and justle the other quite out of their Bibles advancing the wisedome of the serpent to so high and Intense a degree that it cannot admit the least proportion of the Holy Doves more necessary Innocence Such a foraminous piece of Net-worke has Christian Prudence been made of late that these Glib serpentine Politicians can soe wind themselves in and out at pleasure as if they meant neither God nor Man should ever know certainly where to have them It is a very famous piece of the Gentleman's prudence to Endeavour to Out-wit an All-wise God and to go about to put Fallacies upon him out of his owne word often makeing even God's most righteous precepts the Topicks of his disobedience How frequently endeavours he to cloak the violation of one law by a pretended obedience to another and by setting God's Commands at variance one with another thinks to steal away his beloved sin and not be taken notice of He dares not take up his Crosse and follow Christ lest he should become Felo de se accessary to his owne death Nor knows he how to forsake Father and Mother for Christ's sake without a breach of the Fifth Commandment which binding him to Honour both he cannot see how he may in any sence forsake either He dares not part with houses and lands for fear he might seem to Dispise God's good Blessings nor hazard his estate in the vindication of his Religion and his Loyalty lest he should be said to have thereby thrown away the opportunities of expressing his bounty and his Charity He knows how much he is obliged not to deny Christ before men and to give an account of his faith to such as demand it of him but then he produces a text which tells him of daies wherein the Prudent shall keep silence and these daies he supposes still present whensoever his person or estate may be endanger'd by an open heart or an Ingenuous tongue He will be ready to suffer Persecution for the Gospell of Christ and with St Paul to be bound and to dye but this must onely bee when his Prudence is at a losse and he can find out no way just or unjust to avoyd all this As long as there are shifts enow left him such as dissembling language Covert Engagements Cunning flatteries treacherous Compositions petty Contributions Vnderhand Compliances in things both Civill and Religious he thinks he wants no honest Evasions to secure both Life and livelyhood Thus he is Content to set him down in quietnesse whilest the Enemies of God's Church advance in troops and Armies against her and thinks it enough when he can say he wishes all well and praies for the Peace of Ierusalem It were no Prudence openly to declare his opinion or to act on any side alas he is but one single man and one's as good as none against the stream of the multitude not Considering that where one does not joyne with one there can be no multitude There are other Champions enow in the world to vindicate her quarrell such as have no estates to look after No families to provide for when if all were of his mind there would not be so much as one and besides who has greater reason to labour then he that has already received so great a share of his wages What though he freely gives away a large portion of his goods to the Enemies of God It is but the way to secure the rest for better purposes What though he be constrain'd with faire speeches to flatter up the transgressors in their Iniquities His heart for all this shall be for God his prayers for the Church and he is as Good a Christian and as Loyall a Subject within as the best Alas 't is no great matter to Comply a little in outward things to lay an hand upon a Bible to invoke the sacred Name of God and seemingly to Renounce Religion and Loyalty God knows he intends no such matter but onely takes this Course to keep his Family from ruine and to preserve himselfe safe and whole to doe God and his Church more service heareafter It is all one with him to goe to Church or Câ—nventicle so he may by frequenting either be thought to favour the Religion in Fashion and so not be suspected an Enemy to the God that rules the man in power with a sword in his hand He can take a great deal of pains rise early and go farre to encourage a seditious Lecture and when Sermon 's done with an Hypocriticall face smile upon the preacher and inviteing him home with him witness his thankes and approbation in a Good dinner But he holds it imprudence to frequent that true worship and service of God which the excellency thereof and the Command of his superiours commends to his Conscience lest he should be thereby thought ill-affected to that Religion which he would have Good men believe his soul abhorres He dares Countenance Rebellion and Sacriledge both with his tongue and Purse but aesteems it dangerous and therefore without all doubt Imprudence to Contribute so much as a Good look to the Encouragement of the truly Religious and vertuous lest he should be suspected by the prosperous sinner an Enemy to Treason and Wickednesse Till we can find a way how to cast out this Prudent Devill which as the Prophet tells us is wise to doe evill but to doe Good has no understanding we shall ever heare this possess'd Gentleman crying out with the Daemoniack in the Gospell what have we to doe with thee Iesus thou son of God Why art thou Come to torment us before our time Such a perfect Gout is this prudent Cowardise that the lame Gentleman ever cries out at the very sight of any thing looks like Religion as if it would come too neer him and touch him upon the sore place So sad a thing is it to stand in feare of health lest it should make us sick to tremble at the sight of what would bring us to Heaven lest we should lose our Earth and to take so much anxious care to praeserve the Body whole for fear a Courteous wound should set open the dore and give the soul leave to fly out into Heaven and be at rest If such men be truely prudent then are all true Christians undoutedly fools Or if this over-warynesse be no more but a prudent and Religious Caution then are most of our English Gentlemen which I have not yet Charity enough to beleeve Prudent Christians But alas Neutrality hangs too much betwixt two ever to come so high as Heaven and a Cold Indifferency comes so farre short of that necessary zeal which is the unfailing Consequent of true Piety that it is impossible it should ever be Crown'd with aeternall Happinesse He that is not deeply in love with his God cannot place his absolute felicity in the fruition of God and he that is afraid to do any thing or think 's it prudence to suffer nothing for him is not in Love
with him God has long agoe told the Gentleman and all others how much of another temper he must be who will live for ever instructing him what an immediate Contrariety there is betwixt being for God and against him soe that there can be no mean left for such a prudent Indifferency betwixt fighting Vnder Christ's Banner and being the Devill 's Souldiers Moderation 't is true in things of Indifferency is a Commendation but the Gentleman needs feare as little that he can be over zealous in a Good matter here upon Earth as that he may be over happy in Heaven As there be no Angels but such as are either very good or very bad so every Gentleman is either a Saint indeed or else stark naught He that sitts still shall come as soone to Hell as he that sweats in pursuite of it But whosoever hopes to Come to Heaven he must ever run and with his face that way if he will be sure to obtaine I would wish that Gentleman who has not the heart to Confesse Christ before men to Consider how he can have the Courage to hear Christ denying him before his Father which is in Heaven or to Endure those torments in Hâ—ll which he shall be sure to undergo for not Confessing him here upon Earth Such a Lukewarme soul is so Nauseous unto God that he must at last Spue him out into the Bottomelesse pit If this be Christian Prudence to secure an Estate or preserve a Family or save a life by being frigid and so Spiritlesse in our Profession as may make us nauseated by God and set us at such a distance from Heaven a true Christian shall have as little reason to Envy the Gâ—ntleman his Prudence as the poore Church of England has cause to be proud of his Courage §. 5 The Peaceable Gentleman The Peaceable and Honest-natur'd Gentleman as many call him is one to whom the poore Church of England is not much more indebted for his kindnesse then to either of the former this is he that is so farre from being Cordially sensible of the Afflictions of Ioseph or the dessolations of Ierusalem that he seems to have hardly so much of an humane spirit in him as to understand the meaning of those two words Happiness and Misery Three parts of his time at least he spends in sleep as if he were resolved to die all his life long or by this course to keep himselfe Ignorant of the Concerning affaires of the world being loath to come acquainted with the truth of those evills which he is resolved not to take any pains to remove The other quarter of his time he carefully divides betwixt his meales his sports and thisâ—e â—e calls liveing a Good honest quiet and harmlesse life such as hurts no body Sometimes he seems even to Envy the very stones that Constant rest which Nature has indulged them whereby they are made incapable of any motion but what is occasion'd and that but rarely by some violence from without them If he had so much of that Philosophy which tells us the caelestiall bodyes are in a perpetuall motion as to believe it for a truth he would for that very cause be unwilling to go to Heaven When he hears of an aeternall Saboth of rest for all those that goe thither he is almost perswaded to become a Christian yet is he in a great straight betwixt two for though he love his rest too well yet he hates the very name of Saboth much more especially when he hears St Iohn telling him that the Angells and Glorified Saints never cease Day nor Night from praising God Sometimes again he seems to grudg the poore bruit Animals their Irrationalitie and to share with them endeavours by a Sordid sensuality to degrade himselfe into a Beast or at least to become as like one as humanity will permit him That he may be better acquainted with their Natures and dispositions his Dog and his Horse or his Hawke henceforward become his Principall Companions with these he plaies and with these he discourses and towards these if you seriously consider all his termes of Art you will be ready to say he has his set formes of Complement and indeed his whole study is to learne readily to speak that language wherein he may be understood by the silly animals When the weather or his health or the like will not befriend him in these exercises abroad then he sits at home numbring his minutes by the turnes of his die or the playing of his Cards or perhaps gets so much liberty abroad as to measure out his houres by the motions of his bowle Such a mercilesse Tyrant is he to that which he feares he shall never loose or destroy fast enough his precious time that he allwaies studies to invent variety of Executions for it Now he delights to drown it in his Cups anon he burnes it in his Pipe by and by he tramples it under his horse's hâ—ofes again he knocks it in the head with his Bowl teares and devours it with his Hawks and his Hounds there is nothing he will leave unexperimented 'till he have certainly found out a way to prevent it's naturall Honest and Commendable departure These Courses he willingly allowes himselfe in and desires to have all thought noe more or worse then his Contempt of the world and his study of retirednesse from those Distracting Cumbrances thereof which are unworthy of a Christian or a Gentleman Sometimes he delights to consume a great part of his time in unnecessary visits but studies withall to make them so unprofitable as if he were desirous to have it thought men were made onely now and then to look upon one another his discourse what there is of it being so idle and impertinent that it serves to no other end then to exercise his tongue and keep it by much motion voluble lest for want of use he should in a short time as he does by most good things forget to speak Sometimes you shall have a Complement from him but puff'd up with so many hyperbolicall expressions of your worth and of the incredible respects he has for your person that you cannot chuse but suspect he only labours how to be disbelieved or has learn'd of his Dogges how to fawn and flatter And thus when he has made a shift to lose an houre or two and to trouble his friends with much Impertinent talke he returnes home again to eat and play and sleep and spend the remainder of his time as Idly as he can In a word this sort of Gentlemen borders so closely upon him we first described the Gallant that I shall not need to say more of him then only this that he has some degrees lesse of Madnesse then the other he seems as yet but to hang about the dores and has not gain'd an admission into the Society of Raunters Nor is this because he wants a Genius or Inclination to evill in the Generall but rather he is beholding to
hearing his own names become so Common he is now bribed to stay by the Flattery of this later and securely Lodges in the Gallant 's brest without the lest feare of Disturbance But seeing the Gallant is so great a lover of New Names I hope he will not be troubled If I make bold to adde one more and call him with no lesse reason but in more words The Divel's Ghost For whilest Sathan is put to a large expence of Time and Pains to Haunt and Seduce others Here he meets with one not halfe so coy but such an one as by his unseasonable kindnesse seems to be a trouble rather to the very Fiend by haunting the Divell And doubtlesse if he goe but on halfe so fast a while longer as he has done of late yeares He will tire and Puzzle the whole numerous Hâ—ste of Hell to Invent a variety of objects answerable to that of his Humours To speake him out a little more plainly our English Gentleman as now a daies we commonly meet him is such a strange kind of thing that no one name will fit him Such an Heterogeneous Soule he is that no lesse then a Combination of all the vices in the World must be summon'd in to make up a Partiall Description of him Of an Essentiall Definition I dare hardly think him Capable lest thereby granting him a Compleat Essence I should be forced at lest in a Metaphysicall Notion to call him Good Good-man is a title he hath ever much scorned and it is that which If yet his pride will afford him any he very truly thinks the fittest Compellation for the poore honest Labourer The same he will sometimes vouchsafe to bestow upon those few Tenants his Prodigallity has spared him Such a Complicacy of Evils goes to his Constitution that ere we shall be able to fit him with a name wee must borrow it from Sathan himselfe and call him Legion As sinne and vanity make up his very Essence so can nothing but wonder and shame Compose his Character §. 2. His Nature in Generall You have heard his name and now take a farther Generall description of him thus The Gallant is a Pretty neat Phantasticall Out-side of a man and if you dare alway believe your eye 't is not unlikely you may now and then be so much deceived as to think him Something But a true man you can never Imagine him he hath too long agoe shaked hands with his Reason and now counts it the greatest degree of Basenesse in the world to live what Nature made him or to seeme beholding for any thing unto ought but his own Humour He is a well-digested bundle of most Costly vanities and he is evermore tumbling up and down the streets to gather more of that same Chargeable Dirt as if he should have enough to excuse his sinne when he can at once say it is both glorious and Costly You may call him a Volume of Methodicall Errataes bound up in a gilt Cover and his onely commendation is this that his disorders seem to be orderly and his Errors not Casuall but Studied and he can tell how to sinne most Ingeniously He is a Curiously wrought Cabinet full of Shels and other Trumpery which were much better quite Empty then so emptily full He is a piece of ordinary clay stuck round with Bristol Diamonds Pritty sparkling things which for a time might perhaps make a gay show in a foole 's Cap or on a Dunghill But in a Lapidary's shop amongst true stones have onely so much lustre left as will prove themselves to be but Counterfeit Such a Silly Gloworme may looke like a little Starre in the Darke but it 's Splendor is alwaies sure to be benighted with the Rising Sunne 'T is no small advantage for this fine Sir to live in this Night of the world where that very darknesse of Ignorance which obscures the great vertues of so many good men is the onely thing that makes his wild-fires so visible as to be taken notice of He is the Rich Scabbard of a Leaden Spirit and that very dulnesse of mettall makes him endure so long in the world whilest the keener zeale of nobler Soules soone makes their way for them through the Scabbard into Heaven I doe heartily wish he would give us no reason to call him the painted Sepulchre of a Soule Dead and Rotten in Trespasses and sins If this Comparison will ever fit any man that is no Hypocrite certainly 't is the Swaggaring Gentleman He is a man's skin full of prophanenesses a Paradise full of weeds an Heaven full of Devills or Sathan's Bedchamber too richly hung with Arras of God's Own making such an Excellency would he faine hold in the basest Iniquity He can be thought no better then a Promethean Man at best but a lump of animated dirt kneeded into Humane Shape and if he have any such thing as a Soule which he shall hardly be able to perswade any man to believe that sees how little care he takes to save it it seems to be patch'd up of vice and Bravery If you would come acquainted with his pedigree let Sin be your Herald and it will be sufficient to tell you he was the Sonne of an Offender His very name's enough to blast the Nobility of all that went before him and to breath a perpetuall disgrace upon the sleeping ashes of his worthy Progenitors There may be some question made whether he needs feare going to Hell or no at his death because he has been so well acquainted with it in his life-time whither if he have not leave every day to take his full Carier he think his Soul bereav'd of her Christian Liberty as if he had no other way left him of Imitating the blessed Saviâ—ur of mankind but by often descending into Hell O what a piece of Gallantry is it now a dayes for a man to give his Soul to the Divell in a Frolick It is the part of a Gentlemen to out-brave Damnation and not to be daunted with the thoughts of a future Iudgment A retreat into Sobriety would betray such an Effeminacy of spirit as might argue him in love with a Religion and make the world believe he were such a Coward as might be Frighted into Piety Every petty sinner can outface an Earthly hee 'l doe his best to out-vapour an Heavenly Tribunall and make it appeare unto all that a Gentleman has a Spirit dares goe to Hell before he will be said to feare it Indeed he alone seems to have the art of turning Nature upside-down and will onely be a perfect man at the Pap when he is wean'd he gives both his humanity and Innocence to his Nurse for her wages I am sure he is rarely if ever after that time seen to have either about him In short The Gentleman is nothing that he should be His whole life is a flat Contradiction to his duety His constant study is to teach his Body how to put affronts upon his soul and
pampering up his lusts and making himselfe a Glorious sinner Seeing he has already received so bountifull a reward for doing so little he accounts it a shame for the future not to make himselfe a fit object for a greater by doing both more and better Such an Ingenuous Spirit hath the Gentleman that he thinks every reward for what 's past an obligation to future good services and he had rather wait with patience for all his arreares together then ever be thought to have received the last payment here If it be his lot to groan out his daies under the heavy pressures of affliction he is not like the Inconsiderate Drunkard who in the morning after his double Intemperance in drinking and sleeping complaineth that his head akes and begins to Curse his Pillow and his Bed-maker for his want of ease forgetting to turne that sinne out of dores which occasion'd all this the day before Nor like a Wretched and Impenitent Malefactor who when he is hurried away to a just Execution does nothing but cry out upon the hard-heart of his Iudg and the Rigour of the Lawes Cursing the Executioner but forgetting to repent him of the Murther or the Robbery which brought his Body into the hands of this executioner and will unrepented of deliver his Soul into the farre lesse mercifull of another hereafter But like a Naturall and hopefull child he seriously Considers his own Errors which provoked his father thus to Chastise him and so by stroking the hand and kissing the Rod and humbly begging pardon for his offence he sets his father's affections which before he had turn'd aside not lost into their own proper Channel again He looks upon his Afflictions with one eye as Corrections and so blames himselfe for the Occasion but blesseth God for the Charity with the other as Tryals and so makes it his care that he come not all Drosse out of the Furnace The same Fire which Consumes others doth but refine his soul and separating from it the more grosse and Terrene Mixtures makes it the fitter for Heaven He grudges not to undergoe the Winnowing so he may be sure to loose the Chaffe and be made all wheat such as his Lord may think fit to receive into his Garner He is ashamed to think that God should lose his paines and the more he thrashes find onely more straw but lesse Corne rather like good grain from the Mill he comes forth from the grinding more in measure purer in Colour and readier for use and service Though a Bryar or a Thorne may scratch or prick his heel a little in his way to Heaven and draw a little uselesse blood though he may sometimes be so intangled in the Brambles that he may be forced to part with something of his fleece and perhaps so much of the skin too as may make it smart a while Yet has he too high a soul to fall so much within the reach of these Creeping brambles as to receive from them the least Scratch in his face He alwaies carries an head as erect as his hopes are high and takes great care that neither his Religion his Honesty nor his Honour be made to suffer by it He dares not make either a Base Compliance with the vices of his persecutors the refuge of his Cowardice or the wings of the Potent by bribing their Ambition with Flattery and Dissimulation his Sanctuary of protection He will not attempt the lightâ—ning of his sufferings by a voluntary casting any part of his estate into the devouring Treasury of the Churche's Enemy nor hope to appease the wrath of a displeased God by bringing an oblation to the Avarice of his oppressors neither doth he essay to drown his sorrowes in the Bottome of his Cup But he flies and takes Sanctuary at the Hornes of the Altar and by a Magnanimity which becomes a Gentleman showes that true Honour is a Iewel indeed such as will not break with the Hammer His Religion like the Flint never so much discovers those Holy fires of zeale and devotion which were not before so apparent as when it most experiences the violence of the hardest steel And his Innocence is so perfectly Malliable that the more you beat it the broader it growes In short the Gentleman carries himselfe â—o evenly betwixt these Contrary windes that he is neither shaken by the one nor puff'd up with the other He is such in prosperity that he does not fear Adversity and such in adversity that he needs not to wish for Prosperity such indeed in both that it shall never repent him that he hath tasted either §. 13. His respect and affection for his Country The true Gentleman is no lesse Serviceable to his Countrey then Honourable in himselfe He cannot Phancy himselfe so great as to forget that he is but a creature and so made for something and 'till he can perswade himselfe to be a God who is his own End and Happinesse he cannot think that he was made onely to serve himselfe He that made him made him a Brother to many and he owes a duty of love unto them all He is not like a lump of Gold in the Bowels of the Earth which is neither for sight nor service but like that which having once received the stamp of the Prince is ever after Current and usefull to many Neither resembles he the Glow-worme or a Rotten stick in the Dark which hath no more light then will show it selfe to be something though no body by that light alone knowes what but illuminates nothing else about it no he rather emulates the Sun in the Firmament from which this Inferiour World receives all it's life and vigour Thus the Gentleman is continually scattering the rayes and Influence of his vertues round about him quite through all that lies within the Wide Sphere of his Motion As amongst the Elements the most Noble and Pure is alwaies the most active too and most profitable as well as most High and Distant And as the highest of Bodies to wit the Caelestiall cannot naturally rest but indeed by their Continuall and swift motion do never faile to labour for the Benefit of the whole world besides So is this Little Heaven and Glory of Mankind never without some commendable businesse and Employment and such as shall assuredly at last tend unto the great good and advantage of as many as lie within the Compasse of his Influence The Gentleman without doubt is made for some other end then to stand like a fair and goodly Tulip in a painted Pot in some window or other Corner of the Chamber onely to grace the roome without either smell or other apparent virtue He is rather like the sweet and lovely Rose which perfumes the Aire all about it and is besides no lesse Medicinall then fragrant If ever the Gentleman seem to be Idle he does no more but seem so He onely sets himselfe down a while as he would doe a Bottle of precious Water which has
Nobility as once he did about the fairest tree in Eden and questionlesse not seldome with as much unhappy successe as malicious Subtilty Here I am sure he hath the same or surer holds to fasten upon and Climb up by which there he had Even the wild protuberances of Pride and Ambition The first assault he made was upon an unspotted Innocence but match'd with an over facile and flexible Humanity and meeting there with the Hoped Issue of his temptation he takes the Boldnesse to venture on an Infinite Wisedome in the Bosome of Omnipotence and though there he was foyl'd yet being the more madded with the Shamefull repulse 't is likely he will fall the more desperately and so with the greater violence upon that Prudence which is at best much abated by the base mixture and too excessive alloy of a Beloved Folly I wish it might be the Gentleman 's good Fortune or Courage to ward the stroak and come of unhurt When I hear this inferior world wherein we are to breath out our Minority compared and not unfitly to an Inne or Diversory whereinto Man whose life is a journey or Pilgrimage onely turns in to take a night's lodging that so he may fit and dresse himselfe against the Morning for a Better Countrey I am ready to take the Boldnesse to prosecute the Metaphor a little farther and I would fain say that those Glittering spangled soules are most Noble and Honourable which Wise Nature treats with the greatest respect and Ceremonie those for whom as her Chiefe Guests she hath reserved her most stately and fairest roomes that these if any are to be thought the Gentlemen of the world to whom Nature as well as Fortune seems to pay a reverence These are the Men who enter into the world with that Ceremonious state and Pomp that would almost perswade us they were sent hither on an Ambassy from Heaven They are indulged an Honour seemingly too great for Mortallity They are admitted into the world by the most beautifull gate of a Renowned Parentage they are usher'd along with all that Pompe and Magnificence which use to attend our highest hopes and most teeming Expectations and are most significant of our greatest joyes Their births are congratulated and they welcomed hither with a long and Methodically order'd train of solemne and Honourable both Civill and Religious Ceremonies They are honourably placed in the most richly furnished and neatly contrived Lodgings of Comely and wel-featured Bodies in adorning whereof the Divine Art of Better Nature hath best shown it selfe these are Gloriously set forth by all those most lively Images of Majesty and Honour which Corrupted Nature can be thought capable of receiving All these are more sweetned by a lovely prospect into the world abroad where an Indulgent fortune to give the better rellish to the gifts of Nature presents her selfe in all variety of Dresses of Riches Pleasures Preferments ever creating such store of New-delights as may soonest win upon the sense and best recreate the soule And now Sir would any man seeing all this think it possible that after Nature and Fortune and the Great God of Both by so long a Succession of no lesse truly Delectable then indeed inestimable blessings have been so industriously Solicitous for the Gentleman's welfare and with so much Charitable Importunity have Constantly Courted his soul to be in love with that fair hand which made it to invite it to an early sense of it's own worth and excellency and to set a due estimate upon it selfe to possesse it with the true Apprehensions of that which is certainly the highest Honour that can befall a mortall here or Crown him hereafter I mean his neer Relation to Heaven and the God of Heaven his Maker Would any man believe it possible after all this that the Gentleman should be either so uncharitable to himselfe or so ungratefull to his Creator either so much a Churle or a Fool or Both as neither to yield to those Importunities of a Wooing Heaven nor Embrace the Courteous Invitations of an endlesse Felicitie Would you believe that when he is intrusted by the King of Glories upon so honourable an Expedition as that of winning a Crown he should be tyred and foot-sore at the very first step and sit down to rest him upon the first cold stone in his way there flattering his Childish Humour in the Empty fruition of some Garish but fading vanity Could any man with a rationall soule in him Hope to find an Happinesse in such toyes adequate to the Immense desires of an Heaven-borne substance Alas who is ignorant that these pretty Glories and little felicities which so please us here cannot in any reason be thought more seldome so much then the smaller tokens of a Father's Love or an Earnest penny to a future Inheritance something for the Child to keep his purse with whilest he is here at school Nay they are so often lesse then this that they amount not to so much as those lesse tokens which we use to call the Mother's Blessing but are rather like the deceitfull Gifts of a Stepdame such as a brasse shilling or a Gilded Nutmeg the slight kindnesse not of a Fond but a dissembling Fortune whereby the unwary Child is very often bribed and Flatter'd out of his due Portion and Inheritance Doubtlesse if the Gentleman find himselfe to be so much Fortune's Darling or as he would rather have us think the Favourite of Heaven as to be afforded a more tender and delicate Education then his poorer brethren I dare hardly believe all this an Indulgence to sin but an encouragement unto Holinesse and to go on with Cheerfulnesse to see what that Good Father has in store for him in Heaven who is so liberall to him here upon Earth The Comfortable warmth of his Prosperous Condition is indulged him thereby to preserve his soule more tender and pliable zealously forward to receive both more Generous and more pious impressions not to scorch or dry it up into a rebellious obstinacy neither to give him the opportunity of melting it away in the soft embraces of more wanton and lascivious delights or to Dissolve his happinesse into the Aëry and shadowy vanity of a Carnall pleasure The Golden Foundation being laid God expects he should not so abuse it as to erect thereupon any meaner structure then an Heaven The right use of what he allready enjoyes ought to dispose his soule into a Capacity of receiving more and better even of those spirituall blessings which will set him up above the reach either of an adverse Fortune or a Malicious Divell If the Gentleman would be perswaded to cast a Religious eye upon the Excellent Symmetry and lovely features of his own Body wherewith it is no strange thing to find him beautified above other men certainly he would presently consider with himselfe that this fine Outside was not the onely or best piece of worke intended but there should be a suitable Inside too such as
There 's no way to deale with a man in a Swoon but to pinch him by the Nose and to dash Cold water in his face when he is thus brought to himselfe he may be capable of a Cordiall Thus indeed must we be constrain'd to deale with the Gentleman who is not onely void of all spirituall life but even of all common sense We must handle him a little more roughly then what he will think Civility that so we may at length force him to open his eyes to see how much he is mistaken in what he calls so If after all this he will persist to call me his enemy I shall onely professe my sorrow for this that he has lâ—st the benefit intended him by my pains Not at all that I have miss'd the reward of his Commendatiâ—n and thanks these I shall then first be ambitious of enjoying when I shall be assured that he is so much become a New man that I need not feare his Commendations may prove Scandalls or his thanks reproaches 'Till when here he has my Confession I am his utter Enemy and let him take my Resolution too along with it so I am resolved to continue 'till I can see him more then yet he is his own friend Then I am sure he will without a prompter acknowledg that thus to appeare his Enemy was the onely way he had left me to befriend him With this resolution Sir and Confidence I shall venture first to give you a short Character of him as it stands legible in his common practise and Conversation where that he may not have so much as a pretence to be angry I shall onely write after that Copy himselfe has set me and le ts lye every where wide open to the view of the world And having done this I shall in a very few words characterize the man I would see and tell you what I suppose you know God Expects and his own Name and profession do witnesse he ought to be SECT I. The Gallant TO give you My sense of the Gentleman in a word He is I know not what I no sooner cast my eye upon him but alas I see too little to love enough to Pitty more to abhorre and in all too much to be express'd 'T is usuall with us to call man a little world and truely the Gentleman may well be compared to that which is more ancient the Old Chaos when the numerous parts of this larger world lay confusedly therein intermixed and jumbled together without Forme or Order Before the Omnipotent Wisedome of the Great God had created any such thing here below as Method or Beuty Such an undigested Masse and heape of Every thing have we here met withall and nothing perfect Onely herein the Similitude fails for supposing such an unformed heap yet had there been nothing therein but what were to be confessed the worke of God's hands and therefore very good But here alas is almost nothing left that God created but every thing so altogether evill that hardly so much of that we call goodnesse appeares as a bare possibility of becoming so §. 1. His Names If there be such a Sin in the abuse of words as some do think there is and if it be true that a great part of this abuse lies in giving names unto things contrary to their Natures never was there a greater error of this kind committed then here for never Honest name was more abused then this of Gentleman Indeed it is to be fear'd that having been so long misapplied it will at last find the like hard measure with those other once more Honest Names of Tyrant and Sophister and from a Title of Honour degenerate into a terme of the greatest disgrace and Infamy It is indeed allready made to be of no better a signification then this to Denote a Person of a Licentious and an unbridled life for though it be as 't is used a word of a very uncertaine and equivocall sound and given at Randome to Persons of farre different nay Contrary both Humours descents and merits yet if we looke upon him that in this sad age comes first in play and carries both the Feather and the Bell as the first Horse in the Team away from all the rest a Gentleman must be thought only such a man as may without Controle doe what he lists and sinne with applause One that esteems it base and ungentile to Feare a God to own a Law or Practice a Religion One who has studied to bring Sin so much into Fashion and with so much unhappy Successe that he is now accounted a Clown that is not proud to be thought a Sinner and he as ridiculous as an Antique who will not without all Scruple proclaime himselfe an Atheist Some of the wisest in the present world have of a long time ashamed I suppose to be known by the same name with such a Monster thought it more fit to call him Sparke or Raunter and indeed the former Name carries so much of the Fire of Hell in the â—ignification the other so much of the noyse of Hell in the sound as may almost suite with the Gentleman's Actions But the proudest vice is ashamed to weare it 's own face long Nor dare I believe the Devill to be much in love with his own Name I am sure neither is willing to be thought such as in truth they are but wickednesse has worne vertue 's mask quite thread-bare and Sathan hath so often appeared like an Angell of Light that 't is now evident he is not enamour'd of his own Forme And thus had the Gentleman too rather deserve then weare the Devill 's Livery though he be willing enough to be the man yet he abhorres the Name Thus he thinks vertue and vice like his Honour and Reputation no more but the creatures of Popular breath and that his eternall Happinesse as his Temporall estate is entailed upon the bare Name alone and by a little alteration of that he may when he pleases translate his Title from Hell to Heaven So fondly Sollicitous he is that I may use his own Language to Trapan his own Soule and by the Lamentable Imposture of a Borrow'd Name cheat her out of a most Glorious Inheritance Hence he endeavours a little more to Civilize the Title and calls himselfe in a more pleasing language Gallant In this he is apt to Phancy charme enough to bring even Heaven it selfe in love with him and make it as the trees did Orpheus to follow him whithersoever he goeth and certainly so it must and with some speed too or he shall never see it seeing he is alway running as fast as he can the quite Contrary way But alas this is all he is like to gain by the pittifull exchange that whereas the ungratefull sound of the former names did so startle the Divell that he was ready to quit his habitation either as jealous of a Rivall in the very words or else afraid of a Discovery
opportunities of becomeing altogether as bad as themselves But the Hopefull Youth must be a Gentleman and in all hast he must be sent to see the Vniversity or Innes of Court and that before he well knowes what it is to goe to School Whither he comes not to get Learning or Religion but for breeding that is to enable himselfe hereafter to talke of the Customes and Fashions of the Place Here he gets him a Tutor and keeps him as he doth all things else for Fashion's sake Such an one who may serve at least as poore Boyes doe in some Princes Courts to sustain the blame of the Young Gentleman's Miscarriages and whom the father may chide and beat when the Son is found in a fault Indeed this care is taken for the good Tutor that if his Schollar chance to returne home as too seldome he does with either Schollarship or Piety he shall then have the Credit or Discredit call it which you will of making the Schollar or spoiling the Gentleman seeing his parents had taken order he should bring neither of the two along with him Here perhaps he is permitted to continue a yeare or two if he have no mother upon whom he must bestow at least three parts of that time in visits else his Father knows not well where he may with more Credit loose so much good time or is it may be afraid it will be a greater trouble to keep him at Home In this time he will in all probability have learn'd how to make choise of his boon Companions how to raile at the Statutes and break all good Orders How to weare a Gaudy Suite and a Torne Gowne To curse his Tutor by the name of Baal's Priest and to sell more books in halfe an Houre then he had bought him in a yeare To forget the second yeare what perhaps for want of acquaintance with the Vices of the place he was forced for a Passe-time to learne in the first and then he thinks he has learning enough for him and his heirs for ever And now that he may be able to maintain his title to so wretched an estate it is time he should be hasten'd away to some Inne of Court there to study the Law as he did the Liberall Arts and Sciences in the Colledg Here his pretence is to study and follow the Law but it 's his Resolution never to know or obey it If in any measure he do apply himselfe to it it is to this one end that he may know how to plead for himselfe when he breaks it or to attain at last to so much more Law then Honesty as to Cozen him that has more Honesty then Law Here indeed he learnes to be in his Notion of the Man somewhat more a Gentleman then before having now the Mock-happinesse of a Licentious life and a Manumission from the Tyranny as he termes it of a School-master and Tutor This he reckons the happy year of his Enfranchisement and in Commemoration whereof his whole life-time is to be one continued day of rejoycing From this time forward he resolves to be a Gentleman indeed and now begins to cleare himselfe from all Suspicion of Goodnesse which Constraint and Feare made some believe there was a Possibility of before §. 5. His Habit and Garbe As his Condition of life seems now to be New so does he endeavour that all should appeare New about him except his vices and his Religion He is too much in love with those to change them and the latter he cannot change because he never had any Pride and Wantonnesse have a very rare and ready invention here 's a New Garbe New Cloathes and a New body too O could he but once get him a New Soule or no Soule he might be thought happy When you look upon his Apparell you will be apt to say he wears his Heaven upon his back and truely 't is too much to be fear'd there you see as much of it as he ever shall He is so trick'd up in Gauderies as if he had resolved to make his Body a Lure for the Divell and with this Bravery would make a bate should tempt the Tempter to fall in love with him He looks as if he had prevented our first Mother in sinning and wanting patience to stay for the fruit had pluck'd the very blossomes and now wore them about him for Ornaments His Suite seems to be made of Lace or Ribbon trimm'd with Cloath By his variety of Fashions he goes nigh to cheat his Creditors who for this reason dare never sweare him to be the same man they formerly had to deale withall His Mercer may very well be afraid to loose him in a Labyrinth of his own cloath which yet sits or hangs shall I say for the most part so loosely about him as if it were ever ready to fly away for feare of the Serjeant Alas how often is he proud of a Feather in his hat which a silly Bird was but a while agoe weary of carrying in her tayle Doe but take him in that condition wherein you may commonly be sure to find him he will make a compleat walking Tavern His head and Feather will serve both for signe and Bush. If you observe but a little his strange Garbe and Behaviour either that wherein he walks the streets or that other more set and affected one reserved for his forme of Complement You would conclude he were going to show Tricks I am sure he wants nothing but a stage erected for the purpose He takes as much care and pains to new-mold his Body at the Dancing-School as if the onely shame he fear'd were the retaining of that Forme which God and Nature gave him Sometimes he walks as if he went in a Frame again as if both head and every member of him turned upon Hinges Every step he takes presents you with a perfect Puppit-play And Rome it selfe could not in an Age have shown you more Antiques then one of our Gentlemen is able to imitate in Halfe an houre whose whole life is indeed no other then one studied imitation of all the vanities Imaginable and by his daily practice a man would guesse there could be no such ready way invented of becoming a Gentleman as to degenerate first into that Beast which now if ever is most like a man an Ape Such an Honourable creature has he made himselfe who accounts it below him to be number'd among the ordinary sort of men §. 6. His Language and Discourse His Language and Discourse are altogether suitable to his Habit and Garbe All affected and Apish but indeed for the most part much more vile sinfull and Abominable When it is most Innocent then is it Idle and Light and then most quaint and Rhetoricall when Drolling or prophane Although he make it his whole businesse whensoever he dares be Bookish which indeed he dreads as much as any thing but to be Good to furnish himselfe with an Elegant and Courtlike expression yet will
justly expect to meet with something truely like the Subject High and Noble He is indeed too sacred a thing to be touch'd by so Common a Pen every slip whereof can be deem'd no lesse then a Prophanatiâ—n of his worth who is the liveliest Image which God has left us of himselfe upon any of his Creatures However seeing where there is so venerable an Excellency as all Encomium's may be thought Folly and Praesumption so can silence be judged no lesse then a Sacriledg seeing we use to offer unto Heaven not so much what we owe as what we may I think it much better becomes me to say that little I can then just nothing and to tell you if not what the Gentleman is yet at least so much of his greatnesse as falls to my share to understand I had much rather be censured for committing such a pious errour then be Condemned for the wilfull omission of so necessary a duty I dare not suspect the Gentleman's Goodnesse to be of a lesse extent then My Ignorance and therefore I doubt not but he can pardon as often as I through weaknesse shall offend Where I erre let him think it was the brightnesse of my subject which dazled my eyes and occasion'd me to stumble Where my expressions fall low and flat I do beg of him that he would impute it to that Reverence which I beare unto his virtues which Commands my Pen to to keep it's Distance I hope you will not blame me for this Apology for I would gladly keep off as long as I can when I cannot draugh nigh without a necessity of Erring Even in this short Praeamble you may be pleased to read something of the Gentleman's Character to wit such a Greatnesse as Commands a Distance and reverence and such a Candor as can pardon a failing and which is indeed the summe of all I have to say such a Man as is truly a Gentleman Which name speaks all that bears a Contrariety to the thing we lately spoke of whose very name is such a Compleat Summary of all Vices that there is but one thing lest to Denominate the true Gentleman I mean as absolute a Combination of all virtues All which I can conferre to his Character will amount to no more then an Imperfect paraphrase upon his Name and as much as I understand of this take as followes §. 2. His Generall Character The True Gentleman is one that is as much more as the false one is lesse then what to most he seems to be One who is allwaies so farre from being an hypocrite that he had rather appeare in the eyes of others just nothing then not be every thing which is indeed truly vertuous and nâ—ble He is a man whom that most Wise King he best resembles has fitted with a Character A man of an Excellent Spirit This is he whose brave and noble Soule sores so high above the Ordinary reach of Mankind that he seems to be a distinct species of himselfe He scornes so much the vices of the world that he will hardly stoop to a vertue which is not Heroick or if he doe it is by his good improvement of it to make it so He is one to whom all honour seems cheap which is not the reward of virtue and he had much rather want a name then not deserve it This Gentleman is indeed a Person truly Great because truly Good His Honour is of too excellent a Nature to be supposed the Creature of any thing besides his own vertues and those vertues too Eminent to be esteemed lesse then the most refined actions of so great a soule He is no lesse the Glory of Mankind then man the Glory of the whole sublunary Creation One that would every way deservedly be accounted more then what is humane were not one part of him Mortall However it is his first care and endeavour to make this mortall part of him such as may make it apparent to the world how Great an Excellency may be the Companion of so much frailty 'Till he may be so happy as to enjoy the Heaven he hopes for he does what he can to be an Heaven to himselfe and by his extraordinary pains so beutifies his soule with all Coelestiall accomplishments that he needs only die to be in Heaven and seems to want nothing of those Glorious Spirits which dwell there but onely to be without a Body and as high as they He looks upon himselfe whilest in this world as no more then a Probationer in the School of Honour and makes it his businesse so to behave himselfe at present that he may be sure of an admission into that true Honour when the Day comes which will be as certaine and Durable as true and Great Well knowing that the onely way to be Lord of Many things is to be faithfull in these few wherewith he is now intrusted His Soul is so truely great and Capacious that nothing but an Heaven and aeternity can fill it So nobly high are all his thoughts that he is ever aiming at a Crown So active and mounting his Holy Ambition that it disdains to pearch longer then a Breathing space upon the most exalted spire of all Sublunary Glories He is so throughly sensible of the Coelestiall Nature of his Soule that did he not think it one great part of his Happinesse to suffer any kind of Misery in Submission to his God he could not think his life lesse then one Continued torment and so long a detention here upon the Earth a meer restraint and Confinement from all Comfort and blisse As for the Blessings of this world he looks upon them as the Child should doe upon his farthings or his Counters small things indulged him for the recreation not the businesse of his soule Yet such a Good Housewife is Vertue he reaps no small advantage to himselfe from these subordinate enjoyments which by their frequent Cousennages perswade him the more to be in love with what 's both more precious and more usefull Knowing that his Mansion is prepared in Heaven he can esteem the world no better then the handsome frontispice to that most Glorious building where he beholds a great many Fine flattering objects and pretty Curiosities both of Art and Nature but all 's no more then an Earnest and kind Invitation to him to Enter in and possesse those unspeakably excellent Mansions which these things so dimly shadowed out unto his eye these well dressed Dainties which he enjoyes here he dares but tast at most to prepare him an Appetite he intends to feast himselfe in Heaven To give you the summe of what I think of him in the Generall He is every way so much more then a man that he is no lesse in all things then himselfe One whose rarest Excellencies are such as would make us believe his breeding had bin amongst the Angels in another world rather then amongst Gentlemen here in this and that he were onely lent us a while an universall
patterne for Mankind to Imitate And to let us see how much of Heaven if we will receive it may dwell upon Earth He is so refined from all Mixture of our Courser Elements as if he were absolutely Spiritualized before his time If ever he were proud of any thing it was of being the Conqueror of that and all other Vices He scornes and is ashamed of nothing but Sin He lives in the world as one that intends to shame the world out of love with it selfe and he is therefore Singular in all his Actions not because he affects to be so but because he cannot meet with Company like himselfe to make him otherwise In a word he is such that could we want him it were pitty but that he were in Heaven and yet I pitty not much his Continuance here because he is already so much an Heaven to himselfe §. 3. His Chiefe Honour and Dignity His first Honour in this world is to be borne the most noble of God's creatures here below His next is to live one of his most Obedient and laborious servants like those above His greatest to Die his beloved Son that so he may reign with him for ever It was the Honour of his Infancy onely to have Noble Parents It is the Honour of his riper yeares that he can Imitate their Vertues and it will be the Crown of his Old-Age to be as good a father as his own Blood and Birth then stood him instead when his tender years had not yet render'd him Capable of vertue and Worth When he comes to Age He Enters upon his Honour not as upon his estate by the will or title of his Ancestors but by the claime of his merits looking upon it not as his lot or Inheritance but as his choise and purchase He has an Especiall care that his Honour and his Person may both live and Grow up but never die together He accounts it much below a person of his Quality to owe all that Respect which is given him when he is a man to his full Coffers or all the Reverence which is paid him when an Old-man to his Gray-haires But he so provides for his Honour that whatever Respect is offered him may be esteemed a Debt and not a Present and that his future Goodnesse may not be thought the Product of the Old but rather an Obligation to New respects Such he Civilly accepts when paid him but seldome challenges when delay'd or withheld so farre I mean as they Concerne his person not his Office For though it be one Honour to deserve yet is it another Contentedly to want them He needs never goe abroad to seek himselfe and therefore he hearkens with more safety to his own Conscience then the people's Acclamations and he had much rather know himselfe Honourable then be told that he is soe His highest Ambition is to be a Favourite in the Court of Heaven and to this end his Policy is to become not a Great but a New Man and to dresse up himselfe in all those Spirituall Ornaments which may make his Soule truly amiable in the eyes of the Great King He considers how that he owes himselfe unto God as he is his Creature and he endeavours to discharge that Old debt by a most earnest and importunate suite for New favours ever praying that God would make him fit to serve him by making him first a New-Creature He Could never yet think the Old-Man fit to make a Courtier of Heaven and therefore he uses to walke in his white-Robe and his Wedding-Garment that so he may be admitted into the King's Praesence He furnisheth himselfe betimes with such Apparell as this and he fits and settles it to his soule before-hand knowing that the longer it is worne the more Splendid it Growes and the more it is used the longer it will last the onely way to wear it out is not to wear it at all but having once attired himselfe in this Habit now Every day is with him an Holy-day and he is henceforward every where at Court But that which he esteems his great Honour indeed is this that he can with Confidence and truly call God his father His Saviour his friend and his brother the Church his Mother and the Angels his fellow servants Such Parents such kinred and such Company he may safely boast of but this he does no other way then by his Obedience and Gratitude He behaves himselfe as a King's son ought to doe that is he does nothing misbecoming his birth and Dignity §. 4. His Out-side and Apparell If we may spare so much time from the Contemplation of those richer Excellencies of his inner man as to take notice of his Outside we may there behold the Ingenious Embleme of his better selfe so much Good care he takes that there be nothing found about him but what may speak him indeed a Gentleman and present you so farre as the Matter will bear it with the faire picture of a Noble Mind He would gladly so polish and adorne his body as becomes the lodging of so great a Soul He looks upon it as a thing onely so farre deserving his care and paines as it is a necessary Instrument of her Operations and yet he rather could wish himselfe might it so be freed from the Cumbersome Company of his Flesh because it proves often so great a Clog and hinderance to the more Active and vigorous inclinations of his better part So long as he is Confined to his Tabernacle of clay he makes the best that can be made of a Necessary Evill so feeding his body that it may have strength enough to serve his Soule and so cloathing it that the other part may be kept from freezing and fit for more sprightly actings Indeed he never makes much of his Earthly part but in subserviency to his Spirituall that so he may the better as he is Commanded Glorify God both with body and Soul which are his Hence is it that you may alwaies observe in his Habit such a Gravity as beseems a Christian and yet such a Decency as becomes a Gentleman He chuses rather to have his distinction from other Men founded in his vertues then in his Cloaths Herein he showes that he looks more after what 's serviceable and usefull then what 's pleasing and Fashionable So much Curiosity he has as not to be Slovenly and so little as it cannot show that he is vaine or wanton He had rather have his Apparell Rich then Gaudy and yet rather warme then Rich. It is neatnesse not bravery a Decent not a Gorgeous attire which next unto what 's usefull he aimes at In every suite he buyes he hath as great a regard to the poore man's necessities as to his own humour and makes choise of that Cloath or Stuffe which may please God hereafter upon the Beggar 's back more then what he knowes may now flatter the wanton eye of the World upon his own He has much better thoughts of
Vertue then to hope his fine Cloaths may gaine him a respect where that could not nay on the other side he knowes that Goodnesse is enough of it selfe to advance the Ragge above the Robe and a Leatherne Cap above the Golden Diademe He Pitties the unskilfull wantonnesse of the world which allwaies as Children and Fools use to doe sets an higher value upon the Varnish and the gilded Frame then on the lively features and excellent Art in the rich Piece they adorne and he calls it a blindnesse at least a weak sight which cannot behold a vertue but as we do a dull picture through the Glistering Glasse of Vanity He esteems his penny in the Poor man's purse a much greater Ornament then a faire Plume in his own Hat Neither knowes he how he may with a Good Conscience weare that which might be made many a poore man's livelihood as too many now love to doe in a Band and a paire of Cuffes He is more pleas'd to see his own Cloaths cover another's Nakednesse then displaying his lusts and thinks it more honourable to weare the Charity then the Bravery If his Place or Office challenge an Habit above his desires by what he is forced to doe he showes what he would chuse to doe and most lively expresses his singular humility in his necessitated Gallantry showing how he can Condescend even to any thing so it be Innocent though by a Conformity contrary to his naturall Inclinations And even herein he takes care to Provide himselfe such Apparell that his cast suite as we call it may not be quite cast away and to this end he chuses rather to swaggar it in Gold then Tinsell in Cloath then Stuffe that so it may be sullied before it be torne and unfit for him to weare before it be worne out and then most becoming the Poverty and mean Condition of another when it shall be below the State and Dignity of his Place and Person It is most certaine and the Gentleman knowes it as well that the Temper and Disposition of the Soule is no way better Discernable then through the Habit and Garbe of the Body He that longs after New fashions will not be backwards in embracing New Religions both proceeding from one and the same dangerous Principle an unconstancy of mind and a Desire of Novelty The True Gentleman knowes it by experience that where there is no levity in the thoughts there appears no alteration in the Body where no inconstancy and Pride of Soule there 's no change or flaunting in the cloaths And therefore that the world may know that he has a fixed and resolved soule he has one Constant Garbe and Attire and he will never yield that to be out of Fashion which is both Serviceable and Frugall Alas the poore Body he knowes Desires nothing but what may preserve it alive and in health It is the lascivious Soule which calls for all those other Superfluities and the Gentleman accounts it below him to gratifie his lusts and to be at so vast an expence to cloath his Humour He could never since he was a child play with a Feather or think himselfe happy in the Glistering of a Lace or Ribband He leaves these toyes to those silly Creatures who are resolved to Continue for ever in their Childhood or Infancy and dare be so foolish as to think a bread band and a slaunting Cuffe as necessary as Heaven He can think himselfe a man without such a vanity and know himselfe a Gentleman without any such Mark or bravery alwaies wearing such Cloaths as his Body may in Old-age have good reason to blesse the moderation of his soule and the Needy may have no lesse cause to pray for the health of of his body §. 5. His Discourse and Language When you heare him speak you will think that he intends no lesse then to give you a tast of his Soul at every word Nor indeed is it possible you should in any thing plainlier Discover the Noblenesse of his Spirit then in his sweet breath so Divinely moulded into most excellent discourse Every word he speaks speaks him and gives you a saire Character at once both of his Abilities and his Breeding If you respect the Quality of his Discourse it is Grave and Noble Serious and Weighty and yet alwaies rather what is fit to be spoken then what he is able to speak His Words are most Proper and Genuine but not affected His Phrase high and lofty but not Bombastick His Sentenses close and full but not obscure or Confused His Discourse is neither Flashy nor Flat neither Boyish nor Effaeminate neither rude nor Pedantick It is alwaies Sober yet Ingenious Virile strong and Masculine yet sweet and Winning He loves a Smooth expression but not a Soft one a Smart or Witty saying but without a Clinch or Iingle His words are those which his Matter will best beare not such as his Phaney would readily est suggest No poor halfe starved Iests no drie Insipid Quibbles can get any room in his Rhetorick hardly a word in all but what hath it's Emphasis nor any sentence without it's full weight If you would eye the Quantity of his Speech it is not Long but Full not Much but Great He speaks not alwaies but when he speaks he saies All. He as often showes how well he can be silent as how well he can speak and others alwaies love more to hear him talke then he himselfe He makes no lesse use of his Eare in all Companies then of his Tongue and by his serious harkening to the more impertinent discourses of his Companions plainly proves he has no lesse Patience then Rhetorick He makes it evident that he has his tongue that unruly Beast in most men's Mouthes as much at his Command as his Wit and that he is able to make both rest as well as both move at his pleasure His sayings are never long or taedious but they alwaies reach Home and he will very seldome take any thing lesse then a Necessity for an Opportunity of speaking But then usually he delivers all with that facility and perspicuity as if his words were not the elect and voluntary but the ready and Naturall emanations of his Soul No Passion shall at any time more Disturbe the Order of his words then it can Cloud the Serenity of his forehead He cannot make himselfe merry much lesse proud with his own Inventions nor does he ever catch at the applause but aimes at the Edification of his Auditers If you will look upon the Matter and Substance of his Discourse you shall see 't is alwaies what he finds not what he makes Not what he supposes may afford the fairest field for his Phancy and Invention to roave in but the Best-Garden of such choise fruits as the Stomacks Not the Palates onely of his Company shall be best able to beare Or such as may prove most Medicinall when seasonably applied to the severall Diseases of those that heare him
a thing most unworthy in a Gentleman to be an Il husband especially where the treasure is God's and he but his Steward yet such a steward as has the use as it were of his Lord's purse for his Incouragement His acquired Intellectuall accomplishments are too numerous and various to be here characterized something must be said of them hereafter in his study though but very little for I chuse rather to insist upon what Denominates him Good and Noble then Great and knowing for though the latter be usefull and excellent yet the former are more praise worthy and Necessary §. 8. His Command over himselfe His Will and Affections he makes the Instruments and servants not the Guides and Mistresses of his Soul He subjugates His Will unto Reason and this to Religion and and by this means it comes to passe that he never misses of having his own free Choice in all things He both Doth and Hath what he will because he never wills but what is according to reason nor thinks any thing Reasonable but what 's honest and Lawfull thus by making God's will his own he is never Crost in his desires Thus he exercises the first and main act of his Authority at home and that he may be more expert in Governing others he first practises upon himselfe and learns to command his Inferiour Soul He will not submit in the least to the Tyranny of a Passion nor hearkens he further to the most tempting Suggestions of his Sensitive part then he sees that subject to the grave and sober dictates of its lawfull Emperesse Right Reason His Affections when prepared and fitted by an unprejudiced Iudgment for his service he delaies not to put into exercise but imployes them as so many wings whereon his soul may be Carried up above the reach of Vulgar men It would be too great an Indulgence in him to suffer his Passions to be their own carvers and chusers of their own objects for these beeing the Naturall Daughters of his untamed sensitive Appetite have too much of their mother in them to be discreet in their choise like wanton and imprudent Girles they would pitch upon the fairest rather then the best and more labour to flatter the Sense then obey the Reason As their Lord and Soveraine therefore he appoints and Reason Cuts them out their work and assignes every one it 's proper taske and by this means at length they become the Beauty ornament and strength which otherwise had naturally been the Blemishes Disorders and Infirmities of the Man He desires in all things to be above the world that 's his Ambition and therefore he sets his Affections on things above and points them out the way to Heaven that 's his prudence The soule without them would be lame and unable to goe and they without it's eye of Reason are blind and know not which way to goe but as the Cripple upon the blind man's back let but the judgment direct them in the right path and then they will carry the soul to Heaven The Gentleman is too much a Man to be without all Passion but he is not so much a Beast as to be governed by it In this Moderation and Empire over himselfe where he gives Law to his Affections and limits the extravagances of Appetite and the insatiable cravings of sensuallity the just rule he goes by is not Opinion but knowledg not that leaden one which is so easily bent and made Crooked or melted and dissolved by the heat of Passion or the arts of Sophistry into error and Skepticisme but that other Golden one which lies as close and firme as 't is made straight and even When he would imprint the true lovelinesse of any Object upon his affections he takes it into a true light and has a care to remove from before his eye all those Cunningly wrought Glasses or other instruments of Sathan and Lust set so frequently to prejudice and deceive the sight whatsoever might cause him to mistake a false object for a true or to see a true one amisse so endeavours he to be as free from error as from vice esteeming it as a sin to act against his knowledg so a shame at least to be deceived in his Opinion He judges of things as he does of men not by what they promise but by what they prove and so he trusts and Loves and feares them not for what in appearance they seem to be but for what in the use and triall of them he finds that in truth they are He accounts not an Oxe therefore more terrible then a Lion because he is greater nor a Pebble more desirable then a Pearl because 't is heavier But he first collects the Excellency of every thing from it's usefulnesse and tendency unto that end he aimes at in the pursuit after or use of it and then he proportions his affections according to that degree of Excellency he has thus rationally concluded to be in it After this manner does he in the first place Lord it over his Passion 'till in a long obedience she have served out her apprenticeship to his Reason then is she deservedly enfranchised into a vertue and so becomes at length her Lord's Mistresse and 't is she will get him a reward for his service in Heaven §. 9. His Magnanimity and Humility There is a Brave Heroick Vertue which is as a second soul unto the true Gentleman and Enspirits every part of him with an admirable Gallantry I mean Christian Magnanimity and Greatnesse of Soul This presently heaves him up to that size that the wide world seems too strait and narrow to contain him or afford room enough for him to expresse the activity of his Spirit This is it which teaches him to laugh at small things and disdain to goe lesse then his Name Being carried up on high upon the wings of this Vertue he casts down his eye upon those little Happinesses which seem enough to satisfie the Narrow Souls of other men with no little Contempt and Scorne but on those poor starvelings themselves whose Earthly Appetites can make such trash their Diet with as much Pitty and Compassion It is this Vertue which so ennobles all his actions that they beare a just proportion to the largenesse of his thoughts and permits him to engage in nothing which is not truly Honourable And it is this same Vertue which makes his own Bosome his Treasury and that so rich and selfe sufficient that all the externall felicities this world has or can cast in to the Bargain are look'd upon by him with as slender a reguard as the Widowes Mite would have been by the great Lord of the Temple without a large Augmentation from her Piety and Devotion It is this Virtue which makes him a Calme in his own brest when the whole world besides rages like a troubled Sea round about him Let the storme and tempest threaten never so loudly a splitting and a wrack to other unballanced souls he
knowes not how to fear whilest his Courage is his Anchor and Innocence his safe Harbour This is it which makes him conclude their Labour very ill spent who for the cherishing of a Childdish humour use to sweat and Consume their strength and Spirits in pursuit of a Fethâ—r or strain their backs to take up every straw that Glisters in their way It ought to be a much Nobler Game then such a silly fly that this Eagle vouchsafes to Stoop to But as this brave Virtue thus teacheth the Gentleman to he enough to himselfe and rest Content and Satisfied with what he hath at home so does it likewise teach him to be too much for himselfe and Commands him not to vindicate all of himselfe wholy to his own use and service It were pitty so great a Goodnesse should be thus Confined within one subject as not to be able to Distribute something of it selfe to every one of it's neighbours Nay this Christian Magnanimity doth so stretch out his Soul that even that too seems to be Communicated unto others besides himselfe It is a kind of violence and restraint to her to be pinned up within the narrow Province of one Individuall Body and therefore she studies how she may enlarge if nother Empire yet her Charity and make a number by being the Objects of her bounty the witnesses of her Greatnesse Indeed so Diffusive and spreading is Vertue when she growes in so rich a soyle that of a little she soon becomes great and of One a Multitude This grain of Mustardseed growes up so fast and so great that many may reap the benefit of it's grouth by partaking of it's branches And such a Cloud as at first might appear but of an hand breadth will suddenly make a Nation happy in that refreshing dew which by it's plenty will argue a strange increase after so small an appearance Indeed the Gentleman acts as if he intended that his soul should in a short time animate the Vniverse and make it more then ever the poor Philosopher could dream of One great Gentleman and the severall Individuals therein but the numerous members of his own body Though the indocile and untractable spirits of the Common sort of men be such as force him against his will to be singular yet to show us how unwilling he is to remain so his vertues are too charitable to be long alone and hence are all his Breathings such as might well be thought intended by him to inspire his Company with something like himselfe and all his Actions so many earnest Essayes towards the assimilating of their Natures unto his own He is Master of so inexhaustible and Miraculous a treasury of Goodnesse that he may very well afford every man a little and yet keep all unto himselfe He knowes not how to be good and not to doe good and therefore one halfe of his study is to give himselfe away Neither his brest nor his purse are ever shut to such as need him and God knowes more need him then will make use of him The Gentleman may well be Compared unto a Great Book which alwaies lies wide open to the world that whosoever wants advice or Counsell may freely Consult him at pleasure there they may read what himselfe as opportunity served him has taken great pains to Coppy out faire in all his Actions whatever is both safe great and Good thus in one and at once they may behold both the rules of a Good life Praecept and Example Nor doth this virtue more manifest it selfe in a liberall distribution and Instruction then in as free and Impartiall a Correction and reproofe whensoever it is requisite chusing much rather to crosse the humour of his friend then flatter his vice and to lose his friendship here then his Company if it may be possible for him to have it in Heaven another day He is not afraid to call every Man by his own name or adde the Epithete which is due unto it that so every one that comes into his presence may be afraid to bring a bad name along with him He can envy no man because he cannot see any one better then himselfe neither yet can he despise any man because he really desires every one might be as good as himselfe So that what 's most of all Commendable this most excellent vertue is accompanied with a most exemplary humility and there is nothing can more deservedly exalt him in the thoughts of all men then this that he is such a Diminutive in his own Nor does this proceed from an Ignorance of his own excellencies but rather hence that he knowes whence he had them Neither does he therefore praeferre every man in Honour before himselfe because he knowes not what other men are but because he knowes not what they may be He is really so high that he may with ease reach Heaven but he makes himselfe so low that he may go in at the strait gate When he looks upon his own vertues which he had rather show then see and have then show he will not think them great because he intends to make them yet much Greater neither can he tell how to applaud himselfe when he sees them great because he knowes well how little he either made or deserved them It is this vertue that makes him much more desire the friendship of a vertuous Beggar then the favour of a vicious and licentious Prince because this he must assuredly lose seeing he knowes not how in a Compliance to his humour to become wicked but that shall never end but last as long as his Heaven He chuses his Companions not by the outward habit of their Body but that internall of the Soul and sets an higher value on them for their Merits then their Births He is so little proud of what he is that he is indeed very humble for what he is not He will never be persuaded as most of those we call Gallants doe to pride himselfe in his Vanity Beast of his folly and Glory in his Prophanenesse §. 10. His Charity and Temperance The Gentleman's Charity is no other then his Soul draw'n out to his finger's ends Every piece of money he hath beares as well the Impression and Image of this Vertue as that of his Prince and this is it which makes him value the Coyne more and the Silver lâ—sse He is indeed that true Briaraeus which has as many hands as he meets with receivers and for this cause he is look'd upon as a Monster in these later dayes and very rarely to be met with The course he takes to ayre his Bags and keep them from moulding is to distribute freely to all that are in need If he take some pains to become richer then others it is onely to put a cheat upon that which men miscall Fortune and to manifest he hath a power as great as her's that is to make himselfe poor again at his pleasure and to show that Charity can entertain as rich
servants as she Though God hath indulged him the priviledge and inheritance of an Elder brother in the world yet he wisely Considers that the youngest of all may in equity challenge a Child's portion He esteemes it a very high Honour that God has vouchsafed to make him one of the Stewards in His great Family and he is nothing ambitious of his Epithete to his Name or reward of his pains who is recorded in the Gospell for his Injustice When by giving to the poor he lends to the Lord the Honour of being the Lord's Creditor is all the Interest he expects and doubtlesse this Happinesse is not every man's to have God his Debtor He accounts it much the safer way to trust his Charity then his Luxury with the Bag the former will bring in an even reckoning in Heaven the latter perhaps a jolly one in the Taverne but a very sad one in Hell He delights not to see any thing starve but his Lusts he lets these crave without an Answer and die without Compassion I would to God there were many in the world such as he we should then see fewer Beggars and more Gentlemen Men's backs and Bellies would not then so frequently rob and undoe their souls Now adayes the Gentleman's cloaths wind about his Body and his Body about his Soul with no greater kindnesse then the twining Ivy about the Oake the Apparell sucks away the nourishment which is due to the Body and this that other which we owe to the Soule Where he is not able to make his Estate adaequate to his deserts he takes a better Course and Levels his desires to his fortune though he seldome have all that he deserves yet he alwaies has whatsoever he Covets He never wants much of that which is needfull because he enjoyes all that he is in love with He makes his life and health not his Estate or ambition the standard his Reason and not his Humour the judge of his Necessities Such is his Temperance and Sobriety in the use of those Creatures of which by God's blessing he is made owner that he sacrifices very much to his God in the reliefe of the Indigent nothing to sin in satisfying the importunate cravings of his Carnall lusts Above all he is ashamed when Fortune hath used him very hardly and spoil'd him of many opportunities of exerciseing his Bounty and his Charitie to permit his lusts to use him yet worse and leave him nothing at all He scornes first to swaggar and swill away his estate and then Curse his fortune for useing him so roughly first to make himselfe a Beggar and then cry out upon his poor Condition or to Complain he is as poor as Iob when every day he fares as Deliciously as Dives When he has the least he showes that he is able to live with lesse and when he is brought into a low Condition he tries how he could bear up in a lower and proves by his cheerfulnesse in that some would call want and Misery that Happinesse does not Consist in superfluities He is Content with any thing and by this means enjoyes all things and is so Charitable of a little that it is evident in that little he wants not much He chuses rather to be well in the Morning then drunk over night and at any time had rather be free from the Sin then please his Companions with the Frollick His Money is too little to love but too much to throw away and he had much rather give it then lose it preferring his charity before his Game and the poor man's life before his own Wantonnesse and Riot Though he had never so much he could never have more then enough because he sees so many that want what he has and pitties all he sees in want He looks upon his estate as that which was given him for use and not for wast and upon so much of it as he loses at play as that whereby he has rob'd himselfe of a vertue and another of a Comfortable livelihood and he cannot sport himselfe with such losses §. 11. His Valour and Prudence Having spoken allready of the Gentleman's Magnanimity I shall need to adde very little of his Valour which he exercises more in Obeying his God then Opposing his Brethren His highest piece of Fortitude is that whereby he Conquers himselfe and his sin and in this he is alway practising He knowes that by thus becoming his own Captive he shall not want the usage of a Gentleman and thus being made his own Lord too he is sure to be free from all the world besides He looks upon it as the basest degree of Cowardice to yield unto those feeble Passions which did not both Reason and Religion step into their Succour would certainly become the prey of every light and Empty toy His Christian Fortitude is such that he fears not to Encounter the Great Goliah of Hell or an whole Army of such Philistins as have set themselves in array against his Happinesse all at once not though they be such as by their Cunning have allready got within him He never gives over Resisting the Divell till he have put him to flight He hath that greatest Courage which is so rarely found in others who would be call'd Gentlemen he dares be Religious in spite of the World He sets himselfe without betraying the least timidity against that great Bugbeare which so scares most men not onely out of their wits but out of all good actions Shame or Derision These are they which as the Elephants in King Pyrrhus his Army terrified the Romans with their prodigious Bulk do so affright the greatest part of our Gentry that they never leave flying till they tumble into the Bottomlesse Pit together The True Gentleman like the stout Minucius has by experience proved these Monsters to be of more Bulke then Mettall and to want nothing but an Adversary to bring them into Subjection The true Gentleman has so much true valour as not to fear the brand of a Coward where his Courage would be his sin and his Conquest his ruine He is ever the fugitive in such a chase and dare boast of nothing but being routed 'T is then alone he feares not Death when he is sure there is no Hell will follow it His life is more dear to him then that he should be Content to part with it for any thing lesse then Heaven He has an Honour and that 's his Religion a Mistresse too to vindicate and defend from all injuries and affronts and that 's his own Soul For the sakes of these two he is engaged in many a Duell with those Heresies and those Sins which would stain and Corrupt the one or steal away and deflower the other He thinks that Honour too dear which must be bought with a Murther and a Name which is never to be worne but by his Monument none of the cheapest when purchased with his life He has much Honester thoughts of his Mistresse then to
think her such a Proserpine that either he or his Rivall must be sent to Hell before either can enjoy her There is indeed a Beauty for which the Gentleman thinks it no losse to die but such an one as is often black though alwaies lovely I mean his own Mother and his Saviour's spouse the Church of God and there is an Honour which he holds cheap enough when bought with the high price both of Life and Livelihood though if he might have his choise he had rather preserve both to maintain it then lose either to purchase it Loyalty to his Prince and Fidelity to his Country For these he does not fear to Embrace a Stake to make the Scaffold his Bed and a Block his Pillow seeing he is assured that whosoever thus lies down to rest at night shall without faile rise again to Glory in the Morning He holds it much more desireable to live a Beggar then to die a Traytor And that his Honour and Conscience should expose him to Tyranny and Violence then his Treachery or Hipocrisy buy out his temporall security He thinks it no great matter to trust that God with his Person and his Family who hath trusted him with his spouse and his Children Hence is the Gentleman's Prudence the Legitimate Daughter of Loyalty and Conscience not the Bastard of Covetousnesse and Cowardice 't is mixt of Discretion and Wisedome not Craft and Knavery He was never yet so blindly zealous as to worship a Golden Calfe for a God that so he might keep his Chest from being broken open Nor was he ever so absolute a Statesman as to call Rebellion Reformation for fear of Poverty or an Halter His naturall affection to wife and children is such that he would enjoy them for ever in happinesse and therefore his â—are is so to part with them now that he may meet them again in Heaven not in Hell hereafter His whole Policy is to avoid an aeternall though by incurring a temporall misery Such a Politician onely he thinks fit for Heaven that hath prudently managed his Lord's affaires upon Earth he cannot call him either a prudent or a faithfull Ambassador who prosecutes his own designe with more earnestnesse then his Master 's or acts more vigorously for the advancement of his own particular Interest then the Publick Good or his Prince's Honour It is his Prudence to secure what 's best by the losse of what 's Indifferent whensoever he is necessitated to part with one of the two and he chuses rather freely to part with that which he is only sure once to lose and by that lâ—sse become eternally happy then to throw away that which in spight of violence he might for ever have kept and can never part with without his utter ruine If tares must spring up amongst the good Corne in that field wherein God has intended him a labourer he had rather show by his activenesse that they were not sowne whilest he slept then by a covetous lazinesse give the Enemy an opportunity of Compassing his designes or occasion the disheartening of his brethren by withdrawing his shoulder and leaving them alone to beare the burthen in the heat of the Day He can think it a greater prudence with the Disciples of his Lord to leave his Father and his Net to follow a Saviour through Persecution into Heaven then with the Carking Fool to lie modelling out a Barne which may contain his wealth and in the mean time suffer his Soul to be stolne out of his Body by the sedulous craft of the seducer §. 12. His Behaviour in both Fortunes If Fortune smile upon him and be indeed such as he dare call her Good he makes it his businesse to be altogether as good as she and will be sure as well to deserve as to wear her Livery His care is that her good usage of him may be rather deem'd the just reward of his own Moderation and Good-Husbandry then the unmerited Bounty of so blind a Mistresse He makes his Prosperity a motive to his Piety not as others the opportunity of displaying his Vanity He proves by his example that he most happily enjoyes the World that Glories lest in the enjoyment of it He looks upon his present flourishing Condition rather as that which is not without ingratitude to be refused then with egernesse to be desired and upon what he now possesses as that which he knowes not how soone he may lose and therefore he makes himselfe now so carelesse an owner that if the wind chance to turne â—e may prove a cheerfull and Contented loser He dares not Phancy himselfe one jot the neerer Heaven for being thus mounted on the Deceitfull wings of Fortune lest when the contrary wind of adversity dismounts him and his unexpected fall awakes him from his pleasant dreame he should find himselfe to be really as low as he was before but seemingly high If Fortune be content to lodge with him as his ghest she is welcome But he cannot be so dotingly enamour'd of her as to entertain her either as his wife or his Harlot lest either an untimely divorce should break his heart or she should bring a Bastard for a Son and so at length shame and disgrace him He can neither so farre flatter her as to call her Goddesse which he knowes of her selfe to be no more but a name nor so farre Honour her as to aske her blessing because he knowes that whatsoever Goodnesse men are apt to ascribe unto her is but one of the meanest blessings of a Greater then she Laugh she never so heartily her pleasantnesse shall never overjoy him seeing for ought he knowes she either does or may ere long laugh at him and if she Frown he can frown as fast as she and that for her kindnesse He never relies upon her because he knowes she is naturally so unconstant nor can he see any reason why he should be proud of beeing her favourite because he may every where behold many of the most undeserving altogether as much in her Favour as himselfe To speak the whole the true Gentleman hath so slight an esteem of Fortune that he cannot vouchsafe her the Honour of a Beeing but leaves that to those poor Heathens who were indeed as blind as they supposed her to be Whatsoever blessings he enjoyes he received them as indeed they are as the bounties of an indulgent father with thanks and love and he useth them to that end for which he supposes so Good and Prudent a father would bestow them on a Beloved Son so that he may make them as much Instruments of his own Good as they are testimonies of his father's affection He looks upon his Prosperity not so much as a reward for doing well as an encouragement to do more and an opportunity of doing better Much lesse can he think his flourishing condition as many seem to doe a piece of Heaven's flattering Courtship where no more is intended then the affording him an opportunity of
to be an absurd then stretch their lungs to cry out upon it and swear it to be a rash and uncharitable Censure Indeed if on the oneside in a feigned show of Religion to exclaim against Drunkennesse and Swearing and other such like lowd and Open Prophanenesses will suffice to Denominate the Saint Or if on the other side to Cry out upon Hipocricy and Injustice Rebellion and Sacriledg Lying and Perjury may be thought sufficient to constitute a true Son of the Church of England then have we all enough to say for our selves and to prove that most of our Gentlemen are indeed Christians But alas it is too manifest that on the one hand all this Canting and superficiall sanctity all these strained sighs and Greanes and turn'd-up Eyes are no better then Sathan's Sunday's Garbe or the painted Maskes and vizards which Avarice Ambition and Interest love to be seen in abroad These are the Enriching Crafts whereby our Demetriuses get their wealth Many who have passed for Saints along time experience has shown it us have been just such as he who had rather make Silver shrines for Diana so they may be sure to be well paid for their work then build Temples for the Worship of a Crucified Iesus in hopes of an Heaven and meet with his Crosse for their pains And on the other hand all those raveings which we dayly hear against Oppression Hipocricy and Tyranny I am afraid they are not so often the seasonable overflowings of a Devout Spirit a sincere soul and a Loyall heart as the wild outrages of a boyling Passion of a Confined vice and a restrained lust which makes the sufferer like a Mad man to gnaw upon his chains and fetters or else they are the violent motions of a revengfull Soul which frets it selfe at the prosperity of the wicked and had rather see it's enemies miserable then it selfe sober and good This is in truth that which many have thought enough to give either party the title of religious but how they make good their claim to this title in their Actions it is but too visible Certainly if the Gentleman's life and ordinary Conversation may be thought as it ought to be the best index to point us out to his opinion we shall have much a doe to meet in most of those that own that name with a Good Opinion either of God or Religion Most of them I am sure the younger sort do grudg either of these the least place in their discourse and therefore it is to be fear'd as little in their thoughts They would as soon nay much sooner make choise of a Tinker or a Fidler then of a Religious man for their Companion Alas such an one would spoyl all their Mirth and make their very lives by plunging them into a Malancholy Mood meer torments to them Any thing that 's grave and serious they perfectly loath and utterly reject as that which cannot at present suit with their more sprightly and flourishing yeares Age and scarcity of their Iuvenile blood will hereafter they think make this a businesse of Course and so they had rather have it then make it now a matter of choise what need they be Religious now who shall as they think whether they will or no be so before they die If we should but a while take notice how many Riots the Gentlemen of our times dayly commit all those wanton Frolicks and Revellings they are not onely guilty of but Glory in especially when they are at the Taverne or some other Good house of expence and Merriment we should be readier to lose our selves in Admiration of their Madnesse then to find out any thing of reall Honour and Nobility in them To behold them there Contending for the Victory over a pot and taking the measure of their Gallantry by the strength of their Brains or Capacity of their Bellies to hear them there drawing up with so much complacency an Inventory and Catalogue of all their sinfull extravagances and in a double proportion intermixing their prophanenesses with their wine whilest they drink wine with a song and prove themselves mighty to drink strong drink To hear them roaring themselves out of breath never taking leave of their wine but of their senses too nor forbearing their Oaths 'till they be able to speak no more would you believe these men could ever be so sober as to mention the names of Christian or Gentleman And yet 't is most certain as well as sad that you can never be more sure to meet with our Gentry in any place then at these Academies of sin and Nurseries of uncleannesse there exercising their abilities and making themselves expert in all those arts whereby they may most gratifie Sathan and as it were in so many open Bravadoes challenge the Almighly into the field and dare him to doe the worst he can But alas we need not seek so great an advantage over them as to take them there where they have so often lost themselves and it heartily grieves me as certainly it must do every Charitable Christian to see them so desperately madded with the fear of being accounted Holy and so ravenously greedy of eternall destruction as thus to swallow it down by whole Bowles and make their Companions Merry at the working out of their own Damnation Doubtlesse Sathan hath but two much Power over these men when they are most Sober they need not give him the advantage of finding them so often drunk Except in a Gallantry they desire to show the world how boldly they dare desie Heaven and how much they Scorne to owe their ruine to any but themselves At such good places as these is it that our Gentlemen make all their Bargains entertain all their friends treat all their Ladies here they Consult about the weightiest affaires of the Commonwealth Seal and Confirme all their agreements in the very hight of their Intemperance as if they were afraid they should know or remember hereafter what then they did or as if they were Confident then to be in a Capacity of doing all things best when they were lest of all themselves There can be no meeting at least no parting without a Cup as if there could be no surer pledg of friendship or tie of a Civill Correspondence and Familiarity then by being thus Drunk together or at left next dore to it And now all this Madnesse must be thought no worse then the Demonstration of that Civillity and Courtesy which they owe one another a necessary kindnesse or an handsome treatment And who so refuses either to goe along with them or to doe as they do when he is there he is no better then an uncivill fellow and no Companion for Gentlemen what a disgrace is it held for a man to leave a drop in the bottome of his Cup What an affront is it to the Company not to pledge every man his wholeone And not to admit every Health it is no lesse then the greatest disrespect
and how much he is in favour with our Great Folks He that can expresse himsele modishly in a Complement that can speak much and dance well and hand his Lady with the greatest grace along the streets these are the brave Gentlemen that are every where cry'd up as they go for Gallant and well accomplish'd persons Or if you would goe higher yet then he must be the man that has laden his Memory with a few broaken Ends and Chippings of History or can tell you strange stories of the fashions and Customes of other Nations and tell you where he has been and what rarities he has seen and at once perhaps both discommend and practice their vices Or if he be yet a more through Schollar and generally acquainted both with books and men so farre as to applaud and Censure and talk Skeptically If he be an exquisite Mathematician or Musician or the like We think we have reason enough to suppose him company for the best and certainly he were so would he but labour to be one of them when he is amongst them But alas what 's become of his God and his Religion allâ— this while If you can find a little of either in his Discourse 't is much though there be just nothing of them in his life All those other accomplishments were truly commendable were they thus accompanied but not being so alas they are stark naught Let us passe on to those who are thought by many the most Sober and serious persons of all others and even amongst these I fear we shall find too many on whom we can onely bestow this poor Commendation that they are more Gravâ—ly wicked more Cautiously sinfull and more Soberly Atheisticall Such are the men who as I have told you before flatter themselves up in a kind of Negative Iustice and thereby with those whose persons and estates they have not actively violated or diminished are esteem'd persons of much worth and Honour and yet these are no better then the tamer sort of Sathans servants whom by a long usage he has made somewhat lesse wanton and brought up to his hand and has taught them to Cozen and Dissemble almost as well as himselfe I need not tell any affectionate Son of the Distressed Church of England how good friends and servants these Good Honest Civill Sober and prudent men have all along been to his poor Mother How many of them have quietly stood by and look'd on if with no delight yet I am sure with a great deal of unworthy patience and base Câ—nnivance whilest she has been mercilesly torne in pieces by the cruel teeth of those raveneus beasts which pretendâ—d to watch and defend her and yet not so much as an Arrow shot out of any other Quiver then their mouths in a Chimney-Corner against any of them Whilest the Younger Gentlemen want true Prudence and the old have too much of that they miscall so they all prove very bad Souldiers for such as pretend to fight under Christ's Banner and on the behalfe of his Church which truly now if ever may be call'd truly Militant and that too for want of Good Souldiers If our English Gentlemen be made to stay for and expect their Honours till they shall be knighted in the field for that Good service which they have done the Church of which they would be thought Members It will I fear be a sad and unwelcome sword must Dub them It is too plainly apparent that very few of them have so much reall Honour as may make them sensible how they lose it For if they had could you Imagine it Possible that so many Horrid Murthers and rapines so many incredible Treasons and Blasphemies such as their Posterity will not find faith enough to believe should be thus openly acted and frequently vented even in their faces and not a man so much as move his hand to revenge what 's past or prevent what 's to come Nay how often have the greatest part of them by a base Compliance with those men who have allwaies struck at the very root of that Religion which they so solemnly some of them more then once swore to defend given themselves not onely the lie but tâ—e perjury Alas their Hoâ—ours are so jaded by drawing after them the Dung-Carts of their estates that they now brook any rider whatsoever Had but one â—enth part of all those vast summes of Money and those many excellent parts which these sâ—pposed Good-husbands have prodigally lavih'd out in the Taverne or at their Game beâ—n put to that good use it might have been The Church might have received her own with usury England might yet have had the face of England and they deserved the Name of Gentlemen §. 3. An Appeal to the Gentleman 's own Conscience For Confirmation of all this that hath been said I shall dare to make my appeal to the Gentleman's Conscience though I dare not think it to be one of the Best or most impartiall in this case I heartily wish he could in earnest and in truth tell me that whosoever saith England has now but few true Gentlemen is guilty of a Scandall I confesse I could almost willingly be guilty of the Sin upon condition his Innocence would once prove me a liar If he can think it possible to be a truâ— Gentleman without any sense of true honour or Religion or if he dares call him Religious and think him desirous of Heaven whâ— though his whole life be little enough 〈◊〉 prepare for it yet grudges to spend oâ—e Minute of his time to gain it If he haâ—e the Charity to account him pious wâ—o suffers his Soul to Starve for want of Sprituall food and yet can feast and pamper up his lusts every houre if he can have a true sense of Honour who can Phancy himselfe Happy in Sathan's service and is oftener upon his knees to him then to his God who makes his Soul the very drudg of his Body and his carnall appetite the Mistresse of hâ—s life and every one of his members the slâ—â—e of some lust or other If that man can rationally be thought to set a just estimate upon an Honest Reputation who had rather lie dabling in the Dirt and Wallowing in the Mirc of Sin then walk in the pleasaâ—t paths of Holinesse the high-way to Heaven If it be a mark of Religion to drein out a vast estate by a vain ambition placed in Fine Clâ—aths delicious meats rich wines wasting Games and other such like expensive sins as are now the mode and all this while not one mite cast into God's exhausted treasury not a Rag designed to cover the poor man's nakednâ—sse If to behold God's own peculiar servants and Ambassadors lie starving in the streets for want of some few morsells or Crumbs of that bread which they grudg not by whole loaves to throw to their Dogs If to see God's House all on fire occasion'd by the outrages of their own flaming passions and God's children frying in
the midst of the flame and yet not so much as move a foot to fetch a little water to quench the one or stretch out an arme to save the other if any man can judg these things to be the tokens of Religion or Honour If to sit still all the day Idle and laugh at those who are working in the Vineyard if to come into a Church with a long train of gaudy attendants and to shine a while there in a little garish pomp if to sit in the highest pue and to make this the chiefe part of their Devotion without so much as the Pharisee's Lord I thank thee that they are better then other men if to justle a poor neighbour out of their presence with a stand off for I am more Honourable then thou if to scoffe at all those who make any show of Piety or to deride all those who think it necessary to have more then a show be the infallible characters whereby we may know a Gentleman then indeed I must of necessity confesse we have yet more then enow such Gentlemen in this poor England I had rather mourn in secret and in sadnesse of Spirit siâ—h out the rest unto my God then proceed at present any further in so unpleasant a theâ—e O that the spilt blood of Christ's poor languishing spouse cry not too loud in Heaven at the last day not onely against those bloody souls who have most barbarously thrust their spears into her side and with inhumane hands torne out her very Bowels but even against all those too who could have a Calme upon their Spirits whilest the tempest continued in the Church and could hold it prudence to sit still and not come forth to the help of God's spouse and his anointed one against the Mighty and therefore onely because they appeared Mighty My prayers are that an Early and an Active repentance may seasonably prevent their threatned ruine and a timely understanding of their own names may make them before it be too late truly sensible of their duties and in earnest endeavour to regain that Honour which they have been too remisse hitherto in preserving spotlesse This is my great Charity to the Gentleman's soule and the highest respect I can conceive any man owes to his person is to wish that part of him best which he seems to reguard least I would to God he could once though late have so great a Charity and respect for himselfe that so he might not one day be found with weeping and wailing and Gnashing of teeth crying out upon himselfe with no lesse reason then despair and Horrour even as that once-glorious Church to the untimely ruine whereof his sins have in so large a measure Contributed cries out upon him now with sorrow and amazement Had he not shown himselfe all along so stupidly senselesse of and Bruitishly unconcern'd in the afflictions of Ioseph I might have had the Charity to think him capable of Councell and advice and to wish him one better able then my selfe to serve him herein However give me leave to mention one or two of those Considerations before I conclude this letter which doubtlesse if he have not quite forgot himselfe must needs sink deep into his thoughts and provoke him if any thing can do it now he is at such a distance to returne to himselfe §. 4. Motives to the Gentleman to be indeed Religious and first of Common Civility To perswade the Gentleman to be good a man would think were no hard taske seeing he takes it so ill out that any man should suspect him to be otherwise and yet notwithstanding it may well be thought a very difficult and bold undertaking when it shall be consider'd how much he is in love with his present selfe for as selfe-love is blind whensoever it should look upon it's own faults so is it altogether as deaf when it should hearken to instruction Yet because the Difficulty lies not so much in making him understand what he should be as in making him see how much he is at present what he ought not to be for that he ought to be good and Religious I know he will readily grant but that he is not so allready we shall have much adoe to persuade him to believe Seeing one halfe of our work is already done to our hand in his own Conscience we may have the greater encouragement to proceed in the other yet behind I am Confident that by reading what goes before he cannot chuse but behold himselfe in his own shape at least in one so like it that the very sight must of necessity begeâ— in him an hatred of the old object and a love to the New and therefore at present I shall confidently suppose that I have no more to doe but this to let him see in some measure how rationall a thing it is for him to be what he himselfe so well knowes he should bee I intend not here to trouble you or him with any large Encomium of Vertue or Religion which would swell up this Discourse much above the just proportion of a Letter neither is it my purpose to call in all those Auxiliaries I might from severall Common-places be supplied withall to compleat my conquest over the Gentleman's Affections I shall only mention one or two of those motives which I hope may be I am sure in another would infallnbly be prevalent and Effectuall The first and slightest which I shall here most humbly offer to his serious Consideration is an argument which he too often makes use of to a worse purpose and thereby suffers his sensuall to gain the victory over his Spirituall selfe And this is taken from that Topick of Common Civility which naturally obliges him to make suitable returnes to those many reall kindnesses and respects which the best of his friends have ever had for him I shall beseech him to remember how whensoever he is by the swing of his own dominering lusts no lesse then by the attractive vices of his acquaintance drawn to a Taverne or carried on to any other excesse or riot it is to this one pretence be confidently betakes himselfe for Sanctuary that he was meerly drawn in by the Civility of others and that he was not able to resist the Importunity of his friends that Common Courtesy did strongly oblige him not to show himselfe reguardlesse of his acquaintance by forsaking their Company who had expressed themselves so desirous and had taken so much pains to enjoy his I wish he would but call to mind what weight this argument hath when pressed upon him by his lewdest companions and assisted by his own forward Inclinations to that which is evill and how infinitely more force then it ought to have when made use of by such as really desire his happinesse and applied to that which in it selfe is so deservedly Commendable Would the Gentleman but open his ears how many reall friends might he hear and those such whose Courteous Invitations he cannot
either with Civility or Gratitude refuse every where with no small importunity wooing him into Heaven and to walk along with them in those paths which will lead him thereunto I might here tell him how heartily God himselfe calls and Invites him and daily sends abroad his Messengers early and late to beg and intreat him to accept of his Invitation how he has prepared his Oxen and his Fatlings and made ready his Supper how he bids him to a Feast of Fat things and to drink wine and milk without Money and without price How he stands with his armes of mercy spread wide open to receive embrace and kisse his returning Prodigalls with a new Robe and a Ring nay with a Crown and a Kingdome to welcome them Can it now be judged Civility to refuse and slight the Invitation of so Bountifull and Indulgent a father I might tell him how the Angels in Heaven even long for his Company and will be overjoy'd to see him and to hear him exercising that voice so long abused in warbling out his lascivious Love-songs or roaring it in his wild Catches by bearing a part in their Holy Quire in perpetuall Halelujahs to the King of Heaven And can he think it Civility to make void the Hopes and prevent the joyes of such Heavenly Company I might further mind him how the poor Church of England his mother longs to receive him again with joy into her Bosome and to kisse him with the kisses of her Love and to uncover to him her breasts of Consolation whence he needs not draw the Wind of False Doctrine nor fear to tast the blood of Tyrany and Oppression but may suck in that sincere milk which is his souls only true nourishment She whose tender care and wholsome instructions like an unwise child he hath so long despised longs yet once again to rejoyce in his Love and would be proud of so Glorious a Son which might not onely cherish and defend but grace aud Credit his mother And can he call it lesse then an Incivility to envy Her this Honour which wisheth him that happinesse can he chuse rather to augment her Sorrowes and provoke her teares and bite her breasts and suck out her blood then cherish her and be nourish'd by her All the Good men in the World all the most Honourable of God's servants his speciall Ambassadours doe with all the power of their Rhetorick and moveingnesse of Passion cry aloud calling upon him and beseeching him to come home and live happily in his Father's house these who have had the high charity for him to take the care and charge of him and night and day to watch for his soule and must be accountable for it at the Great and Dreadfull Audite Upon Him they look with a more vigilant and tender eye as upon the very Best and fairest of the flock whose straying would be not onely the losse of one and him the fattest and chiefe of all the rest but such an one as by his influence upon the others may probably occasion the loosing of many more These perswade and intreat him and that for Christ's sake for his who loved him so well that he did not grudg to purchase him with the best treasure in Heaven his own most precious blood And now how can the Gentleman who pretends so highly to all manner of Civility think it lesse then an unworthinesse in him to set so light by all this Care and this kindnesse He that would be thought all Courtesy all Civility O let him not now onely be unkind and discourteous to his God and God's Church God's Angels and God's Ministers unto God's Son and his Saviour He that expressed so remarkable a kindnesse to a false friend who is most certainly the greatest and most Dangerous of all enemies to him who was only set by the Devill in a friend's habit to Decoy him out of the way and watch his opportunity to murther his soul let him not now for shame be so unnaturall to himselfe and unkind to them as to slight those reall and sincere friends who make it the greatest part of their study to save him from eternall torments He that would not be bought out of his Civility though but to a sin and sinner by the high price of an Heaven and eternity shall he now any longer be bribed to offer so many affronts to his God with an Hell and it 's Endlesse torments Certainly if any Importunity could ever prevail as alas too often it hath even to the melting of his Soul into Sin and Vanity what must it now doe never so great never back'd with so many obligations to Civillity as here for where ever did there appear so much and so earnest wooing and Intreating and begging and watching and dying Again In civility to the Nation wherein he lives and which he should labour both to Serve and Credit he is her Hopes and he should be her Honour She calls him her choise Treasure her strongest Pillar her potent Protector and shall he not think it base to evacuate her hopes and detect her too charitable Errour by neglecting to deserve and maintain his name Shall it be to his Honour when he shall hear it said by others that the Pretious stones and Iewels of England are all but vile and unprofitable pebbles that all her purest Gold is full of Drosse her best Pillars quite rotten and her Guardians her principall underminers and destroyers that with the least wind that blowes her pillars shake and the building tumbles The Gentleman is that great and faire White at which all men aime and direct the Best of their Respects and on whom they think the greatest of their Honours not misplaced And is this his Civility to all his Lovers and Admirers to leave them embracing a shadow for a substance and to pay home their affection and respects to him with Neglect and Disgrace and too often with misery and Ruine to themselves Is this his care to provide that no man shall ever be deceived in him but he that thinks well of him If this be the Gentleman's Civility then what I pray Sir is his Vnkindnesse §. 5. A second Motive grounded upon Shame and Disgrace The next thing which I shall propose to his Consideration is that which usually has too powerfull an operation upon him I mean Shame and Disgrace The pretence of securing his Name and Reputation from these blurres being another of those Fig-leaves wherewith he would fain hide his most foul and deformed Vices He had rather throw himselfe headlong into the grossest sin Imaginable then by chuseing what is best but out of fashiâ—n with the Multitude expose himselfe to the laughter of fools and Sinners O what torment what affliction is it to him to be feer'd and Mock'd and Hooted at by a Company of Mad-men for behaving himselfe with more sobriety and wisdome then they Here I shall most earnestly beseech the Gentleman to Consider how miserably he befools
property it is either to transmit or reflect those rayes it receives with great advantage of light to the darker objects about it and of a more visible splendor and Glory to the light it selfe A true Diamond will not cease to sparkle in the darkest night and the true Gentleman too will take care that his light so shine before men that they may behold his works rather then his person as the Sun gives us a clearer prospect of the other parts of the world then of it's own Body and teach them much more to Glorify his God in Heaven then to pay him a Reverence upon Earth The Gold was not made so excellent a Mettall that it might lie hid and rust in the Bowels of the Earth but by a reception of the Prince's Image administer to the Necessities of Commerce amongst the severall members of the world It would be a poor thing to Imagine God should make the best of Creatures for the worst of uses or the Noblest of Men to be Sathans Instruments now his Companions and his prey anon The Gentleman I know will easily grant himselfe to be a Vessell created for Honour but 't is strange he should goe about to prove himselfe so by continuing alwaies Empty or refusing to hold any thing but the worst of poysons by standing as some of those do which cost most pains in the making most mony in procuring most time in scouring idle and uselesse onely to adorne and grace the Cup-board and shine there 'till they become Dusty again As all Flesh is Grasse so is the Gentleman the Flower of the Grasse but let it not appear in this that the grasse is more usefull though the flower more beutifull neither let the leafe smell sweeter then the Rose Though all Mankind be but Dust and Earth yet certainly we may in reason think the Gentleman a part of the Richest soyle and from which the Husband-man or Gardener may justly expect both the fairest flowers and fullest Crop as from that ground which in it selfe is fattest and in the Cultivating and Manuring whereof has been spent both the most money and the most sweat Farre be it from the Gentleman to be call'd as we do sometimes our most fertile fields onely the Proudest ground such as swaggers it out with Poppy and Cockle and flatters the eye with many fine Blew and Yellow Flowers but such as are neither for use themselves nor will suffer the good Corne to thrive and grow 'till it may be so The Gentleman I am sure would be troubled to be thus requited for his Care and pains by his field and shall not God be justly angry for the like bad usage from the Gentleman Certainly he cannot in equity expect the largest wage who doth the least work or think he can merit the most Honourable reward by standing all the day Idlâ— nay for hindering and Deterring others who were going to labour in the Vineyard Shall the Steward be the greatest loyterer and most Carelessâ— servant in the whole Family And is it fit the Heire should be the meerest Prodigall I am Confident the Gentleman would think it an injury to be thought so and is it not then as great an injustice to be so I should not have breath enough to enumerate halfe those many Honours and Dignities those severall Priviledges and Advantages Endowments and Possessions which the Gentleman is blest with above his poorer Brethren and can we think all these not encouragements to be better but rewards and Bribes to and for being Idler then others The Gentleman is apt to boast himselfe much of his Noble Ancestors and Vertuous Progenitors and is it not therefore equity that all men should expect from that tree the best fruit which hath the Noblest root Men do not of Thistles expect grapes nor of Brambles Figs but even of the wild Olive tree when but grafted into the true Olive tree God expects the Naturall fruit That Noble person who Adopts a Clown his heir will expect he should henceforward become a Gentleman and how much more is this to be expected from him who is born the true Son and heir The Gentleman will pull his Cock's head off if he degenerate from his kind and why should his God use him better The Gentleman again is apt to talk very much of his good Breeding and Ingenuous Education and certainly it is the greatest happinesse which can so early betide him that usually he hath Parents which are as tender of his Honour as of his life and very often more carefull of his soul then of their own who howsoever they live themselves yet will be sure to reprove the least vice in the Child and it is a very ordinary forme of blessing him to pray he may be a better man then his Father Now the Gentleman will expect this from his Horse or Spaniel to behave himselfe hereafter as he has been taught when he was young Alas how many brave and Generous dispositions are flatted and lost how many Ingenious spirits are dull'd and besotted how many keen wits are blunted and lose their Edg by being put to Delve in the Earth being altogether Cow'd and Enslaved by the Tyranny of Poverty and an Adverse Fortune whilst they could not be allowed that timely and Noble Nurture and Cultivation whereby they might have been weeded and improved to a very high degree of Excellency and fruitfulnesse How much good and tractable earth has been lost meerly for want of a Skilfull Potter or spoiled upon the wheel of one unskilfull Whilest the Gentleman has all the aid and assistance that Prudent Parents or a rich-purse can afford him and shall he whom God has thus blessed with that which may procure him as well what 's Best as what 's Necessary grow more Barren under all this care and Good-husbandry which is bestow'd upon him Shall he like a stubborne and unwieldly branch so soon as ever he is from under the wise hand which would have pruin'd and straighted him start back into his Naturall rudenesse and Deformity again Shall he be like the Viall or Watch one whereof will onely continue it 's even and Certain motion so long as the owner forgets not to wind him up and the other gives us its sweet sound no longer then the Musician's hand provokes and beats it but so soon as the hand rests the Motion and the Musick ceases and in a short time the strings crack and the Pegs fall and the Noble Instrument growes mouldy and worm-eaten Is it not most unnaturall that he who has all these great advantages in his youth which others do often in vain and he himselfe too often when it is too late wish to enjoy should not doe something whereby he might shew all that care and cost not quite thrown away and mispent And yet much more that he should only so behave himselfe as one that knowes how readily to forget whatever had cost him so much time and pains and Money in acquiring and
may make the man a fit temple of the Holy Ghost to reside in that this stately and well-wrought Body should be but the externall Embleme of a more Beutifull and Majestick soule If it be his Good luck to find his way to Paradise straw'd all overâ—with Roses whilst other poor soules are forced to run Bare footed through Bryars and thistles stints and Pibbles whereby their feet are often so gall'd that their pace proves slow and so prick'd and scratch'd that you may trace them as they their Saviour into Heaven by their blood he ought wisely to consider that this entertainment should not retard him in his journey neither make him Phancy that he is already in the Garden and therefore may sit down or rolle his soule upon these sweets to a satisfaction alas the more he thus tumbles upon them the sooner will these tender Blossomes fade and wither They are onely scatter'd in his paths that by their fragrancy his decaying Spirits may be restored and cherish'd that he faint not ere he reach that garden where growes the Tree of life and never-perishing Flowers of sweetest pleasures even at God's right-hand for evermore If the Gentleman may boast of his honourable descent from a vertuous and if so a deservedly renowned family how much will it concerne him in Honour and Duty to provide that his Children by his vertues may be enabled to brag of as much as he It will certainly be a greater disgrace to him when his Son shall be constrain'd to say he had a Worthy Grandfather then it can now be his Glory that he himselfe can tell the world he had a Deserving father Can he Imagine it halfe so Creditable to swaggar it out with the Old Name and Title of his rotting Ancestors as to manifest their yet surviving Virtues in himselfe their Genuine off-spring What a pittifull Credit must it needs be for him to show a stranger a firme and substantiall foundation laid by his Ancestors many years agoe towards an intended Heroick and sumptuous building if all this while he have neglected by his own virtues to adde a superstructure proportionable to such a Ground-work I am Confident the Gentleman needs not a remembrancer to mind him of his Name nor any other Herald to perswade him he has a right unto it then his own Ambition and Conceit But how unlikely he is by the means he uses to make the world believe him he seems not so well to Consider Is it a matter of such Credit to show us how well he can put on his Fathers old Cloaths or play his Ape in his Silver Ierkin Is this the main Badg of his Gentilitie that he has never a Coat but what was given him by the Herald or that he lives as Beggars doe upon the Charity and Almes of the Parish Let him say what other title it is he can pretend to who by his own personall merits cannot purchase his name What does he lesse then Pick up his Crumbs under the Old-man's table Nobility without Virtue has just so much life as it can Borrow and onely breaths by the common and Ignoble breath of the People What does the unworthy Gentleman but goe from dore to dore for an Almes of Honour One throws him in a Sir another a Master a third a Good-your-Worship and with these few scraps he makes a shift to preserve alive his meagre and raw-boned Reputation A name that thus feeds onely upon the fragments of charity is not like to grow truly great in hast And a Reputation so long worn allready without mending is too vile and cheap for a true Gentleman to appear abroad withall The Cloak must needs be very thread-bare that is so old and has bin so ill used It were more Noble to weare a New one of his own buying then that of his Great-grandfather which at best he can by his scantling virtues onely fill full of patches His Father's Honour can be his but at Second-hand and to be proud of an Hereditary title onely is but to raunt it in a Dead-man's suit and like him whom he too often Imitates after his father's death to fright the world by appearing in his likenesse for when we come more narrowly to examine the Reallity of what we think we see in him we find nothing but a cheat and Delusion of the sense we catch at a bare Apparition for a substance or at best grasp a senselesse clod of cold clay insteed of a Man What is it to be thus Sollicitous after an Old Coat of Armes but to wish the Herald were a Broaker And that he might buy old scutcheons as he may old Cloaks because his Merits will not amount to the price of New ones Whilest he thus opens his Presse and showes it to be well-lined with the rich apparell of those who lived before him he does no more then what often his father's Page or Lacquey is able to doe Nay I shall be bold to say it whatever the Gentleman may therefore think of himselfe or me that he who showes his Father's Bearing without some Honourable Addition due at lest if not given to his own vertues has but little more reason to boast of his Gentility then his Father's Fool or Fidler whom I have often observed to bear his Master's Coat upon his Livory O that the Gentleman would in good earnest Consider how much all Wisemen laugh at him even in his Finest Cloaths and how much more all Good men doe pitty him when they see him with all his Borrow'd Bravery delight to tumble in the Mire He that will be a Gentleman indeed must look no lesse carefully before him on what yet remains for him to doe to maintain his Honour then behind him on what has been allready done by his Ancestors to purchase it Honour has a very delicate palate and loves to feed upon fresh Diet and very much Nauseates the Moulded Offals of Antiquity No broken Dishes come to her table neither can she subsist by Chewing the Cud after the largest feasting upon the Grandfather's deserts The sharp teeth of Time will at length enter deep into the Marble Monument under which the Fathers Ashes are laid to rest or at least the Injurious Dust will fill up and hide the fair Characters thereupon in which perhaps alone the Honour of the Son stands legible It can be no long-lived Honour where the Patent is onely a Dead-man's Epitaph It will therefore highly concerne the Gentleman in due time at least to lay a New gilt upon the Old letter that so he may transmit an Honourable Memory of his name to late Posterity rather under his own hand then his father's Zeal The Stateliest Pile yields and stoops by little and little to the importunities of Age And 't is rare to see a building left by the father so firme and weather-proof but it will require some repairing before the Death of the Son A Good-husband will therefore make hast even to prevent his fears and not
to give him the lie who dares tell him there are any hopes it may be saved He laughs at him that tells him there is any other Heaven then that of his own creating any other happinesse besides his pleasures or an Hell diverse from that which Christianity has objected to the Coward 's Phancy He has the Courage to be any thing but what he should be an Honest man or a Good Christian. §. 3. His Calling or Imploiment The Gallant 's Generall Calling and Emploiment is to scorne all businesse but the Study of the Modes and Vices of the times and herein he spares not to rack his brains and rob his soule as much of her Naturall as her Spirituall rest to supply the wanton world with variety of Inventions He takes an especiall care that nothing may ever appeare old about him but the Old Man of Sin and him he every day exposes to Publick view in a severall Dresse that if it be possible he may perswade the world to believe that all there is New too Indeed so miserably happy is he in Inventions of this sinfull Nature that any man who had not a Spirituall eye to discerne the same Proud and Luxurious Divell in all his Actions would almost think he had a new Nature as well as a New Suit for every day throughout the Yeare Thus he that thinks it so much below him to be reckonâ—d amongst the Labourers in God's House or Vineyard and disdaines to receive his Penny with those he should call his brethren either as a Reward or a Gratuity but seems rather to expect it as a Debt or Portion due by Inhaeritance Yet is he Content to sit all day long in Sathan's Shop one of his Slavish Prentices or Iourny-men who feeds him with course and Empty Husks here and will reward him with an Hellfull of torments for his labour hereafter He is all but a Proud and Glistering Masse of Swaggering Idlenesse and he makes it his chiefe Study to Demonstrate to the world how many severall wayes Idlenesse has found out to be busy He takes this for granted as well he may that he is not Idle but Dead that does just Nothing It is his task ever to be doing Nothing to a Good but much to a bad or no Purpose Though he may often seem to sit still and not to move so much as a little finger yet even then is his soule close at worke plotting and Contriving how he may for the time to come be most Pausibly Idle He acts so little for the Publick Good as if he were afraid he should be thought a Member of Mankind or as if the onely businesse God intended him were but to take care that he continue breathing He lives indeed as if he meant to prove that God Almighty had made him to no other End but this to show the world that he could make something whereof he had no need when made as if whilest he created other men for use and Service he intended him onely as Artists doe some of their neatâ—st but Slightest pieces of work to stand upon the stall or hang out for a signe at the Shop-windowes to show passengers with what the Shop is furnish'd within Or if you will you may looke upon him as upon the painted signe of a Man hung up in the Ayre onely to be toss'd to and fro with every wind of Temptation and Vanity Such a vain shadow or Picture is he that were there no more but himselfe I should take the boldnesse to Affirme there were no such Creature as a Man in the world To me he seems of no more worth then a Piece of Out-cast Iron lying uselesse upon the face of the Earth 'till his soule be even eaten away with Rust and Sleath God made him a Man but to prove himselfe his own God by a Second Creation he endeavours to make himselfe a Bruit nay a senselesse Carkasse that only Cumbers the Earth is fit for nothing but to dung the ground it lies upon and Stink in the Nostrils of the most High If ever he Sweat it is in pursuit of a feather at his play and sport in running away from his Worke and in the chase after his Ease And yet even in that he can never rest this indeed being the Naturall fruit of Idlenesse that it makes the Sluggard weary not onely of whatsoever he doth but even of Idlenesse it selfe §. 4. His Education and Breeding So soone as his age is capable of Instruction and Discipline he is sent to School or rather by reason of too great an Indulgence in his fond Parents the School is brought home to him where if the foolish Mother do not more awe the School-master then he his Schollar the Rod and an empty purse together do for a while preserve him himselfe But it shall not be long ere he find roome enough abroad in the world wherein he may lose himselfe again Yet truely it is a great rarity in this age to see the earliest Morning of Youth unclouded by the fumes and vapours of lust It being too usuall a thing with the debauch'd father to make his child as we use to say over early his Father 's own Sonne Most Gentlemen seem to make it a speciall piece of their fatherly care to stave off their Children as long as they can from Virtue and Religion lest therein resembling better men then their Fathers some might take occasion to think them Spurious To infuse so early into the Young Child the graver Notions of God and Goodnesse were to make him Old before his time and these would look no better then so many wrinkles and furrowes in the fresh cheeks of an infant alas what were this but an unspiriting of the Child and laying an unseasonable Damp upon the comely sprightfulnesse of youth 'T is fit he should be mann'd up by bold and daring exercises and as men use their Hounds be blooded now when he is young Divinity Morality are supposed to much to mollifie and emasculate the brave soule of a Young Gentleman and make it of too soft and facile a temper for Noble and Generous actions To instruct him how hereafter he should manfully resist his Enemies he shall first be taught to fight against God and Goodnesse It is indeed most lamentable to consider how very few of those we call Gentlemen endeavour to make their Children either Honest men or Good Christians as if it were their onely businesse to beget them and when they are come into the world to teach them by their own example how they may most unprofitably spend the short leavings of their own Luxury Thus at their death leave they them doubly Miserable in bequeathing them first little to live upon and secondly many waies to spend it Indeed the greatest Charity and providence in such Prodigall Parents were either not to beget Children at all or to beget them meer beggars that so they might not give them with their estates so many unhappy