before a true and profitable Relation As for relation replied the Duchess our Poets defie and condemn it into a Chimney-corner fitter for old Womens Tales then Theatres Why said the Emperess do not your Poets actions comply with their judgments for their Plays are composed of old stories either of Greek or Roman or some new-found World The Duchess answered her Majesty that it was true that all or most of their Plays were taken out of old Stories but yet they had new actions which being joined to old stories together with the addition of new Prologues Scenes Musick and Dancing made new Plays After this both the Souls went to the Court where all the Royal Family was together attended by the chief of the Nobles of their Dominions which made a very magnificent show and when the soul of the Emperess viewed the King and Queen she seemed to be in amaze which the Duchess's soul perceiving asked the Emperess how she liked the King the Queen and all the Royal Race She answered that in all the Monarchs she had seen in that World she had not found so much Majesty and affability mixt so exactly together that none did overshadow or eclipse the other and as for the Queen she said that Vertue sate Triumphant in her face and Piety was dwelling in her heart and that all the Royal Family seem'd to be endued with a Divine splendor but when she had heard the King discourse she believ'd that Mercury and Apollo had been his Celestial instructors and my dear Lord and Husband added the Duchess has been his Earthly Governour But after some short stay in the Court the Duchess's soul grew very Melancholy the Emperess asking the cause of her sadness She told her that she had an extreme desire to converse with the soul of her noble Lord and dear Husband and that she was impatient of a longer stay The Emperess desired the Duchess to have but patience so long until the King the Queen and the Royal Family were retired and then she would bear her company to her Lord and Husbands Soul who at that time lived in the Country some 112 miles off which she did and thus these two souls went towards those parts of the Kingdom where the Duke of Newcastle was But one thing I forgot all this while which is That although thoughts are the natural language of souls yet by reason souls cannot travel without Vehicles they use such language as the nature and propriety of their Vehicles require and the Vehicles of those two souls being made of the purest and finest sort of air and of a humane shape this purity and fineness was the cause that they could neither be seen nor heard by any humane Creature when as had they been of some grosser sort of Air the sound of that Airs language would have been as perceptible as the blowing of Zephyrus And now to return to my former Story when the Emperess's and Duchess's Soul were travelling into Nottingham-shire for that was the place where the Duke did reside passing through the forrest of Sherewood the Emperess's soul was very much delighted with it as being a dry plain and woody place very pleasant to travel in both in Winter and Summer for it is neither much dirty nor dusty at no time at last they arrived at Welbeck a House where the Duke dwell'd surrounded all with Wood so close and full that the Emperess took great pleasure and delight therein and told the Duchess she never had observed more wood in so little a compass in any part of the Kingdom she had passed through The truth is said she there seems to be more wood on the Seas she meaning the Ships then on the Land The Duchess told her the reason was that there had been a long Civil War in that Kingdom in which most of the best Timber-trees and Principal Palaces were ruined and destroyed and my dear Lord and Husband said she has lost by it half his Woods besides many Houses Land and moveable Goods so that all the loss out of his particular Estate did amount to above half a Million of Pounds I wish said the Emperess he had some of the Gold that is in the Blazing-world to repair his losses The Duchess most humbly thank'd her Imperial Majesty for her kind wishes but said she wishes will not repair his ruines however God has given my Noble Lord and Husband great Patience by which he bears all his losses and misfortunes At last they enter'd into the Dukes House an habitation not so magnificent as useful and when the Emperess saw it Has the Duke said she no other house but this Yes answered the Duchess some five miles from this place he has a very fine Castle called Bolesover That place then said the Emperess I desire to see Alas replied the Duchess it is but a naked house and uncloath'd of all Furniture However said the Emperess I may see the manner of its structure and building That you may replied the Duchess and as they were thus discoursing the Duke came out of the House into the Court to see his Horses of mannage whom when the Duchess's soul perceived she was so overjoyed that her aereal Vehicle became so splendorous as if it had been enlightned by the Sun by which we may perceive that the passions of Souls or Spirits can alter their bodily Vehicles Then these two Ladies Spirits went close to him but he could not perceive them and after the Emperess had observed the Art of Mannage she was much pleased with it and commended it as a noble pastime and an exercise fit and proper for noble and heroick Persons But when the Duke was gone into the house again those two Souls followed him where the Emperess observing that he went to the exercise of the Sword and was such an excellent and unparallell'd Master thereof she was as much pleased with that exercise as she was with the former But the Duchess's soul being troubled that her dear Lord and Husband used such a violent exercise before meat for fear of overheating himself without any consideration of the Emperess's soul left her aereal Vehicle and entred into her Lord. The Emperess's soul perceiving this did the like And then the Duke had three Souls in one Body and had there been but some such Souls more the Duke would have been like the Grand-Signior in his Seraglio onely it would have been a Platonick Seraglio But the Dukes soul being wise honest witty complaisant and noble afforded such delight and pleasure to the Emperess's soul by her conversation that these two souls became enamoured of each other which the Duchess's soul perceiving grew jealous at first but then considering that no Adultery could be committed amongst Platonick Lovers and that Platonism was Divine as being derived from Divine Plato cast forth of her mind that Idea of Jealousie Then the Conversation of these three souls was so pleasant that it cannot be expressed for the Dukes soul entertained the
seasonably applied can work good effects so they may also produce ill effects if they be used improperly and unseasonably and therefore wise Physicians and Surgeons know by experience as well as by learning and reason what is best for their Patients in all kind of distempers Onely this I will add concerning diseases that in the productions of diseases there must of necessity be a conjunction of the Agent and Patient as is evident even in those diseases that are caused by conceit for if a man should hear of an infectious disease and be apprehensive of it both the discourse of him that tells it and the mind of him that apprehends it are Agents or causes of that disease in the body of the Patient and concur in the production of the disease the difference is onely that the discourse may be called a remoter cause and the rational motions or the mind of the Patient a nearer or immediate cause for as soon as the mind doth figure such a disease the sensitive corporeal motions immediately take the figure from the mind and figure the disease in the substance or parts of the body of the Patient the Rational proving the Father the Sensitive the Mother both working by consent Whereby we may also conclude that diseases as well as other sorts of Creatures are made by Natures corporeal figurative motions and those parts that occasion others to alter their natural motions are most predominant for although Nature is free and all her parts self-moving yet not every part is free to move as it pleases by reason some parts over-power others either through number strength slight shape opportunity or the like advantages and natural Philosophy is the onely study that teaches men to know the particular natures figures and motions of the several composed parts of Nature and the rational perception is more intelligent then the sensitive 23. Of several sorts of Drink and Meat SOme Physicians when they discourse of several sorts of Drinks and Meats do relate several wonderful Cures which some Drinks have effected And truly I am of opinion that they may be both beneficial and hurtful according as they are used properly and temperately or improperly and excessively but I find there are more several sorts for curiosity and luxury then for health and necessity Small Ale or Beer is a soveraign remedy to quench drought and one Glass of Wine proves a Cordial but many Glasses may prove a kind of poyson putting men oftentimes into Feavers and the like diseases And for Diet-drinks I believe they are very good in some sorts of diseases and so may Tea and Coffee and the water of Birches for any thing I know for I never had any experience of them but I observe that these latter drinks Tea and Coffee are now become mode-drinks and their chief effects are to make good fellowship rather then to perform great cures for I can hardly believe that such weak liquors can have such strong effects Concerning several sorts of Meats I leave them to experienced Physicians for they know best what is fit for the bodies of their Patients Onely as for the preservation or keeping of several sorts of meats from putrefaction I will say this That I have observed that what will keep dead Flesh and Fish as also Vegetables from putrefaction will destroy living Animals for if living Animals should like dead flesh be pickled up and kept from air they would soon be smother'd to death and so would Fire which yet is no Animal Neither can Ladies and Gentlewomen preserve their lives as they do several sorts of fruit Nevertheless both this and several other Arts are very necessary and profitable for the use of man if they be but fitly and properly imployed but we may observe that when as other Creatures have no more then what is necessary for their preservation Man troubles himself with things that are needless nay many times hurtful Which is the cause there are so many unprofitable Arts which breed confusion instead of proving beneficial and instructive 24. Of Fermentation FErmentation of which Helmont and his followers make such a stir as 't is enough to set all the world a fermenting or working is nothing else but what is vulgarly called digestion so that it is but a new term for an old action And these digestions or Fermentations are as various and numerous as all other actions of Nature to wit Respiration Evacuation Dilation Contraction c. for action and working are all one But there are good and ill Fermentations those are done by a sympathetical agreement of parts but these by an antipathetical disagreement Those tend to the preservation of the subject these to its destruction Those are regular these irregular So that there are numerous sorts of fermentations not onely in several sorts of Creatures but in several parts of one and the same Creature for Fermentation or Digestion is according to the composition of the fermenting or digestive parts and their motions 25. Of the Plague IHave heard that a Gentleman in Italy fancied he had so good a Microscope that he could see Atomes through it and could also perceive the Plague which he affirmed to be a swarm of living animals as little as Atomes which entred into mens bodies through their mouths nostrils ears c. To give my opinion hereof I must confess That there are no parts of Nature how little soever which are not living and self-moving bodies nay every Respiration is of living parts and therefore the Infection of the Plague made by the way of respiration cannot but be of living parts but that these parts should be animal Creatures is very improbable to sense and reason for if this were so not onely the Plague but all other infectious diseases would be produced the same way and then fruit or any other surfeiting meat would prove living Animals But I am so far from believing that the Plague should be living animals as I do not believe it to be a swarm of living Atomes flying up and down in the Air for if it were thus then those Atomes would not remain in one place but infect all the places they passed through when as yet we observe that the Plague will often be but in one Town or City of a Kingdom without spreading any further Neither do I believe as some others say that it is always the heat of the Sun or Air that causes or at least increases the Plague for there are Winterplagues as well as Summer-plagues and many times the Plague decreases in Summer when it is hot and increases in Winter when it is cold Besides the air being generally hot over all the Country or Kingdom would not onely cause the infection in one Town or City but in all other parts Therefore my opinion is that as all other diseases are produced several manners or ways so likewise the Plague and as they generally do all proceed from the irregularities of corporeal natural motions so does also
your Enemies I come not to make bargains with you or to regard my own Interest more then your safety but I intend to make you the most powerful Nation of this World and therefore I have chosen rather to quit my own Tranquility Riches and Pleasure then suffer you to be ruined aud destroyed All the Return I desire is but your Grateful acknowledgment and to declare my Power Love and Loyalty to my Native Country for although I am now a great and absolute Princess and Emperess of a whole World yet I acknowledg that once I was a Subject of this Kingdom which is but a small part of this World and therefore I will have you undoubtedly believe that I shall destroy all your Enemies before this following Night I mean those which trouble you by Sea and if you have any by Land assure your self I shall also give you my Assistance against them and make you Triumph over all that seek your Ruine and Destruction Upon this Declaration of the Emperess when both the General and all the Commanders in their several Ships had return'd their humble and hearty Thanks to Her Majesty for so great a favour to them she took her leave and departed to her own Ships But Good Lord what several Opinions and Judgments did this produce in the minds of her Country-men some said she was an Angel others she was a Sorceress some believed her a Goddess others said the Devil deluded them in the shape of a fine Lady The morning after when the Navies were to fight the Emperess appear'd upon the face of the Waters dress'd in her Imperial Robes which were all of Diamonds and Carbuncles in one hand she held a Buckler made of one intire Carbuncle and in the other hand a Spear of one intire Diamond on her head she had a Cap of Diamonds and just upon the top of the Crown was a Star made of the Star-stone mentioned heretofore and a Half-moon made of the same stone was placed on her forehead all her other Garments were of several sorts of precious Jewels and having given her Fish-men directions how to destroy the Enemies of her Native Country she proceeded to effect her design The Fish-men were to carry the Fire-stones in cases of Diamonds for the Diamonds in the Blazing-world are in splendor so far beyond the Diamonds of this World as Peble-stones are to the best sort of this Worlds Diamonds and to uncase or uncover those Fire-stones no sooner but when they were just under the Enemies Ships or close at their sides and then to wet them and set their Ships on fire which was no sooner done but all the Enemies Fleet was of a Flaming-fire and coming to the place where the Powder was it streight blew them up so that all the several Navies of the Enemies were destroyed in a short time which when her Country-men did see they all cried out with one voice that she was an Angel sent from God to deliver them out of the hands of their Enemies Neither would she return into the Blazing-world until she had forced all the rest of that World to submit to that same Nation In the mean time the General of all their Naval Forces sent to their Soveraign to acquaint him with their miraculous Delivery and Conquest and with the Emperess's design of making him the most powerful Monarch of all that World After a short time the Emperess sent her self to the Soveraign of that Nation to know in what she could be serviceable to him who returning her many thanks both for her assistance against his Enemies and her kind profer to do him further service for the good and benefit of his Nations for he was King over several Kingdoms sent her word that although she did partly destroy his Enemies by Sea yet they were so powerful that they did hinder the Trade and Traffick of his Dominions To which the Emperess returned this answer That she would burn and sink all those Ships that would not pay him Tribute and forthwith sent to all the Neighbouring Nations who had any Traffick by Sea desiring them to pay Tribute to the King and Soveraign of that Nation where she was born But they denied it with great scorn Whereupon she imediately commanded her Fish-men to destroy all strangers Ships that traffick'd on the Seas which they did according to the Emperess's Command and when the neighbouring Nations and Kingdoms perceived her power they were so discomposed in their affairs and designs that they knew not what to do At last they sent to the Emperess and desired to treat with her but could get no other conditions then to submit and pay Tribute to the said King and Soveraign of her Native Country otherwise she was resolved to ruine all their Trade and Traffick by burning their Ships Long was this Treat but in fine they could obtain nothing so that at last they were forced to submit by which the King of the mentioned Nations became absolute Master of the Seas and consequently of that World by reason as I mentioned heretofore the several Nations of that World could not well live without Traffick and Commerce by Sea as well as by Land But after a short time those Neighbouring Nations finding themselves so much inslaved that they were hardly able to peep out of their own Dominions without a chargeable Tribute they all agreed to join again their Forces against the King and Soveraign of the said Dominions which when the Emperess receiv'd notice of she sent out her Fish-men to destroy as they had done before the remainder of all their Naval Power by which they were soon forced again to submit except some Nations which could live without Forreign Traffick and some whose Trade and Traffick was meerly by Land these would no wayes be Tributary to the mentioned King The Emperess sent them word That in case they did not submit to him she intended to fire all their Towns and Cities and reduce them by force to what they would not yield with a good will But they rejected and scorned her Majesties Message which provoked her anger so much that she resolved to send her Bird and Worm-men thither with order to begin first with their smaller Towns and set them on fire for she was loath to make more spoil then she was forced to do and if they remain'd still obstinate in their resolutions to destroy also their greater Cities The onely difficulty was how to convey the Worm-men conveniently to those places but they desired that her Majesty would but set them upon any part of the Earth of those Nations and they could travel within the Earth as easily and as nimbly as men upon the face of the Earth which the Emperess did according to their desire But before both the Bird-and Worm-men began their Journey the Emperess commanded the Bear-men to view through their Telescopes what Towns and Cities those were that would not submit and having a full information thereof she instructed the