fore pray to God to give us peace. Commonly we say judgment falls upon a man for something in him we cannot abide. An example we have in King James, concerning the death of Henry the Fourth of France. One said he was killed for his wenching, another said he was killed for turning his religion. "No," says King James (who could not abide fighting), “he was killed for permitting duels in his kingdom." King Charles' Policy.—The king calling his friends from the Parliament, because he had use of them at Oxford, is as if a man should have use of a little piece of wood and he runs down into the cellar and takes [out] the spigct; in the meantime all the beer runs about the house. Law.A man may plead not guilty, and yet tell no lie; for by the law no man is bound to accuse himself: so that when I say, "Not guilty," the meaning is as if I should say, by way of paraphrase, "I am not so guilty as to tell you: if you will bring me to a trial, and have me punished for this you lay to my charge, prove it against me.' Opinion. - Opinion and affection extremely differ. I may affect a woman best, but it does not follow I must think her the handsomest woman in the world. I love apples best of any fruit, but it does not follow I must think apples to be the best fruit. Opinion is something wherein I go about to give reason why all the world should think as I think. Affection is a thing wherein I look after the pleasing of myself. Oratory. That rhetoric is best which is most seasonable and most catching. An instance we have in that old blunt commander at Cadiz, who showed himself a good orator; being to say something to his soldiers, which he was not used to do, he made them a speech to this purpose: "What a shame will it be, you Englishmen, that feed upon good beef and brewess, to let those rascally Spaniards beat you that eat nothing but oranges and lemons ;" and so put more courage into his men than he could have done with a learned oration. Rhetoric is very good, or stark naught. There's no medium in rhetoric. If I am not fully persuaded, I laugh at the orator. Patience. Patience is the chiefest fruit of study. A man that strives to make himself a different thing from other men by much reading gains this chiefest good: that in all fortunes he hath something to entertain and comfort himself withal. Pleasure. Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain; the enjoying of something I am in great trouble for till I have it. 'Tis a wrong way to proportion other men's pleasures to ourselves; 'tis like a child's using a little bird, "O poor bird, thou shalt sleep with me"; so lays it in his bosom, and stifles it with his hot breath: the bird had rather be in the cold air. And yet, too, 'tis the most pleasing flattery to like what other men like. Prayer. Prayer should be short, without giving God Almighty reasons why he should grant this, or that; he knows best what is good for us. If your boy should ask you a suit of clothes, and give reasons, "otherwise he cannot wait upon you, he cannot go abroad but he will discredit you," would you endure it? You know it better than he let him ask a suit of clothes. Preaching. Nothing is text but what was spoken in the Bible, and meant there for person and place; the rest is application, which a discreet man may do well, but 'tis his Scripture, not the Holy Ghost's. The tone in preaching does much in working upon the people's affections. If a man should make love in an ordinary tone, his mistress would not regard him; and therefore he must whine. If a man should cry Fire! or Murder! in an ordinary voice, nobody would come out to help him. Repetition. -'Tis good to preach the same thing again; for that's the way to have it learned. You teach a bird, by often whistling, to learn a tune, and a month after she will record it to herself. Reason. In giving reasons, men commonly do with us as the woman does with her child; when she goes to market about her business, she tells it she goes to buy it a fine thing, to buy it a cake or some plums. They give us such reasons as they think we shall be catched withal, but never let us know the truth. When the schoolmen talk of Recto Ratio in morals, either they understand reason as it is governed by a command from above, or else they say no more than a woman when she says a thing is so because it is so; that is, her reason persuades her 'tis so. The other acception has sense in it. As take a law of the land, I must not depopulate, my reason tells me so. Why? Because if I do I incur the detriment. The reason of a thing is not to be inquired after till you are sure the thing itself be so. We commonly are at "What's the reason of it?" before we are sure of the thing. 'Twas an excellent question of my Lady Cotton, when Sir Robert Cotton was magnifying of a shoe which was Moses's or Noah's, and wondering at the strange shape and fashion of it: "But, Mr. Cotton," says she, "are you sure it is a shoe?" Reverence. 'Tis sometimes unreasonable to look after respect and reverence, either from a man's own servant or other inferiors. A great lord and a gentleman talking together, there came a boy by, leading a calf with both his hands. Says the lord to the gentleman, “You shall see me make the boy let go his calf;" with that he came toward him, thinking the boy would have put off his hat, but the boy took no notice of him. The lord seeing that, “Sirrah," says he, "do you not know me, that you use no reverence?" "Yes," says the boy, "if your lordship will hold my calf I will put off my hat." Religion. Alteration of religion is dangerous, because we know not where it will stay. 'Tis like a millstone that lies upon the top of a pair of stairs: 'tis hard to remove it, but if once it be thrust off the first stair, it never stays till it comes to the bottom. Teach the Teachers. Use the best arguments to persuade, though but few understand; for the ignorant will sooner believe the judicious of the parish than the preacher himself; and they teach when they dissipate what he has said, and believe it the sooner, confirmed by men of their own side. For betwixt the laity and the clergy there is, as it were, a continual driving of a bargain; something the clergy would still have us be at, and therefore many things are heard from the preacher with suspicion. They are afraid of some ends, which are easily assented to when they have it from some of themselves. 'Tis with a sermon as 'tis with a play: many come to see it who do not understand it, and yet, hearing it cried up by one whose judgment they cast themselves upon, and of power with them, they swear, and will die in it, that 'tis a very good play, which they would not have done if the priest himself had told them So. As in a great school 'tis not the master that teaches all; the monitor does a great deal of work; it may be the boys are afraid to see the master: so in a parish 'tis not the minister does all; the greater neighbor teaches the lesser, the master of the house teaches his servant, etc. Trifles. Little things do great works when the great things will not. If I would take a pin from the ground, a little pair of tongs will do it, when a great pair will not. Thanksgiving. At first we gave thanks for every victory as soon as ever 'twas obtained; but since we have had many, now we can stay a good while. We are just like a child: give him a plum, he makes his leg; give him a second plum, he makes another leg; at last, when his belly is full, he forgets what he ought to do; then his nurse, or somebody else that stands by him, puts him in mind of his duty: "Where's your leg?" Trade. That which a man is bred up in he thinks no cheating; as your tradesman thinks not so of his profession, but calls it a mystery. Whereas, if you would teach a mercer to make his silks heavier than what he has been used to, he would peradventure think that to be cheating. Truth. The way to find out the truth is by others' mistakings for if I was to go to such a place, and one had gone before me on the right hand, and he was out; another had gone on the left hand, and he was out: this would direct me to keep the middle way, which peradventure would bring me to the place I desired to go. In troubled water you can scarce see your face, or see it very little, till the water be quiet and stand still. So in troubled times you can see little truth. When times are quiet and settled, then truth appears. War. Do not undervalue an enemy by whom you have been worsted. When our countrymen came home from fighting with the Saracens, and were beaten by them, they pictured them with huge, big, terrible faces (as you still see the sign of the Saracen's head is), when in truth they were like other men. But this they did to save their own credit. Wisdom. A wise man should never resolve upon anything, at least never let the world know his resolution; for if he cannot arrive at it, he is ashamed dents and emergencies. A man must do according to acci Never tell your resolution beforehand; but when the cast is thrown, play it, as well as you can, to win the game you are at. 'Tis but folly to study how to play size ace when you know not whether you shall throw it or no. Wise men say nothing in dangerous times. The lion, you know, called the sheep to ask her if his breath smelt: she said, "Aye"; he bit off her head for a fool. He called the wolf and asked him; he said, "No"; he tore him to pieces for a flatterer. At last he called the fox and asked him: "Truly he had got a cold and could not smell." Wit. Wit must grow like fingers. If it be taken from others, 'tis like plums stuck upon blackthorns: there they are for a while, but they come to nothing. He that will give himself to all manner of ways to get money may be rich; so he that lets fly all he knows or thinks may by chance be satirically witty. Honesty sometimes keeps a man from growing rich, and civility from being witty. Women. Women and princes must both trust somebody; and they are happy or unhappy according to the desert of those under whose hands they fall. If a man knows how to manage the favor of a lady, her honor is safe, and so is a prince's. MY DEAR AND ONLY LOVE. BY THE MARQUIS OF MONTROSE. [JAMES GRAHAM, MARQUIS OF MONTROSE, was born at Edinburgh in 1612; and after studying at St. Andrews University, and traveling three years on the Continent, joined the Covenanters against Charles I. in 1638. Their policy drove him to the side of the king the next year, and he became the ablest general Charles had, winning several splendid victories in Scotland; but his Highland allies deserted him when he wished to act on a wider field, the outrages of his Irish soldiers roused the horror and fury of the Lowlanders, and he was finally beaten and driven from the kingdom. Returning in 1650 with a small force, he was defeated and captured, and hanged in Edinburgh, May 21.] PART FIRST. MY DEAR and only love, I pray, This noble world of thee Be governed by no other sway For if confusion have a part, Which virtuous souls abhore, Like Alexander I will reign, My thoughts shall evermore disdain |