names if they write matters of fact 't is a sign they cannot make them good and all men are agreed to reject their Testimony except such as resolve to deny others common justice but the ill opinion of these prejudic'd persons can no more injure any man than their good opinion will do him honor Besides other reasons of mentioning my suppos'd designs one is to disabuse several people who as I am told are made to believe that in the History of SOCRATES I draw a Parallel between that Philosopher and JESUS CHRIST This is a most scandalous and unchristian calumny as will more fully appear to the world whenever the Book it self is publish'd for that I have bin som time about it I freely avow yet not in the manner those officious Informers report but as becoms a disinterested Historian and a friend to all mankind The Inscription on the Monument of Sir JAMES HARRINGTON and his three Sons at Exton in Rutlandshire HERE lieth Sir James Harrington of Exton Kt. with a And Sister to Sir Philip Sidney Kt. Lucy his Wife Daughter to Sir William Sidney Kt. by whom he had 18 Children wherof three Sons and 8 Daughters marry'd as follows THE eldest Son Sir b Who was afterwards created Ld Harrington and his Lady was Governess to the Queen of Bohemia His Family is extinct as to Heirs Male One of his Daughters was marry'd to the Earl of Bedford and was Groom of the Stole to Q. Ann. The other was marry'd to a Scotch Lord whose name was Lord Bruce Earl of Elgin his Grandson now Lord Alisbury John marry'd the Heiress of Robert Keylwoy Surveyor of the Court of Wards and Liverys The 2 d Son Sir c Who happen'd to be President of Ireland and from him descended my Lady Fretchavil's Father my Lady Morison and my Lord Falkland's Lady Henry took to Wife one of the Coheirs of Francis Agar one of his Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland the 3 d Son James d Afterwards Baronet To him were born Sir Edward Harrington Sir Sapcotes Harrington and Mr. John Harrington who had Issue both Sons and Daughters Harrington Esq had to Wife one of the Coheirs of Robert Sapcotes Esq The eldest Daughter Elizabeth was married to Sir Edward e Who was Father to the Lord Montague the Earl of Manchester and Lord Privy Seal and Sir Sidney Montague who was afterwards created Earl of Sandwich and to the Earl of Rutlana's Lady and Judg Montague Montague Kt. The 2 d Frances to Sir William f Who was afterwards created Lord Chichester and Earl of Dunsmore and marry'd one of his Daughters to the Earl of Southamton by whom he had the present Lady Northumberland And his other Daughter marry'd her self to Col. Villâ—rs and is now Governess to the Lady Mary the Duke of York's eldest Daughter Lee Kt. The 3 d Margaret to Don g Which Dukedom afterwards fell to him and by this Lady he had one sole Daughter and Heir who is said to have marry'd the Duke of Ferio and by him to have had one Daughter who is marry'd to a King of Portugal Bonitto de Sisnores of Spain of the Family of the Dukes of Frantasquo The 4 th Katherine to Sir Edward h Of Lincolnshire the King's Standard-bearer Dimmock Kt. The 5 th Mary to Sir Edward i An antient noble Family in Kent Wingâ—ield Kt. The 6 th Maball to Sir Andrew k Now Lord Cambden Owner of the place where this Monument is â—oell Kt. The 7 th Surah was marry'd to the Lord Hastings Heir to the Earl of Huntingdon The 8 th Theodosia l One of whose Daughters marry'd the Earl of Hume in Scotland and had by him two Daughters one married my Lord Morrice and the other my Lord Maitland now Duke of Lauderdale The other Daughter of my Lady Dudley was Heir to the Honour of Dudley Castle of whose Issue by the Mother's side is the present Lord Dudley to the Lord Dudley of Dudley Castle THE same Sir James and Lucy were marry'd fifty years She died first in the 72 d year of her Age he shortly after yielded to Nature being 80 years old in the year of our Lord 1591 and of Queen Elizabeth's Reign 34. their Son James being made sole Executor to them both who that he might as well perform to his Parents their Rites as leave a Testimony of his own Piety to Posterity hath erected and dedicated this Monument to their eternal Memory The Mechanics of Nature OR An Imperfect Treatise written by JAMES HARRINGTON during his sickness to prove against his Doctors that the Notions he had of his own Distemper were not as they alleg'd Hypocondriac Whimsys or Delirious Fancys The PREFACE HAVING bin about nine months som say in a Disease I in a Cure I have bin the wonder of Physicians and they mine not but that we might have bin reconcil'd for Books I grant if they keep close to Nature must be good ones but I deny that Nature is bound to Books I am no study'd Naturalist having long since given over that Philosophy as inscrutable and incertain for thus I thought with my self Nature to whom it is given to work as it were under her Veil or behind the Curtain is the Art of God now if there be Arts of Men who have wrought openly enough to the understanding for example that of TITIAN nevertheless whose excellency I shall never reach How shall I thus sticking in the Bark at the Arts of Men be able to look thence to the Roots or dive into the Abyss of things in the Art of God And nevertheless Si placidum caput undis extulerit should Nature afford me a sight of her I do not think so meanly of my self but that I would know her as soon as another tho more learn'd man Laying therfore Arts wholly and Books almost all aside I shall truly deliver to the world how I felt and saw Nature that is how she came first into my senses and by the senses into my understanding Yet for the sake of my Readers and also for my own I must invert the order of my Discourse For theirs because till I can speak to men that have had the same Sensations with my self I must speak to such as have a like understanding with others For my own because being like in this Discourse to be the Monky that play'd at Chess with his Master I have need of som Cushion on my head that being in all I have spoken hitherto more laid at than my Reason My Discourse then is to consist of two parts the first in which I appeal to his understanding who will use his Reason is a Platform of Nature drawn out in certain Aphorisms and the second in which I shall appeal to his senses who in a Disease very common will make further trial is a Narrative of my Case A Platform or Scheme of Nature 1. NATURE is the Fiat the Breath and in the
is in my Opinion the most perfect Form of Popular Government that ever was so this with his other Writings contain the History Reasons Nature and Effects of all sorts of Government with so much Learning and Perspicuity that nothing can be more preferably read on such occasions LET not those therfore who make no opposition to the reprinting or reading of PLATO's Heathen Commonwealth ridiculously declaim against the better and Christian Model of HARRINGTON but peruse both of 'em with as little prejudice passion or concern as they would a Book of Travels into the Indys for their improvement and diversion Yet so contrary are the Tempers of many to this equitable disposition that DIONYSIUS the Sicilian Tyrant and such Beasts of Prey are the worthy Examples they wou'd recommend to the imitation of our Governors tho if they cou'd be able to persuade 'em they wou'd still miss of their foolish aim for it is ever with all Books as formerly with those of CREMUTIUS CORDUS who was condemn'd by that Monster TIBERIUS for speaking honorably of the immortal Tyrannicides BRUTUS and CASSIUS TACITUS records the last words of this Historian and subjoins this judicious Remark The Senat says he order'd his Books to be burnt by the Ediles but som Copys were conceal'd and afterwards publish'd whence we may take occasion to laugh at the sottishness of those who imagin that their present Power can also abolish the memory of succeding time for on the contrary Authors acquire additional Reputation by their Punishment nor have Foren Kings and such others as have us'd the like severity got any thing by it except to themselves Disgrace and Glory to the Writers But the Works of HARRINGTON were neither supprest at their first publication under the Vsurper nor ever since call'd in by lawful Authority but as inestimable Treasures preserv'd by all that had the happiness to possess 'em intire so that what was a precious rarity before is now becom a Public Good with extraordinary advantages of Correctness Paper and Print What I have perform'd in the History of his Life I leave the Readers to judg for themselves but in that and all my other studys I constantly aim'd as much at least at the benefit of Mankind and especially of my fellow Citizens as at my own particular Entertainment or Reputation THE Politics no less than Arms are the proper study of a Gentleman tho he shou'd consine himself to nothing but carefully adorn his Mind and Body with all useful and becoming Accomplishments and not imitat the servil drudgery of those mean Spirits who for the sake of som one Science neglect the knowlege of all other matters and in the end are many times neither masters of what they profess nor vers'd enough in any thing else to speak of it agreably or pertinently which renders 'em untractable in Conversation as in Dispute they are opinionative and passionat envious of their Fame who eclipse their littleness and the sworn Enemys of what they do not understand BVT Heaven be duly prais'd Learning begins to flourish again in its proper Soil among our Gentlemen in imitation of the Roman Patricians who did not love to walk in Leading strings and to be guided blindfold nor lazily to abandon the care of their proper Business to the management of Men having a distinct Profession and Interest for the greatest part of their best Authors were Persons of Consular Dignity the ablest Statesmen and the most gallant Commanders Wherfore the amplest satisfaction I can injoy of this sort will be to find those delighted with reading this Work for whose service it was intended by the Author and which with the study of other good Books but especially a careful perusal of the Greec and Roman Historians will make 'em in reality deserve the Title and Respect of Gentlemen help 'em to make an advantageous Figure in their own time and perpetuat their illustrious Names and solid Worth to be admir'd by future Generations AS for my self tho no imployment or condition of Life shall make me disrelish the lasting entertainment which Books afford yet I have resolv'd not to write the Life of any modern Person again except that only of one Man still alive and whom in the ordinary course of nature I am like to survive a long while he being already far advanc'd in his declining time and I but this present day beginning the thirtieth year of my Age. Canon near Bansted Novemb. 30. 1699. THE LIFE OF James Harrington 1. JAMES HARRINGTON who was born in January 1611 was descended of an Antient and Noble Family in Rutlandshire being Great Grandson to Sir JAMES HARRINGTON of whom it is observ'd by the * Wright's Antiquitys of the County of Rutland p. 52. Historian of that County that there were sprung in his time eight Dukes three Marquisses seventy Earls twenty seven Viscounts and thirty six Barons of which number sixteen were Knights of the Garter to confirm which Account we shall annex a Copy of the Inscription on his Monument and that of his three Sons at Exton with Notes on the same by an uncertain hand As for our Author he was the eldest Son of Sir SAPCOTES HARRINGTON and JANE the Daughter of Sir WILLIAM SAMUEL of Vpton in Northamtonshire His Father had Children besides him WILLIAM a Merchant in London ELIZABETH marry'd to Sir RALPH ASHTON in Lancashire Baronet ANN marry'd to ARTHUR EVELYN Esq And by a second Wife he had JOHN kill'd at Sea EDWARD a Captain in the Army yet living FRANCES marry'd to JOHN BAGSHAW of Culworth in Northamtonshire Esq and DOROTHY marry'd to ALLAN BELLINGHAM of Levens in Westmorland Esq This Lady is still alive and when she understood my Design was pleas'd to put me in possession of all the remaining Letters and other Manuscript Papers of her Brother with the Collections and Observations relating to him made by his other Sister the Lady ASHTON a Woman of very extraordinary Parts and Accomplishments These with the Account given of him by ANTHONY WOOD in the second Volum of his Athenae Oxonienses and what I cou'd learn from the Mouths of his surviving Acquaintance are the Materials wherof I compos'd this insuing History of his Life 2. IN his very Childhood he gave sure hopes of his future Abilitys as well by his Inclination and Capacity to learn whatever was propos'd to him as by a kind of natural gravity whence his Parents and Masters were wont to say That he rather kept them in aw than needed their correction yet when grown a Man none could easily surpass him for quickness of Wit and a most facetious Temper He was enter'd a Gentleman Commoner of Trinity College in Oxford in the year 1629 and became a Pupil to that great Master of Reason Dr. CHILLINGWORTH who discovering the Errors Impostures and Tyranny of the Popish Church wherof he was for som time a Member attackt it with more proper and succesâ—ful Arms than all before or perhaps any since have
years and yet die in peace ALEXANDER his Son succeded famous for little except som Expeditions against our King JOHN som Insurrections and a Reign two years longer than his Father's His Son was the third of that name a Boy of eight years old whose Minority was infested with the turbulent CUMMINS who when he was of age being call'd to account not only refus'd to appear but surpriz'd him at Sterling governing him at their pleasure But soon after he was awak'd by a furious Invasion of ACHO King of Norway under the pretence of som Islands given him by MACBETH whom he forc'd to accept a Peace and spent the latter part amidst the Turbulencys of the Priests drunk at that time with their Wealth and Ease and at last having seen the continu'd Funerals of his Sons DAVID ALEXANDER his Wife and his Daughter he himself with a fall from Horse broke his neck leaving of all his Race only a Grandchild by his Daughter which dy'd soon after THIS Man's Family being extinguish'd they were forc'd to run to another Line which that we may see how happy an expedient immediat Succession is for the Peace of the Kingdom and what Miseries it prevents I shall as briefly and as pertinently as I can set down DAVID Brother to K. WILLIAM had three Daughters MARGARET married to ALLAN Lord of Galloway ISABEL married to ROBERT BRUCE Lord of Annandale and Cleveland ADA married to HENRY HASTINGS Earl of Huntingdon Now ALLAN begot on his Wife DORNADILLA married to JOHN BALIOL afterwards King of Scotland and two other Daughters BRUCE on his Wife got ROBERT BRUCE Earl of Carick having married the Heretrix therof As for HUNTINGDON he desisted his claim The question is whether BALIOL in right of the eldest Daughter or BRUCE being com of the second but a Man should have the Crown he being in the same degree and of the more worthy Sex The Controversy being tost up and down at last was refer'd to EDWARD the First of that name King of England He thinking to fish in these troubled waters stirs up eight other Competitors the more to entangle the business and with twenty four Counsellors half English half Scots and abundance of Lawyers fit enough to perplex the matter so handled the business after cunning delays that at length he secretly tampers with BRUCE who was then conceiv'd to have the better right of the business that if he would acknowlege the Crown of him he would adjudg it for him but he generously answering that he valu'd a Crown at a less rate than for it to put his Country under a foren Yoke He made the same motion to BALIOL who accepted it and so we have a King again by what Right we all see but it is good reason to think that Kings com they by their Power never so unjustly may justly keep it BALIOL having thus got a Crown as unhappily kept it for no sooner was he crown'd and had don homage to EDWARD but the ABERNETHYS having slain MACDUF Earl of Fife he not only pardon'd them but gave them a piece of Land in controversy wherupon MACDUF'S Brother complains against him to EDWARD who makes him rise from his Seat in Parlament and go to the Bar He hereupon enrag'd denies EDWARD assistance against the French and renounces his Homage EDWARD immediatly coms to Berwiâ— takes and kills seven thousand most of the Nobility of Fife and Lowthian and afterwards gave them a great Defeat at Dunbar whose Castle instantly surrender'd After this he march'd to Montrose where BALIOL resign'd himself and Crown all the Nobility giving homage to EDWARD BALIOL is sent Prisoner to London and from thence after a years detention into France While EDWARD was possest of all Scotland one WILLIAM WALLACE arose who being a privat man bestir'd himself in the Calamity of his Country and gave the English several notable foils EDWARD coming again with an Army beat him that was already overcom with Envy and Emulation as well as Power upon which he laid by his Command and never acted more but only in slight Incursions But the English being beaten at Roslin EDWARD coms in again takes Sterling and makes them all render Homage but at length BRUCE seeing all his Promises nothing but smoke enters into League with CUMMIN to get the Kingdom but being betray'd by him to EDWARD he stab'd CUMMIN at Drumfreis and made himself King This man tho he came with disadvantage yet wanted neither Patience Courage nor Conduct so that after he had miserably lurk'd in the Mountains he came down and gathering together som Force gave our EDWARD the Second such a defeat near Sterling as Scotland never gave the like to our Nation and continu'd the War with various fortune with the Third till at last Age and Leprosy brought him to his Grave His Son DAVID a Boy of eight years inherited that which he with so much danger obtain'd and wisdom kept In his Minority he was govern'd by THOMAS RANDOLF Earl of Murray whose severity in punishing was no less dreaded than his Valor had bin honor'd But he soon after dying of poison and EDWARD BALIOL Son of JOHN coming with a Fleet and stâ—engthn'd with the assistance of the English and som Robbers the Governor the Earl of Mar was routed so that BALIOL makes himself King and DAVID was glad to retire into France Amidst these Parties EDWARD the Third backing BALIOL was Scotland miserably torn and the BRUCES in a manner extinguish'd till ROBERT after King with them of Argile and his own Family and Friends began to renew the claim and bring it into a War again which was carried on by ANDREW MURRAY the Governor and afterwards by himself So that DAVID after nine years banishment durst return where making frequent Incursions he at length in the fourth year of his return march'd into England and in the Bishoprick of Durham was routed and fled to an obscure Bridg shew'd to this day by the Inhabitants There he was by JOHN COPLAND taken prisoner where he continu'd nine years and in the thirty ninth year of his Reign he dy'd ROBERT his Sisters Son whom he had intended to put by succedes and first brought the STUARTS which at this day are a plague to the Nation into play This man after he was King whether it were Age or Sloth did little but his Lieutenants and the English were perpetually in action He left his Kingdom to JOHN his Bastard Son by the Lady MORE his Concubin whom he marry'd either to legitimat the three Children as the manner was then he had by her or else for old Acquaintance his Wife and her Husband dying much about time This JOHN would be crown'd by the name of ROBERT his own they say being unhappy for Kings a wretched inactive Prince lame and only govern'd by his brother WALTER who having DAVID the Prince upon complaint of som Exorbitancys deliver'd to his care caus'd him to be starv'd upon which the King intending to send
that they were forc'd to bring him in a Horslitter to Edinburg where she cherish'd him extremely till the credulous young man began to lay aside suspicion and to hope better So she puts him into a ruinous house near the Palace from whence no news can be had brings in her own bed and lys in the house with him and at length when the design was ripe causes him one Sunday night with his Servant to be strangl'd thrown out of the Window and the house to be blown up with Gunpowder her own rich Bed having bin before secretly convey'd away This and other performances made her favor upon BOTHWEL so hot that she must marry him the only obstacle was he had a Wife already but she was compel'd to sue for a Divorce which so great Persons being concern'd it was a wonder it should be granting so long as ten days Well she marrys but the more honest Nobility amaz'd at those Exorbitancys assemble together and with Arms in their hands begin to expostulat The newmarry'd Couple are forc'd to make back Southwards where finding but slender assistance and the Queen foolishly coming from Dunbar to Leith was glad at last to delay a parly till her Dear was escap'd and then clad in an old tatter'd coat to yield her self a Prisoner BEING brought to Edinburg and us'd rather with hate of her former Enormitys than pity of her present Fortune she receiv'd a Message that she must either resign the Crown to her Son JAMES that was born in the time of her marriage with DARNLY or else they would procede to another Election and was forc'd to obey So the Child then in his Cradle was acknowleg'd JAMES the Sixth better known afterwards by the Title of Great Britain THE wretched Mother flying after into England was entertain'd tho with a Guard by Queen ELIZABETH but after that being suborn'd by the Papists and exasperated by the GUIZES she enter'd into Plots and Machinations so inconsistent with the Safety of England that by an Act of Parlament she was condemn'd to death which she receiv'd by a Hatchet at Fotheringay Castle THE Infancy of her Son was attended with those domestic Evils that accompany the Minority of Kings In his Youth he took to Wife the Daughter of Denmark a Woman I hear little of saving the Character SALUST gives SEMPRONIA that she could dance better than became a virtuous Woman with whom he supposing the Earl GOWRY too much in League caus'd him and his Brother to be slain at their own house whither he was invited he giving out that they had an intent to murder him and that by miracle and the assistance of som men whom he had instructed for that purpose and taught their tale he escap'd For this Deliverance or to say better Assassination he blasphem'd God with a solemn Thanksgiving once a Year all the remainder of his Life WELL had it bin for us if our Forefathers had laid hold of that happy opportunity of ELIZABETH'S Death in which the TEUTHORS took a period to have perform'd that which perhaps in due punishment has cost us so much blood and sweat and not have bow'd under the sway of a Stranger disdain'd by the most generous and wise at that time and only supported by the Faction of som and the Sloth of others who brought but a slender Title and however the flattery of the times cry'd him up for a SOLOMON weak Commendations for such an advancement HIS Title stood thus MARGARET eldest Daughter to HENRY the Seventh was marry'd to JAMES the Fourth whose Son JAMES the Fifth had MARY the Mother of JAMES the Sixth MARGARET after her first Husband's death marrys ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS Earl of Angus who upon her begot MARGARET Wife of MATTHEW Earl of Lenox and Mother of that HENRY DARNLY whose tragical End we just now mention'd Now upon this slender Title and our internal Dissensions for the Cecilians and Essexians for several ends made perpetual Applications got JAMMY from a Revenue of 30000 l. to one of almost two Millions tho there were others that had as fair pretences and what else can any of them make the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. expresly excluding Foreners from the Crown and so the Children of CHARLES BRANDON by MARY the second Daughter Dowager of France being next to com in And the Lady ARABELLA being sprung from a third Husband the Lord STUART of the said MARGARET and by a Male Line carry'd surely so formidable a pretension it should seem that even that Iniquity which was personally inherent to her made her days very unhappy and for most part captive and her death 't is thought somwhat too early so cruel are the Persecutions of cowardly minds even against the weakest and most unprotected Innocence AND indeed his Right to the Crown was so unsatisfactory even to the most judicious of those days that TOBY MATTHEWS having suit about som Privileges which he claim'd to his Bishoprick which was then Durham wherin the King oppos'd him and having one day stated the Case before som of his Friends who seem'd to approve of it yes says he I could wish he had but half so good a Title to the Crown And 't is known that some Speeches of Sir WALTER RAWLEY too generous and English for the times was that which brought him to Trial and Condemnation for a seign'd Crime and afterwards so facilitated that barbarous Design of GUNDAMAR to cut of his Head for a Crime for which he was condemn'd fourteen years before and which by the Commissions he after receiv'd according to the opinion of the then Lord Chancellor and the greatest Lawyers was in Law pardon'd THIS may appear besides our purpose but we could not sever this consideration unless we would draw him with a half face and leave as much in umbrage as we exprest That which most solemniz'd his Person was first the consideration of his adhering to the Protestant Religion wheras we are to consider that those slight Velitations he had with BELLARMIN and the Romanists tended rather to make his own Authority more intrinsically intense and venerable than to confute any thing they said for he had before shak'd them of as to foren Jurisdiction and for matter of Popery it appear'd in his latter time that he was no such enemy to it both by his own compliances with the Spanish Embassadors the design of the Spanish Match in which his Son was personally imbarkt and the slow assistances sent to his Daughter in whose safety and protection Protestantism was at that time so much concern'd FOR his Knowlege he had some glancings and niblings which the Severity of the excellent BUCHANAN forc'd into him in his younger time and after conversation somwhat polish'd But tho I bear not so great a contemt to his other Works as BEN JOHNSON did to his Poetry yet if they among many others were going to the fire they would not be one of the first I should rescue as possibly expecting a more severe
discourage Industry Two thousand Pounds a year a man may enjoy in Oceana as much in Panopea five hundred in Marpesia There be other Plantations and the Commonwealth will have more Who knows how far the Arms of our Agrarian may extend themselves and whether he that might have left a Pillar may not leave a Temple of many Pillars to his more pious Memory Where there is som measure in Riches a man may be rich but if you will have them to be infinit there will be no end of starving himself and wanting what he has and what pains dos such a one take to be poor Furthermore if a man shall think that there may be an Industry less greasy or more noble and so cast his thoughts upon the Commonwealth he will have leisure for her and she Riches and Honors for him his Sweat shall smell like ALEXANDER'S My Lord PHILAUTUS is a young Man who enjoying his ten thousand Pounds a year may keep a noble House in the old way and have homely Guests and having but two by the means propos'd may take the upper hand of his great Ancestors with reverence to whom I may say there has not bin one of them would have disputed his place with a Roman Consul My Lord do not break my heart the Nobility shall go to no other Plows than those from which we call our Consuls But says he it having bin so with Lacedemon that neither the City nor the Citizens were capable of increase a blow was given by that Agrarian which ruin'd both And what are we concern'd with that Agrarian or that blow while our Citizens and our City and that by our Agrarian are both capable of increase The Spartan if he made a Conquest had not Citizens to hold it the Oceaner will have enow the Spartan could have no Trade the Oceaner may have all The Agrarian in Laconia that it might bind on Knapsacs forbidding all other Arts but that of War could not make an Army of above 30000 Citizens The Agrarian in Oceana without interruption of Traffic provides us in the fifth part of the Youth an annual source or fresh spring of 100000 besides our Provincial Auxiliarys out of which to draw marching Armys and as many Elders not feeble but men most of them in the flower of their Age and in Arms for the defence of our Territorys The Agrarian in Laconia banish'd Mony this multiplys it That allow'd a matter of twenty or thirty Acres to a man this two or three thousand There is no comparison between them And yet I differ so much from my Lord or his Opinion that the Agrarian was the ruin of Lacedemon that I hold it no less than demonstrable to have bin her main support For if banishing all other diversions it could not make an Army of above 30000 then letting in all other diversions it must have broken that Army Wherfore LYSANDER bringing in the golden spoils of Athens irrecoverably ruin'd that Commonwealth and is a warning to us that in giving incouragement to Industry we also remember that Covetousness is the root of all Evil. And our Agrarian can never be the cause of those Seditions threaten'd by my Lord but is the proper cure of them as * * Hinc usura vorax rapidumque in tempore Foenus Hinc concussa fides multis utile bellum LUCAN notes well in the State of Rome before the Civil Wars which happen'd thro the want of such an Antidote Why then are we mistaken as if we intended not equal advantages in our Commonwealth to either Sex because we would not have Womens Fortunes consist in that metal which exposes them to Cutpurses If a man cuts my Purse I may have him by the heels or by the neck for it wheras a man may cut a woman's purse and have her for his pains in fetters How brutish and much more than brutish is that Commonwealth which prefers the Earth before the Fruits of her Womb If the People be her Treasure the staff by which she is sustain'd and comforted with what Justice can she suffer them by whom she is most inrich'd to be for that cause the most impoverish'd And yet we see the Gifts of God and the Bountys of Heaven in fruitful Familys thro this wretched custom of marrying for Mony becom their insupportable grief and poverty Nor falls this so heavy upon the lower sort being better able to shift for themselves as upon the Nobility or Gentry For what avails it in this case from whence their Veins have deriv'd their Blood while they shall see the Tallow of a Chandler sooner converted into that Beauty which is requir'd in a Bride I appeal whether my Lord PHILAUTUS or my self be the Advocat of Nobility against which in the case propos'd by me there would be nothing to hold the balance And why is a Woman if she may have but fifteen hundred pounds undon If she be unmarry'd what Nobleman allows his Daughter in that case a greater Revenu than so much Mony may command And if she marry no Nobleman can give his Daughter a greater portion than she has Who is hurt in this case nay who is not benefited If the Agrarian gives us the sweat of our brows without diminution if it prepares our Table if it makes our Cup to overflow and above all this in providing for our Children anoints our Heads with that Oil which takes away the greatest of worldly cares what man that is not besotted with a Covetousness as vain as endless can imagin such a Constitution to be his Poverty seeing where no woman can be considerable for her portion no portion will be considerable with a woman and so his Children will not only find better preferments without his Brocage but more freedom of their own Affections We are wonderful severe in Laws that they shall not marry without our consent as if it were care and tenderness over them But is it not lest we should not have the other thousand Pounds with this Son or the other hundred Pounds a year more in Jointure for that Daughter These when we are crost in them are the Sins for which we water our couch with tears but not of Penitence seeing wheras it is a mischief beyond any that we can do to our Enemys we persist to make nothing of breaking the affection of our Children But there is in this Agrarian a Homage to pure and spotless Love the consequence wherof I will not give for all your Romances An Alderman makes not his Daughter a Countess till he has given her 20000 l. nor a Romance a considerable Mistriss till she be a Princess these are Characters of bastard Love But if our Agrarian excludes Ambition and Covetousness we shall at length have the care of our own breed in which we have bin curious as to our Dogs and Horses The Marriage-Bed will be truly legitimat and the Race of the Commonwealth not spurious BUT impar magnanimis ausis imparque dolori
are not at leisure for the Essays Wherfore the Essays being Degrees wherby the Youth commence for all Magistracys Offices and Honors in the Parish Hundred Tribe Senat or Prerogative Divines Physicians and Lawyers not taking these Degrees exclude themselves from all such Magistracys Offices and Honors And wheras Lawyers are likest to exact further reason for this they growing up from the most gainful Art at the Bar to those Magistracys upon the Bench which are continually appropriated to themselves and not only indow'd with the greatest Revenues but also held for life have the least reason of all the rest to pretend to any other especially in an equal Commonwealth where Accumulation of Magistracy or to take a Person ingag'd by his Profit to the Laws as they stand into the Power which is Legislative and which should keep them to what they were or ought to be were a Soloecism in Prudence It is true that the Legislative Power may have need of Advice and Assistance from the executive Magistracy or such as are learn'd inthe Law for which cause the Judges are as they have heretofore bin Assistants in the Senat. Nor however it came about can I see any reason why a Judg being but an Assistant or Lawyer should be Member of a Legislative Council I DENY not that the Roman Patricians were all Patrons and that the whole People were Clients som to one Family and som to another by which means they had their Causes pleaded and defended in som appearance gratis for the Patron took no Mony tho if he had a Daughter to marry his Clients were to pay her Portion nor was this so great a grievance But if the Client accus'd his Patron gave testimony or suffrage against him it was a crime of such a nature that any man might lawfully kill him as a Traitor and this as being the nerve of the Optimacy was a great cause of ruin to that Commonwealth for when the People would carry any thing that pleas'd not the Senat the Senators were ill provided if they could not intercede that is oppose it by their Clients with whom to vote otherwise than they pleas'd was the highest Crime The observation of this Bond till the time of the GRACCHI that is to say till it was too late or to no purpose to break it was the cause why in all the former heats and disputes that had happen'd between the Senat and the People it never came to blows which indeed was good but withal the People could have no remedy which was certainly evil Wherfore I am of opinion that a Senator ought not to be a Patron or Advocat nor a Patron or Advocat to be a Senator for if his Practice be gratis it debauches the People and if it be mercenary it debauches himself take it which way you will when he should be making of Laws he will be knitting of Nets LYCURGUS as I said by being a Traveller became a Legislator but in times when Prudence was another thing Nevertheless we may not shut out this part of Education in a Commonwealth which will be her self a Traveller for those of this make have seen the World especially because this is certain tho it be not regarded in our times when things being left to take their chance it sares with us accordingly that no man can be a Politician except he be first a Historian or a Traveller for except he can see what must be or what may be he is no Politician Now if he has no knowlege in Story he cannot tell what has bin and if he has not bin a Traveller he cannot tell what is but he that neither knows what has bin nor what is can never tell what must be or what may be Furthermore the Embassys in ordinary by our Constitution are the Prizes of young men more especially such as have bin Travellers Wherfore they of these inclinations having leave of the Censors ow them an account of their time and cannot chuse but lay it out with som ambition of Praise or Reward where both are open whence you will have eys abroad and better choice of public Ministers your Gallants shewing themselves not more to the Ladys at their Balls than to your Commonwealth at her Academy when they return from their Travels BUT this Commonwealth being constituted more especially of two Elements Arms and Councils drives by a natural instinct at Courage and Wisdom which he who has attain'd is arriv'd at the perfection of human nature It is true that these Virtues must have som natural root in him that is capable of them but this amounts not to so great a matter as som will have it For if Poverty makes an industrious a moderat Estate a temperat and a lavish Fortune a wanton man and this be the common course of things Wisdom then is rather of necessity than inclination And that an Army which was meditating upon flight has bin brought by despair to win the Field is so far from being strange that like causes will evermore produce like effects Wherfore this Commonwealth drives her Citizens like Wedges there is no way with them but thorow nor end but that Glory wherof Man is capable by Art or Nature That the Genius of the Roman Familys commonly preserv'd it self throout the line as to instance in som the MANLII were still severe the PUBLICOLAE lovers and the APPII haters of the People is attributed by MACCHIAVEL to their Education nor if Interest might add to the reason why the Genius of a Patrician was one thing and that of a Plebeian another is the like so apparent between different Nations who according to their different Educations have yet as different manners It was antiently noted and long confirm'd by the actions of the French that in their first assaults their Courage was more than that of Men and for the rest less than that of Women which nevertheless thro the amendment of their Disciplin we see now to be otherwise I will not say but that som Man or Nation upon an equal improvement of this kind may be lighter than som other but certainly Education is the scale without which no Man or Nation can truly know his or her own weight or value By our Historys we can tell when one Marpesian would have beaten ten Oceaners and when one Oceaner would have beaten ten Marpesians MARC ANTHONY was a Roman but how did that appear in the imbraces of CLEOPATRA You must have som other Education for your Youth or they like that passage will shew better in Romance than true Story THE Custom of the Commonwealth of Rome in distributing her Magistracys without respect of age happen'd to do well in CORVINUS and SCIPIO for which cause MACCHIAVEL with whom that which was don by Rome and that which is well don is for the most part all one commends this course Yet how much it did worse at other times is obvious in POMPEY and CAESAR Examples by which BOCCALINI illustrats the
forechirotoniz'd by God as if it were clear in this that God ordain'd the Apostles by the laying on of Hands for so it must be understood or it makes no more for them than for us Or if they mean it only to shew that the word Chirotonia or Suffrage is us'd for som Ordination that cannot be taken in our sense so the word Chirothesia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or laying on of Hands where ANANIAS being neither Bishop nor Presbyter but only a Disciple that is a Christian lays his hands upon PAUL is us'd for som Ordination that cannot be taken in their sense or a man not ordain'd may ordain as well as they for to say that the Call was extraordinary where the like is or is pretended will avail little But there is no need that we should go so near the wind wherfore to give them all these places in their own sense even till we com to the Citys in question What word in any Language is not somtimes nay frequently us'd in som other than the proper sense With what elegance if this be forbidden can any Chap. 5 man write or speak Is a word like a Woman that being taken with a Metaphor it can never be restor'd to the Original Virtue If Chirotonia has as Divines pretend lost all other but their signification how shall we understand it in Isaiah or where PAUL speaks it of the Brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chirotoniz'd or chosen by 2 Cor. 8. 19 the Churches Certainly in this one place at least it is of our sense and in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is but once yet in all the New Testament of any other so that if we gain the place in controversy we have it twice of our sense in Scripture for once not in theirs but in any other and in human Authors they will not so much as pretend to have it once for them of a hundred times for us which is pretty well for the vindication of the property of one word and somwhat more perhaps than can be don for another But in the sense of words that are somtimes properly and somtimes improperly taken may we admit of the things wherof they are spoken for Interpreters Or if Lillys and Roses have bin almost as often said of Ladys Cheeks must we understand them no otherwise when we are speaking of Gardens YES says Dr. HAMMOND and therfore to say of the Apostles PAUL and BARNABAS that they created Elders by their own Suffrages is no more than to say that they jointly did create and indeed being but two there could be no place for Suffrages and to affirm they did it by the Suffrages of others is not agreable to the pretended use of the word for where it is us'd of chusing by Suffrages as when the People are said to chirotonize it is certain that their own and not others Suffrages are meant by it His own words to Mr. Hobbs §. 118. IT were hardly possible to have contriv'd a greater number of Affirmations in so small a compass nor to have gon farther in them from all truth Phrases as words are to be understood according to the Rule and Law of Speech which is Use and thus that the Apostles created Elders by their own Suffrage is not said that they did it by the Suffrage of others is necessarily imply'd as also that the People are understood to chirotonize as well when it is said of the Presidents of their Assemblys as of themselves Diruit aedificat mutat quadrata rotundis WHEN a man is said to build a House or marry a Daughter he is not understood to be the Mason or the Bridegroom but the Apostles built Churches in these Citys therfore the People were not the Masons The Apostles marry'd CHRIST to these Nations therfore the People gave not their Consent or Suffrage what a Construction were this in ordinary discourse or writing and yet in the Language as I may say of a Commonwealth the Phrase is more usual How often dos DEMOSTHENES speak of his Laws see my Psephisma De Coron peruse my Law and those of other privat men after which Copy the Parté or Laws in the Commonwealth of Venice are call'd by the names of the Proposers as were those of Rome Rupilia Cornelia Trebonia in which manner we have POYNING'S Law and som Statutes bearing no other Stile than Enacted by the King 's most Excellent Majesty which nevertheless are known to have bin all enacted by the Parlament Thus the Laws of MOSES RHADAMANTHUS Book II MINOS LYCURGUS SOLON ROMULUS King EDWARD were leges consuetudines quas vulgus elegerit such as the People had confirm'd or chosen by their Chirotonia But they may say granting you this use of speech in relation to Laws what have you of this kind for Elections The Exception is nice but to leave none THE High Sherifs in England proposing to their Countys the Names of such as stand are said to elect Parlament-men They that thus propose Competitors to the Great Council in Venice are call'd Electors and said to elect the Magistrats The Proedri certain Magistrats to whom it belong'd to put the Question in the Representative of the People of Athens consisting of one thousand were said Demost cont Timocrat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to give or make the Suffrage The Thesmothetae who were Presidents at the creation of Magistrats were said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pol. l. 8. c. 8. to chirotonize the Generals JOSEPHUS renders those words of God to SAMUEL Hearken to the Voice of the People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ant. l. 6. c. 4. I command thee to chirotonize them a King which Authors vindicating LUKE for his understanding both of the Grecian Customs and property of Speech at each of which he was expert com up to the full and genuin interpretation of the place in controversy where PAUL and BARNABAS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chirotonizing them Elders in every Congregation can be no otherwise understood than that they here as MOSES at the institution of the Sanhedrim SAMUEL at the Election of the King the Proedri at the passing of Laws the Thesmothetae at the creation of Magistrats the Electors in the great Council of Venice and the High Sherifs in the Countys of England were no more than Presidents of that Chirotonia which was given or made by the Suffrage of the People WHERFORE the Greec is thus render'd by these several Translations of the Bible That of Zurich WHEN they had created them Elders by Suffrages in every Congregation That of Beza WHEN they had created them Elders by Suffrages in every Congregation The French WHEN by the advice of the Assemblys they had establish'd Elders The Italian WHEN by the advice of the Congregation they had constituted them Elders That of Diodati WHEN they had ordain'd them in every Church by the common votes of the Elders That appointed by the Synod of Dort WHEN in each Church by the