juyce of marioram, the flesh of rats, and the like. And if the party be fallen away in his body, and is now growne very thin and dry, you must then prescribe him the same order of diet, according to Avicen, as you doe to those that are hecticall.

"Besides this, it is agreed upon by all, both divines, philosophers, physitians, oratours, and poets, that it is very good in this case that the party change the ayre and place of his abode; and that not so much because it is a very wholesome course so to doe, in all chronicall and long continued diseases, as Hippocrates in Epidem. affirmes, but rather because that this change and variety of place doth awaken the spirits of the melancholy lover, diverting also his thoughts, and depriving him of the sight and ordinary conversation that he formerly had with the object of his love, and cause of his disease. Adducendus, saith Tully, in his 4. Tuscul, ad alia studia, curas, sollicitudines, negotia: Loci deniq mutatione, tanquam ægri convalescentes curandus, Notwithstanding, as this change of ayre and place hath no power of itselfe to cure folly, or to make him wise that desires not to be so (said one of the seaven Græcian sages, change of place neither takes away folly, nor teaches a man wisdome), so neither does it profit a passionate lover any more, as Plato saies, than the shifting of

his.

his bed doth a man that lies sicke of a feaver. And the reason is, because that the lover is alwaies longing for the presence of his mistresse, and contemplating on her vertues and perfection, which seeme, by this her absence, to be the more encreased, for, as the poet saith,

Animus, quod perdidit, optat:

Atq in præteritâ se totus Imagine versat,

It is naturall to the minds of men, still the more eagerly to pursue those things that are denyed them, and to desire the more earnestly that which they cannot compasse. To what purpose should a lover runne away, saies an old poet, seeing that Cupid has winges, and can quickly overtake a runnagate, though he make never so great hast to avoyd him."

OLD

OLD SERMONS,

With whimsical Titles, and a concise account of such of the Authors as were more particularly eminent at the period in which they lived.

1. SPIRITUAL SALT, or a Sermon on Matt. v. 13." Ye are the salt of the earth." Preached in Whitchurch, at an Ordination of five Ministers, by Thomas Porter, Minister of the Gospel there. London: printed by T. R. and E. M. for Ralph Smith, at the Signe of the Blew Bible, in Cornhill, neer the Royal Exchange. 1650.

This very singular Sermon, in which there is át strange compound of good sense and learning, political prejudice, and religious enthusiasm, is inscribed by the author to his reverend brethren in the ministry of the classical presbytery of the north. Among other whimsical passages in the dedication is the following

"Austin mentions a salt in Sicily, that when its put into the fire, it swims as if it were in water; but when its put into the water, it sounds as if it were in the fire. Retain your saltenesse in all conditions and estates. Have salt in yourselves,

and

and peace with one another. While the enemy is sowing tares, be you sprinkling salt; while

others are throwing bones of dissention, be you fastning the bond of brotherly union. If the bundle of arrowes remaine fast bound together, it is not easie to break; if the bond be loose or broken, its no hard matter to break them one after another."

Of this Thomas Porter I can no where find any account.

2. The SPIRITUAL NURSERY DECIPHERED, in a Sermon, preached at Mercer's Chapell, in London, Feb. 9, 1650. By Thomas Baker, late Rector of the Parish of St. Mary the Mere, in Exon. London: printed for John Crooke and John Baker, and are to be sold at the Ship, in St. Paul's Church-yard. 1650.

This eccentric composition is inscribed to the reader in a dedication, of which the following uncouth paragraph is a specimen

"Reader,

"This newborne babe, like the untimely fruit of a woman, had never come to see the sun; at

9

least

least oritur, moritur, had, immediately upon its enlargement from the prison of the wombe, wherein for a time it lay, found out another prison of a tombe in that holy place, wherein it only gave so much testimony of life as to cry; had not the counterblasts of crosse-winds of the importunity of some friends, whom I was content to satisfy on the one side, and on the other the clamour of some intemperate tongues, from whose stings I could not but labour my vindication; recovered and revived in it a few faintly glowing sparks of light and life, when it was upon the point of utter extinguishment and finall expiration."

The Sermon itself exhibits a degree of biblical learning, which is far from contemptible; and Wood, in his second volume of his Athenæ Oxonienses, expresses a doubt whether this may not be the same Thomas Baker who wrote a Treatise on Algebra, in Latin and English, of which respectable mention is made in one of the early volumes of the Philosophical Transac tions.

3. THE WHITE WOLFE,

Or a Sermon preached at Paul's Crosse, Feb. 11, being the last Sunday in Hillarie Tearme, Anno 1627, and printed somewhat more largely than the Time would permit at that present to

deliver,