, a fish, probably either the 
 gilt-head or dorade or the gold-fish. 
 IGNORANT DORADOES are rich men 
 of no education. [Condensed from 
 Greenhill.] 
 
 DORMATIVE, sleeping draught. 
 
 DRAUGHT, drawing. 
 
 ECLIPTICALLY, in the direction of the 
 sun's apparent motion. 
 
 EDIFIED, formed. 
 
 EFFRONT, to embolden. 
 
 ELATER, " spring," " elasticity " 
 (H. E. D.). 
 
 ELEEMOSYNARIES, beggars. 
 
 ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION, " composi- 
 tion of elements " (Greenhill). 
 
 ELIAS (prophecy of), " That the world 
 may last but six thousand years." 
 [Note by Sir T. B.] 
 
 EMPHATICAL, " designated emphatic- 
 ally, or par excellence " (H. E. D.). 
 
 EMPYREAL, in old astronomy, all 
 beyond the tenth heaven. 
 
 ENOCH'S PILLARS. "Josephus does 
 not mention Enoch, but says the 
 descendants of Seth erected two 
 pillars, on which were engraven all 
 the discoveries then known to 
 mankind. [Condensed from Green- 
 hill.]
 
 Glossary 
 
 291 
 
 ENQUIRIES, enquirers. 
 
 ENTELECHIA, the realized, as distinct 
 from the merely possible being of 
 anything. 
 
 EPHEMERIDES, NOT OLYMPIADS, par- 
 ticular journals of every day, not 
 abstracts comprehending several 
 years under one notation (J.). 
 
 EPHEMERIDES, schedules showing the 
 position of the heavenly bodies 
 from day to day, used for purposes 
 of divination. 
 
 EPICYCLE, a small revolution made 
 by one planet in the wider orbit of 
 another planet (J.). 
 
 EQUABLE, just. 
 
 EQUAL, impartial ; equitable. 
 
 EQUIVOCAL, doubtful. 
 
 ERGOTISMS, conclusions deduced ac- 
 cording to the forms of logic (J.). 
 
 ETHNICK, gentile. 
 
 EVULSION, extraction by force. 
 
 EXALTATION, refining. 
 
 EXCEPTING ONE (king). Christian 
 IV., King of Denmark, who began 
 to reign in 1588, and was still on the 
 throne when the book was written. 
 
 EXCEPTION, objection or reservation. 
 
 EXENTERATIOX, disembowelling. 
 
 EXEQUIES, funeral rites. 
 
 EXILITY, smallness. 
 
 EXISTIMATION, estimation. 
 
 EXOLUTION, in medicine, great phy- 
 sical weakness ; in mystical the- 
 ology, dreamy exaltation of mind. 
 
 EXPANSED, expanded. 
 
 EXPATIATE, to roam about. 
 
 EXPILATORS, pillagers. 
 
 EXPLICATION, unfolding. 
 
 EXPRESSIONS, marks. 
 
 Exsuccous, dry. 
 
 EXTANCES, existences. 
 
 EXTEMPORARY, intuitive. 
 
 EXTENUATION, emaciation. 
 
 EXTRAMISSION, by the passage of sight 
 from toe eye to the object (J.). 
 
 EXUPERANCES, exaggerations. 
 
 FACES (" so many imperial "), an 
 allusion, probably to his collection 
 of coins. 
 
 FACULTY, authority, power. 
 
 FAITH, believer, abstract for concrete. 
 
 FAMILIST, a member of the " family of 
 love," a religious sect which ap- 
 peared about 1575. 
 
 FASCIATIONS, bandages. 
 
 FATHER (" that great "), probably 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 
 FAVAGINOUS, cellular, like a honey- 
 comb. 
 
 FERITY, ferocity, savageness. 
 
 FESTINATION, haste. 
 
 FIAT LUX, let there be light. 
 
 FICTILE, moulded. 
 
 FILED, placed in order. 
 
 FINGER ("one little "1- "According 
 to the ancient arithmetick of the 
 hand, wherein the little finger of the 
 right hand contracted, signified an 
 hundred." [Note by Sir T. B.] 
 
 FLAW, sudden gust of wind. 
 
 FLUX, flow. 
 
 FOL, mad, of the characteristic Eng- 
 lishman. 
 
 FORAMINOUS, full of boles. 
 
 FORM, the essence of anything apart 
 from the actual material of which 
 it is composed. 
 
 FOUGADE, " a small mine for blowing 
 up walls " (GreenhiU). 
 
 FRUSTRUM, any part except the vertex 
 cut off from a cone (GreenhiU). 
 
 FULCIMENT, fulcrum. 
 
 FUNAMBULATORY, narrow, like the 
 walk of a rope-dancer (J.). 
 
 FURDLING, furling. 
 
 FUSIL, heraldic term, elongated 
 lozenge. 
 
 GALLATURE, germ In an egg. 
 
 GALLIARDISE, merriment. 
 
 GARAGANTTUA, or Gargantua, Rabe- 
 lais' giant. 
 
 GEOMANCER, one who divines by the 
 earth. 
 
 GERMANY (" defection of the Maid 
 of "). Nothing is known of this 
 personage except that she is men- 
 tioned in one of the MSS. as having 
 "lived without meat on the smell 
 of a rose." In default of any evi- 
 dence concerning the Maid, the pre- 
 cise meaning of the word " defec- 
 tion " is not clear ; " detection " 
 has been suggested in place of it, 
 [Condensed from Greenhill.] 
 
 GLOME, a clue of yarn. 
 
 GOMPHOSIS, immovable articulations 
 like teeth in their sockets (Green- 
 lull). 
 
 GORDIANUS (" the epitaph of "). " In 
 Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, 
 Egyptian, defaced by Licinius the 
 Emperor." [Note by Sir T. B.] 
 
 GRAFFS, grafts. 
 
 GRAIN, dye in grain. " Not grain'd," 
 not deeply tinged (J.). 
 
 GRAPHICAL, composed of letters. 
 
 GUSTATION, tasting. 
 
 HAGGARD, wild, untamed, a term in 
 falconry. 
 
 HANGING PLAYED BEFORE THEM. " A 
 barbarous pastime at feasts [among 
 the Thracians], when men stood 
 upon a rolling globe, with their 
 necks in a rope, and a knife in their
 
 Glossary 
 
 hands, ready to cut it when the 
 stone was rolled away ; wherein if 
 they failed they lost their lives, to 
 the laughter of their spectators." 
 [Note by Sir T. B.]. 
 
 HELIACAL, spiral. 
 
 HELIX, a screw or spiral line : to run 
 upon a helix, to be continually 
 moving spirally. 
 
 HELLXJOS, gluttons (J.). 
 
 HELMONT OR PARCELSUS, enthusiastic 
 authors of romantic chemistry 
 
 HERMES' ROD, which procured sleep by 
 a touch (J.). 
 
 HERMETICAL PHILOSOPHERS, followers 
 of Hermes Trismegistus, addicted 
 to chemistry and alchemy. 
 
 HIPPOCRATES PATIENTS. lu some of 
 the treatises of the Hippocratic 
 collection rough notes of cases are 
 found giving the names and ad- 
 dresses of the patients. The point 
 of the comparivm lies in its showing 
 how the dead live only in their 
 names ; nothing more is known of 
 them. 
 
 HISTRIONISM (of happiness), theatrical 
 representation, mere show. 
 
 HOR* COMBUST.*, the time when the 
 moon is in conjunction and obscured 
 by the sun. 
 
 HOUR-GLASSES, " call for many hour- 
 glasses." Ancient pleaders talked 
 by a clepsydra, or measurer of 
 time. 
 
 HUMOUROUS, the result of some 
 humour or individual trait. 
 
 HVDROPICAL, dropsical. 
 
 HYPOSTASIS, distinct substance. 
 
 IDEATED, pictured in idea, in fancy. 
 IDES, time when money laid out at 
 interest was commonly repaid. 
 
 (JO- 
 
 IMMORTALITY, exemption from death. 
 
 IMPASSIBLE, impregnable to suffering 
 and decay. 
 
 IMPOSTORS (the three). The Emperor 
 Ferdinand II. was accused by Pope 
 Gregory I. of maintaining that the 
 world had been deceived by three 
 impostors Jesus Christ, Moses, and 
 Mahomet. A book with this title 
 was said to have existed, but no 
 trace of it remains (Greenhill). 
 
 IMPROPERATIONS, insulting language. 
 
 INCESSION, progression. 
 
 INCINEKABLE, reducible to ashes ; IN- 
 CINERATED, reduced to ashes. 
 
 INCRASSATION, thickening. 
 
 INCREMABLE, incombustible. 
 
 INCURVATE, to make crooked. 
 
 PERKNCY, impartiality ; (pi.) in 
 
 significant matters ; of arguments, 
 exact balance. 
 
 INDIFFERENT, impartial. 
 
 INFLEXURES, bends or folds (Green- 
 hill). 
 
 INGENUITIES, people of ingenuous dis- 
 position. 
 
 INGRESSIOX, entrance. 
 
 INHUMATION, burying. 
 
 INNITENCY, leaning, pressing, or rest- 
 ing upon something (H. E. D.). 
 
 INORGANICAL, without organs. 
 
 INQUINATED, denied (J.). 
 
 INSENSIBLE, too small to be felt. 
 
 INSERVIENT TO, conducive to. 
 
 INSTANCES, instants. 
 
 INTELLIGENCES, unbodied angelic 
 spirits. 
 
 INTENTIONS, persons who intend. 
 
 IRONICALLY (" live ironically "), with 
 dissimulation or personation 
 (H. E. D.). 
 
 ITEM, earnest, specimen. 
 
 ITERATELY, repeatedly. 
 
 JUDGMENTS, men of judgment. 
 
 KELL, caul. 
 
 KINGDOMS, " fatal periods of." Ac- 
 cording to Plato about 500 years. 
 
 LACONISM, short sentence written on 
 
 wall of Belschazzar (J.). 
 LACRYMATORIES, tear- bottles. 
 LARRON (French), thief. The charac- 
 teristic Gascon. 
 LASH, soft and watery, but without 
 
 flavour (Forby's vocabulary of 
 
 East Anglia). 
 LAUREAT DRAUGHT, a picture with 
 
 laurel (Greenhill). 
 LAZY OF BRAZIL, sloth (J.). 
 LIGATION, binding. 
 LION (" we sleep in lions' skins "), in 
 
 armour, in a state of military 
 
 vigilance (J.). 
 LIPARA, the Liparasan Islands, near 
 
 Italy, being volcanoes, were fabled 
 
 to contain the forges of the 
 
 Cyclops (J.). 
 LIQUATION, melting. 
 LIVELY, vividly. 
 LIVERY (" without a "), without 
 
 recompense or fee. 
 LIXIVIOUS, impregnated with alkaline 
 
 salts. 
 
 LURE, bait, a term used in falconry. 
 Lux EST UMBRA DEI, " light is the 
 
 shadow of God." 
 
 MAGN.* . . . VITIA, " Great virtues, and 
 
 no smaller vices." 
 MAGNALITIES, great works from small 
 
 beginnings (Greenhill).
 
 Glossary 
 
 293 
 
 MAGNETICALLY (" stand magnetically 
 upon that axis "), with a position as 
 immutable as that of the magnetical 
 axis (J.). 
 
 MALUSPINI, bom about 1540, the 
 author of the " Ducento Novelle." 
 
 MAMIPLE, handful. 
 
 MARASMUS, wasting disease. 
 
 MASCLE, heraldic term : a lozenge 
 voided. 
 
 MATERIAL (vb.), to materialize. 
 
 MATILDA. " A piece of Maud, the 
 Empress, said to be found in 
 Buckenham Castle, with this in- 
 scription : ' Elle n'a d'elle.' " [Note 
 by Sir T. B.] 
 
 MATURATION, maturing, ripening. 
 
 MEANNESS, low estate. 
 
 MEDIOCRITY, moderation. 
 
 MEMORY (whose), recollection of 
 which. 
 
 MERCURIAL, relating to Mercury 
 (" mercurial characters "). 
 
 MERCURISMS, communications. 
 
 MERITS, deserts (in a bad sense). 
 
 METELLUS. The supper was not 
 given by Metellus, but by Lentulus 
 when he was made priest of Mars, 
 and recorded by Metellus (J.). 
 
 METEMPSUCHOSIS, transmigration of 
 souls. 
 
 METRICULOUSLY, timidly (J.). 
 
 MINORATE, diminish. 
 
 MORTAL, deadly, fatal. 
 
 MOTIVES, motive forces. 
 
 MUTILATE, p.p. mutilated. 
 
 MUTIN (French), stubborn. The 
 characteristic Englishman. 
 
 MYSTERY, trade, craft. 
 
 NATURA . . . FRUSTRA, " nature does 
 nothing in vain." 
 
 NATURALITY, naturalness. 
 
 NEBB, nib, " generative particle " 
 (Greenhill). 
 
 NEBUCHODONOSOR, so spelt in the 
 most trustworthy MSS. 
 
 NEQUE EMIN . . . mm. " For when 
 the study or the couch calls me, I 
 do not fail." Misquoted from 
 Horace (Sat., i. 4, 133), who has 
 lectuius aui me porticus excepit. 
 
 NERO, the Emperor Tiberius. 
 
 NOCENT, criminal (Webster). 
 
 NON ACCIDES, " thou shall not kill." 
 
 NUMERICAL, individual. 
 
 NUNQUAM . . . SOLUS, " nCVCT leSS 
 
 alone than when alone." 
 
 OBSERVATOR, observer. 
 
 OILEUS, the line in the " Odyssey," iv. 
 511, referring to the death of Ajar 
 Ofleus is possibly spurious. 
 
 OLYMPICS, Olympic games. 
 
 OMNEITY, the All. 
 
 ONEIRO CRITICISM, interpretation of 
 
 dreams. 
 
 OPINION (vb.), to consider. 
 ORBITY, loss of parents or children, 
 
 bereavement. 
 
 ORDINATION, arrangement. 
 ORONTES INTO TIBER, " In Tiberim 
 
 defluxit Orontes," says Juvenal, 
 
 speaking of the confluence of 
 
 foreigners to Rome (J.). 
 OSSUARIES, places for bones. 
 OSTIARIES, estuaries. 
 
 PANTAGRDEL'S library. Rabelais, in 
 his " Pantagruel " (liv. ii., ch. vii.), 
 gives a list of sham titles of books 
 for an imaginary library. 
 
 PAPPOUS, downy. 
 
 PARALLAXIS, the parallax of a star is 
 the difference between its real 
 and apparent place (J.). 
 
 PARALOGICAL, illogical. 
 
 PARAMOURS, lovers. 
 
 PARTICULARITIES, peculiarities. 
 
 PASSIVES, passive principles. 
 
 PATRON, vb., to patronize. 
 
 PENDULOUS, hanging. 
 
 PERFLATION, blowing through of the 
 air. 
 
 PERIOD, term, end. 
 
 PERICECI {" to be but their perioeci "), 
 only placed at a distance hi the 
 same line (J.). 
 
 PERISCIAN, with shadows all round 
 us. The Periscii, living within the 
 Polar circle, see the sun move round 
 them, and consequently project 
 their shadows in all directions (J.). 
 
 PERISH upon, to die for the sake of. 
 
 PERSPECTIVE, telescope. 
 
 PHILOPCEMEN, chief of the Achzeau 
 League in Rome's second Mace- 
 donian War." 
 
 PHILOSOPHER. " Alluding either to 
 Antisthenes or Aristippus, for the 
 story is told of each of these philoso- 
 phers" (Greenhill). 
 
 PHYLACTERY, a writing bound upon 
 the forehead containing something 
 to be kept constantly in mind. This 
 was practised by the Jewish doctors 
 with regard to the Mosaic Law (J.). 
 
 PHYTOGNOMY, " discerning the nature 
 of plants from their outward forms " 
 (Greenhill). 
 
 PHYTOLOGY, science of plants. 
 
 PIAE FRAUDES, pious frauds. 
 
 PICKTHANK, flatterer. 
 
 PINAX, tablet, re.gister ; hence list or 
 scheme inscribed on a tablet 
 (Webster).
 
 294 
 
 Glossary 
 
 PINEDA. " Pineda, in his ' Monarchia 
 Ecclesiastia," quotes one thousand 
 and fortie authors." [Note by 
 Sir T. B.] 
 
 PLATO'S year. " A revolution of 
 certain thousand years, when all 
 things should return unto their 
 former estate, and he be teaching 
 again in his school, as when he 
 delivered this opinion." [Note by 
 Sir T. B.I 
 
 PLAUDIT, plaudite was the term by 
 which the ancient theatrical per- 
 formers solicited a clap (J.). 
 
 PLAUSIBLE, praiseworthy. 
 
 POLTRON (French), coward. The 
 characteristic of the modern Roman. 
 
 PONDERATION, weighing. 
 
 POPES (" four "). Leo XI., Paul V., 
 Gregory XV., and Urban VIII. 
 But Leo XI. died nearly six months 
 before Browne was born. 
 
 POPULOSITY, populousness. 
 
 PORT, portal. 
 
 POSIE, motto on a ring. 
 
 POTOSI, the rich mountain of 
 Peru. 
 
 PRACTISED, practical. 
 
 PRECEDENTS, signs. 
 
 PREGNANT, instructive. 
 
 PREJUDICATE, formed without know- 
 ledge of the facts. 
 
 PRELATES, " Presbyters " in the 
 pirated editions of 1642. 
 
 PRESCIOUS, foreknowing. 
 
 PRESCRIPT, direction. 
 
 PRESENTLY, immediately. 
 
 PROCESS OF THE TEXT, context. 
 
 PROPOUND, to fathom. 
 
 PROGENY, lineage. 
 
 PROGNOSTICKS, fore-tokens. 
 
 PROPENSE, inclined to ; PROPENSION 
 unto, inclination towards. 
 
 PROPHAN'D, probably in the sense of 
 " common," which the first edition 
 has, 
 
 PROPRIETARIES, proprietors. 
 
 PROPRIETIES, properties. 
 
 PTOLOMY, the King of Egypt who had 
 the Hebrew scriptures translated 
 and put in his library. 
 
 PUCELLAGE, virginity. 
 
 PUNCTUAL, exact ; PUNCTUALLY, 
 exactly. 
 
 PUNCTICULAR, contained in, size of, 
 a point. 
 
 PUNCTILIO, point, hence a very small 
 body (GreenhiU). 
 
 PYRRHUS HIS TOE, " which could not 
 be burnt." [Sir T. B.] 
 
 PYTHAGORAS (" escapes in the fabu- 
 lous Hell of Dante "), escapes con- 
 demnation, or, perhaps, escapes 
 notice altogether. 
 
 QUADRATE, square, vb. and sub. 
 
 QUANTAM . . . AB ILLO, " how greatly 
 changed from him." 
 
 QUESTUARY, studious of profit (J.). 
 
 QUINCUNX, arrangement of things by 
 fives, one at each corner, and one 
 in the centre. 
 
 QUINQUERNIO, set of five (Green- 
 hill). 
 
 QUINTAPLE, fivefold. 
 
 QUODLIBETICALLY, determinable on 
 either side (J.). 
 
 RADICAL LETTERS, " according to old 
 tradition Moses, by command of 
 God, took the first letters of the 
 names of the tribes, and found 
 them equal to the number of the 
 Israelites, deducting those who were 
 slain in the affair of Korah, etc." 
 (extract from Greenhill's note). 
 
 RADICATION, process of taking root. 
 
 RAMPIERS, ramparts. 
 
 REACTION, retaliation. 
 
 REASONS, reasonable persons. 
 
 REFLEX, reflection. 
 
 REFLUX, ebb. 
 
 REGIO-MONTANUS. John Muller of 
 KQuigsberg (1436-75), " who con- 
 structed an iron fly and a wooden 
 eagl, both of which were able to 
 fly." [Condensed from Greenhill.] 
 
 RELENTMENT, dissolution. 
 
 RELISH OF, to taste of. 
 
 REHINISCENTIAL, relating to reminis- 
 cence. 
 
 REMORAS, obstacles. 
 
 REMOVE, step. 
 
 REPROBATED, condemned to eternal 
 punishment. 
 
 RESOLUTION, solution ; RESOLUTIONS, 
 men of resolution. 
 
 RESPECTIVE, partial. 
 
 RESTRAINT (upon) OF TIME, impeded 
 by the restrictions of time. 
 
 RETIARIUS, a prize-fighter who en- 
 tangled his opponent in a net, which 
 by some dexterous management he 
 threw upon him (J.). 
 
 RETIARY, RETICULATE, in form of net- 
 work. 
 
 RETRIBUTE UNTO, to restore. 
 
 RETRIBUTION, repayment. 
 
 REVERBERATED BY FIRE, " fused as 
 in a reverberatory furnace " (Green 
 hill). 
 
 REVIVIFICATION, recalling to life. 
 
 RHAPSODIES, " extravagant nonsensi- 
 cal books" (Greenhill). 
 
 RIVALITY, equality. 
 
 ROUNDLES, steps of a ladder. 
 
 RUAT . . . TUA, " The sky may fall, 
 thy will be done."
 
 Glossary 
 
 295 
 
 RUBICON, the river by crossing which 
 Caesar declared war against the 
 Senate (J.). 
 
 SALAMANDER'S WOOL, a kind of as- 
 bestos. 
 
 SALIENT, leaping " salient animals." 
 
 SALTYR, heraldic term for cross 
 blazoning of shield. 
 
 SALVE, explained by Gardiner as 
 " cure," " remedy," but it means 
 rather to make a reservation which 
 saves. To Solve Priscian's pate 
 means to avoid breaking Priscian's 
 head. In Sir T. B. the word has 
 the general sense of solve, explain. 
 
 SALVIFICALLY, " so as to procure sal- 
 vation " (J.). 
 
 SANCTUARY (" St. Paul's "). Several 
 passages in St. Paul's writings have 
 been quoted by various editors to 
 explain this passage, but Greenhill 
 points out that the Dutch translator 
 was probably right in quoting 
 Rom. xi. 33 : " O the depth of the 
 riches," etc., as the passage referred 
 to, especially as Sir T. B. himself 
 alluded to it, and that the sanctuary 
 is " the incomprehensibility of God." 
 
 SATION, sowing. 
 
 SATURN (revolution of). " The 
 planet Saturn maketh his revolu- 
 tion once in thirty years." [Note 
 in one of the MSS.] 
 
 SCALES, ladders. 
 
 SCANDAL, ill odour. 
 
 SCHOOLS, the medieval schools of dis- 
 putation and theology. 
 
 SEASES, a word not to be found in any 
 dictionary (Greenhill). 
 
 SECONDINE, after-birth. 
 
 SENSIBLE, perceptible by the senses. 
 
 SEVEN YEARS PAST. The Address to 
 the Reader was first published in 
 1643 ; according to this the " Religio 
 Medici " was written about 1636. 
 
 SHADOWED, shadowed forth. 
 
 SHARP, a pointed weapon. To PLAY 
 AT SHARP, to fight in earnest. 
 
 Sic . . . VELIM. " Thus would I wish 
 to be gathered together when 
 turned into bones," Tibullus, iii., 
 2, 26. 
 
 Si PORET . . . DEMOCRITUS. " If De- 
 mocritus were still on earth he would 
 laugh " (Horace, Ep. ii. i, 194). 
 
 SIGIL, seal. 
 
 SIMPLE, vb., to botanize. 
 
 SINISTROUS, left-handed. 
 
 SOCIETY, co-operation. 
 
 SOCRATES AND CARDAX, Socrates and 
 Cardax talked of an attendant 
 spirit that hinted from time to 
 time how they should act (J.). 
 
 SOLSTICIALLY, at the solstices (Green- 
 hill). 
 
 SORITES, a series of elliptic syllogisms. 
 
 SORTILEGIES, divination by drawing 
 lots. 
 
 SPERMATICAL, pertaining to the seed. 
 
 SPICATED, spiked. 
 
 SPINDLES, slender stalks. 
 
 SPINTRIAN, obscene. 
 
 SPRUCE, ".formerly used of things 
 with a serums meaning " (J.). 
 
 SQUAMOUS, scaly. 
 
 STATION, fixity. 
 
 STATISTS, politicians. 
 
 ST. INNOCENT'S CHURCHYARD, PARIS 
 where bodies decay quickly. 
 
 STINT, limit. 
 
 STRABO'S CLOAK. Strabo compared 
 the then known world to a cloak. 
 
 SUPEREROGATE, to do more than is 
 absolutely necessary. 
 
 SUPINITY, sloth. 
 
 SUPPOSED, undeniable. 
 
 SUPPUTATION, reckoning. 
 
 SURCLE, small shoot, sucker. 
 
 SURD, deaf. 
 
 TABLES (a game at), backgammon. 
 
 TABID, wasted by disease. 
 
 TARGUM, a paraphrase or amplifica- 
 tion (J.). 
 
 TARTARETUS, a real person, a doctor 
 of the Sorbonne and a writer of 
 some celebrity in the fifteenth and 
 sixteenth centuries (Greenhill). 
 
 TEGUMENT, covering. 
 
 TELARELY, in a weblike manner. 
 
 Telesmes, talisman. 
 
 TEMERARIOUS, rash. 
 
 TESTACEOUS, made of earthenware. 
 
 TESTIFY THEIR POSSESSIONS, show the 
 Romans once inhabited them. 
 
 TETRICK, sour, morose (J.). 
 
 TEXTUARY, text-learned. 
 
 THETAS 6, a theta inscribed upon the 
 judges' tessera or ballot was a mark 
 for death or capital condemnation 
 
 (JO- 
 THIRTY YEARS (nor hath my pulse 
 
 beat). As Browne was born in 
 
 October, 1605, the " Religio 
 
 Medici " would thus seem to have 
 
 been written about 1635. 
 THWART, THWARTING, transverse. 
 TINCTURE, touch, colour. 
 TORTILE, twisted. 
 TRADUCTION, propagation. 
 TRAJECTION, emission. 
 TRANSPECIATE, to transform into 
 
 another species. 
 TRANSVERTIBLE, invertible. 
 TREASURE, treasury. 
 TREDDLES, albuminous cords in an 
 
 egg-
 
 296 
 
 Glossary 
 
 TRIQUETROUS, trigonal ; having three 
 
 salient angles or edges. 
 TROPIC, the tropic is the point where 
 
 the sun turns back (J.). 
 TROPICAL, figurative. 
 TYCHO, he that makes, or he that 
 
 possesses ; as Adam might be said 
 
 to contain within him the race of 
 
 mankind (J.). 
 
 (J FINITAS, rules without exceptions. 
 
 ULIGINOUS, slimy. 
 
 ULTION, revenge. 
 
 UNCOUS, hooked. 
 
 UNITERABLE, incapable of repetition. 
 
 UNITION, union. 
 
 UNIVOCACY, regularity, certain order 
 
 (Greenhill). 
 UNRECLAIMED, untamed, a term in 
 
 falconry. 
 
 URGING, burning fiercely. 
 URN OF THE PR.STOR, into which the 
 
 ticket of condemnation or acquittal 
 
 was cast (J.). 
 
 VAGRANT, wandering. 
 
 VAINGLORIES, vain-glorious men. 
 
 VAIR, skin of squirrel (" vaired 
 coats "). 
 
 VAS USTRINUM, a vessel for burning. 
 
 VENEFICIAL, injurious, bewitching 
 (Greenhill). 
 
 VENICE (the Duke of), an ancient cere- 
 mony formerly performed by the 
 Doge yearly to symbolize the 
 sovereignty of the State over the 
 Adriatic. 
 
 VENICE (the State of). In 1606 there 
 was a quvrel between the State of 
 Venice and Pope Paul V., which 
 was settled in the following year by 
 the intervention of France. 
 
 VENNY (venew), the lunge in fenc- 
 ing. 
 
 VENTILATION, fanning, influence. 
 
 VERTICITIES, rotations. 
 
 VESPILLOES, corpse-bearers. 
 
 VINOSITY, vinous nature. 
 
 VITIOSITY, viciousness. 
 
 VITRIFICATION, reduction of a body 
 into glass. 
 
 VOLE (a la), at random. 
 
 VOLUTATION, a rolling, as of a sphere 
 on a plane surface (Greenhill). 
 
 VOTES, wishes. 
 
 WAX (" the wise man's wax "), allud- 
 ing to the story of Ulysses, who 
 stopped his companions' ears with 
 wax as they passed by the Sirens 
 (JO- 
 
 YVROGNE, drunken. The character- 
 istic German. 
 
 ZEALS, zealous men. 
 
 ZENO'S KING, " the King of the 
 
 Stoics," whose founder was Zeno. 
 
 and who held that the wise man 
 
 alone had power and royalty (J.). 
 ZOILISM, criticism in the style of 
 
 Zoilus. 
 
 THE END 
 
 THE TEMPLE PRESS, PRINTERS, LETCHWORTH