Selected quad for the lemma: blood_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A06901
|
Fiue decades of epistles of vvarre. By Francis Markham
|
Markham, Francis, 1565-1627.
|
1622
(1622)
|
STC 17332; ESTC S114265
|
181,052
|
212
|
name I must couer both your kinswoman and your owne greatnesse and to you in this Epistle giue a briefe account of those especiall Motiues which haue stirred me vp to vndertake and performe this labour in such sort as it is heere though bluntly and plainly yet with all truth and care faithfully effected I must confesse I neither expect nor wish for greater priuiledge then others haue found which haue runne before me in Tracts of the like nature but euer stand ready to receiue the Battery of Censure and Opinion onely from the daring ignorant pray heartily for some helpe and assistance for they neuer hold faire quarter but still carrie poyson in their weapons whereas Iudgement and Learning are euer noble and like Achilles if they hurt yet cure againe in the same instant Me thinks I heare one question how a man vnlearned and hauing spent so long a time in the warres could find leasure to arme himselfe for others instruction or how where few or no Bookes are yet Bookes should thus bee daily created another obiects how I hauing attained no greater place than the Title of priuate Captaine can finde out Rules by which to direct and gouerne more publique and powerfull Officers and the last though not the least in the bundle of Envie demands how I dare professe this Trade of making Booke-Souldiors as if the Arte of Warre were not better attain'd by Practise than Contemplation to all which I must returne this one ioynt and entire answere first it is not vnknown to those which best know me that I was euer a louer of the Muses and as I spent my Summer Progresse in the warres so I consumed my Winters quiet in the wholsome delights of forraine Accademies and if I be any way short in Scholler-like perfection questionlesse the defect proceeds much rather from mine owne dulnesse than desire to rest at that point which might in some sort expresse me a Scholler Thirtie and odde yeares I haue spent abroad in these imployments and sure the Prentiship is so sufficient that a very dull Mechannick might in that space haue writ himselfe Master of his occupation and the greatest trewant much sooner a willing mind might without wonder in that time attaine to the highest degree in the grauest Studie and questionlesse this I must say for the Warres that euen in Garisons and Campes I haue profited more by conference with noble Spirits than by any priuat Meditation though pen'd with the greatest luster so that ioyning together Practise and Obseruation had I been duller then Malice could wish me yet I could not but haue made much vse of my deseruings and finding it Honestum Vtile Delectabile how could mine Admiration chuse but still search to find out the perfection For this Ne Sutor vltra I haue seene so many vndertakings of men which neuer saw the Warres passe with that applause and reuerence that I imagined although my Suruey was neuer so little yet I might more freely labour in this worke and make mine experience of greater force both for mine owne knowledge and others satisfaction Againe howsoeuer my Fortune hath staid in the middle way or halfe path to Greatnes yet hath both my Blood and it made me worthy to commerce and confer with great persons and to obserue the greatest Actions so that marrying to mine owne Readings the manage of their approued wisdomes I could not be so weakly fortified as to make doubt of mine owne strength or to suppose it is not able to beare me a much higher pitch than at this time mine Ambition will giue me leaue to presume Lastly for the title of a Booke-Souldier than which there is not a more distastfull sound to the eare of a military Professour I confesse a meere Phormio is vnfit to tutor Hanibal and a meere Aiax which hath nothing but his anger is lesse fit then Vlisses to weare Achilles armour but there must euer bee such a perfit mixture in the composition which is made between them that the Souldier must neuer be without one cup of the Muses Nepenthe nor the Scholler so vnnimble but that at any command he may be able to dance a Lauolta to the tune of the Cannon Caesar must be able to write his Commentaries and Tullie know how to put on his Armor when Rome is ready to be fired That the Subiect it selfe must lie at the mercy of Censure the very Times doe allow it for Peace hath made vp her garland with such sweet Flowers that the bitternes of Lawrell is not to bee disgested and euery one can say to his companion Take downe your harps againe and hang vp your Armes on the willowes breake no sleeps with your drums nor let the barbed Steed either spurne the earth or chide the bit which restraines him let Souldiers now turne Tradesmen for Minerua hath cast away her lance the Booke of the seuen Arts is become both her play-mate and pillow Is not Ianus temple now closed and yet shall Warre speake loud to affright vs hath not this land been harrowed many yeres with Romans Saxons Danes and Normans haue not our selues within our selues in the Barons wars and in the mightie diuisions of Yorke and Lancanster spent blood enough hath not the iniuries of France the reuenge of Spaine and the falshood of Ireland opened wounds enough but that now when God hath sent vs a peaceable Prince a hopefull Issue happie Vnion and a generall calmenesse with all that dwell farre or neere about vs shall we now sing of warre or let the sound of the drumme thunder amazement amongst vs O no t is a labour needlesse and a seruice thanklesse Well all this I confesse and more then this will solemnly affirme that Peace is the sweetest tune which euer warbled in a Christians eare euen sacred from heauen for it is said I will leaue my Peace with you most desired of good men and such a blessing to vs that enioy it as searching amongst all the Treasures both of heauen and earth none is found to mankind more deare or precious so that we are infinitly bound to praise God and pray for the King by whose mercy and wisedome wee haue found so gracious a possession But because Peace is to be desired shall Warre bee vtterly neglected because we enioy the sweet taste of Tranquilitie shall we cast away the wholesome bitternesse of Warre or because the Summer quarter hangs vpon vs shall we thinke Winter will rot on the Skie and stand in need of no prouision God forbid the world and her proiects tels vs the contrary nay the Sauiour of the world hath prophesied to the contrary affirming that At the end of the world there shall bee warres and rumours of warres and therefore howsoeuer we are now blest with an hauenly possession of Peace yet we are but Tenants at will and these secure times best fit martiall meditations Warre is the teeming mother and doth in as much abundance bring foorth Souldiers as Peace