Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	great_a	king_n	nobility_n	2,707	5	9.0009	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51181	Essays of Michael, seigneur de Montaigne in three books, with marginal notes and quotations of the cited authors, and an account of the author's life / new rendered into English by Charles Cotton, Esq.; Essais. English	Montaigne, Michel de, 1533-1592.; Cotton, Charles, 1630-1687.	1685 (1685)	Wing M2479; ESTC R2740	998,422	2,006

his Preservation who so much neglects that of his People Whoever will take upon him to maintain that 't is better for a Prince to carry on his Wars by others than in his own Person Fortune will furnish him with Examples enough of those whose Lieutenants have brought great Enterprizes to a happy Issue and of those also whose Presence has done more hurt than good But no virtuous and valiant Prince can with Patience endure so dishonourable Councils under colour of saving his Head like the Statue of a Saint for the Happiness of his Kingdom they degrade him from and declare him incapable of his Office which is Military throughout I know one who had much rather be beaten than to sleep whilst another fights for him and who never without jealousie heard of any brave thing done even by his own Officers in his Absence And Selimus said with very good Reason in my Opinion That Victories obtain'd without the Master were never compleat Much more would he have said that that Master ought to blush for shame to pretend to any share in the Honour having contributed nothing to the work but his Voice and thought nor even so much as those considering that in such work as that the Direction and Command that deserve Honour are only such as are given upon the place and in the heat of the Business No Pilot performs his Office by standing still The Princes of the Ottoman Family the chiefest in the World in Military Fortune have warmly embrac'd this Opinion and Bajazet the second with his Son that swerv'd from it spending their time in Sciences and other retir'd Employments gave great blows to their Empire and Amurath the third now reigning following their Example begins to find the same Was it not Edward the Third King of England who said this of our Charles the Fifth There never was King who so seldom put on his Arms and yet never King who cut me out so much Work He had reason to think it strange as an effect of Chance more than of Reason And let those seek out some other to joyn with them than me who will reckon the Kings of Castile and Portugal amongst the warlike and magnanimous Conquerors because at the distance of twelve hundred Leagues from their lasie abode by the Conduct of their Captains they made themselves Masters of both Indies of whom it would be known if they have but the Courage to go and in Person enjoy them The Emperour Julian said yet further that a Philosopher and a brave man ought not so much as to breathe that is to say not to allow any more to bodily Necessities than what we cannot refuse keeping the Soul and Body still intent and busie about honourable great and virtuous things he was asham'd if any one in publick saw him spit or sweat which is said by some also of the Lacedemonian young men and that Xenophon says of the Persian forasmuch as he conceiv'd that Exercise continual Labour and Sobriety ought to have dried up all those Superfluities What Seneca says will not be unfit for this Place which is that the antient Romans kept their Youth always standing and taught them nothing that they were to learn sitting 'T is a generous desire to wish to dye usefully and like a Man but the Effect lies not so much in our Resolution as good Fortune A thousand have propos'd to themselves in Battel either to overcome or dye who have fail'd both in the one and the other Wounds and Imprisonment crossing their Design and compelling them to live against their Wills There are Diseases that overthrow so much as our Desires and our Knowledge Fortune ought not to second the Vanity of the Roman Legions who bound themselves by Oath either to overcome or dye Victor Marce Fabi revertar ex acie si fallo Jovem patrem Gradivumque Martem aliosque iratos invoco Deos. I will return Marcus Fabius a Conquerour from the Army and if I fail I wish the Indignation of Jove Mars and the other offended Gods may light upon me The Portuguese say that in a certain Place of their Conquest of the Indies they met with Souldiers who had damn'd themselves with horrible Execrations to enter into no other Composition but either to cause themselves to be slain or to remain Victorious and had their Heads and Beards shav'd in token of this Vow 'T is to much purpose for us to hazard our selves and to be obstinate It seems as if blows avoided those that present themselves too briskly to Danger and do not willingly fall upon those who too willingly seek them and so defeat them of their Design Such there have been after having try'd all ways not having been able with all their Endeavour to obtain the Favour of dying by the hand of the Enemy have been constrain'd to make good their Resolution of bringing home the Honour of Victory or of losing their Lives to kill themselves even in the heat of Battel Of which there are other Examples but this is one Philistus General of the naval Army of Dionysius the younger against those of Syracusa presented them Battel which was sharply disputed their Forces being equal In which Engagement he had the better at the first through his own Valour but the Syracusans drawing about his Admiral Gally to environ him after having done great things in his own Person to disengage himself hoping for no relief with his own hand took away that Life he had so liberally and in vain expos'd to the Fury of the Enemy Muley Moluck King of Fez who won the Battel against Sebastian King of Portugal so famous for the Death of three Kings and by the transmission of that great Kingdom to the Crown of Castile was extreamly sick when the Portuguese enter'd in an hostile manner into his Dominions and from that day forward grew worse and worse still drawing nearer to and foreseeing his end Yet never did man better employ his own sufficiency more vigorously and bravely than he did upon this Occasion He found himself too weak to undergo the Pomp and Ceremony of entring into his Camp which after their manner is very Magnificent and therefore resign'd that Honour to his Brother but that was also all of the Office of a General that he resign'd all the rest of greatest Utility and Necessity he most exactly and gloriously performed in his own Person his body lying upon a Couch but his Judgment and Courage upright and firm to his last gasp and in some sort beyond it He might have defeated his Enemy indiscreetly advanc'd into his Dominions without striking a Blow and it was a very unhappy Occurrence that for want of a little Life or some body to substitute in the Conduct of this War and the Affairs of a troubled State he was compell'd to seek a doubtful and bloody Victory having another by a better and surer way already in his hands Notwithstanding he wonderfully manag'd the continuance of his Sickness in

they might have more room and there is scarce two or three little corners of the World that have not felt the effect of such Removals The Romans by this means erected their Colonies for perceiving their City to grow immeasurably populous they eas'd it of the most unnecessary People and sent them to inhabit and cultivate the Lands by them conquer'd sometimes also they purposely maintain'd Wars with some of their Enemies not only to keep their men in action for fear lest Idleness the Mother of Corruption should bring upon them some worse inconvenience Et patimur longae pacis mala saevior armis Luxuria incumbit We suffer th' ills of a long Peace by far Greater and more pernicious than War but also to serve for a Blood-letting to their Republick and a little to evaporate the too vehement heat of their Youth to prune and cleanse the Branches from the Stock too luxuriant in Wood and to this end it was that they formerly maintain'd so long a War with Carthage In the Treaty of Bretigny Edward the third King of England would not in the general Peace he then made with our King comprehend the Controversie about the Dutchy of Brittany that he might have a Place wherein to discharge himself of his Souldiers and that the vast number of English he had brought over to serve him in that Expedition might not return back into England And this also was one reason why our King Philip consented to send his Son John that Foreign Expedition that he might take along with him a great number of hot Young-men that were then in his Pay There are many in our Times who talk at this rate wishing that this hot Emotion that is now amongst us might discharge it self in some neighbouring War for fear lest all the peccant Humours that now reign in this politick Body of ours may not diffuse themselves farther keep the Fever still in the height and at last cause our total Ruin and in truth a Foreign is much more supportable than a Civil War but I do not believe that God will favour so unjust a design as to offend and quarrel others for our own advantage Nil mihi tam valde placeat Rhamnusia virgo Quod temere invitis suscipiatur heris In War that does invade another's right Whose end is plunder I take no delight And yet the weakness of our condition does often push us upon the necessity of making use of ill means to a good end Lycurgus the most vertuous and perfect Legislator that ever was invented this unjust practice of making the Helotes who were there Slaves drunk by force by so doing to teach his People Temperance to the end that the Spartiates seeing them so overwhelmed and buried in Wine might abhor the excess of this beastly Vice And yet they were more too blame who of old gave leave that Criminals to what sort of death soever condemn'd should be cut up alive by the Physicians that they might make a true discovery of our inward parts and build their Art upon greater certainty for if we must run into excesses 't is more excusable to do it for the health of the Soul than that of the Body as the Romans train'd up the People to Valour and the contempt of Dangers and Death by those furious Spectacles of Gladiators and Fencers who being to fight it out to the last cut mangled and killed one another in their Presence Quid vesani aliud sibi vult ars impia ludi Quid mortes juvenum quid sanguine pasta voluptas Of such inhumane sports what further use What Pleasure can slaughters of men produce and this custom continued till the Emperour Theodosius his time Arripe dilatam tua dux in tempora famam Quodque patris superest successor laudis habeto Nullus in Vrbe cadat cujus sit poena Voluptas Jam solis contenta feris infamis arena Nulla cruentatis homicidia ludat in armis Prince take the Honours destin'd for thy Reign Inherit of thy Father those remain Henceforth let none at Rome for sport be slain Let beast's Blood stain th' infamous Theater And no more Homicides be acted there It was in truth a wonderful Example and of great advantage for the training up the People to see every day before their Eyes a hundred two hundred nay a thousand couples of Men arm'd against one another cut one another to pieces with so great a constancy of Courage that they were never heard to utter so much as one syllable of Weakness or Commiseration never seen to turn their back nor so much as to make one cowardly step to evade a Blow but rather expose their Necks to the Adversaries Sword and present themselves to receive the stroke And many of them when wounded to Death have sent to ask the Spectators if they were satisfied with their behaviour before they lay down to dye upon the Place It was not enough for them to Fight and to Dye bravely but cheerfully too insomuch that they were hiss'd and curs'd if they made any Dispute about receiving their Death The very Maids themselves set them on consurgit ad ictus Et quoties victor ferrum jugulo inserit illa Delicias ait esse suas pectusque jacentis Virgo modesta jubet converso pollice rumpi The modest Virgin is delighted so With the fell sport that she applauds the blow And when the Victor baths his bloody brand In 's fellow's Throat and lays him on the sand Then she 's most pleas'd and shews by signs she 'd fain Have him rip up the bosom of the slain The first Romans only condemn'd Criminals to this Example but they have since employ'd innocent Slaves in the work and even Freemen too who sold themselves to this effect nay moreover Senators and Knights of Rome and also Women Nunc caput in mortem vendunt funus arenae Atque hostem sibi quisque parat cum bella quiescunt They sell themselves to death and since the Wars Are ceas'd each for himself a Foe prepares Hos inter fremitus novosque lusus Stat sexus rudis insciusque ferri Et pugnat capit improbus viriles Amidst these Tumults and Alarms The tender Sex unskill'd in Arms Immodestly will try their mights And now engag'd in manly Fights which I should think strange and incredible if we were not accustom'd every day to see in our own Wars many thousands of men of other Nations for Money to stake their Blood and their Lives in Quarrels wherein they have no manner of concern CHAP. XXIV Of the Roman Grandeur I will only say a word or two of this infinite Argument to shew the simplicity of those who compare the pittiful Grandeurs of these Times to that of Rome In the seventh Book of Cicero's Familiar Epistles and let the Grammarians put out that sirname of Familiar if they please for in truth it is not very proper and they who in stead of

his indifference proceeded from a soul so much elevated above such accidents that he disdain'd to let it take any more hold of his Fancy than any other ordinary adventure In the Naval Engagement that Augustus won of Sextus Pompeius in Sicily just as they were to begin the Fight he was so fast asleep that his Friends were compell'd to wake him to give the Signal of Battel And this was it that gave Mark Anthony afterwards occasion to reproach him that he had not the Courage so much as with open Eyes to behold the order of his own Squadrons and not to have dar'd to present himself before the Souldiers till first Agrippa had brought him news of the Victory obtain'd But as to the business of young Marius who did much worse for the day of the last Battel against Sylla after he had order'd his Army given the word and Signal of Battel he laid him down under the Shade of a Tree to repose himself and fell so fast asleep that the Rout and Fight of his Men could hardly wake him having seen nothing of the Fight he is said to have been at that time so extreamly spent and worn out with Labour and want of Sleep that Nature could hold out no longer Now upon what has been said the Physicians may determine whether sleep be so necessary that our lives depend upon it for we read that King Perseus of Macedon being Prisoner at Rome was wak'd to Death but Pliny instances such as have lived long without sleep Herodotus speaks of Nations where the Men sleep and wake by half years And they who write the Life of the Wise Epimenides affirm that he slept seven and fifty years together CHAP. XLV Of the Battel of Dreux OUr Battel of Dreux is remarkable for several extraordinary accidents But such as have no great kindness for the Duke of Guise nor do much favour his reputation are willing to have him thought too blame and that his making a Halt and delaying time with this Forces he Commanded whilst the Constable who was General of the Army was Rackt through and through with the Enemies Artillery his Battalion Routed and himself taken Prisoner is not to be excus'd And that he had much better have ran the hazard of charging the Enemy in the Flank than staying for the advantage of falling in upon the Rear to suffer so great and so important a loss But besides what the event demonstrated who will consider it without passion or prejudice will easily be induced to confess that the aim and design not of a Captain only but of every Private Souldier ought to look at the Victory in general and that no particular occurrences how nearly soever they may concern his own interest should divert him from that pursuit Philopemen in an encounter with Machanidas having sent before a good strong party of his Archers to begin the Skirmish which were by the Enemy Routed and pursu'd who pursuing them and pushing on the Fortune of their Arms in the heat of Victory and in that pursuit passing by the Battalion where Philopemen was though his Souldiers were impatient to fall on yet he was better temper'd and did not think fit to stir from his post nor to present himself to the Enemy to relieve his Men but having suffer'd them to be chaste about the Field and Cut in pieces before his Face then charged in upon their Battalion of Foot when he saw them left Naked by their Horse and notwithstanding that they were Lacedemonians yet taking them in the nick when thinking themselves secure of the Victory they began to disorder their Ranks he did his business with great facility and then put himself in pursuit of Machanidas Which case is very like that of Monsieur de Guise In that Bloody Battel betwixt Agesilaus and the Baeotians which Zenophon who was present at it reports to be the rudest and most Bloody that he had ever seen Agesilaus wav'd the advantage that Fortune presented him to let the Baeotians Battalion pass by and then to charge them in the Rear how certain soever he made himself of the Victory Judging it would rather be an effect of Conduct than Valour to proceed that way And therefore to shew his prowess rather chose with a wonderful ardour of Courage to charge them in the Front but he was well beaten and wounded for his pains and constrain'd at last to disengage himself and to take the course he had at first neglected opening his Battalion to give way to this torrent of the Baeotians fury and being past by taking notice that they march'd in disorder like men that thought themselves out of danger he then pursu'd and charg'd them in their Flanks and Rear yet could not so prevail as to bring it to so general a Rout but that they leisurely retreated still Facing about upon him till they were retired into safety CHAP. XLVI Of Names WHat variety of Herbs soever are shuffled together in the Dish yet the whole Mass is swallow'd up in one name of a Sallet In line manner under the consideration of Names I will make a hodg-podg of differing Articles Every Nation has certain Names that I know not why are taken in no good sense as with us John William and Benoist In the Genealogy of Princes also there seems to be certain Names fatally affected as the Ptolomies of Egypt the Henry's of England the Charles's of France the Baldwins of Flanders and the Williams of our Ancient Aquitaine from whence 't is said the Name of Guyenne has its derivation which would seem far fetch'd were there not as rude derivations in Plato himself 'T is a very frivolous thing in it self but nevertheless worthy to be Recorded for the strangeness of it which is writ by an Eye-witness that Henry Duke of Normandy Son of Henry the Second King of England making a great Feast in France the concourse of Nobility and Gentry was so great that being for Sports sake divided into Troops according to their Names in the first Troop which consisted of Williams there were found an Hundred and Ten Knights sitting at the Table of that Name without reckoning the ordinary Gentlemen and their Servants It is as pleasant to distinguish the Tables by the Names of the Guests as it was in the Emperour Geta to distinguish the several Courses of his Meat by the first Letters of the Meats themselves where those that began with B were serv'd up together as Brawn Beef Breame Bustards and Becca-ficos and so of others Now there is a saying that it is a good thing to have a good Name that is to say Credit and a good Repute But besides this it is really convenient to have such a Name as is easie of pronunciation and easie to be remembred by reason that Kings and other great Persons do by that means the more easily know and the more hardly forget us and indeed of our own Servants we more frequently call and employ those whose Names are